diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/AppContainer.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/AppContainer.tsx
index ee2c18d1a2..e048179a1d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/AppContainer.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/AppContainer.tsx
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ import { isWorkspaceTrusted } from '../config/trustedFolders.js';
 import { disableMouseEvents, enableMouseEvents } from './utils/mouse.js';
 import { useAlternateBuffer } from './hooks/useAlternateBuffer.js';
 import { useSettings } from './contexts/SettingsContext.js';
+import { enableSupportedProtocol } from './utils/kittyProtocolDetector.js';
 
 const WARNING_PROMPT_DURATION_MS = 1000;
 const QUEUE_ERROR_DISPLAY_DURATION_MS = 3000;
@@ -381,6 +382,11 @@ export const AppContainer = (props: AppContainerProps) => {
     setHistoryRemountKey((prev) => prev + 1);
   }, [setHistoryRemountKey, stdout, isAlternateBuffer]);
 
+  const handleEditorClose = useCallback(() => {
+    enableSupportedProtocol();
+    refreshStatic();
+  }, [refreshStatic]);
+
   const {
     isThemeDialogOpen,
     openThemeDialog,
@@ -687,7 +693,7 @@ Logging in with Google... Please restart Gemini CLI to continue.
     performMemoryRefresh,
     modelSwitchedFromQuotaError,
     setModelSwitchedFromQuotaError,
-    refreshStatic,
+    handleEditorClose,
     onCancelSubmit,
     setEmbeddedShellFocused,
     terminalWidth,
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.test.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.test.tsx
index 4313d0ced6..060c9f7475 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.test.tsx
@@ -207,7 +207,6 @@ describe('InputPrompt', () => {
     );
 
     mockedUseKittyKeyboardProtocol.mockReturnValue({
-      supported: false,
       enabled: false,
       checking: false,
     });
@@ -1244,7 +1243,6 @@ describe('InputPrompt', () => {
     beforeEach(() => {
       vi.useFakeTimers();
       mockedUseKittyKeyboardProtocol.mockReturnValue({
-        supported: false,
         enabled: false,
         checking: false,
       });
@@ -1328,7 +1326,6 @@ describe('InputPrompt', () => {
         name: 'kitty',
         setup: () =>
           mockedUseKittyKeyboardProtocol.mockReturnValue({
-            supported: true,
             enabled: true,
             checking: false,
           }),
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx
index cc5af33d61..073cd1c16a 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ export const InputPrompt: React.FC<InputPromptProps> = ({
 
       if (key.paste) {
         // Record paste time to prevent accidental auto-submission
-        if (!isTerminalPasteTrusted(kittyProtocol.supported)) {
+        if (!isTerminalPasteTrusted(kittyProtocol.enabled)) {
           setRecentUnsafePasteTime(Date.now());
 
           // Clear any existing paste timeout
@@ -820,7 +820,7 @@ export const InputPrompt: React.FC<InputPromptProps> = ({
       recentUnsafePasteTime,
       commandSearchActive,
       commandSearchCompletion,
-      kittyProtocol.supported,
+      kittyProtocol.enabled,
       tryLoadQueuedMessages,
       setBannerVisible,
     ],
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.ts
index d711a57477..04366c14a3 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
 import type { Key } from '../../contexts/KeypressContext.js';
 import type { VimAction } from './vim-buffer-actions.js';
 import { handleVimAction } from './vim-buffer-actions.js';
+import { enableSupportedProtocol } from '../../utils/kittyProtocolDetector.js';
 
 export type Direction =
   | 'left'
@@ -1891,6 +1892,7 @@ export function useTextBuffer({
       } catch (err) {
         console.error('[useTextBuffer] external editor error', err);
       } finally {
+        enableSupportedProtocol();
         if (wasRaw) setRawMode?.(true);
         try {
           fs.unlinkSync(filePath);
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useKittyKeyboardProtocol.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useKittyKeyboardProtocol.ts
index 53c7566c69..4a89b165b2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useKittyKeyboardProtocol.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useKittyKeyboardProtocol.ts
@@ -5,13 +5,9 @@
  */
 
 import { useState } from 'react';
-import {
-  isKittyProtocolEnabled,
-  isKittyProtocolSupported,
-} from '../utils/kittyProtocolDetector.js';
+import { isKittyProtocolEnabled } from '../utils/kittyProtocolDetector.js';
 
 export interface KittyProtocolStatus {
-  supported: boolean;
   enabled: boolean;
   checking: boolean;
 }
@@ -22,7 +18,6 @@ export interface KittyProtocolStatus {
  */
 export function useKittyKeyboardProtocol(): KittyProtocolStatus {
   const [status] = useState<KittyProtocolStatus>({
-    supported: isKittyProtocolSupported(),
     enabled: isKittyProtocolEnabled(),
     checking: false,
   });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts
index 2d3e7a9d70..0dc1d02ace 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/kittyProtocolDetector.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,11 @@
  */
 
 let detectionComplete = false;
-let protocolSupported = false;
-let protocolEnabled = false;
+
+let kittySupported = false;
+let sgrMouseSupported = false;
+
+let kittyEnabled = false;
 let sgrMouseEnabled = false;
 
