diff --git a/apps/app/src/app/components/part-view.tsx b/apps/app/src/app/components/part-view.tsx
index 4105e0f99..6b15a4b1b 100644
--- a/apps/app/src/app/components/part-view.tsx
+++ b/apps/app/src/app/components/part-view.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { For, Match, Show, Switch, createEffect, createMemo, createSignal, onCle
 import { marked } from "marked";
 import type { Part } from "@opencode-ai/sdk/v2/client";
 import { File } from "lucide-solid";
-import { isTauriRuntime, safeStringify, summarizeStep } from "../utils";
+import { isTauriRuntime, isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart, safeStringify, summarizeStep } from "../utils";
 import { usePlatform } from "../context/platform";
 import { perfNow, recordPerfLog } from "../lib/perf-log";
 
@@ -573,6 +573,14 @@ export default function PartView(props: Props) {
   const textClass = () => (tone() === "dark" ? "text-gray-12" : "text-gray-12");
   const subtleTextClass = () => (tone() === "dark" ? "text-gray-12/70" : "text-gray-11");
   const panelBgClass = () => (tone() === "dark" ? "bg-gray-2/10" : "bg-gray-2/30");
+  const primaryTextClass = createMemo(() => {
+    if (p().type !== "text" || !isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart(p())) {
+      return textClass();
+    }
+    return tone() === "dark"
+      ? "italic text-[13px] leading-snug text-gray-11"
+      : "italic text-[13px] leading-snug text-gray-10";
+  });
   const toolOnly = () => true;
   const showToolOutput = () => developerMode();
   const markdownSource = createMemo(() => {
@@ -873,7 +881,7 @@ export default function PartView(props: Props) {
               ref={(el) => {
                 textContainerEl = el;
               }}
-              class={`whitespace-pre-wrap break-words text-[14px] leading-relaxed max-h-[22rem] overflow-hidden ${textClass()}`.trim()}
+              class={`whitespace-pre-wrap break-words text-[14px] leading-relaxed max-h-[22rem] overflow-hidden ${primaryTextClass()}`.trim()}
             >
               {collapsedPreviewText()}
             </div>
@@ -899,7 +907,7 @@ export default function PartView(props: Props) {
               ref={(el) => {
                 textContainerEl = el;
               }}
-              class={`whitespace-pre-wrap break-words ${textClass()}`.trim()}
+              class={`whitespace-pre-wrap break-words ${primaryTextClass()}`.trim()}
             >
               {renderTextWithLinks()}
             </div>
@@ -909,7 +917,7 @@ export default function PartView(props: Props) {
           <Show when={renderedMarkdown() === null}>
             <div
               ref={(el) => { textContainerEl = el; }}
-              class={`whitespace-pre-wrap break-words ${textClass()}`.trim()}
+              class={`whitespace-pre-wrap break-words ${primaryTextClass()}`.trim()}
             >
               {renderTextWithLinks()}
             </div>
@@ -917,7 +925,7 @@ export default function PartView(props: Props) {
           <Show when={typeof renderedMarkdown() === "string" && renderedMarkdown()}>
             <div
               ref={(el) => { textContainerEl = el; }}
-              class={`markdown-content max-w-none ${textClass()}
+              class={`markdown-content max-w-none ${primaryTextClass()}
                 [&_strong]:font-semibold
                 [&_em]:italic
                 [&_h1]:text-2xl [&_h1]:font-bold [&_h1]:my-4
diff --git a/apps/app/src/app/components/session/message-list.tsx b/apps/app/src/app/components/session/message-list.tsx
index 0644c97cd..5095e07fe 100644
--- a/apps/app/src/app/components/session/message-list.tsx
+++ b/apps/app/src/app/components/session/message-list.tsx
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import {
 } from "../../types";
 import {
   groupMessageParts,
+  isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart,
   isUserVisiblePart,
   summarizeStep,
 } from "../../utils";
@@ -380,9 +381,14 @@ export default function MessageList(props: MessageListProps) {
     props.expandedStepIds.has(id) ||
     relatedIds.some((relatedId) => props.expandedStepIds.has(relatedId));
 
