Clearing screen (cmd-k) creates empty scrollback

[injust]

Issue Description

When clearing the screen with cmd-k, empty scrollback is created above the prompt.

I noticed this because I sometimes scroll up quickly (using the touchpad) to see the beginning of the scrollback, then cmd-k to clear the screen. After the screen is cleared, the inertia scroll is still scrolling up, so I see the empty scrollback.

This bisects to 1fdc0c0.

Expected Behavior

When clearing the screen with cmd-k, empty scrollback shouldn't be created above the prompt.

Actual Behavior

When there is content on the screen, clearing the screen with cmd-k creates empty scrollback with height equivalent to the content that was on the screen.

Screen recording

Screen.Recording.mp4

Reproduction Steps

1. Open Ghostty
2. Do something that produces output (e.g. ls or echo hi)
3. cmd-k
4. Scroll up

Ghostty Logs

No response

Ghostty Version

Ghostty 1.3.0-main+bb1c3bce1

Version
  - version: 1.3.0-main+bb1c3bce1
  - channel: tip
Build Config
  - Zig version   : 0.15.2
  - build mode    : .ReleaseFast
  - app runtime   : .none
  - font engine   : .coretext
  - renderer      : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.Metal)
  - libxev        : kqueue

OS Version Information

macOS Sequoia 15.7.3

Minimal Ghostty Configuration

# empty

Additional Relevant Configuration

No response

I acknowledge that:

• I have reviewed the FAQ and confirm that my issue is NOT among them.
• I have searched the Ghostty repository (both open and closed Discussions and Issues) and confirm this is not a duplicate of an existing issue or discussion.
• I have checked the "Preview" tab on all text fields to ensure that everything looks right, and have wrapped all configuration and code in code blocks with a group of three backticks (```) on separate lines.

[rhodes-b]

cmd+k is a keybind in ghostty bound to clear_screen on macos

reading some forums online it seems that the behavior should be to clear everything including scrollback
https://superuser.com/questions/819593/what-is-the-difference-between-ctrll-and-cmdk-for-clearing-the-terminal-screen
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/459823/what-does-cmd-k-do-in-the-terminal
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61899947/how-to-get-cmd-k-in-visual-studio-code-to-clear-my-terminal

[injust]

I believe it used to clear everything (including scrollback) in Ghostty too, but I'm not 100% sure.

[rhodes-b]

#10218

it sounds kinda related to this but that should only effect the alternate screen?

does the problem go away if you remove scrollbars?

[injust]

does the problem go away if you remove scrollbars?

I set "System Settings > Appearance > Show scroll bars" to "Automatically based on mouse or trackpad" and tested with a mouse connected vs disconnected, and the issue still happened.

I don't think #10218 is relevant here.

[injust]

What seems to work is clearing the screen twice with cmd-k. This removes the created scrollback.

[Gaardsholt]

I'm facing the same issue.

Screenshot of logged keystrokes from the terminal inspector's "Keyboard" tab:

Screen recording of the issue:

Screen.Recording.2026-02-12.at.23.04.48.mov

At the end of the recording, I do try to scroll up, but since the second clear_screen actually clears the screen, I am unable to scroll up.

[st1020]

I found that this issue only occurs when Ghostty is used together with Fish. And I believe I have found a workaround.

You can inspect Fish’s default action for Ctrl+L by running bind:

bind --preset ctrl-l 'status test-terminal-feature scroll-content-up && commandline -f scrollback-push' clear-screen

The problem lies in:

status test-terminal-feature scroll-content-up && commandline -f scrollback-push

Specifically, Ghostty reports support for scroll-content-up, so Fish executes commandline -f scrollback-push. This is what prevents Ghostty from properly clearing the screen.

As a temporary workaround, you can override Fish’s default behavior by adding the following line to your config.fish:

bind ctrl-l clear-screen

This will make Ctrl+L perform a standard screen clear without invoking scrollback-push.

I’m not sure if this is a bug in Ghostty, but at least for now, this workaround works effectively for me.

[injust]

This issue only affects cmd-k. I believe the current ctrl-l behaviour is correct (it more or less matches Terminal.app).

See #9884 for discussion about the ctrl-l behaviour. The issue described there is what led to the commit that this behaviour bisects to.

[st1020]

This issue only affects cmd-k. I believe the current ctrl-l behaviour is correct (it more or less matches Terminal.app).

See #9884 for discussion about the ctrl-l behaviour. The issue described there is what led to the commit that this behaviour bisects to.

Yes, but what I mean is that when Ghostty receives Cmd-K, it sends a Ctrl-L to fish. You can verify this by running: bind ctrl-l 'echo test' and then pressing Cmd-K.

As you discovered, it was the commit that added support for the scrollback-push behavior on Ctrl-L that caused this issue. Therefore, to restore the expected behavior of Cmd-K, the workaround for now (until this is resolved in Ghostty) is to temporarily disable the scrollback-push behavior.

[00-kat]

Not on macOS, but on Linux binding ctrl+k to clear_screen then pressing it results in the screen being cleared directly, rather than Fish getting ctrl+l (I used your bind ctrl-l 'echo test' for testing).

I had thought cmd+k just triggers clear_screen, so this is surprising to me.