[Bug] Task tools gated OFF in real-TTY CLI; CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TASKS env var ineffective

likewise. here is my report:

Date: 2026-07-23
Claude Code version: 2.1.218 (identical on all machines)
Account tier: claude_max (default_claude_max_20x)

Summary

On one machine ("rough"), the task-tracker tools are unavailable to the main agent and to subagents under Opus and Sonnet. The legacy TodoWrite and the structured TaskCreate/TaskUpdate/TaskList/TaskGet are BOTH reported as "exists but is not enabled in this context". Only a Haiku session surfaces TaskCreate. A second machine ("machine2") with an identical account, org, CLI version, and settings.json does not have the problem. The differentiator is the per-device GrowthBook feature-flag resolution.

The prior workaround, DISABLE_GROWTHBOOK=1, used to restore the task tools. As of today (2026-07-23) that same env var breaks Remote Control (phone push / remote session). So there is now no env-only configuration that yields both working task tools and working Remote Control on the affected machine.

Impact

With CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TASKS set to either "0" or "1" (both tested, both live-confirmed via printenv), the main agent under Opus and Sonnet has NO task-tracking tool at all - not TaskCreate, not TodoWrite. This removes task tracking for any non-Haiku session on that machine.

Reproduction (machine "rough")

1. Session model Opus 4.8 or Sonnet 5.
2. Attempt TodoWrite -> "Error: No such tool available: TodoWrite. TodoWrite exists but is not enabled in this context."
3. ToolSearch select:TaskCreate,TaskUpdate,TaskList,TaskGet -> "No matching deferred tools found".
4. Switch session model to Haiku 4.5 -> the four Task tools appear as deferred tools and TaskCreate succeeds (created a task).
5. Same failure reproduced inside dispatched subagents (coding-agent = Sonnet, general-purpose = Sonnet): both report TaskCreate absent and TodoWrite "not enabled in this context".
6. CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TASKS=0 and =1 both tested after full session restart; neither changes the outcome under Opus/Sonnet.
7. Full uninstall + reinstall of Claude Code CLI did not fix it.

Root-cause evidence (cross-machine comparison via ssh)

Identical on both machines:

• claude --version = 2.1.218 on both.
• ~/.claude/settings.json .env block byte-identical (including CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TASKS: "1").
• accountUuid, organizationUuid, organizationName, organizationType (claude_max), organizationRateLimitTier (default_claude_max_20x) all identical.
• Top-level ~/.claude.json keys, hasSeenTasksHint, hasUsedBackgroundTask identical. No enableTasks-style key anywhere.

Different:

• Per-device userID differs (expected; machine-scoped install id):
• rough (broken): REDACTED
• machine2 (works): REDACTED
• cachedGrowthBookFeatures in ~/.claude.json: 433 keys on rough vs 428 on machine2. Five flags present on rough and absent on machine2
• tengu_auto_mode_classifier_queue = true
• tengu_bison_cairn = false
• tengu_juniper_sundial = 10
• tengu_larch_pavise = false
• tengu_parchment_fern = false
• cachedExperimentFeatures: one extra numeric bucket key ("13") on machine2

The codenamed flags could not be mapped to task-tool gating from the client side (names are obfuscated; two of the five appear as literal strings in the compiled CLI bundle but were not deobfuscated). The behaviour is consistent with GrowthBook rollout/targeting that buckets on per-device userID and evaluates with the session model as an input attribute (Haiku passes on rough; Opus/Sonnet do not).

The DISABLE_GROWTHBOOK regression (new, primary concern)

• Before today: DISABLE_GROWTHBOOK=1 disabled GrowthBook evaluation entirely and restored the task tools (consistent with the tools being default-on once the flag gate is removed).
• As of today (2026-07-23): with DISABLE_GROWTHBOOK=1, Remote Control stops working. This indicates a recent change made Remote Control depend on a GrowthBook flag being evaluated, so disabling GrowthBook now takes Remote Control down with it.
• Net effect: the two features (task tools, Remote Control) now have mutually exclusive env-var requirements on the affected machine. There is no env-only setting that yields both.

Requests

1. Enable the task-tool feature flag for this account/device (userID REDACTED), or expose a supported, model-independent toggle that actually forces the Task tools on regardless of GrowthBook bucketing.
2. Decouple Remote Control from GrowthBook so that DISABLE_GROWTHBOOK=1 no longer disables Remote Control (regression introduced 2026-07-23).
3. Clarify whether task-tool availability is intended to depend on the session model (Haiku vs Opus/Sonnet); current behaviour appears unintended and is undocumented.

Same problem here. Claude Code has no access to "TaskCreate,TaskUpdate,TaskList,TaskGet" on Opus 4.8 and Fable. I changed nothing, just using the terminal on my Mac.

This is happening again.

Yep, same since today for me.

From changelog; "Todo/task-tracking tools (TaskCreate/Get/Update/List, TodoWrite) are no longer available on Opus 4.8, Sonnet 5, Fable 5, Mythos 5, and newer models; set CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TODO_TOOLS=1 to bring them back"