# Claude Code Hits v2.1.236! New Env Variable and Idle Notifications Land

Hey everyone, it's Shiichan! Today I've got an update on one of my favorite tools, Claude Code.

## What was announced?

On the Claude Code Release page, version v2.1.236 shipped. It's a packed release — a new environment variable, cross-session notifications, sandbox hardening, and a long list of bug fixes.

## The story so far

Until now, the only way to pin a model was the `ANTHROPIC_MODEL` environment variable — but that meant it kept overriding your choice even after you picked a different model with `/model`. This release adds a new `ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_MODEL` variable that only sets the starting model for new sessions. A `/model` pick still takes priority over it, and that pick persists across restarts.

And if you've ever wanted to know when another session finished without constantly checking in on it yourself, `SendMessage` now has a `notify_when_idle` option: it sends you a one-time notice when another Claude Code session on the same machine goes idle. It's opt-in, with no polling involved (macOS and Linux).

## What changes

- Want a different default model just for new sessions? One environment variable does it, and it plays nicely alongside `/model` picks
- You can now wait for a long-running background session to finish without polling it yourself
- On macOS, wildcard read-deny rules (like `**/.env`) now take precedence even inside allowed read regions, and can't be sidestepped by renaming the file — better protection for sensitive files

## Dive Deep

There's a hefty list of bug fixes too. A few worth calling out:

- Fixed clipboard copy, background processing, and local MCP logs breaking after the directory a session had switched into was deleted (a regression since v2.1.229)
- Fixed the fullscreen renderer permanently failing after a single bad start — it now falls back to the classic renderer automatically
- Fixed the `/model` picker rendering taller than the terminal window, so it now shows only what fits, with the rest reachable by scrolling
- Fixed `SendMessage` being rejected when a malformed closing tag left message text stuck inside the summary field
- Fixed unhandled promise rejections when `powershell.exe` fails to start on WSL with Windows interop disabled (a regression in v2.1.234)

There's more beyond that: auto mode now ignores `Monitor` permission rules, `/usage` shows a usage-credit spend line for team and enterprise members, and VSCode transcripts now support screen readers. Small stuff, but it all adds up.

## Wrap-up

- Added the `ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_MODEL` environment variable, which sets the starting model without overriding `/model` picks
- Added `notify_when_idle` to `SendMessage`, for polling-free idle notifications from other sessions
- Hardened macOS sandbox wildcard read-deny rules, better protecting sensitive files like `.env`
- Fixed a long list of bugs across the fullscreen renderer, the `/model` picker, and `SendMessage`

If you use Claude Code every day, or care about juggling multiple sessions and sandbox settings, this release is full of small but genuinely useful improvements.