# Claude Code now resumes after a usage limit — unless your Mac fell asleep

> Source: <https://dev.to/dawonlee/claude-code-now-resumes-after-a-usage-limit-unless-your-mac-fell-asleep-17k1>
> Published: 2026-10-16 15:33:00+00:00

If you're on a Claude subscription, recent versions of Claude Code (v2.1.234+) do something quietly great: when a usage limit stops Claude mid-task, the session **waits and continues the task on its own** after the limit resets.

```
Usage limit reached · limit resets 3:45pm
Continuing automatically at 3:45pm · esc to cancel
```

That's exactly what you want for a long refactor you start before bed. There's one catch, straight from the docs:

If it slept for more than about 30 minutes and the limit reset while it slept, the first line reads `Your usage limit has reset` and the second reads `Press enter to continue`.

So if your MacBook goes to sleep during the wait — lid closed, or just idle sleep — you wake up to a prompt asking you to press Enter, and the work hasn't moved. The 5-hour window means the wait can easily be a few hours.

The wait itself uses almost no CPU, which is the problem: from the outside, a session waiting for a reset looks idle.

**DIY:** if you're at a desk on power, `caffeinate -i` in another terminal (or `caffeinate -w <pid>` for the Claude process) blocks idle sleep for as long as Claude runs. Closing the lid on battery is different — macOS sleeps on lid close unless you're in clamshell mode with an external display, and the only switch for that is `sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1` (remember to set it back to `0`).

**Know when the wait starts and ends.** Claude Code's hooks tell you exactly:

`StopFailure` with `"error": "rate_limit"` fires when a turn ends because of a rate limit.`Notification` with `notification_type`:
`quota_auto_resume_fired` — Claude continued after the reset`quota_auto_resume_stale` — the reset happened while the computer slept for 30+ minutes; it's waiting for Enter`quota_auto_resume_disabled` — the wait ended without continuing
A minimal logger to see it happen:

```
{
  "hooks": {
    "StopFailure": [{ "matcher": "rate_limit", "hooks": [{ "type": "command",
      "command": "echo \"$(date) limit hit\" >> ~/claude-limit.log" }] }],
    "Notification": [{ "matcher": "quota_auto_resume_fired|quota_auto_resume_stale|quota_auto_resume_disabled",
      "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "cat >> ~/claude-limit.log" }] }]
  }
}
```

With those two signals you can keep the Mac awake from the `rate_limit` stop until `quota_auto_resume_fired` (or a few minutes past the 5-hour window), and let it sleep otherwise.

I build [Lidnight](https://lidnight.app/en/), a menu bar app that keeps a MacBook awake with the lid closed while AI agents work and lets it sleep when they're done. It installs the `StopFailure` hook too: when Claude Code stops on a rate limit, the session shows **"limit · resumes in 2h 14m"** and the Mac stays awake through a 5-hour wait, so the automatic continue actually happens. `quota_auto_resume_fired` puts it back to "working".

For the cases Claude Code won't continue on its own — a weekly limit, a `stale`/` disabled` wait, or Codex — Lidnight sends a one-line "please continue" after the reset through official features (Claude Code's cross-session messaging, `codex queue`). You choose per AI whether that should happen; set it to "paused" and the session stays stopped.

The same docs pass also turned up two notification types I now count as "waiting for you": `elicitation_url_dialog` (an MCP server asks you to open a URL) and `agent_needs_input` (a background session needs input).

Lidnight's AI Auto mode is free (you turn it on); Pro adds auto-start, phone approvals and more — a one-time $9.99 (50% off through Oct 31) with a 7-day trial. `brew install whereisdw/tap/lidnight`

Sources: [Claude Code hooks reference](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/hooks) · [Wait for a usage limit to reset](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/interactive-mode#wait-for-a-usage-limit-to-reset)