diff --git a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/clipboard.test.ts b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/clipboard.test.ts
index b073861d1c..e9bf4f5a7c 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/clipboard.test.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/clipboard.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 
-import { readClipboardText } from '../lib/clipboard.js'
+import { readClipboardText, writeClipboardText } from '../lib/clipboard.js'
 
 describe('readClipboardText', () => {
   it('does nothing off macOS', async () => {
@@ -23,3 +23,47 @@ describe('readClipboardText', () => {
     await expect(readClipboardText('darwin', run)).resolves.toBeNull()
   })
 })
+
+describe('writeClipboardText', () => {
+  it('does nothing off macOS', async () => {
+    const start = vi.fn()
+
+    await expect(writeClipboardText('hello', 'linux', start)).resolves.toBe(false)
+    expect(start).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('writes text to pbcopy on macOS', async () => {
+    const stdin = { end: vi.fn() }
+    const child = {
+      once: vi.fn((event: string, cb: (code?: number) => void) => {
+        if (event === 'close') {
+          cb(0)
+        }
+
+        return child
+      }),
+      stdin
+    }
+    const start = vi.fn().mockReturnValue(child)
+
+    await expect(writeClipboardText('hello world', 'darwin', start as any)).resolves.toBe(true)
+    expect(start).toHaveBeenCalledWith('pbcopy', [], expect.objectContaining({ stdio: ['pipe', 'ignore', 'ignore'], windowsHide: true }))
+    expect(stdin.end).toHaveBeenCalledWith('hello world')
+  })
+
+  it('returns false when pbcopy fails', async () => {
+    const child = {
+      once: vi.fn((event: string, cb: () => void) => {
+        if (event === 'error') {
+          cb()
+        }
+
+        return child
+      }),
+      stdin: { end: vi.fn() }
+    }
+    const start = vi.fn().mockReturnValue(child)
+
+    await expect(writeClipboardText('hello world', 'darwin', start as any)).resolves.toBe(false)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/app/useInputHandlers.ts b/ui-tui/src/app/useInputHandlers.ts
index 2473a49bf2..83fd3385e4 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/app/useInputHandlers.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/app/useInputHandlers.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import type {
   SudoRespondResponse,
   VoiceRecordResponse
 } from '../gatewayTypes.js'
+
+import { writeClipboardText } from '../lib/clipboard.js'
 import { writeOsc52Clipboard } from '../lib/osc52.js'
 import { isAction, isMac } from '../lib/platform.js'
 
@@ -30,9 +32,17 @@ export function useInputHandlers(ctx: InputHandlerContext): InputHandlerResult {
   const copySelection = () => {
     const text = terminal.selection.copySelection()
 
-    if (text) {
-      actions.sys(`copied ${text.length} chars`)
+    if (!text) {
+      return
     }
+
+    void writeClipboardText(text).then(copied => {
+      if (!copied) {
+        writeOsc52Clipboard(text)
+      }
+    })
+
+    actions.sys(`copied ${text.length} chars`)
   }
 
   const clearSelection = () => {
@@ -249,7 +259,14 @@ export function useInputHandlers(ctx: InputHandlerContext): InputHandlerResult {
       const inputSel = getInputSelection()
 
       if (inputSel && inputSel.end > inputSel.start) {
-        writeOsc52Clipboard(inputSel.value.slice(inputSel.start, inputSel.end))
+        const text = inputSel.value.slice(inputSel.start, inputSel.end)
+
+        void writeClipboardText(text).then(copied => {
+          if (!copied) {
+            writeOsc52Clipboard(text)
+          }
+        })
+
         inputSel.clear()
       }
 
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx b/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
index ebe3a97c2b..1d16bb21a4 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
+++ b/ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import * as Ink from '@hermes/ink'
 import { useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from 'react'
 
 import { setInputSelection } from '../app/inputSelectionStore.js'
-import { readClipboardText } from '../lib/clipboard.js'
+import { readClipboardText, writeClipboardText } from '../lib/clipboard.js'
 import { isActionMod, isMac } from '../lib/platform.js'
 import { writeOsc52Clipboard } from '../lib/osc52.js'
 
@@ -528,7 +528,13 @@ export function TextInput({
         const range = selRange()
 
         if (range) {
-          writeOsc52Clipboard(vRef.current.slice(range.start, range.end))
+          const text = vRef.current.slice(range.start, range.end)
+
+          void writeClipboardText(text).then(copied => {
+            if (!copied) {
+              writeOsc52Clipboard(text)
+            }
+          })
         }
 
         return
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/clipboard.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/clipboard.ts
index 79bbbb11a3..64dccc5b49 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/lib/clipboard.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/clipboard.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { execFile } from 'node:child_process'
+import { execFile, spawn } from 'node:child_process'
 import { promisify } from 'node:util'
 
 const execFileAsync = promisify(execFile)
@@ -26,3 +26,33 @@ export async function readClipboardText(
     return null
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * Write plain text to the system clipboard.
+ *
+ * On macOS this uses `pbcopy`. On other platforms we intentionally return
+ * false for now; non-mac copy still falls back to OSC52.
+ */
+export async function writeClipboardText(
+  text: string,
+  platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform,
+  start: typeof spawn = spawn
+): Promise<boolean> {
+  if (platform !== 'darwin') {
+    return false
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const ok = await new Promise<boolean>(resolve => {
+      const child = start('pbcopy', [], { stdio: ['pipe', 'ignore', 'ignore'], windowsHide: true })
+
+      child.once('error', () => resolve(false))
+      child.once('close', code => resolve(code === 0))
+      child.stdin.end(text)
+    })
+
+    return ok
+  } catch {
+    return false
+  }
+}