Copilot CLI interactive mode turns blank after submitting a prompt in Windows Terminal, while -p mode works
- Dominant language
- Shell
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Description
### Describe the bug
### Summary
In interactive mode, GitHub Copilot CLI renders normally at first, but after I submit a prompt the UI goes blank and no further output is visible.
This happens even with very short prompts that should return only a single sentence.
Non-interactive prompt mode with -p works normally, so the issue appears to be specific to the interactive terminal UI.
### Environment
- GitHub Copilot CLI version: 1.0.71
- OS: Windows
- Terminal: Windows Terminal
- GitHub product version: latest
### Affected version
GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.71.
### Steps to reproduce the behavior
1. Open Windows Terminal.
2. Start Copilot CLI: copilot
3. Enter any prompt, including a short prompt such as: Reply with one short sentence only.
4. Observe that Thinking appears briefly.
5. The terminal UI then goes blank.
### Expected behavior
After submitting a prompt in interactive mode, Copilot CLI should continue showing Thinking and then render the response in the terminal.
### What actually happened
- Copilot CLI starts and renders normally.
- I enter a prompt.
- It shows Thinking.
- Then the screen turns blank.
- After the blank screen appears, I do not see the response or UI content anymore.
This also happens with very short prompts, including prompts that should only produce a one-sentence response.
### Additional context
I tried the following and still saw the same blank-screen behavior in interactive mode:
- Pressed Ctrl + L
- Pressed ?
- Entered /help
- Tried very short prompts with minimal output
- Tried --screen-reader mode: copilot --screen-reader
--screen-reader mode shows the same issue.
What does work
Non-interactive mode works correctly:
copilot -p "Say hello"
This returns output normally.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by reproducing the issue with `copilot` in Windows Terminal using a short prompt, then compare interactive mode with `copilot -p "Say hello"` and `copilot --screen-reader`. The fix is complete when interactive mode continues showing Thinking and renders the response instead of turning blank, while non-interactive mode remains working.
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
- 52/100