PowerShell 7: Assistant text output shows blank lines, only first/last line visible

[hoiung]

Description

When running Claude Code in PowerShell 7, assistant text responses display incorrectly. Multi-line responses show blank lines in the middle, with only the first or last line being visible.

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.0.73
• Terminal: PowerShell 7
• OS: Windows

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run claude in PowerShell 7
2. Ask Claude to write any multi-line response (e.g., a short story or explanation)
3. Observe that most lines appear blank, with only the first or last line visible

Expected Behavior

All lines of text should be visible.

Actual Behavior

• Multi-line text shows blank lines in the middle
• Only the first and/or last line is visible
• Built-in commands like /context and /doctor display correctly with all formatting

Additional Notes

• Issue started recently (within hours of report)
• Restarting PowerShell does not fix the issue
• Running chcp 65001 does not fix the issue
• Running pwsh -NoProfile does not fix the issue
• The issue appears specific to assistant text output, not CLI UI elements

[github-actions[bot]]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/14621
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/14586
3. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/14555

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[BaseBlank]

Yeah, I'm hitting the exact same nasty bug too, output text is basically unreadable.

[tilagram]

I am having this issue as well in Claude Code. Have tried it on multiple different terminals. Currently on Windows 11 in Powershell.

[hoiung]

Update: Confirmed workaround

Downgrading to version 2.0.72 fixes the issue:

claude install 2.0.72 --force

This confirms the bug was introduced in version 2.0.73. The issue is not related to PowerShell settings, encoding, or PSReadLine - it's a regression in the Claude Code rendering.

Recommend disabling auto-updates until this is fixed:

# In ~/.claude.json, set:
"autoUpdates": false

[hoiung]

Additional issue: Cannot disable auto-updates on native build

The native Windows build ignores user settings for disabling auto-updates:

1. "autoUpdates": false in ~/.claude.json - ignored
2. DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=true environment variable - ignored
3. /doctor always shows "Auto-updates: enabled" regardless of settings

The only workaround that actually prevents updates is setting Windows ACL permissions to deny write/delete on claude.exe:

icacls 'C:\Users\USERNAME\.local\bin\claude.exe' /deny 'Everyone:(W,D)'

This is a poor user experience. Users should be able to easily disable auto-updates through config settings, especially when a buggy version is released and they need to stay on a stable version.

Update: This didn't fix, it broke claude and can't load:

\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Claude Tools\claude-launcher-scripts\claude-menu.ps1:39 Line | 39 | claude --dangerously-skip-permissions -r | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Program 'claude.exe' failed to run: An error occurred trying to start process | '...local\bin\claude.exe' with working directory '..\DevProjects'. Access | is denied.At ..\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Claude | Tools\claude-launcher-scripts\claude-menu.ps1:39 char:9 + claude --dangerously-skip-permissions -r + | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. PS ..\DevProjects> claude --dangerously-skip-permissions -r ResourceUnavailable: Program 'claude.exe' failed to run: An error occurred trying to start process '...local\bin\claude.exe' with working directory '..\My Drive\DevProjects'. Access is denied.At line:1 char:1

• claude --dangerously-skip-permissions -r

[hoiung]

PowerShell workaround: Auto-downgrade wrapper script

Since auto-updates cannot be disabled through config settings (see previous comment), here's a PowerShell workaround that automatically detects and downgrades the buggy 2.0.73 version.

Add this to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE):

# Claude Code version guard - auto-downgrade buggy 2.0.73
function Start-Claude {
    $claudePath = "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin\claude.exe"
    $versionOutput = & $claudePath --version 2>$null
    if ($versionOutput -match "2\.0\.73") {
        Write-Host "Buggy version 2.0.73 detected, downgrading to 2.0.72..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
        & $claudePath install 2.0.72 --force
    }
    & $claudePath @args
}
Set-Alias -Name claude -Value Start-Claude -Option AllScope -Force

This will:

1. Check the Claude Code version before each launch
2. Automatically downgrade to 2.0.72 if 2.0.73 is detected
3. Then launch Claude normally

Not ideal, but it works until the rendering bug is fixed.

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.