defaultMode: "auto" in settings.json does not activate auto mode on session start (Max plan, Opus 4.7, macOS)

[Brimey]

Summary

permissions.defaultMode: "auto" is correctly parsed (visible in /status) but my sessions do not actually start in auto mode. I have to manually Shift+Tab or launch with --permission-mode auto each session.

Environment

• Plan: Max
• Model: Opus 4.7 (1M context)
• Claude Code version: 2.1.111
• OS: macOS 15 (Darwin 24.6.0)
• Provider: Anthropic (OAuth)

Settings

~/.claude/settings.json:

"permissions": {
  "defaultMode": "auto",
  "allow": [...],
  "deny": [...]
}

Repro

1. Set permissions.defaultMode: "auto" in user settings
2. Fully exit Claude Code
3. Start a fresh session: claude
4. Check status bar

Expected

Session starts in auto mode. Status bar shows "auto mode on".

Actual

Session starts in acceptEdits or resumes prior mode. Status bar shows "⏵⏵ accept edits on". /status Config correctly reports "Default permission mode: Auto mode", so the value is read, just not applied.

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. effortLevel setting in settings.json not applied on startup #45453
2. [BUG] Dispatch-spawned Claude Code sessions ignore user's model and permission-mode settings — no way to change from mobile #39889
3. getInitialPermissionMode() inspect() ignores Machine-level settings from devcontainer.json #36237

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