Claude Code TUI overrides terminal clipboard shortcuts and right-click without opt-out

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Apr 5, 2026 by nixfred Closed Apr 9, 2026

Description

Claude Code's TUI captures keyboard and mouse events (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, right-click) that override the terminal emulator's native clipboard operations. Users must use Shift+Ctrl+C / Shift+Ctrl+V as a workaround, which is unintuitive and undiscoverable.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open a terminal emulator (e.g., Terminator, iTerm2, Kitty)
  2. SSH into a remote host
  3. Start claude
  4. Try to copy text with Ctrl+C or Cmd+C (macOS)
  5. Try to paste with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V
  6. Try right-clicking for context menu

Expected: Terminal's native clipboard copy/paste and right-click context menu work normally.
Actual: Claude Code captures these inputs. Copy/paste does nothing, right-click is intercepted.

Impact

  • Breaks muscle memory for terminal users
  • Especially painful over SSH where clipboard integration is already fragile
  • The Shift modifier workaround is not documented in the UI
  • Users with accessibility needs or custom keybindings are affected
  • No way to opt out or configure this behavior

Suggested Fix

  • Respect the terminal's native clipboard shortcuts by default
  • Provide a setting to control whether Claude Code captures clipboard keys (e.g., captureClipboardKeys: false in settings.json)
  • At minimum, document the Shift+Ctrl+C/V workaround prominently in the TUI

Environment

  • Claude Code: latest (CLI)
  • Terminal: Terminator (Linux), also reproduced in other terminal emulators
  • OS: Ubuntu 24.04 (remote via SSH from macOS)
  • Keyboard: Standard US layout

Additional Context

This was discovered while working in an SSH session where the user expected standard terminal copy/paste behavior. The override feels like Claude Code is "taking over" system settings without permission.

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