diff --git a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/createGatewayEventHandler.test.ts b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/createGatewayEventHandler.test.ts
index 1114c7161ab..27c49b0d4f6 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/createGatewayEventHandler.test.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/createGatewayEventHandler.test.ts
@@ -150,6 +150,20 @@ describe('createGatewayEventHandler', () => {
     expect(appended[appended.length - 1]).toMatchObject({ role: 'assistant', text: 'final answer' })
   })
 
+  it('filters spinner/status-only reasoning noise from completed thinking', () => {
+    const appended: Msg[] = []
+    const streamed = '(¬_¬) synthesizing...\nactual plan\n( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) pondering...\nnext step'
+
+    const onEvent = createGatewayEventHandler(buildCtx(appended))
+
+    onEvent({ payload: { text: streamed }, type: 'reasoning.delta' } as any)
+    onEvent({ payload: { text: 'final answer' }, type: 'message.complete' } as any)
+
+    expect(appended[0]?.thinking).toBe(streamed)
+    expect(appended[0]?.text).toBe('')
+    expect(appended[appended.length - 1]).toMatchObject({ role: 'assistant', text: 'final answer' })
+  })
+
   it('ignores fallback reasoning.available when streamed reasoning already exists', () => {
     const appended: Msg[] = []
     const streamed = 'short streamed reasoning'
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/reasoning.test.ts b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/reasoning.test.ts
index c961ea7a0c2..d14a0a2975a 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/reasoning.test.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/reasoning.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 
 import { hasReasoningTag, splitReasoning } from '../lib/reasoning.js'
+import { cleanThinkingText } from '../lib/text.js'
 
 describe('splitReasoning', () => {
   it('extracts <think>…</think> and strips it from text', () => {
@@ -48,3 +49,13 @@ describe('splitReasoning', () => {
     expect(hasReasoningTag('no tags at all')).toBe(false)
   })
 })
+
+describe('cleanThinkingText', () => {
+  it('removes face/status ticker fragments while preserving real reasoning', () => {
+    expect(
+      cleanThinkingText(
+        '(¬_¬) synthesizing...**Resolving comments on GitHub**\n( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) musing...\nActual step\n٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶ contemplating...next step'
+      )
+    ).toBe('**Resolving comments on GitHub**\nActual step\nnext step')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts
index 8541ac3f685..18d5a5a649f 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts
@@ -70,8 +70,43 @@ export const pasteTokenLabel = (text: string, lineCount: number) => {
     : `[[ ${preview} [${fmtK(lineCount)} lines] ]]`
 }
 
+const THINKING_STATUS_WORDS = [
+  'pondering',
+  'contemplating',
+  'musing',
+  'cogitating',
+  'ruminating',
+  'deliberating',
+  'mulling',
+  'reflecting',
+  'processing',
+  'reasoning',
+  'analyzing',
+  'computing',
+  'synthesizing',
+  'formulating',
+  'brainstorming'
+]
+
+const THINKING_STATUS_RE = new RegExp(`^(?:${THINKING_STATUS_WORDS.join('|')})\\.{0,3}$`, 'i')
+
+const THINKING_FACE_SOURCE = '[^A-Za-z\n]+'
+
+const THINKING_STATUS_CHUNK_RE = new RegExp(
+  `${THINKING_FACE_SOURCE}\\s*(?:${THINKING_STATUS_WORDS.join('|')})\\.{0,3}\\s*`,
+  'giu'
+)
+
+export const cleanThinkingText = (reasoning: string) =>
+  reasoning
+    .split('\n')
+    .map(line => line.replace(THINKING_STATUS_CHUNK_RE, '').trim())
+    .filter(line => line && !THINKING_STATUS_RE.test(line.replace(/\.\.\.$/, '').trim()))
+    .join('\n')
+    .trim()
+
 export const thinkingPreview = (reasoning: string, mode: ThinkingMode, max: number = THINKING_COT_MAX) => {
-  const raw = reasoning.trim()
+  const raw = cleanThinkingText(reasoning)
 
   return !raw || mode === 'collapsed' ? '' : mode === 'full' ? raw : compactPreview(raw.replace(WS_RE, ' '), max)
 }