diff --git a/cli.py b/cli.py
index bc4f4a76bef..4ca07fa0bf5 100644
--- a/cli.py
+++ b/cli.py
@@ -12024,6 +12024,7 @@ class HermesCLI(CLIAgentSetupMixin, CLICommandsMixin):
 
         # Create the input area with multiline (Alt+Enter), autocomplete, and paste handling
         from prompt_toolkit.auto_suggest import AutoSuggestFromHistory
+        from prompt_toolkit.completion import ThreadedCompleter
 
 
         _completer = SlashCommandCompleter(
@@ -12039,7 +12040,13 @@ class HermesCLI(CLIAgentSetupMixin, CLICommandsMixin):
             wrap_lines=True,
             read_only=Condition(lambda: bool(cli_ref._command_running)),
             history=FileHistory(str(self._history_file)),
-            completer=_completer,
+            # complete_while_typing fires the completer on every keystroke. The
+            # completer does blocking work — fuzzy @-file indexing shells out to
+            # rg/fd (up to a 2s timeout) and path completion hits os.listdir/stat
+            # — so running it inline would stall the render loop on each key (very
+            # noticeable on WSL2/slow filesystems). ThreadedCompleter moves it off
+            # the UI event loop, keeping typing responsive.
+            completer=ThreadedCompleter(_completer),
             complete_while_typing=True,
             auto_suggest=SlashCommandAutoSuggest(
                 history_suggest=AutoSuggestFromHistory(),
diff --git a/hermes_cli/commands.py b/hermes_cli/commands.py
index a1e20dabc08..ed6f83f39e6 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/commands.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/commands.py
@@ -1291,6 +1291,12 @@ class SlashCommandCompleter(Completer):
         word = text[i + 1:]
         if not word:
             return None
+        # URLs contain "/" but are not local paths. Treating them as paths fires
+        # os.listdir on every keystroke while typing/pasting a link (e.g. an
+        # https:// URL becomes a listdir of "https:") — pure latency, never a
+        # useful completion. Skip any token with a scheme separator.
+        if "://" in word:
+            return None
         # Only trigger path completion for path-like tokens
         if word.startswith(("./", "../", "~/", "/")) or "/" in word:
             return word