From 63a79d76ba31d8d7b9f47dd47010e3eab1afeb48 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: iris <iris@hyperhive.local>
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 21:50:53 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] agent-ui: collapse streamed thinking_tokens ticks into one
 live row
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claude streams a running 'estimated_tokens' counter as system/thinking_tokens
events — many per turn (thousands in a long turn). renderStream rendered each
as a '⚙ thinking_tokens' note, flooding the terminal scrollback. Coalesce
consecutive ticks into a single '🧠 thinking … ~N tokens' note row that
updates in place; reuse the row only while it's still the last one rendered
(nextElementSibling == null) so any other event starts a fresh one. Closes
#1818.
---
 docs/terminal-rendering.md         |  7 +++++++
 frontend/packages/agent/src/app.js | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 31 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/terminal-rendering.md b/docs/terminal-rendering.md
index ed2946a3..58584e54 100644
--- a/docs/terminal-rendering.md
+++ b/docs/terminal-rendering.md
@@ -71,6 +71,13 @@ suffix, so the terminal degrades cleanly against older event shapes.
 
 1. Drops `system/init`, `rate_limit_event`, `result` (noise /
    handled elsewhere — `result` powers the `cost` badge).
+1a. `system/thinking_tokens` (claude streams a running
+   `estimated_tokens` counter while thinking — many per turn) →
+   collapses into a **single** `🧠 thinking … ~N tokens` `.note`
+   row that updates in place. Consecutive ticks reuse the row only
+   while it's still the last one rendered (`nextElementSibling ==
+   null`); any other event after it makes the next tick start a
+   fresh row. Avoids a note-per-tick scrollback flood.
 2. `subtype == "task_started" | "task_notification"` →
    `renderTaskEvent` (subagent activity gets the `⌁` glyph).
 3. `type == "assistant"` → walk `message.content[]`:
diff --git a/frontend/packages/agent/src/app.js b/frontend/packages/agent/src/app.js
index 26f3c074..cffc2085 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/agent/src/app.js
+++ b/frontend/packages/agent/src/app.js
@@ -1695,6 +1695,12 @@ window.marked = marked;
       }
       return false;
     }
+    // Coalescing target for the live `thinking_tokens` counter.
+    // Holds the row currently showing the running estimate so consecutive
+    // ticks update in place instead of appending a note each. Reset
+    // implicitly: we only reuse it while it's still the last row rendered
+    // (see the nextElementSibling check), so any other event starts fresh.
+    let thinkingTokensRow = null;
     function renderStream(v, api) {
       // Drop claude's result line and rate-limit — noise. TurnEnd
       // communicates pass/fail; rate-limit events are noisy status chatter.
@@ -1722,6 +1728,24 @@ window.marked = marked;
           api.row('note stderr', '✗ api error · ' + msg);
           return;
         }
+        // Live thinking-token counter — claude streams many of these per
+        // turn (a running `estimated_tokens` total while it thinks). Collapse
+        // consecutive ticks into ONE in-place-updating row instead of a note
+        // per tick. Reuse our row only while it's still the last one
+        // in the scrollback; once any other event renders after it, the next
+        // tick starts a fresh row.
+        if (v.subtype === 'thinking_tokens') {
+          const n = v.estimated_tokens;
+          const label = '🧠 thinking … '
+            + (n != null ? '~' + Number(n).toLocaleString() + ' tokens' : '');
+          if (thinkingTokensRow && thinkingTokensRow.isConnected
+              && thinkingTokensRow.nextElementSibling === null) {
+            thinkingTokensRow.textContent = label;
+          } else {
+            thinkingTokensRow = api.row('note', label);
+          }
+          return;
+        }
         // Other system subtypes (context_window_exceeded, etc.) — render a
         // muted note with the subtype label; reserve the loud orange `sys`
         // catch-all for truly unrecognised top-level types.