Claude Code 2.1.82-2.1.83 — New Features & Improvements

Released: March 2026

Overview

Claude Code 2.1.82-2.1.83 brings reactive hook events, background agent stability, auto-memory management, transcript navigation, and security hardening. These releases focus on reliability and developer experience polish.

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New Hook Events

CwdChanged (2.1.83)

Fires when the working directory changes. Enables reactive environment management:

{
  "hooks": {
    "CwdChanged": [{
      "type": "command",
      "command": "direnv allow 2>/dev/null || true"
    }]
  }
}

Use cases:

• Auto-load environment variables with direnv
• Switch project-specific configurations
• Update shell state when navigating between repos

FileChanged (2.1.83)

Fires when files change on disk. Enables hot-reload patterns:

{
  "hooks": {
    "FileChanged": [{
      "type": "command",
      "command": "echo 'File changed: $CLAUDE_FILE_PATH'"
    }]
  }
}

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Background Agent Stability Fix (2.1.83)

Before: Background agents became invisible after context compaction, causing duplicate spawns and orphaned work.

After: Background agents now survive compaction correctly. Their status is preserved and they report completion as expected.

Impact: Safe to use run_in_background: true with Agent tool without worrying about lost agents.

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TaskOutput Deprecation (2.1.83)

The TaskOutput tool is deprecated. Instead, use the Read tool on the task’s output file path:

# Before (deprecated)
TaskOutput(taskId: "abc123")

# After (recommended)
Read(file_path: "/path/from/task/output")

The task’s output file path is returned when the task completes.

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MEMORY.md Auto-Cap (2.1.83)

Auto-memory files (MEMORY.md) are now automatically capped at:

• 25KB file size
• 200 lines maximum

Lines beyond 200 are truncated. This prevents memory bloat from degrading context quality.

Best practice: Keep memory entries concise. One line per entry in the index. Store detail in separate files referenced by the index.

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Transcript Search (2.1.83)

Navigate conversation history with built-in search:

1. Press Ctrl+O to enter transcript mode
2. Press / to start searching
3. Type your search pattern
4. Press n to jump to next match, N for previous
5. Press Escape to exit search

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UI Recovery: Ctrl+L (2.1.83)

Full screen clear and redraw. Use when the terminal UI goes blank or corrupted – replaces the need to restart the session.

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Security & Environment Hardening

CLAUDE_CODE_SUBPROCESS_ENV_SCRUB (2.1.83)

export CLAUDE_CODE_SUBPROCESS_ENV_SCRUB=1

Strips API credentials from all subprocesses (Bash commands, hooks, MCP stdio servers). Prevents accidental credential leakage through subprocess environment inheritance.

SessionEnd Hook Timeout (2.1.83)

export CLAUDE_CODE_SESSIONEND_HOOKS_TIMEOUT_MS=5000

Extends the SessionEnd hook timeout from the default 1.5 seconds to 5 seconds. Useful for hooks that need to save state, push metrics, or clean up resources.

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Settings & Configuration

sandbox.failIfUnavailable (2.1.83)

{
  "sandbox": {
    "failIfUnavailable": true
  }
}

Exit with error when the sandbox can’t start, instead of silently running unsandboxed. Recommended for CI/CD environments where sandboxing is a security requirement.

managed-settings.d/ (2.1.83)

Drop-in directory for modular policy fragments. Files are merged alphabetically, enabling:

• Team-wide base settings
• Project-specific overrides
• Per-developer customizations

.claude/
  managed-settings.d/
    00-team-base.json
    10-project-overrides.json
    20-personal.json

disableDeepLinkRegistration (2.1.83)

Prevents claude-cli:// protocol handler registration. Useful in headless or CI environments.

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Agent Improvements

initialPrompt Frontmatter (2.1.83)

Agents can declare an initial prompt in their frontmatter to auto-submit the first turn:

---
description: Run daily health checks
initialPrompt: "Run the health check suite and report results"
---

This enables fully autonomous agent workflows triggered by hooks or cron jobs.

Worktree Name Fix (2.1.83)

Worktree names containing forward slashes (/) caused hangs in previous versions. This is now fixed – but avoid slashes in worktree names for backward compatibility.

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Environment Variables Reference

Variable	Purpose	Default
CLAUDE_CODE_SESSIONEND_HOOKS_TIMEOUT_MS	SessionEnd hook timeout	1500ms
CLAUDE_CODE_SUBPROCESS_ENV_SCRUB	Strip credentials from subprocesses	off
CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONSTREAMING_FALLBACK	Disable non-streaming fallback	off

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Migration Notes

1. Replace TaskOutput calls: Search for TaskOutput usage and switch to Read on the task output path
2. Review MEMORY.md size: If over 200 lines, consolidate entries before the auto-cap truncates them
3. Consider env scrub: Add CLAUDE_CODE_SUBPROCESS_ENV_SCRUB=1 to .bashrc for security
4. Update SessionEnd hooks: If hooks need >1.5s, set the timeout environment variable

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