diff --git a/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md
index 6e144a6d1..d1b91c491 100644
--- a/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@
 ### Fixed
 
 - Fixed bordered `Editor` rendering 1–2 cells past the terminal width when the end-of-line cursor glyph landed past a wide trailing grapheme (CJK comma `，`, emoji, etc.), wrapping the bottom-right corner (`╯`) to its own row. The right chrome (padding + `─` + corner) now shrinks by the exact cursor overflow cell count instead of a 1-cell boolean, so the box stays inside `width` for any `paddingX` ([#3431](https://github.com/can1357/oh-my-pi/issues/3431)).
+### Fixed
+
+- Kept queued interrupt keys ahead of ordinary repaints so a slow long-transcript frame cannot consume the Ctrl+C/Esc double-press window before the second key is handled.
 
 ## [16.1.17] - 2026-06-24
 
diff --git a/packages/tui/src/tui.ts b/packages/tui/src/tui.ts
index ef778fe6e..643bb2bf3 100644
--- a/packages/tui/src/tui.ts
+++ b/packages/tui/src/tui.ts
@@ -924,6 +924,8 @@ export class TUI extends Container {
 	#renderScheduler: RenderScheduler;
 	#lastRenderAt = 0;
 	static readonly #MIN_RENDER_INTERVAL_MS = 1000 / 30;
+	static readonly #INPUT_RENDER_GRACE_MS = TUI.#MIN_RENDER_INTERVAL_MS;
+	#inputRenderGraceUntilMs = 0;
 	// Pane-reflow settle window for tmux/screen/zellij. The host process gets
 	// SIGWINCH (and `process.stdout` already reports the new geometry) before
 	// the multiplexer finishes repainting the pane at the new size, and
@@ -2109,8 +2111,11 @@ export class TUI extends Container {
 		if (this.#multiplexerResizeTimer) {
 			return;
 		}
-		const elapsed = this.#renderScheduler.now() - this.#lastRenderAt;
-		const delay = Math.max(0, TUI.#MIN_RENDER_INTERVAL_MS - elapsed);
+		const now = this.#renderScheduler.now();
+		const elapsed = now - this.#lastRenderAt;
+		const cadenceDelay = Math.max(0, TUI.#MIN_RENDER_INTERVAL_MS - elapsed);
+		const inputGraceDelay = Math.max(0, this.#inputRenderGraceUntilMs - now);
+		const delay = Math.max(cadenceDelay, inputGraceDelay);
 		this.#renderTimer = this.#renderScheduler.scheduleRender(() => {
 			this.#renderTimer = undefined;
 			if (this.#stopped || !this.#renderRequested) {
@@ -2126,6 +2131,12 @@ export class TUI extends Container {
 	}
 
 	#handleInput(data: string): void {
+		// Raw-mode Ctrl+C/Esc arrive as stdin data, not process signals. If the
+		// first key in a double-key gesture schedules an immediate slow repaint,
+		// the queued second key can sit behind that repaint long enough for the
+		// app-level double-press window to expire. Give the input queue one frame
+		// before ordinary paints; forced repaints still bypass this path.
+		this.#inputRenderGraceUntilMs = this.#renderScheduler.now() + TUI.#INPUT_RENDER_GRACE_MS;
 		if (this.#inputListeners.size > 0) {
 			let current = data;
 			for (const listener of this.#inputListeners) {
diff --git a/packages/tui/test/input-priority.test.ts b/packages/tui/test/input-priority.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1ba28047d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/tui/test/input-priority.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, setSystemTime, vi } from "bun:test";
+import { type Component, type RenderScheduler, TUI } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-tui";
+import { VirtualTerminal } from "./virtual-terminal";
+
+class BlockingDoubleInterruptComponent implements Component {
+	interruptsHandled = 0;
+	exitRequests = 0;
+	#firstInterruptAt = 0;
+	#blockNextRenderMs = 0;
+	secondInterruptSeen = false;
+	slowRenderBeforeSecond = false;
+
+	armSlowRender(blockMs: number): void {
+		this.#blockNextRenderMs = blockMs;
+	}
+
+	handleInput(data: string): void {
+		if (data !== "\x03") return;
+		this.interruptsHandled++;
+		if (this.interruptsHandled === 1) {
+			this.#firstInterruptAt = Date.now();
+			return;
+		}
+		this.secondInterruptSeen = true;
+		const now = Date.now();
+		if (!this.slowRenderBeforeSecond && this.#firstInterruptAt !== 0 && now - this.#firstInterruptAt < 500) {
+			this.exitRequests++;
+		}
+		this.#firstInterruptAt = 0;
+	}
+
+	render(_width: number): readonly string[] {
+		const blockMs = this.#blockNextRenderMs;
+		this.#blockNextRenderMs = 0;
+		if (blockMs > 0) {
+			if (!this.secondInterruptSeen) this.slowRenderBeforeSecond = true;
+			setSystemTime(new Date(Date.now() + blockMs));
+		}
+		return ["ready"];
+	}
+}
+
+async function drainNextTick(): Promise<void> {
+	const nextTick = Promise.withResolvers<void>();
+	process.nextTick(nextTick.resolve);
+	await nextTick.promise;
+}
+
+function fakeTimerScheduler(): RenderScheduler {
+	return {
+		now: () => Date.now(),
+		scheduleImmediate: callback => {
+			process.nextTick(callback);
+		},
+		scheduleRender: (callback, delayMs) => {
+			if (delayMs <= 0) {
+				let cancelled = false;
+				process.nextTick(() => {
+					if (!cancelled) callback();
+				});
+				return {
+					cancel: () => {
+						cancelled = true;
+					},
+				};
+			}
+			const handle = setTimeout(callback, delayMs);
+			return {
+				cancel: () => clearTimeout(handle),
+			};
+		},
+	};
+}
+
+describe("TUI input priority", () => {
+	afterEach(() => {
+		vi.useRealTimers();
+	});
+
+	it("handles a queued second Ctrl+C before a slow repaint can consume the double-interrupt window", async () => {
+		vi.useFakeTimers();
+		setSystemTime(new Date(1_000));
+		const terminal = new VirtualTerminal(40, 8);
+		const tui = new TUI(terminal, undefined, { renderScheduler: fakeTimerScheduler() });
+		const component = new BlockingDoubleInterruptComponent();
+		tui.addChild(component);
+		tui.setFocus(component);
+		tui.start();
+		await drainNextTick();
+		component.armSlowRender(650);
+		vi.advanceTimersByTime(40);
+
+		terminal.sendInput("\x03");
+		setTimeout(() => terminal.sendInput("\x03"), 10);
+		await drainNextTick();
+		vi.advanceTimersByTime(0);
+		vi.advanceTimersByTime(10);
+
+		tui.stop();
+
+		expect(component.slowRenderBeforeSecond).toBe(false);
+		expect(component.interruptsHandled).toBe(2);
+		expect(component.exitRequests).toBe(1);
+	});
+});