Claude Code 2.1.200: Default permission is now Manual, and questions won't

Release notes

FEATURE

Default permission is now Manual, and questions won't quietly auto-skip

Claude now asks you before taking action by default, and won't auto-continue if you don't reply. Across the CLI, VS Code, and JetBrains, the permission mode is now explicitly "Manual". When it pops up a dialog asking you a question (AskUserQuestion), it will no longer silently assume you agreed if you step away; by default, it will wait patiently for your answer, unless you specifically opt into the "idle timeout auto-continue" feature in your settings. It's like a sports coach who used to swap players autonomously but is now required by default to get the head coach's signature before making any substitutions, strictly waiting until that signature is secured.

BUGFIX

Background tasks wake up properly after sleep and survive crashes

We've cured background agents of their bad waking habits. Previously, if your computer went to sleep and woke back up, a running task might silently stall and refuse to work; and if a stalled task respawned, it might foolishly re-run a step you had explicitly cancelled with Esc. These confusing behaviors are gone. Additionally, if the program crashed and left behind a stale lockfile (daemon.lock) whose process ID got recycled by the OS, the agent used to get confused and refuse to ever start again; this detection logic is now fixed. Subagents cut off by a rate limit will also now fail properly instead of pretending they finished successfully and returning an empty void. It's like a security guard waking up from a nap: they used to forget their patrol route or see an old name badge on the floor and refuse to start their shift; now they properly verify their status and resume duty flawlessly.

FEATURE

Accessibility upgrades and a flicker-free terminal experience

The experience for users relying on screen readers and magnifiers is now vastly improved. The system automatically hides purely decorative symbols, reads complex transcript symbols as short, descriptive labels, and parses nested tables line-by-line as Header: value, making it much easier to digest. The MCP (a protocol letting AI use external tools) server list also now correctly tracks focus for accessibility tools. For those using tmux (a terminal multiplexer), we enabled synchronized output so the screen no longer flickers like a strobe light; and raw control codes will no longer bleed into the agent view. It's like an audio tour guide who used to confusingly describe every decorative carving on the wall; now they gracefully summarize the important exhibits, and the museum's flickering lights have finally been replaced.

FEATURE

Foolproofing: Silent audio doesn't error, and stalled installs explain why

You will now see accurate error reasons when voice dictation captures silence or an installation fails due to out-of-memory. If your recording ends up capturing pure silence, the system used to misleadingly throw a "Voice connection failed" error; now it understands you just didn't record any sound, and the installer script will explicitly explain what happened if the OS kills it for memory instead of failing mysteriously. For plugins, the --plugin-dir flag now properly loads agents even if placed after the agents command, and project-scoped plugins won't get lost just because you are using a Git worktree (parallel working copies). Additionally, misformatting the MCP server list in your settings file will no longer crash the entire program at startup. It's like going to the store: the cashier used to just say "connection failed" when your card was empty, but now they directly tell you "insufficient funds" so you aren't left guessing.

Original changelog

Original changelogDefault permission is now Manual, and questions won't quietly auto-skip

Changed `AskUserQuestion` dialogs to no longer auto-continue by default; opt into an idle timeout via `/config`
Changed the "default" permission mode to "Manual" across the CLI, `--help`, VS Code, and JetBrains; `--permission-mode manual` and `"defaultMode": "manual"` are accepted alongside `default`

Original changelogBackground tasks wake up properly after sleep and survive crashes

Fixed background sessions silently stopping mid-turn after sleep/wake or when reopening a stalled session
Fixed background sessions re-running a turn cancelled with Esc after a stall respawn
Fixed background agents never starting again after a crash left a stale `daemon.lock` whose PID the OS reused
Fixed background-agent daemon handover so a reinstalled older build can no longer take over the daemon; build recency is now judged by the version's embedded build timestamp
Fixed background-agent roster issues: transient corruption permanently disabling orphan cleanup, older binaries not preserving fields written by newer versions, and socket auth tokens being stripped during daemon restarts
Fixed subagents cut off by a rate limit before producing any text output returning an empty result instead of failing cleanly

Original changelogAccessibility upgrades and a flicker-free terminal experience

Improved screen-reader output: decorative glyphs are now hidden, transcript symbols read as short labels, and nested tables read as `Header: value.` lines
Fixed `/mcp` server list not tracking focus for screen readers and magnifiers
Fixed rendering flicker under tmux 3.4+ by enabling synchronized terminal output
Fixed control bytes from background-agent output reaching the terminal in the agent view

Original changelogFoolproofing: Silent audio doesn't error, and stalled installs explain why

Improved the install script to explain when installation is killed by the system running out of memory
Fixed voice dictation showing a misleading "Voice connection failed" message when a recording captures no audio
Fixed a crash at startup when `disabledMcpServers` or `enabledMcpServers` in `.claude.json` is set to a non-array value
Fixed `claude agents --plugin-dir <dir>` not showing the plugin's agents and skills in the agent view when the flag is placed after `agents`
Fixed project-scoped plugins not loading correctly from git worktrees of the same repository