Claude Code automatically updates itself when a new version is available. If you need to pin to a specific version - for reproducibility, CI environments, or just to avoid unexpected behavior changes - you can disable the auto-updater in two ways.
Option 1 - Environment Variable (Per Session)
Set DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1 before running Claude Code:
DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1 claude
This only applies for that session. The next time you run claude without the variable set, auto-updates are active again.
Option 2 - settings.json (Permanent)
Add the environment variable to ~/.claude/settings.json so it applies to every session:
{
"env": {
"DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER": "1"
}
}
If the file already exists and has other settings, add the env key alongside them:
{
"theme": "dark",
"env": {
"DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER": "1"
}
}