diff --git a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/transcriptScrollbarInline.test.tsx b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/transcriptScrollbarInline.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..99ed7ce63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/transcriptScrollbarInline.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+import { PassThrough } from 'node:stream'
+
+import { Box, renderSync, type ScrollBoxHandle, Text } from '@clawcodex/ink'
+import React from 'react'
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { TranscriptScrollbar } from '../components/appChrome.js'
+import { INLINE_MODE } from '../config/env.js'
+import { stripAnsi } from '../lib/text.js'
+import { DEFAULT_THEME } from '../theme.js'
+
+/**
+ * Regression: resizing the terminal blanked the whole transcript (reported in
+ * the VS Code integrated terminal).
+ *
+ * Inline mode lays the tree out with `calculateLayout(columns)` and NO height
+ * constraint, so the transcript ScrollBox sizes to its content. This scrollbar
+ * is a ROW SIBLING of that ScrollBox and renders exactly `viewportHeight` rows
+ * tall — and that value is LAST frame's `scrollViewportHeight`, written by the
+ * renderer at paint time. A flex row stretches its children to the tallest one,
+ * so a stale-tall bar stretches the ScrollBox; its inner wrapper (flexGrow:1)
+ * fills the extra with blank rows; and the stretched height becomes the next
+ * frame's `scrollViewportHeight`, re-rendering the bar at that same height. A
+ * stable fixed point, not a transient.
+ *
+ * Widening the terminal re-wraps every row shorter, so the gap opens exactly
+ * when the content shrinks: measured 161 → 102 rows at 60 → 110 columns on a
+ * real PTY, with the ScrollBox pinned at 161. Those ~59 blank rows pushed the
+ * transcript above the terminal viewport, where the resize repaint's
+ * ERASE_SCROLLBACK (log-update `fullReset` → `clearTerminal`) wiped it from
+ * scrollback — so the transcript was gone, not merely scrolled off.
+ *
+ * ROWS, not glyphs, is the thing to assert. Inline mode always satisfies
+ * `total <= vp`, so the bar takes its !scrollable branch and paints a column of
+ * SPACES: invisible, but 40 rows tall, and height is the whole defect. Pinning
+ * "draws no bar characters" would pass against the bug.
+ *
+ * The end-to-end proof is a PTY + pyte run against the real binary: blank rows
+ * after a 60→110 resize went 20-22/30 → 7-8/30. Only WIDENING exhibits it —
+ * narrowing grows the content past the stale-short bar, so there is no gap to
+ * open — and that run needs a live agent-server, so it can't happen here.
+ *
+ * What this file pins is the guard, not the loop: reproducing the loop needs a
+ * real TTY resize, which renderSync over a PassThrough does not deliver.
+ */
+
+const SENTINEL = 'BAR_PROBE'
+
+/** Reports a stale-tall viewport, exactly as it would one frame after a widen. */
+function staleTallHandle(viewportHeight: number, scrollHeight: number): ScrollBoxHandle {
+  return {
+    getFreshScrollHeight: () => scrollHeight,
+    getLastManualScrollAt: () => 0,
+    getPendingDelta: () => 0,
+    getScrollHeight: () => scrollHeight,
+    getScrollTop: () => 0,
+    getViewportHeight: () => viewportHeight,
+    getViewportTop: () => 0,
+    isSticky: () => true,
+    scrollBy: () => {},
+    scrollTo: () => {},
+    scrollToBottom: () => {},
+    scrollToElement: () => {},
+    setClampBounds: () => {},
+    subscribe: () => () => {}
+  } as unknown as ScrollBoxHandle
+}
+
+/**
+ * Rows the bar occupies, measured from a frame we KNOW was painted.
+ *
+ * A fixed settle would be load-dependent, and here it would fail open: with the
+ * fix the bar paints nothing, so "no rows yet" is indistinguishable from "not
+ * rendered yet" and a slow CI box would turn this green against the bug. The
+ * sentinel is a positive signal — once it appears a frame has flushed, and the
+ * bar's contribution to that frame's height is exactly what we measure.
+ */
+async function paintedRows(bar: null | { scrollHeight: number; viewportHeight: number }) {
+  const stdout = new PassThrough()
+  const stdin = new PassThrough()
+  const stderr = new PassThrough()
+  let out = ''
+
+  stdout.on('data', (c: Buffer) => {
+    out += c.toString()
+  })
+  Object.assign(stdout, { columns: 80, isTTY: true, rows: 24 })
+  Object.assign(stdin, { isTTY: true, ref: () => {}, setRawMode: () => {}, unref: () => {} })
+
+  const app = renderSync(
+    React.createElement(
+      Box,
+      { flexDirection: 'row' },
+      React.createElement(Text, null, SENTINEL),
+      bar
+        ? React.createElement(TranscriptScrollbar, {
+            scrollRef: { current: staleTallHandle(bar.viewportHeight, bar.scrollHeight) },
+            t: DEFAULT_THEME
+          })
+        : null
+    ),
+    {
+      exitOnCtrlC: false,
+      patchConsole: false,
+      stderr: stderr as unknown as NodeJS.WriteStream,
+      stdin: stdin as unknown as NodeJS.ReadStream,
+      stdout: stdout as unknown as NodeJS.WriteStream
+    }
+  )
+
+  // Two conditions, both required. The sentinel proves a frame was flushed —
+  // without it, "no rows yet" and "not rendered yet" are indistinguishable and
+  // the assertion would fail OPEN against the bug. The quiet period then proves
+  // the frame is COMPLETE: ink writes incrementally, so measuring on first
+  // paint can catch the sentinel in one chunk and the bar's rows in a later
+  // one. Both renders settle the same way, which is what makes their row counts
+  // comparable.
+  const deadline = Date.now() + 15_000
+  let quiet = 0
+  let lastSize = -1
+
+  while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+    if (out.length === lastSize && stripAnsi(out).includes(SENTINEL)) {
+      if (++quiet >= 5) {
+        break
+      }
+    } else {
+      quiet = 0
+      lastSize = out.length
+    }
+
+    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 20))
+  }
+
+  app.unmount()
+
+  const painted = stripAnsi(out)
+
+  if (!painted.includes(SENTINEL) || quiet < 5) {
+    throw new Error('renderer never settled a frame')
+  }
+
+  return (painted.match(/\n/g) ?? []).length
+}
+
+describe('TranscriptScrollbar in inline mode', () => {
+  it('is the default mode, so the guard below is the one that ships', () => {
+    expect(INLINE_MODE).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('adds no rows when the content fits — the real inline case', async () => {
+    // total === vp is what inline mode always produces: the ScrollBox sizes to
+    // its content, so it never scrolls. Pre-fix this painted 40 rows of spaces
+    // and stretched the transcript by the same 40 rows.
+    const baseline = await paintedRows(null)
+
+    expect(await paintedRows({ scrollHeight: 40, viewportHeight: 40 })).toBe(baseline)
+  })
+
+  it('adds no rows even if it somehow believes it is scrollable', async () => {
+    // Defence in depth: a stale snapshot could report total > vp mid-resize,
+    // which pre-fix drew 40 rows of ┃/│ glyphs.
+    const baseline = await paintedRows(null)
+
+    expect(await paintedRows({ scrollHeight: 120, viewportHeight: 40 })).toBe(baseline)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/components/agentsOverlay.tsx b/ui-tui/src/components/agentsOverlay.tsx
index c4a6e8e3c..3996baf1d 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/components/agentsOverlay.tsx
+++ b/ui-tui/src/components/agentsOverlay.tsx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
 import { patchOverlayState } from '../app/overlayStore.js'
 import { $spawnDiff, $spawnHistory, clearDiffPair, type SpawnSnapshot } from '../app/spawnHistoryStore.js'
 import { useTurnSelector } from '../app/turnStore.js'
+import { INLINE_MODE } from '../config/env.js'
 import type { GatewayClient } from '../gatewayClient.js'
 import type { DelegationPauseResponse, DelegationStatusResponse, SubagentInterruptResponse } from '../gatewayTypes.js'
 import { asRpcResult } from '../lib/rpc.js'
@@ -156,7 +157,11 @@ function OverlayScrollbar({
   const s = scrollRef.current
   const vp = Math.max(0, s?.getViewportHeight() ?? 0)
 
