diff --git a/packages/loopover-mcp/bin/loopover-mcp.js b/packages/loopover-mcp/bin/loopover-mcp.js
index e9ad410e6e..c541545153 100755
--- a/packages/loopover-mcp/bin/loopover-mcp.js
+++ b/packages/loopover-mcp/bin/loopover-mcp.js
@@ -2282,7 +2282,18 @@ async function maintainCli(args) {
   if (subcommand === "status") {
     const payload = await apiGet(queueBase);
     const actions = payload.pendingActions ?? [];
-    emit(payload, [`Agent approval queue for ${repoFullName}: ${actions.length} pending.`, ...actions.map((action) => `- ${action.id}  ${action.actionClass} on #${action.pullNumber}  ${action.reason ?? ""}`)].join("\n"));
+    // #6261: every field here is the API's. `emit` sends this string to the terminal only on the plain-text path
+    // (--json re-serializes `payload` instead), so sanitizing the composed line costs the JSON contract nothing.
+    emit(
+      payload,
+      [
+        `Agent approval queue for ${repoFullName}: ${actions.length} pending.`,
+        ...actions.map(
+          (action) =>
+            `- ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.id)}  ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.actionClass)} on #${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.pullNumber)}  ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.reason ?? "")}`,
+        ),
+      ].join("\n"),
+    );
     return;
   }
   // #2236 — explicit queue listing so maintainers can discover ids for approve/reject (alias: pending).
@@ -2294,10 +2305,12 @@ async function maintainCli(args) {
       [
         `Pending agent actions for ${repoFullName}: ${actions.length}.`,
         ...actions.map((action) => {
-          const kind = action.actionClass ?? action.kind ?? "unknown";
-          const target = action.pullNumber != null ? `#${action.pullNumber}` : (action.target ?? "—");
-          const summary = action.reason ?? action.summary ?? "";
-          return `- ${action.id}  ${kind}  ${target}${summary ? `  ${summary}` : ""}`;
+          // #6261: sanitize each field as it is read, so the fallback chains can't smuggle an escape in through
+          // whichever branch happens to win (`kind` alone has three sources).
+          const kind = sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.actionClass ?? action.kind ?? "unknown");
+          const target = action.pullNumber != null ? `#${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.pullNumber)}` : sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.target ?? "—");
+          const summary = sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.reason ?? action.summary ?? "");
+          return `- ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action.id)}  ${kind}  ${target}${summary ? `  ${summary}` : ""}`;
         }),
       ].join("\n"),
     );
@@ -2560,6 +2573,18 @@ async function lintPrTextCli(args) {
   for (const fix of payload.fixes ?? []) process.stdout.write(`- ${fix}\n`);
 }
 
+// Strip ANSI escapes + control characters from text this CLI prints as plain text. Rule (#6261): every value that
+// reaches a terminal from a source the user does not control -- an API response, or free text the API echoed back
+// from a third-party issue/PR -- goes through this first. Otherwise a hostile string can repaint the screen,
+// rewrite earlier lines, or fake a success next to a real failure, since the terminal cannot tell our text from
+// the payload's.
+//
+// Two things deliberately do NOT go through it:
+//   - `--json` output. JSON.stringify escapes U+001B (and the rest of U+0000-U+001F) as a \u001b literal, so an escape
+//     sequence cannot survive into the printed document -- and sanitizing there would corrupt the machine-readable
+//     contract callers parse.
+//   - Our own literals, and values the user themself passed in (--login, --repo). Those are already the user's,
+//     and the CLI prints no colour of its own -- there is no intentional ANSI in this file to preserve.
 function sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(value) {
   return String(value)
     .replace(/\x1b(?:\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~]|\][^\x07\x1b]*(?:\x07|\x1b\\)|[PX^_][^\x1b]*(?:\x1b\\)|[@-_])/g, "")
@@ -2657,8 +2682,11 @@ async function slopRiskCli(args) {
     process.stdout.write(`${JSON.stringify(payload, null, 2)}\n`);
     return;
   }
-  process.stdout.write(`Slop risk: ${payload.slopRisk} (${payload.band})\n`);
-  for (const finding of payload.findings ?? []) process.stdout.write(`- ${finding.title}: ${finding.detail}\n`);
+  // #6261: the whole payload is the API's, so the score line is sanitized alongside the findings -- leaving `band`
+  // raw would keep this exact command exploitable by the exact response the findings are being protected from.
+  process.stdout.write(`Slop risk: ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(payload.slopRisk)} (${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(payload.band)})\n`);
+  for (const finding of payload.findings ?? [])
+    process.stdout.write(`- ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(finding.title)}: ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(finding.detail)}\n`);
 }
 
