[BUG] Read tool returns empty result for image files

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?

When using the Read tool to view an image file, the tool reports "Tool ran without output or errors" but does not actually display the image content to the model.

Environment:

Platform: Windows 10 64 Bit 22H2 19045.6809
Running in: VSCode extension (latest as of 25/Jan '26)
Model: claude-opus-4-5-20251101

What Should Happen?

Expected Behavior:
According to the tool documentation: "This tool allows Claude Code to read images (eg PNG, JPG, etc). When reading an image file the contents are presented visually as Claude Code is a multimodal LLM."

The image should be displayed/processed by the model.

Actual Behavior:
The Read tool returns Tool ran without output or errors with no image content visible to the model.

Workaround:
Pasting images directly into the chat works as expected, since the image becomes part of the API call.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Have an image file in the working directory
2. Use the Read tool to read the image file
3. The tool completes without error but returns no visual content

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude Code for VS Code 2.1.19

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_