[Feature Request] Improve PowerShell shell configuration support for Windows

[ryanstraight]

(Written and provided verbatim by Claude Code.)

Shell configuration for Windows (PowerShell support)

Version: 2.0.75

Platform: Windows 11

Problem

The Bash tool on Windows runs through a bash wrapper that mangles PowerShell syntax:

• $_ becomes empty (bash interprets it as a variable)
• $false/$true get stripped or mangled
• Complex pipelines with ForEach-Object fail
• Quote escaping becomes extremely fragile

Example:

# Intended command
Get-ScheduledTask | Where-Object { $_.TaskName -match 'sync' }

# What bash wrapper produces
Get-ScheduledTask | Where-Object { extglob.TaskName -match 'sync' }

Current Workarounds

• Wrapping in cmd /c "powershell.exe -NoProfile -Command '...'"
• Using -Confirm:0 instead of -Confirm:$false
• Avoiding complex pipelines entirely

These are inconsistent and error-prone.

Requested Feature

A setting to configure the shell used by the Bash tool:

{
"shell": "powershell"
}

Or a separate PowerShell tool that bypasses bash interpretation entirely.

Impact

Significantly improves Windows developer experience where PowerShell is the native shell.

[YoshKoz]

Claude told me to report this bug too.

Summary

✅ Bug confirmed and reproduced

• Bash expands $_ to extglob before PowerShell receives the command
• PowerShell then fails hundreds of times in rapid succession
• This error spam causes the terminal flashing you experienced

✅ Workaround implemented

• I'll now use Where-Object Property -eq 'Value' syntax instead of Where-Object {$_.Property -eq 'Value'}
• This avoids the bug entirely while still filtering correctly

📝 Please report this to Claude Code:

• URL: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues
• Title: "Bash $_ variable expansion breaks PowerShell pipeline syntax"
• Impact: Causes terminal flashing and command failures on Windows