Compaction clears terminal output without warning, destroying visible context

When Claude Code performs a context compaction, it clears the terminal screen entirely. This destroys all visible conversation history without any warning or opt-out.

Expected behavior: Compaction is an internal operation (context window management). It should be invisible to the user, or at minimum should not affect the terminal scrollback. The user's visible history is their property.

Actual behavior: The terminal is cleared, taking all prior output with it. If the user has not separately preserved the output (e.g. by keeping an old terminal window), that context is gone.

Impact: Users lose the ability to refer back to prior turns, copy output, or reconstruct what was said. This is particularly disruptive mid-task, where visible context is actively useful. The clearing is also surprising — there is no indication that compaction is about to happen, so the user cannot prepare.