[BUG] Chat scroll is constrained to most recent assistant turn while AskUserQuestion card is showing
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?
When an AskUserQuestion card is active in the Claude Code chat, scrolling
within the chat panel scrolls only the most recent assistant turn, not the
entire conversation. Earlier messages are inaccessible while the question card
is shown, even though they remain in the on-disk transcript.
The question card itself also visually overlaps the bottom of the most recent
assistant message in narrow panel placements, but the scroll-constrained
behavior is the more impactful problem because it blocks me from re-reading
the context that the question is asking me to decide on.
What Should Happen?
The chat panel scrolls through the entire conversation history; the question
card stays anchored at the bottom but does not constrain scroll above it.
** A nice-to-have would be the ability to move the Ask UI to a separate panel or make it floating so it can be moved on the screen
Error Messages/Logs
Steps to Reproduce
Steps to reproduce
- Start a conversation that runs for several assistant turns (long enough that
not every turn fits in the chat viewport).
- Have the assistant call
AskUserQuestion. - While the question card is showing, attempt to scroll the chat panel up to
view earlier messages.
Expected
The chat panel scrolls through the entire conversation history; the question
card stays anchored at the bottom but does not constrain scroll above it.
Actual
Scroll is constrained to the most recent assistant turn. Earlier turns are
not reachable from inside the chat panel until the question is answered.
Workarounds attempted
- Move View → Move to Editor Area (chat as a full editor tab): the panel
becomes much taller, but scroll is still constrained to the most recent
assistant turn while the question card is up.
- Move View → Move to Secondary Side Bar / Move to Panel: same outcome.
- Resizing the panel taller: same outcome.
The only way I've found to read the earlier conversation while a question is
pending is to render the on-disk JSONL transcript
(~/.claude/projects/<slug>/<session>.jsonl) to Markdown in a side tab.
Environment
- VSCode:
1.119.0 - Claude Code extension:
2.1.138(linux-x64) - OS: Ubuntu 24.04 (Linux 6.8.0-111-generic)
- Repro confirmed in default sidebar, secondary sidebar, and editor-area
placements.
Suggested fix direction (optional)
The question card likely sits inside the same flex/scroll container as the
most recent assistant turn, which limits scroll to that container. Hoisting
the card to a sibling of the entire message list (sticky-bottom inside the
panel, but outside the message-list scroll container) should let users scroll
the full transcript while the card remains visible.
Claude Model
Sonnet (default)
Is this a regression?
I don't know
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
2.1.137
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Ubuntu/Debian Linux
Terminal/Shell
VS Code integrated terminal
Additional Information
_No response_
Showing cached comments. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗
5 Comments
+1 👍
Did some poking on my end — sharing as an extra data point.
Environment
| | |
|---|---|
| VSCode extension |
2.1.161|| OS | Linux / Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS |
Can confirm the frustration
With the
AskUserQuestioncard up, the mouse wheel only scrolls when my cursor isin the strip of history <mark>_above_</mark> the card. Over the card's side margins, the wheel
goes dead. Since the card's anchored at the bottom near the latest turn, it <mark>_feels_</mark>
exactly like <mark>_"scroll is stuck on the most recent turn"_</mark> — which I think is what
we're both hitting.
<details>
<summary>Why the card eats the wheel (expand)</summary>
The card has a <mark>_fixed height_</mark>, so a long prompt doesn't grow it — it gets an
internal scrollbar instead. So wheeling over the card scrolls <mark>_that_</mark>, never the
transcript. Fine on its own, but combined with the anchoring it reads as a stuck
scroll.
</details>
But one surprise 🔍
<mark>_Dragging the scrollbar thumb still scrolls the whole conversation_</mark>, in order,
all the way back to the first message — even with the card up. So the messages
aren't actually clipped out of the scroll area; the full history is reachable,
just not via the wheel.
Workaround
<mark>Drag the scrollbar instead of the wheel</mark> — scrolls the full history with the
card open, way lighter than rendering the JSONL transcript in a side tab. _Possible also is to to wheel-scroll while the mouse is above the card._
---
Would love to see this fixed — it's actively counterproductive. +1 from me.
It is worth noting that a similar annoying behavior of blocking the wheel-scrolling already exists also for the prompt message box itself. When the message list is scrolled up to be flowing behind the prompt box, the wheel is dead while the mouse is hovering on any of the side margins of the prompt box that show the message list behind. This is despite the fact that the mouse is literally over the message list in the z-axis.
This behavior is related to an issue I reported <mark>@https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/59670</mark> about the too-wide conversation fade-gradient that extends to the limit that it even overlays the vertical scrollbar. It seems like the wheel events are being eaten by the fade-gradient.
Same problem here. This is really annoying. Please fix it.
Same problem with Intellij
I have a similar issue (#72117). It would be great if this could be fixt soon. 😊
<img width="560" height="965" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dd18d510-2064-405d-8187-0bfa7b608617" />