Claude RTL Best fix

A VS Code extension that fixes Hebrew and Arabic display bugs in Claude Code conversations. Claude Code's own panel renders mixed Hebrew/English or Arabic/English text with broken punctuation, parentheses, and number positioning — this extension shows the same conversation in a parallel side panel with the bidirectional text rendered correctly.

⚡ Install

From VS Code Marketplace (recommended)

1. In VS Code, press Ctrl+Shift+X to open Extensions.
2. Search for "Claude RTL Best fix".
3. Click Install. Done.

Or install from the Marketplace page.

From a .vsix file

If your VS Code fork doesn't reach the Marketplace (Cursor, VSCodium with no Open VSX, etc.), download the .vsix directly:

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tzvivivi/pastefix/master/release/install.ps1 | iex

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tzvivivi/pastefix/master/release/install.sh | bash

The script downloads the latest .vsix, installs it via VS Code's CLI, and prints next steps. About 5 seconds total.

After install

Click the RTL button at the bottom-right of VS Code (status bar). The mirror panel opens. Click again to hide. That's it — no F5, no second window, no commands to remember.

How it works

Claude Code persists every chat to a .jsonl file at ~/.claude/projects/<workspace>/<session>.jsonl. The extension:

• Picks the most-recently-modified .jsonl (across all projects if no workspace folder is open).
• Polls the file every second; on growth, parses new user/assistant messages.
• Renders each paragraph with corrected RTL/BiDi rendering using PasteFix's BiDi engine (RLM marks after Latin runs, arrow flipping, etc.). The result is a side-by-side mirror that never touches Claude Code's own panel.

Settings (optional)

Open Settings → Extensions → Claude RTL Best fix:

Commands

Ctrl+Shift+P then type "Claude RTL":

• Claude RTL Best fix: Toggle Panel — same as clicking the status-bar button.
• Claude RTL Best fix: Open Panel — opens (no-op if already open).
• Claude RTL Best fix: Refresh — re-scan the latest session.

Build from source

# from repo root
pnpm install
pnpm --filter claude-rtl-best-fix build
cd packages/vscode-bidi
pnpm exec vsce package --no-dependencies

That generates a fresh .vsix next to package.json.

Limitations

• Doesn't fix Claude Code's own panel — Claude Code is a sealed webview that can't be patched. You read the corrected text in this panel beside it.
• Text content only — tool calls and image responses appear only in the original panel.
• ~1s lag — polls the file every second (push notifications would be nicer but Claude Code rewrites JSONL atomically, which Node's fs.watch handles inconsistently across platforms).

About PasteFix

This extension is built and maintained by the team behind PasteFix — a tool for correcting Hebrew and Arabic text pasted from AI assistants into Word, Google Docs, and other rich-text editors. PasteFix uses the same bidirectional-text engine that powers this extension's panel.

If you also need clean Hebrew/Arabic when copying out of Claude Code into Word, give PasteFix a try.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.