Allow viewing and editing content of “pasted text” blocks before submission

[lbguilherme]

Environment

• Claude Code version: 1.0.51
• Operating System: macOS 15 Sequoia
• Terminal: Ghostty
• Dictation software: MacWhisper

Description

When using dictation software that “pastes” spoken text into Claude Code, the content appears as a collapsed block (e.g., [Pasted text +34 lines]) with no way to preview or edit the content before submission. This creates accessibility issues for users who rely on voice-to-text software.

Use Case

I use dictation software to speak my instructions to Claude Code. The workflow is:

1. I speak my prompt/instructions
2. The dictation software “pastes” the transcribed text into the terminal
3. Claude Code collapses it into [Pasted text +X lines]
4. I cannot see what was actually transcribed before submitting
5. I cannot edit any transcription errors or make adjustments

This forces me to either:

• Submit potentially incorrect or incomplete prompts
• Use alternative methods that break my accessibility workflow

Expected Behavior

• Option 1: Keyboard shortcut to expand/view the pasted content.
• Option 2: Configuration option to disable text collapsing for accessibility.
• Option 3: Edit mode that allows modifying the collapsed text. Maybe opening the current prompt in $EDITOR.

Current Behavior

No way to preview or edit the content once it’s collapsed into the placeholder.

Additional Context

This impacts accessibility for users who rely on assistive technologies. The current workaround of saving to files and referencing them breaks the natural flow of voice-driven workflows.

Similar issues: #143 (Better ergonomics for long text)

[Looking4OffSwitch]

This is an issue even without the speech-to-text use case.

I frequently use the up arrow to examine my previous prompts. But all I see when I do that is "[Pasted text #3 +15 lines]" which is both opaque and unhelpful.

I need to be able to view the actual contents of my prompt history.

[balkoonline]

+1 for this feature request

I'm experiencing the same issue on Windows with VS Code terminal (Claude Code v2.0.33), so this isn't macOS-specific.

My use case: I built a custom voice recording application that:

• Records audio in my native language
• Transcribes via Whisper API
• Translates and formats the output
• Auto-pastes into Claude Code

For 2-3 minute recordings (~500-1000 chars), the text appears as [Pasted text #1] with no way to review or edit before submission. This breaks my workflow since I can't catch transcription/translation errors or refine prompts.

Current workaround: Submit + ESC ESC (uncomfortable and hacky)

This feature would benefit not just accessibility users but anyone with automated prompt generation workflows. The fact that multiple people are reporting this across different platforms and use cases suggests this is becoming a real pain point.

Would love to see any of the proposed solutions implemented - even a simple keyboard shortcut to expand the placeholder would be incredibly helpful!

[blackbird-chrisf]

Current workaround: Submit + ESC ESC (uncomfortable and hacky)

I'm not able to get this to work either - I can see the full text of the cancelled prompt but if I try and cycle back to it with the ↑ key it just truncates again so I still can't edit it.

[balkoonline]

Current workaround: Submit + ESC ESC (uncomfortable and hacky)

I'm not able to get this to work either - I can see the full text of the cancelled prompt but if I try and cycle back to it with the ↑ key it just truncates again so I still can't edit it.

I’m using a Voice Agent that auto-pastes the transcription, so I never see the pasted text before submitting.
When I press Escape to interrupt Claude Code, the hidden text suddenly appears — that’s how I can tell what was actually pasted.
Then I copy it, split it into smaller chunks, and paste it back manually so it doesn’t get truncated.
Another possible workaround would be to keep a blank text file or editor open, paste everything there first, review or edit it, and then paste the final version into Claude Code.
But both ways are really inconvenient — it’s frustrating that there’s such a simple fix for this, yet we have to break our workflow like this to work around it.

[whinc]

At latest support editing the long text with visual editor popuped by shortcut Ctrl+G .

[github-actions]

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