Claude Code 2.1.316 was released on October 31, 2026 (UTC), according to the GitHub release and the Claude Code changelog. It adds an effort setting for subagents, a switch for the ultrathink keyword and new Claude apps gateway policy and budget controls, and fixes a restricted-mode upload gap along with shell, gateway and cloud-session issues.

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New controls for local and managed sessions

The changelog lists CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_EFFORT, which sets the effort level subagents run at when nothing else names one, instead of inheriting the session’s.

CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_ULTRATHINK turns the ultrathink keyword off. In the VS Code extension, ultrathink now runs its turn at xhigh effort, as in the terminal.

For the Claude apps gateway, the release adds a layered policy mode:

managed.policy_mode: layered

With it, every policy that matches a developer applies, each merged over the ones listed below it, not only the first. The release also adds pooled group budgets: one monthly budget that a group’s members share, on top of each member’s own limit, set with pooled_budget on the spend limits admin API.

Claude apps gateway Bedrock upstreams gain guardrail.input_tagging, which wraps prompts in the input tags that an Amazon Bedrock guardrail’s prompt attacks filter needs; all_messages_and_system also tags the system prompt.

Restricted mode and gateway fixes

According to the release notes, --restricted sessions could upload files from outside the working directories when a Read allow rule covered them; 2.1.316 fixes that. The site’s Claude Code permissions guide explains allow rules.

The Claude apps gateway now checks every model a request names against availableModels, deniedModels and models; a request that names a blocked model gets a 400 naming the field.

Where managed settings require a Claude apps gateway, claude auth login no longer refuses to run; in a terminal it now shows the gateway sign-in.

Shell, certificate and network fixes

The changelog lists these fixes:

  • Shell commands are no longer left running on macOS and Linux when Claude Code exits by itself, for example when credentials are refused or a cloud session is archived.
  • Bash aliases with line breaks in their value (except in Git Bash), and functions whose names start with a dash, are no longer garbled or lost in the Bash tool’s shell.
  • Bash scripts started from the Bash tool no longer stop after their first command when SHELLOPTS is exported.
  • PowerShell hooks block on exit code 2 again when the command begins with a type cast, param, using or an attribute.
  • Some network requests no longer hang when a compressed response is cut off or corrupted.

A new CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_LOOPED_CROSS_CERT_DROP variable keeps system cross-certificates that certify each other in a loop, for servers whose private CA needs one. SSL certificate errors now name the likely causes, among them a server that leaves out an intermediate certificate, and the fix for each.

Cloud and model behavior

On Vertex AI and Amazon Bedrock, sonnet, opus and haiku now switch to an older model when the newest is not yet available to the account or region, instead of showing an error mid-session (changelog).

Sub-agents that inherited a parent sub-agent’s model no longer move to the main model when a background job or message wakes them. Cloud sessions get a form card, so you can fill in or decline a form an MCP server asks for instead of the request being canceled without you seeing it. /code-review started from the Code tab in Claude Desktop or on the web now shows the findings card in cloud and claude remote-control sessions, not a plain-text list.

The SDK register_repo_root control request now loads the CLAUDE.md of a directory outside the working directory when CLAUDE_CODE_ADDITIONAL_DIRECTORIES_CLAUDE_MD=1 is set. Other fixes cover plugin MCP headersHelper scripts receiving a corrupted CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT and server URL, cloud sessions and cloud scheduled tasks not being marked as failed when auto mode stopped a turn without a safety verdict, and folder paths in a cloud session’s Files pane search.

Opus 4.8 fast mode is being removed

The release notes say fast mode for Opus 4.8 is deprecated as of October 30, 2026, and will be removed on November 30, 2026. After removal, fast mode requests on Opus 4.8 return an error and do not fall back to standard Opus 4.8. Anthropic says to migrate to Opus 5.5 to keep the speedup.

Source and version

This article reflects Claude Code 2.1.316. The full list, including further interface, VS Code, cloud-session and Code Review changes, is in the v2.1.316 release notes.