[BUG] askUserQuestionTimeout set to "60s" never auto-continues a question (v2.1.270, macOS)

Environment

• Claude Code 2.1.270
• macOS 26.6.2
• VS Code integrated terminal 1.136.1, no tmux
• Launched as claude --dangerously-skip-permissions, with no --remote-control flag
• The session is long and uses many AskUserQuestion calls, some with previews and several questions in one call

Setting

~/.claude/settings.json has this at the top level, and the file parses as valid JSON:

"askUserQuestionTimeout": "60s"

Nothing overrides it. None of these files exist:

• /Library/Application Support/ClaudeCode/managed-settings.json
• /etc/claude-code/managed-settings.json
• <project>/.claude/settings.local.json
• ~/.claude/settings.local.json

Expected

From the tools reference, under "Question auto-continue timeout": after a question sits for 60 seconds with no input, a countdown shows for the last 20 seconds, then the dialog closes, submits any options already selected, and tells Claude the user may be away.

Actual

The user reports that questions never time out. They stay open indefinitely until answered, with no countdown.

Unverified

• Whether the user touched the terminal during those waits. The docs say any keypress, or focusing a terminal that reports focus, restarts the timer. The user reports leaving questions unanswered well past 60 seconds.
• Whether the session was being followed through Remote Control from another device at the time. The Remote Control page says questions stay open until answered, and does not say whether askUserQuestionTimeout still applies there. If it does not, the settings reference should say so.

Related

• #73435, which made the timeout configurable
• #73986, docs on the timeout becoming opt-in
• #78125, a question continuing without an answer, which is the opposite symptom
• #77602, questions auto-resolving in --remote-control sessions with the setting unset