Native RTL support for Persian/Arabic text in chat
Feature request
Add native RTL (right-to-left) rendering for Persian/Arabic text in the chat interface, so mixed-language conversations (Persian + English/code) read naturally without relying on third-party browser extensions.
Context
Users writing in Persian (or other RTL languages) currently see their own messages and Claude's Persian responses rendered left-to-right, which makes longer paragraphs hard to read naturally. Mixed content (Persian prose + English technical terms + code blocks) needs per-paragraph direction detection, not a blanket page-wide flip.
Suggested behavior
- Auto-detect text direction per paragraph/block (similar to CSS
unicode-bidi: plaintextbehavior) — Persian/Arabic paragraphs render RTL, English/code blocks stay LTR, within the same message. - Code blocks (
<pre>/<code>) should always stay LTR regardless of surrounding text direction. - This should NOT flip the overall UI layout (sidebar, buttons, etc.) — only the message content itself.
Current workaround
Users can achieve this today with a custom Stylus userstyle:
.font-user-message, [data-testid="user-message"], .prose {
direction: rtl;
text-align: right;
unicode-bidi: plaintext;
}
code, pre {
direction: ltr;
text-align: left;
unicode-bidi: embed;
}
This works but is fragile — claude.ai's selectors change periodically, breaking the userstyle. Native support would remove the need for this entirely.