v2.1.169

What's changed

• Added --safe-mode flag (and CLAUDE_CODE_SAFE_MODE) to start Claude Code with all customizations (CLAUDE.md, plugins, skills, hooks, MCP servers) disabled for troubleshooting
• Added /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
• Fixed Up/Down arrows jumping to command history past the wrapped rows of a long input line — they now move through each visual row first, and history recall enters at the near edge
• Fixed enterprise managed MCP policies (allowedMcpServers/deniedMcpServers) not being enforced on reconnect, IDE-typed configs, --mcp-config servers during the first session after install, or before remote settings loaded; also 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 appearing to hang on Windows while waiting for the slash-command/skill scan (regression in 2.1.161)
• Fixed Remote Control getting stuck on "reconnecting" after resuming a session when an OAuth token refresh happened at the same time
• 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 without bound; 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
• /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
• Auto-updater on Windows now stops retrying within a session once claude.exe is held by another process
• 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
• Added a tip suggesting claude agents when running multiple concurrent sessions