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
--toolslist 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_restrictionerror naming the tools at fault. - Using
--toolswhen attaching to an existing cloud session gives anattach_restrictionerror, 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
--toolswhen 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.
Names in the bundle--tools
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 since
Anthropic'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 behaviorchangelog see the edit
One source agreesOne thing we can check says the same as this entry.
Anthropic's documentation agrees
Anthropic's documentation has since written up --tools, on Claude Code changelog.