anthropics
[BUG] Cannot disable the buggy Interactive Question Tool
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?
I consider it a bug to roll out an experimental UI change that users cannot disable. The new Interactive Question Tool introduced as per the CHANGELOG in version 2.0.21 breaks my workflow quite a bit for multiple reasons.
Issues with the Interactive Question Tool:
- Loss of flexibility: I cannot answer questions freely - I'm locked into what is essentially a linear multiple-choice session
- Truncated content in subagents: When used with AskUserQuestion in a subagent, the subagent's question list is truncated so I can't even see the description of my options in the UI
What Should Happen?
A critical workflow UI change that severely hinders user workflows should be able to be disabled via /config settings.
Error Messages/Logs
N/A - This is a UI/UX issue, not a technical error
Steps to Reproduce
- Create or use a subagent that calls AskUserQuestion with multiple questions
- Dispatch the subagent
- Interactive Question Tool UI appears with forced multiple-choice interface
- Attempt to provide free-form text response - cannot do so, locked into selecting from predetermined options only
- Observe truncated question descriptions and inability to freely navigate/answer
Claude Model
Sonnet (default)
Is this a regression?
No, this never worked
Last Working Version
No response
Claude Code Version
v2.0.26
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Ubuntu/Debian Linux
Terminal/Shell
VS Code integrated terminal
Additional Information
No response
Anyone find a way to fix this with prompts somehow? To me it feels like a harness rendering issue so I haven't spent the time to try.
The workaround is to just instruct the model to not use that interface moving forward in the current session, basically bypassing AskUserQuestion tool. This is still a bug though, as I should be able to use that tool without the buggy interface.
I agree with this issue. It is a pain to have to instruct disabling this tool every session.
Dear Anthropic engineers who work on Claude Code, AskUserQuestion is an unfinished feature.
Specifically, it doesn't handle narrow terminals, truncating its output and cutting off the top bar with the questions. It also doesn't handle resizing the terminal, not re-rendering. Any truncated output is lost.
But you know what's most annoying of all, more annoying than any UX or UI issue?
Claude puts things in AskUserQuestion that are answered in the prompt. It gets so excited to use the new tool that it redundantly asks for answers to things I already anticipated and answered, forcing me to read more text, find the arrow keys, and sometimes type out "please reread the prompt" as I have lost confidence that it knows what it was asked to do.
To others facing issues with this tool just ban it. In .claude/settings.json or wherever you prefer to put your configuration, add:
{
"hooks": {
"PreToolUse": [
{
"matcher": "AskUserQuestion",
"hooks": [
{
"type": "command",
"command": "echo 'BLOCKED: The AskUserQuestion tool is banned. Please ensure you do not already have answers to these questions, then state what you would have asked. If you need to ask multiple questions, prefer a numbered list.' >&2; exit 2"
}
]
}
]
}
}
Note the exit 2 which will present standard error to Claude Code as described in https://code.claude.com/docs/en/hooks#exit-code-2-behavior
I agree with OP that this feature constitutes a regression.
Hi I cannot repro this, could you provide a screenshot and or transcript (using /export) of an example?
@ThariqS Thank you for taking a look at this. It looks like this portion of the bug has been addressed:
- Truncated content in subagents: When used with AskUserQuestion in a subagent, the subagent's question list is
- truncated so I can't even see the description of my options in the UI
However The issue remains that the AskUserQuestion tool should not force the user into a scenario when they MUST use this UI.
We can illustrate the time and flexibility lost by running through the forced Ui with a prompt like this:
I need help making several architectural decisions. Please use the AskUserQuestion tool to ask me these questions with detailed context:
1. Which authentication strategy should we use?
- Option A: "JWT tokens with RS256 signing, refresh token rotation, short-lived access tokens (15min), HttpOnly cookies for refresh
tokens, CSRF protection via double-submit cookie pattern, and automatic token refresh on 401 responses"
- Option B: "OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow with PKCE extension, external identity provider integration (Auth0/Okta/Cognito), social
login support (Google/GitHub/Microsoft), MFA enforcement, and delegated user management with SSO capabilities"
- Option C: "API key authentication with HMAC request signing, rate limiting per key, key rotation policies, IP allowlisting, scope-based
permissions, and audit logging for all key usage with automatic revocation on suspicious activity"
- Option D: "Session-based authentication with Redis session store, sliding expiration windows, concurrent session limits, device
fingerprinting, remember-me functionality with separate long-lived tokens, and geographic anomaly detection"
