diff --git a/src/cli/index.test.ts b/src/cli/index.test.ts
index ab476b4e0..deb5472b7 100644
--- a/src/cli/index.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/index.test.ts
@@ -1348,6 +1348,42 @@ describe('orca cli worktree awareness', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  it('prints terminal.read fallback screen lines in json mode', async () => {
+    queueFixtures(
+      callMock,
+      okFixture('req_terminal_read', {
+        terminal: {
+          handle: 'term_worker',
+          status: 'running',
+          tail: ['Claude Code', 'Checking files', 'Waiting for input'],
+          truncated: false,
+          limited: true,
+          oldestCursor: '0',
+          nextCursor: '3000',
+          latestCursor: '3000',
+          returnedLineCount: 3
+        }
+      })
+    )
+    const logSpy = vi.spyOn(console, 'log').mockImplementation(() => {})
+
+    await main(
+      ['terminal', 'read', '--terminal', 'term_worker', '--limit', '120', '--json'],
+      '/tmp/repo'
+    )
+
+    expect(callMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith('terminal.read', {
+      terminal: 'term_worker',
+      limit: 120
+    })
+    const printed = JSON.parse(String(logSpy.mock.calls[0]?.[0]))
+    expect(printed.result.terminal.tail).toEqual([
+      'Claude Code',
+      'Checking files',
+      'Waiting for input'
+    ])
+  })
+
   it('keeps interactive Codex startup commands backgrounded unless focus is explicit', async () => {
     queueFixtures(
       callMock,
diff --git a/src/main/daemon/headless-emulator.ts b/src/main/daemon/headless-emulator.ts
index db891419c..fa9231fac 100644
--- a/src/main/daemon/headless-emulator.ts
+++ b/src/main/daemon/headless-emulator.ts
@@ -152,6 +152,15 @@ export class HeadlessEmulator {
     return this.terminal.buffer.active.type === 'alternate'
   }
 
+  getVisibleLines(): string[] {
+    const buffer = this.terminal.buffer.active
+    const lines: string[] = []
+    for (let row = buffer.viewportY; row < buffer.viewportY + this.terminal.rows; row += 1) {
+      lines.push(buffer.getLine(row)?.translateToString(true) ?? '')
+    }
+    return lines
+  }
+
   getCwd(): string | null {
     return this.cwd
   }
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts
index e4557abce..6a08ce060 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ import { registerSshGitProvider, unregisterSshGitProvider } from '../providers/s
 import { DEFAULT_REPO_BADGE_COLOR, getDefaultWorkspaceSession } from '../../shared/constants'
 import { advertisedUrlWatcher } from '../ports/advertised-url-watcher'
 import { makePaneKey } from '../../shared/stable-pane-id'
+import { RpcDispatcher } from './rpc/dispatcher'
+import type { RpcRequest } from './rpc/core'
+import { TERMINAL_METHODS } from './rpc/methods/terminal'
 
 const electronMocks = vi.hoisted(() => {
   type Listener = (...args: unknown[]) => void
@@ -620,6 +623,10 @@ function createRuntime(): OrcaRuntimeService {
   return new OrcaRuntimeService(store)
 }
 
+function makeRpcRequest(method: string, params?: unknown): RpcRequest {
+  return { id: 'req-1', authToken: 'tok', method, params }
+}
+
 function makeWorktreeMeta(overrides: Partial<WorktreeMeta> = {}): WorktreeMeta {
   return {
     displayName: '',
@@ -5389,6 +5396,127 @@ describe('OrcaRuntimeService', () => {
     expect(shiftCallCount).toBe(0)
   })
 
