AskUserQuestion PreToolUse hook's defer() hits claude-code#64389 race — fix: use allow instead

[lotofiyan]

Bug

hosts/claude/hooks/question-preference-hook.ts's pass-through path (the common case: a plain AskUserQuestion call with no <gstack-qid:...> marker, or one that doesn't match a never-ask preference) resolves via:

function defer(additionalContext?: string): void {
  const out = { hookEventName: 'PreToolUse', permissionDecision: 'defer', ... };
  process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify({ hookSpecificOutput: out }));
  process.exit(0);
}

This hits a confirmed Claude Code SDK race: anthropics/claude-code#64389 — a PreToolUse hook resolving permissionDecision: "defer" can lose a race in the SDK and get fed a fabricated is_error: true, "[Tool result missing due to internal error]" tool_result instead of suspending correctly. A commenter on that thread confirms it reproduces against AskUserQuestion specifically, not just Bash.

Since this hook matches every AskUserQuestion / mcp__*__AskUserQuestion call, and the pass-through defer() branch is what fires for any plain question without gstack's internal marker (i.e. most real usage, any time a skill or the base agent asks a free-form question), this made AskUserQuestion unreliable-to-broken in the Claude Code VS Code extension host in my testing — deterministically failing across repeated calls in one session.

Root cause is upstream, but the workaround is local

The claude-code#64389 thread has two purported fixes:

1. Delay the defer() write until after the assistant message stream closes (~200ms, reported as "deterministic across dozens of runs" by one reporter).
2. Use allow/deny/ask instead of defer — the thread states plainly these are not affected by the race.

I tried (1) first; it did not reproduce reliably in my environment — still failed after adding the delay. Switched to (2): since AskUserQuestion has no real "normal permission system" step for defer to fall through to (unlike a gated Bash command), swapping the pass-through case to permissionDecision: "allow" is behaviorally equivalent here, and it resolved the issue — confirmed working across repeated live calls afterward.

Suggested fix

In defer() in question-preference-hook.ts (and check auq-error-fallback-hook.ts / any other PreToolUse hook using defer for AskUserQuestion for the same pattern), change:

permissionDecision: 'defer',

to

permissionDecision: 'allow',

for the pass-through case specifically (the enforcement deny() path is unaffected and doesn't need to change). Happy to open a PR with this if useful — for now filing as an issue since I wasn't sure whether you'd want this landed as-is or handled differently upstream (e.g. if defer is relied on elsewhere for permission-mode interop I haven't considered).

Environment

• CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT=claude-vscode, Claude Code VS Code extension, agent SDK 0.3.207, macOS.