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
- Open a terminal emulator (e.g., Terminator, iTerm2, Kitty)
- SSH into a remote host
- Start
claude - Try to copy text with Ctrl+C or Cmd+C (macOS)
- Try to paste with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V
- 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: falsein 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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