github / github/copilot-cli

Terminal mouse-selection copy is corrupted by the scrollbar column (cannot cleanly copy output)

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area:terminal-rendering
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Description

### Describe the bug

The conversation scrollbar renders a `┃` (U+2503) glyph in the rightmost column of the timeline. When I select a response with the mouse to copy it to the system clipboard, the selection includes that column — so **every copied line ends with padding spaces and a trailing `┃`**. This makes it effectively impossible to copy clean output (code, commands, paths) out of the CLI.

This regressed with the introduction of the always-on scrollbar; copying worked fine for months before that.

> Note: this is distinct from #3501, which is about the scrollbar causing line **misalignment / reflow**. This report is specifically about the **copy/paste UX** — the pasted output is unusable.

### Affected version

`1.0.65` – `1.0.68`

### Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Run any prompt that produces multi-line output.
2. Drag-select the response with the mouse and copy to the system clipboard (not `/copy`).
3. Paste into any editor.
4. Every line has trailing spaces + a `┃` character appended.

### Expected behavior

Selecting and copying output should yield clean text, with no scrollbar glyph or padding appended to each line — as it did before the scrollbar was added.

### Additional context

- **Workaround:** `/settings scrollbar off` (or `"scrollbar": false` in `~/.copilot/settings.json`) removes the track and fixes copying. But the default is on, so this affects everyone by default.
- `/copy` only helps for the latest response, not arbitrary or earlier output.
- OS: macOS 26.3.1, aarch64
- Shell: zsh, running in the integrated terminal of IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1 and Android Studio Panda 2 (2025.3.2)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing mouse selection with the scrollbar enabled, then compare clipboard output with the scrollbar disabled. Trace the terminal selection and scrollbar rendering paths; the fix is done when selecting arbitrary multi-line output produces clean text without padding or the scrollbar glyph, while the scrollbar remains usable.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
shell
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
57/100

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