 /**
@@ -14,15 +17,15 @@ let sgrMouseEnabled = false;
  * Definitive document about this protocol lives at https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/keyboard-protocol/
  * This function should be called once at app startup.
  */
-export async function detectAndEnableKittyProtocol(): Promise<boolean> {
+export async function detectAndEnableKittyProtocol(): Promise<void> {
   if (detectionComplete) {
-    return protocolSupported;
+    return;
   }
 
   return new Promise((resolve) => {
     if (!process.stdin.isTTY || !process.stdout.isTTY) {
       detectionComplete = true;
-      resolve(false);
+      resolve();
       return;
     }
 
@@ -35,14 +38,24 @@ export async function detectAndEnableKittyProtocol(): Promise<boolean> {
     let progressiveEnhancementReceived = false;
     let timeoutId: NodeJS.Timeout | undefined;
 
-    const onTimeout = () => {
-      timeoutId = undefined;
+    const finish = () => {
+      if (timeoutId !== undefined) {
+        clearTimeout(timeoutId);
+        timeoutId = undefined;
+      }
       process.stdin.removeListener('data', handleData);
       if (!originalRawMode) {
         process.stdin.setRawMode(false);
       }
+
+      if (kittySupported || sgrMouseSupported) {
+        enableSupportedProtocol();
+        process.on('exit', disableAllProtocols);
+        process.on('SIGTERM', disableAllProtocols);
+      }
+
       detectionComplete = true;
-      resolve(false);
+      resolve();
     };
 
     const handleData = (data: Buffer) => {
@@ -59,37 +72,20 @@ export async function detectAndEnableKittyProtocol(): Promise<boolean> {
         // indication the terminal probably supports kitty and we just need to
         // wait a bit longer for a response.
         clearTimeout(timeoutId);
-        timeoutId = setTimeout(onTimeout, 1000);
+        timeoutId = setTimeout(finish, 1000);
       }
 
       // Check for device attributes response (CSI ? <attrs> c)
       if (responseBuffer.includes('\x1b[?') && responseBuffer.includes('c')) {
-        clearTimeout(timeoutId);
-        timeoutId = undefined;
-        process.stdin.removeListener('data', handleData);
-
-        if (!originalRawMode) {
-          process.stdin.setRawMode(false);
-        }
-
         if (progressiveEnhancementReceived) {
-          // Enable the protocol
-          process.stdout.write('\x1b[>1u');
-          protocolSupported = true;
-          protocolEnabled = true;
+          kittySupported = true;
         }
 
         // Broaden mouse support by enabling SGR mode if we get any device
         // attribute response, which is a strong signal of a modern terminal.
-        process.stdout.write('\x1b[?1006h');
-        sgrMouseEnabled = true;
+        sgrMouseSupported = true;
 
-        // Set up cleanup on exit for all enabled protocols
-        process.on('exit', disableAllProtocols);
-        process.on('SIGTERM', disableAllProtocols);
-
-        detectionComplete = true;
-        resolve(protocolSupported);
+        finish();
       }
     };
 
@@ -102,14 +98,18 @@ export async function detectAndEnableKittyProtocol(): Promise<boolean> {
     // Timeout after 200ms
     // When a iterm2 terminal does not have focus this can take over 90s on a
     // fast macbook so we need a somewhat longer threshold than would be ideal.
-    timeoutId = setTimeout(onTimeout, 200);
+    timeoutId = setTimeout(finish, 200);
   });
 }
 
+export function isKittyProtocolEnabled(): boolean {
+  return kittyEnabled;
+}
+
 function disableAllProtocols() {
-  if (protocolEnabled) {
+  if (kittyEnabled) {
     process.stdout.write('\x1b[<u');
-    protocolEnabled = false;
+    kittyEnabled = false;
   }
   if (sgrMouseEnabled) {
     process.stdout.write('\x1b[?1006l'); // Disable SGR Mouse
@@ -117,10 +117,17 @@ function disableAllProtocols() {
   }
 }
 
-export function isKittyProtocolEnabled(): boolean {
-  return protocolEnabled;
-}
-
-export function isKittyProtocolSupported(): boolean {
-  return protocolSupported;
+/**
+ * This is exported so we can reenable this after exiting an editor which might
+ * change the mode.
+ */
+export function enableSupportedProtocol(): void {
+  if (kittySupported) {
+    process.stdout.write('\x1b[>1u');
+    kittyEnabled = true;
+  }
+  if (sgrMouseSupported) {
+    process.stdout.write('\x1b[?1006h');
+    sgrMouseEnabled = true;
+  }
 }