CLAUDE_CODE_FILE_READ_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS
A Claude Code environment variable, read out of the shipped bundle. It was in the build from v2.1.138 and was gone by v2.1.242.
What it is
Override the default token limit for file reads. Useful when you need to read larger files in full
Anthropic's own wording. Read off Environment variables, captured 2026-08-28.
Presence across releases
| Releases | Reading | Declared type | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1.245 – 2.1.250 5 releases | never mined | — | — |
| 2.1.242 – 2.1.243 2 releases | not in the build | — | — |
| 2.1.160 – 2.1.241 73 releases | in the build | int | — |
| 2.1.138 – 2.1.159 20 releases | in the build | — | — |
A row reading never mined is a release with no archived bundle behind it. Nothing was read out of it, so nothing here says whether the name was in it. A declared type or a default is only ever what that release's own bundle stated.
Changelog entries naming it
No changelog entry here has ever named it. That is a statement about what has been written, not about the name: it has been in the build since v2.1.138 without anybody writing a line about it.
Documentation pages
- Environment variables reference table 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.
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.