### Preflight Checklist - [x] I have searched [existing issues](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3Abug) 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? This just started last night: 3/31 % claude --version 2.1.89 (Claude Code) The terminal session clears, making it impossible to see any part of the conve

[BUG] Terminal clears frequently and for no reason, hiding conversation history

Status Fixed / completed

Reported on v2.1.89

Maintainer reply None cached

Workaround ✓ Mentioned in thread ↓

Activity 11 comments · opened Apr 1, 2026 · closed Apr 7, 2026

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?

This just started last night: 3/31
% claude --version
2.1.89 (Claude Code)

The terminal session clears, making it impossible to see any part of the conversation prior to the clearance. It looks the same as when claude code compacts. The top of the terminal session shows the claude robot, version, license, etc. But compaction is not involved (no compaction warnings or notices, any nowhere near the compaction threshold).

This is a giant productivity killer because the remaining content is not sufficient to resume my own context about what that window was doing, and there is no way to see any of the thinking that went into the conclusion that is presented.

What Should Happen?

Claude code terminal should leave the conversation history in place.

Error Messages/Logs

▐▛███▜▌   Claude Code v2.1.89
▝▜█████▛▘  Opus 4.6 (1M context) · Claude Max
  ▘▘ ▝▝    /sandbox/.worktrees/AM-2030

...  This is what shows at the top of the terminal

Steps to Reproduce

Have a slightly sustained conversation with claude code.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Whatever came before Claude Code v2.1.89

Claude Code Version

v2.1.89

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

This is a mac os terminal, shelled into a docker container.

View original on GitHub ↗

11 Comments

dowdys · 5 months ago

I'm experiencing this too. Makes it impossible to track what claude has done on any given thing.

khush2003 · 5 months ago

I am also facing the same issue, I am on linux ubuntu

sash888 · 5 months ago

Same issue as well (v2.1.89) on tmux running on a mac, v2.1.89 running on windows terminal direct is fine

alessandroavenali · 5 months ago

I asked Claude. Here it is:

Scrollback buffer in Claude Code

Unfortunately, Claude Code does not offer a configurable setting for the scrollback buffer size. The
reason is that Claude Code uses the terminal's alternate screen buffer, a special mode that
completely bypasses your terminal's native scrollback settings (Ghostty, iTerm2, etc.).

This means:

Terminal scrollback settings have no effect on Claude Code
In long sessions, older messages become invisible and you can't scroll back to view them

Possible workarounds

Use /compact — compresses the conversation to free up space without losing context
Checkpoints — use /checkpoint to save conversation state at key points
tmux — if you use tmux, you can increase its buffer (set -g history-limit 50000 in ~/.tmux.conf),

but it has limited effect due to the alternate screen

Write to files — save important information to files for later reference

Feature request

If you want this feature, you can report it at https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues —
there are already open issues about this (e.g. #2479, #28077).

Timw88 · 5 months ago

same here on v2.1.89 - seems to be triggered by agent and/or skill invocations. I asked an instance to produce 1000+ lines of random text, no problem. Then I asked it to use a skill which also spawned an agent, and from that moment on the visible amount of lines was greatly (10x) reduced

dmd1214GH · 5 months ago

I asked Claude. Here it is: Scrollback buffer in Claude Code Unfortunately, Claude Code does not offer a configurable setting for the scrollback buffer size. The reason is that Claude Code uses the terminal's alternate screen buffer, a special mode that completely bypasses your terminal's native scrollback settings (Ghostty, iTerm2, etc.). This means: Terminal scrollback settings have no effect on Claude Code In long sessions, older messages become invisible and you can't scroll back to view them Possible workarounds 1. Use /compact — compresses the conversation to free up space without losing context 2. Checkpoints — use /checkpoint to save conversation state at key points 3. tmux — if you use tmux, you can increase its buffer (set -g history-limit 50000 in ~/.tmux.conf), but it has limited effect due to the alternate screen 4. Write to files — save important information to files for later reference Feature request If you want this feature, you can report it at https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues — there are already open issues about this (e.g. #2479, #28077).

Just to be clear... this does not address the problem that I reported.

tvhahn · 5 months ago

Same issue as well (v2.1.89) on tmux running on a mac, v2.1.89 running on windows terminal direct is fine

I'm on Linux, Ubuntu. I have the issue from within tmux, outside of tmux, inside a devcontainer, and outside of a devcontainer on the default Ubuntu terminal.

This was not an issue until I upgraded this morning to v2.1.89

calilafollett-rm · 5 months ago

2.1.89 seemed fine for me but once .90 auto installed, I immediately started seeing issues. I was not able to resume sessions and have my last conversation prompts and responses restored.

amersheeny · 4 months ago

Running CLAUDE_CODE_NO_FLICKER=1 claude worked for me.
Anthropic documents CLAUDE_CODE_NO_FLICKER=1, and it seems to address this issue for some people.

dmd1214GH · 4 months ago

This has been working correctly for several days now. I'm not sure exactly which build fixed it, but I'm on Claude Code v2.1.92 and have not seen the problem for many cycles.

github-actions[bot] · 4 months ago

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.