diff --git a/packages/ui/tui/src/chat/helpers.ts b/packages/ui/tui/src/chat/helpers.ts
index e411ce27c9..08e6fa050f 100644
--- a/packages/ui/tui/src/chat/helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/tui/src/chat/helpers.ts
@@ -110,11 +110,9 @@ export function transcriptToolCallIds(session: Session): Set<string> {
  * `tool/result`, a regenerated `assistant/message`) rewrite one node for the
  * model and mark no boundary in the conversation.
  *
- * The replacement check is redundant at both current call sites, because a
- * surface-eligible non-append event is a replacement: the marker is mandatory,
- * so `Session.append` and the replay fold reject an event that carries none.
- * The check keeps the exported predicate true to its name for a third caller,
- * rather than making that caller repeat it.
+ * Both current call sites already test the replacement themselves. The check
+ * keeps the exported predicate true to its name for a third caller, rather than
+ * making that caller repeat it.
  * @param event - event to test.
  * @returns true when the event compacted a surface range.
  */
diff --git a/packages/ui/tui/tests/tui.snapshot.ts b/packages/ui/tui/tests/tui.snapshot.ts
index f563c88b16..09ff6ba26e 100644
--- a/packages/ui/tui/tests/tui.snapshot.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/tui/tests/tui.snapshot.ts
@@ -195,7 +195,10 @@ interface CompactionRange {
 
 /**
  * Append one prompt / tool-call / tool-result step, the history a compaction
- * shadows on the model surface and the transcript must keep showing.
+ * shadows on the model surface and the transcript must keep showing. The prompt
+ * text is rendered verbatim; the tool card's body comes from `bash`'s static
+ * presenter, so the fixtures pin that the shadowed step's card survives rather
+ * than the result content below.
  */
 function appendPreCompactionLog(session: Session): CompactionRange {
   const user = session.append('user/message', createUserMessage({
@@ -220,7 +223,7 @@ function appendPreCompactionLog(session: Session): CompactionRange {
     step: 1,
     message: createToolResultMessage({
       callId: CallId('old-tool'),
-      content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'tool output that stays readable after compaction' }],
+      content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'shadowed step tool output' }],
       isError: false,
     }),
   }, { surfaceOp: 'append' })