Still interactive (conforms to spirit of Anthropic's new rule), and runs Claude Code via the actual CLI (conforms to letter of Anthropic's rule), without even using the JSON output flag. It would just read the outputs directly from the terminal like a user would, and then translates the user's actions directly into actions to the Claude Code TUI.
Tradeoffs: the thinking blocks are lost, and file changes from edit tools might have to be reconstructed after-the-fact using VCS commands because the TUI doesn't display them when accept-edits mode is enabled. Requires underlying terminal to have a giant width/height in order to reliably capture the outputs by reading the terminal alone. Interactive tools like AskUserQuestion will need to work via detecting that such a prompt is open and exposing the original CLI interface to the user temporarily.
But overall it seems like it could give users most of the benefits of an interactive GUI interface (scrollable history, much higher info density, easy to copy text, browse features with mouse) while staying compliant with Anthropic's new rules both in letter and spirit. You can then build a worktree manager or whatever above this agent GUI layer. This way us interactive users can have our good tools back (and leverage the new claude -p credit for occasional automation features) while the people who are actually abusing the plan with 24/7 dark factories or openclaw are still locked out.
(the only way Anthropic would not agree to this is if they had the ulterior motive of lock-in in mind...)
99% of my max plan usage is non-interactive, and this post-June 15 pricing will far, far exceed what I can afford. I assume this applies to a great deal of us.
If you're an active `claude -p` user, it will now cost you API rates vs being able to user your subscription.
UPDATE: https://x.com/lydiahallie/status/2054650920768807313?s=20
Still confused.
But inevitably, this will end, ultimately making AI a bit less accessible for consumers.
https://x.com/ClaudeDevs/status/2054610152817619388
You can claim a monthly credit that covers programmatic (`claude -p`, etc) usage.
So a Claude subscription does cover it, but at a lesser amount.
This is a nothing burger.