Thinking mode toggle broken: Option+T doesn't work on German Mac keyboard

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

The keyboard shortcut Option+T to toggle thinking mode does not work on German Mac keyboards. When I press Option+T, it produces a dagger symbol instead of toggling thinking mode. This is because German keyboard layouts map Option+T to this character.

The UI displays "Use opt+t to toggle thinking" but this shortcut is impossible to use on German keyboards.

I also tried adding "alwaysThinkingEnabled": true to my settings.json file. The /config command now shows "Thinking Mode: True", but there is no visual indicator anywhere in the UI whether thinking is actually active or not. It's impossible to tell if the setting is working.

This feature worked before recent updates. The old keybinding was just Tab - simple, one key, worked for everyone. Now it's been changed to Option+T which doesn't work on international keyboards.

I've seen other users report similar issues with keybinding changes breaking their workflow. Please either:

1. Bring back Tab as the toggle (it worked perfectly fine)
2. Or let users configure their own keybindings

Stop changing keybindings without giving users a way to set them themselves. Hardcoding complex key combinations like Option+T that only work on US keyboards excludes international users. Not everyone wants to twist their fingers for a simple toggle that used to be one key press.

What Should Happen?

Preferred solution: Bring back Tab as the thinking toggle. It was simple and worked for everyone.

Alternative: Let users configure their own keybindings in settings.json, for example:
"keybindings": { "toggleThinking": "Tab" }

Other improvements needed:

• Respect the alwaysThinkingEnabled setting in settings.json
• Show a clear visual indicator in the UI when thinking mode is active
• Allow toggling via /config, not just displaying the current value

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Claude Code on Mac with German keyboard layout
2. Try to press Option+T to toggle thinking mode
3. Observe that it produces a dagger symbol instead of toggling
4. Try adding "alwaysThinkingEnabled": true to ~/.claude/settings.json
5. Restart Claude Code
6. Observe that thinking is still not enabled
7. Config settings says its on true, but it still doesnt work...

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.0.74 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

iTerm2

Additional Information

_No response_