v2.1.169
Claude CodeSummary
This release introduces new configuration options for troubleshooting and managing bundled skills, including a new --safe-mode flag and a setting to disable built-in commands. Several critical bugs were fixed, particularly around MCP policy enforcement, UI responsiveness on macOS and Windows, and agent session management. Performance has also been improved with reduced CPU usage during streaming and better handling of long input lines.
New Features
- Added the --safe-mode flag (and CLAUDE_CODE_SAFE_MODE) to start Claude Code with all customizations disabled for troubleshooting.
- Added the /cd command to move a session to a new working directory without breaking the prompt cache mid-session.
- Added a disableBundledSkills setting and CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_BUNDLED_SKILLS environment variable to hide bundled skills, workflows, and built-in slash commands from the model.
- Added a tip suggesting 'claude agents' when running multiple concurrent sessions.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed Up/Down arrows jumping past wrapped rows of long input lines; they now move through each visual row first, and history recall enters at the near edge.
- Fixed enterprise managed MCP policies not being enforced correctly across various session states (reconnect, IDE-typed configs, initial session after install, before remote settings load) and fixed slow cold starts for orgs without remote settings.
- Fixed a ~30-50ms UI stall at the start of each turn for macOS users logged in with claude.ai credentials.
- Fixed 'claude -p' being slow or hanging on Windows while waiting for the slash-command/skill scan (regression).
- Fixed Remote Control getting stuck on "reconnecting" after resuming a session when an OAuth token refresh occurred simultaneously.
- Fixed Git Credential Manager's "Connect to GitHub" popup appearing on Windows at startup when background git commands ran without cached credentials.
- Fixed footer hints (e.g. "esc to interrupt") not showing for users with a custom statusline.
- Fixed stale permission and dialog prompts reappearing every time you reattached to a remote session whose worker had died while waiting on them.
- Fixed 'claude agents --json' omitting blocked and just-dispatched background sessions; added --all to include completed sessions, plus new id and state fields.
- Fixed agents view leaving a stale/garbled frame after navigating back from an agent on WSL in Windows Terminal.
- Fixed background agents ignoring project-level settings env values (e.g. ANTHROPIC_MODEL) when dispatched onto a pre-warmed worker.
- Fixed MCPB plugin cache being spuriously invalidated on Windows, causing unnecessary re-extraction.
- Fixed plugin .in_use PID lock files accumulating; stale markers from crashed sessions are now swept once per day.
- Fixed untrusted project settings being able to set OTEL client-certificate paths without trust confirmation.
- Auto-updater on Windows now stops retrying within a session once 'claude.exe' is held by another process.
Improvements
- /workflows now opens immediately even while a turn is in progress.
- Improved TaskCreate reliability: malformed inputs are repaired automatically and validation errors for unloaded tools include the schema.
- Improved the error message shown when your organization has disabled API key authentication, with guidance based on where the active API key comes from.
- Reduced CPU usage while responses stream and during spinner animations.
- Restored a default 5-minute idle timeout on Vertex/Foundry so a stalled stream aborts instead of hanging indefinitely; set API_FORCE_IDLE_TIMEOUT=0 to opt out.
- Remote-managed settings with an invalid entry now apply their remaining valid policies and surface the validation error, instead of silently dropping the whole payload.
- Background sessions now preserve --ide, --chrome, --bare, --remote-control, and other flags across retire→wake, and respawn state validation was hardened.
- Background sessions are now told that shared-checkout edits are blocked until they enter a worktree, avoiding a wasted rejected edit before EnterWorktree.
- The "CLAUDE.md is too long" warning threshold now scales with the model's context window.
- Improved color contrast for skill tags in the slash-command menu.
- Promo credit claims for Apple/Google-billed subscribers without a payment method now explain where to add one.