Summary
Claude Code version 2.1.212, released mid-July 2026, lets developers fork a conversation into a background session, adds session-wide limits of 200 subagent spawns and 200 WebSearch calls to stop runaway loops, moves MCP tool calls longer than two minutes to the background, and fixes a plan-mode bug that could auto-run file-modifying Bash commands without a permission prompt.
What changed
Claude Code 2.1.212 introduced background sessions via /fork and /resume, default 200-call caps on subagent spawns and WebSearch, automatic backgrounding of MCP calls over two minutes, and a plan-mode permission-prompt fix.
Why it matters
The release is mostly about controlling agent autonomy: caps and backgrounding make long-running and delegated agent work safer and cheaper by bounding runaway delegation and search loops, while the plan-mode fix closes a path where the agent could modify files without approval. These are the guardrails enterprises ask for before letting coding agents run unattended.
Evidence excerpt
Claude Code 2.1.212: /fork copies your conversation into a new background session; session-wide limit on subagent spawns (default 200); session-wide limit on WebSearch calls (default 200); MCP calls over two minutes move to background; fixed plan mode auto-running file-modifying Bash commands.