# How to run Claude Code for a whole team: your options compared

> Seven ways to run Claude Code for an engineering team, from Anthropic's own plans to shared cloud computers.

By Eimen, founder of Leverage Computer. Last reviewed 12 November 2026.

Disclosure: We make Leverage Computer, one of the tools on this page. We describe every product, ours included, from its own public pages, and each fact links to its source. Prices change: check the linked page before you buy. Found something wrong or out of date? Email [founders@leverage.computer](mailto:founders@leverage.computer) and we will fix it.

## The short answer

- **Most teams should start with the Claude Team plan.** Every seat includes Claude Code, and you can commit shared settings to your repository [1][7].
- **Add cloud sessions** when work should keep running after a laptop closes or teammates need to read a session [2].
- **Use an organization-shared environment** so everyone's cloud sessions start from the same setup [3]. Use a self-hosted one (public beta) if code must run on your own machines [4].
- **Add Claude Tag** if your team hands work to Claude from Slack channels [5].
- **Pay through the Claude Console** if you prefer API billing over seats, but note that cloud sessions need a claude.ai sign-in [8].
- **Leverage Computer** if your team already runs Claude Code every day and wants to run much more of it at once. Sessions live in shared team threads, keep going with laptops closed, start from a webhook, a pull request or a schedule, and every tool call goes through rules you set [10][11][16][12].

**Figure: Where Claude Code runs, and who can see it.** Claude Code turns from one person's tool into a team's tool as it moves off the laptop.

- Your laptop: A session lives in one terminal. Teammates see it only if you send them an export.
- Anthropic's cloud: Keeps going with the laptop closed. Teammates can open a link, but the view does not update live [2].
- Your own servers: Self-hosted environments, in public beta, run the work on machines you operate [4].
- A shared computer: Leverage Computer gives every session its own VM, and the team watches and steers it live [10][11].

## What a team needs that one developer doesn't

1. **Billing and access.** Seats or usage, and who can turn what on.
2. **Shared setup.** The same instructions, permissions and tools for everyone.
3. **Where the agent runs.** A laptop, Anthropic's cloud, your own servers or a shared computer, and whether it keeps working when nobody is at a keyboard.
4. **Seeing each other's work.** Can a teammate read, join or continue a session?
5. **Control.** Spend limits, approvals and a record of what the agent did.

## Side by side

|  | Where Claude Code runs | Teammates see sessions | Billing | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Claude Team plan | Each person's machine | No, unless they use cloud sessions | Standard $20 or Premium $100 per seat a month, billed yearly [1] | Available |
| Cloud sessions | An Anthropic-managed VM, about 4 vCPUs and 16 GB RAM [2][3] | Yes, as a link; the view does not update live [2] | Your plan's usage; "no separate charge for the cloud VM" [2] | Available |
| Self-hosted environment | Your own infrastructure [4] | Same as cloud sessions | Your organization's Claude Code usage [4] | Public beta [4] |
| Claude Tag | An ephemeral sandbox per conversation [5] | Yes, in the Slack thread [5] | Usage from an organization balance, under a spend limit [5] | Public beta [5] |
| Claude Console (API) | Each person's machine [8] | No | API usage [8] | Available |
| GitHub Codespaces | A cloud dev box per person [9] | No | From $0.18 an hour per 2-core machine, plus your Claude plan [9] | Available |
| Leverage Computer | Its own VM per session, with a persistent disk [10] | Yes, live: watch, steer, queue or stop [11] | $0.50 per agent hour, plus your Claude plan or credits [13] | Available |

## The options

### Claude Team plan: the default for most teams

**Strengths**

- Every Team seat includes Claude Code and Claude Cowork, for teams of 2 to 150 [1].
- Anthropic recommends it for most teams: members get Claude Code and Claude on the web "with centralized billing and team management" [8].
- Shared setup lives in your repository: commit `.claude/settings.json` "so everyone who clones the repository gets the same permissions, hooks, and plugin settings" [7]. Admins can enforce managed settings that personal settings cannot override [7].

