diff --git a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat.rs b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat.rs
index 4e4612c..6145c2f 100644
--- a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat.rs
+++ b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat.rs
@@ -51,9 +51,8 @@ pub(crate) struct ChatView {
     // Transient state (cleared per turn)
     /// In-flight assistant tokens with a rendered-prefix cache.
     streaming: Option<StreamingAssistant>,
-    /// Live thinking tokens — transient; cleared when a stream token or
-    /// turn completion arrives. Resumed thinking comes through
-    /// [`blocks`] as an [`AssistantThinking`] block instead.
+    /// Live thinking tokens for the current block; flushed into a
+    /// committed [`AssistantThinking`] block on stream start or turn end.
     thinking_buffer: String,
 
     // View state
@@ -166,10 +165,9 @@ impl ChatView {
     }
 
     /// Appends a streamed token to the current assistant response.
+    /// Any pending thinking is committed first.
     pub(crate) fn append_stream_token(&mut self, token: &str) {
-        if !self.thinking_buffer.is_empty() {
-            self.thinking_buffer.clear();
-        }
+        self.commit_thinking_buffer();
         self.streaming
             .get_or_insert_with(StreamingAssistant::new)
             .append(token);
@@ -187,10 +185,10 @@ impl ChatView {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Finalize the current streaming buffer into a committed assistant
-    /// block.
+    /// Finalize the streaming buffer into a committed block. Flushes
+    /// pending thinking first so thinking-only turns still leave a block.
     pub(crate) fn commit_streaming(&mut self) {
-        self.thinking_buffer.clear();
+        self.commit_thinking_buffer();
         if let Some(mut s) = self.streaming.take() {
             let text = s.take_buffer();
             if !text.is_empty() {
@@ -199,6 +197,14 @@ impl ChatView {
         }
     }
 
+    fn commit_thinking_buffer(&mut self) {
+        if self.thinking_buffer.is_empty() {
+            return;
+        }
+        let text = std::mem::take(&mut self.thinking_buffer);
+        self.blocks.push(Box::new(AssistantThinking::new(text)));
+    }
+
     /// Appends a tool call entry with its icon and label.
     ///
     /// Finalizes any in-flight streaming buffer first — a tool call
@@ -1026,13 +1032,19 @@ mod tests {
     // ── append_stream_token ──
 
     #[test]
-    fn append_stream_token_clears_thinking() {
+    fn append_stream_token_persists_thinking_into_blocks() {
         let mut chat = test_chat();
-        chat.append_thinking_token("thinking...");
+        chat.append_thinking_token("reasoning here");
         assert!(!chat.thinking_buffer.is_empty());
+        assert_eq!(chat.blocks.len(), 0);
 
-        chat.append_stream_token("text");
+        chat.append_stream_token("reply text");
         assert!(chat.thinking_buffer.is_empty());
+        assert_eq!(chat.blocks.len(), 1);
+
+        let text = all_text(&chat);
+        assert!(text.contains("reasoning here"));
+        assert!(text.contains("reply text"));
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -1354,6 +1366,20 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(chat.thinking_buffer.is_empty());
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn commit_streaming_persists_thinking_only_turn() {
+        // Thinking → tool-call turn (no text) still persists the reasoning.
+        let mut chat = test_chat();
+        chat.append_thinking_token("plan before tool");
+        assert!(chat.blocks.is_empty());
+
+        chat.commit_streaming();
+        assert_eq!(chat.blocks.len(), 1);
+        assert!(chat.thinking_buffer.is_empty());
+        let text = all_text(&chat);
+        assert!(text.contains("plan before tool"));
+    }
+
     // ── push_tool_call ──
 
