diff --git a/docs/tools/slash-commands.md b/docs/tools/slash-commands.md
index 9cfcee538..3c5c19aae 100644
--- a/docs/tools/slash-commands.md
+++ b/docs/tools/slash-commands.md
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ Text + native (when enabled):
 - `/reset` or `/new`
 - `/think <level>` (aliases: `/thinking`, `/t`)
 - `/verbose on|off` (alias: `/v`)
-- `/reasoning on|off|stream` (alias: `/reason`; `stream` = Telegram draft only)
+- `/reasoning on|off|stream` (alias: `/reason`; when on, sends a separate message prefixed `Reasoning:`; `stream` = Telegram draft only)
 - `/elevated on|off` (alias: `/elev`)
 - `/model <name>` (alias: `/models`; or `/<alias>` from `agents.defaults.models.*.alias`)
 - `/queue <mode>` (plus options like `debounce:2s cap:25 drop:summarize`; send `/queue` to see current settings)
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner.ts
index 6d23a45c7..fa0278459 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner.ts
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ import {
 import {
   extractAssistantText,
   extractAssistantThinking,
-  formatReasoningMarkdown,
+  formatReasoningMessage,
 } from "./pi-embedded-utils.js";
 import { setContextPruningRuntime } from "./pi-extensions/context-pruning/runtime.js";
 import { computeEffectiveSettings } from "./pi-extensions/context-pruning/settings.js";
@@ -1606,7 +1606,7 @@ export async function runEmbeddedPiAgent(params: {
 
           const reasoningText =
             lastAssistant && params.reasoningLevel === "on"
-              ? formatReasoningMarkdown(extractAssistantThinking(lastAssistant))
+              ? formatReasoningMessage(extractAssistantThinking(lastAssistant))
               : "";
           if (reasoningText) replyItems.push({ text: reasoningText });
 
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.ts
index a109448e0..4c407a483 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-subscribe.ts
@@ -16,15 +16,16 @@ import { isMessagingToolDuplicate } from "./pi-embedded-helpers.js";
 import {
   extractAssistantText,
   extractAssistantThinking,
-  formatReasoningMarkdown,
+  extractThinkingFromTaggedStream,
+  extractThinkingFromTaggedText,
+  formatReasoningMessage,
   inferToolMetaFromArgs,
+  promoteThinkingTagsToBlocks,
 } from "./pi-embedded-utils.js";
 
 const THINKING_TAG_RE = /<\s*\/?\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
 const THINKING_OPEN_RE = /<\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/i;
 const THINKING_CLOSE_RE = /<\s*\/\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/i;
-const THINKING_OPEN_GLOBAL_RE = /<\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
-const THINKING_CLOSE_GLOBAL_RE = /<\s*\/\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
 const THINKING_TAG_SCAN_RE = /<\s*(\/?)\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
 const TOOL_RESULT_MAX_CHARS = 8000;
 const log = createSubsystemLogger("agent/embedded");
@@ -123,96 +124,6 @@ function stripUnpairedThinkingTags(text: string): string {
   return text;
 }
 
