We break down Claude Code’s new automatic MCP backgrounding for long-running tool calls, including the default 120,000 ms threshold, how to customize it with CLAUDE_CODE_MCP_AUTO_BACKGROUND_MS, and how setting it to 0 keeps workflows synchronous. The episode also covers handy quality-of-life updates like vim escape remaps, hidden working directories in startup banners, and live elapsed-time counters for active tool calls.

Show Notes

• Week 29 · July 13–17, 2026 - Claude Code Docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/whats-new/2026-w29