diff --git a/packages/tui/src/clipboard.ts b/packages/tui/src/clipboard.ts
index 9374fc84417a..36cfa7954f4d 100644
--- a/packages/tui/src/clipboard.ts
+++ b/packages/tui/src/clipboard.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,11 @@ export function createClipboardAdapter(clipboard: CoreClipboardService): OwnedCl
         if (result.status === "limit-exceeded") {
           throw new RangeError("Clipboard content exceeded configured read or image conversion limits")
         }
-        return undefined
+        // WSL keeps the clipboard on the Windows side: Windows Terminal owns the selection and
+        // the native host clipboard has no bridge to it, so this read fails unless WSLg forwards
+        // Wayland. Read the Windows clipboard through interop instead.
+        if (result.status === "cancelled" || !isWSL()) return undefined
+        return readWindowsClipboard()
       }
 
       if (result.representation.mimeType === "image/png") {
@@ -65,3 +69,39 @@ export function createClipboardAdapter(clipboard: CoreClipboardService): OwnedCl
     },
   }
 }
+
+const WINDOWS_CLIPBOARD_IMAGE = [
+  "Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms",
+  "$image = [System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard]::GetImage()",
+  "if (-not $image) { exit 0 }",
+  "$stream = New-Object System.IO.MemoryStream",
+  "$image.Save($stream, [System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat]::Png)",
+  "[System.Convert]::ToBase64String($stream.ToArray())",
+].join("; ")
+
+// Containers on Docker Desktop or devcontainers on Windows also run the WSL kernel but have no
+// interop, so detect WSL by the variables it sets instead of the kernel release.
+function isWSL() {
+  return process.platform === "linux" && Boolean(process.env.WSL_DISTRO_NAME || process.env.WSL_INTEROP)
+}
+
+async function readWindowsClipboard(): Promise<ClipboardContent | undefined> {
+  if (!Bun.which("powershell.exe")) {
+    throw new Error("Clipboard image paste under WSL needs powershell.exe interop, which is not available")
+  }
+  const child = Bun.spawn(["powershell.exe", "-NonInteractive", "-NoProfile", "-Command", WINDOWS_CLIPBOARD_IMAGE], {
+    stdin: "ignore",
+    stdout: "pipe",
+    stderr: "ignore",
+  })
+  const timeout = setTimeout(() => child.kill(), 10_000)
+  try {
+    const output = await new Response(child.stdout).text()
+    if ((await child.exited) !== 0) throw new Error("Reading the Windows clipboard image failed")
+    const data = output.trim()
+    if (!data) return undefined
+    return { data, mime: "image/png" }
+  } finally {
+    clearTimeout(timeout)
+  }
+}