diff --git a/harness/tui.go b/harness/tui.go
index d8e9a7a..912acdb 100644
--- a/harness/tui.go
+++ b/harness/tui.go
@@ -770,9 +770,23 @@ func (t *tuiConsole) SetTitle(s string) {
 // footer itself persists between inputs.
 func (t *tuiConsole) beginInput(prompt string, mask bool) {
 	t.mu.Lock()
-	t.prompt, t.buf, t.pos, t.mask = prompt, nil, 0, mask
-	t.snippets = nil
-	t.images = nil
+	// A turn can end while the user is mid-typing a steering message. Carry
+	// that draft into the next prompt instead of discarding it: endInput and
+	// the steer/stop paths already clear the buffer on submit, so a non-empty
+	// one here uniquely identifies the carry-over. The buffer's snippet and
+	// image tokens index into the slices, so they carry too.
+	//
+	// A draft never crosses a secret boundary in either direction: not out of
+	// a masked prompt, where it would leak the secret into plain view, and not
+	// into one, where it would sit in the field rendered as dots and be
+	// submitted as the key on the next Enter.
+	if !t.mask && !mask && len(t.buf) > 0 {
+		t.prompt, t.mask = prompt, mask
+	} else {
+		t.prompt, t.buf, t.pos, t.mask = prompt, nil, 0, mask
+		t.snippets = nil
+		t.images = nil
+	}
 	t.histIdx = len(t.hist)
 	t.draft = nil
 	t.winTop = 0
diff --git a/harness/tui_test.go b/harness/tui_test.go
index bc03d36..ab28e78 100644
--- a/harness/tui_test.go
+++ b/harness/tui_test.go
@@ -301,6 +301,88 @@ func TestAttendTurnStopCommandCancelsWithoutQueuing(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestBeginInputPreservesDraftAcrossTurnEnd: a draft typed during a turn (but
+// never submitted) must survive the working-to-completed transition and remain
+// in the editor when the next prompt opens, so in-progress text is not lost.
+// attendTurn leaves the typed buffer in place when the turn ends; the next
+// ReadLine re-opens the editor through beginInput, which must carry that buffer
+// forward instead of zeroing it. Breaker: revert beginInput to an unconditional
+// t.buf = nil and the submitted line comes back empty instead of "fix it".
+func TestBeginInputPreservesDraftAcrossTurnEnd(t *testing.T) {
+	f, err := os.CreateTemp(t.TempDir(), "tui-out")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	tc := &tuiConsole{out: f, in: bufio.NewReader(strings.NewReader("fix it")), cols: 80}
+	// Phase 1: the user types a steering draft while a turn runs; the stream's
+	// EOF ends the attend (errTurnOver) the way a turn finishing on its own does.
+	if err := tc.attendTurn(turnAttend{
+		done:   make(chan struct{}), // never closes; EOF ends attend
+		cancel: func() {},
+		queue:  func(string) {},
+	}); err != errTurnOver {
+		t.Fatalf("attendTurn err = %v, want errTurnOver", err)
+	}
+	if got := string(tc.buf); got != "fix it" {
+		t.Fatalf("draft must survive attendTurn: buf = %q, want %q", got, "fix it")
+	}
+	// Phase 2: the next prompt re-opens the editor. EOF closed the pump's
+	// channel, so re-arm a fresh input source the way a live console keeps
+	// reading, then submit with Enter.
+	tc.runes = nil
+	tc.in = bufio.NewReader(strings.NewReader("\r"))
+	line, err := tc.ReadLine("-> ")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ReadLine: %v", err)
+	}
+	if line != "fix it" {
+		t.Fatalf("draft must carry into the next prompt: line = %q, want %q", line, "fix it")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestBeginInputDropsMaskedDraftForOrdinaryPrompt: a non-empty buffer left from
+// a masked prompt must never carry into an ordinary one, so a secret cannot
+// leak across prompt types. The carry-over branch requires the PRIOR prompt to
+// be unmasked, so a non-empty masked buffer is cleared when the next prompt
+// opens. Breaker: drop the !t.mask guard on the carry-over branch and the
+// secret text survives into the ordinary prompt.
+func TestBeginInputDropsMaskedDraftForOrdinaryPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	f, err := os.CreateTemp(t.TempDir(), "tui-out")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	// Seed the exact state a masked prompt leaves mid-edit (non-empty buffer,
+	// masked), then open an ordinary prompt: the secret must not carry.
+	tc := &tuiConsole{out: f, cols: 80, buf: []rune("hush"), pos: 4, mask: true}
+	tc.beginInput("-> ", false)
+	if len(tc.buf) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a masked draft must not carry into an ordinary prompt: buf = %q", string(tc.buf))
+	}
+}
+
+// TestBeginInputDropsDraftForSecretPrompt: the other direction of the same
+// boundary. An ordinary draft must not carry INTO a masked prompt, where it
+// would render as dots and be submitted as the secret on the next Enter. No
+// current path reaches a secret prompt with a draft pending (every route to one
+// goes through a submitted line, which clears the buffer), so this guards a
+// boundary rather than fixing a live bug: the carry rule is about crossing the
+// secret line at all, not about which side it started on. Breaker: relax the
+// guard to `!t.mask && len(t.buf) > 0` and the draft lands in the key field.
+func TestBeginInputDropsDraftForSecretPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	f, err := os.CreateTemp(t.TempDir(), "tui-out")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	tc := &tuiConsole{out: f, cols: 80, buf: []rune("my draft text"), pos: 13}
+	tc.beginInput("api key: ", true)
+	if len(tc.buf) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a draft must not carry into a masked prompt: buf = %q", string(tc.buf))
+	}
+}
+
 // TestEscIsBareKeysOffIntroducer: bare-Escape detection decides by the byte
 // following Esc, not by timing, so it holds up under tmux/SSH latency. A lone
 // Esc with the stream then closed is bare; an Esc followed by a CSI introducer