 function printIssueSlopHelp() {
@@ -2690,8 +2718,11 @@ async function issueSlopCli(args) {
     process.stdout.write(`${JSON.stringify(payload, null, 2)}\n`);
     return;
   }
-  process.stdout.write(`Issue slop risk: ${payload.slopRisk} (${payload.band})\n`);
-  for (const finding of payload.findings ?? []) process.stdout.write(`- ${finding.title}: ${finding.detail}\n`);
+  // #6261: same as slop-risk, and the sharper case of the two -- the body being assessed is routinely a THIRD
+  // party's issue text, so a hostile issue is the expected input here, not a hypothetical one.
+  process.stdout.write(`Issue slop risk: ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(payload.slopRisk)} (${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(payload.band)})\n`);
+  for (const finding of payload.findings ?? [])
+    process.stdout.write(`- ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(finding.title)}: ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(finding.detail)}\n`);
 }
 
 function printDecisionPackHelp() {
@@ -2716,9 +2747,12 @@ async function decisionPackCli(options) {
     process.stdout.write(`${JSON.stringify(payload, null, 2)}\n`);
     return;
   }
+  // #6261: decisionPackToolSummary is left alone -- verified, not assumed. It interpolates `login` (the user's own
+  // --login/env value) and `payload.freshness`, and freshness only ever reaches the string inside an equality guard
+  // against the literals "stale"/"rebuilding", so the API cannot route text of its own choosing through it.
   process.stdout.write(`${decisionPackToolSummary(login, payload)}\n`);
-  if (payload.summary) process.stdout.write(`${payload.summary}\n`);
-  if (payload.cache?.rerunGuidance) process.stdout.write(`Rerun when: ${payload.cache.rerunGuidance}\n`);
+  if (payload.summary) process.stdout.write(`${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(payload.summary)}\n`);
+  if (payload.cache?.rerunGuidance) process.stdout.write(`Rerun when: ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(payload.cache.rerunGuidance)}\n`);
 }
 
 function printRepoDecisionHelp() {
@@ -2746,10 +2780,12 @@ async function repoDecisionCli(options) {
     process.stdout.write(`${JSON.stringify(payload, null, 2)}\n`);
     return;
   }
+  // #6261: repoDecisionToolSummary is left alone for the same reason -- it interpolates only `login` and
+  // `repoFullName`, both of which the user typed on their own command line. No payload text reaches it.
   process.stdout.write(`${repoDecisionToolSummary(login, repoFullName, payload)}\n`);
   const actions = payload.decision?.nextActions ?? payload.decision?.publicNextActions ?? [];
-  for (const action of actions.slice(0, 3)) process.stdout.write(`- ${action}\n`);
-  if (payload.cache?.rerunGuidance) process.stdout.write(`Rerun when: ${payload.cache.rerunGuidance}\n`);
+  for (const action of actions.slice(0, 3)) process.stdout.write(`- ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(action)}\n`);
+  if (payload.cache?.rerunGuidance) process.stdout.write(`Rerun when: ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(payload.cache.rerunGuidance)}\n`);
 }
 
