Claude Code v2.1.236 Release: Adds Default Model Variable and Fixes Multiple Stability Issues

What's changed

• Added ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_MODEL environment variable: sets the model new sessions start on, while a /model pick still overrides it and persists across restarts (unlike ANTHROPIC_MODEL)
• Added notify_when_idle to cross-session SendMessage: ask another Claude Code session on this machine to send one notice when it next goes idle — opt-in, one-shot, no polling (macOS and Linux)
• Sandbox: on macOS, wildcard read-deny rules (e.g. **/.env) now take precedence inside allowed read regions, cover matched directories' contents, and can't be bypassed by renaming the denied file
• Fixed clipboard copy, background housekeeping, background sessions, and local MCP logs breaking after the directory a session had switched into was removed (since 2.1.229)
• Fixed the fullscreen renderer failing permanently after a single failed start: it now falls back to the classic renderer instead of exiting on every subsequent launch
• Fixed the /model picker rendering taller than the terminal: it now shows only as many models as fit the window, with the rest reachable by scrolling
• Fixed SendMessage calls being rejected when a malformed closing tag left the message text inside the summary field
• Fixed unhandled promise rejections when a subprocess fails to start, for example powershell.exe on WSL with Windows interop disabled (regression in 2.1.234)
• Fixed fullscreen mode sometimes not showing a newly sent message until the next update after the terminal was resized
• Fixed a blank band that could remain above the prompt after clearing a multi-line prompt, and panes not repainting after resizing the terminal away and back, in fullscreen mode
• Fixed the managed-settings approval prompt sometimes not appearing at startup while still capturing the first keypress as approval
• Fixed terminal tab titles jumping in tmux (iTerm tmux integration): the title is now written only when its text changes instead of animating every 960ms
• Fixed an unclear error when the cloud environments list came back empty or malformed
• Fixed the Fable 5 first-time usage-credits prompt auto-selecting the fallback model after 60 seconds with no answer when using Remote Control
• Fixed spinner tips never appearing, with a repeated background error, when the cached guest-pass reward in ~/.claude.json was malformed
• Fixed skills hot-reload in SDK/VS Code sessions raising an error on every skills change after the session's working directory was deleted (2.1.229+)
• Fixed self-hosted runner sessions released on idle, retire, or startup timeout occasionally resuming on another runner before the post-session hook had finished
• Fixed the Clawd mascot's eyes and feet rendering unevenly in iTerm2 at some font sizes
• Fixed occasional runaway session recaps: recap text (automatic and /recap) is now capped at 400 characters, cut at a word boundary
• Improved startup performance: the session counter is now written in the background
• Improved auto mode: Monitor allow rules are now set aside while auto mode is active, so Monitor commands are reviewed the same way Bash commands are
• Improved auto mode on Bedrock, Vertex AI, and Foundry, and when telemetry is disabled: the classifier now uses the same defaults as on the Claude API, including severity-scored classification
• Improved auto mode: the git status check can no longer be fooled by a repo's status.showUntrackedFiles=no setting into reporting a clean tree
• Changed the /model picker to highlight only the newest model's name, so the highlight marks the new release rather than an arbitrary subset of the list
• /goal: an idle session whose goal is parked behind long-running background work now checks in automatically after 30 minutes (then 1h, 2h) instead of waiting for you to return
• /usage now shows the usage-credits spend row for Team and Enterprise members, and shows a capped row at 0% before anything is spent
• SIGTERM in print/SDK mode no longer records an interrupted turn or synthetic tool denials before exiting; running commands are still terminated and the process still exits with code 143
• Pressing Enter on a slash-command typo or a command unavailable in this session now reports it instead of running the closest fuzzy match; prefixes and aliases still run
• Remote Control now marks a session offline within seconds when the CLI exits or its terminal closes
• SendMessage now refuses further messages to a session up front once a rapid burst would exceed what that session's inbox accepts, instead of reporting them sent while they were dropped
• Aligned the session title chip on the prompt border with the footer's right edge
• Right-aligned footer items (goal indicator, session state, background agent status) and truncated notices now share a consistent right margin with the rest of the prompt area
• [VSCode] Added screen reader support for the transcript: live announcements for replies, permission requests, errors, and status changes, plus per-turn heading navigation