Claude Code 2.1.302 shipped on 16 October with 63 changes - 43 bug fixes, three default behaviour changes, three new features and one end-of-life notice. Two of the default changes are worth checking before your next run.
Fork subagents are now on by default in claude -p, the Agent SDK, the desktop app and VS Code. Set CLAUDE_CODE_FORK_SUBAGENT=0 to turn them off. They are not provided in claude mcp serve. The starting permission mode has changed for sessions that do not specify one: claude -p and Agent SDK sessions now start in default mode when running on third-party providers, with telemetry off, or on a fresh install. Pass --permission-mode auto to keep the previous behaviour. If you have scripts that assumed auto mode and never said so explicitly, they will now prompt.
Plugin handling improved rather than changed: startup is faster with many plugins enabled thanks to fewer filesystem calls, noticeably on Windows, and two bugs were fixed - configuration writes from claude plugin commands were sometimes lost, and file writes failed on exFAT and FAT32 drives including sessions using --plugin-dir. The end-of-life notice is for standalone Claude Design at claude.ai/design, which closes by 14 December 2026; /design-sync and /design-login now show a notice about it.