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whats-new.md 2026-10-19 23:58 UTC to 2026-10-20 23:00 UTC

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2026
Tue 20 23:00 Thu 22 22:58 Fri 23 22:59

What's new

A weekly digest of notable Claude Code features, with code snippets, demos, and context on why they matter.

The weekly dev digest highlights the features most likely to change how you work. Each entry includes runnable code, a short demo, and a link to the full docs. For every bug fix and minor improvement, see the changelog.

Week 37

claude plugin eval: run your plugin against a suite of test cases, score the results, and compare against a no-plugin baseline. claude plugin eval init drafts the cases and graders for you.

Also this week: pop any Claude Code Desktop pane out into its own window and dock it back later; the maxEffortLevel setting caps the effort level on every provider; and a page that WebFetch hasn't finished downloading within five minutes fails instead of hanging.

Read the Week 37 digest →

Week 36

Claude Fable 5.1: available in Claude Code with a 1M-token context window.

Also this week: on Pro and Max plans, computer use in the Desktop app works in the background on macOS while you keep working; in fullscreen rendering, /diff opens a live panel beside the conversation that refreshes as Claude edits; and /skill-doctor shows what each of your skills costs in context and how often it gets used.

Read the Week 36 digest →

Week 35

Resume terminal sessions in the Desktop app: type /resume in the Claude Code Desktop prompt box to pick up any session you started from the CLI, with the full conversation and context intact.

Also this week: Claude-drafted feedback has Claude write up a feedback report when something goes wrong in a session, which you review and send from /feedback; --restricted starts a session without the command-running tools or your user and project settings, for evaluation harnesses on shared machines; and the modelPicker setting controls which models the /model picker lists.

Read the Week 35 digest →

Week 34

/design: a research preview that brings Claude Design's artboard workflow into the CLI and Claude Code Desktop, built on artifacts, so Claude drafts editable artboards for your UI and implements the one you pick.

Also this week: the built-in Concise output style makes Claude lead with the result and skip preamble; any machine running claude remote-control shows up as a device card on your phone so you can start a session on it from the Code tab; and ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_MODEL sets the model new sessions start on.

Read the Week 34 digest →

Week 33

Auto-continue after a usage limit on Desktop: when you hit your session limit in Claude Code Desktop, check Auto-continue when limits reset on the limit card and the app retries the interrupted turn once the limit resets.

Also this week: fork mode is on by default in interactive sessions, so Claude can delegate a side task to a subagent that inherits the full conversation; GitLab merge request URLs work with --worktree and the claude agents view, and marketplaces clone bare gitlab.com URLs; and typing @ in the prompt mentions another Claude session by name.

Read the Week 33 digest →

Week 32

Cross-session messaging: on macOS and Linux, your Claude Code sessions can now message each other, so Claude passes a finding or a decision from one session to another instead of you re-explaining it.

Also this week: self-hosted environments run Claude Code cloud sessions on infrastructure your organization operates, in public beta on Team and Enterprise plans; auto mode becomes the default permission mode for new sessions on Pro, Max, and Team plans starting August 14; and the VS Code extension gets Focus view.

Read the Week 32 digest →

Week 30

Claude Opus 5: the new default Opus model in Claude Code, with a 1M-token context window and fast mode at $10/$50 per MTok.

Also this week: Claude Code Desktop opens an iOS Simulator pane in public beta so Claude can run your app and tap through it while you watch; the Claude Security plugin runs a multi-agent vulnerability scan of your codebase and turns the findings you pick into patches you apply yourself; and /code-review runs as a background subagent.

Read the Week 30 digest →

Week 29

Artifacts call your MCP connectors: a published artifact can pull live data and take actions through each viewer's own MCP connectors when they open the page, and this week also adds public sharing links, editor roles on Team and Enterprise, and artifacts created from Claude Tag sessions.

Also this week: screen reader mode replaces the visual terminal interface with plain, linear text for screen readers such as VoiceOver and NVDA; /fork copies your conversation into a new background session while you keep working; and auto mode no longer needs an opt-in variable on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform, and Microsoft Foundry.

Read the Week 29 digest →

Week 28

In-app browser on Desktop: Claude Code on desktop gets a built-in browser, so Claude can pull up docs, designs, or any other site and interact with pages the same way it does with your local dev server previews.

Also this week: /doctor is a full setup checkup that diagnoses issues and can fix them, with /checkup as its alias; auto mode blocks transcript tampering and asks before rm -rf on unresolved variables; and agent view rows show a colored state word and a classifier-written headline.

Read the Week 28 digest →

Week 27

Claude Sonnet 5: the new default model for Pro, Team Standard, and Enterprise subscription seats, with top-tier coding and tool use at Sonnet pricing, a native 1M-token context window, and adaptive thinking on by default.

Also this week: Claude in Chrome is generally available on all direct Anthropic plans; subagents run in the background by default so Claude keeps working while they run; Claude Desktop on Linux lands in beta on Ubuntu and Debian; and /radio tunes into Claude FM lo-fi radio.

Read the Week 27 digest →

Week 26

claude mcp login: authenticate a configured MCP server from your shell instead of the interactive /mcp menu, and clear its stored credentials later with claude mcp logout.

