How to make Claude Code deny a tool call instead of waiting on a permission prompt with permissions.denyInsteadOfPrompting

Starting with Claude Code 2.1.319, turning on the permissions.denyInsteadOfPrompting setting denies a tool call that would otherwise wait on a permission prompt, and the turn continues. It applies to terminal sessions, subagents and teammates. Use it for unattended runs where nobody is there to approve.

1. Update Claude Code to 2.1.319 or later.

claude update

1. Add the setting to settings.json.

{
  "permissions": {
    "denyInsteadOfPrompting": true
  }
}

The changelog gives only the setting name and its behavior in one line, with no value format. The true above is my guess at the on value, and the settings docs don't list it yet.