[BUG] Cursor shader animations broken in Ghostty with Claude Code CLI

Resolved 💬 6 comments Opened Jul 31, 2025 by TechDufus Closed Jan 23, 2026

Environment

  • Platform (select one):
  • [x] Anthropic API
  • [ ] AWS Bedrock
  • [ ] Google Vertex AI
  • [ ] Other: <!-- specify -->
  • Claude CLI version: 1.0.64 (Claude Code)
  • Operating System: macOS 24.5.0 (Darwin Kernel Version 24.5.0, ARM64)
  • Terminal: Ghostty with custom shaders enabled

## Bug Description
Custom cursor shader animations do not render/animate when using Claude Code CLI in Ghostty
terminal. The shader works correctly in normal terminal sessions but fails to display the
cursor trail animation when Claude Code is active.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9a4bb8a6-f018-471f-a81f-47410726644b

## Steps to Reproduce

  1. Configure Ghostty with a custom cursor shader (e.g., the cursor_blaze shader from

https://github.com/hackr-sh/ghostty-shaders/blob/main/cursor_blaze.glsl)

  1. Enable shader animation in Ghostty config:
  • cursor-style = block
  • custom-shader = path/to/cursor_blaze.glsl
  1. Open Ghostty terminal and verify cursor animation works normally
  2. Launch Claude Code CLI with claude
  3. Move cursor around - observe that the cursor trail animation does not appear

## Expected Behavior
The cursor trail animation should continue to work when Claude Code CLI is active, showing the
animated trail effect as the cursor moves.

## Actual Behavior
When Claude Code CLI is running, the cursor shader animation completely stops working. The
cursor appears as a standard block cursor without any trail effects or custom shader rendering.

## Additional Context

  • Ghostty terminal with shader animation support enabled
  • Using the cursor_blaze.glsl shader which creates a blazing trail effect
  • The shader works perfectly in normal terminal usage but stops when Claude Code is active
  • This may be related to how Claude Code handles terminal cursor rendering or potentially

overrides cursor display settings

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