An MCP server is an outside program that gives Claude Code extra tools. Such a server can ask the user a question while it works. In print mode, where Claude Code runs a single prompt without an interactive screen, Claude Code now counts how many of these questions in a row ended without an answer.
- Once that count reaches a limit, Claude Code declines further questions with the reason "unanswered".
- Answering a question resets the count to zero.
- Claude Code logs a note the first time it refuses in a session.
The limit comes from a number set remotely. When no number is sent it falls back to 0, which turns the limit off.
If you run Claude Code in print mode where nobody is there to answer MCP questions, it can stop being asked them again and again. This only happens once a positive limit is set.
tengu_linear_quail Not enough to sayNothing here resolved what this flag was doing on this version, so nothing here should be read as on or off.
This account: no value returned · anonymous baseline: no value returned · compiled default in v2.1.310: not a boolean we can read
These values were read against a different version of Claude Code, so treat them as the nearest reading available instead of one taken on this release.
Read once, for one account on one subscription tier, against v2.1.310. It isn't a statement about your account. What a flag value here can and cannot tell you
New in this build: tengu_linear_quail