+  it('falls back to renderer visible screen when uncursored TUI tail is blank', async () => {
+    const serializeBuffer = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+      data: '\x1b[?1049hClaude Code\r\nWorking on fix\r\nTool: Read\r\n',
+      cols: 80,
+      rows: 24
+    })
+    const runtime = new OrcaRuntimeService(store)
+    runtime.setPtyController({
+      write: () => true,
+      kill: () => true,
+      getForegroundProcess: async () => null,
+      hasRendererSerializer: () => true,
+      serializeBuffer
+    })
+    syncSinglePty(runtime)
+
+    const [terminal] = (await runtime.listTerminals()).terminals
+    runtime.onPtyData('pty-1', `${Array.from({ length: 3000 }, () => '   ').join('\n')}\n`, 100)
+
+    const read = await runtime.readTerminal(terminal.handle)
+
+    expect(read.tail).toEqual(['Claude Code', 'Working on fix', 'Tool: Read'])
+    expect(serializeBuffer).toHaveBeenCalledWith('pty-1', {
+      scrollbackRows: 0,
+      altScreenForcesZeroRows: false
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('returns renderer visible screen lines through terminal.read RPC JSON result', async () => {
+    const serializeBuffer = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+      data: '\x1b[?1049hClaude Code\r\nChecking files\r\nWaiting for input\r\n',
+      cols: 80,
+      rows: 24
+    })
+    const runtime = new OrcaRuntimeService(store)
+    runtime.setPtyController({
+      write: () => true,
+      kill: () => true,
+      getForegroundProcess: async () => null,
+      hasRendererSerializer: () => true,
+      serializeBuffer
+    })
+    syncSinglePty(runtime)
+
+    const [terminal] = (await runtime.listTerminals()).terminals
+    runtime.onPtyData('pty-1', `${Array.from({ length: 3000 }, () => '').join('\n')}\n`, 100)
+    const dispatcher = new RpcDispatcher({ runtime, methods: TERMINAL_METHODS })
+
+    const response = await dispatcher.dispatch(
+      makeRpcRequest('terminal.read', { terminal: terminal.handle })
+    )
+
+    expect(response.ok).toBe(true)
+    if (!response.ok) {
+      throw new Error(response.error.message)
+    }
+    expect(response.result).toMatchObject({
+      terminal: {
+        handle: terminal.handle,
+        status: 'running',
+        tail: ['Claude Code', 'Checking files', 'Waiting for input']
+      }
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('does not use renderer visible-screen fallback for cursor transcript reads', async () => {
+    const serializeBuffer = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+      data: 'Visible TUI\n',
+      cols: 80,
+      rows: 24
+    })
+    const runtime = new OrcaRuntimeService(store)
+    runtime.setPtyController({
+      write: () => true,
+      kill: () => true,
+      getForegroundProcess: async () => null,
+      hasRendererSerializer: () => true,
+      serializeBuffer
+    })
+    syncSinglePty(runtime)
+
+    const [terminal] = (await runtime.listTerminals()).terminals
+    runtime.onPtyData('pty-1', '   \n', 100)
+
+    const read = await runtime.readTerminal(terminal.handle, { cursor: 0 })
+
+    expect(read.tail).toEqual([''])
+    expect(serializeBuffer).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith('pty-1', {
+      scrollbackRows: 0,
+      altScreenForcesZeroRows: false
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('does not use renderer visible-screen fallback for a short blank shell tail', async () => {
+    const serializeBuffer = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+      data: 'shell prompt\n',
+      cols: 80,
+      rows: 24
+    })
+    const runtime = new OrcaRuntimeService(store)
+    runtime.setPtyController({
+      write: () => true,
+      kill: () => true,
+      getForegroundProcess: async () => null,
+      hasRendererSerializer: () => true,
+      serializeBuffer
+    })
+    syncSinglePty(runtime)
+
+    const [terminal] = (await runtime.listTerminals()).terminals
+    runtime.onPtyData('pty-1', '\n\n', 100)
+
+    const read = await runtime.readTerminal(terminal.handle)
+
+    expect(read.tail).toEqual(['', ''])
+    expect(serializeBuffer).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith('pty-1', {
+      scrollbackRows: 0,
+      altScreenForcesZeroRows: false
+    })
+  })
+
   it('trims oversized terminal output bursts without per-line array shifts', async () => {
     const shiftSpy = vi.spyOn(Array.prototype, 'shift')
     const lines = Array.from({ length: 5000 }, (_, index) => `line-${index}`)
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
index c91bf1829..fce1fdb27 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
@@ -3825,6 +3825,59 @@ export class OrcaRuntimeService {
     return rendererSnapshot ? { ...rendererSnapshot, source: 'renderer' } : null
   }
 
