Claude Code v2.1.232 · 13 Aug 2026
Fork-subagent setting is resolved once per session, with the environment checked first
Setting CLAUDE_CODE_FORK_SUBAGENT decides fork subagents up front, and the answer is cached per session.
Use it now Tier: how much it should matter to you
4 Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
3 Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
Subagents Area: what it touches
Internal Changes Kind: in v2.1.232, 13 Aug 26
What probably matters to you Section of the release
What
The check for whether fork subagents are enabled now evaluates the hard disable and CLAUDE_CODE_FORK_SUBAGENT =false before anything else, and caches the result on the session config instead of a module-level variable. Setting the variable to true reports the source as the environment; otherwise a rollout check decides.
Details
The telemetry event for how the setting was resolved fires once, and only when the result is not disabled.
See this entry in the whole of v2.1.232 →
13 Aug 2026 · 405 entries, this one is #33.
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Names in this entry
env CLAUDE_CODE_FORK_SUBAGENT Controls fork mode , which lets Claude spawn forked subagents itself and is on by default in interactive sessions only. Set to 1 to turn it on in claude -p and the Agent SDK as well, or 0 to turn it off in every kind of session. You can run /subtask whether or not fork mode is on. The interactive default requires Claude Code v2.1.232 or later; on earlier versions, set the variable to 1 to turn fork mode on
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Other releases about the same thing. Found by shared names or similar wording; neither means one caused the other.
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disableAutoMode setting can switch off the auto permission mode fallback
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In v2.1.232 What probably matters to you release-page order
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Forked subagents are on by default
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