diff --git a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/text.test.ts b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/text.test.ts
index 1690996dd8..a81baa0fba 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/__tests__/text.test.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/__tests__/text.test.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ import {
   parseToolTrailResultLine,
   pasteTokenLabel,
   sameToolTrailGroup,
-  splitToolDuration
+  splitToolDuration,
+  thinkingPreview
 } from '../lib/text.js'
 
 describe('isToolTrailResultLine', () => {
@@ -82,6 +83,17 @@ describe('estimateTokensRough', () => {
   })
 })
 
+describe('thinkingPreview', () => {
+  it('adds paragraph breaks before markdown thinking headings', () => {
+    const raw =
+      '**Considering user instructions**\nI need to answer.**Planning tool execution**\nI can run tools.**Determining weather search parameters**\nUse SF.'
+
+    expect(thinkingPreview(raw, 'full')).toBe(
+      '**Considering user instructions**\nI need to answer.\n\n**Planning tool execution**\nI can run tools.\n\n**Determining weather search parameters**\nUse SF.'
+    )
+  })
+})
+
 describe('boundedLiveRenderText', () => {
   it('preserves short live text verbatim', () => {
     expect(boundedLiveRenderText('one\ntwo', { maxChars: 100, maxLines: 10 })).toBe('one\ntwo')
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts
index 256cbc0f0f..9c9758c3f1 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/text.ts
@@ -74,14 +74,21 @@ export const pasteTokenLabel = (text: string, lineCount: number) => {
 const THINKING_STATUS_RE = new RegExp(`^(?:${VERBS.join('|')})\\.{0,3}$`, 'i')
 const THINKING_STATUS_CHUNK_RE = new RegExp(`[^A-Za-z\n]+\\s*(?:${VERBS.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')
+const normalizeThinkingParagraphs = (text: string) =>
+  text
+    .replace(/([^\n])(?=\*\*[^*\n][^\n]*?\*\*)/g, '$1\n\n')
+    .replace(/\n{3,}/g, '\n\n')
     .trim()
 
+export const cleanThinkingText = (reasoning: string) =>
+  normalizeThinkingParagraphs(
+    reasoning
+      .split('\n')
+      .map(line => line.replace(THINKING_STATUS_CHUNK_RE, '').trim())
+      .filter(line => line && !THINKING_STATUS_RE.test(line.replace(/\.\.\.$/, '').trim()))
+      .join('\n')
+  )
+
 export const thinkingPreview = (reasoning: string, mode: ThinkingMode, max: number = THINKING_COT_MAX) => {
   const raw = cleanThinkingText(reasoning)