     #[test]
@@ -1554,6 +1580,45 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn push_tool_result_preserves_leading_whitespace_on_first_body_line() {
+        // `git diff --stat` and similar tools indent every body line with
+        // a meaningful leading space. Trimming whole-content whitespace
+        // used to strip it off the first line only, misaligning the
+        // first row against the rest.
+        let mut chat = test_chat();
+        chat.push_tool_result("out", " a.rs | 1 +\n b.rs | 2 +", false);
+        let text = all_text(&chat);
+        assert!(
+            text.contains(" a.rs | 1 +"),
+            "first body line must keep its leading space: {text}",
+        );
+        assert!(text.contains(" b.rs | 2 +"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn push_tool_result_drops_surrounding_blank_lines() {
+        // Some tools pad output with leading / trailing blank lines;
+        // those must not produce empty body rows, but per-line indent
+        // on real data lines in between must survive.
+        let mut chat = test_chat();
+        chat.push_tool_result("out", "\n\n real line\n\n\n", false);
+        let text = all_text(&chat);
+
+        // Exactly one body row with the `▎   ` prefix (4-col status-line
+        // continuation). A regression that kept surrounding blanks would
+        // render 2+ body rows.
+        let body_row_count = text.lines().filter(|l| l.starts_with("▎   ")).count();
+        assert_eq!(
+            body_row_count, 1,
+            "expected one body row after blank-line stripping: {text}",
+        );
+        assert!(
+            text.contains("▎    real line"),
+            "data-line indent must survive: {text}",
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn push_tool_result_dedup_collapses_body_when_only_line_matches_label() {
         // When content is just the duplicated label (no trailing body
diff --git a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks.rs b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks.rs
index 5231138..31dfbf5 100644
--- a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks.rs
+++ b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ use unicode_width::UnicodeWidthStr;
 use crate::tui::theme::Theme;
 use crate::tui::wrap::wrap_line;
 
+// ── Shared Glyphs ──
+
+/// Shared left-bar glyph for tool and thinking blocks.
+pub(super) const BAR: &str = "▎";
+
 // ── Trait ──
 
 /// Immutable context passed to [`ChatBlock::render`].
@@ -112,10 +117,10 @@ pub(super) fn push_icon_wrapped(
     out.extend(wrap_line(line, width, indent, Some(&cont_prefix)));
 }
 
-/// Prepends a styled prefix span to a markdown-rendered line. Used by
-/// the bar-less markdown blocks (assistant text, streaming, thinking
-/// body) for per-line first-column decoration (icon on line 1, plain
-/// indent on continuations).
+/// Prepends a styled prefix span to a markdown-rendered line,
+/// preserving the input's whole-line style so fenced code blocks
+/// (which carry their fg on `Line.style`, not the spans) keep their
+/// highlight when wrapped in per-block decoration.
 pub(super) fn prepend_markdown_prefix(
     line: Line<'static>,
     prefix: &str,
@@ -123,7 +128,9 @@ pub(super) fn prepend_markdown_prefix(
 ) -> Line<'static> {
     let mut spans = vec![Span::styled(prefix.to_owned(), prefix_style)];
     spans.extend(line.spans);
-    Line::from(spans)
+    let mut out = Line::from(spans);
+    out.style = line.style;
+    out
 }
 
 /// Whether the last rendered line is non-empty. Used to decide where
diff --git a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/assistant.rs b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/assistant.rs
index 63ff111..7373d2b 100644
--- a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/assistant.rs
+++ b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/assistant.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 //! Assistant text and thinking blocks.
 
-use ratatui::text::Line;
+use ratatui::text::{Line, Span};
 use unicode_width::UnicodeWidthStr;
 
-use super::{ChatBlock, RenderCtx, prepend_markdown_prefix, push_icon_wrapped};
+use super::{ChatBlock, RenderCtx, prepend_markdown_prefix};
 use crate::tui::markdown::render_markdown;
+use crate::tui::theme::Theme;
+use crate::tui::wrap::wrap_line;
 
 /// First-line prefix for assistant text — diamond + space. Continuation
 /// (and all lines when the streaming block is continuing a turn) uses a
@@ -15,8 +17,11 @@ pub(super) const ASSISTANT_PREFIX: &str = "◉ ";
 /// visual width of [`ASSISTANT_PREFIX`].
 pub(super) const ASSISTANT_CONT: &str = "  ";
 
-/// First-line prefix for the thinking header — diamond + space.
-const THINKING_PREFIX: &str = "◇ ";
+/// Per-line prefix for thinking blocks — shares [`BAR`] so bars align.
+const THINKING_PREFIX: &str = "▎ ";
+
+/// Header label on the first line of a thinking block.
+const THINKING_LABEL: &str = "Thinking...";
 
