You'll noticeTier: how much it should matter to you
2Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
1Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
PluginsArea: what it touches
ImprovementsKind: in v2.1.286,
ImprovementsSection of the release
What
--bare starts Claude Code in minimal mode, skipping most automatic setup so scripted runs start faster. A plugin is an add-on that extends Claude Code. In a --bare session, a plugin that tries to add a tool while it is running is now refused.
The error explains that a --bare session takes tools only from the plugins named on its command line, and from no built-in one.
Why
If you write plugins and run them with --bare, tools they add while running will not be available. The tools have to come from plugins named on the command line.
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.
Confirmed sinceAnthropic's documentation has since written up --bare, on Run Claude Code programmatically.Before v2.1.286, these limits held only partly: an interactive `--bare` session connected the MCP servers that a normal session would, every `--bare` session sent system reminders, and background tasks stayed available.headlesssee the edit
How sure we are
Two sources agreeTwo things we can check say the same as this entry.
Anthropic's documentation agreesAnthropic's documentation has since written up --bare, on Run Claude Code programmatically.
Anthropic's release notes agreeChanged --bare to connect only the MCP servers named on the command line, send the model no system reminders, and start no background tasks…
