Summary

After every interactive Claude Code session exits (clean exit via /exit, Ctrl-D, etc.), the terminal is left in a broken state. Control characters like Ctrl-D, Ctrl-L, and Ctrl-C no longer work — they print garbage characters to the input line instead of being interpreted as signals/actions.

Details

• stty sane does not restore functionality, which means it's not just the kernel TTY line discipline (echo, canonical mode) that's dirty.
• reset does fix it, but it fully reinitializes the terminal session (re-reads terminfo, sends full init sequence), which is heavy-handed.

The fact that stty sane is insufficient but reset works suggests Claude Code is leaving terminal emulator state dirty on exit — things like:

• Bracketed paste mode (\e[?2004h)
• Application cursor key mode (\e[?1h)
• Cursor visibility
• Other DEC private modes

The exit cleanup handler appears to not be sending the necessary escape sequences to restore these terminal modes.

Reproduction

1. Open a terminal (tested on macOS / Darwin 25.3.0 / Ghostty, zsh)
2. Run claude
3. Exit the session (e.g. /exit)
4. Try Ctrl-L or Ctrl-D — they no longer work; garbage characters are printed instead

Happens on every exit, not intermittently.

Workaround

Run reset after exiting, or wrap claude in a shell function that sends a soft reset:

claude() {
  command claude "$@"
  printf '\e[?2004l\e[?1l\e[?25h\ec'
}

Environment

• OS: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0)
• Shell: zsh
• Terminal: Ghostty