Claude Code Adds Hard Caps on Search and Subagent Spawns

Claude Code 2.1.212 caps how many WebSearch calls and subagent spawns a single session can make, per the July 17 changelog. Anyone running Claude Code unattended now hits a real ceiling: 200 search calls or 200 subagent spawns per session by default. No more open-ended token bill.

The WebSearch limit is tunable through CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_WEB_SEARCHES_PER_SESSION. The subagent-spawn limit uses the same default of 200 and is tunable through CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_SUBAGENTS_PER_SESSION.

Running /clear resets the subagent-spawn budget, per the changelog. The changelog doesn't say whether /clear also resets the search cap.

The same release auto-backgrounds any MCP tool call that runs past two minutes, so a slow tool can't freeze the session.

A related fix in the same 2.1.212 batch closes a plan-mode bug that let file-modifying bash commands run without a permission prompt, per the changelog.

Anyone scheduling a long, unattended multi-agent run should check both env vars before kicking it off, not after hitting the wall.