[BUG] Terminal display becomes garbled and unreadable after using Claude Code

Status Open
Reported on v2.1.141
Maintainer reply ✓ Yes — diana-ant
Activity 9 comments · opened May 14, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (diana-ant, collaborator) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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?

After using Claude Code for a session, the terminal output becomes visually corrupted - characters render as fragmented/garbled glyphs (see attached screenshot). Text is partially missing, characters appear cut off vertically, and the output is effectively unreadable. The terminal state remains dirty even after Claude Code exits, requiring a terminal restart or reset to recover.

Claude Terminal Windows
<img width="967" height="253" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/940d135e-97d0-4af2-927d-9fc279b8b465" />
<img width="880" height="385" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f8544db0-a507-4217-a402-db33dff95b0d" />

Other Terminal Windows

<img width="848" height="417" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b2d182dd-5f19-4b85-9a24-f4b0727d3e9f" />

What Should Happen?

Terminal output should remain cleanly rendered during and after Claude Code sessions. Exiting Claude Code should leave the terminal in a clean, usable state with no residual rendering artifacts.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open a terminal session (zsh on macOS).
  2. Start claude and use it for a typical session (tool calls, streaming output, etc.).
  3. Observe the terminal output gradually becoming garbled — characters appear truncated/fragmented.
  4. Exit Claude Code; terminal remains in the corrupted state until manually reset.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.141

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

  • OS: macOS (Darwin 25.4.0)
  • Shell: zsh
  • Working in a project directory with an active git repo

View original on GitHub ↗

9 Comments

ohcedar · 3 months ago

+1 — seeing the same issue.

Environment:

  • OS: macOS (Darwin 25.4.0)
  • Shell: zsh
  • Claude Code Version: 2.1.143
  • Platform: Anthropic API
  • Terminal: VS Code integrated terminal

Same symptoms: text renders as garbled/fragmented glyphs mid-session.

ascripter · 3 months ago

Same problem here, occurred in a skill-creator session, Windows 10, in Claude Code Terminal. Started normal and suddenly got weird (see screenshot). When selecting and copy-pasting the terminal content, it appears normal.
However, after exiting Claude code, the whole terminal stays in that "foreign language".

<img width="2048" height="1316" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5338ffe5-a22b-45c9-9b27-ac52cbfed5c5" />

diana-ant collaborator · 3 months ago

Hello, this issue should have been fixed in v2.1.144. Could you please try to update and confirm if it hasn't? Thanks!

ashish-ema · 3 months ago

Not fixed in 2.1.144 for me. Using Claude Code in VScode terminal on MacOS

<img width="1374" height="990" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/09cffa0d-97cf-4bb8-b8ee-84ca2cb25c3e" />

vrautomate-dev · 3 months ago

I have the same issue v2.1.144. I have the issue both on antigravity and VS code.
Another thing I've noticed these weird glyphs only happen on my MacBook Air but not by Mac mini

mysehyunhope · 3 months ago

same issue on windows 10, native windows, v2.1.145 , powershell
it happens with syntax coloring i guess.
if there is no coloring on the terminal, the issue doesnt happen.

diana-ant collaborator · 3 months ago

Could you please set this in VSCode settings and try again? "terminal.integrated.gpuAcceleration": "off"

This is an upstream issue, not a Claude Code bug. Thank you!

jordancoursey · 3 months ago

I'm confirming that setting "terminal.integrated.gpuAcceleration": "off" worked for me

netinoken · 1 month ago

+1, same issue here on Windows.

Environment: Windows 10 Pro / Windows PowerShell 5.1 / Claude Code CLI (interactive terminal session)

Symptoms: (1) Terminal display becomes garbled ("Crunched" status shown) during/after running commands in a session, characters intermix and become hard to select/copy. (2) Additionally, attempting to resize/widen the terminal window while a session is active causes the entire screen content to disappear or render incorrectly.

Workaround: closing and reopening the terminal window (in-progress terminal state is lost, but the conversation itself can be resumed).

(日本語) Windows 10 + PowerShell環境でも同じ症状が発生しています。コマンド実行後に文字が入り乱れる(ステータスに「Crunched」と表示される)、さらにウィンドウ枠を広げようとすると画面全体が消える、といった症状です。ウィンドウを閉じて開き直すことでしか復旧できません。