AI Frontier Labs Release Notes Podcast

Claude Code v2.1.126: /model picker auto-discovers models from your LLM gateway via /v1/models, claude project purge wipes all local state for a project, --dangerously-skip-permissions now bypasses .claude/.git/.vscode/shell-rc writes, OAuth paste-code login fallback for WSL2/SSH, skill_activated OTel fires for user-typed slash commands, host-managed Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry stops auto-disabling analytics, and Windows finds PowerShell 7 in non-PATH installs and uses it as primary shell.

Show Notes

What's new in Claude Code v2.1.126

A "small unblockings everywhere" release. The headline for platform teams is gateway model discovery — point ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL at any Anthropic-Messages-compatible gateway and the /model picker now populates itself from the gateway's /v1/models endpoint. claude project purge deletes every byte of local state Claude Code stored for a project (transcripts, task lists, debug logs, file-edit history, prompt history, plus the ~/.claude.json entry) in one shot. --dangerously-skip-permissions finally lives up to its name — it now also bypasses prompts for writes to .claude/, .git/, .vscode/, and shell rc files. claude auth login gains a paste-code fallback for environments where the browser callback can't reach localhost (WSL2, SSH, dev containers). Observability: claude_code.skill_activated OTel event now fires for user-typed slash commands, not just model-triggered ones. Host-managed Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry deployments stop auto-disabling analytics — operator settings (DISABLE_TELEMETRY, the non-essential traffic flag) become the single source of truth. And on Windows, Claude Code finds PowerShell 7 installed via the Microsoft Store, an MSI without PATH, or as a .NET global tool, and uses it as the primary shell when the PowerShell tool is enabled.

Gateway model discovery in /model picker

Why: Teams routing through an LLM gateway (LiteLLM, custom proxies) had to add new Claude models manually via ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_*_MODEL env vars every time their gateway exposed one.

What: When ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL points at an Anthropic-Messages-compatible gateway, Claude Code calls the gateway's /v1/models at startup and adds entries with IDs starting claude or anthropic to the /model picker, labeled "From gateway".

How: export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://your-gateway/ — discovery is automatic, results cached at ~/.claude/cache/gateway-models.json.

New claude project purge subcommand

Why: "Forget this project" used to mean hand-deleting transcripts, task lists, debug logs, file-edit history, prompt history, and the project's ~/.claude.json entry — easy to miss something, and there was no dry-run preview.

What: claude project purge [path] deletes all local Claude Code state for a project in one shot, with an interactive picker when [path] is omitted.

How: claude project purge ~/work/repo --dry-run to preview; -y to skip confirmation; --all for every project.

--dangerously-skip-permissions covers more paths

Why: Bypass mode used to still prompt on writes to .claude/, .git/, .vscode/, and shell rc files — useful as a safety net, but the friction defeated the point of --dangerously-skip-permissions for teams who genuinely wanted "no prompts ever" automation.

What: Bypass mode now also skips prompts for those previously-protected paths, alongside the carve-outs added in v2.1.121 (.claude/skills/, .claude/agents/, .claude/commands/).

How: claude --dangerously-skip-permissions — no opt-in flag; the change applies to every bypass-mode session. Treat the flag as truly unrestricted now.

OAuth paste-code fallback for claude auth login

Why: Browser callback to Claude Code's localhost listener fails inside WSL2, SSH sessions, and dev containers — login would hang indefinitely.

What: When the callback can't reach localhost, the browser displays a code; claude auth login shows a Paste code here if prompted prompt to accept it.

How: Run claude auth login, complete sign-in in the browser, paste the code shown there into the terminal.

skill_activated OTel event fires for user slash commands

Why: OTel observability for skill invocations only counted model-triggered activations — user-typed /foo slash commands silently bypassed the metric, leaving usage dashboards undercounting real adoption.

What: The claude_code.skill_activated event now fires for both model-side and user-typed slash command invocations, so dashboards see every activation.

How: Existing OTel exporters pick this up automatically; ensure CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=1 and your OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER is configured.

Host-managed Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry keep analytics on

Why: Previous builds silently auto-disabled analytics for any Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry session, on the assumption that enterprise tenants never want telemetry. That broke org-level usage dashboards for teams who explicitly do want it.

What: Host-managed deployments no longer flip analytics off automatically — the operator's DISABLE_TELEMETRY / CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC settings are now the single source of truth on all three clouds.

How: No action if you want analytics on. To opt out, set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 (or the per-channel flag) explicitly — auto-disable is no longer doing it for you.

Windows: PowerShell 7 auto-detected, used as primary shell

Why: Windows users with PowerShell 7 installed via the Microsoft Store, an MSI without PATH, or as a .NET global tool had Claude Code silently fall back to Bash, missing PowerShell-specific features and producing weird quoting on Windows-native commands.

What: Claude Code now finds PowerShell 7 in those non-PATH install locations; when the PowerShell tool is enabled, it becomes the primary shell instead of Bash.

How: Install PowerShell 7 via any of the three channels above — no config needed. To gate the shell switch, toggle the PowerShell tool in your project settings.


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

  • (00:00) - Gateway model discovery in /model picker
  • (01:04) - New claude project purge subcommand
  • (01:50) - --dangerously-skip-permissions covers more paths
  • (02:36) - OAuth paste-code fallback for claude auth login
  • (03:03) - skill_activated OTel fires for user slash commands
  • (03:33) - Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry keep analytics on
  • (04:11) - Windows: PowerShell 7 auto-detected, primary shell

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