diff --git a/src/web/public/app.js b/src/web/public/app.js
index 2c378b9d..1498e8cc 100644
--- a/src/web/public/app.js
+++ b/src/web/public/app.js
@@ -2196,14 +2196,42 @@ class CodemanApp {
     if (!this.activeSessionId || !this.terminal) return;
     // Skip if buffer load already in progress — avoids competing clear+rewrite cycles
     if (this._isLoadingBuffer) return;
+    const sessionId = this.activeSessionId;
     try {
-      const res = await fetch(`/api/sessions/${this.activeSessionId}/terminal?tail=${TERMINAL_TAIL_SIZE}`);
-      const data = (await res.json())?.data ?? {};
+      // Recovery should restore the WHOLE picture, so ask for full history
+      // rather than a tail. Measured on a 900-line shell pane: the tail rewrite
+      // replaced an 869-row buffer with 158 rows, so every backpressure refresh
+      // silently destroyed most of the scrollback it was meant to repair.
+      //
+      // A repaint-mode pane is the opposite case (tmux keeps ~one frame for it),
+      // so the full capture can be SMALLER than what xterm already holds. Reuse
+      // the same downgrade guard as the scroll-to-top re-pull and fall back to
+      // the historical tail there, leaving that case exactly as it was.
+      let res = await fetch(`/api/sessions/${sessionId}/terminal?full=1`);
+      let data = (await res.json())?.data ?? {};
+      if (data.terminalBuffer && this._replayWouldShrinkBuffer(data.terminalBuffer)) {
+        res = await fetch(`/api/sessions/${sessionId}/terminal?tail=${TERMINAL_TAIL_SIZE}`);
+        data = (await res.json())?.data ?? {};
+      }
       if (data.terminalBuffer) {
+        // This refresh is SERVER-triggered, so a user quietly reading scrollback
+        // did not ask for it and must not be dragged to the bottom by it (#259).
+        // The rewrite replaces the buffer, so an absolute viewportY is
+        // meaningless across it — distance from the bottom is what survives.
+        const before = this.terminal.buffer?.active;
+        const linesFromBottom = before ? Math.max(0, (before.baseY || 0) - (before.viewportY || 0)) : 0;
         this.terminal.clear();
         this.terminal.reset();
         await this.chunkedTerminalWrite(data.terminalBuffer);
-        this.terminal.scrollToBottom();
+        // A tail fetch can be partial, and the banner would otherwise keep
+        // describing the pre-refresh buffer (#258).
+        if (this.activeSessionId === sessionId) this._setHistoryTruncation(sessionId, data);
+        const target = computeRewriteScrollLine({
+          linesFromBottom,
+          baseY: this.terminal.buffer?.active?.baseY ?? 0,
+        });
+        if (target === null || typeof this.terminal.scrollToLine !== 'function') this.terminal.scrollToBottom();
+        else this.terminal.scrollToLine(target);
         // Re-position local echo overlay at new prompt location
         this._localEchoOverlay?.rerender();
         // Resize PTY to match actual browser dimensions (critical for OpenCode
diff --git a/src/web/public/constants.js b/src/web/public/constants.js
index a0609a2e..5988eeb6 100644
--- a/src/web/public/constants.js
+++ b/src/web/public/constants.js
@@ -848,6 +848,26 @@ function computeHistoryTruncationNotice(state = {}) {
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * Where to land after a rewrite that REPLACES the whole buffer (#259).
+ *
+ * The backpressure refresh clears and reloads the terminal from a fresh tail,
+ * so an absolute viewportY captured beforehand means nothing afterwards: the
+ * line it pointed at may not even exist. Distance from the BOTTOM is the anchor
+ * that survives a rewrite, so a reader stays roughly where they were reading.
+ *
+ * Returns null when the user was following live output, which the caller reads
+ * as "scroll to bottom" — the historical behavior, kept for that case.
