Claude Code v2.1.85: Enhanced MCP Management and Performance Improvements

Claude Code v2.1.85 delivers significant improvements to the Model Context Protocol (MCP) ecosystem, introduces conditional hooks for better performance, and resolves numerous quality-of-life issues reported by our community.

What’s New

Enhanced MCP Server Management

Multi-Server Support: The new CLAUDE_CODE_MCP_SERVER_NAME and CLAUDE_CODE_MCP_SERVER_URL environment variables allow a single MCP headersHelper script to serve multiple servers, streamlining your server management workflow.

Improved OAuth Flow: MCP OAuth now follows RFC 9728 Protected Resource Metadata discovery standard for finding authorization servers, providing more reliable authentication. Additionally, step-up authorization has been fixed to properly handle elevated scope requests via 403 insufficient_scope responses.

Organization Policy Enforcement: Plugins blocked by organization policy through managed-settings.json are now completely hidden from marketplace views and cannot be installed or enabled, ensuring better compliance with enterprise policies.

Performance and Efficiency Improvements

Conditional Hooks: Added support for conditional if fields in hooks using permission rule syntax (e.g., Bash(git *)). This filters when hooks run, significantly reducing unnecessary process spawning overhead.

Enhanced Deep Linking: Deep link queries (claude-cli://open?q=…) now support up to 5,000 characters, with a helpful “scroll to review” warning for longer pre-filled prompts.

Timestamp Tracking: Transcript now includes timestamp markers when scheduled tasks (/loop, CronCreate) fire, making it easier to track automated processes.

Developer Experience Improvements

Headless Integration Support: PreToolUse hooks can now satisfy AskUserQuestion prompts by returning updatedInput alongside permissionDecision: "allow", enabling seamless headless integrations that collect user input through custom UIs.

Better Image Handling: Added trailing space after [Image #N] placeholder when pasting images for improved formatting.

OpenTelemetry Refinements: tool_parameters in OpenTelemetry tool_result events are now gated behind OTEL_LOG_TOOL_DETAILS=1 for cleaner logging output.

Key Bug Fixes

Fixed /compact command: No longer fails with “context exceeded” errors when conversations become too large
Plugin management: Resolved issues with /plugin enable and /plugin disable when plugin install locations differ from settings declarations
Computer-use tool: Fixed switch_display functionality on multi-monitor setups
Memory management: Addressed memory leaks in remote sessions when streaming responses are interrupted
Terminal improvements: Fixed raw key sequences appearing in prompts over SSH and VS Code integrated terminal
UI responsiveness: Resolved issues with shift+enter and meta+enter being intercepted by typeahead suggestions

How to Update

To update to Claude Code v2.1.85:

Check your current version with claude-code --version
Update using your preferred package manager:
- npm: npm update -g claude-code
- brew: brew upgrade claude-code
- Direct download: Visit the GitHub releases page
Restart any active Claude Code sessions
Verify the update with claude-code --version

Claude Code v2.1.85 Release Notes