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 on KeyboardEvent.code.

No workaround exists

  • ~/.claude/keybindings.json only affects the chat/TUI keybindings; a Global binding to app:toggleTerminal has 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:

  1. Match the shortcut on the physical key position (KeyboardEvent.code === "Backquote") so it works on all layouts, and/or
  2. Make the Terminal panel shortcut rebindable, and/or
  3. 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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