diff --git a/src/renderer/components/ChatPane.tsx b/src/renderer/components/ChatPane.tsx
index 73bb69b..728a5ce 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/ChatPane.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/ChatPane.tsx
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ export function ChatPane({
               </div>
             )}
             {isSessionBusy && !pendingApproval && !pendingUserInput && (() => {
-              const label = summarizeSessionActivity(sessionActivity);
+              const label = session.currentIntent ?? summarizeSessionActivity(sessionActivity);
               return (
                 <div className="flex items-center gap-1.5 text-[12px] text-[var(--color-accent-sky)]">
                   <span className="size-2 animate-pulse rounded-full bg-[var(--color-accent-sky)]" />
@@ -593,6 +593,7 @@ export function ChatPane({
                         isActive={isTurnActive(item, itemIndex)}
                         turnStartedAt={item.turnStartedAt}
                         sessionId={session.id}
+                        currentIntent={session.currentIntent}
                         agentNames={item.agentNames}
                         isLastRunPanel={item.isLastRunPanel}
                         onDiscard={onDiscardRunChanges}
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/chat/TurnActivityPanel.tsx b/src/renderer/components/chat/TurnActivityPanel.tsx
index 0e7a278..11d4ce7 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/chat/TurnActivityPanel.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/chat/TurnActivityPanel.tsx
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ export interface TurnActivityPanelProps {
   isActive: boolean;
   turnStartedAt?: string;
   sessionId: string;
+  currentIntent?: string;
   agentNames?: ReadonlySet<string>;
   isLastRunPanel?: boolean;
   onDiscard?: (sessionId: string, runId: string, files?: ProjectGitFileReference[]) => Promise<unknown>;
@@ -418,6 +419,7 @@ export function TurnActivityPanel({
   isActive,
   turnStartedAt,
   sessionId,
+  currentIntent,
   agentNames,
   isLastRunPanel,
   onDiscard,
@@ -471,8 +473,12 @@ export function TurnActivityPanel({
     return groupActivityStream(stream);
   }, [thinkingMessages, scopedEvents]);
 
-  // Extract intent text for the header
-  const intentText = useMemo(() => extractLatestIntent(scopedEvents), [scopedEvents]);
+  // Prefer the session-level normalized intent when active; fall back to
+  // scanning run timeline for report_intent tool calls (backward compat).
+  const intentText = useMemo(
+    () => (isActive ? currentIntent : undefined) ?? extractLatestIntent(scopedEvents),
+    [isActive, currentIntent, scopedEvents],
+  );
   const fallbackSummary = useMemo(
     () => !intentText ? generateActivitySummary(scopedEvents) : undefined,
     [intentText, scopedEvents],