Claude Code v2.1.302: Auto Mode Model + Idle Compaction

Claude Code v2.1.302 is out. Mostly a bug-fix release with two new knobs worth knowing about, plus a pile of fixes around plugins, MCP, and Windows file writes.

What's new

CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_MODEL lets you pick the model the client-side auto mode classifier uses. It does not affect server-side auto mode — those are separate code paths.
A new Idle compaction row in /config to turn idle compaction off or back on. The notices shown after an idle compaction now include instructions for turning it off.
/design-sync and /design-login now print a notice that standalone Claude Design (claude.ai/design) shuts down by December 14, 2026.

Notable fixes

Read tool memory blowup: the Read tool was loading image files of any size — including pipes or devices named like an image — entirely into memory. Sources over 128 MB are now refused.
Vertex / Bedrock mid-session switch: requests were failing with diagnostics: Extra inputs are not permitted after switching providers mid-session.
Gateway-prefixed Opus: /autocompact and /effort were saving to the wrong model when a gateway named Opus 4 or 4.1 with a prefix, e.g. anthropic/claude-opus-4-1.
Prompt cache miss: a tool added mid-session and reloaded via ToolSearch or after compaction no longer busts the prompt cache.
Plugin subcommands: claude plugin and friends could exit before a queued settings/config write finished, losing the change or leaving a .tmp file behind.
reftable ref format: plugin marketplaces re-cloned on every refresh and newly installed git plugins showed version unknown when git defaults to reftable. Also fixes bad object refs/heads fetches on self-hosted runners reusing a reftable checkout.
PowerShell tool: now finds commands in a plugin's bin/ folder, and no longer errors when a search that finds nothing (rg, grep, findstr, git grep) is piped into Select-Object or another formatting cmdlet.
MCP protocol 2026-07-28: servers negotiating that version but omitting resultType, ttlMs, or cacheScope no longer show zero tools or fail every call.
Credit-billed models: prompt suggestions are now skipped after a reply billed to credits, so you stop burning usage credits on models your plan pays for only with credits.
OTel: classifier_category was missing from tool_decision events for most auto mode classifier blocks. Also fixed new tool_decision attributes pushing out tool_use_id, tool_source, and tool_parameters when OTEL_LOGRECORD_ATTRIBUTE_COUNT_LIMIT is low.
Windows exFAT/FAT32: every file write was refused or prompted for projects on those drives, including sessions started with --plugin-dir.
Worktree isolation: no longer refuses to create or resume worktrees under git 2.56+ when a stray .git file points at a nonexistent directory.

Improvements

Plugin command and agent files now take far fewer filesystem calls to load — biggest win on Windows, noticeable at startup with many plugins enabled.
Server-side auto mode: a conversation too long for the safety check is now compacted instead of having every checked tool call denied.
Background sessions reopened from another folder with no LLM gateway now say why, instead of a truncated message.

If you run Claude Code with plugins on Windows, or switch between Anthropic API and Vertex/Bedrock mid-session, this is worth pulling.

📖 Read the full source: GitHub Claude-Code