macOS: Image paste (Cmd+V) into Claude Code fails after 2 pastes, performable: keybind has no effect

[dmsdc-ai]

Issue Description

Image pasting into Claude Code (and likely other terminal apps using clipboard image data) has two issues on macOS:

1. Image paste stops working after 2 successful pastes in a single session
2. performable:super+v=paste_from_clipboard keybind has no effect on macOS — it works on Linux/GTK (per PR gtk: pass through keypress when clipboard has no text #10089) but the macOS AppKit equivalent is not implemented

Expected Behavior

• Image paste via Cmd+V should work reliably for any number of pastes in a session
• performable: keybind flag should work on macOS, passing the keypress through to the application when clipboard contains no text (e.g., image only)

Actual Behavior

• First 2 image pastes work correctly (shows [Image #N] in Claude Code)
• 3rd paste and beyond: nothing happens, paste is silently ignored
• Adding keybind = performable:super+v=paste_from_clipboard to config has no effect — +show-config output shows default super+v=paste_from_clipboard without the performable: prefix
• Restarting Ghostty resets the counter (2 pastes work again)

Reproduction Steps

1. Open Ghostty on macOS
2. Start a Claude Code session (claude)
3. Have an image in clipboard (e.g., screenshot via Shift+Cmd+Ctrl+4, or copy image from browser)
4. Paste with Cmd+V → works (shows [Image Crash when copying selection that runs to end of window #1])
5. Copy another image, paste with Cmd+V → works (shows [Image Reflow on Resize #2])
6. Copy another image, paste with Cmd+V → fails (nothing happens)

Workaround Attempted

Added to ~/.config/ghostty/config:

keybind = performable:super+v=paste_from_clipboard

This was suggested in Discussion #10478 but has no effect on macOS. The commenter noted:

"this requires the embedded apprt to also support a synchronous clipboard content check (like GTK does after PR #10089), otherwise clipboardRequest always returns true and the performable flag has no effect. That macOS-side change would be needed to make this work out of the box."

Comparison with Other Terminals

• Warp: Image paste via Cmd+V works reliably, unlimited pastes ✅
• iTerm2: Image paste works reliably ✅
• Ghostty: Fails after 2 pastes ❌

Related Discussions

• Support OSC 52 clipboard read for image data (binary/base64) #10099 — OSC 52 image support for Claude Code
• [Feature Request] Support pasting images captured directly to clipboard (macOS screenshot) #10478 — Support pasting images captured directly to clipboard (macOS screenshot)
• Can't paste images into claude code #10117 — Can't paste images into Claude Code

Ghostty Version

Ghostty 1.3.0

Version
  - version: 1.3.0
  - channel: stable
Build Config
  - Zig version   : 0.15.2
  - build mode    : .ReleaseFast
  - app runtime   : .none
  - font engine   : .coretext
  - renderer      : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.Metal)
  - libxev        : kqueue

Also tested with Ghostty tip (build 15209) — different issue: escape sequences ([12621;9u) leak through instead of pasting.

OS Version Information

macOS (Darwin 24.6.0, Apple Silicon)

Minimal Ghostty Configuration

clipboard-read = allow
clipboard-write = allow
clipboard-paste-protection = false

I acknowledge that:

• I have reviewed the FAQ and confirm that my issue is NOT among them.
• I have searched the Ghostty repository (both open and closed Discussions and Issues) and confirm this is not a duplicate of an existing issue or discussion.
• I have checked the "Preview" tab on all text fields to ensure that everything looks right, and have wrapped all configuration and code in code blocks with a group of three backticks on separate lines.

[ghostty-vouch]

Hi @dmsdc-ai, thanks for your interest!

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This issue will be closed automatically. See https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.