Feature request: option to hide or redact cwd in startup banner

Resolved 💬 1 comment Opened Apr 22, 2026 by kieranhume Closed Apr 22, 2026

Problem

The Claude Code startup banner prints the current working directory (e.g. cwd: /var/home/kieran). On many systems this directly exposes the OS username, which is a privacy issue during screenshares, recorded demos, or pair-programming sessions.

There doesn't appear to be a setting, CLI flag, or env var that hides or redacts this line. --name sets a session display name but doesn't replace the cwd output, and nothing in the settings.json schema targets the startup banner.

Requested

An opt-in way to hide or redact the cwd shown in the startup banner. Any of these would solve the problem:

  • A settings flag, e.g. "hideCwdInBanner": true or "startupBanner": { "showCwd": false }
  • A CLI flag, e.g. --hide-cwd / --redact-cwd
  • An env var, e.g. CLAUDE_CODE_HIDE_CWD=1
  • A redaction mode that replaces the home portion with ~ (so /var/home/kieran/projects/foo~/projects/foo). Useful but only a partial fix since the home directory name itself is often the username.

Full hide is the most broadly useful — users who want the path visible already have it by default.

Environment

  • Claude Code on Linux (Bazzite / Fedora Atomic), home resolves to /var/home/<user>
  • Same issue applies on macOS (/Users/<user>) and any Linux with /home/<user>

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