Tuesday 19 May — Claude Code 2.1.144

Claude Code

/model now changes only the current session. Press d in the model picker to set a persistent default for new sessions. If you were relying on /model to change your default globally, that workflow is gone.
MCP servers with paginated tool lists were silently dropping every tool after the first page. If an MCP server felt like it was missing capabilities, this is likely why. Fixed now, no action needed, but worth re-testing any workarounds you built.
Startup no longer hangs up to 75 seconds when the API is unreachable. Side-channel calls now time out after 15 seconds. If you use Claude Code behind a VPN, firewall, or captive portal, cold starts should feel dramatically faster. (more below)
Search tools produce fewer false errors. head/tail file views now count as a read-before-edit check, and a "no matches" exit code from egrep, fgrep, git grep, or git diff is no longer surfaced as a command failure.

New in 2.1.144

2.1.144 (May 19, 2026)

Added /resume support for background sessions, sessions started via claude --bg or agent view now appear alongside interactive ones, marked with bg
Added elapsed duration to background subagent completion notifications (e.g. "Agent completed . 3h 2m 5s")
The /plugin browse and discover panes now show when a plugin was last updated
/model now changes the model for the current session only; press d in the model picker to set a default for new sessions
Renamed "extra usage" to "usage credits" across CLI copy; /extra-usage is now /usage-credits (old name still works)
Fixed startup hanging up to 75s when api.anthropic.com is unreachable (captive portal, firewall, VPN issues), side-channel API calls now time out after 15s
Fixed garbled terminal output after a missed window-resize event (e.g. dragging a VS Code split-pane divider), now self-heals on the next frame instead of requiring Ctrl+L
Fixed progressive terminal display corruption (stale/garbled glyphs) that could appear in very long sessions and only cleared on terminal resize or restart
Reduced terminal rendering glitches in VS Code by reducing spinner animation color count
Fixed macOS background sessions crashing with "exit 1 before init" when the project lives under a Full Disk Access-protected folder (regression in 2.1.143)
Fixed an unrecoverable conversation when reading a file whose image extension doesn't match its contents (e.g. HTML saved as .png), now falls back to text
Fewer spurious tool errors during search: head/tail file views now satisfy the read-before-edit check, and a "no matches" result (exit code 1) from egrep, fgrep, git grep, or git diff is no longer reported as a command failure
Fixed /branch failing with "No conversation to branch" after entering a worktree or in some background sessions
Fixed pressing Escape in the AskUserQuestion notes field aborting the turn instead of returning to answer selection
Fixed model selection not applying when changed via the IDE model picker or applyFlagSettings after startup
Resumed sessions now keep the model they were using instead of picking up another session's /model choice
Fixed Bedrock and Vertex users unable to select "Opus (1M context)" from the /model picker (regression in v2.1.129)
Fixed remote-session login failing with "Can't access this organization" for users with forceLoginMethod and forceLoginOrgUUID set
Fixed MCP servers with paginated tools/list responses only returning the first page, silently dropping tools
Fixed MCP images with unsupported MIME types (e.g. SVG) breaking the conversation, now saved to disk and referenced in the tool result
Fixed file descriptor exhaustion when a build runs inside a skill directory, non-.md files no longer trigger skill reloads
Fixed session title being generated from plugin monitor output instead of the user's first prompt
Fixed Skill tool failing with permission error in headless mode (regression in v2.1.141)
Fixed plugins enabled in your own settings showing "not cached" errors after first load on a fresh machine; plugins enabled only by a project's .claude/settings.json now show an actionable claude plugin install hint
Fixed claude mcp list silently reporting no servers when .mcp.json can't be parsed (e.g. using VS Code's "servers" key instead of "mcpServers"), now shows configuration errors
Fixed background side-queries on custom ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL setups and Bedrock Mantle not using Haiku, now falls back correctly when a first-party API key is configured or no Haiku model is set
Fixed scrolling in attached background sessions on Windows, PgUp/PgDn, mouse wheel, and Ctrl+O transcript navigation now work
Fixed a crash when closing the terminal while attached to a background session
Fixed ! <cmd> exec sessions not responding to Ctrl+C while attached, now interrupts the running command
Fixed agent view shell-command rows lingering under Working after completion, and pressing Enter on a completed row re-running the command after its output expired
Fixed on Windows, pressing left arrow in claude agents leaving the list unresponsive to keyboard input
Fixed ghost characters at the left edge when switching panes in Agent View on Windows Terminal with CJK content
/bg and left-arrow detach now preserve directories added via /add-dir
Fixed Edit/Write refusing with "background session hasn't isolated its changes yet" right after detaching a session that was already editing in place
Fixed claude respawn <id> on a stopped background session showing "stopped" instead of running
Fixed /resume picker not showing sessions forked from a background session
Fixed opening a session from claude agents or running claude logs <id> hanging when the background service is unresponsive, now times out after 10s with a recovery hint
Fixed background Bash tasks spawned by subagents staying "Running" in SDK task panels after the process exits
Fixed completed or stopped background sessions briefly failing to wake being permanently marked as a startup crash
Fixed markdown links in claude agents attached sessions rendering as plain text instead of clickable hyperlinks
Fixed custom spinnerVerbs applying to the post-turn duration message, past-tense built-ins like "Worked for 5s" are restored there
claude agents / --bg rejection messages now name the specific gate (non-TTY, env var, or setting) instead of a generic message
claude --bg --name <label> now echoes the name in the post-spawn confirmation
claude agents: renaming a background session with Ctrl+R now updates the attached session's banner immediately
Background session worktree isolation guard now applies for non-git VCS users with WorktreeCreate hooks configured
Plugin marketplace add/update now respects CLAUDE_CODE_PLUGIN_PREFER_HTTPS
/plugin now returns to the Installed list after enabling, disabling, or uninstalling a plugin
/doctor now shows an exec-form example when a command hook is missing the command field
Skill-listing truncation is no longer shown as a startup notification, run /doctor for the full breakdown
Improved recovery from rare pre-response stream stalls, now retries streaming once instead of falling back to a slower non-streaming request
Improved SDK/headless MCP startup: pre-wait now overlaps startup instead of blocking before the first turn (up to 2s faster with slow MCP servers)
The post-survey follow-up hint now appears after every non-dismiss survey response with context-aware copy, making it easier to share more detail via /feedback

Notes

`/model` scope change completes a multi-version isolation effort

2.1.141 fixed /model in one session silently changing the autocompact threshold in other concurrent sessions. 2.1.144 goes further: /model is now purely session-scoped, and the new d key in the picker is the only way to change the persistent default. This is the cleanest breaking-habit change in the release. If you have muscle memory around /model as a global setter, retrain now.

Startup timeout: from 75 seconds to 15

The 75-second hang was caused by side-channel API calls (analytics, update checks) that had no timeout at all. Behind a captive portal or corporate firewall that silently drops HTTPS, the TCP stack waited for the OS default (typically 75 seconds on Linux, 60 on macOS). The fix caps these at 15 seconds. The main API connection path already had its own timeout, so this only affected the auxiliary calls that run at launch.

MCP pagination fix may resurface tools you forgot you had