What
Environment variables are settings given to a program through its shell. Claude Code passes some of them on to programs it starts or that host it. These were added to those lists:
CLAUDE_CODE_HOST_PROMPT_SUPERSEDES_RECORD, passed to host apps and child processes. In print mode (-p), it also sets an internal setting, which is reset when no system prompt has been setCLAUDE_CODE_MCP_SERVE_SETTINGS, passed to child processesCLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_WEB_FETCH, added to a list of variables passed through
Why
These are switches for apps and tools that build on Claude Code, and they now reach the processes Claude Code starts.
Something disagreesSomething we can check disagrees with this entry, or the writer said they could not settle it.
The writer flagged doubt
What these variables do beyond being passed along is not settled.
Anthropic's release notes agree
Added CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_WEB_FETCH environment variable to turn off the WebFetch tool