diff --git a/ui-tui/src/app/interfaces.ts b/ui-tui/src/app/interfaces.ts
index 1d7cdaead0..9b987f87d3 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/app/interfaces.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/app/interfaces.ts
@@ -285,6 +285,7 @@ export interface AppLayoutActions {
   answerClarify: (answer: string) => void
   answerSecret: (value: string) => void
   answerSudo: (pw: string) => void
+  clearSelection: () => void
   onModelSelect: (value: string) => void
   resumeById: (id: string) => void
   setStickyPrompt: (value: string) => void
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts b/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts
index 9f2cae78d6..168454f8ba 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/app/useMainApp.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import type { Msg, PanelSection, SlashCatalog } from '../types.js'
 
 import { createGatewayEventHandler } from './createGatewayEventHandler.js'
 import { createSlashHandler } from './createSlashHandler.js'
+import { getInputSelection } from './inputSelectionStore.js'
 import { type GatewayRpc, type TranscriptRow } from './interfaces.js'
 import { $overlayState, patchOverlayState } from './overlayStore.js'
 import { scrollWithSelectionBy } from './scroll.js'
@@ -147,6 +148,11 @@ export function useMainApp(gw: GatewayClient) {
     selection.setSelectionBgColor(ui.theme.color.selectionBg)
   }, [selection, ui.theme.color.selectionBg])
 
+  const clearSelection = useCallback(() => {
+    selection.clearSelection()
+    getInputSelection()?.clear()
+  }, [selection])
+
   const composer = useComposerState({
     gw,
     onClipboardPaste: quiet => clipboardPasteRef.current(quiet),
@@ -519,6 +525,7 @@ export function useMainApp(gw: GatewayClient) {
     [
       appendMessage,
       bellOnComplete,
+      clearSelection,
       composerActions.setInput,
       gateway,
       panel,
@@ -691,11 +698,12 @@ export function useMainApp(gw: GatewayClient) {
       answerClarify,
       answerSecret,
       answerSudo,
+      clearSelection,
       onModelSelect,
       resumeById: session.resumeById,
       setStickyPrompt
     }),
-    [answerApproval, answerClarify, answerSecret, answerSudo, onModelSelect, session.resumeById]
+    [answerApproval, answerClarify, answerSecret, answerSudo, clearSelection, onModelSelect, session.resumeById]
   )
 
   const appComposer = useMemo(
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/components/appLayout.tsx b/ui-tui/src/components/appLayout.tsx
index e4e9608365..3c7989a93e 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/components/appLayout.tsx
+++ b/ui-tui/src/components/appLayout.tsx
@@ -47,7 +47,18 @@ const TranscriptPane = memo(function TranscriptPane({
 
   return (
     <>
-      <ScrollBox flexDirection="column" flexGrow={1} flexShrink={1} ref={transcript.scrollRef} stickyScroll>
+      <ScrollBox
+        flexDirection="column"
+        flexGrow={1}
+        flexShrink={1}
+        onClick={(e: { cellIsBlank?: boolean }) => {
+          if (e.cellIsBlank) {
+            actions.clearSelection()
+          }
+        }}
+        ref={transcript.scrollRef}
+        stickyScroll
+      >
         <Box flexDirection="column" paddingX={1}>
           {transcript.virtualHistory.topSpacer > 0 ? <Box height={transcript.virtualHistory.topSpacer} /> : null}
 
@@ -118,7 +129,17 @@ const ComposerPane = memo(function ComposerPane({
   const inputHeight = inputVisualHeight(composer.input, inputColumns)
 
   return (
-    <NoSelect flexDirection="column" flexShrink={0} fromLeftEdge paddingX={1}>
+    <NoSelect
+      flexDirection="column"
+      flexShrink={0}
+      fromLeftEdge
+      onClick={(e: { cellIsBlank?: boolean }) => {
+        if (e.cellIsBlank) {
+          actions.clearSelection()
+        }
+      }}
+      paddingX={1}
+    >
       <QueuedMessages
         cols={composer.cols}
         queued={composer.queuedDisplay}
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx b/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
index 9985e745bd..2e10d7d85b 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
+++ b/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
@@ -915,11 +915,12 @@ export function TextInput({
 
   return (
     <Box
-      onClick={(e: { localRow?: number; localCol?: number }) => {
+      onClick={(e: { localCol?: number; localRow?: number; stopImmediatePropagation?: () => void }) => {
         if (!focus) {
           return
         }
 
+        e.stopImmediatePropagation?.()
         clearSel()
         const pos = mouseOffset(e)
         const next = offsetFromPosition(display, pos.row, pos.col, columns)