Claude Code v2.1.200: Key Fixes and Permission Mode Changes

Anthropic released Claude Code v2.1.200 with several behavioral changes and bug fixes targeting background agents, permission handling, and terminal compatibility. This release is available now via GitHub.

Permission Mode Changes

• AskUserQuestion dialogs no longer auto-continue by default. Opt into an idle timeout via /config.
• The "default" permission mode is now Manual across CLI, --help, VS Code, and JetBrains. Use --permission-mode manual or "defaultMode": "manual" in config (note: default is still accepted but maps to manual).

Bug Fixes

• Startup crash fixed when disabledMcpServers or enabledMcpServers in .claude.json is set to a non-array value.
• Background sessions now properly resume after sleep/wake or reopening a stalled session, and a cancelled turn with Esc no longer re-runs after a stall respawn.
• Background agents no longer fail to start due to a stale daemon.lock whose PID the OS reused.
• Daemon handover now uses the version's embedded build timestamp to prevent older builds from taking over the daemon.
• Roster issues fixed: transient corruption no longer permanently disables orphan cleanup, older binaries preserve fields written by newer versions, socket auth tokens are no longer stripped during daemon restarts.
• Subagents cut off by a rate limit before producing text now fail cleanly instead of returning empty results.
• Control bytes from background-agent output no longer reach the terminal in agent view.
• claude agents --plugin-dir <dir> now works when the flag is placed after agents.
• Project-scoped plugins load correctly from git worktrees of the same repository.
• /mcp server list now tracks focus for screen readers and magnifiers.
• Voice dictation no longer shows a misleading "Voice connection failed" message when no audio is captured.

Improvements

• Rendering flicker under tmux 3.4+ fixed by enabling synchronized terminal output.
• Screen-reader output improved: decorative glyphs hidden, transcript symbols read as short labels, nested tables read as Header: value. lines.
• Install script now explains when installation is killed by the system running out of memory.