What changed
Claude Code is Anthropic’s coding agent. It reads a repository, edits files, and can open pull requests from a terminal, browser, desktop app, or phone. A local session runs on your computer and stops when that computer stops. A cloud session runs on remote infrastructure instead.
On 23 September 2026, the X account ClaudeDevs said cloud sessions are officially available and out of research preview (https://x.com/ClaudeDevs/status/2102871550974427462). The same post said they keep Claude Code working with the laptop closed. Anthropic’s cloud-session documentation says the session keeps running after you close your laptop, and you can check on it or steer it from any device. Those pages list the feature on Pro, Max, and Team plans, and for Enterprise users with premium seats or Chat + Claude Code seats. They do not say the feature left research preview. The default is infrastructure Anthropic manages, or an organization’s self-hosted environment when work is routed there.
On Anthropic-hosted infrastructure, cloud sessions stop after a period of inactivity and the session’s virtual machine is reclaimed. Waiting to approve a tool call from an MCP (Model Context Protocol) connector, or to sign in to an MCP server, counts as inactivity, and the session can expire during that wait. Reopening the session at claude.ai/code provisions a fresh virtual machine with the conversation history restored, in the permission mode the session was already in. Background work that was still running when the VM was reclaimed, such as subagents and shell commands, is not restored. On a self-hosted environment, a runner can release an idle session; sending a message resumes it in the permission mode it was in.
ClaudeDevs said you can start a cloud session at claude.ai/code, from the Code tab in the Claude mobile app, from the desktop app, or with claude --cloud in the CLI. Anthropic’s docs list those four places, and add routines: scheduled or triggered runs, each of which runs as a cloud session.
- Clone and prepare The repository is cloned to an Anthropic-managed VM, and a setup script runs if one is configured.
- Configure network Internet access follows the cloud environment’s access level.
- Work Claude analyzes code, makes changes, runs tests, and checks its work. You can watch and steer, or come back later.
- Push the branch When Claude reaches a stopping point, it pushes its branch to GitHub. The session stays open for review, a pull request, or another message.
- Browser: claude.ai/code, also called Claude Code on the web
- Mobile: the Code tab in the Claude app
- Desktop app: select Cloud instead of Local when you start a session
- Terminal: claude --cloud
- Routines: scheduled and triggered runs, each as a cloud session
| Session type | Code runs on | Keeps running if you disconnect |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud session | Cloud VM, Anthropic-managed by default | Yes |
| Local session | Your machine | No |
| Local session with Remote Control | Your machine | While the session stays open on your machine |
Starting a session
GitHub is the default path for clone and push. Anthropic’s docs say cloud sessions need access to your GitHub repositories to clone code and push branches. From the CLI, claude --cloud clones the current directory’s GitHub remote at your current branch, not your local checkout, so push local commits first when those commits should be on the VM.
When you run claude --cloud from a repository with no git remote, or from a github.com repository the Claude GitHub App is not installed on, Claude Code bundles the local repository and uploads it to the cloud session. Setting CCR_FORCE_BUNDLE=1 forces that upload for a GitLab, Bitbucket, or other non-GitHub remote. A session started from a bundle can push back to a GitHub remote when your GitHub connection has push access. It cannot push results back to a non-GitHub remote.
On Team and Enterprise plans, the Sign in with GitHub step on claude.ai/code works after an Owner of the Claude organization turns on the GitHub connector at Admin settings > Connectors. Until then, that step shows that GitHub access is required. A second, optional Owner toggle, Quick web setup, unhides /web-setup in the CLI. The CLI’s --cloud flag also requires the allow_remote_sessions policy. Enterprise organizations may need an Owner to enable cloud sessions.
Credit and rate limits
ClaudeDevs offered existing subscribers a one-time credit of $100 on Pro and $250 on Max to try cloud sessions. The post said there is one credit per account, for cloud sessions only, with a claim deadline of Oct 7. It said the credit is separate from usage limits, applies automatically once a cloud session starts, and that if you hit a limit locally you can keep going in the cloud until the credit runs out. Claim at https://claude.ai/code/claim-credit/10 or with /claim-credit in the CLI.
Anthropic’s docs say cloud sessions share rate limits with all other Claude and Claude Code usage on the account. Running multiple tasks in parallel consumes more of those limits proportionately. There is no separate compute charge for the cloud VM.
Source
Also from
Sources and editorial approach
Read the full 23 September 2026 ClaudeDevs post body at https://x.com/ClaudeDevs/status/2102871550974427462, then compared plan eligibility, persistence, idle reclaim and permission-mode resume, start places, GitHub as the default clone-and-push path, the local-bundle exception, the Sign in with GitHub step, rate limits, allow_remote_sessions, Quick web setup, Zero Data Retention, and third-party-provider language with the complete extracted text of Anthropic’s cloud-session and web-quickstart pages. Launch wording that the feature left research preview, and the one-time Pro/Max credit terms for existing subscribers (amounts, one per account, cloud sessions only, separate from usage limits, applied automatically, local-limit line, Oct 7, claim paths), are attributed to the post. Those product pages list availability on named plans and do not state a research-preview exit, a credit, or a separate cloud allowance. A bounded portion of the Claude Code changelog (the first part of the page, not the whole page) was checked for a matching availability or credit line.