diff --git a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/reasoning.test.ts b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/reasoning.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c961ea7a0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/reasoning.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { hasReasoningTag, splitReasoning } from '../lib/reasoning.js'
+
+describe('splitReasoning', () => {
+  it('extracts <think>…</think> and strips it from text', () => {
+    const { reasoning, text } = splitReasoning('<think>plotting</think>\n\nhere is the answer')
+
+    expect(reasoning).toBe('plotting')
+    expect(text).toBe('here is the answer')
+  })
+
+  it('handles multiple tag shapes', () => {
+    const input = '<reasoning>a</reasoning> <THINKING>b</THINKING> <thought>c</thought> body'
+    const { reasoning, text } = splitReasoning(input)
+
+    expect(reasoning).toContain('a')
+    expect(reasoning).toContain('b')
+    expect(reasoning).toContain('c')
+    expect(text).toBe('body')
+  })
+
+  it('treats unclosed trailing <think>… as reasoning', () => {
+    const { reasoning, text } = splitReasoning('answer start <think>still deciding')
+
+    expect(reasoning).toBe('still deciding')
+    expect(text).toBe('answer start')
+  })
+
+  it('returns empty reasoning and untouched text when no tags present', () => {
+    const { reasoning, text } = splitReasoning('plain body with no tags')
+
+    expect(reasoning).toBe('')
+    expect(text).toBe('plain body with no tags')
+  })
+
+  it('preserves text when reasoning block is empty', () => {
+    const { reasoning, text } = splitReasoning('<think></think>only body')
+
+    expect(reasoning).toBe('')
+    expect(text).toBe('only body')
+  })
+
+  it('detects presence of any supported tag', () => {
+    expect(hasReasoningTag('pre <think>x</think> post')).toBe(true)
+    expect(hasReasoningTag('pre <reasoning>x</reasoning>')).toBe(true)
+    expect(hasReasoningTag('<REASONING_SCRATCHPAD>x</REASONING_SCRATCHPAD>')).toBe(true)
+    expect(hasReasoningTag('no tags at all')).toBe(false)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/app/turnController.ts b/ui-tui/src/app/turnController.ts
index de57b2dd05..236324ffb9 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/app/turnController.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/app/turnController.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { REASONING_PULSE_MS, STREAM_BATCH_MS } from '../config/timing.js'
 import type { SessionInterruptResponse, SubagentEventPayload } from '../gatewayTypes.js'
+import { hasReasoningTag, splitReasoning } from '../lib/reasoning.js'
 import {
   buildToolTrailLine,
   estimateTokensRough,
@@ -121,18 +122,31 @@ class TurnController {
   }
 
   flushStreamingSegment() {
-    const text = this.bufRef.trimStart()
+    const raw = this.bufRef.trimStart()
 
-    if (!text) {
+    if (!raw) {
       return
     }
 
-    const tools = this.pendingSegmentTools
+    const split = hasReasoningTag(raw) ? splitReasoning(raw) : { reasoning: '', text: raw }
+
+    if (split.reasoning && !this.reasoningText.trim()) {
+      this.reasoningText = split.reasoning
+      patchTurnState({ reasoning: this.reasoningText, reasoningTokens: estimateTokensRough(this.reasoningText) })
+    }
+
+    const text = split.text
 
     this.streamTimer = clear(this.streamTimer)
-    this.segmentMessages = [...this.segmentMessages, { role: 'assistant', text, ...(tools.length && { tools }) }]
+
+    if (text) {
+      const tools = this.pendingSegmentTools
+
+      this.segmentMessages = [...this.segmentMessages, { role: 'assistant', text, ...(tools.length && { tools }) }]
+      this.pendingSegmentTools = []
+    }
+
     this.bufRef = ''
-    this.pendingSegmentTools = []
     patchTurnState({ streamPendingTools: [], streamSegments: this.segmentMessages, streaming: '' })
   }
 
@@ -187,8 +201,11 @@ class TurnController {
   }
 
   recordMessageComplete(payload: { rendered?: string; reasoning?: string; text?: string }) {
-    const finalText = (payload.rendered ?? payload.text ?? this.bufRef).trimStart()
-    const savedReasoning = this.reasoningText.trim() || String(payload.reasoning ?? '').trim()
+    const rawText = (payload.rendered ?? payload.text ?? this.bufRef).trimStart()
+    const split = splitReasoning(rawText)
+    const finalText = split.text
+    const existingReasoning = this.reasoningText.trim() || String(payload.reasoning ?? '').trim()
+    const savedReasoning = [existingReasoning, existingReasoning ? '' : split.reasoning].filter(Boolean).join('\n\n')
     const savedReasoningTokens = savedReasoning ? estimateTokensRough(savedReasoning) : 0
     const savedToolTokens = this.toolTokenAcc
     const tools = this.pendingSegmentTools
@@ -355,7 +372,9 @@ class TurnController {
 
     this.streamTimer = setTimeout(() => {
       this.streamTimer = null
-      patchTurnState({ streaming: this.bufRef.trimStart() })
+      const raw = this.bufRef.trimStart()
+      const visible = hasReasoningTag(raw) ? splitReasoning(raw).text : raw
+      patchTurnState({ streaming: visible })
     }, STREAM_BATCH_MS)
   }
 
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/reasoning.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/reasoning.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eba63918c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/reasoning.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+const TAGS = ['think', 'reasoning', 'thinking', 'thought', 'REASONING_SCRATCHPAD'] as const
+
+export interface SplitReasoning {
+  reasoning: string
+  text: string
+}
+
+export function splitReasoning(input: string): SplitReasoning {
+  let text = input
+  const reasoning: string[] = []
+
+  for (const tag of TAGS) {
+    const paired = new RegExp(`<${tag}>([\\s\\S]*?)</${tag}>\\s*`, 'gi')
+    text = text.replace(paired, (_m, inner: string) => {
+      const trimmed = inner.trim()
+
+      if (trimmed) {
+        reasoning.push(trimmed)
+      }
+
+      return ''
+    })
+
+    const unclosed = new RegExp(`<${tag}>([\\s\\S]*)$`, 'i')
+    text = text.replace(unclosed, (_m, inner: string) => {
+      const trimmed = inner.trim()
+
+      if (trimmed) {
+        reasoning.push(trimmed)
+      }
+
+      return ''
+    })
+  }
+
+  return {
+    reasoning: reasoning.join('\n\n').trim(),
+    text: text.trim()
+  }
+}
+
+export const hasReasoningTag = (input: string) => {
+  for (const tag of TAGS) {
+    if (input.includes(`<${tag}>`)) {
+      return true
+    }
+  }
+
+  return false
+}