fix(tui): retransmit dropped Kitty payloads on demand

docs/keybindings.md

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ app.history.search: []
 | `app.stt.toggle`             | Unbound (hold `Space`)                                                | Toggle speech-to-text. By default there is no key chord — hold the space bar to record (push-to-talk) and release to transcribe; bind a chord here for a press-to-toggle alternative |
 | `app.live.toggle`            | `Ctrl+L`                                                              | Start or stop live voice mode (same as `/live`)                                                                                                                                      |
 | `app.agents.hub`             | `Alt+A`                                                               | [Open the Agent Hub](./agent-hub.md)                                                                                                                                                 |
+| `app.images.retransmit`      | Unbound                                                               | Re-send image data the terminal may have dropped (e.g. Kitty payloads emitted while a tmux window was hidden); repairs blank placeholders on repaint                                   |
 
 ## Recover a cleared prompt
 

packages/coding-agent/src/modes/controllers/input-controller.ts

@@ -390,6 +390,11 @@ export class InputController {
 					this.toggleToolActivityVisibility();
 					return { consume: true };
 				}
+				if (this.ctx.keybindings.matches(data, "app.images.retransmit")) {
+					if (this.ctx.ui.hasOverlay()) return undefined;
+					this.ctx.ui.retransmitInlineImages();
+					return { consume: true };
+				}
 				return undefined;
 			});
 		}

packages/tui/src/app-keybindings.ts

@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ interface AppKeybindings {
 	"app.history.search": true;
 	"app.stt.toggle": true;
 	"app.live.toggle": true;
+	"app.images.retransmit": true;
 }
 
 /** Application action identifier registered alongside the base TUI keybindings. */

packages/tui/src/tui.ts

@@ -992,6 +992,20 @@ export class TUI extends Container {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Retransmit image data the terminal may have dropped — e.g. Kitty payloads
+	 * emitted while a tmux window was hidden, where tmux replays the
+	 * placeholders on selection without the image data (issue #12595). Drops
+	 * transmit tracking so the next render re-sends resident payloads with
+	 * their placements, then forces a repaint.
+	 */
+	retransmitInlineImages(): void {
+		if (this.#stopped) return;
+		if (TERMINAL.imageProtocol !== ImageProtocol.Kitty) return;
+		this.#imageBudget.forgetTransmitted();
+		this.requestRender();
+	}
+
 	getShowHardwareCursor(): boolean {
 		return this.#showHardwareCursor;
 	}

packages/tui/test/image-budget.test.ts

@@ -296,6 +296,26 @@ describe("ImageBudget", () => {
 		expect(after.purge).toEqual([]);
 	});
 });
+describe("ImageBudget hidden-tmux-window recovery (issue #12595)", () => {
+	it("retransmits after forgetTransmitted so a dropped Kitty payload repairs on repaint", () => {
+		const budget = new ImageBudget(3, () => {});
+		budget.beginPass();
+		budget.enqueueTransmit(7, "TX7");
+		expect(budget.shouldTransmit(7)).toBe(false);
+		expect(budget.takeTransmits()).toEqual(["TX7"]);
+
+		// The hidden tmux window dropped the transmit: placeholders replay
+		// without image data, and the budget still believes it sent.
+		expect(budget.shouldTransmit(7)).toBe(false);
+
+		// Window visible again: forget + repaint re-queues the payload.
+		budget.forgetTransmitted();
+		expect(budget.shouldTransmit(7)).toBe(true);
+		budget.beginPass();
+		budget.enqueueTransmit(7, "TX7");
+		expect(budget.takeTransmits()).toEqual(["TX7"]);
+	});
+});
 
 describe("encodeKittyDeleteImage", () => {
 	it("emits an APC delete-by-id that frees the image and suppresses the reply", () => {