Sweep 19 Sep 2026 · 02:36Z Build v2.1.278 500 read Stable v2.1.267 Latest v2.1.278 Next v2.1.278 Feeds RSS JSON llms.txt Unofficial
Claude Code v2.1.257 ·

New permissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories setting, with network-path detection for working directories

A new permissions setting blocks any file read outside your working directories, in prompts and in the sandbox.

TierUse it nowhow much it should matter to you
Useful5my rating, 1 to 5
Signal3worth watching, 1 to 5
AreaPermissionswhat it touches
KindNew Featuresin v2.1.257,
Group of 3 Use it now

A new permissions setting blocks any file read outside your working directories, in prompts and in the sandbox.

A new setting, permissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories, is now read from settings and propagated through settings serialization/merge. When enabled it switches directory validation to a stricter check (kHt(n) instead of fS(n)), adds blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories: true to the tool permission context, and is enforced in the sandbox filesystem policy, command-parsing/read-permission logic, and user-facing deny/ask messages ("Reads outside the working directories are blocked"). It is explicitly stripped out for remote-execution permission modes.

Alongside it, validating a directory to add as a trusted working directory (validateDirectoryForWorkspace) now checks whether the path is a network path before doing a normal stat, returning a new networkPath result type instead of treating it as an ordinary directory-check failure. This rejects UNC/network paths from being added as working directories, with guidance about drive-letter mapping on Windows.

Read from
Names in the bundlepermissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories/add-dir
Since it was published

The entry above is what we published on the day. These lines were added later, as Anthropic's own pages caught up, and they sit beside the original rather than replacing it.

Added since A small documentation edit on How Claude remembers your project touched a line naming permissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories after this was published. When you set it in a project's `.claude/settings.json` or `.claude/settings.local.json`, Claude Code honors it under the same [workspace trust rule as hooks in settings files](/docs/en/permissions#what-runs-before-you-trust-a-folder). Whil… memory see the edit
Confirmed since Anthropic's documentation has since written up /add-dir, on Claude Code changelog. * Fixed the `/add-dir` path input: the left and right arrow keys now move the cursor, and Enter adds only the typed path instead of also adding the highlighted completion changelog see the edit
Confirmed since Anthropic's documentation has since written up permissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories, on Claude Code changelog. * Fixed Bash commands with two directory changes, a subshell, or a `cd`+`git` chain skipping the prompt under `permissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories` in bypass and auto mode changelog see the edit
How sure we are
Two sources agreeTwo things we can check say the same as this entry.
Anthropic's documentation agreesAnthropic's documentation has since written up permissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories, on Claude Code changelog.
Anthropic's release notes agreeAdded a one-time prompt in auto mode before the first file read outside the working directories, with the option to block such reads…

See this entry in the whole of v2.1.257 →