Claude Code 2.1.81 adds channel permission relay and fixes OAuth re-authentication
Key Additions
Claude Code 2.1.81 introduces new capabilities for enterprise deployments and external integrations:
- Channel Permission Relay: Channel servers can now declare permission capability to forward tool approval prompts to your phone, enabling external systems to participate in approval workflows
- Bare Flag for Scripting: The new
--bareflag optimizes-pcalls for scripting by skipping hooks, LSP, plugin sync, and skill directory walks. This requires explicitANTHROPIC_API_KEYorapiKeyHelperconfiguration; OAuth and keychain auth are disabled, and auto-memory is fully disabled
Critical Fixes
This release addresses several high-priority stability issues:
- Concurrent Session Authentication: Fixed OAuth token refresh causing repeated re-authentication failures across multiple Claude Code sessions
- Voice Mode Stability: Corrected silent failure in retry logic that previously showed misleading "check your network" messages; fixed audio not recovering when server drops WebSocket connection
- Proxy Gateway Compatibility: Fixed
CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_BETASnot suppressing structured-outputs beta header, preventing 400 errors on Vertex/Bedrock proxy gateways
Additional Improvements
- Session Management: Resuming sessions now switches back to the original git worktree; Remote Control sessions derive titles from first prompt instead of showing generic text
- MCP Enhancements: Updated MCP OAuth to support Client ID Metadata Document (CIMD/SEP-991); read/search tool calls collapse into single "Queried {server}" lines (expandable with Ctrl+O)
- Plugin System: Ref-tracked plugins now re-clone on every load to pick up upstream changes; improved plugin tips with CLI tool usage detection
- Terminal & UI: Improved bash mode discoverability with suggestions for interactive commands; fixed terminal tab titles updating with auto-generated session descriptions; plan mode now hides "clear context" by default
- Windows Support: Fixed Windows PATH inheritance for Bash tool when using Git Bash; disabled line-by-line response streaming on Windows/WSL due to rendering issues
Additional fixes address race conditions in background tasks, voice paste timing issues, and permission prompt behavior.