diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.test.ts
index 85754f9f62..51fa728c91 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.test.ts
@@ -1023,7 +1023,7 @@ describe('useTextBuffer', () => {
         useTextBuffer({ viewport, escapePastedPaths: true }),
       );
       act(() => result.current.insert(filePath, { paste: true }));
-      expect(getBufferState(result).text).toBe(`@${filePath} `);
+      expect(getBufferState(result).text).toBe(`@${escapePath(filePath)} `);
     });
 
     it('should not prepend @ to an invalid file path on insert', () => {
@@ -1042,7 +1042,7 @@ describe('useTextBuffer', () => {
       );
       const quotedPath = `'${filePath}'`;
       act(() => result.current.insert(quotedPath, { paste: true }));
-      expect(getBufferState(result).text).toBe(`@${filePath} `);
+      expect(getBufferState(result).text).toBe(`@${escapePath(filePath)} `);
     });
 
     it('should not prepend @ to short text that is not a path', () => {
@@ -1063,9 +1063,11 @@ describe('useTextBuffer', () => {
       const { result } = renderHook(() =>
         useTextBuffer({ viewport, escapePastedPaths: true }),
       );
-      const filePaths = `${file1} ${file2}`;
+      const filePaths = `${escapePath(file1)} ${escapePath(file2)}`;
       act(() => result.current.insert(filePaths, { paste: true }));
-      expect(getBufferState(result).text).toBe(`@${file1} @${file2} `);
+      expect(getBufferState(result).text).toBe(
+        `@${escapePath(file1)} @${escapePath(file2)} `,
+      );
     });
 
     it('should handle multiple paths with escaped spaces', () => {
@@ -1077,13 +1079,12 @@ describe('useTextBuffer', () => {
       const { result } = renderHook(() =>
         useTextBuffer({ viewport, escapePastedPaths: true }),
       );
-      // Construct escaped path string: "/path/to/my\ file.txt /path/to/other.txt"
 
-      const filePaths = `${escapePath(file1)} ${file2}`;
+      const filePaths = `${escapePath(file1)} ${escapePath(file2)}`;
 
       act(() => result.current.insert(filePaths, { paste: true }));
       expect(getBufferState(result).text).toBe(
-        `@${escapePath(file1)} @${file2} `,
+        `@${escapePath(file1)} @${escapePath(file2)} `,
       );
     });
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/atCommandProcessor.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/atCommandProcessor.test.ts
index 76848ea821..4a6af6f9a1 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/atCommandProcessor.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/atCommandProcessor.test.ts
@@ -290,8 +290,8 @@ describe('handleAtCommand', () => {
       path.join(testRootDir, 'path', 'to', 'my file.txt'),
       fileContent,
     );
-    const escapedpath = path.join(testRootDir, 'path', 'to', 'my\\ file.txt');
-    const query = `@${escapedpath}`;
+
+    const query = `@${core.escapePath(filePath)}`;
 
     const result = await handleAtCommand({
       query,
@@ -960,8 +960,8 @@ describe('handleAtCommand', () => {
         path.join(testRootDir, 'spaced file.txt'),
         fileContent,
       );
-      const escapedPath = path.join(testRootDir, 'spaced\\ file.txt');
-      const query = `Check @${escapedPath}, it has spaces.`;
+
+      const query = `Check @${core.escapePath(filePath)}, it has spaces.`;
 
       const result = await handleAtCommand({
         query,
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useAtCompletion.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useAtCompletion.test.ts
index 7c41b7593d..472ae7f053 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useAtCompletion.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useAtCompletion.test.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import type { Config, FileSearch } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import {
   FileSearchFactory,
   FileDiscoveryService,
+  escapePath,
 } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import type { FileSystemStructure } from '@google/gemini-cli-test-utils';
 import { createTmpDir, cleanupTmpDir } from '@google/gemini-cli-test-utils';
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ describe('useAtCompletion', () => {
         'src/',
         'src/components/',
         'file.txt',
-        'src/components/Button\\ with\\ spaces.tsx',
+        `${escapePath('src/components/Button with spaces.tsx')}`,
         'src/components/Button.tsx',
         'src/index.js',
       ]);
diff --git a/packages/core/src/utils/paths.ts b/packages/core/src/utils/paths.ts
index 6c3236606d..8fbafca56f 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/utils/paths.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/utils/paths.ts
@@ -277,8 +277,8 @@ export function makeRelative(
  */
 export function escapePath(filePath: string): string {
   if (process.platform === 'win32') {
-    // Windows: Double quote if it contains space or special chars
-    if (/[\s()[\]{};|&^$!@%`'~]/.test(filePath)) {
+    // Windows: Double quote if it contains special chars
+    if (/[\s&()[\]{}^=;!'+,`~%$@#]/.test(filePath)) {
       return `"${filePath}"`;
     }
     return filePath;