When VS Code's terminal window is narrow, updates are rendered as a stream

[miguelsolorio]

What happened?

1. Open VS Code
2. Make terminal window narrow
3. Interact w/ CLI
4. 🐛 Updates are added as a stream instead of being replaced

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/670776c3-e11a-4e81-a682-d992cbd0f3aa

What did you expect to happen?

Updates are replaced properly

Client information

Client Information

Run gemini to enter the interactive CLI, then run the /about command.

> /about
# paste output here

Login information

No response

Anything else we need to know?

No response

[gemini-cli[bot]]

The issue describes a visual rendering bug where UI updates stream instead of replacing content in a narrow terminal, which falls under 'area/ux' and 'kind/bug'. The priority is P2 as it's a noticeable but not-blocking UX issue. The 'status/need-information' label is added because the client information from the '/about' command is missing, which is essential for reproducing the issue. Please provide the output of the /about command.

[lifefloating]

Here are the steps I used to reproduce the issue:

1. Use the mouse to drag the VS Code terminal panel boundary, gradually reducing the width to less than 80 columns (e.g., 70-75 columns).
2. You can verify the current width at any time using tput cols (the returned value should be < 80).
3. The issue is most likely to occur when this "wide → narrow" transition happens during streaming updates: when the loading indicator switches from single-line layout to multi-line layout, old frames are not properly cleared, causing the "witty messages" or timer lines to continuously append, creating a "log stream accumulation" effect.

[lifefloating]

[gemini-cli[bot]]

Hello! As part of our effort to keep our backlog manageable and focus on the most active issues, we are tidying up older reports.

It looks like this issue hasn't been active for a while, so we are closing it for now. However, if you are still experiencing this bug on the latest stable build, please feel free to comment on this issue or create a new one with updated details.

Thank you for your contribution!