AskUserQuestion option labels render with corrupt glyphs on Windows Claude Code Desktop 2.1.148

Summary

The AskUserQuestion tool renders option labels with garbled glyphs in Claude Code Desktop on Windows. Description text below each label renders correctly; only the option-label widget is broken. Reproduced twice in the same session with both special-character labels (em-dashes, asterisks, parens) AND plain-ASCII labels — corruption persists in both cases.

Reproduction

1. Claude Code Desktop on Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200, version 2.1.148
2. Assistant calls AskUserQuestion with 3 options, e.g.:

``
{ label: "File 5 routines and reconcile", description: "..." }
{ label: "Above plus dispatch HX_BC C1", description: "..." }
{ label: "End session and wrap up", description: "..." }
``

1. Observed rendering: option labels appear with Zalgo-style combining diacritics on the base ASCII letters. For example:

• Expected: File 5 R-* routines + T-DOCG-004 reconciliation (Recommended)
• Actual: F̥̾n 5 R-* :anU̗‚ámeé + T-DOCG-004 :anw̥ axM̥mwn̾rc:Lirée / ámp̾ (R̾éēõmeneēd̬'éd̾)

1. Description text under each label renders cleanly in normal body font.
2. Same corruption appears whether option labels contain special chars (em-dashes, asterisks, parens) or are stripped down to plain ASCII.

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.1.148
• OS: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200
• Shell: PowerShell 7+ (also Bash via WSL)
• Console encoding: UTF-8 (verified via [System.Console]::OutputEncoding → Unicode (UTF-8))
• LANG=en_US.UTF-8
• User has confirmed all other UTF-8 rendering (chat text, file content, descriptions) works correctly — corruption is specific to the AskUserQuestion option-label widget styling

Impact

This makes AskUserQuestion unusable in this environment — user cannot read the option labels to make a choice. Working around it by asking via plain numbered chat prose instead, but that means losing the structured-result benefits of the tool and the keyboard navigation in the UI.

Notes

• Likely a font-fallback bug in the option-label widget styling (CSS small-caps / styled font without proper glyph coverage)
• Description text widget uses normal body font and renders cleanly — confirms the issue is scoped to the label-styling layer specifically
• Happy to provide a screenshot if helpful — please request via comment and I'll attach.