diff --git a/org/channel-tui-main.org b/org/channel-tui-main.org
index 2ebb734..a96403d 100644
--- a/org/channel-tui-main.org
+++ b/org/channel-tui-main.org
@@ -910,12 +910,8 @@ Event handlers + daemon I/O + main loop.
         ;; breaks read on fd 0 in this SBCL environment, but -echo alone
         ;; works. A cat subprocess inherits the terminal and provides
         ;; bytes through a pipe that SBCL reads reliably.
-         ;; Enable character-at-a-time input (-icanon) so Ctrl+P/B
-         ;; arrive as individual bytes instead of being buffered.
-         ;; SBCL now reads from cat's pipe, not directly from fd 0,
-         ;; so -icanon doesn't trigger the SBCL read block issue.
-         (uiop:run-program '("stty" "-icanon" "-echo")
-                           :output nil :ignore-error-status t)
+         ;; stty -icanon -echo is set by the bash script before exec sbcl.
+         ;; A cat subprocess reads keyboard input from the terminal.
          (let* ((cat-proc (uiop:launch-program '("cat")
                                               :output :stream
                                               :input :interactive
diff --git a/passepartout b/passepartout
index 3febe3f..86dbe90 100755
--- a/passepartout
+++ b/passepartout
@@ -410,6 +410,9 @@ LISPEOF
         # (SBCL strips COLUMNS/LINES but leaves MY_* alone).
         ts=$(stty size 2>/dev/null)
         export MY_TERM_ROWS="${ts%% *}" MY_TERM_COLS="${ts##* }"
+        # Set character-at-a-time mode BEFORE SBCL starts
+        # (uiop:run-program inside SBCL can't access the terminal)
+        stty -icanon -echo 2>/dev/null
         # Clear stale cl-tty cache to ensure latest backend-size fixes
         find ~/.cache/common-lisp -name "*.fasl" -path "*cl-tty*" -delete 2>/dev/null
         exec sbcl --noinform --load /tmp/tui-load.lisp