agent-signals

033. The Claude Bash dialog has four options, and "3." is not "No"

View as Markdown Open in Claude Open in ChatGPT
Date
2026-10-30
Agents
Claude Code
Measured on
real machine

Measured

2026-10-30, Claude Code 2.1.314 with --model haiku and --permission-mode default, on Linux (Debian 13, x64), in a private tmux server with a throwaway HOME. The scenario scenarios/claude/dialog-states.sh ran three times. It recorded every hook payload, and read the pid file every 1 s for 10 s after each answer. Measured on: real machine.

What was measured

  1. The commands ls and sleep 30 (in the background) ran with no dialog in the default mode. Each gave PreToolUse and PostToolUse, and no PermissionRequest.

  2. The command mkdir build opened this dialog (the path is shortened):

     Bash command
 Tip: auto mode handles these prompts for you — choose "switch to auto mode" below
 Create build directory in the work folder
 mkdir /work/example/build
 Do you want to proceed?
 ❯ 1. Yes
   2. Yes, and always allow access to /work/example from this
   3. Yes, and switch to auto mode · auto mode handles these prompts for you
   4. No
 Esc to cancel · Tab to amend

    The file-write dialog of fact 024 has three options, and its "3." is "No". The Bash dialog has four options, and its "No" is "4.".

  3. In run 2, the scenario sent "3" to this dialog. The command ran, and the mode changed to auto mode for the rest of the session. The screen showed ⏵⏵ auto mode on, and the next hooks had permission_mode: auto. After that, the hooks were PostToolUse and Stop.

  4. In run 3, the scenario sent "4" ("No"). The command did not run. The screen showed ⎿ Interrupted · What should Claude do instead?. No hook fired: no PostToolUse and no Stop. The next hook was the UserPromptSubmit of the next prompt. The pid file status was idle at each read, from 1 s after the key. This is the same result as Esc in fact 024.

  5. The PermissionRequest payload of the Bash dialog had two permission_suggestions: {"type": "addDirectories", "directories": ["/work/example"], "destination": "session"} and {"type": "setMode", "mode": "acceptEdits", "destination": "session"}. The screen option "3. Yes, and switch to auto mode" has no suggestion in the payload. Its tool_input keys were command and description (run 3), or also dangerouslyDisableSandbox, run_in_background and timeout (run 2). The model sets these keys.

Mechanism

The digit of "No" depends on the dialog. A tool that sends "3" as "No" approves a Bash command and turns on auto mode. A tool must read the digit of the "No" row from the screen, or send Esc. Esc and "No" gave the same signals.

The number of permission_suggestions does not give the number of options: two suggestions, four options.

Incident

None. tg-bridge asked which hooks fire after "3. No", and the answer showed that "3." is "No" only in some dialogs.

Screens

None.

Not measured