[BUG] Autocontinue after 60s not possible to be disabled

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?

Body:

Description

AskUserQuestion silently auto-proceeds if the user doesn't respond within 60 seconds, and there is no setting, flag, or environment variable anywhere that disables this behavior. For workflows where a question's answer
materially changes what gets built (scope decisions, design choices, anything explicitly gated behind user input), this causes the agent to act on an assumed/guessed answer instead of the user's actual one — with no way to
opt out.

Actual Behavior

The 60-second timeout and auto-proceed fallback are hardcoded with no override. This was confirmed against the full settings reference doc and the permission-modes doc — neither exposes a relevant option.

Impact

Silent wrong-direction work: the agent can commit to an approach, reframe a problem, or scope a change based on a guessed answer instead of the user's actual intent, and the user may not notice until well after the fact.

Proposed Fix

A settings.json (or CLI flag) option, e.g.:

{
"askUserQuestion": {
"onTimeout": "wait" // default: "proceed" (current behavior) | "wait" (block indefinitely)
}
}

When set to "wait", the tool should keep blocking until the user actually answers — no assumed default, no fallback result returned to the model.

Related Issues

• #30740 — requested a configurable timeout duration; closed as "not planned." This report is narrower: it's about the inability to disable the auto-proceed fallback entirely, not adjust its length.
• #22597, #70294 — request more auto-continue for unattended/remote use cases; this report asks for the opposite behavior, opt-in per user/session.

Environment

• Claude Code CLI
• OS: Windows 11

What Should Happen?

There should be a way to configure AskUserQuestion to block indefinitely until the user responds, with no timeout-triggered fallback and no "proceed on your best judgment" instruction ever reaching the model.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Trigger a flow that calls AskUserQuestion with one or more questions.
2. Don't respond within 60 seconds (e.g., step away from keyboard).
3. Observe that the tool returns "No response after 60s — the user may be away from keyboard. Proceed using your best judgment based on the context so far; you can re-ask this question later if it's still relevant."
4. The agent then proceeds based on assumptions, without the user's real answer.
5. Search settings.json, settings.local.json, env vars, CLI flags, and permission modes (default, acceptEdits, plan, auto, dontAsk, bypassPermissions) for any way to prevent this — none exists.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.198 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

_No response_