diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/plugin-settings.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/plugin-settings.ts
index 110ed135f..89f60bba9 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/plugin-settings.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/plugin-settings.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import {
 	Container,
 	Input,
+	matchesKey,
 	type SelectItem,
 	SelectList,
 	type SettingItem,
@@ -36,13 +37,18 @@ import { DynamicBorder } from "./dynamic-border";
 
 /**
  * Forwards a keystroke to `input`, but cancels via `onCancel` when the user presses Escape.
+ *
+ * Escape is decoded via `matchesKey` rather than a raw `\x1b` compare: inside the
+ * fullscreen settings overlay the kitty keyboard protocol is active (ghostty/kitty),
+ * where the Escape key arrives as the CSI-u sequence `\x1b[27u`, not a bare `\x1b`.
+ * The literal fallbacks preserve legacy single/double-escape on terminals without it.
  */
 export function handleInputOrEscape(
 	data: string,
 	input: { handleInput(data: string): void },
 	onCancel: () => void,
 ): void {
-	if (data === "\x1b" || data === "\x1b\x1b") {
+	if (data === "\x1b" || data === "\x1b\x1b" || matchesKey(data, "escape")) {
 		onCancel();
 		return;
 	}
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/test/modes/components/handle-input-or-escape.test.ts b/packages/coding-agent/test/modes/components/handle-input-or-escape.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..35e6f2a8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/test/modes/components/handle-input-or-escape.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "bun:test";
+import { handleInputOrEscape } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-coding-agent/modes/components/plugin-settings";
+import { setKittyProtocolActive } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-tui";
+
+afterEach(() => {
+	setKittyProtocolActive(false);
+});
+
+describe("handleInputOrEscape", () => {
+	it("cancels on a kitty CSI-u escape (the fullscreen settings overlay encoding)", () => {
+		// Ghostty/kitty report Escape as `\x1b[27u` once the keyboard protocol is
+		// active (which it is inside the fullscreen settings overlay). A raw `\x1b`
+		// compare misses it, so Esc looked dead in the text-input submenu.
+		setKittyProtocolActive(true);
+		let cancelled = false;
+		const forwarded: string[] = [];
+		handleInputOrEscape("\x1b[27u", { handleInput: data => forwarded.push(data) }, () => {
+			cancelled = true;
+		});
+		expect(cancelled).toBe(true);
+		expect(forwarded).toEqual([]);
+	});
+
+	it("cancels on a legacy bare escape", () => {
+		let cancelled = false;
+		const forwarded: string[] = [];
+		handleInputOrEscape("\x1b", { handleInput: data => forwarded.push(data) }, () => {
+			cancelled = true;
+		});
+		expect(cancelled).toBe(true);
+		expect(forwarded).toEqual([]);
+	});
+
+	it("forwards a printable keystroke to the input instead of cancelling", () => {
+		setKittyProtocolActive(true);
+		let cancelled = false;
+		const forwarded: string[] = [];
+		handleInputOrEscape("g", { handleInput: data => forwarded.push(data) }, () => {
+			cancelled = true;
+		});
+		expect(cancelled).toBe(false);
+		expect(forwarded).toEqual(["g"]);
+	});
+});