Copy Mode does't seem to let me copy the prompt - only any output

[ksprashu]

What happened?

I typed in a prompt and I want to copy it. I enter copy mode with ctrl+s.
As soon as I do that, it scrolls to the output / empty space.
When I scroll back, I am taken out of the copy mode.
Net effect - I am unable to copy the prompt.

cli.-.prompt.selection.mov

What did you expect to happen?

I want to be able to select and copy the prompt text.

Client information

Client Information

Run gemini to enter the interactive CLI, then run the /about command.

> /about
│ CLI Version                                     0.37.1                                                                                    │ 
│ Git Commit                                      3b2d4f100                                                                                 │ 
│ Model                                           gemini-3-flash-preview                                                                    │ 
│ Sandbox                                         no sandbox                                                                                │ 
│ OS                                              linux                                                                                     │ 
│ Auth Method                                     Signed in with Google (ksprashanth82@gmail.com)                                           │ 
│ Tier                                            Gemini Code Assist                                                                        │ 
│ GCP Project                                     cloudshell-gca                                                                            │ 
│ IDE Client                                      Cloud Shell   ```

</details>

### Login information

_No response_

### Anything else we need to know?

_No response_

[gemini-cli]

Found possible duplicate issues:

• Impossible to copy text (with CTRL+S) #13296

If you believe this is not a duplicate, please remove the status/possible-duplicate label.

[Adib234]

Thank you for the report! This definitely sounds like a bug in the TUI rendering/copy mode logic where the scroll state is improperly managed, making the prompt inaccessible. We have labeled this as 'help wanted' and would welcome a PR from the community to fix this behavior.

[KoushikAD1234]

/assign

[gemini-cli]

👋 @KoushikAD1234, you've been assigned to this issue! Thank you for taking the time to contribute. Make sure to check out our contributing guidelines.

[KoushikAD1234]

I wasn’t able to reproduce this issue on the current main branch.

Environment tested:

Repo: current main
Version: 0.40.0-nightly.20260414.g5b1f7375a
Alternate buffer: enabled (ui.useAlternateBuffer: true)
Copy mode key on this branch: Ctrl+S or F9

Steps I tried:

Started an interactive session in alternate buffer mode
Typed a prompt without submitting it
Entered copy mode
Used scroll/navigation keys (PageUp / PageDown, Shift+Up / Shift+Down)

I also ran the existing targeted copy-mode tests in packages/cli, and they all passed locally.

It’s possible there’s an environment-specific trigger I’m missing. If anyone is still able to reproduce this, it would be helpful to share:

Exact CLI version / commit
Terminal emulator and OS
Whether this occurs with Ctrl+S or F9
Whether the behavior differs between mouse wheel and keyboard scrolling
Whether the prompt was multi-line or particularly long

Leaving this open for now until we can get a more precise reproduction.

[KoushikAD1234]

/unassign

[gemini-cli]

👋 @KoushikAD1234, you have been unassigned from this issue.