[BUG] /compact displays "not responding" in chat area — misleading status message

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?

Description:

When running /compact on a long conversation, Claude Code shows progress in the main chat area. At some point during the process, the message changes to "not responding" before eventually completing and clearing itself.

The compact does complete successfully however the issue is purely the messaging.

The problem: "Not responding" in plain English means something has broken or stalled. A user seeing this mid-process would reasonably assume the compact has failed and may force-quit or try to interrupt it. In reality it is still working and will complete.

What Should Happen?

Expected behaviour: The status message should reflect what is actually happening. Something like "Still working..." or "This is taking longer than usual — please wait" would be accurate and reassuring. "Not responding" implies failure

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce:

Run a long multi-file editing session in Claude Code
Run /compact
Watch the status message in the main chat area
Observe "not responding" appears before the process completes
Environment:

OS: Windows 11
Claude Code: desktop app

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.81

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

<img width="303" height="171" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/14f7d92e-1233-404d-b205-637df978f65e" />
<img width="523" height="354" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ffaca105-d469-4155-bc29-9de95655d8c6" />
<img width="567" height="306" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d4132842-fc4a-4441-87b5-40c7138062a9" />