`--permission-prompt-tool`

A Claude Code CLI flag, read out of the shipped bundle. No mined inventory carries it: everything below comes from what this site has written about it.

What it is

Specify an MCP tool to handle permission prompts in non-interactive mode. Claude Code waits for that tool's MCP server to connect before running the first turn, up to the [MCP_TIMEOUT](/docs/en/env-vars) startup timeout, 30 seconds by default. <br /><br />The prompt tool can't approve an MCP tool marked as [requiring user interaction](/docs/en/mcp#require-approval-for-a-specific-tool): Claude Code converts an allow result for one to a deny. This restriction requires Claude Code v2.1.199 or later

Anthropic's own wording. Read off CLI reference, captured 2026-08-28.

Presence across releases

The miner has never read a build containing this name. It is here because a changelog entry of ours names it, which is evidence that it existed and not evidence of which releases carried it. The inventory starts at v2.1.138 and everything older than that was never mined.

Changelog entries naming it

v2.1.246Permission prompts deny cleanly when the MCP server behind --permission-prompt-tool is gone
If the server behind --permission-prompt-tool disconnects, checks now deny cleanly instead of using a stale tool.

named in this entry
v2.1.229Permission-prompt-tool errors reportable without leaking tool names
Permission-prompt-tool errors sent as telemetry no longer include your tool names.

named in this entry

Documentation pages

CLI reference reference table Claude Code CLI
Agent SDK reference - TypeScript mentions it Claude Code CLI
Claude Code changelog mentions it Claude Code CLI
Error reference mentions it Claude Code CLI
Hooks reference mentions it Claude Code CLI
Automate actions with hooks mentions it Claude Code CLI
Connect Claude Code to tools via MCP mentions it Claude Code CLI
Monitoring mentions it Claude Code CLI
Choose a permission mode mentions it Claude Code CLI
Manage sessions mentions it Claude Code CLI
Orchestrate subagents at scale with dynamic workflows mentions it Claude Code CLI

A reference table page is one whose own table defines this name, and it is where the description above came from. A page that mentions it carries the name somewhere in its text and may say nothing about it at all. Every page carrying it.

Names beside it

Every CLI flag in the inventory starting --permission, up to twelve of them.

--permission-modeBegin in a specified [permission mode](/docs/en/permission-modes). Accepts default, acceptEdits, plan, auto, dontAsk, bypassPermissions, or manual as an alias for default. The manual alias selects the permission mode the UI labels Manual and requires Claude Code v2.1.200 or later; claude --help lists it in place of default, and both values work. Overrides defaultMode from settings files. Without this flag or --dangerously-skip-permissions, a new session starts in the permission mode described in [which permission mode a session starts in](/docs/en/permission-modes#which-mode-a-session-starts-in). For -p, that's default when nothing is configured 2.1.142

Read out of the published npm bundle release by release, and out of Anthropic's own documentation as this site captured it. Nothing on this page is a description anybody here wrote about what the CLI flag does. All CLI flags.