v2.1.261
Claude CodeSummary
This release introduces several new features to enhance user control and workflow, including improved organization policy visibility and expanded output limits for commands and background tasks. Key bug fixes address issues with input handling, session management, and remote control functionality across various platforms and integrations.
New Features
- Added an "Organization policy" line to `/status` and `claude doctor` to explain why an organization's policy could not be loaded.
- Introduced `bashOutputMaxChars` and `taskOutputMaxChars` settings to increase the amount of command and background-task output Claude receives inline, up to 128K characters.
- Added `--append-subagent-system-prompt-file` to read subagent system prompts from a file, accommodating prompts too large for the command line.
- Added `/skill-doctor` to identify unused skills and their context costs, enabling easier pruning.
- Added a "Build a custom style" walkthrough in the VS Code Output styles menu to create and immediately list custom output style files.
- Added an Add server form and a Remove action to the VS Code MCP servers dialog for managing MCP servers directly within the IDE.
- Added a hollow ring in the VS Code session list to visually indicate sessions open in a terminal, another VS Code window, or Claude Desktop.
- Added a fold button to VS Code permission and question prompts, allowing users to read the conversation behind them without dismissing the prompt.
- Added "Archive session" to the VS Code session list's right-click menu and provided a dedicated icon for Unarchive.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed typed or pasted characters occasionally landing out of order or being dropped during fast input or key repeat.
- Fixed `/add-dir <subdirectory>` printing a false "couldn't be resolved" error when the working directory is on a `/net` automount.
- Fixed the Bedrock setup wizard hanging when AWS or an AWS credential helper never responds, now it times out with a clear error.
- Fixed Bedrock model checks failing behind a TLS-inspecting proxy.
- Fixed cloud sessions discarding a plugin synced from claude.ai when managed settings force-enable it, then falling back to a potentially failing marketplace clone.
- Fixed inability to delete the character immediately before an inline `[Image #N]` chip in the prompt input.
- Fixed resuming a session losing hook output and other context around parallel tool calls, which previously altered the resumed request.
- Fixed Remote Control showing a stale permission mode when a phone, browser, or claude.ai app attaches to a terminal session or after the mode changes.
- Fixed Remote Control sessions appearing to still be working after stopping a turn or executing a local slash command like `/clear`.
- Fixed SDK and cloud sessions ignoring a Stop or interrupt sent just after the first prompt, before the turn had started; turns now stop correctly.
- Fixed Remote Control uploading a session pulled with `/teleport` into the connected session, which previously appeared appended to the original.
- Fixed Remote Control's inbound event stream failing behind TLS-inspecting corporate proxies on native Windows.
- Fixed Remote Control sessions showing the default effort level on claude.ai when the effort level is specified in settings.
- Fixed `gcpAuthRefresh` opening a browser at startup when the Google credential check was slow, even if the credential was still valid.
- Fixed claude.ai connectors staying absent for the entire session when the startup connector fetch timed out; the CLI now retries in the background.
- Fixed sustained high CPU usage when a background agent could not be resumed and its wake-up was retried in a tight loop.
- Fixed feature flags gated to a newer version occasionally applying to an older Claude Code version on the same machine.
- Fixed `/usage` and the VS Code usage panel dropping a model-specific weekly limit row when the usage endpoint is rate limited or opened right after startup.
- Fixed `claude -p --resume <file>` adopting a malformed session ID recorded in the transcript; it now resumes under a fresh session ID.
- Fixed the terminal progress indicator showing the session as finished while a background workflow or agent was still running.
- Fixed a rare layout glitch where a box could render with the wrong height after its container switched between row and column direction.
- Fixed Claude apps gateway client IP when a trusted proxy appends a port to `X-Forwarded-For`; unreadable entries now result in a 403.
- Fixed Claude apps gateway telling Claude Desktop to export OpenTelemetry as JSON even when the terminal CLI uses protobuf, preventing collector rejection.
- Fixed Desktop and web showing a session as busy when it is only watching an artifact for updates.
- Fixed Claude in Chrome `file_upload` failing with an error in local Cowork sessions run from the Claude Desktop app.
- Fixed `SendMessage` to an offline Remote Control session on another machine incorrectly reading as delivered; delivery is now queued until the machine reconnects.
- Fixed plugin install hints from CLIs run in background Bash commands from leaking the raw `<claude-code-hint>` tag into the conversation.
- Fixed in-process agent-team teammates re-sending their first-turn tool and skill announcements on the second turn, which altered the request prefix and missed the prompt cache.
- Fixed a VS Code session teleported from Claude Code on the web treating a question that was cut off when the cloud session shut down as declined.
- Fixed the VS Code session tab's Rename box opening empty for a tab restored with the window; it now starts with the current name.
- Fixed collapsed sections in the VS Code session list panel briefly showing expanded each time the panel loaded.
- Fixed VS Code Focus view showing a tool call as still running after Claude had moved on.
- Fixed the VS Code session list's active-row highlight going stale when an unfocused Claude tab's session ID is corrected.
- Fixed Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+T reopen and deep-link opens placing the VS Code Claude tab outside the Claude editor group when a Claude tab has focus.
- Fixed the VS Code session tab's "Add to group" action for a session opened from Claude Code on the Web.
Improvements
- Improved the `/model` picker and the VS Code model pill to display a model's user-friendly name instead of its raw identifier.
- Improved startup performance on Google Vertex AI when `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS` is set, by preventing redundant API client creation and `gcloud` process spawning.
- Improved streaming performance by optimizing layout checks for already-rendered blocks.
- Enhanced the dangerous-`rm` safety prompt to include `rm -rf` on positional parameters and within double-quoted `sh -c` scripts.
- Improved handling of API responses with no headers: retries now wait up to `API_TIMEOUT_MS` (10 minutes) instead of 3 minutes, with clearer messages on how to adjust.
- Changed a Claude apps gateway 403 error on managed settings load to indicate Claude Code may not be enabled for the organization, rather than advising a new sign-in.
- Changed machines with `forceLoginMethod: "gateway"` in managed settings to ignore leftover API keys or claude.ai logins and prompt for `/login`, while leaving Bedrock, Vertex AI, and Foundry sessions unaffected.
- Changed auto mode to treat links packing content into public diagram renderer URLs as uploads, preventing auto-approval unless explicitly requested.
- Updated prompt word-editing keys to align with Bash behavior (Ctrl+W, Alt+F, Alt+D), making punctuation a word separator and removing the effect of `keybindingFlavor`.
- Changed `/context` token counting to use a local estimate when the token-counting API is unavailable, avoiding extra small-model requests.
- Improved VS Code session list to show a visual indicator for sessions open in other contexts, preventing them from appearing closed.