**Weaknesses**

- By default each session runs on one person's machine and stays with that person.
- Usage limits apply per seat; Premium seats give five times the usage of Standard [1].

**Price.** Standard $20 per seat a month billed yearly or $25 monthly; Premium $100 or $125. Enterprise is $20 per seat a month plus usage at API rates, billed yearly with a 20-seat minimum [1].

### Claude Code cloud sessions: for work that should continue after the laptop closes

**Strengths**

- "The session keeps running after you close your laptop, and you can check on it or steer it from any device" [2].
- No separate charge for the VM; it counts toward your plan's usage [2].
- On Team and Enterprise, a session can be shared with Team visibility so other members of your organization can open it [2].
- An Owner can create environments "shared with every member of the organization", so the team standardizes on one setup [3].

**Weaknesses**

- Cloning and pull requests in Anthropic-hosted environments need GitHub [2].
- A shared session is a snapshot: recipients' "view doesn't update in real time" [2].
- Sessions stop after a period of inactivity and the VM is reclaimed [2]. The VM has about 4 vCPUs, 16 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk, and large builds can be stopped [3].

**Price.** Included with Pro, Max, Ultra and Team plans, and Enterprise premium or Chat + Claude Code seats [2].

### Self-hosted environments: when code must run on your own machines

**Strengths**

- Cloud sessions run "on infrastructure your organization operates", like a self-hosted CI runner, and "Anthropic never connects into your network" [4].

**Weaknesses**

- "Public beta on Team and Enterprise plans and are off by default" [4].
- "Session content still goes to api.anthropic.com", and you run and maintain the machines [4].

**Price.** Uses your organization's Claude Code usage [4]; you pay for your own infrastructure.

### Claude Tag in Slack: for teams that hand work over in Slack

**Strengths**

- Anyone in a channel can tag @Claude and hand it work, such as reproducing a bug and opening a pull request [5].
- Slack users don't each need a Claude seat; channel work is billed by usage under a spend limit an Owner sets [5].

**Weaknesses**

- Public beta, Team and Enterprise only, and Slack only [5].
- Each conversation runs in a sandbox that "is discarded when the conversation goes idle" [5].

**Price.** Usage-based, drawn from an organization balance [5].

### Claude Console (API billing): for teams that want usage billing instead of seats

**Strengths**

- An official option "for organizations that prefer API-based billing", with a role that can only create Claude Code API keys [8].

**Weaknesses**

- Cloud sessions need a claude.ai sign-in and "always use your subscription credentials" [8].
- Claude on the web, with centralized team management, comes with the Team and Enterprise plans, not with Console keys [8].

**Price.** API usage rates [8].

### GitHub Codespaces: if you want a cloud dev box per developer

**Strengths**

- A full cloud development environment per person, billed by the hour [9].

**Weaknesses**

- Organizations get no free quota, and you still need a Claude plan or API key inside the codespace [9].
- Each codespace belongs to one person, so the team does not share sessions.

**Price.** $0.18 an hour for a 2-core machine up to $2.88 for 32 cores, plus $0.07 per GB-month of storage [9].

### Leverage Computer: for teams that run Claude Code or Codex every day and want to run much more of it

We make Leverage Computer. This section uses our own public pages, and it says where Leverage Computer does not fit.

Leverage Computer runs Claude Code, Codex and Grok Build sessions in a shared workspace. Each session gets its own VM with sudo, a terminal, a browser and a persistent disk [10][14].

**Strengths**

- **Multiplayer sessions.** Watch a teammate's session live, steer it, queue a message or stop it. Share a session with a space, the workspace, or people as viewers or collaborators [11].
- **Keeps working with laptops closed.** A VM sleeps when idle and costs nothing asleep [10].
- **Use your Claude plan.** Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Grok plans or API keys, and pool several accounts [14].
- **Approvals on tool calls.** By default, reads run, and sends, deletes and deploys wait for a person; every call is recorded [12].
- **Team memory in Git.** Instructions, memory and skills live in Git folders that every session opens with [15].
- **Your own environments.** Set variables and secrets and pick them per space or session. A secret can be added to HTTPS headers by the network, so its value never enters the VM [10].
- **PR Auto-fix.** Turn it on for a pull request, and the agent fixes failed checks, answers review comments and resolves merge conflicts until it is merged or closed [15].

