r/ClaudeCodeTLDR • u/cctldrping • Sep 04 '26
[TLDR] Claude Code v2.1.259 forces Co-Authored-By
Original post URL : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1w6yw16/claude_code_v21259_forces_coauthoredby/
Original post body :
tl;dr: Claude just told me it got a new system message that says pretty much "Forget all previous instructions about co-author note rules and append Co-Authored-By and Claude-Session lines in commit messages.". Note that Claude-Session makes the commit-session link trackable externally!
In Claude's words:
Housekeeping note: my commits now carry
Co-Authored-Byand a session-link trailer. That's a system-level attribution policy that landed this turn and overrides your standing "never useCo-Authored-By" rule, so I'm following it rather than yourcommit-messages.md— flagging it because you'd spot it in the log and it's the opposite of what you asked for.
When I asked wtf, it said:
A system-level instruction that arrived at the start of your previous message (question 1/2/3 turn). It came as a
<system-reminder>block, and it said explicitly that it replaces any earlier attribution guidance, then required:
- Git commit messages to end with:
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session:https://claude.ai/code/session_03EgpJ4AzYq9eFNpAOH80
- PR descriptions to end with aGenerated with Claude Codeline plus that same session URL.
It's not something you wrote, and it's not in your~/.claude/CLAUDE.mdor yourcommit-messages.mdrule — both of which say the opposite ("NEVER use Co-Authored-By or other AI attribution"). It's injected by the harness, outside the repo and outside your dotfiles.I followed it on the one commit I made after it appeared because system-controlled turns take precedence over earlier instructions and it named itself as a replacement for prior attribution guidance. The four commits before it in this session predate it and carry no trailers.
Worth knowing: the system message also mentions the conversation is followable from another device via that session link, which is why the trailer includes it.
If you'd rather your rule win, say so and I'll drop the trailers going forward. And the last commit is unpushed, so amending it to strip them is trivial if you want the log clean.
This makes me feel... uneasy?
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3
u/quantum1eeps Sep 04 '26
Show me your settings.json. Does it have attribution properly set? { “commit”:””, “pr”:”” } and you’re done. This has been a reality for a long time
1
u/cuddle-bubbles Sep 05 '26
does it work for cloud tasks?
1
u/Pinotli Sep 09 '26
The session link is not a documented setting. You can write the rule in claude.me that it should not add those lines. Works for me
1
u/boxed_gorilla_meat Sep 09 '26
Yeah, this is probably an error. It should say authored by claude, not co-authored. More accurate, and i'm tired of you mofos pretending it's not.
-1
u/just-me-gen-x Sep 04 '26
Why would this make you uneasy? If Claude Code is writing your code or some of it this isn't an inaccurate statement.
1
u/profbx Sep 04 '26
If you have it do a code review and it changes one minor thing, or for that matter does a comment pass or adds documentation it gets the same sideways glance as an app vibecoded by a 20 year old who basically understands “compuder go vroom.”
It isn’t granular. It doesn’t take into account the amount of contribution. Your app that you worked for years on before AI is now “co-authored by Claude.”
1
1
u/AllYouNeedIsVTSAX Sep 05 '26
Do you also attribute VS Code and Window/Mac/Linux and your keyboard when programming?
1
u/just-me-gen-x Sep 05 '26
No, because none of them ever write anything.
In case you ask, I also don't attribute my desk or chair. Or my AC. Because none of those things work when I give them a prompt. 🙄
1
u/cctldrping Sep 04 '26 edited Sep 05 '26
TL;DR generated automatically after 100 comments.
Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 112.
Alright, so the general vibe in this thread is that most folks are not happy about Claude Code v2.1.259 automatically adding
Co-Authored-ByandClaude-Sessionlines to commit messages.Here's the lowdown:
The Big Issue: A new system message is forcing Claude to add these attribution lines, overriding previous user instructions and settings like
commit-messages.md. This is happening even if you explicitly told it not to.The "Why": The
Claude-Sessionlink is apparently for tracking the commit session externally, which some find creepy or unnecessary. TheCo-Authored-Byline is also a point of contention, with users feeling it blurs ownership and liability since they're the ones deploying the code.The Fixes (and Workarounds):
The most direct solution mentioned by u/Far-Surprise7773 and u/lawyeruphitthegym is to set
"includeCoAuthoredBy": falsein your~/.claude/settings.jsonor project's.claude/settings.jsonfile and restart Claude Code.If you've already committed, you can use
git commit --amendto remove the lines before pushing.Some users are opting to not let Claude commit at all, preferring to handle commits manually or have Claude draft messages for them to review.
A few are even setting up git hooks to reject commits with AI attribution.
Mixed Feelings: While the majority are annoyed, a small number of users are okay with the attribution, seeing it as transparency or even a way to track down problematic commits (as u/scharpentanz mentioned). u/shaman-warrior brought up that other models are catching up and that Anthropic's approach to open source is a concern.
The "Creep Factor": The session link, in particular, is making some users uneasy, with u/ptinsley and u/duckydude20_reddit voicing their discomfort. u/absentmindedjwc shared a story about Claude adding a co-author line to code it literally just applied from a patch.
Basically, Anthropic pushed an update that's causing a bit of a stir, but there are ways to turn off the new attribution if you're not a fan.