AskUserQuestion: no way to view truncated preview content ("X lines hidden")
Summary
When using AskUserQuestion with the preview field, long preview content gets truncated with a ── × ── N lines hidden ── indicator, but there is no keyboard affordance to scroll, expand, or view the hidden content. The visible footer only exposes Enter, ↑/↓ (navigate options), n (notes), Tab (switch questions), and Esc — none of which act on the preview pane.
Repro
- Run Claude Code in a terminal that isn't full-screen.
- Have the agent call
AskUserQuestionwith an option whosepreviewis longer than the available pane height. - The preview renders with
── × ── 11 lines hidden ──(or similar) and there's no way to see the rest without resizing the terminal larger and re-triggering the question.
Screenshot: the right pane shows "11 lines hidden" with no visible control to expand it.
<img width="1300" height="696" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/97c4a465-1304-4d79-ba0d-0b9a0f00ddd2" />
Why this matters
The agent doc for AskUserQuestion explicitly recommends previews for "concrete artifacts that users need to visually compare" — e.g. ASCII mockups, code snippets, diagram variations. Those are exactly the cases where the content tends to exceed a few lines, and where comparing options requires seeing the whole artifact, not just the top of it.
Workarounds today are awkward:
- Resize the terminal larger and hope the agent re-asks.
- Ask the agent in "Chat about this" to paste the full preview into the conversation.
- Tell the agent to break previews into smaller chunks (defeats the point of a side-by-side comparison UI).
It's not always practical to run the CLI in a full-screen window (split panes, tmux layouts, IDE-embedded terminals, etc.).
Suggested fix
Introduce a focused-pane model with ← / → to move focus between the left (options) pane and the right (preview) pane. Footer hints and active keybinds change based on which pane is focused:
- Left pane focused (default — current behavior):
↑/↓— navigate optionsEnter— selectn— add notes→— focus preview paneTab/Esc— unchanged
- Right pane focused:
↑/↓— scroll preview line-by-linePgUp/PgDn(orSpace/b) — scroll by pageg/G— jump to top / bottom←— return focus to optionsEnter— select the currently-focused option (so users don't have to leave the preview to commit)
The footer would re-render to show only the keys relevant to the focused pane, mirroring the pattern used in tools like lazygit / k9s.
Environment
- Claude Code CLI, Opus 4.7 (1M context)
- macOS (Darwin 25.2.0), zsh
- Terminal: standard window, not full-screen
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