diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/cleanup.ts b/packages/cli/src/utils/cleanup.ts
index da9ff927ef..eaed9e861c 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/utils/cleanup.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/utils/cleanup.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ export function registerTelemetryConfig(config: Config) {
 }
 
 export async function runExitCleanup() {
+  // drain stdin to prevent printing garbage on exit
+  // https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/issues/1680
+  await drainStdin();
+
   runSyncCleanup();
   for (const fn of cleanupFunctions) {
     try {
@@ -84,6 +88,18 @@ export async function runExitCleanup() {
   }
 }
 
+async function drainStdin() {
+  if (!process.stdin?.isTTY) return;
+  // Resume stdin and attach a no-op listener to drain the buffer.
+  // We use removeAllListeners to ensure we don't trigger other handlers.
+  process.stdin
+    .resume()
+    .removeAllListeners('data')
+    .on('data', () => {});
+  // Give it a moment to flush the OS buffer.
+  await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 50));
+}
+
 export async function cleanupCheckpoints() {
   const storage = new Storage(process.cwd());
   const tempDir = storage.getProjectTempDir();