[DOCS] Settings docs omit `showThinkingSummaries` and the new default for interactive thinking summaries

Documentation Type

Missing documentation (feature not documented)

Documentation Location

https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings

Section/Topic

Thinking summary controls for interactive sessions, especially the showThinkingSummaries setting and its default behavior in v2.1.88+

Current Documentation

The settings reference currently documents a related thinking setting:

| alwaysThinkingEnabled | Enable extended thinking by default for all sessions. Typically configured via the /config command rather than editing directly | true |

The extended thinking guide currently says:

Thinking is enabled by default, but you can adjust or disable it. | Global default | Use /config to toggle thinking mode | Sets your default across all projects (all models). Saved as alwaysThinkingEnabled in ~/.claude/settings.json | You're charged for all thinking tokens used, even though Claude 4 models show summarized thinking

No current page documents showThinkingSummaries or explains that interactive sessions stopped generating thinking summaries by default.

What's Wrong or Missing?

Changelog v2.1.88 says:

Thinking summaries are no longer generated by default in interactive sessions — set showThinkingSummaries: true in settings to restore

That is a user-visible behavior change plus a new user-facing setting, but the docs do not explain:

1. that showThinkingSummaries exists,
2. where users should set it,
3. what enabling or disabling it changes in interactive sessions,
4. that the default changed in v2.1.88.

Right now the docs cover extended thinking itself and how to inspect verbose output, but not the separate control for generated thinking summaries. Users can learn about this setting only from the changelog entry.

Suggested Improvement

Add showThinkingSummaries to the settings reference near alwaysThinkingEnabled, with a short description and example value.

Also add a note to the extended thinking docs that, starting in v2.1.88, interactive sessions no longer generate thinking summaries by default and that users can restore them with:

{
"showThinkingSummaries": true
}

The docs should also clarify the difference between:

• enabling extended thinking,
• viewing verbose output with Ctrl+O,
• restoring generated thinking summaries in interactive sessions.

Impact

Medium - Makes feature difficult to understand

Additional Context

Affected Pages:

| Page | Context |
|------|---------|
| https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings | Available settings table documents alwaysThinkingEnabled but not showThinkingSummaries |
| https://code.claude.com/docs/en/common-workflows | Extended thinking section discusses default thinking behavior and summarized thinking, but not the v2.1.88 default-off change for interactive summaries |

Total scope: 2 pages affected

Source: Changelog v2.1.88

Exact changelog entry:

Thinking summaries are no longer generated by default in interactive sessions — set showThinkingSummaries: true in settings to restore