diff --git a/src/terminal/Screen.zig b/src/terminal/Screen.zig
index f93447651..fe158c0a3 100644
--- a/src/terminal/Screen.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/Screen.zig
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const charsets = @import("charsets.zig");
 const fastmem = @import("../fastmem.zig");
 const kitty = @import("kitty.zig");
 const sgr = @import("sgr.zig");
+const tripwire = @import("../tripwire.zig");
 const unicode = @import("../unicode/main.zig");
 const Selection = @import("Selection.zig");
 const PageList = @import("PageList.zig");
@@ -2371,6 +2372,10 @@ pub const SelectionString = struct {
     map: ?*StringMap = null,
 };
 
+const selectionString_tw = tripwire.module(enum {
+    copy_map,
+}, selectionString);
+
 /// Returns the raw text associated with a selection. This will unwrap
 /// soft-wrapped edges. The returned slice is owned by the caller and allocated
 /// using alloc, not the allocator associated with the screen (unless they match).
@@ -2380,7 +2385,7 @@ pub fn selectionString(
     self: *Screen,
     alloc: Allocator,
     opts: SelectionString,
-) ![:0]const u8 {
+) Allocator.Error![:0]const u8 {
     // We'll use this as our buffer to build our string.
     var aw: std.Io.Writer.Allocating = .init(alloc);
     defer aw.deinit();
@@ -2404,19 +2409,23 @@ pub fn selectionString(
         .map = &pins,
     };
 
-    // Emit
-    try formatter.format(&aw.writer);
+    // Emit. Since this is an allocating writer, a failed write
+    // just becomes an OOM.
+    formatter.format(&aw.writer) catch return error.OutOfMemory;
 
     // Build our final text and if we have a string map set that up.
     const text = try aw.toOwnedSliceSentinel(0);
     errdefer alloc.free(text);
     if (opts.map) |map| {
+        const map_string = try alloc.dupeZ(u8, text);
+        errdefer alloc.free(map_string);
+        try selectionString_tw.check(.copy_map);
+        const map_pins = try pins.toOwnedSlice(alloc);
         map.* = .{
-            .string = try alloc.dupeZ(u8, text),
-            .map = try pins.toOwnedSlice(alloc),
+            .string = map_string,
+            .map = map_pins,
         };
     }
-    errdefer if (opts.map) |m| m.deinit(alloc);
 
     return text;
 }
@@ -9464,3 +9473,34 @@ test "Screen setAttribute splits page on OutOfSpace at max styles" {
         s.cursor.page_pin.node != original_node;
     try testing.expect(page_was_split);
 }
+
+test "selectionString map allocation failure cleanup" {
+    // This test verifies that if toOwnedSlice fails when building
+    // the StringMap, we don't leak the already-allocated map.string.
+    const testing = std.testing;
+    const alloc = testing.allocator;
+    var s = try Screen.init(alloc, .{ .cols = 10, .rows = 5, .max_scrollback = 0 });
+    defer s.deinit();
+
+    try s.testWriteString("hello");
+
+    // Get a selection
+    const sel = Selection.init(
+        s.pages.pin(.{ .active = .{ .x = 0, .y = 0 } }).?,
+        s.pages.pin(.{ .active = .{ .x = 4, .y = 0 } }).?,
+        false,
+    );
+
+    // Trigger allocation failure on toOwnedSlice
+    var map: StringMap = undefined;
+    try selectionString_tw.errorAlways(.copy_map, error.OutOfMemory);
+    const result = s.selectionString(alloc, .{
+        .sel = sel,
+        .map = &map,
+    });
+    try testing.expectError(error.OutOfMemory, result);
+    try selectionString_tw.end(.reset);
+
+    // If this test passes without memory leaks (when run with testing.allocator),
+    // it means the errdefer properly cleaned up map.string when toOwnedSlice failed.
+}