diff --git a/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-input-handler.ts b/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-input-handler.ts
index 95614ae5..6bd6695a 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-input-handler.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-input-handler.ts
@@ -34,27 +34,13 @@ const activateInput = (
   }
 
   const normalized = input.trim()
-
-  if (normalized.length > 1) {
+  const hasMenuInput = normalized.length > 0 || input.length > 0
+  const hasMenuActionKey = key.upArrow || key.downArrow || key.return
+  if (hasMenuInput || hasMenuActionKey) {
     context.setInputStage("active")
     return { activated: true, allowProcessing: true }
   }
 
-  if (key.upArrow || key.downArrow || key.return) {
-    context.setInputStage("active")
-    return { activated: true, allowProcessing: false }
-  }
-
-  if (normalized.length === 1) {
-    context.setInputStage("active")
-    return { activated: true, allowProcessing: false }
-  }
-
-  if (input.length > 0) {
-    context.setInputStage("active")
-    return { activated: true, allowProcessing: false }
-  }
-
   return { activated: false, allowProcessing: false }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-state.ts b/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-state.ts
index 5319ba09..3982ecd5 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-state.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/docker-git/menu-state.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,16 @@ export type MenuSnapshotStore = {
   current: MenuSnapshot
 }
 
+// CHANGE: make a fresh CLI TUI process the first user key after readiness gates
+// WHY: ready/ignoreUntil already filters bootstrap noise; skipping valid input breaks menu liveness
+// QUOTE(ISSUE): "Почему-то CLI TUI не работает"
+// REF: issue-274
+// SOURCE: n/a
+// FORMAT THEOREM: forall key in ValidMenuInput: ready(menu) -> processed(key)
+// PURITY: CORE
+// EFFECT: n/a
+// INVARIANT: initial snapshot has no synthetic skipped user inputs
+// COMPLEXITY: O(1)
 export const defaultMenuSnapshot = (): MenuSnapshot => ({
   activeDir: null,
   runningDockerGitContainers: 0,
@@ -39,9 +49,9 @@ export const defaultMenuSnapshot = (): MenuSnapshot => ({
   busy: false,
   message: null,
   view: { _tag: "Menu" },
-  inputStage: "cold",
+  inputStage: "active",
   ready: false,
-  skipInputs: 2,
+  skipInputs: 0,
   sshActive: false,
   startupLoaded: false
 })
diff --git a/packages/app/tests/docker-git/menu-input-handler.test.ts b/packages/app/tests/docker-git/menu-input-handler.test.ts
index 6bc91910..20999834 100644
--- a/packages/app/tests/docker-git/menu-input-handler.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app/tests/docker-git/menu-input-handler.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest"
 
 import { handleUserInput } from "../../src/docker-git/menu-input-handler.js"
 import type { MenuInputContext } from "../../src/docker-git/menu-input-handler.js"
+import { defaultMenuSnapshot } from "../../src/docker-git/menu-state.js"
 
 const makeContext = (inputStage: "cold" | "active"): MenuInputContext & {
   readonly runnerRunEffect: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>
@@ -47,15 +48,15 @@ const makeContext = (inputStage: "cold" | "active"): MenuInputContext & {
 }
 
 describe("menu-input-handler", () => {
-  it("swallows the first single-character alias on cold start", () => {
+  it("handles the first single-character alias on cold start", () => {
     const context = makeContext("cold")
 
     handleUserInput("s", {}, context)
 
     expect(context.setInputStageMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith("active")
-    expect(context.runnerRunEffect).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(context.runnerRunEffect).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(context.setSkipInputsMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
     expect(context.setViewMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
-    expect(context.setMessageMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
   })
 
   it("allows the same alias once input is already active", () => {
@@ -66,4 +67,11 @@ describe("menu-input-handler", () => {
     expect(context.runnerRunEffect).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
     expect(context.setSkipInputsMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
   })
+
+  it("starts a fresh TUI snapshot without synthetic skipped inputs", () => {
+    const snapshot = defaultMenuSnapshot()
+
+    expect(snapshot.inputStage).toBe("active")
+    expect(snapshot.skipInputs).toBe(0)
+  })
 })