You'll noticeTier: how much it should matter to you
3Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
3Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
ConnectorsArea: what it touches
ImprovementsKind: in v2.1.323,
ImprovementsSection of the release
Unclear It is not clear which apps that run Claude Code supply the file references this depends on, so it may not apply in every setup.
What
Claude Code now gives Claude a note about uploading files through the Google Drive and Gmail connectors. A connector is an add-on that lets Claude act inside another service. When creating a file in Google Drive or adding a Gmail attachment, Claude must not type out the file as base64, a way of writing a file's raw contents as long runs of text. Instead it uses a file reference in the form sha256:<hash>:<path>. These references come from the app Claude Code is running inside, not from the connector.
Claude Code can also now list and release MCP servers that a session is connected to. An MCP server is an outside program that gives Claude extra tools.
Why
Encoded file contents can be very large. Pointing at a file instead keeps uploads through these connectors small and avoids Claude having to reproduce a whole file as text.
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 doubtIt is not clear which apps that run Claude Code supply the file references this depends on, so it may not apply in every setup.
