Make opencode prefer claude subscription over tokens

[igordertigor]

Question

I have a claude pro subscription and an api key. I would like to have opencode use the subscription until it hits the usage limit and then switch to token usage. I thought that was the default, but that seems to not be the case. What am I missing? Unfortunately, the auth documentation seems to only cover the login flow. What am I missing?

[github-actions]

This issue might be a duplicate of existing issues. Please check:

• Working is handing and Claude usage limit reached not reported #870: Working is hanging and Claude usage limit reached not reported - discusses similar issues with Claude Pro subscription limits not being handled properly
• No errors when usage limit is reached (Claude Pro) #777: No errors when usage limit is reached (Claude Pro) - also addresses the problem of usage limit handling with Claude subscription
• Dramatic increase in token consumption #924: Dramatic increase in token consumption - discusses token usage patterns with Claude subscription

Feel free to ignore if none of these address your specific case.

[conradkoh]

@igordertigor did you try using the /models command and choose the model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5? you can also try seeing whether the provider was added by using the opencode models command I think!

[igordertigor]

Thank you @conradkoh , the issue is that I have both, a claude pro subscription and an API key. So both are anthropic models. It seems that it prefers the API key over the subscription while the subscription and I would like to prefer the subscription and use the tokens as a fallback.

[rekram1-node]

Hmm we dont do that fallback behavior for auth but we prolly should allow for that

I think the ai sdk for anthropic prioritizes the env vars over the creds passed to it

[grenaad]

@conradkoh I managed to work around this problem by using the OpenCode Zen provider. They have Bring Your Own Key, so I used my API key with them and then use my subscription with the Anthropic provider. You can just switch between them with /models.

Right now I have two subscriptions: One for work and one for my own private use.
I saw the docs on Zen that Subscription plans and a free tier are coming soon., then I can use this method again.

[rekram1-node]

Oh that's not a bad solution, I should've suggested that

[igordertigor]

@grenaad , that's a decent workaround but only if you are free to pick the source of tokens. Once you have a bunch of anthropic tokens, going with a different provider isn't really a good option.

I would also argue that it's still a workaround: Once my subscription reaches a limit, I need to manually switch the model rather than automatically falling back to pay as you go.