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Claude Code v2.1.271 ·

Side questions: hosts can now ask the running session an out-of-band question

Embedding hosts and remote/cloud sessions can ask Claude Code a side question mid-session, with progress updates, cancellation, and a timeout

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Embedding hosts and remote/cloud sessions can ask Claude Code a side question mid-session, with progress updates, cancellation, and a timeout

What

  • A new side_question control request lets an embedding host (an app or SDK hosting a Claude Code session) ask the running session a question outside the normal conversation flow, including a history of prior question/response pairs.
  • The host must supply an onSideQuestion callback to answer these questions, and can report progress while working on an answer.
  • Each side question is tracked and cancellable: requests are keyed by request ID with an abort signal, and duplicate deliveries for the same request are ignored.
  • If nothing answers within a deadline (660000ms, about 11 minutes), Claude Code returns a synthetic "no answer available" response instead of hanging.
  • A new side_question telemetry event records when this feature is used.

Why This lets a host application (for example a remote or cloud session, or an SDK-based integration) pull information from a running Claude Code session without interrupting it, while making sure a slow or missing host answer can't stall the session indefinitely.

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