Settings-file edit guard adds desktop-app, symlink and…

Settings-file edit guard adds desktop-app, symlink and managed-policy refusal messages, but the path is off in this build

Refusal messages for settings-file edits via the desktop app, symlinks or managed policy exist but cannot run in this build

Nothing to try yet In Development

JSON All of v2.1.281

Nothing to try yetTier: how much it should matter to you

2Useful: my rating, 1 to 5

3Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5

SettingsArea: what it touches

In DevelopmentKind: in v2.1.281, 23 Sep 26

In DevelopmentSection of the release

What

New code picks a reason for refusing an edit to a Claude Code settings file and sends back a matching message:

"card": in the Claude desktop app, the edit applies only if you approve it on its permission card.
"linked": the path reaches a settings file through a symbolic link, a shortcut that points to another file.
"policy": the path is, or may be, a managed-settings.json file or the file given with --settings.
"review": the existing staging for /settings-review.

Every message tells the model not to try again. This code cannot run in this build. It needs an internal switch set to true while running and a helper that always answers no.

Why

For now nothing changes. The messages show the edits that are meant to be refused: edits through a link, edits to policy-controlled files, and desktop-app edits you have not approved.

How sure we are

One source agreesOne thing we can check says the same as this entry.

Anthropic's release notes agreeAdded "attribution": false in settings.json to hide all commit and PR attribution; older CLI versions skip a settings file that holds it, so…

See this entry in the whole of v2.1.281 →

The build it came inv2.1.281

23 Sep 2026 · 1,065 entries, this one is #615.

Use it now72
You'll notice488
Nothing to try yet55
Under the hood450

Either side of it

v2.1.280Older
v2.1.282Newer

Open the release →

Names in this entry

cli--settings
Path to a settings JSON file or an inline JSON string. Values you set here override the same keys in your settings.json files for this session. Keys you omit keep their file-based values. The file must be a regular file no larger than 2 MiB. See settings precedence
slash/settings-review
Claude Code now blocks direct writes to the settings-review staging store

Anthropic's note

Upstream's own release notes for v2.1.281 name something this entry names, so the two are probably about the same change. Probably: the pairing is made on a shared name rather than on the words around it.

Added "attribution": false in settings.json to hide all commit and PR attribution; older CLI versions skip a settings file that holds it, so keep the object form in files shared across versions

Is this right?