diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.test.ts
index 37a000f16a2..6181a5857a3 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.test.ts
@@ -326,6 +326,7 @@ type MockTransport = {
   getPtyId: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>
   getConnectionId: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>
   serializeBuffer?: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>
+  serializeBufferOutcome?: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>
 }
 
 const scheduleRuntimeGraphSync = vi.fn()
@@ -15169,6 +15170,63 @@ describe('connectPanePty', () => {
     disposable.dispose()
   })
 
+  it('preserves the painted normal buffer when a successful hidden restore has no image', async () => {
+    const { connectPanePty } = await import('./pty-connection')
+    const transport = createMockTransport('remote:env-1@@terminal-1')
+    const capturedDataCallback: {
+      current: ((data: string, meta?: { seq?: number; rawLength?: number }) => void) | null
+    } = { current: null }
+    const hidden = 'x'.repeat(2 * 1024 * 1024 + 1)
+    const live = 'visible remote output\r\n'
+    transport.serializeBuffer = vi.fn()
+    transport.serializeBufferOutcome = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+      availability: { kind: 'snapshot' },
+      snapshot: {
+        data: '',
+        scrollbackAnsi: '',
+        cols: 120,
+        rows: 40,
+        seq: hidden.length + live.length,
+        source: 'headless'
+      }
+    })
+    transport.connect.mockImplementation(async ({ callbacks }: { callbacks: ConnectCallbacks }) => {
+      capturedDataCallback.current = callbacks.onData ?? null
+      return 'remote:env-1@@terminal-1'
+    })
+    transportFactoryQueue.push(transport)
+    const pane = createPane(1)
+    const deps = createDeps({ isVisibleRef: { current: false } })
+    const disposable = connectPanePty(pane as never, createManager(1) as never, deps as never)
+    await flushAsyncTicks(6)
+    const writeStart = pane.terminal.write.mock.calls.length
+
+    capturedDataCallback.current?.(hidden, { seq: hidden.length, rawLength: hidden.length })
+    ;(deps.isVisibleRef as { current: boolean }).current = true
+    capturedDataCallback.current?.(live, {
+      seq: hidden.length + live.length,
+      rawLength: live.length
+    })
+    await flushAsyncTicks(20)
+
+    const restoreWrites = pane.terminal.write.mock.calls
+      .slice(writeStart)
+      .map(([data]) => String(data))
+    const paintedFrame = Array.from({ length: 8 }, (_, index) => `painted-frame-${index + 1}`).join(
+      '\r\n'
+    )
+    const actual = await renderHeadlessTerminalState([paintedFrame, ...restoreWrites], 120, 4)
+    const expected = await renderHeadlessTerminalState(
+      [paintedFrame, ...restoreWrites.filter((data) => data === live)],
+      120,
+      4
+    )
+    expect(actual).toEqual(expected)
+    expect(transport.serializeBufferOutcome).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(transport.serializeBuffer).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    disposable.dispose()
+  })
+
   it('defers inactive split-pane plain hidden output restore until the pane returns', async () => {
     const { resetHiddenOutputRestoreSchedulerForTests } =
       await import('./hidden-output-restore-scheduler')
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.ts
index b9a94ad2dfa..fb77c526d8e 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/terminal-pane/pty-connection.ts
@@ -7300,10 +7300,15 @@ export function connectPanePty(
               snapshot.alternateScreen === true &&
               snapshot.frameRestoreAnsi !== undefined &&
               shouldSkipAltFrameForWidthMismatch(snapshot.cols, readProposedTerminalCols(pane))
-            for (const replayChunk of buildMainModelSnapshotReplayWrites(snapshot, {
-              skipAltFrame: skippedAltFrame
-            })) {
-              writeReplayData(replayChunk)
+            // Why: an imageless success is not proof the pane is empty; normal replay clears screen and scrollback.
+            const snapshotCarriesNoImage =
+              snapshot.alternateScreen !== true && snapshot.data === '' && !snapshot.scrollbackAnsi
+            if (!snapshotCarriesNoImage) {
+              for (const replayChunk of buildMainModelSnapshotReplayWrites(snapshot, {
+                skipAltFrame: skippedAltFrame
+              })) {
+                writeReplayData(replayChunk)
+              }
             }
             // Why: live agents own ?25l/?1004h; a forced ?1004l here would silence focus events until restart (agents enable focus reporting only at startup).
             writeReplayData(