 function runCacheCli(args) {
@@ -3708,9 +3744,15 @@ async function doctor(options) {
         if (group.nextCommand?.command) process.stdout.write(`  ${group.nextCommand.command}\n`);
         continue;
       }
+      // #6261: a check's `detail` is the one field here that carries text this CLI didn't write -- an API error
+      // message, an npm-registry error, a compatibility report's `error`. Some of those already pass through
+      // sanitizeDiagnosticText, but that redacts tokens and local paths; it is indifferent to escape sequences. So
+      // the terminal pass belongs here at the print boundary, where it covers every check source at once.
       for (const check of group.checks ?? []) {
-        process.stdout.write(`- ${check.status}: ${check.name} - ${check.detail}\n`);
-        if (check.remediation) process.stdout.write(`  ${check.remediation}\n`);
+        process.stdout.write(
+          `- ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(check.status)}: ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(check.name)} - ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(check.detail)}\n`,
+        );
+        if (check.remediation) process.stdout.write(`  ${sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput(check.remediation)}\n`);
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/test/unit/mcp-cli-terminal-sanitization.test.ts b/test/unit/mcp-cli-terminal-sanitization.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec75f46984
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/mcp-cli-terminal-sanitization.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { closeFixtureServer, runAsync, startFixtureServer } from "./support/mcp-cli-harness";
+
+// #6261: sanitizePlainTextTerminalOutput guarded exactly one output path (validateConfigCli's warnings) while
+// every other command that prints API-controlled free text wrote it straight to the terminal. A hostile response
+// could therefore repaint the screen, erase the lines above it, or park a convincing fake verdict next to the real
+// one -- the terminal cannot tell our text from the payload's.
+//
+// Each test drives a real command against a fixture that answers with the attack string, and asserts the escape
+// never lands. All of them fail against the pre-fix CLI.
+
+const ESC = "\u001b";
+/** A realistic payload: colour + cursor-up + line-erase + an OSC title-set (BEL-terminated) + a bare NUL. */
+const INJECTION = `${ESC}[31mRED${ESC}[0m${ESC}[1A${ESC}[2K${ESC}]0;pwned\u0007\u0000TAIL`;
+/** Exactly the class the sanitizer strips: C0/C1 controls and DEL. */
+const CONTROL_CHARS = /[\u0000-\u0008\u000b\u000c\u000e-\u001f\u007f-\u009f]/;
+
+/** The text must still be readable -- sanitized, not merely dropped -- with every escape gone. */
+function expectNeutralized(output: string) {
+  expect(output).not.toContain(ESC);
+  expect(output).not.toMatch(CONTROL_CHARS);
+  expect(output).toContain("TAIL");
+}
+
+describe("loopover-mcp CLI — terminal-escape sanitization (#6261)", () => {
+  let tempDir: string | null = null;
+
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    await closeFixtureServer();
+    if (tempDir) rmSync(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    tempDir = null;
+  });
+
+  async function env() {
+    tempDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "loopover-cli-"));
+    const url = await startFixtureServer({ terminalInjection: INJECTION });
+    return { LOOPOVER_API_URL: url, LOOPOVER_TOKEN: "session-token", LOOPOVER_CONFIG_DIR: tempDir, LOOPOVER_API_TIMEOUT_MS: "1000" };
+  }
+
+  it("slop-risk: a hostile finding title/detail and band cannot reach the terminal", async () => {
+    const out = await runAsync(["slop-risk", "--changed-file", "src/widget.ts:80:2", "--description", "A description."], await env());
+    expectNeutralized(out);
+  });
+
+  it("issue-slop: a hostile finding title/detail and band cannot reach the terminal", async () => {
+    // The sharpest case: the body assessed here is routinely a third party's issue text.
+    const out = await runAsync(["issue-slop", "--title", "Fix bug", "--body", "Some body."], await env());
+    expectNeutralized(out);
+  });
+
+  it("decision-pack: a hostile summary and rerunGuidance cannot reach the terminal", async () => {
+    const out = await runAsync(["decision-pack", "--login", "JSONbored"], await env());
+    expectNeutralized(out);
+  });
+
+  it("repo-decision: a hostile nextActions entry and rerunGuidance cannot reach the terminal", async () => {
+    const out = await runAsync(["repo-decision", "--login", "JSONbored", "--repo", "JSONbored/gittensory"], await env());
+    expectNeutralized(out);
+  });
+
+  it("maintain status: a hostile action reason/actionClass cannot reach the terminal", async () => {
+    const out = await runAsync(["maintain", "status", "--repo", "owner/repo"], await env());
+    expectNeutralized(out);
+  });
+
+  it("maintain queue: a hostile action reason/actionClass cannot reach the terminal", async () => {
+    const out = await runAsync(["maintain", "queue", "--repo", "owner/repo"], await env());
+    expectNeutralized(out);
+  });
+
+  // --json is deliberately NOT sanitized: JSON.stringify escapes U+001B as a \u001b literal, so an escape
+  // sequence cannot survive into the printed document, and stripping bytes there would corrupt the
+  // machine-readable contract callers parse. This pins that reasoning instead of trusting it.
+  it("--json keeps the payload verbatim yet still cannot emit a raw escape", async () => {
+    const out = await runAsync(["maintain", "status", "--repo", "owner/repo", "--json"], await env());
+    expect(out).not.toContain(ESC);
+    expect(out).not.toMatch(CONTROL_CHARS);
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(out) as { pendingActions: Array<{ reason: string }> };
+    expect(parsed.pendingActions[0]!.reason).toBe(INJECTION);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/unit/support/mcp-cli-harness.ts b/test/unit/support/mcp-cli-harness.ts
index 5226b0243f..bab7050a22 100644
--- a/test/unit/support/mcp-cli-harness.ts
+++ b/test/unit/support/mcp-cli-harness.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ import { expect } from "vitest";
 export const bin = join(process.cwd(), "packages/loopover-mcp/bin/loopover-mcp.js");
 let server: Server | null = null;
 
