Thursday, April 23, 2026

Daily picks

articles scored

#1 GOLDReleaseClaude Code Releases

v2.1.118

**Vim visual mode** (`v` and `V`) is now built in — select text, run operators, get visual feedback without a plugin
`/cost` and `/stats` are merged into `/usage` — one command with tabs for both views
**Custom themes** are now first-class: create and switch named themes from `/theme`, or hand-edit JSON in `~/.claude/themes/`; plugins can ship themes too
**Hooks can now invoke MCP tools directly** via `type: "mcp_tool"` — no more shelling out to a subprocess to call an MCP server from a hook
New `DISABLE_UPDATES` env var locks down all update paths including manual `claude update` — stricter than `DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER`, useful for IT-managed installs
WSL on Windows can now inherit Windows-side managed settings via the `wslInheritsWindowsSettings` policy key
`"$defaults"` in `autoMode.allow/soft_deny/environment` adds custom rules alongside the built-in list instead of replacing it

#2 SILVERReleaseGitHub anthropics/claude-agent-sdk-python

**Thinking display control**: pass `display` to `ThinkingConfig` (forwarded as `--thinking-display`) to override Opus 4.7's default `"omitted"` behavior and actually receive summarized thinking text in your SDK responses
**Batch session summaries**: `SessionStore.list_session_summaries()` + `fold_session_summary()` let session list views run in O(1) per session instead of loading full transcripts — a real speed difference at scale
**Import local sessions to store**: `import_session_to_store()` migrates on-disk local sessions into any `SessionStore` adapter — useful for moving from local dev to production Redis/Postgres
**ServerToolUseBlock + AdvisorToolResultBlock**: server-executed tool calls (`advisor`, `web_search`) that were previously silently dropped now surface in responses

#3 BRONZEUpdateDev.to Anthropic

`claude-3-haiku-20240307` was **retired April 20, 2026** — requests now return `not_found_error`, not a redirect or a helpful message
Your code, your API key, your SDK version: all unchanged. The only thing that changed is Anthropic's router stopped recognizing the model ID
Replace with `claude-haiku-4-5` (or `claude-haiku-4-5-20251001` for the pinned version) — check env vars, config files, framework wrappers (LangChain, LlamaIndex, Vercel AI SDK), and hardcoded test fixtures separately