diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
index c5b840402..e27d30fa7 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
@@ -676,24 +676,39 @@ export async function getReplyFromConfig(
     }
   }
 
-  // For new main sessions, prepend a provider snapshot.
-  // Note: We intentionally do NOT prepend queued system events to the user prompt,
-  // since that bloats session logs (token cost) and clutters chat history.
+  // Prepend queued system events (transitions only) and (for new main sessions) a provider snapshot.
+  // Token efficiency: we filter out periodic/heartbeat noise and keep the lines compact.
   const isGroupSession =
     typeof ctx.From === "string" &&
     (ctx.From.includes("@g.us") || ctx.From.startsWith("group:"));
   const isMainSession =
     !isGroupSession && sessionKey === (sessionCfg?.mainKey ?? "main");
   if (isMainSession) {
-    // Drain (discard) queued system events so they remain ephemeral.
-    // They are still available via presence/health in the gateway UI.
-    drainSystemEvents();
+    const compactSystemEvent = (line: string): string | null => {
+      const trimmed = line.trim();
+      if (!trimmed) return null;
+      const lower = trimmed.toLowerCase();
+      if (lower.includes("reason periodic")) return null;
+      if (lower.includes("heartbeat")) return null;
+      if (trimmed.startsWith("Node:")) {
+        // Drop the chatty "last input … ago" segment; keep connect/disconnect/launch reasons.
+        return trimmed.replace(/ · last input [^·]+/i, "").trim();
+      }
+      return trimmed;
+    };
+
+    const systemLines: string[] = [];
+    const queued = drainSystemEvents();
+    systemLines.push(
+      ...queued.map(compactSystemEvent).filter((v): v is string => Boolean(v)),
+    );
     if (isNewSession) {
       const summary = await buildProviderSummary(cfg);
-      if (summary.length > 0) {
-        const block = summary.map((l) => `System: ${l}`).join("\n");
-        prefixedBodyBase = `${block}\n\n${prefixedBodyBase}`;
-      }
+      if (summary.length > 0) systemLines.unshift(...summary);
+    }
+    if (systemLines.length > 0) {
+      const block = systemLines.map((l) => `System: ${l}`).join("\n");
+      prefixedBodyBase = `${block}\n\n${prefixedBodyBase}`;
     }
   }
   if (
diff --git a/src/gateway/server.test.ts b/src/gateway/server.test.ts
index 166badfc1..670bb5802 100644
--- a/src/gateway/server.test.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/server.test.ts
@@ -1845,17 +1845,7 @@ describe("gateway server", () => {
     await server.close();
   });
 
-  test("chat.history strips injected System blocks and caps payload bytes", async () => {
-    const firstContentText = (msg: unknown): string | undefined => {
-      if (!msg || typeof msg !== "object") return undefined;
-      const content = (msg as { content?: unknown }).content;
-      if (!Array.isArray(content) || content.length === 0) return undefined;
-      const first = content[0];
-      if (!first || typeof first !== "object") return undefined;
-      const text = (first as { text?: unknown }).text;
-      return typeof text === "string" ? text : undefined;
-    };
-
+  test("chat.history caps payload bytes", async () => {
     const dir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "clawdis-gw-"));
     testSessionStorePath = path.join(dir, "sessions.json");
     await fs.writeFile(
@@ -1873,35 +1863,9 @@ describe("gateway server", () => {
       "utf-8",
     );
 
-    const injected =
-      "System: Node: Peter’s Mac · app 2.0.0 · last input 0s ago · mode local · reason periodic\n" +
-      "System: WhatsApp gateway connected.\n\n" +
-      "Hello from user";
-    await fs.writeFile(
-      path.join(dir, "sess-main.jsonl"),
-      JSON.stringify({
-        message: {
-          role: "user",
-          content: [{ type: "text", text: injected }],
-          timestamp: Date.now(),
-        },
-      }),
-      "utf-8",
-    );
-
     const { server, ws } = await startServerWithClient();
     await connectOk(ws);
 
