[BUG] ASCII art terminal rendering regression - collapsed/mangled output since late September

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?

ASCII art banners are being collapsed/mangled in terminal output. On September 10, the same code rendered
perfectly. Now it shows as gray blocks with "+54 lines (ctrl+o to expand)".

Tool: faf-cli
Command: faf chat, faf init, faf --help
Platform: macOS

What Should Happen?

ASCII art with box-drawing characters (┌─┐│└─┘) and ANSI colors should render completely in terminal output,
like it did on September 10, 2025.

The same code renders perfectly in:

• Claude Code chat text (not STDOUT)
• Gemini terminal
• Regular terminals

Error Messages/Logs

No errors - rendering issue only.

  For reference, here's the perfect ASCII output from Claude Code's
  chat renderer (same code that gets mangled in terminal):


<img width="631" height="586" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d06010fd-b5a8-461c-80e0-9634b811ed74" />

Steps to Reproduce

1. npm install -g faf-cli@latest
2. faf chat
3. Observe collapsed/mangled banner instead of full ASCII art

---
Screenshots:

• Attach Sept 10 (working)
• Attach Oct 1 (broken)

<img width="630" height="668" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/03be394a-f816-41c0-be8d-02dfafb8fdcf" />

<img width="796" height="286" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/914895fb-0f53-47d4-813f-dfcf1539f057" />

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

SEP 10 2025

Claude Code Version

Claude Code

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Gemini terminal - same code renders no problem

<img width="763" height="750" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1bfedfb2-81b0-4c03-970b-277a707edbb2" />