[BUG] Assistant text between tool calls is not displayed — regardless of focus view (only turn-initial and turn-final text renders reliably)

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When using Claude Fable 5: Assistant text emitted between tool calls within a single turn is silently dropped from the live TUI. Only two text positions render consistently:

1. Turn-initial text (before the first tool call of the turn)
2. Turn-final text (after the last tool result, with no tool call following)

Everything in between — direct answers, warnings, findings, explanations the model writes while working — can be invisible. There is no indicator that text was suppressed. The verbose transcript (Ctrl+O) does not show it either, and the text is not persisted to the on-disk session log (~/.claude/projects/<project>/<session-id>.jsonl).

This is particular bad in combination with the AskUserQuestion tool: The model asks questions, but I never get the immediately preceding detailed explanation that the model tried to provide.

This is not focus mode: it reproduces with focus view off.

I notice that some transcripts have between tool-call messages, but in others it's suppressed - especially when chaining AskUserQuestion tool or the experimental setup below.

I do not get these issues with Sonnet or Opus.

What Should Happen?

Assistant prose should render wherever the model emits it.

At minimum the TUI should show a persistent "N hidden messages" indicator with a way to expand. Hiding tool noise is fine; hiding the assistant's words loses substantive content (answers, warnings, caveats) with no trace.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Ask Claude Fable 5 to run a controlled test, e.g.:

Run a harmless bash command, then write a distinctive marker paragraph (e.g. "🟣 MARKER-DELTA 🟣"), then run a second harmless bash command, then end the turn asking whether I saw the marker.

Result: the two Bash calls render; the marker paragraph between them never
appears.

Test matrix (as per Claude 5 Fable)

| # | Renderer | Focus view | Experiment flags | Text position | Shown? |
|---|----------|-----------|------------------|---------------|--------|
| 1 | inline | n/a (unavailable) | default | turn-initial → AskUserQuestion | ✅ visible |
| 2 | inline | n/a | default | between two AskUserQuestion blocks | ❌ hidden |
| 3 | inline | n/a | default | Bash result → text → AskUserQuestion | ❌ hidden |
| 4 | inline | n/a | default | Bash result → text → Bash | ❌ hidden |
| 5 | fullscreen (/tui fullscreen) | off (toggled via /focus) | default | Bash → text → Bash | ❌ hidden |
| 6 | inline | n/a | opted out (see below) | Bash → text → Bash | ❌ hidden |
| — | any | any | any | turn-final (after last tool result) | ✅ visible |
| 7 | either | off | opted out | hidden text, viewed via Ctrl+O verbose transcript | ❌ still hidden |
| 8 | either | off | opted out | hidden text, in on-disk session .jsonl | ❌ not persisted |

Experiment opt-out for row 6: removed tengu_swann_brevity: "focused" from
cachedGrowthBookFeatures in ~/.claude.json and launched with
CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1 (verified active in-session). No
change.

The same issue does not appear with Sonnet or Opus, but reproduces with Fable in new sessions.

Claude Model

Fable 5

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.173

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
WSL2 (Linux 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2), bash, Windows Terminal

Additional Information

Plan: Max subscription