Summary

The TUI still has a scroll-jump problem during normal chat use.

When I send a new message/order in openclaw tui, the view jumps/scrolls in a very disruptive way instead of staying stable where I am reading. In practice it feels like the screen scrolls from top to end and makes the conversation annoying to follow.

This appears related to the previously reported TUI auto-scroll issue, but the problem is still being experienced in current use.

Environment

• Interface: openclaw tui
• OpenClaw version: 2026.3.8
• OS: Linux
• Access pattern: terminal/TUI workflow

Problem

During active TUI use, especially when interacting repeatedly with the agent, the chat view unexpectedly jumps/scrolls instead of preserving a stable reading position.

The user-visible effect is:

• send a new instruction
• the whole screen scroll/jumps in an annoying way
• it becomes hard to keep visual context while reading the conversation

This is especially frustrating for users who primarily work in the terminal and use TUI as their main interface.

Expected behavior

• The TUI should preserve a stable and predictable viewport while new content arrives
• Sending a new message should not cause an aggressive jump through the conversation
• If auto-follow behavior exists, it should be controlled and not disrupt reading

Actual behavior

• The view jumps/scrolls unexpectedly when new input/output arrives
• The screen movement is disruptive enough to break reading flow
• The issue is still noticeable in current TUI use

Why this may be a regression / related issue

There was a previous TUI issue here:

• [TUI] Chat window auto-scrolls to top during streaming responses #11269 — [TUI] Chat window auto-scrolls to top during streaming responses

That issue is now closed, but similar scroll-jump behavior is still being observed in current TUI usage on 2026.3.8.

There is also a related open request for Control UI / WebChat:

• Feature Request: Option to disable auto-scroll in Control UI / WebChat #7648 — Feature Request: Option to disable auto-scroll in Control UI / WebChat

This new report is specifically about the TUI experience still being disruptive.

Suggested direction

Possible fixes/features:

• preserve viewport/scroll anchor more reliably in TUI
• avoid jumpy re-render behavior when new messages arrive
• add an explicit TUI auto-scroll preference/toggle
• only auto-follow when the user is already at the bottom
• provide a clear “jump to latest” behavior instead of forced movement

Impact

This is a UX issue rather than a hard failure, but it significantly affects terminal-first workflows.