[BUG] Shell tool doesn't refresh PATH environment variable mid-session

Status Open
Reported on v2.1.216
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Jul 21, 2026

Bug Description
Bash/PowerShell tool doesn't pick up PATH changes made mid-session
Claude Code's shell tool processes snapshot PATH at session start and never re-read it. If a CLI is installed mid-session (e.g. via winget install), it's immediately usable in a fresh terminal but stays command not found in Claude's Bash/PowerShell tool until the whole session restarts. Would help if the tool re-resolved PATH per-command, or at least detected "not found" + recently-changed PATH and suggested a restart instead of just erroring.

Environment Info

  • Platform: win32
  • Terminal: xterm-256color
  • Version: 2.1.216
  • Feedback ID: a262b8d6-087d-41ee-9d9a-537aaa3365a1

Errors

[{"error":"TelemetrySafeError: VirtualMessageList: itemKeys/messages length desync (keys=17 messages=16 range=[0,17))\n    at A_b (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:14712:8188)\n    at f8p (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:14712:1103)\n    at ai (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:21369)\n    at tA (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:40462)\n    at G$ (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:51393)\n    at w4e (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:89071)\n    at rle (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:88015)\n    at tle (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:87834)\n    at D8 (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:84091)\n    at Lt (B:/~BUN/root/src/entrypoints/cli.js:3267:6672)","timestamp":"2026-07-21T01:01:40.236Z"}]

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