Stop the provider-setup and satellite pickers from turning on DEC mouse reporting

createCliRenderer defaults useMouse/enableMouseMovement to true, so the
onboarding provider picker and satellite list modals (session resume, session
mode) were emitting ?1000/?1002/?1003/?1006 and stealing button-1 drags from
the terminal before a session even starts, even though the main product host
already disabled it. Native drag-select and copy now work with no modifier
from the very first screen.

Also add settings.mouseCapture so a user can opt back into click-to-expand
and drag-scroll (the same trade Alt+M makes mid-session) without discovering
a hidden default; unset keeps selection-on as the default.

Author: TheGreatAxios

src/config/settings.ts

@@ -166,6 +166,11 @@ export type Settings = {
   // breakdown on demand, so the border only needs to opt in to the running
   // total.
   showPromptCost?: boolean;
+  // Whether the TUI captures DEC mouse reporting at startup (CL-5540).
+  // Default false/unset: the terminal owns drag-select and its own copy.
+  // true trades that away for click-to-expand and drag-to-scroll (the same
+  // trade Alt+M makes mid-session) — both have keyboard equivalents either way.
+  mouseCapture?: boolean;
 };
 
 function modelRefKey(ref: ModelRef): string {
@@ -491,6 +496,7 @@ const SettingsSchema = type({
   "recentModels?": ModelRefSchema.array(),
   "favoriteModels?": ModelRefSchema.array(),
   "showPromptCost?": "boolean",
+  "mouseCapture?": "boolean",
 });
 
 // Per-entry MCP shape without the name key. The "exactly one transport" rule is
@@ -655,6 +661,7 @@ export const GLOBAL_SETTINGS_OPTIONAL_KEYS = [
   "otel",
   "recentModels",
   "favoriteModels",
+  "mouseCapture",
 ] as const satisfies readonly (keyof OptionalSettingsFields)[];
 
 /** Optional local settings keys the load path is required to consider. */
@@ -774,6 +781,7 @@ export async function loadSettings(path: string): Promise<Settings | null> {
     recentModels: s.recentModels as Settings["recentModels"] | undefined,
     favoriteModels: s.favoriteModels as Settings["favoriteModels"] | undefined,
     showPromptCost: s.showPromptCost !== undefined ? Boolean(s.showPromptCost) : undefined,
+    mouseCapture: s.mouseCapture !== undefined ? Boolean(s.mouseCapture) : undefined,
   };
   const settings: Settings = {
     providers: s.providers as Settings["providers"],

src/settings.test.ts

@@ -261,6 +261,10 @@ describe("validators", () => {
     expect(isSettings({ providers: firepass.providers, showPromptCost: true })).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  test("isSettings accepts mouseCapture", () => {
+    expect(isSettings({ providers: firepass.providers, mouseCapture: true })).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   test("isLocalSettings rejects credentials", () => {
     expect(isLocalSettings({ provider: "a", apiKey: "leak" })).toBe(false);
   });
@@ -781,6 +785,17 @@ describe("maxConcurrentSubAgents", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  test("loadSettings round-trips mouseCapture", async () => {
+    const dir = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "ic-settings-"));
+    try {
+      const path = join(dir, ".corbits", "settings.json");
+      await saveGlobalSettings(path, { ...firepass, mouseCapture: true });
+      expect(await loadSettings(path)).toEqual({ ...firepass, mouseCapture: true });
+    } finally {
+      await rm(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   test("loadSettings round-trips maxConcurrentSubAgents", async () => {
     const dir = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "ic-settings-"));
     try {

src/tui-opentui/list-modal.ts

@@ -41,7 +41,15 @@ export async function runListModal(
 ): Promise<string | null> {
   const renderer = config.createRenderer
     ? await config.createRenderer()
-    : await createCliRenderer({ exitOnCtrlC: false, targetFps: 30 })
+    : await createCliRenderer({
+        exitOnCtrlC: false,
+        targetFps: 30,
+        // Same trade as the product host (CL-5540): reporting off by default
+        // so the terminal owns drag-select and its own copy in these satellite
+        // pickers too.
+        useMouse: false,
+        enableMouseMovement: false,
+      })
 
   const shell = createAppShell(renderer, { title: config.title, run: "idle" })
 

src/tui-opentui/product-host.test.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   mountProductHost,
   operatorResultFromSelection,
   permissionChoices,
+  resolveInitialMouseCapture,
   type ProductHostConfig,
 } from "./product-host.js"
 
@@ -151,6 +152,22 @@ describe("operatorResultFromSelection", () => {
   })
 })
 
