[BUG] RTL text direction broken in chat UI (Hebrew displays LTR) — regression in v2.1.63

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?

Hebrew (and other RTL languages) no longer render correctly in the Claude Code chat panel. Both user input and assistant responses appear left-to-right, making the text unreadable for RTL language users.

This is a regression — RTL rendering worked correctly in a previous version.

Root cause (identified):

In webview/index.css, the following CSS rule was added:

*{direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:bidi-override}
unicode-bidi:bidi-override forces LTR direction on all elements, overriding the browser's bidirectional text algorithm entirely. This breaks RTL languages.

Fix:

Change bidi-override to plaintext:

*{direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:plaintext}
plaintext allows the browser to auto-detect direction per text block based on the Unicode bidirectional algorithm — LTR for English, RTL for Hebrew/Arabic, etc.

Environment:

Extension version: 2.1.63
OS: Windows 11

What Should Happen?

Hebrew looks LTR at claude chat

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

write Hebrew words at claude chat

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

code-2.1.63-win32-x64).

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

_No response_