diff --git a/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.test.tsx b/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.test.tsx
index 91ee5ec1..9b828421 100644
--- a/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.test.tsx
+++ b/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.test.tsx
@@ -104,3 +104,61 @@ describe("ChatMessage subagent rendering", () => {
 		expect(frame).toContain("5 tool uses · 28.9k tokens · $0.00")
 	})
 })
+
+describe("ChatMessage reasoning rendering", () => {
+	it("renders the reasoning (chain-of-thought) text instead of hiding it", () => {
+		const message: DiracMessage = {
+			ts: Date.now(),
+			type: "say",
+			say: "reasoning",
+			text: "Let me first inspect the failing test before editing.",
+		}
+		const { lastFrame } = render(React.createElement(ChatMessage, { message, mode: "act" }))
+		const frame = lastFrame() || ""
+		expect(frame).toContain("Let me first inspect the failing test before editing.")
+	})
+
+	it("renders streaming reasoning while partial", () => {
+		const message: DiracMessage = {
+			ts: Date.now(),
+			type: "say",
+			say: "reasoning",
+			text: "Thinking through the approach",
+			partial: true,
+		}
+		const { lastFrame } = render(React.createElement(ChatMessage, { message, mode: "act", isStreaming: true }))
+		expect(lastFrame() || "").toContain("Thinking through the approach")
+	})
+
+	it("renders nothing for empty reasoning", () => {
+		const message: DiracMessage = { ts: Date.now(), type: "say", say: "reasoning", text: "   " }
+		const { lastFrame } = render(React.createElement(ChatMessage, { message, mode: "act" }))
+		expect((lastFrame() || "").trim()).toBe("")
+	})
+})
+
+describe("ChatMessage activity journal", () => {
+	it("shows the queried model for api_req_started", () => {
+		const message = {
+			ts: Date.now(),
+			type: "say",
+			say: "api_req_started",
+			text: "{}",
+			modelInfo: { modelId: "ailiance-reasoning-r1" },
+		} as unknown as DiracMessage
+		const { lastFrame } = render(React.createElement(ChatMessage, { message, mode: "act" }))
+		expect(lastFrame() || "").toContain("querying ailiance-reasoning-r1")
+	})
+
+	it("shows a checkpoint marker", () => {
+		const message: DiracMessage = { ts: Date.now(), type: "say", say: "checkpoint_created" }
+		const { lastFrame } = render(React.createElement(ChatMessage, { message, mode: "act" }))
+		expect(lastFrame() || "").toContain("checkpoint saved")
+	})
+
+	it("shows a retry marker", () => {
+		const message: DiracMessage = { ts: Date.now(), type: "say", say: "api_req_retried" }
+		const { lastFrame } = render(React.createElement(ChatMessage, { message, mode: "act" }))
+		expect(lastFrame() || "").toContain("retrying")
+	})
+})
diff --git a/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.tsx b/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.tsx
index ecf8a890..cfe32bcd 100644
--- a/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.tsx
+++ b/cli/src/components/ChatMessage.tsx
@@ -311,9 +311,50 @@ export const ChatMessage: React.FC<ChatMessageProps> = ({ message, mode, isStrea
 		)
 	}
 
-	// Assistant text response (hide reasoning traces - they're verbose and clutter the UI)
+	// Activity journal — compact dim markers so the user sees what the agent is
+	// doing between answers (which model is queried, checkpoints, retries).
+	if (say === "api_req_started") {
+		const modelId = (message as { modelInfo?: { modelId?: string } }).modelInfo?.modelId
+		return (
+			<Box marginBottom={1}>
+				<Text color="gray" dimColor>
+					→ {modelId ? `querying ${modelId}` : "querying model"}
+				</Text>
+			</Box>
+		)
+	}
+	if (say === "checkpoint_created") {
+		return (
+			<Box marginBottom={1}>
+				<Text color="gray" dimColor>
+					✓ checkpoint saved
+				</Text>
+			</Box>
+		)
+	}
+	if (say === "api_req_retried") {
+		return (
+			<Box marginBottom={1}>
+				<Text color="gray" dimColor>
+					⟳ retrying request…
+				</Text>
+			</Box>
+		)
+	}
+
+	// Reasoning / chain-of-thought. Streamed live and kept in history, dimmed
+	// and italic so it stays visually distinct from the assistant's answer.
 	if (say === "reasoning") {
-		return null
+		if (!text?.trim()) return null
+		return (
+			<Box flexDirection="column" marginBottom={1} width="100%">
+				<DotRow color="gray" flashing={partial === true && isStreaming}>
+					<Text color="gray" dimColor italic>
+						{text}
+					</Text>
+				</DotRow>
+			</Box>
+		)
 	}
 	if (say === "text") {
 		if (!text?.trim()) return null
@@ -454,7 +495,7 @@ export const ChatMessage: React.FC<ChatMessageProps> = ({ message, mode, isStrea
 				)}
 				{output && (
 					<Box flexDirection="column" marginLeft={2} width="100%">
-						{formatToolResult(output, 8).map((line, idx) => (
+						{formatToolResult(output, isExecuting ? 20 : Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER).map((line, idx) => (
 							<ResultRow isFirst={idx === 0} key={idx}>
 								<Text color="gray">{line}</Text>
 							</ResultRow>
@@ -602,11 +643,7 @@ export const ChatMessage: React.FC<ChatMessageProps> = ({ message, mode, isStrea
 		)
 	}
 
-	// API request info (show cost/tokens inline)
-	if (say === "api_req_started" && text) {
-		// Skip showing these - they're summarized in the status bar
-		return null
-	}
+	// (api_req_started is handled earlier as a compact activity marker.)
 
 	// Browser actions
 	if (say === "browser_action" || say === "browser_action_launch") {
diff --git a/cli/src/hooks/useChatMessages.ts b/cli/src/hooks/useChatMessages.ts
index 36727249..f74f16d6 100644
--- a/cli/src/hooks/useChatMessages.ts
+++ b/cli/src/hooks/useChatMessages.ts
@@ -10,10 +10,9 @@ export function useChatMessages(messages: any[]) {
 	const displayMessages = useMemo(() => {
 		const filtered = messages.filter((m) => {
 			if (m.say === "api_req_finished") return false
-			if (m.say === "checkpoint_created") return false
-			if (m.say === "api_req_started") return false
-			if (m.say === "api_req_retried") return false
-			if (m.say === "reasoning") return false
+			// Activity journal: api_req_started, checkpoint_created, api_req_retried
+			// and reasoning are all surfaced — rendered as compact dim lines in
+			// ChatMessage so the user sees what the agent is doing.
 			return true
 		})
 		const withHooks = combineHookSequences(filtered)