diff --git a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/clipboard.test.ts b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/clipboard.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a7d2bde468
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/clipboard.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+
+import { readClipboardText } from '../lib/clipboard.js'
+
+describe('readClipboardText', () => {
+  it('does nothing off macOS', () => {
+    const run = vi.fn()
+
+    expect(readClipboardText('linux', run)).toBeNull()
+    expect(run).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('reads text from pbpaste on macOS', () => {
+    const run = vi.fn().mockReturnValue({ status: 0, stdout: 'hello world\n' })
+
+    expect(readClipboardText('darwin', run)).toBe('hello world\n')
+    expect(run).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      'pbpaste',
+      [],
+      expect.objectContaining({ encoding: 'utf8', stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'ignore'] })
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('returns null when pbpaste fails', () => {
+    const run = vi.fn().mockReturnValue({ status: 1, stdout: '' })
+
+    expect(readClipboardText('darwin', run)).toBeNull()
+  })
+})
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/components/prompts.tsx b/ui-tui/src/components/prompts.tsx
index f9d00dbfe3..97c7c02868 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/components/prompts.tsx
+++ b/ui-tui/src/components/prompts.tsx
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import type { Theme } from '../theme.js'
 import type { ApprovalReq, ClarifyReq, ConfirmReq } from '../types.js'
 
 import { TextInput } from './textInput.js'
+import { isMac } from '../lib/platform.js'
 
 const OPTS = ['once', 'session', 'always', 'deny'] as const
 const LABELS = { always: 'Always allow', deny: 'Deny', once: 'Allow once', session: 'Allow this session' } as const
@@ -125,10 +126,12 @@ export function ClarifyPrompt({ cols = 80, onAnswer, onCancel, req, t }: Clarify
 
         <Box>
           <Text color={t.color.label}>{'> '}</Text>
-          <TextInput columns={Math.max(20, cols - 6)} onChange={setCustom} onSubmit={onAnswer} value={custom} />
+          <TextInput columns={Math.max(20, cols - 6)} allowClipboardHotkeys={isMac} onChange={setCustom} onSubmit={onAnswer} value={custom} />
         </Box>
 
-        <Text color={t.color.dim}>Enter send · Esc {choices.length ? 'back' : 'cancel'} · Ctrl+C cancel</Text>
+        <Text color={t.color.dim}>
+          Enter send · Esc {choices.length ? 'back' : 'cancel'} · {isMac ? 'Cmd+C copy · Cmd+V paste · Ctrl+C cancel' : 'Ctrl+C cancel'}
+        </Text>
       </Box>
     )
   }
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx b/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
index fcd13a7b19..95f50d182d 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
+++ b/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ import * as Ink from '@hermes/ink'
 import { useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from 'react'
 
 import { setInputSelection } from '../app/inputSelectionStore.js'
+import { readClipboardText } from '../lib/clipboard.js'
+import { isMac } from '../lib/platform.js'
+import { writeOsc52Clipboard } from '../lib/osc52.js'
 
 type InkExt = typeof Ink & {
   stringWidth: (s: string) => number
@@ -279,6 +282,7 @@ export function TextInput({
   onChange,
   onPaste,
   onSubmit,
+  allowClipboardHotkeys = false,
   mask,
   placeholder = '',
   focus = true
@@ -484,12 +488,50 @@ export function TextInput({
 
   const ins = (v: string, c: number, s: string) => v.slice(0, c) + s + v.slice(c)
 
+  const pastePlainText = (text: string) => {
+    const cleaned = text.replace(/\r\n/g, '\n').replace(/\r/g, '\n')
+
+    if (!cleaned) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    const range = selRange()
+    const nextValue = range
+      ? vRef.current.slice(0, range.start) + cleaned + vRef.current.slice(range.end)
+      : vRef.current.slice(0, curRef.current) + cleaned + vRef.current.slice(curRef.current)
+    const nextCursor = range ? range.start + cleaned.length : curRef.current + cleaned.length
+
+    commit(nextValue, nextCursor)
+  }
+
   useInput(
     (inp: string, k: Key, event: InputEvent) => {
       const eventRaw = event.keypress.raw
 
-      if (eventRaw === '\x1bv' || eventRaw === '\x1bV' || eventRaw === '\x16') {
-        return void emitPaste({ cursor: curRef.current, hotkey: true, text: '', value: vRef.current })
+      if (eventRaw === '\x1bv' || eventRaw === '\x1bV' || eventRaw === '\x16' || (allowClipboardHotkeys && isMac && k.meta && inp.toLowerCase() === 'v')) {
+        if (cbPaste.current) {
+          return void emitPaste({ cursor: curRef.current, hotkey: true, text: '', value: vRef.current })
+        }
+
+        if (allowClipboardHotkeys) {
+          const text = readClipboardText()
+
+          if (text) {
+            return pastePlainText(text)
+          }
+        }
+
+        return
+      }
+
+      if (allowClipboardHotkeys && isMac && k.meta && inp.toLowerCase() === 'c') {
+        const range = selRange()
+
+        if (range) {
+          writeOsc52Clipboard(vRef.current.slice(range.start, range.end))
+        }
+
+        return
       }
 
       if (
@@ -687,6 +729,7 @@ export interface PasteEvent {
 }
 
 interface TextInputProps {
+  allowClipboardHotkeys?: boolean
   columns?: number
   focus?: boolean
   mask?: string
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/clipboard.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/clipboard.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5260e2f4c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/clipboard.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import { spawnSync, type SpawnSyncOptions } from 'node:child_process'
+
+const DEFAULT_SPAWN_OPTS: SpawnSyncOptions = {
+  stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'ignore'],
+  encoding: 'utf8'
+}
+
+/**
+ * Read plain text from the system clipboard.
+ *
+ * On macOS this uses `pbpaste`. On other platforms we intentionally return
+ * null for now; the TUI's text-paste hotkeys are primarily targeted at the
+ * macOS clarify/input flow.
+ */
+export function readClipboardText(
+  platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform,
+  run = spawnSync
+): string | null {
+  if (platform !== 'darwin') {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  const result = run('pbpaste', [], DEFAULT_SPAWN_OPTS)
+
+  if (result.status !== 0 || typeof result.stdout !== 'string') {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  return result.stdout
+}