Claude Code v2.1.274 Release Notes — What's New

What's changed

Added a visible warning when memory usage is critical, with steps to free memory or restart safely
Added CLAUDE_CODE_MCP_STARTUP_WAIT_MS to bound how long the first non-interactive turn waits for connecting MCP servers (0 = don't wait)
Added effort attribute to the claude_code.llm_request OpenTelemetry trace span, matching the api_request event
Added claude_code.managed_settings_resolved OTel event: managed-settings sources and policy helper state; redacted settings and digests with OTEL_LOG_MANAGED_SETTINGS=1
Added store.connect_timeout_seconds to the Claude apps gateway config to lengthen the Postgres connect timeout (default 5 seconds), and improved the boot error when the database is unreachable to point to store.postgres_url and the configured timeout
Added enduser.sub, the IdP subject, to the telemetry Claude Desktop and Cowork send through a Claude apps gateway
Added a Claude apps gateway warning when a replica has more requests open than the 256 it sends upstream at once, and a startup log line showing that limit
Added click-to-expand for collapsed teammate and agent messages in fullscreen mode
Fixed sessions getting stuck endlessly retrying "unexpected tool_use_id" 400 errors: corrupted transcripts now self-heal where possible, and otherwise a clear error (with a /rewind hint) ends the loop
Fixed MCP servers configured as http that only speak legacy HTTP+SSE failing to connect when they answer the first request with 422 or another 4xx error
Fixed Streamable HTTP MCP tool calls timing out after about 5 minutes even when a longer per-server timeout was set
Fixed MCP prompts and resources not refreshing when a server sends list-changed notifications without declaring listChanged
Fixed MCP tool calls refused with 403 insufficient_scope being reported as an expired sign-in: the error now names the missing permissions and points to /mcp re-authentication
Fixed hook-driven sessions (such as an active /goal) ending with "Prompt is too long" instead of compacting when the context overflowed again after a reactive compaction
Fixed an active /goal being lost when resuming (--continue / --resume) a session that had compacted
Fixed claude agents losing --model, --effort, --permission-mode, --allow-dangerously-skip-permissions and --agent after an auto-update relaunch
Fixed a per-turn slowdown when a language server publishes project-wide diagnostics for thousands of files
Fixed subagents with model: "opus" on Bedrock, Vertex or Foundry leaving the session's model when its id has no recognizable model family (unless ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL is set)
Fixed self-hosted runner sessions failing every turn with a 401 after a few failed token refreshes, until the next scheduled refresh; the runner now keeps retrying, and fetches a new token after a 401
Fixed clickable links to local file paths doing nothing in VS Code and other terminals that require a file:// URI
Fixed the transcript renumbering ordered lists in your own messages (typing "3. 2. 1." displayed "3. 4. 5."); numbers and "N)" markers now show as typed
Fixed AskUserQuestion preview notes being attached to a previously chosen option instead of the highlighted one
Fixed AskUserQuestion preview mode dropping the highlighted option when submitting a note with Enter
Fixed a resumed background agent keeping half of an interrupted tool batch when one of its calls was approved with a message
Fixed a local claude -p --resume started with CLAUDE_CODE_RESUME_INTERRUPTED_TURN not reporting background tasks the previous process left unfinished
Fixed the first turn of a cloud session sometimes starting without the tools of an SDK-hosted MCP server that was still connecting
Fixed background agent notifications claiming the agent had no live background work when it was still waiting on its own background task and would resume
Fixed error hints in Claude Desktop sessions to suggest slash commands like /usage-credits instead of CLI flags that cannot be used there
Fixed /schedule saving a routine's prompt without its message role when Claude writes the routine in the shape that listing routines returns
Fixed /status not showing the apiKeyHelper failure that its own error banner told you to check
Fixed /fast on in non-interactive sessions reporting on and then turning off under an organization's managed fast mode policy; it now says the organization has disabled it
Fixed the Artifact tool asking you to approve an update to an artifact that it then refused because the session had not read the latest version
Fixed Cowork and claude.ai cloud sessions with network access on treating reads of a teammate's artifact as if network access were off
Fixed a plugin or marketplace directory with no git repository of its own taking its version from an enclosing git repository, such as a git-managed ~/.claude
Fixed --strict-mcp-config with an empty --mcp-config holding the first non-interactive turn for up to MCP_TIMEOUT on incidental MCP servers
Fixed Stop prompt hooks re-sending their whole prompt on every block in a conversation; repeat blocks now name the condition with a 500-character label
Fixed extra empty editor windows opening at startup on Linux under Wayland when running inside the Cursor or VS Code terminal
Fixed an unhandled promise rejection in the Claude apps gateway when Postgres drops a connection during a spend check
Fixed Claude apps gateway cutting every open stream on SIGTERM: it now lets in-flight requests finish for up to 25 seconds before exiting (CLAUDE_GATEWAY_DRAIN_TIMEOUT_MS)
Fixed installed_plugins.json being rewritten on nearly every start-up when plugin policy comes from remote managed settings, which made Claude Desktop reload every open session's plugins
Fixed headless and SDK sessions making a separate model call for every background task that finished; completions already queued are now answered by one call
Fixed the Bash tool re-sourcing the shell profile (a multi-second stall on the next command) after every plugin reload; it now does so only when the plugins' bin/ directories changed
Fixed plugins with a top-level $schema in hooks/hooks.json showing an "unknown key" notice
Fixed MCP connection errors and the MCP login tool's description showing secrets resolved from ${VAR} placeholders in MCP configs
Fixed Bash permission checks for commands that loop over or assign certain special shell variables; these commands now ask for permission
Fixed worktree-isolated sessions accepting Bash commands with certain nested shell expansions; these are now refused
Fixed the Edit permission prompt preview sometimes showing a different location than the approved edit in files with multi-byte characters
Fixed background commands being stopped after 30 idle minutes on machines under mild memory pressure; they're now stopped only when memory is critically low, and the debug log says why
Fixed a message a subagent sends to the main session disappearing from the Claude Desktop transcript after a relaunch
Fixed a plugin loaded from a .zip being served from a stale extraction after several overlapping reloads
Fixed a sub-agent's progress summary being replaced by a runaway multi-paragraph reply
Improved startup in --input-format stream-json sessions: the first turn no longer waits up to 2s for still-connecting MCP servers whose tools tool search defers; they arrive on a later turn
Improved Monitor tool notifications: a script's final output and its exit now arrive as one notification instead of two, saving a model turn
Improved Artifact tool errors: when you are not signed in to claude.ai the terminal now says so on the first attempt, and Claude is told to stop retrying a rejected call sooner
Improved artifact publishing: a publish built on an older version is stopped before it is sent, with the newer page to merge

…