Claude Code v2.1.212: /fork Becomes Background Session Copy + Runaway Loop Guards

Anthropic shipped Claude Code v2.1.212 with a behavioral change to /fork and new safeguards against runaway search and delegation loops. Here are the details.
Key Changes
- /fork now copies your conversation into a new background session (appears as its own row in
claude agents). The old behavior — launching an in-session subagent — is now/subtask. - Auto-mode reset:
claude auto-mode resetrestores the default auto-mode configuration. Use--yesto skip the confirmation prompt. - WebSearch limit: New session-wide cap of 200 WebSearch tool calls (default). Tune via
CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_WEB_SEARCHES_PER_SESSION. - Subagent cap: Per-session limit of 200 subagent spawns. Override with
CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_SUBAGENTS_PER_SESSION. Running/clearresets the budget. - MCP auto-background: MCP tool calls exceeding 2 minutes automatically move to the background. Configure the threshold (in ms) or disable via
CLAUDE_CODE_MCP_AUTO_BACKGROUND_MS. - Improved
/resume: Typing/resumein the agent view opens a picker of past sessions — including deleted ones — and resumes your pick as a background session.
Notable Fixes
- Plan mode no longer auto-runs file-modifying bash commands (e.g.,
touch,rm) without permission prompt or SDKcanUseToolcallback. - Fixed worktree creation following a repository-committed symlink at
.claude/worktreesthat could create files outside the repository. - SIGTERM during a running Bash tool in print/SDK mode now aborts the turn, kills the process tree, and exits with code 143.
- Windows fix:
/backgroundandclaude --bgno longer fail when Group Policy blocks PowerShell 5.1; the daemon now prefers PowerShell 7. - Shell mode (
!) now executes commands containing file paths even while the path autocomplete popup is open. /ultrareviewnow accepts PR references like#123,PR 123, and pasted URLs; error hints name the command you typed. It also fetches branches from origin and suggests closest branch name on typos.- Hosted sessions no longer fail at startup when repository settings configure mTLS certs, extra CA bundles, or OAuth scopes — these transport settings are now ignored with a warning.
- Fixed diff previews losing line numbers and +/- markers in narrow layouts.
- Fixed false
"Command timed out"on exit code 143.
Full details in the release notes.
📖 Read the full source: GitHub Claude-Code
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