 // ── AssistantText ──
 
@@ -77,8 +82,8 @@ pub(super) fn render_assistant_markdown(
 
 // ── AssistantThinking ──
 
-/// Extended-thinking block, shown dimmed-italic under a `◇ Thinking`
-/// header. Collapses to zero lines when `show_thinking` is off.
+/// Extended-thinking block — bar-prefixed quote with a `Thinking...`
+/// header and markdown-rendered body. Hidden when `show_thinking` is off.
 pub(crate) struct AssistantThinking {
     text: String,
 }
@@ -91,21 +96,30 @@ impl AssistantThinking {
 
 impl ChatBlock for AssistantThinking {
     fn render(&self, ctx: &RenderCtx<'_>) -> Vec<Line<'static>> {
-        let style = ctx.theme.thinking();
+        let theme = ctx.theme;
         let width = usize::from(ctx.width);
+        let style = theme.thinking();
+
+        let bar_width = THINKING_PREFIX.width();
+        let md_width = width.saturating_sub(bar_width);
+        let bar_spans = vec![Span::styled(THINKING_PREFIX, style)];
 
         let mut out = Vec::new();
-        push_icon_wrapped(
-            &mut out,
-            THINKING_PREFIX,
-            style,
-            "Thinking...",
-            style,
-            width,
-        );
-        for text_line in self.text.lines() {
-            push_icon_wrapped(&mut out, "  ", style, text_line, style, width);
+
+        let header = Line::from(vec![
+            Span::styled(THINKING_PREFIX, style),
+            Span::styled(THINKING_LABEL, style),
+        ]);
+        out.extend(wrap_line(header, width, bar_width, Some(&bar_spans)));
+
+        if !self.text.trim().is_empty() {
+            let rendered = render_markdown(&self.text, theme, md_width);
+            for line in rendered.lines {
+                let dimmed = apply_thinking_style(line, theme);
+                out.push(prepend_markdown_prefix(dimmed, THINKING_PREFIX, style));
+            }
         }
+
         out
     }
 
@@ -113,3 +127,120 @@ impl ChatBlock for AssistantThinking {
         ctx.show_thinking
     }
 }
+
+/// Dims plain spans; leaves explicitly-colored spans (inline code,
+/// links, highlighted fences) at full color.
+fn apply_thinking_style(mut line: Line<'static>, theme: &Theme) -> Line<'static> {
+    if line.style.fg.is_some() {
+        return line;
+    }
+    let base = theme.thinking();
+    for span in &mut line.spans {
+        if span.style.fg.is_none() {
+            span.style = span.style.patch(base);
+        }
+    }
+    line
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use indoc::indoc;
+    use ratatui::style::Style;
+
+    use super::super::BAR;
+    use super::*;
+    use crate::tui::theme::Theme;
+
+    fn ctx_at(width: u16, theme: &Theme) -> RenderCtx<'_> {
+        RenderCtx {
+            width,
+            theme,
+            show_thinking: true,
+        }
+    }
+
+    // ── THINKING_PREFIX ──
+
+    #[test]
+    fn thinking_prefix_shares_bar_glyph_with_tool_blocks() {
+        assert!(
+            THINKING_PREFIX.starts_with(BAR),
+            "THINKING_PREFIX ({THINKING_PREFIX:?}) must start with BAR ({BAR:?})",
+        );
+    }
+
+    // ── AssistantText::render ──
+
+    #[test]
+    fn assistant_text_fenced_code_preserves_highlight_style() {
+        // Regression: `prepend_markdown_prefix` used to drop `line.style`
+        // on its output, so an unknown-lang fenced block inside an
+        // assistant reply silently lost its whole-line fg.
+        let theme = Theme::default();
+        let block = AssistantText::new(indoc! {"
+            ```
+            let x = 1;
+            ```
+        "});
+        let ctx = ctx_at(60, &theme);
+        let lines = block.render(&ctx);
+        let fence_line = lines
+            .iter()
+            .find(|l| l.spans.iter().any(|s| s.content.contains("let x = 1;")))
+            .expect("fence body line missing from render");
+        assert_eq!(fence_line.style.fg, Some(theme.code));
+    }
+
+    // ── AssistantThinking::render ──
+
+    #[test]
+    fn render_empty_body_emits_header_only() {
+        // Exercised by the zero-delta frame before the first thinking chunk.
+        let theme = Theme::default();
+        let block = AssistantThinking::new("   \n  ");
+        let lines = block.render(&ctx_at(60, &theme));
+        assert_eq!(lines.len(), 1, "only the header should render: {lines:?}");
+        let header: String = lines[0].spans.iter().map(|s| s.content.as_ref()).collect();
+        assert!(header.starts_with(THINKING_PREFIX));
+        assert!(header.contains("Thinking..."));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn render_fenced_code_block_preserves_highlight_style() {
+        // Whole-line fg on fence output must survive the bar prefix.
+        let theme = Theme::default();
+        let block = AssistantThinking::new(indoc! {"
+            Consider:
+
+            ```
+            let x = 1;
+            ```
+        "});
+        let lines = block.render(&ctx_at(60, &theme));
+
+        let fence_line = lines
+            .iter()
+            .find(|l| l.spans.iter().any(|s| s.content.contains("let x = 1;")))
+            .expect("fence body line missing from render");
+        assert_eq!(fence_line.style.fg, Some(theme.code));
+
+        let first_span = fence_line.spans.first().expect("empty fence line");
+        assert_eq!(first_span.content, THINKING_PREFIX);
+        assert_eq!(first_span.style, theme.thinking());
+    }
+
+    // ── apply_thinking_style ──
+
+    #[test]
+    fn apply_thinking_style_dims_plain_spans_only() {
+        let theme = Theme::default();
+        let line = Line::from(vec![
+            Span::raw("plain "),
+            Span::styled("code", Style::default().fg(theme.code)),
+        ]);
+        let out = apply_thinking_style(line, &theme);
+        assert_eq!(out.spans[0].style.fg, theme.thinking().fg);
+        assert_eq!(out.spans[1].style.fg, Some(theme.code));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/tool.rs b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/tool.rs
index c6d50cb..6654d1e 100644
--- a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/tool.rs
+++ b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat/blocks/tool.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ use ratatui::style::Style;
 use ratatui::text::{Line, Span};
 use unicode_width::UnicodeWidthStr;
 
