Shared shell mode - Claude's commands should affect the active terminal session

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

When Claude runs bash commands (e.g. source ~/.bashrc, export VAR=value), they run in a subprocess. Changes don't persist to the user's actual shell. This forces constant terminal switching for simple things like sourcing env vars.

Proposed Solution

Add a "shared shell mode" where Claude Code attaches to the user's active terminal session instead of spawning subprocesses. This would make source, export, and cd work as expected from the user's perspective.

Alternatively, a "Run in my terminal" button that pushes a command to the user's terminal pane and executes it there without copy-pasting.

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

Other

Use Case Example

Claude writes credentials to ~/.bashrc but user still has to manually source ~/.bashrc themselves — defeating the seamless automation experience.

Additional Context

_No response_