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Claude Code v2.1.120: Windows users no longer need Git for Windows (PowerShell fallback), claude ultrareview ships as a non-interactive CLI subcommand for CI, skills can branch on ${CLAUDE_EFFORT}, AI_AGENT env var attributes subprocess traffic, plugin validate accepts $schema/version/description, DISABLE_TELEMETRY now suppresses usage metrics for API/enterprise, and a critical find FD-exhaustion fix prevents host-wide crashes on macOS/Linux native builds.
Quietly important release. Windows users no longer need Git for Windows just to run Claude Code — when Git Bash is absent, Claude Code falls back to PowerShell. claude ultrareview [target] ships as a non-interactive CLI subcommand for CI pipelines. Skills get a ${CLAUDE_EFFORT} placeholder for effort-aware authoring. AI_AGENT env var attributes subprocess traffic so gh can identify Claude Code as the originator. claude plugin validate accepts $schema, version, and description fields. DISABLE_TELEMETRY and CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC now correctly suppress usage metrics for API and enterprise users. And a critical find FD-exhaustion fix prevents host-wide crashes on macOS/Linux native builds with large directory trees.
Why: Windows users previously had to install Git for Windows just to give Claude Code a POSIX shell — a confusing prerequisite for non-Git workflows.
What: When Git Bash is absent, Claude Code now uses PowerShell as the shell tool, removing the hard Git-for-Windows dependency.
How: Automatic — install Claude Code on Windows; PowerShell takes over if Git Bash isn't found.
Why: /ultrareview was interactive-only — teams couldn't run it from CI scripts or pre-merge hooks without a TTY.
What: Adds claude ultrareview [target] subcommand that runs /ultrareview non-interactively, prints findings to stdout (--json for raw), exits 0 on completion or 1 on failure.
How: claude ultrareview path/to/file --json — drop into your CI step or git pre-push hook.
Why: Skills were one-size-fits-all — they couldn't adapt their depth or strictness based on the current effort level.
What: Skill content can now reference ${CLAUDE_EFFORT} to branch behavior on the active effort level.
How: Use ${CLAUDE_EFFORT} inline in your SKILL.md content; expands to the current effort level at runtime.
Why: Subprocesses launched by Claude Code (notably gh) couldn't attribute their traffic to the agent, blurring observability and rate-limit accounting.
What: Sets AI_AGENT environment variable for subprocesses so gh and similar tools can identify Claude Code as the originator.
How: Automatic — any subprocess Claude Code spawns inherits AI_AGENT without configuration.
Why: Plugin authors using JSON-schema editors and version-tracked manifests hit validation errors for fields the validator didn't recognize.
What: claude plugin validate now accepts $schema, version, and description at the top level of marketplace.json, plus $schema in plugin.json.
How: Add the fields freely to your manifests; running claude plugin validate passes without spurious errors.
Why: API and enterprise users who set DISABLE_TELEMETRY or CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC still saw usage-metrics calls leaving the host — a compliance gap.
What: Both env vars now correctly suppress usage-metrics telemetry for API and enterprise users, matching documented behavior.
How: Set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 — usage metrics calls are now blocked, not just telemetry events.
Why: On macOS/Linux native builds, the Bash tool's embedded find could exhaust open file descriptors on large trees, causing host-wide crashes — not just Claude Code crashes.
What: Reduces peak FD usage during find in the Bash tool on large directory trees, eliminating the crash path.
How: Automatic on upgrade — heavy find operations no longer take down the machine.
Hosts: Alex Chen & Sarah Kim · Generated from the official Claude Code CHANGELOG.
Full changelog: github.com/anthropics/claude-code/CHANGELOG.md
Claude Code docs: code.claude.com/docs
Each episode breaks down the latest release notes from AI frontier labs, so you know exactly what changed and why it matters for your workflow.
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