-  if (!vp) {
+  // Inline mode: same stale-tall-sibling trap as TranscriptScrollbar — see the
+  // long comment there. This bar is `vp` rows tall and is a row sibling of the
+  // overlay's ScrollBox, so in an unconstrained-height tree it stretches that
+  // ScrollBox and pads the difference with blank rows.
+  if (!vp || INLINE_MODE) {
     return <Box width={1} />
   }
 
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/components/appChrome.tsx b/ui-tui/src/components/appChrome.tsx
index 251db7f49..ff242bbe7 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/components/appChrome.tsx
+++ b/ui-tui/src/components/appChrome.tsx
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import unicodeSpinners from 'unicode-animations'
 import { $delegationState } from '../app/delegationStore.js'
 import type { IndicatorStyle, Notice } from '../app/interfaces.js'
 import { useTurnSelector } from '../app/turnStore.js'
-import { DEV_CREDITS_MODE } from '../config/env.js'
+import { DEV_CREDITS_MODE, INLINE_MODE } from '../config/env.js'
 import { FACES } from '../content/faces.js'
 import { VERBS } from '../content/verbs.js'
 import { fmtDuration } from '../domain/messages.js'
@@ -723,7 +723,28 @@ export function TranscriptScrollbar({ scrollRef, t }: TranscriptScrollbarProps)
   const grabRef = useRef<number | null>(null)
   const { scrollHeight: total, top: pos, viewportHeight: vp } = useScrollbarSnapshot(scrollRef)
 
