I was banned from Claude for scaffolding a Claude.md file?
hugodaniel.com
January 22, 2026
5 min read
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
45/100
Summary
A user was banned from Claude after creating a CLAUDE.md file, resulting in an API error indicating that their organization has been disabled. Prior to the ban, the user was a paying subscriber utilizing Claude Code for personal projects.
Key Takeaways
- The author was banned from using Claude after attempting to automate prompts that resembled system instructions, leading to an "invalid request" error message.
- The author's account was disabled without warning or feedback, resulting in frustration over the lack of communication from the platform.
- The author speculated that their use of multiple Claude instances triggered the platform's "Prompt Injection" heuristics, causing the ban.
- Despite appealing the ban and seeking support, the author received no response from the organization, only a credit note for a previous invoice.
Coverage & discussions
Hacker News · hugodaniel.com
Community discussions
Community Sentiment
Positives
- Claude represents a significant breakthrough in AI capabilities, and there's potential for Anthropic to enhance customer support to match this innovation, creating a delightful user experience.
- Using Claude in a personal project has proven effective for software writing, showcasing its utility even for non-developers, which highlights its accessibility.
Concerns
- The lack of clear support from Anthropic raises concerns about user experience, especially given the high expectations for cutting-edge AI organizations to provide effective customer service.
- Users report instability and unresponsiveness in Claude's chat functionality, which undermines its reliability for ongoing projects and could hinder adoption.
- The vague nature of the author's situation raises skepticism about the transparency of the ban process, suggesting potential issues with user trust and communication from Anthropic.