+/** #6261: put `injection` in every free-text field of a slop assessment that reaches plain-text output. */
+function withTerminalInjection<T extends { band?: unknown; findings?: unknown }>(fixture: T, injection?: string): T {
+  if (!injection) return fixture;
+  return { ...fixture, band: injection, findings: [{ title: injection, detail: injection }] };
+}
+
 export async function closeFixtureServer() {
   if (server) await new Promise<void>((resolve) => server?.close(() => resolve()));
   server = null;
@@ -126,6 +132,9 @@ export function readDecisionPackCacheText(configDir: string) {
 
 export async function startFixtureServer(
   options: {
+    /** #6261: when set, the routes whose free text reaches plain-text terminal output return this string in
+     *  those fields, standing in for a hostile API. Tests assert it can't reach the terminal un-neutered. */
+    terminalInjection?: string;
     latestVersion?: string;
     latestRecommendedMcpVersion?: string;
     minMcpVersion?: string;
@@ -230,7 +239,13 @@ export async function startFixtureServer(
         response.end(options.decisionPackErrorBody ?? JSON.stringify({ error: "decision_pack_unavailable" }));
         return;
       }
-      response.end(JSON.stringify(decisionPackFixture()));
+      response.end(
+        JSON.stringify(
+          options.terminalInjection
+            ? { ...decisionPackFixture(), summary: options.terminalInjection, cache: { rerunGuidance: options.terminalInjection } }
+            : decisionPackFixture(),
+        ),
+      );
       return;
     }
     if (request.url === "/v1/contributors/JSONbored/repos/JSONbored/gittensory/decision" && request.method === "GET") {
@@ -240,7 +255,16 @@ export async function startFixtureServer(
         response.end(options.repoDecisionErrorBody ?? JSON.stringify({ error: "repo_decision_unavailable" }));
         return;
       }
-      response.end(JSON.stringify({ status: "ready", login: "JSONbored", repoFullName: "JSONbored/gittensory", decision: decisionPackFixture().repoDecisions[0] }));
+      const repoDecision = decisionPackFixture().repoDecisions[0];
+      response.end(
+        JSON.stringify({
+          status: "ready",
+          login: "JSONbored",
+          repoFullName: "JSONbored/gittensory",
+          decision: options.terminalInjection ? { ...repoDecision, nextActions: [options.terminalInjection] } : repoDecision,
+          ...(options.terminalInjection ? { cache: { rerunGuidance: options.terminalInjection } } : {}),
+        }),
+      );
       return;
     }
     if (request.url === "/v1/agent/plan-next-work" && request.method === "POST") {
@@ -299,12 +323,12 @@ export async function startFixtureServer(
         tests?: string[];
         testFiles?: string[];
       };
-      response.end(JSON.stringify(slopRiskFixture(body)));
+      response.end(JSON.stringify(withTerminalInjection(slopRiskFixture(body), options.terminalInjection)));
       return;
     }
     if (request.url === "/v1/lint/issue-slop" && request.method === "POST") {
       const body = (await readJsonRequest(request)) as { title?: string; body?: string };
-      response.end(JSON.stringify(issueSlopFixture(body)));
+      response.end(JSON.stringify(withTerminalInjection(issueSlopFixture(body), options.terminalInjection)));
       return;
     }
     if (request.url === "/v1/opportunities/find" && request.method === "POST") {
@@ -352,7 +376,13 @@ export async function startFixtureServer(
     }
     // #784 maintainer controls (agent approval queue + kill-switch).
     if (request.url === "/v1/repos/owner/repo/agent/pending-actions" && request.method === "GET") {
-      response.end(JSON.stringify({ repoFullName: "owner/repo", pendingActions: [{ id: "pa-1", actionClass: "merge", pullNumber: 7, reason: "clean", status: "pending" }] }));
+      const action = { id: "pa-1", actionClass: "merge", pullNumber: 7, reason: "clean", status: "pending" };
+      response.end(
+        JSON.stringify({
+          repoFullName: "owner/repo",
+          pendingActions: [options.terminalInjection ? { ...action, reason: options.terminalInjection, actionClass: options.terminalInjection } : action],
+        }),
+      );
       return;
     }
     if (request.url === "/v1/repos/owner/repo/maintainer-noise" && request.method === "GET") {