-use super::{ChatBlock, RenderCtx};
+use super::{BAR, ChatBlock, RenderCtx};
 use crate::tool::{ReadExcerptLine, ToolResultView};
 use crate::tui::theme::Theme;
 use crate::tui::wrap::{expand_tabs, wrap_line};
@@ -42,9 +42,6 @@ const MAX_DIFF_BODY_LINES: usize = 20;
 /// pasted into tool output.
 const MAX_TOOL_OUTPUT_LINE_BYTES: usize = 512;
 
-/// Left bar character for tool blocks.
-const BAR: &str = "▎";
-
 /// First-line prefix for tool-call and tool-result status lines — bar +
 /// space. Content sits at col 2.
 const BORDER_PREFIX: &str = "▎ ";
@@ -171,8 +168,7 @@ fn render_text_body(
     label: &str,
     is_error: bool,
 ) {
-    let trimmed = content.trim();
-    if trimmed.is_empty() {
+    if content.trim().is_empty() {
         return;
     }
 
@@ -181,13 +177,25 @@ fn render_text_body(
     let cont_prefix = border_continuation_prefix(STATUS_LINE_CONT, border_style);
     let width = usize::from(ctx.width);
 
+    // Preserve per-line leading whitespace — some tools (e.g., `git
+    // diff --stat`) indent every line with a meaningful space that
+    // `content.trim()` would strip off the first line only, producing
+    // a misaligned first row. Drop whole blank surrounding lines
+    // instead, one unit of work at a time.
+    let mut output_lines: Vec<&str> = content.lines().collect();
+    while output_lines.first().is_some_and(|l| l.trim().is_empty()) {
+        output_lines.remove(0);
+    }
+    while output_lines.last().is_some_and(|l| l.trim().is_empty()) {
+        output_lines.pop();
+    }
+
     // Tools (grep, glob) commonly use their own summary line as both
     // the `title` metadata (shown in the status line) and the first
     // line of `content` (shown in the body) — the model needs the
     // summary to parse counts, but rendering both duplicates it on
     // screen. Skip the first body line when it matches the label
     // verbatim.
-    let mut output_lines: Vec<&str> = trimmed.lines().collect();
     if output_lines
         .first()
         .is_some_and(|l| l.trim() == label.trim())
diff --git a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/snapshots/ox__tui__components__chat__tests__render_history_with_resumed_thinking_block.snap b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/snapshots/ox__tui__components__chat__tests__render_history_with_resumed_thinking_block.snap
index cf92df5..13540f0 100644
--- a/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/snapshots/ox__tui__components__chat__tests__render_history_with_resumed_thinking_block.snap
+++ b/crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/snapshots/ox__tui__components__chat__tests__render_history_with_resumed_thinking_block.snap
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 ---
 source: crates/oxide-code/src/tui/components/chat.rs
-assertion_line: 1555
 expression: "render_chat(&mut chat, 60, 10)"
 ---
 "❯ hello                                                     "
 "                                                            "
-"◇ Thinking...                                               "
-"  pondering...                                              "
+"▎ Thinking...                                               "
+"▎ pondering...                                              "
 "                                                            "
 "◉ Hi!                                                       "
 "                                                            "