diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a206b782..bffe11a6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 * fix: better command detection when serializing layouts for resurrection (https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/pull/4287)
 * fix: slow startup on very large caches (https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/pull/4292)
 * fix: don't show popups in the welcome screen (https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/pull/4294)
+* fix: reap processes when using an external clipboard tool (https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/pull/4298)
 
 ## [0.42.2] - 2025-04-15
 * refactor(terminal): track scroll_region as tuple rather than Option (https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij/pull/4082)
diff --git a/zellij-server/src/tab/copy_command.rs b/zellij-server/src/tab/copy_command.rs
index f0a592ef..eead0bd7 100644
--- a/zellij-server/src/tab/copy_command.rs
+++ b/zellij-server/src/tab/copy_command.rs
@@ -18,17 +18,44 @@ impl CopyCommand {
         }
     }
     pub fn set(&self, value: String) -> Result<()> {
-        let process = Command::new(self.command.clone())
+        let mut process = Command::new(self.command.clone())
             .args(self.args.clone())
             .stdin(Stdio::piped())
             .spawn()
             .with_context(|| format!("couldn't spawn {}", self.command))?;
         process
             .stdin
+            .take()
             .context("could not get stdin")?
             .write_all(value.as_bytes())
             .with_context(|| format!("couldn't write to {} stdin", self.command))?;
 
+        // reap process with a 1 second timeout
+        std::thread::spawn(move || {
+            let timeout = std::time::Duration::from_secs(1);
+            let start = std::time::Instant::now();
+
+            loop {
+                match process.try_wait() {
+                    Ok(Some(_)) => {
+                        return; // Process finished normally
+                    },
+                    Ok(None) => {
+                        if start.elapsed() > timeout {
+                            let _ = process.kill();
+                            log::error!("Copy operation times out after 1 second");
+                            return;
+                        }
+                        std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(50));
+                    },
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        log::error!("Clipboard failure: {}", e);
+                        return;
+                    },
+                }
+            }
+        });
+
         Ok(())
     }
 }