diff --git a/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/ui/screens/ChatScreen.kt b/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/ui/screens/ChatScreen.kt
index acd9194..aa56925 100644
--- a/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/ui/screens/ChatScreen.kt
+++ b/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/ui/screens/ChatScreen.kt
@@ -2137,8 +2137,11 @@ private fun MessageBubble(
                     // M8: render the agent's reply as markdown (bold / italic /
                     // underscore, tables, highlighted code blocks). Leading
                     // newlines are stripped so the text hugs the top of the
-                    // bubble; the ▉ cursor is kept while streaming.
-                    val displayText = msg.text.prepareForMarkdown() + if (msg.streaming) " ▉" else ""
+                    // bubble; single newlines become hard breaks (models write
+                    // status lines and wrapped text expecting a break per line,
+                    // same as user input); the ▉ cursor is kept while streaming.
+                    val displayText = msg.text.prepareForMarkdown().preserveNewlinesAsHardBreaks() +
+                        if (msg.streaming) " ▉" else ""
                     MarkdownText(
                         text = displayText,
                         color = textColor,
diff --git a/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/util/Markdown.kt b/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/util/Markdown.kt
index a6e1af1..cc9f53b 100644
--- a/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/util/Markdown.kt
+++ b/app/shared/src/commonMain/kotlin/iris/util/Markdown.kt
@@ -14,12 +14,13 @@ fun String.prepareForMarkdown(): String {
 }
 
 /**
- * Converts the single newlines a user typed into markdown hard breaks (two
- * trailing spaces) so they render as line breaks instead of being collapsed
- * into spaces by the parser (GFM treats a lone newline inside a paragraph as a
- * space). Lines inside fenced code blocks (``` / ~~~) are left untouched so the
- * code content is not altered; blank lines are kept as-is since they already
- * produce paragraph breaks.
+ * Converts single newlines into markdown hard breaks (two trailing spaces) so
+ * they render as line breaks instead of being collapsed into spaces by the
+ * parser (GFM treats a lone newline inside a paragraph as a space). Applied to
+ * both user input (lazy line breaks) and agent replies (models write status
+ * lines and wrapped text expecting a break per line). Lines inside fenced code
+ * blocks (``` / ~~~) are left untouched so the code content is not altered;
+ * blank lines are kept as-is since they already produce paragraph breaks.
  */
 fun String.preserveNewlinesAsHardBreaks(): String {
     val lines = split("\n")
diff --git a/app/shared/src/commonTest/kotlin/iris/util/MarkdownTest.kt b/app/shared/src/commonTest/kotlin/iris/util/MarkdownTest.kt
index 36eb4e9..c0df4e2 100644
--- a/app/shared/src/commonTest/kotlin/iris/util/MarkdownTest.kt
+++ b/app/shared/src/commonTest/kotlin/iris/util/MarkdownTest.kt
@@ -39,4 +39,26 @@ class MarkdownTest {
     fun allBlankBecomesEmpty() {
         assertEquals("", "\n\n   \n".prepareForMarkdown())
     }
+
+    @Test
+    fun convertsSingleNewlinesToHardBreaks() {
+        assertEquals("a  \nb  ", "a\nb".preserveNewlinesAsHardBreaks())
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun keepsBlankLinesAsParagraphBreaks() {
+        assertEquals("a  \n\nb  ", "a\n\nb".preserveNewlinesAsHardBreaks())
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun leavesFencedCodeBlocksUntouched() {
+        val md = "```kotlin\nval a = 1\nval b = 2\n```"
+        assertEquals(md, md.preserveNewlinesAsHardBreaks())
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun statusStyleLinesBecomeHardBreaks() {
+        val md = "**Title:** x\n**Model:** y"
+        assertEquals("**Title:** x  \n**Model:** y  ", md.preserveNewlinesAsHardBreaks())
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file