Why does Claude Code seem to have lighter/less restrictive usage limits than using Claude's chat interface?

One member's theory (unconfirmed) is that Claude Code has lighter usage limits because it doesn't need to load the context/tools that the chat interface does, and specifically has no memory feature attached to it. They described themselves as a heavy user working almost exclusively in Claude Code on an API plan and said they rarely hit limits, though they attributed part of that to being very precise and deliberate with their prompts rather than relying purely on the tool. Another member added that some people use a separate free/cheaper model just to help generate better prompts before running the expensive task, though this was noted to be time-consuming and may defeat the purpose of saving time.