-type ThinkTaggedSplitBlock =
-  | { type: "thinking"; thinking: string }
-  | { type: "text"; text: string };
-
-function splitThinkingTaggedText(text: string): ThinkTaggedSplitBlock[] | null {
-  const trimmedStart = text.trimStart();
-  // Avoid false positives: only treat it as structured thinking when it begins
-  // with a think tag (common for local/OpenAI-compat providers that emulate
-  // reasoning blocks via tags).
-  if (!trimmedStart.startsWith("<")) return null;
-  if (!THINKING_OPEN_RE.test(trimmedStart)) return null;
-  if (!THINKING_CLOSE_RE.test(text)) return null;
-
-  THINKING_TAG_SCAN_RE.lastIndex = 0;
-  let inThinking = false;
-  let cursor = 0;
-  let thinkingStart = 0;
-  const blocks: ThinkTaggedSplitBlock[] = [];
-
-  const pushText = (value: string) => {
-    if (!value) return;
-    blocks.push({ type: "text", text: value });
-  };
-  const pushThinking = (value: string) => {
-    const cleaned = value.trim();
-    if (!cleaned) return;
-    blocks.push({ type: "thinking", thinking: cleaned });
-  };
-
-  for (const match of text.matchAll(THINKING_TAG_SCAN_RE)) {
-    const index = match.index ?? 0;
-    const isClose = Boolean(match[1]?.includes("/"));
-
-    if (!inThinking && !isClose) {
-      pushText(text.slice(cursor, index));
-      thinkingStart = index + match[0].length;
-      inThinking = true;
-      continue;
-    }
-
-    if (inThinking && isClose) {
-      pushThinking(text.slice(thinkingStart, index));
-      cursor = index + match[0].length;
-      inThinking = false;
-    }
-  }
-
-  if (inThinking) return null;
-  pushText(text.slice(cursor));
-
-  const hasThinking = blocks.some((b) => b.type === "thinking");
-  if (!hasThinking) return null;
-  return blocks;
-}
-
-function promoteThinkingTagsToBlocks(message: AssistantMessage): void {
-  if (!Array.isArray(message.content)) return;
-  const hasThinkingBlock = message.content.some(
-    (block) => block.type === "thinking",
-  );
-  if (hasThinkingBlock) return;
-
-  const next: AssistantMessage["content"] = [];
-  let changed = false;
-
-  for (const block of message.content) {
-    if (block.type !== "text") {
-      next.push(block);
-      continue;
-    }
-    const split = splitThinkingTaggedText(block.text);
-    if (!split) {
-      next.push(block);
-      continue;
-    }
-    changed = true;
-    for (const part of split) {
-      if (part.type === "thinking") {
-        next.push({ type: "thinking", thinking: part.thinking });
-      } else if (part.type === "text") {
-        const cleaned = part.text.trimStart();
-        if (cleaned) next.push({ type: "text", text: cleaned });
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
-  if (!changed) return;
-  message.content = next;
-}
-
 function normalizeSlackTarget(raw: string): string | undefined {
   const trimmed = raw.trim();
   if (!trimmed) return undefined;
@@ -533,49 +444,9 @@ export function subscribeEmbeddedPiSession(params: {
     });
   };
 
-  const extractThinkingFromText = (text: string): string => {
-    if (!text || !THINKING_TAG_RE.test(text)) return "";
-    THINKING_TAG_RE.lastIndex = 0;
-    let result = "";
-    let lastIndex = 0;
-    let inThinking = false;
-    for (const match of text.matchAll(THINKING_TAG_RE)) {
-      const idx = match.index ?? 0;
-      if (inThinking) {
-        result += text.slice(lastIndex, idx);
-      }
-      const tag = match[0].toLowerCase();
-      inThinking = !tag.includes("/");
-      lastIndex = idx + match[0].length;
-    }
-    return result.trim();
-  };
-
-  const extractThinkingFromStream = (text: string): string => {
-    if (!text) return "";
-    const closed = extractThinkingFromText(text);
-    if (closed) return closed;
-    const openMatches = [...text.matchAll(THINKING_OPEN_GLOBAL_RE)];
-    if (openMatches.length === 0) return "";
-    const closeMatches = [...text.matchAll(THINKING_CLOSE_GLOBAL_RE)];
-    const lastOpen = openMatches[openMatches.length - 1];
-    const lastClose = closeMatches[closeMatches.length - 1];
-    if (lastClose && (lastClose.index ?? -1) > (lastOpen.index ?? -1)) {
-      return closed;
-    }
-    const start = (lastOpen.index ?? 0) + lastOpen[0].length;
-    return text.slice(start).trim();
-  };
-
-  const formatReasoningDraft = (text: string): string => {
-    const trimmed = text.trim();
-    if (!trimmed) return "";
-    return `Reasoning:\n${trimmed}`;
-  };
-
   const emitReasoningStream = (text: string) => {
     if (!streamReasoning || !params.onReasoningStream) return;
-    const formatted = formatReasoningDraft(text);
+    const formatted = formatReasoningMessage(text);
     if (!formatted) return;
     if (formatted === lastStreamedReasoning) return;
     lastStreamedReasoning = formatted;
@@ -851,7 +722,7 @@ export function subscribeEmbeddedPiSession(params: {
 
