diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f83a95475..03350f799 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot
 - Message tool: keep path/filePath as-is for send; hydrate buffers only for sendAttachment. (#1444) Thanks @hopyky.
 - Auto-reply: only report a model switch when session state is available. (#1465) Thanks @robbyczgw-cla.
 - Control UI: resolve local avatar URLs with basePath across injection + identity RPC. (#1457) Thanks @dlauer.
+- Agents: sanitize assistant history text to strip tool-call markers. (#1456) Thanks @zerone0x.
 - Discord: clarify Message Content Intent onboarding hint. (#1487) Thanks @kyleok.
 - Agents: surface concrete API error details instead of generic AI service errors.
 - Exec: fall back to non-PTY when PTY spawn fails (EBADF). (#1484)
diff --git a/src/agents/tools/sessions-helpers.test.ts b/src/agents/tools/sessions-helpers.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc6d1fbc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/tools/sessions-helpers.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { extractAssistantText, sanitizeTextContent } from "./sessions-helpers.js";
+
+describe("sanitizeTextContent", () => {
+  it("strips minimax tool call XML and downgraded markers", () => {
+    const input =
+      'Hello <invoke name="tool">payload</invoke></minimax:tool_call> ' +
+      "[Tool Call: foo (ID: 1)] world";
+    const result = sanitizeTextContent(input).trim();
+    expect(result).toBe("Hello  world");
+    expect(result).not.toContain("invoke");
+    expect(result).not.toContain("Tool Call");
+  });
+
+  it("strips thinking tags", () => {
+    const input = "Before <think>secret</think> after";
+    const result = sanitizeTextContent(input).trim();
+    expect(result).toBe("Before  after");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("extractAssistantText", () => {
+  it("sanitizes blocks without injecting newlines", () => {
+    const message = {
+      role: "assistant",
+      content: [
+        { type: "text", text: "Hi " },
+        { type: "text", text: "<think>secret</think>there" },
+      ],
+    };
+    expect(extractAssistantText(message)).toBe("Hi there");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/agents/tools/sessions-helpers.ts b/src/agents/tools/sessions-helpers.ts
index 7af647080..c4ec120ed 100644
--- a/src/agents/tools/sessions-helpers.ts
+++ b/src/agents/tools/sessions-helpers.ts
@@ -111,9 +111,8 @@ export function stripToolMessages(messages: unknown[]): unknown[] {
  * This ensures user-facing text doesn't leak internal tool representations.
  */
 export function sanitizeTextContent(text: string): string {
-  return stripThinkingTagsFromText(
-    stripDowngradedToolCallText(stripMinimaxToolCallXml(text)),
-  ).trim();
+  if (!text) return text;
+  return stripThinkingTagsFromText(stripDowngradedToolCallText(stripMinimaxToolCallXml(text)));
 }
 
 export function extractAssistantText(message: unknown): string | undefined {
@@ -128,11 +127,11 @@ export function extractAssistantText(message: unknown): string | undefined {
     const text = (block as { text?: unknown }).text;
     if (typeof text === "string") {
       const sanitized = sanitizeTextContent(text);
-      if (sanitized) {
+      if (sanitized.trim()) {
         chunks.push(sanitized);
       }
     }
   }
-  const joined = chunks.join("\n").trim();
+  const joined = chunks.join("").trim();
   return joined ? sanitizeUserFacingText(joined) : undefined;
 }
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.test.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eaf7c3026
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { extractMessageText } from "./commands-subagents.js";
+
+describe("extractMessageText", () => {
+  it("preserves user text that looks like tool call markers", () => {
+    const message = {
+      role: "user",
+      content: "Here [Tool Call: foo (ID: 1)] ok",
+    };
+    const result = extractMessageText(message);
+    expect(result?.text).toContain("[Tool Call: foo (ID: 1)]");
+  });
+
+  it("sanitizes assistant tool call markers", () => {
+    const message = {
+      role: "assistant",
+      content: "Here [Tool Call: foo (ID: 1)] ok",
+    };
+    const result = extractMessageText(message);
+    expect(result?.text).toBe("Here ok");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts
index 7122dc01b..5009a30fa 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts
@@ -107,12 +107,14 @@ function normalizeMessageText(text: string) {
   return text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
 }
 
-function extractMessageText(message: ChatMessage): { role: string; text: string } | null {
+export function extractMessageText(message: ChatMessage): { role: string; text: string } | null {
   const role = typeof message.role === "string" ? message.role : "";
+  const shouldSanitize = role === "assistant";
   const content = message.content;
   if (typeof content === "string") {
-    const sanitized = sanitizeTextContent(content);
-    const normalized = normalizeMessageText(sanitized);
+    const normalized = normalizeMessageText(
+      shouldSanitize ? sanitizeTextContent(content) : content,
+    );
     return normalized ? { role, text: normalized } : null;
   }
   if (!Array.isArray(content)) return null;
@@ -122,9 +124,9 @@ function extractMessageText(message: ChatMessage): { role: string; text: string
     if ((block as { type?: unknown }).type !== "text") continue;
     const text = (block as { text?: unknown }).text;
     if (typeof text === "string") {
-      const sanitized = sanitizeTextContent(text);
-      if (sanitized) {
-        chunks.push(sanitized);
+      const value = shouldSanitize ? sanitizeTextContent(text) : text;
+      if (value.trim()) {
+        chunks.push(value);
       }
     }
   }