You'll notice
Settings validator now detects fully broken user/flag settings files, not just warnings
What
Claude Code's settings validator gained a new check that looks at userSettings and flagSettings (two of its settings sources) and flags the first one that failed to parse into a usable value while also having validation issues beyond simple warnings. This distinguishes a settings file that is effectively broken from one that merely triggered a warning.
Why
This makes it possible to catch and report settings files that are genuinely unusable, rather than treating them the same as files with minor, non-blocking issues.