Not taking this sitting down / Anthropic kills Claude Code oauth for OpenClaw TOMORROW (April 4th)
Just got this email (pasted below), that spells out Anthropic’s full disdain for OpenClaw users, a project that started because of Claude.
TLDR; They are removing the ability you use your Claude Code CLI token or long lived oauth token. This means if you’re like me, and use your Claude Max subscription to power your OpenClaw, then it’s over.
As an early contributor to OpenClaw, I’m familiar with the codebase and know we already send Claude Code signatures for these tokens. I’m wondering how they are going to enforce this 🤔. Maybe they will update the signatures. Maybe theirs something more complex under the hood, like token refresh, either way, I can’t imagine we won’t figure it out. Then what’s to stop us from integrating it into the OC codebase?
That’s the first thing I’ll do if mine stop working. I’ll be the first to figure it out and submit the PR fix. It will take days to get in the codebase, so upvote and dm me, if you want the fix as soon as it comes out and I’ll send it your way.
Here’s the email below:
“Hi,
Starting April 4 at 12pm PT / 8pm BST, you’ll no longer be able to use your Claude subscription limits for third-party harnesses including OpenClaw. You can still use them with your Claude account, but they will require extra usage, a pay-as-you-go option billed separately from your subscription.
Your subscription still covers all Claude products, including Claude Code and Claude Cowork. To keep using third-party harnesses with your Claude login, turn on extra usage for your account. This will be enforced April 4 starting with OpenClaw, but this policy applies to all third-party harnesses and will be rolled out to more shortly (read more).
To make the transition easier, we’re offering a one-time credit for extra usage equal to your monthly subscription price. Redeem your credit by April 17. We’re also introducing discounts when you pre-purchase bundles of extra usage (up to 30%).
We’ve been working to manage demand across the board, but these tools put an outsized strain on our systems. Capacity is a resource we manage carefully and we need to prioritize our customers using our core products. You will receive another email from us tomorrow where you’ll have the ability to refund your subscription if you prefer.”
My suggestion, don’t enable extra billing. Shout out to mr-memory. GL.