002. A dialog can draw above a live input box
- Date
- 2026-09-28
- Agents
- Claude Code
- Measured on
- not recorded
Measured
2026-09-28, Claude Code 2.1.283, on two live sessions.
What was measured
The auto mode environment dialog draws a numbered list and the footer "Enter to confirm ยท Esc to cancel" between two rules ABOVE the input box. The box below it keeps its frame and the text that the operator did not send. The last line-starting mark is the mark of the box, so each marker of the dialog is outside the input region, and the frame test gives IDLE.
Mechanism
A reader needs two conditions together to find this dialog: a numbered list under a cursor mark in the block between the rules above the box, and the footer text in that block. One condition alone is not sufficient. A reply often holds a numbered list above the box, and a reply can quote the footer as prose. The corpus holds one negative control for each condition.
A reply that quotes a whole dialog holds both conditions. No text on the screen tells the quote apart from a real dialog. A reader that reads the quote as a dialog sends no key, which is safe. This is a known false positive.
The defence that also covers the next new shape is a proof of submission: after the Enter, prove that the framed box no longer holds the text. The proof applies to a framed box only. A pane with no frame can keep the echo of the text below the mark after a submission.
Incident
A tool typed a message into each of the two sessions, proved that the text was visible, and sent an Enter. The dialog took the Enter. The text stayed in the box, and the Enter confirmed the selected option. In one session option 1 was confirmed, and a setup command ran. Nothing measured who pressed that Enter.
Screens
claude/dialog-over-box, claude/overlay-without-footer,
claude/overlay-plain-list, claude/overlay-footer-without-options,
claude/quoted-dialog.
Not measured
Whether a digit activates an option of this dialog. Its footer says "Enter to confirm", and no test proves a digit. The size of the pane. Whether other dialogs draw above the box. agy 1.4.5 draws no dialog above the box (fact 18).
Source
Measured by the tg-bridge project. The text is a summary of its notes, and it holds no host details and no session details.