diff --git a/src/lib/notcurses.c b/src/lib/notcurses.c
index 714246e55..b195cecac 100644
--- a/src/lib/notcurses.c
+++ b/src/lib/notcurses.c
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ notcurses_stop_minimal(void* vnc){
       }
     }
   }
+  logdebug("reset terminal, returning %d\n", ret);
   return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/lib/termdesc.c b/src/lib/termdesc.c
index 5460c3f2d..ec3c657a0 100644
--- a/src/lib/termdesc.c
+++ b/src/lib/termdesc.c
@@ -775,6 +775,7 @@ int interrogate_terminfo(tinfo* ti, const char* termtype, FILE* out, unsigned ut
   *cursor_x = *cursor_y = -1;
   memset(ti, 0, sizeof(*ti));
   ti->bg_collides_default = 0xfe000000;
+  ti->kbdlevel = UINT_MAX; // see comment in tinfo definition
   ti->qterm = TERMINAL_UNKNOWN;
   // we don't need a controlling tty for everything we do; allow a failure here
   ti->ttyfd = get_tty_fd(out);
@@ -1026,6 +1027,8 @@ int interrogate_terminfo(tinfo* ti, const char* termtype, FILE* out, unsigned ut
         goto err;
       }
     }
+  }else{
+    ti->kbdlevel = 0; // confirmed no support, don't bother popping
   }
   if(*cursor_x >= 0 && *cursor_y >= 0){
     if(add_u7_escape(ti, &tablelen, &tableused)){
diff --git a/src/lib/termdesc.h b/src/lib/termdesc.h
index 69ebca857..e0d28551f 100644
--- a/src/lib/termdesc.h
+++ b/src/lib/termdesc.h
@@ -186,6 +186,12 @@ typedef struct tinfo {
   HANDLE outhandle;
 #endif
 
+  // kitty keyboard protocol level. we initialize this to UINT_MAX, in case we
+  // crash while running the initialization automata (in that case, we want to
+  // pop the keyboard support level, which we normally do only if we detected
+  // actual support. at that point, we obviously haven't detected anything).
+  // after getting the initialization package back, if it's still UINT_MAX, we
+  // set it back to 0, since we know at that point that there's no support.
   unsigned kbdlevel;         // kitty keyboard support level
   bool bce;                  // is the bce property advertised?
   bool in_alt_screen;        // are we in the alternate screen?