Cross-session messages gain local relay limits and chain tracking

What

SendMessage is the tool one Claude Code session uses to message another. Message chains between agents could already be stopped by a per-recipient limit (maxSelfHops). That protection now also covers relays on the same machine and through the bridge (the connection between a local session and a remote one).

• SendMessage now counts local and bridge sends for each session that started a chain. Before, it passed the hop chain along with no counters.
• When a limit such as maxLocalRelays or maxSelfHops is exceeded, sending pauses and reports a degradedClass of hop_loop.
• The configuration gains maxDesktopForwards, maxLocalRelays (default 100,000) and countLocalHops (default false).
• Sends now carry a local_chain along with the hop chain.
• Passing the hop chain is still controlled by the gate tengu_tidy_fern, which defaults to true in the code. Nothing has been read about this gate.

The stock description of the SendMessage tool is unchanged at 4,259 characters, from a capture taken under this release.

Why

Sessions that keep relaying messages to each other on the same machine or across the bridge now stop with a hop_loop pause instead of passing messages back and forth without end. With countLocalHops false by default, local hops may not be counted unless that setting is turned on.