Claude Code silently ignored AGENTS.md when telemetry was off; fixed in v2.1.281
On Sept 23, 2026 a developer blog (blog.szypowi.cz) showed that Claude Code (v2.1.277–2.1.280) loaded AGENTS.md instruction files only when telemetry was enabled: the loader sat behind a remote feature flag (tengu_agents_md_mod) that defaulted to off, so users who disabled telemetry or nonessential traffic had their AGENTS.md silently dropped. An Anthropic engineer said on Hacker News the same day that v2.1.281 fixed it.
Key facts
- Affected: Claude Code 2.1.277 (measured also on 2.1.280); with telemetry or nonessential traffic disabled, 'with either variable set, AGENTS.md never loaded', with no warning
- Cause: AGENTS.md support gated by the remote feature flag tengu_agents_md_mod, which defaults to false
- Found with a canary word in a test AGENTS.md plus `claude -p` runs, then confirmed in the binary; GitHub issue #95690
- Workaround: a one-line CLAUDE.md containing `@AGENTS.md`
- Fix: 'it's already been fixed as part of v2.1.281 releasing today' (Anthropic's mpoteat on HN)
- Author: 'A privacy setting should never quietly switch off unrelated local behavior.'
What happened
AGENTS.md is the cross-tool convention for project instructions for coding agents (this repository uses one). Claude Code had added support for it, but only behind a server-side flag. Privacy-minded users who had turned off telemetry never got the flag and never got their instructions loaded.
Why it matters
A small bug, but a clear example of how remote feature flags can make an agent's behavior depend on unrelated privacy settings. Users could not tell whether their instructions were being read. It was fixed within a day of going viral.
Changelog
- 2026-09-30: created (sweep 2026-09-29, HN 485 points)
Related events
- Claude 3.7 Sonnet (hybrid reasoning) and Claude Code preview ★★★★
- Claude Code source code leaks via a source-map file in the npm package ★★★
Sources (2)
- discussionClaude Code reads AGENTS.md only when telemetry is on
- discussionHacker News discussion (485 points) incl. Anthropic fix confirmation
id: 2026-09-23-claude-code-agents-md-telemetry-bug · updated 2026-09-30 · open in the interactive timeline