+  private async withVisibleSnapshotFallback(
+    ptyId: string,
+    read: RuntimeTerminalRead,
+    opts: { cursor?: number; limit?: number } = {}
+  ): Promise<RuntimeTerminalRead> {
+    if (!shouldFallbackToVisibleTerminalSnapshot(read, opts)) {
+      return read
+    }
+    const lines = await this.readRendererVisibleSnapshotLines(ptyId)
+    if (lines.length === 0) {
+      return read
+    }
+    return buildVisibleSnapshotReadFallback(read, lines, opts.limit)
+  }
+
+  private async readRendererVisibleSnapshotLines(ptyId: string): Promise<string[]> {
+    const controller = this.ptyController
+    if (!controller?.serializeBuffer) {
+      return []
+    }
+    if (controller.hasRendererSerializer && !controller.hasRendererSerializer(ptyId)) {
+      return []
+    }
+    try {
+      // Why: raw PTY tails can be whitespace-only while a full-screen TUI is
+      // visibly nonblank in renderer xterm. Ask the renderer for the active
+      // screen instead of reusing the headless transcript path.
+      const snapshot = await controller.serializeBuffer(ptyId, {
+        scrollbackRows: 0,
+        altScreenForcesZeroRows: false
+      })
+      if (!snapshot || snapshot.data.length === 0) {
+        return []
+      }
+      const emulator = new HeadlessEmulator({
+        cols: snapshot.cols,
+        rows: snapshot.rows,
+        scrollback: 0
+      })
+      try {
+        await emulator.write(snapshot.data)
+        return emulator
+          .getVisibleLines()
+          .map((line) => line.trimEnd())
+          .filter((line) => line.trim().length > 0)
+      } finally {
+        emulator.dispose()
+      }
+    } catch {
+      return []
+    }
+  }
+
   private async serializeHeadlessTerminalBuffer(
     ptyId: string,
     opts: { scrollbackRows?: number; includeEmpty?: boolean } = {}
@@ -5930,7 +5983,8 @@ export class OrcaRuntimeService {
   ): Promise<RuntimeTerminalRead> {
     const pty = this.getLivePtyForHandle(handle)
     if (pty) {
-      return this.readPtyTerminal(handle, pty.pty, opts)
+      const read = this.readPtyTerminal(handle, pty.pty, opts)
+      return this.withVisibleSnapshotFallback(pty.pty.ptyId, read, opts)
     }
 
     const { leaf } = this.getLiveLeafForHandle(handle)
@@ -5944,7 +5998,7 @@ export class OrcaRuntimeService {
       cursor: opts.cursor,
       limit: opts.limit
     })
-    return read
+    return leaf.ptyId ? this.withVisibleSnapshotFallback(leaf.ptyId, read, opts) : read
   }
 
   async sendTerminal(
@@ -15388,6 +15442,41 @@ function readTerminalTail(args: {
   }
 }
 
+function shouldFallbackToVisibleTerminalSnapshot(
+  read: RuntimeTerminalRead,
+  opts: { cursor?: number; limit?: number }
+): boolean {
+  if (typeof opts.cursor === 'number') {
+    return false
+  }
+  if (read.tail.length === 0) {
+    return false
+  }
+  const hasSubstantialBlankTail =
+    read.limited === true || read.truncated || read.tail.length >= DEFAULT_TERMINAL_READ_LIMIT
+  return hasSubstantialBlankTail && read.tail.every((line) => line.trim().length === 0)
+}
+
+function buildVisibleSnapshotReadFallback(
+  read: RuntimeTerminalRead,
+  visibleLines: string[],
+  limit: number | undefined
+): RuntimeTerminalRead {
+  const lineLimit = terminalReadLimit(limit, DEFAULT_TERMINAL_READ_LIMIT)
+  const lineBoundedTail = visibleLines.slice(-lineLimit)
+  const charBoundedTail = trimTerminalPreviewToCharacterBudget(
+    lineBoundedTail,
+    MAX_TERMINAL_PREVIEW_CHARS
+  )
+  return {
+    ...read,
+    tail: charBoundedTail.tail,
+    limited:
+      read.limited || lineBoundedTail.length < visibleLines.length || charBoundedTail.limited,
+    returnedLineCount: charBoundedTail.tail.length
+  }
+}
+
 function getTerminalState(leaf: RuntimeLeafRecord): RuntimeTerminalState {
   if (leaf.connected) {
     return 'running'