-  if (!vp) {
+  // Inline mode renders no scrollbar, and MUST NOT render a tall one.
+  //
+  // `vp` is last frame's scrollViewportHeight (render-node-to-output writes it
+  // at paint time), and the bar below is exactly `vp` rows tall. It is a row
+  // sibling of the transcript ScrollBox, and that row stretches its children to
+  // the tallest one — so a stale-tall bar stretches the ScrollBox, whose inner
+  // wrapper (flexGrow:1) then fills the extra with blank rows. The stretched
+  // height becomes the next frame's scrollViewportHeight, which re-renders the
+  // bar at that same height: a stable fixed point, not a transient.
+  //
+  // That is what blanked the transcript on resize. Widening the terminal
+  // re-wraps every row shorter (measured 161 → 102 rows at 60 → 110 columns),
+  // but the bar held the ScrollBox at 161, and the ~59 blank rows pushed the
+  // transcript above the terminal viewport — where the resize repaint's
+  // ERASE_SCROLLBACK then wiped it from scrollback.
+  //
+  // Inline mode has no constrained-height root, so the ScrollBox always sizes
+  // to its content and `total <= vp` holds: the bar would take the !scrollable
+  // branch and paint a column of spaces. It is invisible there and contributes
+  // nothing but height. Keep the 1-column gutter so transcriptPanelWidth's
+  // reservation still matches what we draw.
+  if (!vp || INLINE_MODE) {
     return <Box width={1} />
   }
 
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts b/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts
index 2c3cea511..e38587861 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts
@@ -189,6 +189,11 @@ export function useVirtualHistory(
   // key → React.Object.is short-circuits the commit entirely. The key includes
   // sticky state, target scroll position, and viewport height so resize-only
   // changes still recompute the mounted transcript window.
+  // Stable deps are only safe because the transcript ScrollBox never remounts:
+  // useImperativeHandle(..., []) builds a NEW listenersRef Set per mount, and
+  // this subscribe identity never changes, so React would never resubscribe —
+  // the listeners would stay on the dead handle. Anything that makes a
+  // ScrollBox handle identity change must add a handle version to these deps.
   const subscribe = useCallback(
     (cb: () => void) => (hasScrollRef ? scrollRef.current?.subscribe(cb) : null) ?? NOOP,
     [hasScrollRef, scrollRef]
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/viewportStore.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/viewportStore.ts
index e379cf44e..63bec1337 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/lib/viewportStore.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/viewportStore.ts
@@ -85,6 +85,11 @@ export function scrollbarSnapshotKey(v: ScrollbarSnapshot) {
 }
 
 export function useViewportSnapshot(scrollRef: RefObject<ScrollBoxHandle | null>): ViewportSnapshot {
+  // Stable deps are only safe because the transcript ScrollBox never remounts:
+  // useImperativeHandle(..., []) builds a NEW listenersRef Set per mount, and
+  // this subscribe identity never changes, so React would never resubscribe —
+  // the listeners would stay on the dead handle. Anything that makes a
+  // ScrollBox handle identity change must add a handle version to these deps.
   const key = useSyncExternalStore(
     useCallback((cb: () => void) => scrollRef.current?.subscribe(cb) ?? (() => {}), [scrollRef]),
     () => viewportSnapshotKey(getViewportSnapshot(scrollRef.current)),
@@ -106,6 +111,11 @@ export function useViewportSnapshot(scrollRef: RefObject<ScrollBoxHandle | null>
 }
 
 export function useScrollbarSnapshot(scrollRef: RefObject<ScrollBoxHandle | null>): ScrollbarSnapshot {
+  // Stable deps are only safe because the transcript ScrollBox never remounts:
+  // useImperativeHandle(..., []) builds a NEW listenersRef Set per mount, and
+  // this subscribe identity never changes, so React would never resubscribe —
+  // the listeners would stay on the dead handle. Anything that makes a
+  // ScrollBox handle identity change must add a handle version to these deps.
   const key = useSyncExternalStore(
     useCallback((cb: () => void) => scrollRef.current?.subscribe(cb) ?? (() => {}), [scrollRef]),
     () => scrollbarSnapshotKey(getScrollbarSnapshot(scrollRef.current)),