diff --git a/kitty_tests/ssh.py b/kitty_tests/ssh.py
index c36afc761..66e6caaeb 100644
--- a/kitty_tests/ssh.py
+++ b/kitty_tests/ssh.py
@@ -43,6 +43,15 @@ print(' '.join(map(str, buf)))'''), lines=13, cols=77)
         t('ssh -p 33 main', port=33)
 
     def test_ssh_bootstrap_script(self):
+        # test handling of data in tty before tarfile is sent
+        all_possible_sh = tuple(sh for sh in ('dash', 'zsh', 'bash', 'posh', 'sh') if shutil.which(sh))
+        for sh in all_possible_sh:
+            with self.subTest(sh=sh), tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tdir:
+                pty = self.check_bootstrap(
+                    sh, tdir, extra_exec='echo "ld:$leading_data"; exit 0',
+                    SHELL_INTEGRATION_VALUE='', pre_data='before_tarfile')
+                self.ae(pty.screen_contents(), 'UNTAR_DONE\nld:before_tarfile')
+
         # test various detection methods for login_shell
         methods = []
         if shutil.which('python') or shutil.which('python3') or shutil.which('python2'):
@@ -57,7 +66,6 @@ print(' '.join(map(str, buf)))'''), lines=13, cols=77)
         self.assertTrue(methods)
         import pwd
         expected_login_shell = pwd.getpwuid(os.geteuid()).pw_shell
-        all_possible_sh = tuple(sh for sh in ('dash', 'zsh', 'bash', 'posh', 'sh') if shutil.which(sh))
         for m in methods:
             for sh in all_possible_sh:
                 with self.subTest(sh=sh, method=m), tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tdir:
@@ -79,7 +87,7 @@ print(' '.join(map(str, buf)))'''), lines=13, cols=77)
                 with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tdir:
                     self.check_bootstrap('sh', tdir, ok_login_shell, val)
 
-    def check_bootstrap(self, sh, home_dir, login_shell='', SHELL_INTEGRATION_VALUE='enabled', extra_exec=''):
+    def check_bootstrap(self, sh, home_dir, login_shell='', SHELL_INTEGRATION_VALUE='enabled', extra_exec='', pre_data=''):
         script = bootstrap_script(
             EXEC_CMD=f'echo "UNTAR_DONE"; {extra_exec}',
             OVERRIDE_LOGIN_SHELL=login_shell,
@@ -91,6 +99,8 @@ print(' '.join(map(str, buf)))'''), lines=13, cols=77)
         # prevent newuser-install from running
         open(os.path.join(home_dir, '.zshrc'), 'w').close()
         pty = self.create_pty(f'{sh} -c {shlex.quote(script)}', cwd=home_dir, env=env)
+        if pre_data:
+            pty.write_buf = pre_data.encode('utf-8')
         del script
 
         def check_untar_or_fail():
diff --git a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
index 64bfc5f40..4573c5033 100644
--- a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ if [ -z "$USER" ]; then USER=$(whoami); fi
 data_password="DATA_PASSWORD"
 password_filename="PASSWORD_FILENAME"
 data_complete="n"
+leading_data=""
 
 printf "\033P@kitty-ssh|%s:%s:%s\033\\" "$hostname" "$password_filename" "$data_password"
 size=""
@@ -61,6 +62,8 @@ get_data() {
         else
             if [ "$n" = "$record_separator" ]; then 
                 record_started=1; 
+            else
+                leading_data="$leading_data$n"
             fi
         fi
     done
@@ -75,6 +78,12 @@ command stty "$saved_tty_settings"
 saved_tty_settings=""
 if [ "$rc" != "0" ]; then die "Failed to extract data transmitted by ssh kitten over the TTY device"; fi
 if [ ! -f "$HOME/.terminfo/kitty.terminfo" ]; then die "Extracted data transmitted by ssh kitten is incomplete"; fi
+if [ -n "$leading_data" ]; then
+    # clear current line as it might have things echoed on it from leading_data
+    # because we only turn off echo in this script whereas the leading bytes could 
+    # have been sent before the script had a chance to run
+    printf "\r\033[K"  
+fi
 
 # export TERMINFO
 tname=".terminfo"