You'll noticeTier: how much it should matter to you
2Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
2Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
MCPArea: what it touches
ImprovementsKind: in v2.1.304,
ImprovementsSection of the release
Unclear Which entry points this applies to, and what the further check tests, is not known, so it is unclear whose sessions are affected.
What
MCP servers are add-on programs that give Claude extra tools. Claude Code can defer a server, meaning hold off loading its tools until they are needed. Before, only servers whose alwaysLoad was explicitly set to false could be deferred.
Now a local MCP server from a plugin that does not set alwaysLoad at all can also be deferred. All of these must hold:
Claude Code was started from one of a set of entry points, which is the way Claude Code was launched and is recorded in CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT.
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 alwaysLoad, on Connect to external tools with MCP.* **Otherwise, with [tool search](/docs/en/agent-sdk/tool-search) on, which is the default**: the first turn waits up to 2 seconds, and only for pending servers that set [`alwaysLoad: true`](/docs/en/mcp#exempt-a-server-from-deferral) or t…agent-sdk/mcpsee the edit
Added sinceA small documentation edit on Connect to external tools with MCP touched a line naming alwaysLoad after this was published.* **With [tool search](/docs/en/agent-sdk/tool-search), the default**: the wait covers still-pending servers configured with [`alwaysLoad: true`](/docs/en/mcp#exempt-a-server-from-deferral), and servers it leaves out keep connecting in the…agent-sdk/mcpsee 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 entry points this applies to, and what the further check tests, is not known, so it is unclear whose sessions are affected.
Anthropic's documentation agreesA small documentation edit on Connect to external tools with MCP touched a line naming alwaysLoad after this was published.
