Windows TUI becomes blank and unresponsive after Ctrl+C from /btw side chat

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.146.0 (the current published @openai/codex version when checked)

What subscription do you have?

Not included; the failure appears to be in local TUI state restoration.

Which model were you using?

Not confirmed to be model-specific.

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200, x64

What terminal emulator are you using?

Windows Terminal

What issue are you seeing?

In a long-running parent session, I start an ephemeral side chat with /btw <text>, have a short conversation, and then press Ctrl+C to return to the parent session. Intermittently, but repeatedly, the terminal clears and remains completely empty with no prompt or parent-session redraw. The CLI is unresponsive and must be killed. Restarting Codex and resuming the saved session recovers the conversation.

This has happened several times over the last few days, most often with the same unusually long-running session and specifically after the /btw flow.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Start or resume a long-running interactive Codex CLI session while the parent agent is working.
2. Enter /btw <some question> to open an ephemeral side chat.
3. Exchange one or more messages in the side chat.
4. Press Ctrl+C to return to the parent session.
5. Observe that the terminal may clear and remain blank, with no prompt and no responsive TUI.
6. Kill the Codex process, restart it, and resume the saved session; the parent session itself is still recoverable.

The issue is intermittent but has occurred multiple times with this sequence.

What is the expected behavior?

Returning from /btw should redraw and restore the parent session. Even if Ctrl+C is not the intended return action in some state, it should not leave the process running with a permanently blank, unresponsive terminal.

Additional information

A redacted codex doctor --summary --no-color run outside the command sandbox reported:

• installation, authentication, configuration, networking, WebSocket connectivity, and state databases healthy;
• 1,490 active rollout files using approximately 1.16 GB;
• a warning that state-database archive flags disagree with rollout-file locations.

Those state-volume warnings may be contributory because the affected session is unusually long, but the repeatable trigger appears to be leaving /btw and restoring the parent TUI.

No raw logs, transcript, repository details, filesystem paths, credentials, or other private diagnostics are included. A possible workaround is launching with --no-alt-screen, but that has not yet been confirmed to prevent the issue.