Claude Code 2.1.83: Policy Fragments, Transcript Search

TL;DR

• Managed settings now support drop-in policy fragments via managed-settings.d/ directory
• New hook events (CwdChanged, FileChanged) for reactive environment management
• Transcript search with / key, plus credential scrubbing for subprocess environments
• Major fixes: UI freezes on startup, large file diffs timing out, macOS exit hangs, and 30+ other bugs

New

• Managed settings drop-in directory — managed-settings.d/ lets teams deploy independent policy fragments that merge alphabetically instead of maintaining a single JSON file.
• Hook events for environment changes — CwdChanged and FileChanged events enable reactive management like direnv integration.
• Sandbox failure mode — sandbox.failIfUnavailable setting exits with error when sandbox is enabled but cannot start, instead of silently running unsandboxed.
• Credential scrubbing for subprocesses — CLAUDE_CODE_SUBPROCESS_ENV_SCRUB=1 strips Anthropic and cloud provider credentials from Bash tool, hooks, and MCP stdio server environments.
• Transcript search — Press / in transcript mode (Ctrl+O) to search; use n/N to step through matches.
• Image reference chips — Pasted images now insert [Image #N] chips at cursor for positional reference in prompts.
• Agent auto-submit — Agents can declare initialPrompt in frontmatter to auto-submit a first turn.
• Rebindable commands — chat:killAgents and chat:fastMode now rebindable via ~/.claude/keybindings.json.
• External editor alias — Ctrl+X Ctrl+E now opens external editor (readline-native binding; Ctrl+G still works).
• Protocol handler control — disableDeepLinkRegistration setting prevents claude-cli:// protocol handler registration.
• Rewind picker in VSCode — Press Esc twice or use /rewind to open keyboard-navigable rewind picker.

Fixed

• UI freeze on startup when voice input enabled — native audio module now loads lazily (1–8 second freeze eliminated).
• Large file diffs causing hangs — diffs now time out after 5 seconds and fall back gracefully.
• Claude Code hanging on exit on macOS.
• Screen flashing blank after idle periods.
• Startup regression where Claude Code waited ~3s for claude.ai MCP config fetch.
• --mcp-config CLI flag bypassing allowedMcpServers/deniedMcpServers managed policy enforcement.
• Claude.ai MCP connectors (Slack, Gmail, etc.) unavailable in single-turn --print mode.
• caffeinate process not terminating on exit, preventing Mac from sleeping.
• Bash mode not activating when tab-accepting !-prefixed command suggestions.
• Stale slash command selection showing wrong highlighted command.
• /config menu showing both search cursor and list selection simultaneously.
• Background subagents becoming invisible after context compaction, causing duplicate spawns.
• Background agent tasks stuck in "running" state when git or API calls hang during cleanup.
• --channels showing "not currently available" on first launch after upgrade.
• Uninstalled plugin hooks continuing to fire until next session.
• Queued commands flickering during streaming responses.
• Slash commands sent to model as text when submitted during message processing.
• Scrollback jumping when collapsed read/search groups finish offscreen.
• Scrollback jumping to top when model starts or stops thinking.
• SDK session history loss on resume caused by hook progress/attachment messages forking parentUuid chain.
• Copy-on-select not firing when releasing mouse outside terminal window.
• Ghost characters in height-constrained lists when items overflow.
• Ctrl+B interfering with readline backward-char — now only fires when foreground task can be backgrounded.
• Tool result files never cleaned up, ignoring cleanupPeriodDays setting.
• Space key swallowed for up to 3 seconds after releasing voice hold-to-talk.
• ALSA library errors corrupting terminal UI on Linux without audio hardware (Docker, headless, WSL1).
• Voice mode SoX detection failing on Termux/Android.
• Remote Control sessions showing as Idle in web session list while actively running.
• Footer navigation selecting invisible Remote Control pill in config-driven mode.
• Memory leak in remote sessions where tool use IDs accumulate indefinitely.
• Mouse tracking escape sequences leaking to shell prompt after exit.
• API 400 error when pasted image queued during failing tool call.
• MCP tool calls hanging indefinitely when SSE connection drops mid-call.
• Remote Control session titles showing raw XML when background agent completed before first user message.
• Remote sessions forgetting conversation history after container restart.
• Remote sessions requiring re-login on transient auth errors instead of retrying.
• rg ... | wc -l and similar piped commands hanging in sandbox mode on Linux.
• Voice input hold-to-talk not activating with CJK IME full-width space.
• --worktree hanging silently when worktree name contained forward slash.
• [VSCode] Session history not loading correctly when reopening via URL or after restart.
• [VSCode] "Fork conversation from here" and rewind actions failing silently after session cache goes stale.

Improved

• Bedrock SDK cold-start latency by overlapping profile fetch with other boot work.
• --resume memory usage and startup latency on large sessions.
• Plugin startup — commands, skills, and agents now load from disk cache without re-fetching.
• Remote Control session titles — AI-generated titles appear within seconds of first message.
• WebFetch now identifies as Claude-User for site operator allowlisting via robots.txt.
• WebFetch peak memory usage for large pages.
• Scrollback resets in long sessions — reduced from once per turn to once per ~50 messages.
• claude -p startup with unauthenticated HTTP/SSE MCP servers (~600ms saved).
• Bash ghost-text suggestions now include just-submitted commands immediately.
• Non-streaming fallback token cap (21k → 64k) and timeout (120s → 300s local) to reduce truncation.
• Interrupting prompt before response now auto-restores input for editing and resubmission.
• /status now works while Claude is responding instead of being queued.
• Plugin MCP servers duplicating org-managed connectors now suppressed instead of running second connection.
• --bare -p (SDK pattern) ~14% faster to API request.
• MEMORY.md index now truncates at 25KB as well as 200 lines.
• [VSCode] Spinner turns red with "Not responding" when backend hasn't responded for 60 seconds.

Changed

• "Stop all background agents" keybinding moved from Ctrl+F to Ctrl+X Ctrl+K to stop shadowing readline forward-char.
• Linux: now respects XDG_DATA_HOME when registering claude-cli:// protocol handler.
• Ctrl+L now clears screen and forces full redraw — use this to recover when Cmd+K leaves UI partially blank.

Deprecated

• TaskOutput tool — use Read on background task's output file path instead.

New Settings & Environment Variables

• CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONSTREAMING_FALLBACK — disable non-streaming fallback when streaming fails.
• Plugin options (manifest.userConfig) now available externally — plugins can prompt for configuration at enable time, with sensitive: true values stored in keychain (macOS) or protected credentials file (other platforms).
• Claude can now reference on-disk path of clipboard-pasted images for file operations.
• Disabled AskUserQuestion and plan-mode tools when --channels is active.

Update via brew upgrade claude-code or download from code.claude.com.

Source: Claude Code