Subagents launched via the Task tool can now skip loading CLAUDE.md files with a new omitClaudeMd option
When Claude spawns a subagent (a separate Claude instance handling a delegated piece of work) through the Task tool, it can now pass omitClaudeMd: true. This makes the subagent run without the user's, project's, or local CLAUDE.md instruction files loaded, though managed policy files are still applied. It's meant for subagents whose delegation prompt already contains everything they need.
This lets subagents skip loading instruction files that aren't relevant to their specific task, avoiding unnecessary or potentially conflicting context while still respecting any organization-managed policy.
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.
* **CLAUDE.md files**: every level of the [CLAUDE.md hierarchy](/docs/en/memory#how-claude-md-files-load) the main conversation loads, including `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md`, project rules, `CLAUDE.local.md`, managed policy files, and any [`AGENT…sub-agents see the edit
A small documentation edit on Create custom subagents touched a line naming omitClaudeMd after this was published.
Added omitClaudeMd to agent frontmatter and --agents JSON, letting custom and plugin subagents run without user, project and local CLAUDE.md…