**Where Leverage Computer is the wrong choice**

- **One developer working alone.** A Claude plan on your laptop is simpler and cheaper.
- **Code that must run on your own servers.** Leverage Computer does not offer a self-hosted version; look at Anthropic's self-hosted environments.
- **Repositories outside GitHub.** Session checkouts and pull requests are built for GitHub [15].
- **A fixed monthly bill.** You pay for agent hours, plus AI usage if you pay for it from Leverage credits, so cost moves with use [13].

**Price.** $0.50 per agent hour on a Standard machine (2 CPUs, 4 GB), $1.00 Medium, $2.00 Large. People and storage are free. AI comes from your own plan, an API key, or credits at the provider's cost plus 20% [13][10].

## Also considered

- **Agent teams** coordinate several Claude Code instances, with one session as the lead. They are experimental, off by default, and use "significantly more tokens than a single session" [6]. They help one person split work, not several people share it.

## How to choose

1. **Start with Team seats and a committed `.claude/settings.json`.** That covers most teams [1][7].
2. **Need work to continue while people are away?** Turn on cloud sessions and an organization-shared environment [2][3].
3. **Need several people on one live session, a lasting computer, or approvals before agents act?** Compare Leverage Computer [10][11][12].

## Questions

**Is Claude Code included in the Claude Team plan?**
Yes. Anthropic's pricing page lists Claude Code and Claude Cowork for Team, on Standard ($20 per seat a month billed yearly) and Premium ($100) seats [1].

**Can my team share Claude Code sessions?**
Cloud sessions on Team and Enterprise can be shared with Team visibility; recipients see the latest state when they open the link, not a live view [2]. Local sessions can be exported as text. See our page on sharing Claude Code sessions.

**Does Claude Code keep running when my laptop is closed?**
Cloud sessions do [2]. A session in your terminal runs on your machine.

## Sources

Checked on 12 November 2026.

1. Claude, pricing: https://claude.com/pricing
2. Claude Code docs, cloud sessions: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/claude-code-on-the-web
3. Claude Code docs, cloud environments: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/cloud-environments
4. Claude Code docs, self-hosted environments: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/self-hosted-environments
5. Claude Tag, overview: https://claude.com/docs/claude-tag/overview
6. Claude Code docs, agent teams: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/agent-teams
7. Claude Code docs, settings: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings
8. Claude Code docs, authentication: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/authentication
9. GitHub Docs, Codespaces billing: https://docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-codespaces
10. Leverage Computer, the computer underneath: https://leverage.computer/compute/
11. Leverage Computer, work in the open: https://leverage.computer/teams/
12. Leverage Computer, AI governance: https://leverage.computer/governance/
13. Leverage Computer, pricing: https://leverage.computer/pricing/
14. Leverage Computer, harnesses: https://leverage.computer/harnesses/
15. Leverage Computer, Git under everything: https://leverage.computer/git/
16. Leverage Computer, automations: https://leverage.computer/automations/

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## More

- [How to share Claude Code sessions with your team](https://leverage.computer/compare/share-claude-code-sessions/)
- [Ways to run Claude Code in the cloud, so it keeps working when your laptop is closed](https://leverage.computer/compare/run-claude-code-in-the-cloud/)
- [Codex for teams: your options compared](https://leverage.computer/compare/codex-for-teams/)
- [Every harness, one workspace](https://leverage.computer/harnesses/)
- [The computer underneath](https://leverage.computer/compute/)
- [Pricing](https://leverage.computer/pricing/)
- [All comparisons](https://leverage.computer/compare/)