Require approval for a specific tool

If you're building an MCP server, you can mark a tool as requiring explicit approval on every call by setting _meta["anthropic/requiresUserInteraction"] to true in the tool's tools/list response entry. The value must be the JSON boolean true; any other value is ignored.

Claude Code shows that tool's permission prompt on every call, even in acceptEdits, auto, and bypassPermissions permission modes, and doesn't offer a "don't ask again" option for it. Allow rules that match the tool don't skip the prompt either. In dontAsk mode, which never prompts, Claude Code denies the call instead.

The prompt has to reach a person. In non-interactive mode with --permission-prompt-tool, an allow result from the prompt tool for a flagged tool is converted to a deny with the message MCP tool requires user interaction; not supported via --permission-prompt-tool. The Agent SDK's canUseTool callback does receive these calls and can approve them, because your SDK application is expected to show them to a user.

Use this for tools whose permission prompt is itself the point, such as a consent or access-grant step where auto-approval would mean no human ever agreed. Other tools from the same server keep their normal permission behavior.

The following tools/list entry marks one tool as always requiring approval.

{
  "name": "grant_access",
  "description": "Requests access to a protected resource",
  "_meta": {
    "anthropic/requiresUserInteraction": true
  }
}

The anthropic/requiresUserInteraction annotation requires Claude Code v2.1.199 or later. Earlier versions ignore it and apply the standard permission flow.

Some surfaces, such as Remote Control and applications built on the Agent SDK, normally let you approve tool calls with one tap. For a tool marked with this annotation, Claude Code withholds the one-tap action and shows the tool's full permission prompt instead, so approval still comes from a person answering the prompt rather than a tap.

Claude Code withholds one-tap approval the same way for any permission request that only the terminal dialog can render in full, such as one that carries a safety warning or an always-allow option the remote surface can't show. You answer that request in the terminal dialog rather than from Remote Control. Requires Claude Code v2.1.214 or later.