Desktop app: Terminal panel shortcut (^`) unusable on French AZERTY (dead key) and not rebindable
Open 💬 3 comments Opened Jun 11, 2026 by inforeole
Environment
- App: Claude desktop app (macOS), version 1.11847.5 — Code view
- OS: macOS 26.5.1 (25F80)
- Keyboard: French AZERTY (Apple)
Problem
The Terminal panel in the desktop app's Code view advertises the shortcut ⌃` (Control + backtick) in the top-right panel menu. On French AZERTY keyboards this shortcut is impossible to trigger:
- The backtick is a dead key on AZERTY (used to compose è, à, ù…), so the app never receives a plain `
`` keypress. - Pressing ⌃ + the physical key at the US-backquote position (the
@/#key below Esc on AZERTY Macs,code: "Backquote") does nothing either, so the handler doesn't appear to match onKeyboardEvent.code.
No workaround exists
~/.claude/keybindings.jsononly affects the chat/TUI keybindings; aGlobalbinding toapp:toggleTerminalhas no effect on the desktop app's Terminal panel.- There is no "Terminal" item in the macOS menu bar, so macOS System Settings → Keyboard → App Shortcuts cannot be used to assign an alternative shortcut.
- The only way to open the Terminal panel is clicking the panel menu with the mouse.
Expected
Any of:
- Match the shortcut on the physical key position (
KeyboardEvent.code === "Backquote") so it works on all layouts, and/or - Make the Terminal panel shortcut rebindable, and/or
- Expose "Terminal" as a macOS menu bar item so users can rebind it via System Settings.
Related
#18221 (Alt/Option shortcuts break international layouts in the TUI) — same family of problems: shortcuts designed for US QWERTY are unreachable on international layouts.
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