A Claude Code environment variable, read out of the shipped bundle.
It has been in the build since v2.1.198, including the newest one read.
Set to 1 to disable the built-in Explore and Plan subagents. Claude explores with its search tools or the general-purpose subagent instead, and plan mode reads files directly rather than launching Explore and Plan agents. Custom subagents named Explore or Plan are unaffected. To remove every built-in subagent type in the Agent SDK or non-interactive mode, use CLAUDE_AGENT_SDK_DISABLE_BUILTIN_AGENTS instead. Requires Claude Code v2.1.198 or later
Explore and plan agents are now always on unless you set the disable environment variable yourself.
named in this entry, found in this entry's text
First cited
1
The earliest release whose published evidence quoted CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_EXPLORE_PLAN_AGENTS was v2.1.221, 3 Aug 2026. That is the oldest release this project wrote about it, so it is a floor on the name's age and not the release that introduced it. It is not a presence reading: which builds carried the name is the table below.
ReleaseDateThe span that was quoted
v2.1.2213 Aug 2026CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_EXPLORE_PLAN_AGENTS
Presence across releases
1
BuildsHow manyDatesReading
v2.1.198 – v2.1.30899 builds1 Jul 2026 → 22 Oct 2026 ◆in the build
Build by build
99
One row per release since the first build this name was read out of. Absent means the build was read and the name was not in it, never mined means no bundle for that release was ever archived, and a declared type or a default is only ever what that release's own bundle stated.
v2.1.29914 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30014 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30115 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30216 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30318 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30419 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30520 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30621 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30721 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30822 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
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 environment variable does. All environment variables.
