[VSCode] macOS Ctrl+F and Ctrl+P no longer work in chat input

[dvdrtrgn]

Bug

Ctrl+F (forward char) and Ctrl+P (previous line) — native macOS Emacs-style text
bindings — no longer work in the Claude Code VS Code extension chat input. These
work in all native macOS text fields (Terminal, Safari, TextEdit, dialogs, etc.)
and previously worked here too.

Expected behavior

• Ctrl+F moves the cursor forward one character
• Ctrl+P moves the cursor up one line

Reference: https://jblevins.org/log/kbd

Actual behavior

Both bindings are swallowed — Ctrl+F likely captured by VS Code's Find,
Ctrl+P by the command palette.

Environment

• macOS
• VS Code extension (Claude Code)
• Believed to be a recent regression

[github-actions]

Found 1 possible duplicate issue:

1. [BUG] macOS Emacs keybindings (Ctrl+P/F) not working in VSCode webview input #21137

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

[dvdrtrgn]

Related issues — none were ever fixed; all closed silently by bot or deprioritized with no official comment:

#	Topic	Surface	Status
#796	Readline-compatible keybinding config	TUI	NOT_PLANNED
#2088	Readline yank broken	TUI	NOT_PLANNED
#8177	Broader macOS shortcuts broken	VSCode ext	NOT_PLANNED
#12358	Cmd+H/Cmd+M hijacked by extension	VSCode ext	NOT_PLANNED
#18054	Ctrl+B passthrough feature request	TUI	NOT_PLANNED
#20919	Ctrl+P/N broken in chat input	TUI	bot-closed as dupe
#21137	Ctrl+P/F broken in webview input	VSCode ext	bot-closed as dupe

VSCode extension keyboard issues (#8177, #12358, #18054) have consistently been NOT_PLANNED. TUI readline issues (#796, #2088) got more engagement and were partially addressed over time.

[dvdrtrgn]

Filed upstream: microsoft/vscode#320435 — root cause is workbench commands consuming Ctrl+F/Ctrl+P before the Cocoa text layer sees them.

[skill-vis]

Still reproduces on macOS as of 2026-06-25.

Environment:

• macOS 26.5 (25F71)
• VS Code 1.123.1
• Claude Code 2.1.152 (VS Code extension)

Ctrl+F (forward-char) and Ctrl+P (previous-line) are still swallowed in the Claude Code chat input, while the same native macOS Emacs-style bindings work everywhere else (Terminal, Safari, TextEdit). Notably, other readline-style keys in the same input — Ctrl+A (line start), Ctrl+E (line end), Ctrl+B (backward-char) — do work, so it is specifically Ctrl+F / Ctrl+P that get intercepted.

For reference: the earlier issue #21137 was closed as COMPLETED (2026-01-27), but the behavior has since regressed. The root cause appears to be tracked upstream at microsoft/vscode#320435 (workbench commands consuming Ctrl+F / Ctrl+P before the Cocoa text layer sees them).

+1 to keep this open — please don't auto-close it as a duplicate of an already-closed issue.

[dvdrtrgn]

Still reproduces after both updating the extension and a full VS Code restart.

Environment:

• macOS 26.5.1 (25F80)
• VS Code 1.127.0
• Claude Code 2.1.198 (VS Code extension)

Ctrl+F and Ctrl+P still swallowed in chat input. Ctrl+A/E/B/N all work. Ruled out stale extension host / stale keybinding cache as the cause — full restart made no difference. Still consistent with the upstream root cause at microsoft/vscode#320435.