Claude Code v2.1.80: Enhanced Rate Limits Monitoring and Plugin Management

Claude Code v2.1.80 introduces rate limits monitoring in statusline, inline plugin configuration, and numerous bug fixes for a smoother development experience.

March 20, 2026 • 10 min read • By ClaudeWorld

Claude Code v2.1.80 brings significant improvements to monitoring and plugin management, making it easier than ever to track your usage and configure your development environment.

What’s New

Rate Limits Monitoring

Statusline scripts now include a new rate_limits field that displays Claude.ai rate limit usage across 5-hour and 7-day windows. You can track your used_percentage and see when limits reset with the resets_at timestamp, helping you better manage your API usage.

Simplified Plugin Management

A new plugin marketplace source has been added with source: 'settings', allowing you to declare plugin entries directly inline in your settings.json file. Plugin installation is now streamlined with a single /plugin install command, replacing the previous two-step workflow.

Enhanced Tool Detection and Effort Control

  • Plugin tips now detect CLI tool usage in addition to file pattern matching
  • New effort frontmatter support for skills and slash commands lets you override the model effort level when invoked
  • The /effort command now shows what auto currently resolves to, matching the status bar indicator

Research Preview: Channels

The new --channels flag (research preview) allows MCP servers to push messages directly into your session, enabling more dynamic interactions.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

  • Fixed --resume dropping parallel tool results, ensuring all tool_use/tool_result pairs are properly restored
  • Resolved voice mode WebSocket failures caused by Cloudflare bot detection
  • Fixed 400 errors when using fine-grained tool streaming through API proxies, Bedrock, or Vertex
  • Improved responsiveness of @ file autocomplete in large git repositories
  • Enhanced /permissions and /sandbox tab navigation with proper Tab and arrow key support
  • Reduced memory usage by ~80 MB on startup for large repositories (250k+ files)
  • Fixed managed settings not being applied correctly at startup

How to Update

To update to Claude Code v2.1.80, follow your standard update procedure for your installation method. Check the release page for specific installation instructions and any breaking changes.