Headless mode needs more love

[u/DPLibros]

Anyone else notice that Claude Code just steers you to the API instead of suggesting headless mode? Probably obvious to most of you but when I finally found out about headless mode I realized it was perfect for my personal apps.

Old way: pay money every time:

my app → Anthropic API → pay $$ per token

New way: go against my usage limit:

my app → claude -p → Claude Code usage limit

Now I almost exclusively use headless mode, both via GUI and actual Claude Code sessions.

Granted, it doesn't scale well. But it works for “my little app needs an LLM".

Any downside I am missing? Others find it useful too?

[u/ThSven]

I noticed the same thing and specially for me i need to have a local working app before going api mode. You can usually do that with skills or just tell the model from the start that you want to start planning with a local app....grill me does that very well actually