Best possible solution:

Repair this text-only PR so the hint covers both pending optimistic sends and bound active runs, or choose #44223 if maintainers want Ctrl+C to abort active runs instead.

Do we have a high-confidence way to reproduce the issue?

Yes. Source inspection shows sendMessage marks a pending optimistic message before activeChatRunId is assigned, so a quick Ctrl+C can still miss this PR's active-run hint.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

No as written. A status-only clarification is a narrow maintainable fix under the current documented policy, but the predicate must include pending optimistic submissions and the PR needs changelog coverage.

Full review comments:

• [P2] Include pending submissions in the active-run hint — src/tui/tui.ts:1007
  The hint is gated only on activeChatRunId, but sendMessage sets pendingOptimisticUserMessage before the first chat event assigns activeChatRunId. The quick Enter/Ctrl+C path can still show the old clear/exit status while the run continues, so include the pending state or bind the local run id before deriving the hint.
  Confidence: 0.9
• [P3] Add the required changelog entry — src/tui/tui.ts:1007
  This changes user-visible TUI status text, but the PR only edits src/tui/tui.ts. Repo policy requires user-facing fix changes to add a single-line CHANGELOG.md entry under the active Fixes section with appropriate human contributor credit.
  Confidence: 0.83

Overall correctness: patch is incorrect
Overall confidence: 0.88

Acceptance criteria:

• pnpm test src/tui/tui.test.ts src/tui/tui-command-handlers.test.ts src/tui/tui-event-handlers.test.ts src/tui/tui-session-actions.test.ts
• pnpm exec oxfmt --check --threads=1 src/tui/tui.ts src/tui/tui.test.ts src/tui/tui-command-handlers.test.ts src/tui/tui-event-handlers.test.ts CHANGELOG.md
• pnpm check:changed

What I checked:

• Current Ctrl+C path: Current main routes Ctrl+C through clear/warn/exit status messages without checking active or pending run state. (src/tui/tui.ts:1066, bc0b54e84485)
• PR predicate: The PR patch derives activeRunHint from activeChatRunId only and appends it to the clear/warn messages. (src/tui/tui.ts:1007, 9bd6e847091c)
• Pending submit window: sendMessage sets pendingOptimisticUserMessage = true before awaiting client.sendChat, while activeChatRunId can still be null. (src/tui/tui-command-handlers.ts:629, bc0b54e84485)
• Active run binding happens later: The chat event handler assigns state.activeChatRunId only after a matching gateway event arrives, then clears the pending optimistic flag. (src/tui/tui-event-handlers.ts:366, bc0b54e84485)
• Existing test confirms pending state: A focused command-handler test asserts a sent message leaves activeChatRunId null while pendingOptimisticUserMessage remains true until gateway binding. (src/tui/tui-command-handlers.test.ts:285, bc0b54e84485)
• Documented abort policy: The TUI docs list Esc and /abort as abort controls and Ctrl+C as clear input / press twice to exit, so a text-only clarification can fit current behavior. Public docs: docs/web/tui.md. (docs/web/tui.md:90, bc0b54e84485)

Likely related people:

• vignesh07: TUI history ties the responsive Ctrl+C flow and optimistic active-run handling to Vignesh Natarajan's merged work, including Ctrl+C exit behavior and active-run preservation. (role: introduced behavior / adjacent owner; confidence: high; commits: b4cdffc7a429, 61a0b0293104, f56f799990a9; files: src/tui/tui.ts, src/tui/tui-command-handlers.ts, src/tui/tui-event-handlers.ts)
• steipete: Peter Steinberger has multiple recent TUI maintenance commits in local history around phase handling, keybindings, and test seams. (role: recent maintainer; confidence: medium; commits: aa6f6135dbc9, a27624437e96, 97297049e7f1; files: src/tui, src/tui/tui.ts, src/tui/tui.test.ts)
• Alex Knight: Current main's shallow checkout blames the current TUI Ctrl+C block to the recent squash commit that touched the TUI command/event/test surface. (role: recent adjacent maintainer; confidence: low; commits: 3f732aee83d5; files: src/tui/tui.ts, src/tui/tui-command-handlers.ts, src/tui/tui-event-handlers.ts)

Remaining risk / open question:

• Merging as-is leaves the quick Enter/Ctrl+C path unresolved because the hint is absent before the first gateway event assigns activeChatRunId.
• fix(tui): correct Ctrl+C abort handling #44223 proposes a different cancellation policy, so maintainers should avoid landing both directions without choosing the intended Ctrl+C behavior.

Codex review notes: model gpt-5.5, reasoning high; reviewed against bc0b54e84485.