Source Intelligence
Reading a new release v2.1.251 Analysing changes · 2/5 Sorting the findings · 1/4 steps 470 findings $18.91 so far

DisclaimerUnofficial, and not affiliated with Anthropic. Nearly all of this is read straight out of what ships: npm bundles, captured prompts, published docs. Anthropic's own notes go in verbatim, marked as theirs. The rest is my reading, and every entry carries the strings behind it. If one looks wrong, vote it down and say why.

All of v2.1.31 Home All releases olderv2.1.30 v2.1.32newer
Claude Code v2.1.31

Expanded Tool Usage Instructions in System Prompt

The system prompt now provides individual, per-tool instructions for when to use dedicated tools instead of Bash, replacing the previous single-paragraph format. The new format:

  • Lists each tool explicitly: Read instead of cat/head/tail/sed, Edit instead of sed/awk, Write instead of cat with heredoc, Glob instead of find/ls, Grep instead of grep/rg
  • Uses stronger wording: "Do NOT use the [Bash] to run commands when a relevant dedicated tool is provided"
  • Emphasizes this as "CRITICAL to assisting the user"
  • Wraps the tool-specific lines inside a top-level instruction, creating a clearer hierarchy

Previously, Glob and Grep were not explicitly mentioned as alternatives to bash commands.

Evidence

Expanded tool usage policy (search for "exclusively for system commands and terminal operations that require shell execution" and "Do NOT use the")

Strings lifted out of the shipped bundle, so the claim above can be checked against them.

See this entry in the whole of v2.1.31 →