CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_THREAD_ASK_HELD

Updated October 23, 2026 by Alex Sorokoletov

CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_THREAD_ASK_HELD is a Claude Code environment variable. Added in v2.1.307 and still present in v2.1.310. It is not in the official reference.

How to set it

For one session, export it in the shell that starts Claude Code:

export CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_THREAD_ASK_HELD=<value>
claude

To apply it to every session, add it to the env object of a settings file:

// ~/.claude/settings.json
{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_THREAD_ASK_HELD": "<value>"
  }
}

Related variables

• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_CLASSIFY_ASK_USER_QUESTION
• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_CLASSIFY_EDITS: Turns the classification pass on: every edit runs through the classifier before it touches disk.
• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_EDIT_REMOVAL: Governs whether Auto mode may delete content as part of an edit.
• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_EDIT_REMOVAL_CAP: Caps how much a single autonomous edit can remove before it's held for a human.
• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_EXTERNAL_PERMISSIONS: Hands permission decisions to an external policy engine instead of the built-in prompt.
• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_GIT_STATUS: Feeds the working tree's git status into the classifier's context.
• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_GIT_STATUS_LIMIT: Bounds how much of that status is included, so the classifier prompt doesn't balloon in large or messy repos.
• CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_MODE_GIT_STATUS_UPLOADS: Controls whether git-status context is uploaded to the classification service.

Frequently asked questions

All variables, searchable: Claude Code environment variables.