diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 08ba27820..1f0d0cd17 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Deprecations and removed features
 Interactive improvements
 ------------------------
 - :doc:`prompt_pwd <cmds/prompt_pwd>` now strips control characters.
+- Repaint events (as triggered by changes to color variables or event handlers running ``commandline -f repaint``) no longer reset the completion pager and other transient UI states (:issue:`12683`).
 - Background color and underline color specified in :envvar:`fish_color_valid_path` are now respected (:issue:`12622`).
 
 Improved terminal support
diff --git a/src/reader/reader.rs b/src/reader/reader.rs
index d7bd38996..a8ab5394d 100644
--- a/src/reader/reader.rs
+++ b/src/reader/reader.rs
@@ -1154,9 +1154,9 @@ pub fn reader_execute_readline_cmd(parser: &Parser, ch: CharEvent) {
     if matches!(
         readline_cmd_evt.cmd,
         ReadlineCmd::ClearScreenAndRepaint
+            | ReadlineCmd::ForceRepaint
             | ReadlineCmd::RepaintMode
             | ReadlineCmd::Repaint
-            | ReadlineCmd::ForceRepaint
     ) {
         data.queued_repaint = true;
     }
@@ -2847,7 +2847,9 @@ fn handle_char_event(&mut self, injected_event: Option<CharEvent>) -> ControlFlo
                     self.command_line_transient_edit = None;
                 }
 
-                self.rls_mut().last_cmd = Some(readline_cmd);
+                if !command_only_affects_rendering(readline_cmd) {
+                    self.rls_mut().last_cmd = Some(readline_cmd);
+                }
             }
             CharEvent::Command(command) => {
                 self.run_input_command_scripts(&command);
@@ -6291,6 +6293,15 @@ fn command_ends_history_search(c: ReadlineCmd) -> bool {
     )
 }
 
+fn command_only_affects_rendering(c: ReadlineCmd) -> bool {
+    #[allow(non_camel_case_types)]
+    type rl = ReadlineCmd;
+    matches!(
+        c,
+        rl::ClearScreenAndRepaint | rl::ForceRepaint | rl::RepaintMode | rl::Repaint
+    )
+}
+
 /// Return true if we believe ourselves to be orphaned. loop_count is how many times we've tried to
 /// stop ourselves via SIGGTIN.
 fn check_for_orphaned_process(loop_count: usize, shell_pgid: libc::pid_t) -> bool {
diff --git a/tests/checks/tmux-repaint.fish b/tests/checks/tmux-repaint.fish
index ba565352f..564db49d5 100644
--- a/tests/checks/tmux-repaint.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/tmux-repaint.fish
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ isolated-tmux-start -C '
     bind ctrl-g,E "set -g fish_color_command 333"
     bind ctrl-g,F "set -U fish_color_param 444"
     bind ctrl-g,G "set -eg fish_color_command"
+    bind ctrl-g,R repaint
 '
 
 isolated-tmux capture-pane -p
@@ -45,3 +46,14 @@ isolated-tmux send-keys C-g G
 tmux-sleep
 isolated-tmux capture-pane -p
 # CHECK: 5>
+
+isolated-tmux send-keys status Space Tab C-g R Tab
+tmux-sleep
+isolated-tmux capture-pane -p | sed 2q
+# CHECK: 6> status
+# CHECK: basename  (Print the file name (without the path) of the currently running scr…)
+isolated-tmux send-keys C-g R Tab
+tmux-sleep
+isolated-tmux capture-pane -p | sed 2q
+# CHECK: 7> status basename
+# CHECK: basename  (Print the file name (without the path) of the currently running scr…)