What probably matters to youSection of the release
Unclear It is not clear when this message is shown or what turns it on.
What
Claude in Chrome lets Claude control your browser. It connects through MCP (Model Context Protocol), the way Claude Code links to outside tools. When that connection has failed or been turned off, Claude Code now handles it more clearly:
The /chrome menu shows the real connection state: connected, connecting, failed, disabled or absent. Before, it showed only Enabled or Disabled.
The "Reconnect extension" action now actually tries to reconnect. Before, it only opened a link. When it cannot reconnect, it says why: Chrome was not turned on for this session (start with claude --chrome), the session uses an API key or long-lived token (run /login), or Claude in Chrome was turned off in /mcp (open /mcp, select claude-in-chrome and turn it on).
A notice tells Claude that Claude in Chrome is turned on for the session but the browser connection is not working. Claude is told not to try the mcp__claude-in-chrome__* tools and to use WebFetch and WebSearch instead. The notice also points you to /chrome (Reconnect extension) or /mcp to restore the connection. The findings did not trace when this notice is added.
Why
With a dead browser connection, you get a Reconnect button that works and a message saying what to do. Claude is steered toward the other web tools instead of repeatedly calling browser tools that cannot respond.
How sure we are
Something disagreesSomething we can check disagrees with this entry, or the writer said they could not settle it.
The writer flagged doubtIt is not clear when this message is shown or what turns it on.
Anthropic's release notes agreeFixed /chrome "Reconnect extension" not restoring browser tools after a failed Chrome connection, and added an explanation when it can't…
