diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/app/startup.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/app/startup.rs
index 4f03ceed03..21badd2f67 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/app/startup.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/app/startup.rs
@@ -1296,7 +1296,7 @@ See the Codex keymap documentation for supported actions and examples."
                     if !tui.is_owned_screen() && tui.is_alt_screen_active() {
                         app.close_transcript_overlay(tui);
                     } else if let Err(err) =
-                        tui.set_mouse_capture(crate::tui::MouseCapture::Inherit)
+                        tui.set_mouse_capture(app.chat_widget.mouse_capture(tui.is_owned_screen()))
                     {
                         break Err(err.into());
                     }
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/questions.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/questions.rs
index 83884b3228..c65a10c216 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/questions.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/questions.rs
@@ -3,9 +3,25 @@
 
 use super::*;
 use crate::bottom_pane::QuestionSubmission;
+use crate::tui::MouseCapture;
 use codex_protocol::items::AsyncUserInputQuestion;
 
 impl ChatWidget {
+    pub(crate) fn mouse_capture(&self, owned_screen: bool) -> MouseCapture {
+        if owned_screen
+            && !self.bottom_pane.has_active_modal()
+            && self
+                .bottom_pane
+                .questions
+                .as_ref()
+                .is_some_and(|q| q.expanded)
+        {
+            MouseCapture::Disabled
+        } else {
+            MouseCapture::Inherit
+        }
+    }
+
     pub(super) fn take_question_drafts(&mut self) -> Option<Vec<String>> {
         if matches!(
             self.pending_notification,
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests/questions_tests.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests/questions_tests.rs
index 6357208c95..13c345bd1c 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests/questions_tests.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget/tests/questions_tests.rs
@@ -668,6 +668,27 @@ fn open_questions(chat: &mut ChatWidget, options: Option<Vec<String>>) {
     render_bottom_popup(chat, /*width*/ 80);
 }
 
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn expanded_question_yields_mouse_to_terminal_for_links() {
+    use crate::tui::MouseCapture::Disabled;
+    use crate::tui::MouseCapture::Inherit;
+
+    let (mut chat, _rx, _ops) = make_chatwidget_manual(/*model_override*/ None).await;
+    let url = "https://example.com/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/r2/overview";
+    chat.add_async_questions("message", &[question(url, /*options*/ None)]);
+    assert_eq!(chat.mouse_capture(/*owned_screen*/ true), Inherit);
+    chat.handle_key_event(KeyEvent::new(KeyCode::Up, KeyModifiers::ALT));
+    assert_eq!(chat.mouse_capture(/*owned_screen*/ true), Disabled);
+    assert_eq!(chat.mouse_capture(/*owned_screen*/ false), Inherit);
+    chat.handle_key_event(KeyEvent::new(KeyCode::Down, KeyModifiers::ALT));
+    assert_eq!(chat.mouse_capture(/*owned_screen*/ true), Inherit);
+
+    chat.handle_key_event(KeyEvent::new(KeyCode::Up, KeyModifiers::ALT));
+    chat.open_warnings(&[]);
+    assert!(render_bottom_popup(&chat, /*width*/ 100).contains(url));
+    assert_eq!(chat.mouse_capture(/*owned_screen*/ true), Disabled);
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn question_queue_key_does_not_steer_the_running_turn() {
     let (mut chat, _rx, mut ops) = make_chatwidget_manual(/*model_override*/ None).await;