+ *
+ * @param {{linesFromBottom?: number, baseY?: number}} input
+ * @returns {number|null}
+ */
+function computeRewriteScrollLine(input) {
+  const linesFromBottom = input?.linesFromBottom || 0;
+  if (!(linesFromBottom > 0)) return null;
+  return Math.max(0, (input?.baseY || 0) - linesFromBottom);
+}
+
 if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
-  window.CodemanHistoryFormat = { formatHistoryBytes, computeHistoryTruncationNotice };
+  window.CodemanHistoryFormat = { formatHistoryBytes, computeHistoryTruncationNotice, computeRewriteScrollLine };
 }
diff --git a/test/terminal-scroll-intent.test.ts b/test/terminal-scroll-intent.test.ts
index b34f0020..717e34d6 100644
--- a/test/terminal-scroll-intent.test.ts
+++ b/test/terminal-scroll-intent.test.ts
@@ -155,3 +155,62 @@ describe('keyboard show/hide route through the intent-preserving path (static gu
     expect(SOURCE).not.toContain('scrollToBottom: true');
   });
 });
+
+describe('backpressure refresh keeps a reader in place (issue #259)', () => {
+  // _onSessionNeedsRefresh is SERVER-triggered: it fires after SSE backpressure
+  // clears and rewrites the whole buffer. A user quietly reading scrollback did
+  // not ask for it, so being dropped to the bottom by it is the same bug as the
+  // keyboard yank, with no gesture to blame it on.
+  const loadConstants = () => {
+    const context = vm.createContext({ console, window: {}, document: {}, navigator: { userAgent: 'test' } });
+    vm.runInContext(
+      `${readFileSync(resolve(PUBLIC, 'constants.js'), 'utf8')}\n;globalThis.__fn = computeRewriteScrollLine;`,
+      context,
+      { filename: 'constants.js' }
+    );
+    return (context as any).__fn as (i: { linesFromBottom?: number; baseY?: number }) => number | null;
+  };
+
+  it('returns null (scroll to bottom) for someone following live output', () => {
+    const computeRewriteScrollLine = loadConstants();
+    expect(computeRewriteScrollLine({ linesFromBottom: 0, baseY: 900 })).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it('holds the reader the same distance from the bottom of the NEW buffer', () => {
+    const computeRewriteScrollLine = loadConstants();
+    // The rewrite replaces the buffer, so the old absolute line is meaningless;
+    // 50 lines up stays 50 lines up even though baseY changed.
+    expect(computeRewriteScrollLine({ linesFromBottom: 50, baseY: 900 })).toBe(850);
+    expect(computeRewriteScrollLine({ linesFromBottom: 50, baseY: 400 })).toBe(350);
+  });
+
+  it('clamps when the refreshed buffer is shorter than the old offset', () => {
+    const computeRewriteScrollLine = loadConstants();
+    expect(computeRewriteScrollLine({ linesFromBottom: 900, baseY: 100 })).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('is wired into the refresh path instead of an unconditional scrollToBottom', () => {
+    const app = readFileSync(resolve(PUBLIC, 'app.js'), 'utf8');
+    const start = app.indexOf('async _onSessionNeedsRefresh()');
+    expect(start).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    const body = app.slice(start, app.indexOf('\n  async _onSessionClearTerminal', start));
+    expect(body).toContain('computeRewriteScrollLine');
+    // The bottom is now one branch of a decision, never the whole story.
+    expect(body).toContain('this.terminal.scrollToLine(target)');
+  });
+
+  it('recovers FULL history, guarded against a repaint-pane downgrade', () => {
+    // Measured before the fix: this path rewrote an 869-row buffer from a 1MB
+    // tail and left 158 rows, so the refresh meant to REPAIR the terminal was
+    // destroying most of its scrollback. It asks for full history now, and
+    // falls back to the tail only when the full capture would shrink the buffer
+    // (a repaint-mode pane keeps roughly one frame in tmux).
+    const app = readFileSync(resolve(PUBLIC, 'app.js'), 'utf8');
+    const start = app.indexOf('async _onSessionNeedsRefresh()');
+    const body = app.slice(start, app.indexOf('\n  async _onSessionClearTerminal', start));
+    expect(body).toContain('terminal?full=1');
+    expect(body).toContain('this._replayWouldShrinkBuffer(data.terminalBuffer)');
+    // The tail must survive as the fallback, not vanish.
+    expect(body).toContain('tail=${TERMINAL_TAIL_SIZE}');
+  });
+});