diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d2fa19799..190d71e73 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - CLI/Status: improve Tailscale reporting in `status --all` and harden parsing of noisy `tailscale status --json` output.
 - CLI/Status: make `status --all` scan progress determinate (OSC progress + spinner).
 - Terminal/Table: ANSI-safe wrapping to prevent table clipping/color loss; add regression coverage.
+- CLI/Update: gate progress spinner on stdout TTY and align clean-check step label. (#701) — thanks @bjesuiter.
 
 ## 2026.1.11-4
 
diff --git a/src/cli/update-cli.ts b/src/cli/update-cli.ts
index ddd1433ce..905eeeb9e 100644
--- a/src/cli/update-cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli/update-cli.ts
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ export async function updateCommand(opts: UpdateCommandOptions): Promise<void> {
     return;
   }
 
-  const showProgress = !opts.json && process.stderr.isTTY;
+  const showProgress = !opts.json && process.stdout.isTTY;
 
   if (!opts.json) {
     defaultRuntime.log(theme.heading("Updating Clawdbot..."));
diff --git a/src/infra/update-runner.ts b/src/infra/update-runner.ts
index 49e3e2802..46f2e6019 100644
--- a/src/infra/update-runner.ts
+++ b/src/infra/update-runner.ts
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ export async function runGatewayUpdate(
 
     const statusCheck = await runStep(
       step(
-        "Running git status",
+        "clean check",
         ["git", "-C", gitRoot, "status", "--porcelain"],
         gitRoot,
       ),