What
When Claude Code is given a path as a local-directory or owner/repo argument and needs to check it (via stat), it now does more validation first:
- It outright rejects Windows device-namespace paths (those starting with
\\?\or\\.\), since these can't be safely checked for symlinks - For other paths, it walks the chain of symlinks (the ancestry of links) to see if the path passes through a symlink pointing to a network location, or to a link target that can't be read
If either case is found, it refuses the path with a specific error instead of proceeding.
Why
A symlink pointing to a network location could let a path argument silently redirect Claude Code to read from or interact with a remote location instead of the local one you intended. Rejecting these cases up front avoids that kind of surprise redirection.