claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix /status "Total cost" is confusing for Max-plan users — looks like a bill

When using Claude Code via "Login with Claude account" on a Claude Max subscription, the /status → Usage panel shows a "Total cost: $X" line that monotonically increases over the session, alongside percentage bars that measure something else entirely.

Screenshots

Status tab — confirms the session is authenticated as a Claude Max account, not an API key:

<img width="532" height="197" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0c75535d-787a-4f2d-8abc-cdfc030049a7" />

Usage tab — the actual confusion:

<img width="1618" height="870" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dbbb76fb-dae5-49da-964b-29563f24daee" />

The problem

The "Total cost" line reads as a bill: a dollar figure that keeps climbing. Per the Anthropic Help Center it's a projected API-rate cost, informational only — the Max subscription absorbs the actual cost up to plan limits. But there's nothing in the UI that says so. New Max users naturally read $73.43 and assume they're being billed on top of their monthly subscription.

Two unrelated meters are stacked without a label distinguishing them:

• "Total cost: $73.43" — projected API equivalent (informational).
• "Current session 14% used / Current week 4% used" — plan-window quota (the meaningful number).

Both numbers grow as you work, but against different scales. Without context, a user can't tell whether they're at risk of an overage, a charge, or neither.

Requested change

Pick whichever fits the team's preference:

1. Relabel when authenticated via Max/Pro:

   Equivalent API cost (informational): $73.43
   Your subscription covers this; see usage bars below.

2. Hide the dollar figure entirely on subscription plans. Move it to /status → Stats as a "what would this have cost on the API" curiosity.

3. Add a one-line note under "Total cost":

   Total cost:  $73.43  (informational — billed against your Max plan, not as a separate charge)

Option 3 is the smallest change and keeps the existing surface for API-key users.

Why it matters

The current display creates avoidable anxiety for the demographic Anthropic most wants to grow into Claude Code (Max subscribers who would otherwise stick to claude.ai). I spent five minutes consulting documentation to confirm I wasn't being charged $73 on top of my $200/mo plan; that confirmation should have been one glance at the screen.

Repro

1. Log in with a Claude Max account ("Login with Claude account").
2. Run any non-trivial Claude Code session for a while.
3. Run /status → Usage tab.