{"slug": "this-week-in-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-cli-week-of-november-1-2026", "title": "This week in Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI (week of November 1, 2026)", "summary": "Anthropic's Claude Code shipped four releases (2.1.311 through 2.1.316) this week, deprecating fast mode for Opus 4.8 as of October 30, 2026, with removal set for November 30, after which fast mode requests will return an error rather than fall back to standard Opus 4.8. The releases also extended idle compaction to VS Code and the desktop Code tab, added a permissions.blockWritesOutsideWorkingDirectories setting, withdrew the claude_code.safety_event OpenTelemetry event introduced a week earlier, and fixed a --restricted session file-upload escape. OpenAI's Codex CLI v0.166.0 added codex queue --resume, codex doctor --network-only, keyboard-driven transcript selection, GPT-6.1 Terra in its model catalogs, and clearer safety-block explanations.", "body_md": "*Originally published at [https://aicoding-guide.com](https://aicoding-guide.com/en/posts/weekly-2026-11-01/).*\n\nThis week has a **deadline in it**. Fast mode for Opus 4.8 is deprecated as of 2026-10-30 and **removed on 2026-11-30**. The CHANGELOG is specific that after removal, fast mode requests on Opus 4.8 return an error and do not fall back to standard Opus 4.8.\n\nOn the feature side, idle compaction spread to VS Code and the desktop app — two weeks after it arrived, terminal-only.\n\n**Key point**\n\nThis week in brief\n\n- Fast mode on Opus 4.8 is removed on November 30; move to Opus 5.5 to keep the speedup\n- Idle compaction was added to VS Code and the desktop app's Code tab\n`permissions.blockWritesOutsideWorkingDirectories` was added\n\nFour releases: 2.1.311, 2.1.312, 2.1.314 and 2.1.316.\n\nThe CHANGELOG reads: \"Deprecated fast mode for Opus 4.8 as of October 30, 2026; it will be removed on November 30, 2026. After removal, fast mode requests on Opus 4.8 return an error and do not fall back to standard Opus 4.8. Migrate to Opus 5.5 to keep the speedup.\"\n\nIf a script or settings file assumes fast mode, move it to Opus 5.5 during November. After removal it does not quietly get slower — it errors.\n\n| Setting | What it does | \n|---|---|\n| `permissions.blockWritesOutsideWorkingDirectories` | Write, Edit and NotebookEdit refuse paths outside the working directories in every permission mode | \n\nIt pairs with `permissions.blockReadsOutsideWorkingDirectories` on the read side. With both set, the reach of the file tools no longer depends on the permission mode.\n\n\"Added idle compaction to VS Code and Claude Desktop's Code tab: a 200K+ token conversation left idle is summarized, and the summary is used on your next message if the prompt cache has expired.\"\n\nWhat landed in the terminal in 2.1.299 reached VS Code and the desktop Code tab two weeks later. For the conditions and how to turn it off, see [Making Claude Code compact earlier, or never](https://aicoding-guide.com/en/posts/claude-code-autocompact-window/).\n\n| Variable | What it does | \n|---|---|\n| `CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_ULTRATHINK` | Turns the `ultrathink` keyword off | \n| `CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_EFFORT` | Sets the effort subagents run at when nothing else names one, instead of inheriting the session's | \n\n**claude_code.safety_event stopped being sent after a week**\n\nThe `claude_code.safety_event` OpenTelemetry event added in v2.1.307 was withdrawn in v2.1.312: \"Changed Claude Code to stop sending the `claude_code.safety_event` OpenTelemetry event.\" We covered it in last week's digest; it lasted a week. A dashboard built on that event needs rebuilding.\n\nOn security, `--restricted` sessions could upload files from outside the working directories when a Read allow rule covered them; that is fixed. Separately, for Team and Enterprise logins, server-managed settings fetched from Anthropic's API now apply without an approval prompt, and a stored copy that doesn't verify is refused.\n\n`PreCompact` hook with very large output could make compaction fail or repeat; `CLAUDE.md`, rules file or @-included file after seeing only its start; Write now asks Claude to read it all or edit in place (2.1.312)`SubagentStop` hooks were firing about twice a minute per running subagent instead of once at the end (2.1.311)\nv0.165.0 brought the Vertex AI provider and memories by default; see [Codex CLI v0.165](https://aicoding-guide.com/en/posts/codex-update-0-165/).\n\nv0.166.0 adds six features.\n\n| Addition | What it does | \n|---|---|\n| `codex queue --resume` | Resumes unloaded threads after queueing a message | \n| `codex doctor --network-only` | Runs focused configuration, connectivity and WebSocket diagnostics | \n| Transcript selection | Keyboard-driven, with word, line and page motions, search and configurable shortcuts | \n| GPT-6.1 Terra | Added to the bundled, Vertex AI and Amazon Bedrock model catalogs | \n| Safety-block explanations | Clearer reasons in the TUI, with selectable safer follow-up prompts | \n\nTwo fixes stand out, both about resuming: acknowledged approval and permission settings are now preserved when resuming or forking threads, and reasoning-token accounting is preserved across resume and fork to avoid premature compaction.\n\nv0.66.0 is 26 entries of fixes and chores with no features. The configuration-related ones:\n\n`.env` files are loaded`~/.gitconfig` is preserved in shell and git environments`getSafeGitEnv`\n`keybindings.json` supports a `keys` array\nA banner was also added saying Gemini CLI is not optimized for Gemini 4. For the previous release, see [Gemini CLI v0.65 enforces read-only settings in untrusted folders](https://aicoding-guide.com/en/posts/gemini-cli-update-0-65/).\n\n`claude_code.safety_event`\n`permissions.blockWritesOutsideWorkingDirectories` if you want writes confined`codex queue --resume` and `codex doctor --network-only`", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-week-in-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-cli-week-of-november-1-2026", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/aicoding-guide/this-week-in-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-cli-week-of-november-1-2026-15pn", "published_at": "2026-10-31 19:08:39+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-31 19:22:12.298108+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "developer-tools", "ai-agents", "large-language-models"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Claude Code", "OpenAI", "Codex CLI", "Google", "Gemini CLI", "Vertex AI", "Amazon Bedrock"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-week-in-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-cli-week-of-november-1-2026", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-week-in-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-cli-week-of-november-1-2026.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-week-in-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-cli-week-of-november-1-2026.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-week-in-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-cli-week-of-november-1-2026.jsonld"}}