ctr-g to clear images

codex-cli/src/components/chat/terminal-chat-input.tsx

@@ -150,6 +150,15 @@ export default function TerminalChatInput({
       // even though the real TTY environment works fine.  Mirroring the
       // behaviour for the raw data path keeps production logic untouched
       // while ensuring the unit tests observe the same outcome.
+      // Ctrl+G (0x07) – clear only attached images, keep draft text intact.
+      if (str === "\x07" && attachedImages.length > 0) {
+        setAttachedImages([]);
+        return; // prevent further handling
+      }
+
+      // Ctrl+U (0x15) – traditional “clear line”. We allow Ink's TextInput
+      // default behaviour to wipe the draft, but we ALSO clear attachments so
+      // the two stay in sync.
       if (str === "\x15" && attachedImages.length > 0) {
         setAttachedImages([]);
       }
@@ -198,7 +207,10 @@ export default function TerminalChatInput({
       }
 
       // Slash command navigation: up/down to select, Tab to cycle, Enter to run.
-      if (!confirmationPrompt && !loading && input.trim().startsWith("/")) {
+      const trimmedSlash = input.trim();
+      const isSlashCmd = /^[\/][a-zA-Z]+$/.test(trimmedSlash);
+
+      if (!confirmationPrompt && !loading && isSlashCmd) {
         const prefix = input.trim();
         const matches = SLASH_COMMANDS.filter((cmd: SlashCommand) =>
           cmd.command.startsWith(prefix),
@@ -739,7 +751,7 @@ export default function TerminalChatInput({
     }
     return (
       <Box flexDirection="column" paddingX={1} marginBottom={1}>
-        <Text color="gray">attached images (ctrl+u to clear):</Text>
+        <Text color="gray">attached images (ctrl+g to clear):</Text>
         {attachedImages.map((p, i) => (
           <Text key={i} color="cyan">{`❯ ${path.basename(p)}`}</Text>
         ))}
@@ -769,7 +781,8 @@ export default function TerminalChatInput({
               showCursor
               value={input}
               onChange={(rawValue) => {
-                let value = rawValue; // will be replaced after extraction
+                // Strip any raw control-G char so it never shows up.
+                let value = rawValue.replace(/\x07/g, "");
 
                 // --------------------------------------------------------
                 // Detect freshly-dropped image paths _while the user is
@@ -778,7 +791,14 @@ export default function TerminalChatInput({
 
                 const { paths: newlyDropped, text: cleaned } = extractImagePaths(rawValue);
 
-                value = cleaned; // do not trim spaces – preserve exact typing
+                value = cleaned;
+
+                // If the extraction removed everything (e.g., user only pasted
+                // a file path followed by a space) we don’t want to leave a
+                // dangling "/ " or other whitespace artefacts in the draft.
+                if (value.trim().length === 0) {
+                  value = "";
+                }
 
                 if (newlyDropped.length > 0) {
                   setAttachedImages((prev) => {
@@ -816,7 +836,12 @@ export default function TerminalChatInput({
         )}
       </Box>
       {/* Slash command autocomplete suggestions */}
-      {input.trim().startsWith("/") && (
+      {(() => {
+        const trimmed = input.trim();
+        const showSlash =
+          trimmed.startsWith("/") && /^[\/][a-zA-Z]+$/.test(trimmed);
+        return showSlash;
+      })() && (
         <Box flexDirection="column" paddingX={2} marginBottom={1}>
           {SLASH_COMMANDS.filter((cmd: SlashCommand) =>
             cmd.command.startsWith(input.trim()),

codex-cli/src/utils/image-detector.ts

@@ -70,5 +70,11 @@ export function extractImagePaths(input: string): ExtractResult {
     return "";
   });
 
+  // Remove any leftover leading slash that was immediately followed by the
+  // matched path (e.g. "/Users/foo.png → '/ '" after replacement). We only
+  // strip it when it's followed by whitespace or end-of-string so normal
+  // typing like "/help" is untouched.
+  text = text.replace(/(^|\s)\/(?=\s|$)/g, "$1");
+
   return { paths, text };
 }

codex-cli/tests/attachment-preview.test.tsx

@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ describe("Chat input attachment preview", () => {
     const frame1 = lastFrameStripped();
     expect(frame1.match(/foo\.png/g)?.length ?? 0).toBe(1);
 
-    await type(stdin, "\x15", flush); // Ctrl+U
+    await type(stdin, "\x07", flush); // Ctrl+G (clear images only)
 
     expect(lastFrameStripped()).not.toContain("foo.png");
 

codex-cli/tests/drag-drop-attach-image.test.tsx

@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ import { renderTui } from "./ui-test-helpers.js";
 // Mocks – keep in sync with other TerminalChatInput UI tests
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-const createInputItemMock = vi.fn(async (_text: string, _imgs: Array<string>) => ({}));
+// mock without type annotations to avoid Vitest transform TS errors in JS test
+const createInputItemMock = vi.fn(async () => ({}));
 
 vi.mock("../src/utils/input-utils.js", () => ({
   createInputItem: createInputItemMock,
@@ -100,10 +101,36 @@ describe("Drag-and-drop image attachment", () => {
 
     // createInputItem should have been called with the dropped image path
     expect(createInputItemMock).toHaveBeenCalled();
-    const lastCall = createInputItemMock.mock.calls.at(-1);
+    const calls = createInputItemMock.mock.calls;
+    const lastCall = calls[calls.length - 1];
     expect(lastCall?.[1]).toEqual(["dropped.png"]);
 
     cleanup();
     process.chdir(orig);
   });
+
+  it("does NOT show slash-command overlay for absolute paths", async () => {
+    const orig = process.cwd();
+    process.chdir(TMP);
+
+    const { stdin, flush, lastFrameStripped, cleanup } = renderTui(
+      React.createElement(TerminalChatInput, props()),
+    );
+
+    await flush();
+
+    // absolute path starting with '/'
+    const absPath = path.join(TMP, "dropped.png");
+    await type(stdin, `${absPath} `, flush);
+    await flush();
+
+    const frame = lastFrameStripped();
+
+    // Should contain attachment preview but NOT typical slash-command suggestion like "/help"
+    expect(frame).toContain("dropped.png");
+    expect(frame).not.toContain("/help");
+
+    cleanup();
+    process.chdir(orig);
+  });
 });