MAX_THINKING_TOKENS
A Claude Code environment variable, read out of the shipped bundle. It has been in the build since v2.1.138, including the newest one read.
What it is
You now get told when an effort level needs thinking on, and what turned thinking off.
Not Anthropic's. This is the line from the earliest changelog entry here that named it, v2.1.242.
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 | 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
-
v2.1.242Clearer error when an effort level needs thinking turned on
You now get told when an effort level needs thinking on, and what turned thinking off.
named in this entry
Documentation pages
- Agent SDK reference - Python mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Claude Code changelog mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Manage costs effectively mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Desktop application mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Environment variables mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Error reference mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Glossary mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Model configuration mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Claude Code settings mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Claude Code settings reference 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 environment variable in the inventory starting max, up to twelve of them.
MAX_MCP_OUTPUT_TOKENSNonsense values in retry, MCP output and hook timeout env vars now fall back to defaults. 2.1.138
MAX_STRUCTURED_OUTPUT_RETRIESNo description from anybody. 2.1.138
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.