diff --git a/packages/cli/src/gemini.test.tsx b/packages/cli/src/gemini.test.tsx
index 197b8dcb0..6ecf2f0cc 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/gemini.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/gemini.test.tsx
@@ -671,6 +671,7 @@ describe('startInteractiveUI', () => {
 
   vi.mock('./ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.js', () => ({
     detectAndEnableKittyProtocol: vi.fn(() => Promise.resolve(true)),
+    disableKittyProtocol: vi.fn(),
   }));
 
   vi.mock('./ui/utils/updateCheck.js', () => ({
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/gemini.tsx b/packages/cli/src/gemini.tsx
index e151d9dee..49c29532d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/gemini.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/gemini.tsx
@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@ import { VimModeProvider } from './ui/contexts/VimModeContext.js';
 import { AgentViewProvider } from './ui/contexts/AgentViewContext.js';
 import { useKittyKeyboardProtocol } from './ui/hooks/useKittyKeyboardProtocol.js';
 import { themeManager, AUTO_THEME_NAME } from './ui/themes/theme-manager.js';
-import { detectAndEnableKittyProtocol } from './ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.js';
+import {
+  detectAndEnableKittyProtocol,
+  disableKittyProtocol,
+} from './ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.js';
 import { checkForUpdates } from './ui/utils/updateCheck.js';
 import {
   cleanupCheckpoints,
@@ -289,6 +292,10 @@ export async function startInteractiveUI(
   registerCleanup(async () => {
     remoteInputWatcher?.shutdown();
     await dualOutputBridge?.shutdown();
+    // Explicitly disable the Kitty keyboard protocol before unmounting Ink so
+    // that the disable escape sequence is written while stdout is still fully
+    // operational, preventing garbled terminal output after the app exits.
+    disableKittyProtocol();
     instance.unmount();
     restoreTerminalRedrawOptimizer();
   });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts
index a46390603..2653d1aa8 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts
@@ -86,9 +86,11 @@ export async function detectAndEnableKittyProtocol(): Promise<boolean> {
           protocolSupported = true;
           protocolEnabled = true;
 
-          // Set up cleanup on exit
+          // Set up cleanup on exit (exit covers process.exit() calls,
+          // SIGTERM/SIGINT cover signal-based terminations).
           process.on('exit', disableProtocol);
           process.on('SIGTERM', disableProtocol);
+          process.on('SIGINT', disableProtocol);
         }
 
         detectionComplete = true;
@@ -116,6 +118,15 @@ function disableProtocol() {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Explicitly disables the Kitty keyboard protocol. Should be called during
+ * application cleanup before process.exit() to ensure the terminal is restored
+ * even if the 'exit' event handler does not fire in time (e.g. on SIGKILL).
+ */
+export function disableKittyProtocol(): void {
+  disableProtocol();
+}
+
 export function isKittyProtocolEnabled(): boolean {
   return protocolEnabled;
 }