Claude Code release notes: 2.1.259 controls MCP and unattended runs

Claude Code 2.1.259 lets organizations distribute managed MCP servers and run unattended jobs without stalling on unanswered permission prompts. One change controls which tools reach users. The other decides what happens when no person is available to answer.

Source: Claude Code 2.1.259 release notes.

Claude Code 2.1.259 can distribute managed MCP servers

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that connects AI agents to external tools and data sources. The new managedMcpServers setting can give an organization's users the same HTTP or SSE servers. Entries use the same shape as .mcp.json. Entries that try to start a local command are skipped.

The release also changes filtering. allowedMcpServers now governs servers users add themselves. Administrators must use deniedMcpServers to block a managed server.

Keep credentials outside the distributed configuration. Anthropic's documentation recommends environment variables, OAuth or per-user headers, and headersHelper for credentials created at connection time.

Sources: Claude Code 2.1.259 release notes. Anthropic's managed MCP documentation.

Unattended Claude Code runs deny unanswered requests

The --permission-prompts none flag is for scheduled and other unattended runs. Claude Code first applies the active permission mode, permission rules, and PermissionRequest hooks. If an action would still require an answer, Claude Code denies it instead of waiting.

Claude Code also removes tools that require a human answer, including AskUserQuestion. An MCP elicitation request is cancelled when no Elicitation hook handles it. With stream-json, the decisions appear as permission_denied events and the final result lists them in permission_denials.

Human step: Add the flag to an unattended command. Anthropic's documentation gives this example:

claude -p "Update the dependency pins and run the tests" --permission-mode auto --permission-prompts none

Source: Anthropic's guide to unattended Claude Code runs.

Version and availability

Both features require Claude Code 2.1.259 or later. The current npm version at verification time was 2.1.263; its release note contains only bug fixes and reliability improvements.

Sources: Current Claude Code version in the npm registry. Claude Code 2.1.263 release notes.