             if (streamReasoning) {
               // Handle partial <think> tags: stream whatever reasoning is visible so far.
-              emitReasoningStream(extractThinkingFromStream(deltaBuffer));
+              emitReasoningStream(extractThinkingFromTaggedStream(deltaBuffer));
             }
 
             const cleaned = params.enforceFinalTag
@@ -932,10 +803,10 @@ export function subscribeEmbeddedPiSession(params: {
           const rawThinking =
             includeReasoning || streamReasoning
               ? extractAssistantThinking(assistantMessage) ||
-                extractThinkingFromText(rawText)
+                extractThinkingFromTaggedText(rawText)
               : "";
           const formattedReasoning = rawThinking
-            ? formatReasoningMarkdown(rawThinking)
+            ? formatReasoningMessage(rawThinking)
             : "";
           const text = baseText;
 
@@ -951,19 +822,23 @@ export function subscribeEmbeddedPiSession(params: {
           assistantTextBaseline = assistantTexts.length;
 
           const onBlockReply = params.onBlockReply;
-          const shouldEmitReasoning =
+          const shouldEmitReasoning = Boolean(
             includeReasoning &&
-            Boolean(formattedReasoning) &&
-            Boolean(onBlockReply) &&
-            formattedReasoning !== lastReasoningSent;
+              formattedReasoning &&
+              onBlockReply &&
+              formattedReasoning !== lastReasoningSent,
+          );
           const shouldEmitReasoningBeforeAnswer =
             shouldEmitReasoning &&
             blockReplyBreak === "message_end" &&
             !addedDuringMessage;
-          if (shouldEmitReasoningBeforeAnswer && formattedReasoning) {
+          const maybeEmitReasoning = () => {
+            if (!shouldEmitReasoning || !formattedReasoning) return;
             lastReasoningSent = formattedReasoning;
             void onBlockReply?.({ text: formattedReasoning });
-          }
+          };
+
+          if (shouldEmitReasoningBeforeAnswer) maybeEmitReasoning();
 
           if (
             (blockReplyBreak === "message_end" ||
@@ -995,14 +870,7 @@ export function subscribeEmbeddedPiSession(params: {
               }
             }
           }
-          if (
-            shouldEmitReasoning &&
-            !shouldEmitReasoningBeforeAnswer &&
-            formattedReasoning
-          ) {
-            lastReasoningSent = formattedReasoning;
-            void onBlockReply?.({ text: formattedReasoning });
-          }
+          if (!shouldEmitReasoningBeforeAnswer) maybeEmitReasoning();
           if (streamReasoning && rawThinking) {
             emitReasoningStream(rawThinking);
           }
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-utils.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-utils.ts
index 96b2931ad..370be2d4e 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-utils.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-utils.ts
@@ -34,12 +34,143 @@ export function extractAssistantThinking(msg: AssistantMessage): string {
   return blocks.join("\n").trim();
 }
 
-export function formatReasoningMarkdown(text: string): string {
+export function formatReasoningMessage(text: string): string {
   const trimmed = text.trim();
   if (!trimmed) return "";
   return `Reasoning:\n${trimmed}`;
 }
 
