Claude Code v2.1.211: Subagent Text Forwarding, Permission Fixes, and Vim Mode Changes

Claude Code v2.1.211 is out with a mix of new features, security fixes, and quality-of-life improvements. The headline addition is the --forward-subagent-text flag (and corresponding CLAUDE_CODE_FORWARD_SUBAGENT_TEXT environment variable) that includes subagent text and thinking in stream-json output — useful for headless or scripted workflows that need visibility into subagent reasoning.

Key Changes

• Subagent text forwarding: New flag --forward-subagent-text / env var CLAUDE_CODE_FORWARD_SUBAGENT_TEXT includes subagent text and thinking in stream-json output.
• Security fix for permission previews: Permission previews relayed to chat channels now neutralize bidirectional-override, zero-width, and look-alike quote characters, preventing tool inputs from visually altering the approval message.
• PreToolUse hook 'ask' decision honored: Auto mode no longer overrides a PreToolUse hook's ask decision for unsandboxed Bash. A hook ask now floors the decision at a prompt.
• Subagent model override persistence: Subagents spawned with an explicit model override no longer revert to the parent's model when resumed or sent a follow-up message.
• Vim mode improvements: s and S (substitute char/line) now work in NORMAL mode, matching vim behavior.
• Session cost reset: /clear now resets the session cost counter — the statusline's cost starts at $0 after /clear.
• Integer env vars: Environment variables for timeouts, token budgets, and retry counts now accept scientific notation and digit separators like 1e6 and 64_000.
• Background agent reporting: Improved — Claude now reports the status of still-running agents and waits for real completion instead of fabricating results.
• Prompt caching regression fixed: Fixed a caching regression on Bedrock, Vertex, Mantle, and Foundry that billed the trailing system context block as fresh input tokens on every request.
• File upload validation: Filenames ending in DOS device suffix (.prn) or trailing dot are now accepted; files with multiple hard links are refused.
• Always allow rules: Permission rules now save at the repository root, so approvals granted in a git worktree persist across sessions and worktrees.

This release also fixes a number of edge cases: parallel sessions logging out after wake-from-sleep, plugin MCP servers not reconnecting after idle web sessions, subagent model overrides reverting, nested .claude/rules/*.md files loading when excluded, and more.

For VSCode users, the Remote Control banner has been updated to clarify what it does. Claude in Chrome gets hardened file-upload path validation and a working save_to_disk on screenshot actions (now writes the image to disk and returns the path).

If you're using Claude Code on Vertex or Bedrock, note the fix for a spurious fallback notice when a model is explicitly configured — the client no longer attempts the default Opus model at startup.