Claude Code 2.1.319 changes auto mode checks

Anthropic published Claude Code 2.1.319 on 6 November 2026. With telemetry or feature flags off, including behind an LLM gateway, auto mode now asks about or denies calls the server cannot check. It no longer falls back to the built-in classifier. Set CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_SERVER=0 to keep that classifier. Bedrock, Vertex, and Foundry are unchanged. Behind a gateway, CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_SERVER=1 turns the server-side check on even when CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_BETAS is set. If managed settings set that disable flag, they must set the 1 as well.

A new permissions.denyInsteadOfPrompting setting denies a tool call that would wait on a permission prompt, and the turn continues. That applies in terminal sessions, subagents, and teammates. When an MCP server runs a tool call as a task, Claude Code moves it to the background and tells Claude the result when it finishes. CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_MCP_TASK_BACKGROUND makes it wait inside the tool call instead.

For developers behind a Claude apps gateway with no spend limit, /usage adds spend for today, this week, and this month when the gateway runs this version or later. /tasks adds an "Earlier in this session" row of finished subagents, so you can reopen one after it leaves the list or you restart. The release also fixes Bash deny and ask rules that missed commands written with quoted words, and it fixes claude -p exiting 0 in auto mode when actions were refused because no safety check was available. Text and JSON output now exit 1 in that case.

Who it's for: someone running Claude Code unattended, or behind a gateway, who needs auto mode to stop instead of guessing.

Fits: Best for Vibe Coding stays Cursor. Claude Code stays the terminal agent for a repo you already have open. The coding guide, the Claude Code alternatives, and Cursor vs Claude Code are unchanged. The verdict is unchanged.