[BUG] Claude Code reverted from 2.1.88 to 2.1.87 and now I can't upgrade to 2.1.88

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When I try to execute claude update, my version remains at 2.1.87. When I first logged in this morning, claude code was already on version 2.1.88 before I realized it, so I ran claude update as normal, and the version downgraded from 2.1.88 to 2.1.87. Now I'm unable to upgrade to 2.1.88.

What Should Happen?

When executing claude code, my version should change from 2.1.87 to 2.1.88.

Error Messages/Logs

Root Cause: Anthropic Deliberately Yanked 2.1.88                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  This is not a bug on your end — Anthropic intentionally deprecated/unpublished 2.1.88 and rolled back the latest dist-tag to 2.1.87. Your updater worked correctly.                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  Timeline of Events                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  ┌──────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐                                                                                                                        
  │       Time       │                           Event                           │                                                                                                                      
  ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤                                                                                                                        
  │ Mar 29 01:40 UTC │ 2.1.87 published to npm                                   │                                                                                                                      
  ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤                                                                                                                        
  │ Mar 30 18:56     │ You installed 2.1.88 (file timestamp on disk)             │                                                                                                                        
  ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤                                                                                                                        
  │ Mar 30 22:36 UTC │ 2.1.88 published to npm                                   │                                                                                                                        
  ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤                                                                                                                        
  │ Mar 31 (today)   │ Anthropic deprecated 2.1.88 + rolled back latest → 2.1.87 │                                                                                                                      
  ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤                                                                                                                        
  │ Mar 31 08:58     │ claude update installed 2.1.87 (symlink updated)          │                                                                                                                      
  └──────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                                                        
  Key Evidence                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                       
  npm dist-tags: { stable: '2.1.81', next: '2.1.87', latest: '2.1.87' }                                                                                                                                   
  2.1.88 status: DEPRECATED ⚠️  — Unpublished                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  The 2.1.88 binary is still on your disk at ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.88 (196MB). The com.apple.provenance xattr on it is just macOS tracking its download origin — harmless.                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  For Your Bug Report                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                       
  Include this in https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues:                                                                                                                                       
                                       
  1. What happened: Installed 2.1.88 on Mar 30, claude update on Mar 31 downgraded to 2.1.87                                                                                                              
  2. npm evidence: npm view @anthropic-ai/claude-code@2.1.88 shows DEPRECATED ⚠️  — Unpublished; dist-tags.latest = 2.1.87
  3. Local state: Both binaries present at ~/.local/share/claude/versions/                                                                                                                                
  4. Ask: Was 2.1.88 intentionally yanked? If so, what was the issue? Will 2.1.89 be released soon?                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  ★ Insight ─────────────────────────────────────                                                                                                                                                         
  Claude Code uses a custom updater that downloads a binary directly to ~/.local/share/claude/versions/<version> and updates a symlink at ~/.local/bin/claude. It does NOT use npm install globally — so  
  the native installer and npm commands don't interfere with each other, which is why reinstalling the native installer also defaulted back to 2.1.87 (it respects the same latest dist-tag).             
  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  Bottom line: You're not doing anything wrong. 2.1.88 was retracted by Anthropic ~13 hours after publishing. You can manually symlink back to 2.1.88 if you want (ln -sf                                 
  ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.88 ~/.local/bin/claude), but given it was yanked, there's likely a reason — worth waiting for 2.1.89.                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                                          
  Sources:                                                                                                                                                                                                
  - https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/releases
  - https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md                                                                                                                                      
  - https://www.npmjs.com/package/@anthropic-ai/claude-code?activeTab=versions

Steps to Reproduce

Step 1: Restore 2.1.88 by updating the symlink manually:
```bash
ln -sf ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.88 ~/.local/bin/claude
claude --version # confirms 2.1.88

  Step 2: Run the updater:
```bash
claude update
claude --version  # back to 2.1.87

Evidence from my local:

me@Mac ~ % ln -sf ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.88 ~/.local/bin/claude
me@Mac ~ % claude --version
2.1.88 (Claude Code)
me@Mac ~ % claude update
Current version: 2.1.88
Checking for updates to latest version...
Successfully updated from 2.1.88 to version 2.1.87
me@Mac ~ % claude --version
2.1.87 (Claude Code)
me@Mac ~ % 

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

2.1.86

Claude Code Version

2.1.87 (Claude Code)

Platform

Other

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_