Also this week: shell mode responds to command output (! npm test gets an explanation without a second prompt); /rewind can resume a conversation from before /clear was run; and background subagents now surface permission prompts in the main session instead of auto-denying.

Read the Week 26 digest →

Week 25

Artifacts: turn a session's output into a live, shareable page on claude.ai that updates in place as the session works, now in beta on Team and Enterprise plans.

Also this week: deny and ask rules match tool parameters with Tool(param:value), for example Agent(model:opus); /config key=value sets any setting from the prompt, in -p mode, and from Remote Control; and auto mode blocks destructive git commands when you didn't ask to discard local work.

Read the Week 25 digest →

Week 24

/cd: move the current session to a new working directory mid-conversation without rebuilding the prompt cache.

Also this week: sub-agents can spawn their own sub-agents (background chains are capped at five levels deep); --safe-mode starts Claude Code with all customizations disabled for troubleshooting; and fallbackModel configures up to three fallback models tried in order.

Read the Week 24 digest →

Week 23

Auto mode on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform, and Microsoft Foundry: auto mode is now available on third-party providers for Opus 4.7 and Opus 4.8, replacing permission prompts with background safety checks.

Also this week: safer automatic edits prompt before writing files that can run code in acceptEdits mode; /plugin list prints your installed plugins inline; and version requirements let managed deployments require an approved Claude Code version range.

Read the Week 23 digest →

Week 22

Claude Opus 4.8: the new default model for Max, Team Premium, Enterprise pay-as-you-go, and Anthropic API accounts, with high effort by default and /effort xhigh for the hardest tasks.

Also this week: dynamic workflows orchestrate dozens to hundreds of subagents from a script Claude writes; the security-guidance plugin reviews Claude's changes for vulnerabilities as it works; and fast mode runs on Opus 4.8 at $10/$50 per MTok.

Read the Week 22 digest →

Week 21

Auto mode on the Pro plan: auto mode now runs on Pro accounts and supports Sonnet 4.6 alongside Opus, replacing permission prompts with background safety checks.

Also this week: /usage breaks down what drives your plan limits by skill, subagent, plugin, and MCP server; the new /code-review command reports correctness bugs; and background sessions appear in /resume and stay alive when pinned.

Read the Week 21 digest →

Week 20

Agent view: claude agents opens one screen for every Claude Code session, showing what's running, what's blocked on you, and what's done.

Also this week: /goal keeps Claude working across turns until a completion condition holds; fast mode now runs on Opus 4.7 by default; and the Rewind menu can compress earlier context with "Summarize up to here".

Read the Week 20 digest →

Week 19

Plugins load from .zip archives and URLs: --plugin-dir now accepts .zip files, and --plugin-url fetches a plugin archive for the current session.

Also this week: worktree.baseRef chooses whether new worktrees branch from the remote default or local HEAD; auto mode hard deny rules block actions unconditionally regardless of allow exceptions; and hooks see the active effort level via effort.level and $CLAUDE_EFFORT.

Read the Week 19 digest →

Week 18

Windows without Git Bash: Git for Windows is no longer required, and Claude Code uses PowerShell as the shell tool when Bash is absent.

Also this week: claude ultrareview brings cloud code review to CI and scripts; claude project purge cleans up local state for a project; and pasting a PR URL into /resume finds the session that created it.

Read the Week 18 digest →

Week 17

/ultrareview opens as a public research preview: a fleet of bug-hunting agents runs in the cloud and findings land back in your CLI or Desktop automatically.

Also this week: session recap shows you what happened while a terminal was unfocused; custom themes let you build and ship color palettes from /theme or a plugin; and Claude Code on the web gets a redesign with a new sessions sidebar and drag-and-drop layout.

Read the Week 17 digest →

Week 16

Claude Opus 4.7 lands as the new default on Max and Team Premium, with a new xhigh effort level that's the recommended setting for most coding work and an interactive /effort slider to dial it in.

Also this week: Routines on Claude Code on the web fire templated cloud agents from a schedule, GitHub event, or API call; mobile push notifications ping your phone when a long task finishes or Claude needs you; /usage shows what's driving your limits; and the CLI moves to native binaries.

Read the Week 16 digest →

Week 15

Ultraplan enters early preview: draft a plan in the cloud from your CLI, review and comment on it in a web editor, then run it remotely or pull it back local. The first run now auto-creates a cloud environment for you.

Also this week: the Monitor tool streams background events into the conversation so Claude can tail logs and react live, /loop self-paces when you omit the interval, /team-onboarding packages your setup into a replayable guide, and /autofix-pr turns on PR auto-fix from your terminal.

Read the Week 15 digest →

Week 14

Computer use comes to the CLI in research preview: Claude can open native apps, click through UI, and verify changes from your terminal. Best for closing the loop on things only a GUI can verify.

Also this week: /powerup interactive lessons, flicker-free alt-screen rendering, a per-tool MCP result-size override up to 500K, and plugin executables on the Bash tool's PATH.

Read the Week 14 digest →

Week 13

Auto mode lands in research preview: a classifier handles your permission prompts so safe actions run without interruption and risky ones get blocked. The middle ground between approving everything and --dangerously-skip-permissions.

Also this week: computer use in the Desktop app, PR auto-fix on Web, transcript search with /, a native PowerShell tool for Windows, and conditional if hooks.

Read the Week 13 digest →