Live-updating progress bar in chat UI for response/task progress

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

When Claude Code is working through a multi-step task — editing files, running tests, executing shell commands — there is no single indicator showing overall progress. Output
is appended line by line, so to understand how far along a task is, I have to scroll through streamed text and mentally track which steps are done. This is especially painful
for long-running tasks where I just want a quick at-a-glance status.

Proposed Solution

A persistent progress bar anchored at the bottom of the active response that updates in place as each step completes. It should:

• Show the current step label (e.g. "running tests...")
• Fill progressively as real steps finish (not a fake animation)
• Disappear or show "done" when the task is complete

The bar should only reflect real work — not estimated or simulated progress.

Alternative Solutions

Currently Claude appends a new progress line after each step completes (e.g. ▰▰▰▱ running tests...). This works but clutters the output and requires reading through all lines
to find current status. There is no way to update a line in place in the current append-only chat UI.

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

Interactive mode (TUI)

Use Case Example

1. I ask Claude to refactor a module, run tests, and commit the result.
2. Claude starts working — reading files, editing, running the test suite.
3. Instead of scrolling through 30 lines of streamed output, I glance at the bottom of the response and see: ▰▰▰▱ running tests... (step 3/4)
4. When it finishes: ▰▰▰▰ done
5. I immediately know the task is complete without reading anything.

Additional Context

Additional Context

Similar features in other tools:

• GitHub Copilot Workspace shows a live step-by-step task tracker that updates in place as each action completes
• Cursor AI shows a live file diff panel that updates as edits are applied
• Terminal tools like npm install and cargo build use \r / ANSI escape codes to rewrite a single progress line in place rather than appending new lines

Live status mockup:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Claude is working... │
│ │
│ ✓ Reading files │
│ ✓ Analysing changes │
│ ⠋ Running tests... │
│ ▱ Committing │
│ │
│ ▰▰▰▱▱ 60% — step 3 of 5 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Updates live as each step completes — no new lines appended, no scrolling required.

Technical considerations:

• CLI output is append-only so this is only feasible in the desktop/web app UI layer
• Progress data (current step, total steps) is already available during task execution — it just needs a UI surface to render it live
• Could be opt-in via a setting for users who prefer clean streamed output