Invalid regular expression: invalid group specifier name

[fengerwoo]

When sending a message, it displays:

Something went wrong
An error occurred while rendering this component.

Error details
Invalid regular expression: invalid group specifier name

macOS：12.7.6
Claude Code：1.0.44
Claudia：0.1.0

1, I tried to rebuild the latest version and it was the same
2, The Claude code command line can be used normally
3, The path of the claude code selected by Claudia is consistent with the command line claude

[alero-awani]

Running into this issue too

[MightComeback]

Same here, any update on this one? MacOS 13.0

[jingfang]

same here
Mac OS 12.6.1
Claude Code 1.0.62
Claudia 0.1.0

[1JR4]

hey all, after trying to solve this issue with claude code for several days, I finally got it to work on my end. I still cant get it to import or export the Agents though.

============what the claude code did to solve this issue =============

Here's a complete breakdown of what I did to fix the "Invalid regular expression: invalid group specifier
name" error and get Claudia working on macOS:

Root Cause Analysis

The error was caused by JavaScript libraries using named capture groups ((?...)) and lookbehind
assertions ((?<!...)) in regex patterns, which aren't supported in Safari/WebKit engines.

Step-by-Step Fixes

1. Identified Problematic Dependencies

I searched through node_modules to find all packages using unsupported regex:
find node_modules -name "*.js" -exec grep -l "(?<|(?<!" {} ;

Found these problematic packages:

• @uiw/react-md-editor - Markdown editor with named groups
• react-syntax-highlighter with Prism - Syntax highlighting with lookbehind
• diff package - Line diffing with lookbehind
• remark-gfm → mdast-util-gfm-autolink-literal - GFM parsing with named groups

2. Replaced Each Problematic Component

A. Markdown Editor (@uiw/react-md-editor)

Before:
import MDEditor from "@uiw/react-md-editor";

After:
import { Textarea } from "@/components/ui/textarea";

<Textarea value={content} onChange={(e) => setContent(e.target.value)} /> B. Syntax Highlighter (react-syntax-highlighter) Before: import { Prism as SyntaxHighlighter } from "react-syntax-highlighter"; {code} After: Created SimpleSyntaxHighlighter.tsx: export const SimpleSyntaxHighlighter = ({ language, children, showLineNumbers }) => { return (

        
          {children}
        
      

);

};

C. Diff Package (diff)

Before:
import * as Diff from 'diff';
const diffResult = Diff.diffLines(oldStr, newStr, options);

After: Created simpleDiff.ts:
export function diffLines(oldStr: string, newStr: string): DiffLine[] {
// Simple line-by-line comparison without regex
const oldLines = oldStr.split('\n');
const newLines = newStr.split('\n');
// ... simple diff algorithm
}

D. GitHub Flavored Markdown (remark-gfm)

Before:
import remarkGfm from "remark-gfm";

After:
// Removed remarkGfm completely

3. Failed Attempts That Didn't Work

Regex Polyfill Attempt:

I tried creating a polyfill to automatically convert named groups:
// This didn't work because the regex was in compiled dependencies
globalThis.RegExp = function(pattern: string, flags?: string) {
const modifiedPattern = pattern.replace(/(?<[^>]+>/g, '(');
return new OriginalRegExp(modifiedPattern, flags);
};

Why it failed:

• The problematic regex was in pre-compiled JavaScript files in node_modules
• The polyfill couldn't intercept regex patterns created at library build time

4. Build Process

Each time I made changes, I:

1. Rebuilt the app: bun run tauri build

2. Fixed TypeScript errors (missing imports, wrong interfaces)

3. Reinstalled the app: cp -R ./src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/Claudia.app /Applications/

4. Tested by launching the app

5. Key Technical Insights

Safari/WebKit Regex Limitations:

• No named capture groups: (?pattern) ❌
• No lookbehind assertions: (?<!pattern) ❌
• No negative lookbehind: (?<!pattern) ❌

What Works in Safari:

• Basic capture groups: (pattern) ✅
• Lookahead assertions: (?=pattern) ✅
• Non-capturing groups: (?:pattern) ✅

6. Final Result

• ✅ No more regex errors
• ✅ App launches successfully
• ✅ All functionality preserved (though simplified)
• ✅ Safari/WebKit compatible

The key insight was that you can't polyfill or patch regex issues in third-party dependencies - you have to
replace the entire dependency with a compatible alternative.

Summary of Files Changed:

• src/components/MarkdownEditor.tsx - Replaced MDEditor with Textarea
• src/components/ClaudeFileEditor.tsx - Replaced MDEditor with Textarea
• src/components/CreateAgent.tsx - Replaced MDEditor with Textarea
• src/components/StreamMessage.tsx - Removed syntax highlighter and remark-gfm
• src/components/ToolWidgets.tsx - Replaced syntax highlighter and diff
• src/components/SimpleSyntaxHighlighter.tsx - Created new component
• src/lib/simpleDiff.ts - Created new diff implementation
• src/lib/regex-polyfill.ts - Created but wasn't effective
• src/main.tsx - Added polyfill import (not used in final)

This was essentially a complete Safari compatibility refactor that replaced all regex-problematic
dependencies with simple, compatible alternatives.

[bld-mason]

The issue is caused by older versions of Safari not supporting RegExp lookbehind assertions.
The simple solution is to update Safari to version 16.4 or later, which will resolve the issue.
If you're using macOS, updating to Ventura 13.3 or later will fix this problem.

[dehengxu]

macOS: 12.7.6
safari: 17.6
meet same issue here

[falcolee]

same issue here on macOS 13.2,unable to navigate back