diff --git a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/BaseTerminalController.swift b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/BaseTerminalController.swift
index 9454b1f86..273d9733f 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/BaseTerminalController.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/BaseTerminalController.swift
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ class BaseTerminalController: NSWindowController,
         if to.isEmpty {
             focusedSurface = nil
         }
+        syncSurfaceTreeOcclusionState()
     }
 
     /// Update all surfaces with the focus state. This ensures that libghostty has an accurate view about
@@ -1256,10 +1257,15 @@ class BaseTerminalController: NSWindowController,
     }
 
     func windowDidChangeOcclusionState(_ notification: Notification) {
+        syncSurfaceTreeOcclusionState()
+    }
+
+    private func syncSurfaceTreeOcclusionState() {
         let visible = self.window?.occlusionState.contains(.visible) ?? false
         for view in surfaceTree {
-            if let surface = view.surface {
+            if let surface = view.surface, view.isWindowVisible != visible {
                 ghostty_surface_set_occlusion(surface, visible)
+                view.isWindowVisible = visible
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Surface View/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Surface View/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift
index b1920f170..887482b30 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Surface View/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift	
+++ b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Surface View/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift	
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@ extension Ghostty {
         // Whether the cursor is currently visible (not hidden by typing, etc.)
         @Published private(set) var cursorVisible: Bool = true
 
+        /// Whether the belonging window is visible
+        ///
+        /// We track this to restore surface occlusion state
+        /// after this surface is dragged to another window
+        var isWindowVisible = false
+
         /// The configuration derived from the Ghostty config so we don't need to rely on references.
         @Published private(set) var derivedConfig: DerivedConfig