+type ThinkTaggedSplitBlock =
+  | { type: "thinking"; thinking: string }
+  | { type: "text"; text: string };
+
+export function splitThinkingTaggedText(
+  text: string,
+): ThinkTaggedSplitBlock[] | null {
+  const trimmedStart = text.trimStart();
+  // Avoid false positives: only treat it as structured thinking when it begins
+  // with a think tag (common for local/OpenAI-compat providers that emulate
+  // reasoning blocks via tags).
+  if (!trimmedStart.startsWith("<")) return null;
+  const openRe = /<\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/i;
+  const closeRe = /<\s*\/\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/i;
+  if (!openRe.test(trimmedStart)) return null;
+  if (!closeRe.test(text)) return null;
+
+  const scanRe = /<\s*(\/?)\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
+  let inThinking = false;
+  let cursor = 0;
+  let thinkingStart = 0;
+  const blocks: ThinkTaggedSplitBlock[] = [];
+
+  const pushText = (value: string) => {
+    if (!value) return;
+    blocks.push({ type: "text", text: value });
+  };
+  const pushThinking = (value: string) => {
+    const cleaned = value.trim();
+    if (!cleaned) return;
+    blocks.push({ type: "thinking", thinking: cleaned });
+  };
+
+  for (const match of text.matchAll(scanRe)) {
+    const index = match.index ?? 0;
+    const isClose = Boolean(match[1]?.includes("/"));
+
+    if (!inThinking && !isClose) {
+      pushText(text.slice(cursor, index));
+      thinkingStart = index + match[0].length;
+      inThinking = true;
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    if (inThinking && isClose) {
+      pushThinking(text.slice(thinkingStart, index));
+      cursor = index + match[0].length;
+      inThinking = false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (inThinking) return null;
+  pushText(text.slice(cursor));
+
+  const hasThinking = blocks.some((b) => b.type === "thinking");
+  if (!hasThinking) return null;
+  return blocks;
+}
+
+export function promoteThinkingTagsToBlocks(message: AssistantMessage): void {
+  if (!Array.isArray(message.content)) return;
+  const hasThinkingBlock = message.content.some(
+    (block) => block.type === "thinking",
+  );
+  if (hasThinkingBlock) return;
+
+  const next: AssistantMessage["content"] = [];
+  let changed = false;
+
+  for (const block of message.content) {
+    if (block.type !== "text") {
+      next.push(block);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const split = splitThinkingTaggedText(block.text);
+    if (!split) {
+      next.push(block);
+      continue;
+    }
+    changed = true;
+    for (const part of split) {
+      if (part.type === "thinking") {
+        next.push({ type: "thinking", thinking: part.thinking });
+      } else if (part.type === "text") {
+        const cleaned = part.text.trimStart();
+        if (cleaned) next.push({ type: "text", text: cleaned });
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (!changed) return;
+  message.content = next;
+}
+
+export function extractThinkingFromTaggedText(text: string): string {
+  if (!text) return "";
+  const scanRe = /<\s*(\/?)\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
+  let result = "";
+  let lastIndex = 0;
+  let inThinking = false;
+  for (const match of text.matchAll(scanRe)) {
+    const idx = match.index ?? 0;
+    if (inThinking) {
+      result += text.slice(lastIndex, idx);
+    }
+    const isClose = match[1] === "/";
+    inThinking = !isClose;
+    lastIndex = idx + match[0].length;
+  }
+  return result.trim();
+}
+
+export function extractThinkingFromTaggedStream(text: string): string {
+  if (!text) return "";
+  const closed = extractThinkingFromTaggedText(text);
+  if (closed) return closed;
+
+  const openRe = /<\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
+  const closeRe = /<\s*\/\s*think(?:ing)?\s*>/gi;
+  const openMatches = [...text.matchAll(openRe)];
+  if (openMatches.length === 0) return "";
+  const closeMatches = [...text.matchAll(closeRe)];
+  const lastOpen = openMatches[openMatches.length - 1];
+  const lastClose = closeMatches[closeMatches.length - 1];
+  if (lastClose && (lastClose.index ?? -1) > (lastOpen.index ?? -1)) {
+    return closed;
+  }
+  const start = (lastOpen.index ?? 0) + lastOpen[0].length;
+  return text.slice(start).trim();
+}
+
 export function inferToolMetaFromArgs(
   toolName: string,
   args: unknown,