What to do when you run out of chatbot messages

The Big Idea

Free chatbots have usage limits. When you hit the limit, you will see a message saying you've run out of free messages for the day or month. This is normal — just switch to another tool.

We recommend Claude and Gemini as your two main options, but any chatbot works — ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or whichever you prefer.

What to do

If you are using Claude and hit the limit → switch to Gemini

1. Go to gemini.google.com
2. Sign in with your Google account
3. Continue your work — paste in any relevant context so it understands where you are up to

If you are using Gemini and hit the limit → switch to Claude

1. Go to claude.ai
2. Sign in with your account
3. Continue your work — paste in any relevant context so it understands where you are up to

Tips

• Claude, Gemini, and other chatbots have the same core capabilities for what you need in Foundations
• When starting a new conversation on a different tool, give it context: "I'm a student learning to code. I was working on [topic] and I need help with [problem]."
• Free limits usually reset daily — so if you hit the limit, you can also come back the next day
• If both tools are unavailable, post in #foundations-help-desk on Discord