Anthropic has announced a new policy affecting subscribers of its Claude Code AI coding assistant, which will now require additional payments for using third-party tools like OpenClaw. This decision was communicated to users via emails and is part of a broader strategy to manage the growing demand for Claude's capabilities. Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code at Anthropic, explained that the existing subscription model was not designed for the usage patterns of third-party tools. As a result, users will need to purchase extra usage through a pay-as-you-go model. This policy will apply to all third-party tools, starting with OpenClaw, an open-source AI framework that has gained popularity among developers. Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, expressed frustration over the policy, suggesting that Anthropic copied features from OpenClaw before restricting access to it. He noted that he and his team attempted to negotiate with Anthropic but only managed to delay the price increase by a week. Despite the backlash, Cherny stated that the changes are necessary for sustainable growth and capacity management, while still offering refunds to subscribers.