2. What database architecture should we implement?
- Option A: "Single PostgreSQL instance with read replicas, connection pooling via PgBouncer, automated failover using Patroni, WAL
archiving to S3, point-in-time recovery capabilities, and scheduled full backups with 30-day retention"
- Option B: "Multi-region PostgreSQL cluster with Citus for horizontal sharding, distributed transactions, automatic rebalancing,
cross-region replication with conflict resolution, and geographic data locality for GDPR compliance"
- Option C: "MongoDB with replica sets, sharded collections based on tenant ID, change streams for real-time updates, aggregation
pipelines for analytics, text search indexes, and automated backup to Azure Blob Storage"
- Option D: "DynamoDB with on-demand capacity, global tables for multi-region writes, DynamoDB Streams for change data capture, GSI/LSI
for flexible querying, and integration with Lambda for data transformation pipelines"
3. Which CI/CD platform should we adopt?
- Option A: "GitHub Actions with self-hosted runners, matrix builds for multiple platforms, Docker layer caching, artifact storage,
environment-specific deployment workflows, manual approval gates, and Slack notifications for build status"
- Option B: "GitLab CI with Auto DevOps, Kubernetes integration, review apps for every merge request, security scanning
(SAST/DAST/dependency scanning), container registry, package registry, and built-in feature flag management"
- Option C: "CircleCI with orbs for reusable config, parallelism across 10x containers, test splitting by timing data, SSH debugging into
failed builds, workflow orchestration, approval jobs, and scheduled pipeline execution"
- Option D: "Jenkins with declarative pipelines, Blue Ocean UI, distributed builds across agent pools, artifact archival, JUnit test
reporting, code coverage tracking, and integration with SonarQube for quality gates"
Then force the model to ask the same question with using the AskUserQestion Tool:
You are forbidden to use the Ask User Question tool. The UI that it creates is unacceptable.
Then ask the same question:
1. Which authentication strategy should we use?
- Option A: "JWT tokens with RS256 signing, refresh token rotation, short-lived access tokens (15min), HttpOnly cookies for refresh
tokens, CSRF protection via double-submit cookie pattern, and automatic token refresh on 401 responses"
- Option B: "OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow with PKCE extension, external identity provider integration (Auth0/Okta/Cognito), social
login support (Google/GitHub/Microsoft), MFA enforcement, and delegated user management with SSO capabilities"
- Option C: "API key authentication with HMAC request signing, rate limiting per key, key rotation policies, IP allowlisting, scope-based
permissions, and audit logging for all key usage with automatic revocation on suspicious activity"
- Option D: "Session-based authentication with Redis session store, sliding expiration windows, concurrent session limits, device
fingerprinting, remember-me functionality with separate long-lived tokens, and geographic anomaly detection"
2. What database architecture should we implement?
- Option A: "Single PostgreSQL instance with read replicas, connection pooling via PgBouncer, automated failover using Patroni, WAL
archiving to S3, point-in-time recovery capabilities, and scheduled full backups with 30-day retention"
- Option B: "Multi-region PostgreSQL cluster with Citus for horizontal sharding, distributed transactions, automatic rebalancing,
cross-region replication with conflict resolution, and geographic data locality for GDPR compliance"
- Option C: "MongoDB with replica sets, sharded collections based on tenant ID, change streams for real-time updates, aggregation
pipelines for analytics, text search indexes, and automated backup to Azure Blob Storage"
- Option D: "DynamoDB with on-demand capacity, global tables for multi-region writes, DynamoDB Streams for change data capture, GSI/LSI
for flexible querying, and integration with Lambda for data transformation pipelines"
3. Which CI/CD platform should we adopt?
- Option A: "GitHub Actions with self-hosted runners, matrix builds for multiple platforms, Docker layer caching, artifact storage,
environment-specific deployment workflows, manual approval gates, and Slack notifications for build status"
- Option B: "GitLab CI with Auto DevOps, Kubernetes integration, review apps for every merge request, security scanning
(SAST/DAST/dependency scanning), container registry, package registry, and built-in feature flag management"
- Option C: "CircleCI with orbs for reusable config, parallelism across 10x containers, test splitting by timing data, SSH debugging into
failed builds, workflow orchestration, approval jobs, and scheduled pipeline execution"
- Option D: "Jenkins with declarative pipelines, Blue Ocean UI, distributed builds across agent pools, artifact archival, JUnit test
reporting, code coverage tracking, and integration with SonarQube for quality gates"
The user can now simply answer: 1. a 2 b 3 c, thus avoiding the forced, time consuming linear flow imposed by the AskUserQuestion tool.
All we are asking for here is the we have a supported (not hacked) way to DISABLE this forced UI in our settings.
I came to add, when running claude with the "-p" option the questions tool should be automatically disabled. You can't provide a response in this mode so all it does is break autonomy and my scripts which had been working fine.
Bump. I also do not like the questions feature in its current form, as it grays out the text behind the question on which the question is based, making it harder to read. A toggle would be greatly appreciated. This feature breaks the otherwise smooth and refined flow.
We want it to be turned off by passing a flag for those that can use voice only. Don't forget aria people!
