Only tangentially related, but does anyone know if it is possible to ‘paste’ images to an agent harness running inside a docker container?
My current workaround is to paste it inside the working directory on the host machine, then @ reference it, but would be nice to streamline that workflow.
Why are we emotionally tied to command line interfaces
Desktop apps are a second class citizen that do not get feature parity
Lot of actions on Claude Code seem much more suited for a thoughtfully designed GUI
Even the chat responses and links therein can benefit from judicious use of rich text and formatting and real hyperlinks to other parts of the UI or elsewhere
Favourite Skills can be toolbar buttons or menus if user so wishes.
I do love GUIs, and use them for most of my workflow. But for Claude, I definitely prefer the CLI.
Since it's a CLI app, I can wrap it in yoloAI for the sandbox protection, and also use VS Code's tunneling feature to reach that sandboxed workdir (with permissions safely bypassed) through my GUI.
I have a similar setup, but I access it directly via iTerm2 instead of VS Code's terminal. I've figured out the right terminal settings to get copying/pasting text to work (including with neovim's + register), but not images. Would be nice to paste images, though. Currently I have to SCP them over.
Composability (piping to other programs, or calling them via scripts), reachability (through ssh, for example), focus (not being distracted by all options being present) and universality (cli is more or less the same interface everywhere) are my reasons.
I still use GUI apps too, and actually find claude code to be closer to a GUI app than a cli.
Why did you lambast it as an emotional attachment instead of a practical preference?
People prefer terminal apps because they run inside our terminal app environments (kitty, zellij, tmux), tend to be keyboard driven, tend to be more lightweight than GUIs, tend to be scriptable, and can be run remotely over a standard ssh session.
idk I just like running 6/8 terminal panes and organizing my workflows / projects in an exact space. I even tweaked my theme. and seeing them all on my side portrait monitor.
Personally, I much prefer the CLI. The CLI is a tool that has been refined for over 50 years to excel at text input and output. Once you learn it, it can feel like an extension of your brain.
A text based interface is perfect for interacting with a large language model, and it seems unsurprising to me that it's the most popular way to work with them.
Frankly, the idea of having to decipher what a picture is supposed to represent to use a skill fills me with horror.
>Why are we emotionally tied to command line interfaces
Being a power user, having used computers for more than 30 years, I usually prefer GUI because that's an evolution over CLI.
Going from the basic interpreter on ZX Spectrum to the command line in MS DOS had me mesmerized. Going from the DOS CLI to Windows 95 GUI, had me me mesmerized, too.
I think people in general consider themselves more pro and "hackers" if they use CLI and editors like Vi and Emacs.
There are bonus points for memorizing hundreds of different keyboard shortcuts and not using the mouse at all.
If they absolutely have to use GUI, they not use a desktop environment in Linux but a stacking window manager.
Ctrl+V paste works for me on WSL. My secret is that I have given up on WSLg and use a standalone X Windows server. Specifically, the X410 X Server. This removes a whole lot of weird behavior including the ones described by the article.
I have not tried this mostly because I figured it would a resource hog and clunky. Are you describe your experience with X410 on WSL in some more detail? What are the downsides?
you do you, but I've had only good luck with WSLg. my main gripe with it is that it could be doing more. internally (part of?) WSLg uses the RDP protocol, which natively supports audio forwarding, USB passthru and smart cards. yet none of it's wired up.
Unrelated but I have a similar problem with speech to text apps on windows, where due to the funkiness of claude codes (necessary) implementation, it doesn't send the keybindings correctly.
This is still better than trying to paste text, files or images in Linux. In latest Pop!_OS I have to keep the app I copy from open until I paste. To add insult to the injury, pasting in terminal produces weird characters.
tl;dr Use Claude Code in WSL inside Windows Terminal? Copying an image in Windows and pressing Ctrl+V in Claude Code doesn't work. Three things break: (1) WSL only hands Windows images to the Linux side in an old BMP format Claude Code can't read; (2) WSL also keeps quietly overwriting your fixes a moment later; (3) Windows Terminal grabs Ctrl+V before Claude Code can see it. The fix is a small Windows program that converts the image to PNG, a Linux script that puts it on the Linux clipboard (and re-asserts once after WSL overwrites it), and one extra keybinding for Claude Code so the keystroke actually reaches the program.
Not everyone here is *nix-pilled (WSL aside). Despite W11's missteps, Windows isn't a completely terrible OS to work on and has some of the best window management outside of a full tiling WM.
Not a bug, pasting images into the terminal is not supported, do not do this, that's not what the terminal is for or how it is used. The standard way is to pass the path of a file to the program as a runtime parameter or in some config file.
Terminals are not alternative web browsers/graphical application sandboxes.
Sixel came out in the 80's as a way to print on dot matrix printers. If your terminal doesn't support that yet, you might want to look into updating your software.
pass the url (local or otherwise) of the image to Claude code. Otherwise it's not the terminal's problem, please don't pressure Microsoft to introduce an attack vector to wsl for slop's sake.
My current workaround is to paste it inside the working directory on the host machine, then @ reference it, but would be nice to streamline that workflow.
Desktop apps are a second class citizen that do not get feature parity
Lot of actions on Claude Code seem much more suited for a thoughtfully designed GUI
Even the chat responses and links therein can benefit from judicious use of rich text and formatting and real hyperlinks to other parts of the UI or elsewhere
Favourite Skills can be toolbar buttons or menus if user so wishes.
Started using computers when that was the only affordable way to use computers.
For some reason, some people really love to live in 1970's with their expensive HiDPI monitors.
Since it's a CLI app, I can wrap it in yoloAI for the sandbox protection, and also use VS Code's tunneling feature to reach that sandboxed workdir (with permissions safely bypassed) through my GUI.
https://freeimage.host/i/screenshot-2026-05-19-at-141349.ByS...
I have a similar setup, but I access it directly via iTerm2 instead of VS Code's terminal. I've figured out the right terminal settings to get copying/pasting text to work (including with neovim's + register), but not images. Would be nice to paste images, though. Currently I have to SCP them over.
I still use GUI apps too, and actually find claude code to be closer to a GUI app than a cli.
People prefer terminal apps because they run inside our terminal app environments (kitty, zellij, tmux), tend to be keyboard driven, tend to be more lightweight than GUIs, tend to be scriptable, and can be run remotely over a standard ssh session.
A conventional GUI is a nonstarter in comparison.
Personally, I much prefer the CLI. The CLI is a tool that has been refined for over 50 years to excel at text input and output. Once you learn it, it can feel like an extension of your brain.
Frankly, the idea of having to decipher what a picture is supposed to represent to use a skill fills me with horror.
Being a power user, having used computers for more than 30 years, I usually prefer GUI because that's an evolution over CLI.
Going from the basic interpreter on ZX Spectrum to the command line in MS DOS had me mesmerized. Going from the DOS CLI to Windows 95 GUI, had me me mesmerized, too.
I think people in general consider themselves more pro and "hackers" if they use CLI and editors like Vi and Emacs.
There are bonus points for memorizing hundreds of different keyboard shortcuts and not using the mouse at all.
If they absolutely have to use GUI, they not use a desktop environment in Linux but a stacking window manager.
(disclaimer: I work at MS, not on WSL)
I sure wish it didn't have to be a console app
https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/discussions/10099#dis...
Code: https://github.com/rajveerb/wsl-clip-bridge
I'd rather continue to be as productive as possible.
Terminals are not alternative web browsers/graphical application sandboxes.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it