dazzle-claude-code-patcher

Fix problematic Claude Code bugs in your local copy now, and keep the fixes working across updates.

dcc-patcher diagnoses, verifies, and applies patches to the native Claude Code CLI (claude.exe). When Claude Code updates (roughly every two days), one command tells you which patches re-apply as-is and which need attention, and shows exactly what changed. Once set up, claude runs the patched build and re-patches each update by itself.

The Problem

Some Claude Code bugs sit in code you can't configure around. For example, after a restart or claude --resume, everything before the last compaction disappears from the screen. It's still in the session file, but nothing brings it back. Waiting for an upstream improvement or fix can take a while, and patching by hand doesn't survive the next update (Claude Code is minified, so almost every internal name changes from one release to the next).

Patches

Installation

Python 3.11 or newer. The one dependency, dazzle-lib, is itself standard-library only.

pip install dazzle-claude-code-patcher
dcc-patcher -h                   # the commands, grouped by what they act on
dcc-patcher validate             # lists the bundled patches
dcc-patcher update               # is this install current? (--fix updates it, after asking)

To work on it, install from source instead (pip install -e ".[dev]" in a clone). Builds then go to the checkout's private\builds\ rather than %LOCALAPPDATA%\dazzle-claude-code-patcher\builds\.

Usage

# Does every patch still apply to this build? (read-only)
dcc-patcher check %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\claude.exe

# Build a patched copy into the builds folder, with a lockfile recording every edit
dcc-patcher apply %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\claude.exe
#   wrote <builds>\claude-dcc-2.1.295+dcc0.1.11.exe
#     and <builds>\claude-dcc-2.1.295+dcc0.1.11.exe.dcc-lock.json
#   <builds>\claude-dcc.exe -> claude-dcc-2.1.295+dcc0.1.11.exe (hardlink)

# Run the patched copy instead of claude
<builds>\claude-dcc.exe --resume

The official claude.exe is never modified. Older builds stay in the builds folder for rollback, and the original Claude Code each build was made from is kept beside it. After an update, check again; if an edit fails, nothing is written and check --baseline shows what changed. Where everything goes, and every option: docs/launcher.md.

Make the patched build just claude

dcc-env                         # cmd or PowerShell; in Git Bash: . dcc-env
dcc-patcher status              # which claude this shell runs, and anything left to do

dcc-env exists because no program can change the PATH of the shell that started it: it's a small script that runs inside your shell, so it works in one that was already open. The first time, it writes the claude, dazzle-claude and claude-stock shims and adds their folder to your user PATH (after asking, and after saving the old value as a .reg file). Every time, it puts that folder on the PATH of the shell you typed it in. Shells opened afterwards don't need it.

From then on, claude runs the current patched build. When Claude Code updates, the next start says so, rebuilds in a few seconds, and runs the new build; if a patch no longer applies, it runs stock instead and says which patch needs attention.

Switching. dazzle-claude and claude-stock always run the patched and the official build, whatever claude means. To change what claude itself means:

dcc-env stock                   # in this shell only (also: patched, a build's file name, or default to undo)
dcc-env --help                  # the choices, without changing anything
dcc-patcher use stock           # everywhere, from the next start (also: patched, a build's file name)
dcc-patcher status              # says which one wins in this shell, and why

dcc-patcher uninstall-shim puts everything back. The details, including how to check or undo any of it by hand: docs/launcher.md.

How it works

• Patches are written by structure, not by exact text. Each patch names a stable landmark (a string that survives builds), the shape of the code to change near it, and a replacement. Minified names are wildcards, captured once and reused by later edits. Measured on the 7 Claude Code builds from 2.1.278 to 2.1.289 (2026-09-19 to 10-03): the same edits written as exact text applied in full on only one build, while the structural patch applies unchanged on all seven.
• It fails closed. Every edit must match exactly the number of times it expects, or nothing is written. The output is a new file beside the official claude.exe, never an in-place change, and everything except the patched module is verified byte-identical.
• It knows when to stop. A patched module carries a signature, so a patch is never applied twice; and a patch can say how to recognise that Anthropic fixed the bug, so it reports fixed upstream instead of broken.
• It diagnoses. When an edit no longer matches, check shows a diff of that code region against the last build where the patch worked, with minified names normalised so that only real code changes show.

Development

python -P -m pytest tests/ -v   # tests that need a local claude.exe are skipped without one
bash scripts/repokit-common/install-hooks.sh   # version sync and pre-push checks

Related Projects

• ojura/claude-patches: patches for the Claude Code VS Code extension, and the inspiration for this project's approach (structural matching, failing closed, byte-stable verification). This project is its Windows-first, native-CLI counterpart.
• claude-session-logger, Claude-Session-Backup, claude-bookmarks: other DazzleML Claude Code tools.

Disclaimer

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. Patching modifies your local copy of Claude Code and removes its code signature; use it at your own risk, and keep the official claude.exe in place.

License

dazzle-claude-code-patcher, copyright (C) 2026 Dustin Darcy.

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.