You'll noticeTier: how much it should matter to you
2Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
1Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
WebFetchArea: what it touches
ImprovementsKind: in v2.1.268,
ImprovementsSection of the release
What
WebFetch (the tool Claude Code uses to retrieve a URL) now throws a specific error when the requested URL's hostname has no dot in it, such as localhost or a bare hostname. The error tells the user to use curl via the Bash tool instead. The tool's own description was also updated with this caveat.
Why
WebFetch was never able to reach local servers, but previously the failure was less clear. Now the error explains why it failed and points directly to the working alternative for hitting something running on your own machine.
How sure we are
One source agreesOne thing we can check says the same as this entry.
Anthropic's release notes agreeChanged plain WebFetch deny and ask rules to no longer apply to Artifact tool reads and updates; use an Artifact rule (or…