-    const scrubbedRes = await rpcReq<{ messages?: unknown[] }>(
-      ws,
-      "chat.history",
-      { sessionKey: "main", limit: 5 },
-    );
-    expect(scrubbedRes.ok).toBe(true);
-    const scrubbedMsgs = scrubbedRes.payload?.messages ?? [];
-    expect(scrubbedMsgs.length).toBe(1);
-    expect(firstContentText(scrubbedMsgs[0])).toBe("Hello from user");
-
     const bigText = "x".repeat(300_000);
     const largeLines: string[] = [];
     for (let i = 0; i < 60; i += 1) {
diff --git a/src/gateway/server.ts b/src/gateway/server.ts
index 02de061c8..03039c6cf 100644
--- a/src/gateway/server.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/server.ts
@@ -351,42 +351,6 @@ function readSessionMessages(
   return messages;
 }
 
-function stripInjectedSystemBlock(text: string): string {
-  if (!text.startsWith("System: ")) return text;
-  const sep = text.indexOf("\n\n");
-  if (sep <= 0) return text;
-  const head = text.slice(0, sep);
-  const lines = head.split("\n");
-  if (lines.length === 0) return text;
-  if (!lines.every((l) => l.startsWith("System: "))) return text;
-  return text.slice(sep + 2);
-}
-
-function scrubInjectedSystemBlocks(messages: unknown[]): unknown[] {
-  let changed = false;
-  const out = messages.map((msg) => {
-    if (!msg || typeof msg !== "object") return msg;
-    const obj = msg as Record<string, unknown>;
-    if (obj.role !== "user") return msg;
-    const content = obj.content;
-    if (!Array.isArray(content) || content.length === 0) return msg;
-    const first = content[0];
-    if (!first || typeof first !== "object") return msg;
-    const firstObj = first as Record<string, unknown>;
-    if (firstObj.type !== "text") return msg;
-    const text = firstObj.text;
-    if (typeof text !== "string") return msg;
-    const stripped = stripInjectedSystemBlock(text);
-    if (stripped === text) return msg;
-    changed = true;
-    const nextFirst = { ...firstObj, text: stripped };
-    const nextContent = [...content];
-    nextContent[0] = nextFirst;
-    return { ...obj, content: nextContent };
-  });
-  return changed ? out : messages;
-}
-
 function jsonUtf8Bytes(value: unknown): number {
   try {
     return Buffer.byteLength(JSON.stringify(value), "utf8");
@@ -916,9 +880,8 @@ export async function startGatewayServer(
           const max = typeof limit === "number" ? limit : 200;
           const sliced =
             rawMessages.length > max ? rawMessages.slice(-max) : rawMessages;
-          const scrubbed = scrubInjectedSystemBlocks(sliced);
           const capped = capArrayByJsonBytes(
-            scrubbed,
+            sliced,
             MAX_CHAT_HISTORY_MESSAGES_BYTES,
           ).items;
           const thinkingLevel =
@@ -1895,9 +1858,8 @@ export async function startGatewayServer(
             const max = Math.min(hardMax, requested);
             const sliced =
               rawMessages.length > max ? rawMessages.slice(-max) : rawMessages;
-            const scrubbed = scrubInjectedSystemBlocks(sliced);
             const capped = capArrayByJsonBytes(
-              scrubbed,
+              sliced,
               MAX_CHAT_HISTORY_MESSAGES_BYTES,
             ).items;
             const thinkingLevel =
@@ -2412,13 +2374,17 @@ export async function startGatewayServer(
               reason,
               tags,
             });
+            const isNodePresenceLine = text.startsWith("Node:");
             const normalizedReason = (reason ?? "").toLowerCase();
             const looksPeriodic =
               normalizedReason.startsWith("periodic") ||
               normalizedReason === "heartbeat";
-            const isNodePresenceLine = text.startsWith("Node:");
             if (!(isNodePresenceLine && looksPeriodic)) {
-              enqueueSystemEvent(text);
+              const compactNodeText =
+                isNodePresenceLine && (host || ip || version || mode || reason)
+                  ? `Node: ${host?.trim() || "Unknown"}${ip ? ` (${ip})` : ""} · app ${version?.trim() || "unknown"} · mode ${mode?.trim() || "unknown"} · reason ${reason?.trim() || "event"}`
+                  : text;
+              enqueueSystemEvent(compactNodeText);
             }
             presenceVersion += 1;
             broadcast(