Claude Code Changelog: What Changed Recently and How to Keep Up
Claude Code ships a new version most days. How to check yours in the Mac app or the terminal, where the official release notes live, and the changes from the last two weeks that change how you work.
Shadman RahmanPrincipal PMA new version most days
Claude Code updates fast. Between September 24 and October 7, 2026 it shipped twelve versions, from 2.1.282 to 2.1.293. Most lines in each release are bug fixes you'll never notice. A few change a default you rely on, and those are easy to miss.
This page does two things: shows you how to keep up in about a minute, and pulls out the recent changes that matter for day-to-day work.
Check your version and read the notes
In the Mac app
- Your version: click Claude in the menu bar, then About Claude. Click the number to copy it. The app has its own version number, separate from the 2.1.x Claude Code versions in the changelog.
- Updates: the app updates itself when you launch it. To check by hand, choose Claude → Check for Updates, then restart the app.
- Release notes: Anthropic's weekly What's new digest calls out Desktop features by name. Every fix and change, app or not, is on the changelog page, generated from
CHANGELOG.mdon GitHub.
From the terminal
These work in any terminal, including the one inside the Mac app (press Ctrl+` to open it).
claude --versionInside a terminal session, /release-notes opens a version picker. Choose a version to read its notes, or show them all. The notes appear in your transcript without being sent to Claude.
Updates download in the background and apply the next time you launch, never in the middle of a session. To update by hand, run claude update.
Read Added and Changed, skim Fixed
Every line in a release starts with a verb. Added is new capability. Changed is where a default you depend on moves. Fixed is usually safe to skip unless you hit that bug.
What changed recently, by what it affects
Checked against the official changelog on October 8, 2026, up to version 2.1.293.
Models
- Haiku 5.5 is the default Haiku on the Anthropic API, with a 1M context window (2.1.293, October 7).
- Sonnet 5.5 is the default Sonnet on the Anthropic API, also with 1M context (2.1.284, September 28).
If you pin a model by its full ID, nothing changed for you. If you use the haiku or sonnet alias, you're on the new model now. See model selection.
Permissions
- New sessions start in auto mode when you haven't picked a permission mode. This now applies in the terminal and VS Code on every plan and provider (2.1.284).
permissions.defaultModein your settings still overrides it. See permissions. - Chrome can no longer be switched on by a project's settings files. Use
--chrome,/chrome, or your user settings (2.1.290). - More shell commands ask first.
pyrightand more forms ofpsnow ask for permission instead of running as read-only (2.1.290).
Context and compaction
/autocompactremembers its setting per model, so switching models no longer carries one model's window over to another (2.1.288).- 1M context reaches more setups. Opus 4.7 and later and Fable now get 1M by default on Bedrock, Vertex, Foundry and the Claude apps gateway (2.1.287), and so do sessions behind a custom
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL(2.1.285). If your gateway stops at 200K, run/autocompact 200kor setCLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_1M_CONTEXT=1. - Path-scoped rules and nested
CLAUDE.mdfiles now load when Claude looks at a file withcat,head,tail,sed -norgrepthrough Bash, not only through the Read tool (2.1.293).
Agents and automation
- Subagents can run at their own effort level. The Agent tool takes an effort parameter (2.1.292).
--baregot stricter. It connects only the MCP servers named on the command line, sends no system reminders and starts no background tasks (2.1.286). See headless mode.- Background shell commands have a time limit only in unattended runs:
-p, the Agent SDK, CI and cloud sessions. In the terminal, desktop app and VS Code they run without one (2.1.288).
Handy new tools
/doctor prompt-auditchecks yourCLAUDE.mdfiles, skills, agents and commands for prompting patterns written for older models (2.1.283). Worth one run if your setup predates the 5.5 models./mcp reconnect allretries every MCP server that failed to connect or needs sign-in, in one go (2.1.284).- Cleared a long prompt with Ctrl+C by accident? Press Up on the empty prompt to bring it back, pasted text and images included (2.1.288).
claude --desktopopens the Claude desktop app on the current folder (2.1.285).CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_WEB_FETCHturns off the WebFetch tool (2.1.285). More in environment variables.- Claude Mods let plugins modify deeper parts of Claude Code's behavior (2.1.287). See how to mod Claude Code.
Upgrades and your cache
An upgrade usually changes the system prompt or tool list, so the first session after it starts with a cold cache. That first turn is slower and costs more, then things settle. The Mac app updates when you launch it, so that launch is when the cold start happens. In the terminal, if you need upgrades to land at a time you choose, set DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1 and run claude update yourself. More on what breaks the cache in prompt caching.
Related
- Troubleshooting: when an update breaks something
- Environment variables: the update switches and more
Source: Anthropic's Claude Code changelog, versions 2.1.282 to 2.1.293, read October 8, 2026.
New guides, when they ship
One email, roughly weekly. CLAUDE.md templates, workflows I actually use, and the cut-for-length stuff that does not make the public guides. One-click unsubscribe.
Or read Product Field Notes, the Substack
