diff --git a/agent/context_references.py b/agent/context_references.py
index 8981aa472f50..ab370a5a5924 100644
--- a/agent/context_references.py
+++ b/agent/context_references.py
@@ -213,8 +213,12 @@ async def preprocess_context_references_async(
             f"@ context injection warning: {injected_tokens} tokens exceeds the 25% soft limit ({soft_limit})."
         )
 
-    stripped = _remove_reference_tokens(message, refs)
-    final = stripped
+    # Leave the `@file:`/`@folder:` tokens where the user typed them. The token
+    # IS the reference, not scaffolding around it: clients render each one as an
+    # inline chip, so stripping them left a sentence with a hole in it ("review
+    # and ship") and made the desktop re-derive the refs from the attached block
+    # to show them as a detached list above the prose.
+    final = message
     if warnings:
         final = f"{final}\n\n--- Context Warnings ---\n" + "\n".join(f"- {warning}" for warning in warnings)
     if blocks:
@@ -473,19 +477,6 @@ def _parse_file_reference_value(value: str) -> tuple[str, int | None, int | None
     return _strip_reference_wrappers(value), None, None
 
 
-def _remove_reference_tokens(message: str, refs: list[ContextReference]) -> str:
-    pieces: list[str] = []
-    cursor = 0
-    for ref in refs:
-        pieces.append(message[cursor:ref.start])
-        cursor = ref.end
-    pieces.append(message[cursor:])
-    text = "".join(pieces)
-    text = re.sub(r"\s{2,}", " ", text)
-    text = re.sub(r"\s+([,.;:!?])", r"\1", text)
-    return text.strip()
-
-
 def _is_binary_file(path: Path) -> bool:
     mime, _ = mimetypes.guess_type(path.name)
     if mime and not mime.startswith("text/") and not any(
diff --git a/tests/agent/test_context_references.py b/tests/agent/test_context_references.py
index 51f66fb937af..43242706a1b9 100644
--- a/tests/agent/test_context_references.py
+++ b/tests/agent/test_context_references.py
@@ -112,8 +112,9 @@ def test_expand_file_range_and_folder_listing(sample_repo: Path):
     )
 
     assert result.expanded
-    assert "Review and" in result.message
-    assert "Review @file:src/main.py:1-2" not in result.message
+    # The typed `@` tokens stay in the prose — clients render each one as an
+    # inline chip where the user put it, rather than a detached list.
+    assert result.message.startswith("Review @file:src/main.py:1-2 and @folder:src/")
     assert "--- Attached Context ---" in result.message
     assert "def alpha():" in result.message
     assert "return 'changed'" in result.message