-  const renderablePartsForMessage = (message: MessageWithParts) =>
-    message.parts.filter((part) => {
-      if (!props.developerMode && !isUserVisiblePart(part)) {
+  const renderablePartsForMessage = (message: MessageWithParts) => {
+    const isUser = (message.info as { role?: string }).role === "user";
+    return message.parts.filter((part) => {
+      const passesVisibility =
+        props.developerMode ||
+        isUserVisiblePart(part) ||
+        (isUser && isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart(part));
+      if (!passesVisibility) {
         return false;
       }
 
@@ -405,6 +411,7 @@ export default function MessageList(props: MessageListProps) {
 
       return props.developerMode;
     });
+  };
 
   const messageBlocks = createMemo<MessageBlockItem[]>(() => {
     const startedAt = perfNow();
@@ -463,7 +470,7 @@ export default function MessageList(props: MessageListProps) {
       const groupId = String((message.info as any).id ?? "message");
       const attachments = attachmentsForParts(renderableParts);
       const nonAttachmentParts = renderableParts.filter((part) => !isAttachmentPart(part));
-      const groups = groupMessageParts(nonAttachmentParts, groupId);
+      const groups = groupMessageParts(nonAttachmentParts, groupId, isUser);
       const isStepsOnly =
         groups.length > 0 && groups.every((group) => group.kind === "steps");
       const stepGroups = isStepsOnly
diff --git a/apps/app/src/app/pages/session.tsx b/apps/app/src/app/pages/session.tsx
index ae4a6da49..b6fb09528 100644
--- a/apps/app/src/app/pages/session.tsx
+++ b/apps/app/src/app/pages/session.tsx
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ import type {
 import { buildOpenworkWorkspaceBaseUrl } from "../lib/openwork-server";
 import { join } from "@tauri-apps/api/path";
 import {
+  isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart,
   isUserVisiblePart,
   isTauriRuntime,
   isWindowsPlatform,
@@ -519,8 +520,10 @@ export default function SessionView(props: SessionViewProps) {
       used += next.length;
     };
 
+    const isUser = (message.info as { role?: string }).role === "user";
     for (const part of message.parts) {
-      if (!isUserVisiblePart(part)) {
+      const includeSkillIndicator = isUser && isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart(part);
+      if (!isUserVisiblePart(part) && !includeSkillIndicator) {
         continue;
       }
       if (part.type === "text") {
diff --git a/apps/app/src/app/utils/index.ts b/apps/app/src/app/utils/index.ts
index afdebaddb..0d493f5c8 100644
--- a/apps/app/src/app/utils/index.ts
+++ b/apps/app/src/app/utils/index.ts
@@ -469,6 +469,17 @@ export function isVisibleTextPart(part: Part) {
   return part.type === "text" && isUserVisiblePart(part);
 }
 
+/** Ignored companion text on user turns (e.g. slash-command skill label); not the synthetic template. */
+export function isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart(part: Part): boolean {
+  if (part.type !== "text") return false;
+  const flags = part as { synthetic?: boolean; ignored?: boolean };
+  return flags.ignored === true && flags.synthetic !== true;
+}
+
+export function isUserTranscriptTextPart(part: Part, isUserMessage: boolean): boolean {
+  return isVisibleTextPart(part) || (isUserMessage && isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart(part));
+}
+
 const EXPLORATION_TOOL_NAMES = new Set(["read", "glob", "grep", "search", "list", "list_files"]);
 
 function isExplorationToolPart(part: Part) {
@@ -477,7 +488,11 @@ function isExplorationToolPart(part: Part) {
   return EXPLORATION_TOOL_NAMES.has(tool);
 }
 
-export function groupMessageParts(parts: Part[], messageId: string): MessageGroup[] {
+export function groupMessageParts(
+  parts: Part[],
+  messageId: string,
+  isUserMessage = false,
+): MessageGroup[] {
   const groups: MessageGroup[] = [];
   const explorationSteps: Part[] = [];
   let textBuffer = "";
@@ -514,10 +529,19 @@ export function groupMessageParts(parts: Part[], messageId: string): MessageGrou
 
   parts.forEach((part) => {
     if (part.type === "text") {
-      if (!isVisibleTextPart(part)) {
+      if (!isUserTranscriptTextPart(part, isUserMessage)) {
         return;
       }
       flushExplorationSteps();
+      if (isUserSkillIndicatorTextPart(part)) {
+        flushText();
+        groups.push({
+          kind: "text",
+          part,
+          segment: sawExecution ? "result" : "intent",
+        });
+        return;
+      }
       textBuffer += (part as { text?: string }).text ?? "";
       return;
     }