diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/native-chat-runtime-send.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/native-chat-runtime-send.test.ts
index 5f054b6db65..dc7fa05e830 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/native-chat-runtime-send.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/native-chat-runtime-send.test.ts
@@ -369,7 +369,16 @@ describe('sendNativeChatMessageWithImageAttachments', () => {
     expect(sendRuntimePtyInput).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith(SETTINGS, PTY, NATIVE_CHAT_SUBMIT)
   })
 
-  it('separates multiple image pastes from each other and from following prompt text', () => {
+  it('treats whitespace-only prompt input as attachment-only', () => {
+    sendNativeChatMessageWithImageAttachments(SETTINGS, PTY, '   ', ['/tmp/orca-paste-image.png'])
+
+    expectWriteOrder(sendRuntimePtyInput.mock.calls, [
+      NATIVE_CHAT_CLEAR_UNSUBMITTED_INPUT,
+      '\x1b[200~/tmp/orca-paste-image.png\x1b[201~'
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('keeps multiple image frames bare and separates only the final frame from prompt text', () => {
     sendNativeChatMessageWithImageAttachments(SETTINGS, PTY, 'hello', ['/tmp/a.png', '/tmp/b.png'])
 
     expectWriteOrder(sendRuntimePtyInput.mock.calls, [
diff --git a/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.test.ts b/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.test.ts
index 068c3876a6b..ef46c4c7a9e 100644
--- a/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.test.ts
+++ b/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.test.ts
@@ -1,34 +1,31 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 import {
   IMAGE_PASTE_FOLLOWING_TEXT_SEPARATOR,
-  joinImagePastesAndPrompt
+  imagePasteWritesFollowedByText
 } from './image-paste-following-text'
 
 const IMAGE_A = '\x1b[200~/tmp/orca-paste-a.png\x1b[201~'
 const IMAGE_B = '\x1b[200~/tmp/orca-paste-b.png\x1b[201~'
-const PROMPT =
-  'add the QR code for wechat group 8 next to group 7. saying if group 7 is full can join group 8'
 
-describe('joinImagePastesAndPrompt', () => {
+describe('imagePasteWritesFollowedByText', () => {
   it('separates an attachment path from following prompt text by a single space', () => {
-    expect(joinImagePastesAndPrompt([IMAGE_A], PROMPT)).toBe(`${IMAGE_A} ${PROMPT}`)
-    expect(joinImagePastesAndPrompt([IMAGE_A], PROMPT)).not.toBe(`${IMAGE_A}${PROMPT}`)
-    expect(joinImagePastesAndPrompt([IMAGE_A], PROMPT)).not.toContain('pngadd')
+    expect(imagePasteWritesFollowedByText([IMAGE_A], true)).toEqual([`${IMAGE_A} `])
     expect(IMAGE_PASTE_FOLLOWING_TEXT_SEPARATOR).toBe(' ')
   })
 
   it('keeps an attachment-only send as the framed path with no trailing separator', () => {
-    expect(joinImagePastesAndPrompt([IMAGE_A], '')).toBe(IMAGE_A)
+    expect(imagePasteWritesFollowedByText([IMAGE_A], false)).toEqual([IMAGE_A])
   })
 
-  it('leaves prompt-only text unchanged', () => {
-    expect(joinImagePastesAndPrompt([], PROMPT)).toBe(PROMPT)
+  it('returns no writes when there are no image pastes', () => {
+    expect(imagePasteWritesFollowedByText([], true)).toEqual([])
   })
 
   it('keeps back-to-back image frames bare and separates only the final frame from prompt text', () => {
-    expect(joinImagePastesAndPrompt([IMAGE_A, IMAGE_B], PROMPT)).toBe(
-      `${IMAGE_A}${IMAGE_B} ${PROMPT}`
-    )
-    expect(joinImagePastesAndPrompt([IMAGE_A, IMAGE_B], '')).toBe(`${IMAGE_A}${IMAGE_B}`)
+    expect(imagePasteWritesFollowedByText([IMAGE_A, IMAGE_B], true)).toEqual([
+      IMAGE_A,
+      `${IMAGE_B} `
+    ])
+    expect(imagePasteWritesFollowedByText([IMAGE_A, IMAGE_B], false)).toEqual([IMAGE_A, IMAGE_B])
   })
 })
diff --git a/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.ts b/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.ts
index 22afbd1df76..4efd7363427 100644
--- a/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.ts
+++ b/src/shared/image-paste-following-text.ts
@@ -23,11 +23,3 @@ export function imagePasteWritesFollowedByText(
     )
   )
 }
-
-/** Exact PTY bytes for image pastes plus optional prompt text. */
-export function joinImagePastesAndPrompt(
-  framedImagePastes: readonly string[],
-  prompt: string
-): string {
-  return `${imagePasteWritesFollowedByText(framedImagePastes, prompt.length > 0).join('')}${prompt}`
-}