What probably matters to youSection of the release
Unclear Which commands start the cloud sessions this check applies to is not stated.
What
--tools is the command-line flag that limits which built-in tools Claude can use. For cloud sessions, which run on Anthropic's servers instead of your computer, Claude Code now checks this flag before the session starts.
The --tools list is sorted into the default set, refused lists and other lists. Some lists are now accepted.
Names that are malformed, presets, negations or rules are refused, as are an empty list and a list over a maximum length. The error says a cloud session cannot apply these tool restrictions, so they are refused rather than silently dropped. The same applies to --disallowed-tools.
A refused list gives a tool_restriction error naming the tools at fault.
Using --tools when attaching to an existing cloud session gives an attach_restriction error, saying a flag cannot change an existing cloud session.
On Remote Control, self-hosted or unknown environments, the session is not started, for example: "The cloud session was not started: --tools is not supported in a Remote Control environment."
A separate error covers --tools when the device is bound without a deferred prompt.
The old check after creation, builtin_tools_not_echoed, is removed. Session creation now checks the built-in tools itself and stops if they cannot be applied.
Why
If you pass tool restrictions to a cloud session, you now get a clear error when they cannot be honoured, instead of a session that may run without the limits you asked for.
--toolsClaude Code changelogmodified, high confidence* Fixed `--tools` and `--restricted` not applying to built-in tools that register after launch, and deprecated tool names reaching tools outside the caller's tool setsee the edit
Since it was published
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 --disallowed-tools, on Error reference.* Fix the rule at its source, which the full warning names in parentheses: a settings file path, or the flag itself for `--allowed-tools` and `--disallowed-tools`. A `claude-settings-<hash>.json` path that doesn't exist on disk stands for …errorssee the edit
Confirmed sinceAnthropic's documentation has since written up --tools, on Claude Code changelog.* Fixed `claude --help` text for `--tools`, `--resume`, `--debug`, `--json-schema`, `--disable-slash-commands`, `--system-prompt-snapshot` and `claude update` to match actual behaviorchangelogsee the edit
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 doubtWhich commands start the cloud sessions this check applies to is not stated.
Anthropic's documentation agrees--tools on Claude Code changelog