diff --git a/Sources/GhosttyTerminalView.swift b/Sources/GhosttyTerminalView.swift
index a84593a8..3e20f2e1 100644
--- a/Sources/GhosttyTerminalView.swift
+++ b/Sources/GhosttyTerminalView.swift
@@ -3700,23 +3700,23 @@ extension Notification.Name {
 private final class GhosttyScrollView: NSScrollView {
     weak var surfaceView: GhosttyNSView?
 
+    // Keep keyboard routing on the terminal surface; this wrapper is viewport plumbing.
+    override var acceptsFirstResponder: Bool { false }
+
     override func scrollWheel(with event: NSEvent) {
         guard let surfaceView else {
             super.scrollWheel(with: event)
             return
         }
 
-        if let surface = surfaceView.terminalSurface?.surface,
-           ghostty_surface_mouse_captured(surface) {
-            GhosttyNSView.focusLog("GhosttyScrollView.scrollWheel: mouseCaptured -> surface scroll")
-            if window?.firstResponder !== surfaceView {
-                window?.makeFirstResponder(surfaceView)
-            }
-            surfaceView.scrollWheel(with: event)
-        } else {
-            GhosttyNSView.focusLog("GhosttyScrollView.scrollWheel: super scroll")
-            super.scrollWheel(with: event)
+        // Route wheel gestures to the terminal surface so Ghostty handles scrollback.
+        // Letting NSScrollView consume these events moves the wrapper viewport itself,
+        // which causes pane-content drift instead of terminal scrollback movement.
+        GhosttyNSView.focusLog("GhosttyScrollView.scrollWheel: surface scroll")
+        if window?.firstResponder !== surfaceView {
+            window?.makeFirstResponder(surfaceView)
         }
+        surfaceView.scrollWheel(with: event)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/cmuxTests/CmuxWebViewKeyEquivalentTests.swift b/cmuxTests/CmuxWebViewKeyEquivalentTests.swift
index a9da122c..9bd5c215 100644
--- a/cmuxTests/CmuxWebViewKeyEquivalentTests.swift
+++ b/cmuxTests/CmuxWebViewKeyEquivalentTests.swift
@@ -6571,6 +6571,75 @@ final class CommandPaletteOverlayPromotionPolicyTests: XCTestCase {
 
 @MainActor
 final class GhosttySurfaceOverlayTests: XCTestCase {
+    private final class ScrollProbeSurfaceView: GhosttyNSView {
+        private(set) var scrollWheelCallCount = 0
+
+        override func scrollWheel(with event: NSEvent) {
+            scrollWheelCallCount += 1
+        }
+    }
+
+    func testTrackpadScrollRoutesToTerminalSurfaceAndPreservesKeyboardFocusPath() {
+        let window = NSWindow(
+            contentRect: NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 360, height: 240),
+            styleMask: [.titled, .closable],
+            backing: .buffered,
+            defer: false
+        )
+        defer { window.orderOut(nil) }
+
+        guard let contentView = window.contentView else {
+            XCTFail("Expected content view")
+            return
+        }
+
+        let surfaceView = ScrollProbeSurfaceView(frame: NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 160, height: 120))
+        let hostedView = GhosttySurfaceScrollView(surfaceView: surfaceView)
+        hostedView.frame = contentView.bounds
+        hostedView.autoresizingMask = [.width, .height]
+        contentView.addSubview(hostedView)
+
+        window.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil)
+        window.displayIfNeeded()
+        contentView.layoutSubtreeIfNeeded()
+        RunLoop.current.run(until: Date().addingTimeInterval(0.05))
+
+        guard let scrollView = hostedView.subviews.first(where: { $0 is NSScrollView }) as? NSScrollView else {
+            XCTFail("Expected hosted terminal scroll view")
+            return
+        }
+        XCTAssertFalse(
+            scrollView.acceptsFirstResponder,
+            "Host scroll view should not become first responder and steal terminal shortcuts"
+        )
+
+        _ = window.makeFirstResponder(nil)
+
+        guard let cgEvent = CGEvent(
+            scrollWheelEvent2Source: nil,
+            units: .pixel,
+            wheelCount: 2,
+            wheel1: 0,
+            wheel2: -12,
+            wheel3: 0
+        ), let scrollEvent = NSEvent(cgEvent: cgEvent) else {
+            XCTFail("Expected scroll wheel event")
+            return
+        }
+
+        scrollView.scrollWheel(with: scrollEvent)
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(
+            surfaceView.scrollWheelCallCount,
+            1,
+            "Trackpad wheel events should be forwarded directly to Ghostty surface scrolling"
+        )
+        XCTAssertTrue(
+            window.firstResponder === surfaceView,
+            "Scroll wheel handling should keep keyboard focus on terminal surface"
+        )
+    }
+
     func testInactiveOverlayVisibilityTracksRequestedState() {
         let hostedView = GhosttySurfaceScrollView(
             surfaceView: GhosttyNSView(frame: NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 80, height: 50))