Bash approval dialog is inaccessible to non-technical users (fixed UI text, no localization/plain-language summary)

Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Jul 31, 2026

Problem

Bash command approval screens ("Allow this bash command?") are not accessible to non-technical users.

I'm using Claude Code to build a personal project, and I don't have a coding background. I can ask Claude to explain its plans and questions in my own language (via CLAUDE.md instructions), and that works well for AskUserQuestion prompts and plan summaries. But the bash tool permission dialog itself — the "Allow this bash command?" title, the raw shell command shown, and the button labels ("Yes" / "Yes, allow ... for all projects" / "No") — is not something I can localize or simplify through CLAUDE.md. It's a fixed part of the interface, not generated text.

This means that every time Claude wants to run a command, I'm asked to approve something I fundamentally cannot evaluate: I don't know what the command does, what it touches, or what the risk is, beyond whatever plain-language description Claude happens to add above it (which itself isn't always translated or explained).

Suggestion

Consider making the bash approval screen itself support a "plain language summary" that's structured and consistent (e.g. always showing: what files/paths this touches, whether it's read-only or modifies something, and a one-line risk level), and ideally letting that summary respect the user's language preference the same way conversational text does.

Right now the safety mechanism (asking for approval) is working as intended, but it only protects users who can already read and evaluate shell commands — which defeats some of the purpose for users like me who most need protection but can least evaluate what we're approving.

This isn't a one-off annoyance — I've caught myself reflexively clicking "Yes" multiple times because I couldn't parse the command, which is exactly the failure mode this approval step is supposed to prevent.

View original on GitHub ↗