+describe("resolveInitialMouseCapture", () => {
+  // CL-5540: the terminal must own drag-select by default, so an unset
+  // preference (no CLI override, no settings.mouseCapture) resolves to false.
+  test("defaults to false when unset", () => {
+    expect(resolveInitialMouseCapture(undefined)).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  test("passes an explicit true through", () => {
+    expect(resolveInitialMouseCapture(true)).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  test("passes an explicit false through", () => {
+    expect(resolveInitialMouseCapture(false)).toBe(false)
+  })
+})
+
 describe("mountProductHost", () => {
   test("stream events emitted on the event emitter paint rows into the shell", async () => {
     const { host, emitter } = await mountHeadless()

src/tui-opentui/product-host.ts

@@ -194,6 +194,16 @@ export function operatorResultFromSelection(
   return { kind: "option", index: sel.index }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Whether OpenTUI should capture DEC mouse reporting at startup (CL-5540).
+ * Undefined (no CLI override, no settings.mouseCapture) resolves to false so
+ * the terminal owns drag-select and its own copy by default; a caller (or
+ * settings.mouseCapture) can opt into click-to-expand/drag-scroll instead.
+ */
+export function resolveInitialMouseCapture(explicit: boolean | undefined): boolean {
+  return explicit ?? false
+}
+
 /**
  * Mount the OpenTUI shell as the production interactive UI.
  * Caller owns session lifecycle (agent, MCP, hooks); host owns paint + input.
@@ -210,7 +220,7 @@ export async function mountProductHost(
         // the terminal forward drags to us instead of selecting text, so the
         // user cannot copy with the mouse. Alt+M takes the mouse when
         // click-to-expand or drag-scroll is wanted.
-        useMouse: config.useMouse ?? false,
+        useMouse: resolveInitialMouseCapture(config.useMouse),
         enableMouseMovement: false,
         // A plain terminal sends a bare CR for both Enter and Shift+Enter, so
         // the modifier only arrives once the kitty keyboard protocol is

src/tui-opentui/provider-setup.ts

@@ -583,7 +583,14 @@ export async function runProviderSetup(
 ): Promise<boolean> {
   const renderer = config.createRenderer
     ? await config.createRenderer()
-    : await createCliRenderer({ exitOnCtrlC: false, targetFps: 30 })
+    : await createCliRenderer({
+        exitOnCtrlC: false,
+        targetFps: 30,
+        // Same trade as the product host (CL-5540): reporting off by default
+        // so the terminal owns drag-select and its own copy during onboarding.
+        useMouse: false,
+        enableMouseMovement: false,
+      })
 
   const choices = providerChoices()
   const values: ProviderFormValues = {

src/tui-opentui/runner-host.ts

@@ -111,6 +111,13 @@ export type RunnerHostDeps = {
   readonly createRenderer?: () => Promise<CliRenderer>
   /** First-run telemetry disclosure, shown on the landing screen. */
   readonly telemetryNotice?: string
+  /**
+   * settings.mouseCapture (CL-5540). Off (default/undefined) so the terminal
+   * owns drag-select and its own copy; true opts a user into
+   * click-to-expand/drag-scroll at that cost, the same trade Alt+M makes
+   * mid-session.
+   */
+  readonly useMouse?: boolean
 }
 
 /** Product host plus the runner-owned subscriptions torn down with it. */
@@ -241,6 +248,7 @@ export async function mountRunnerHost(deps: RunnerHostDeps): Promise<RunnerHost>
     ...(deps.telemetryNotice !== undefined
       ? { telemetryNotice: deps.telemetryNotice }
       : {}),
+    ...(deps.useMouse !== undefined ? { useMouse: deps.useMouse } : {}),
   })
 
   const pushChrome = (): void => {

src/tui/runner.ts

@@ -1888,6 +1888,9 @@ export async function runTUI(initialConfig: Config): Promise<number> {
         `Connecting ${providerName} from the running session isn't wired up yet — run /model after restarting, or reconnect via onboarding.`,
       );
     },
+    ...(config.settings?.mouseCapture !== undefined
+      ? { useMouse: config.settings.mouseCapture }
+      : {}),
     modelLabel: () => ({
       profile: config.providerName,
       model: config.model,

tests/unit/config.test.ts

@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ test("loadSettings cannot silently drop a known optional key", async () => {
       otel: { endpoint: "http://localhost:4318", serviceName: "corbits-test" },
       recentModels: [{ provider: "p", model: "m" }],
       favoriteModels: [{ provider: "p", model: "m" }],
+      mouseCapture: true,
     };
     await writeFile(globalPath, JSON.stringify(fixture));
     const loaded = await loadSettings(globalPath);