Claude Code v2.1.316 released with new features and settings

Claude Code v2.1.316 has been released. New features include the addition of CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_ULTRATHINK to turn off the ultrathink keyword, and pooled group budgets added to the Claude apps gateway, allowing group members to share one monthly budget in addition to their own limits via the pooled_budget setting in the spend limits admin API. Additionally, CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_EFFORT was added to set the effort level for subagents, and guardrail.input_tagging was introduced on Claude apps gateway Bedrock upstreams to wrap prompts in input tags for Amazon Bedrock guardrail prompt attack filters.

Regarding policy management, managed.policy_mode: layered was added to the Claude apps gateway, which applies and merges every matching developer policy rather than just the first one. For Opus 4.8, fast mode will be deprecated as of October 30, 2026, and removed on November 30, 2026. After removal, fast mode requests on Opus 4.8 will return an error without falling back to standard Opus 4.8; migration to Opus 5.5 is recommended to maintain speed.

Bug fixes include an issue on macOS and Linux where shell commands were left running when Claude Code exited by itself, such as when credentials were refused or a cloud session was archived.