diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 35baacf48..edab390ef 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
 - Auto-reply: preserve spacing when stripping inline directives. (#539) — thanks @joshp123
 - Auto-reply: relax reply tag parsing to allow whitespace. (#560) — thanks @mcinteerj
 - Auto-reply: add per-provider block streaming toggles and coalesce streamed blocks to reduce line spam. (#536) — thanks @mcinteerj
+- Auto-reply: default block streaming coalesce idle to 1s to reduce tiny chunks. — thanks @steipete
 - Auto-reply: fix /status usage summary filtering for the active provider.
 - Auto-reply: deduplicate followup queue entries using message id/routing to avoid duplicate replies. (#600) — thanks @samratjha96
 - Status: show provider prefix in /status model display. (#506) — thanks @mcinteerj
diff --git a/docs/gateway/configuration-examples.md b/docs/gateway/configuration-examples.md
index e0ce44079..5a874120e 100644
--- a/docs/gateway/configuration-examples.md
+++ b/docs/gateway/configuration-examples.md
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ Save to `~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json` and you can DM the bot from that number.
         breakPreference: "paragraph"
       },
       blockStreamingCoalesce: {
-        idleMs: 400
+        idleMs: 1000
       },
       timeoutSeconds: 600,
       mediaMaxMb: 5,
diff --git a/docs/gateway/configuration.md b/docs/gateway/configuration.md
index 45c965548..8121c50de 100644
--- a/docs/gateway/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/gateway/configuration.md
@@ -1155,7 +1155,7 @@ Block streaming:
   }
   ```
 - `agents.defaults.blockStreamingCoalesce`: merge streamed blocks before sending.
-  Defaults to `{ idleMs: 400 }` and inherits `minChars` from `blockStreamingChunk`
+  Defaults to `{ idleMs: 1000 }` and inherits `minChars` from `blockStreamingChunk`
   with `maxChars` capped to the provider text limit.
   Provider overrides: `whatsapp.blockStreamingCoalesce`, `telegram.blockStreamingCoalesce`,
   `discord.blockStreamingCoalesce`, `slack.blockStreamingCoalesce`, `signal.blockStreamingCoalesce`,
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/block-streaming.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/block-streaming.ts
index 5d4d9a476..f5f305ee2 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/block-streaming.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/block-streaming.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { resolveTextChunkLimit, type TextChunkProvider } from "../chunk.js";
 
 const DEFAULT_BLOCK_STREAM_MIN = 800;
 const DEFAULT_BLOCK_STREAM_MAX = 1200;
-const DEFAULT_BLOCK_STREAM_COALESCE_IDLE_MS = 400;
+const DEFAULT_BLOCK_STREAM_COALESCE_IDLE_MS = 1000;
 
 const BLOCK_CHUNK_PROVIDERS = new Set<TextChunkProvider>([
   "whatsapp",