diff --git a/Sources/TabItemView.swift b/Sources/TabItemView.swift
index d15e240ee..0b9b6bf07 100644
--- a/Sources/TabItemView.swift
+++ b/Sources/TabItemView.swift
@@ -65,6 +65,35 @@ struct SidebarRowMetrics: Equatable {
     }
 }
 
+enum SidebarTitle {
+    /// Spinner frames agents put at the start of their terminal title: braille spinners,
+    /// quarter-circle spinners, and Claude Code's star frames. An explicit set, so ordinary
+    /// symbols such as "©" or "™" are never stripped.
+    private static func isStatusGlyph(_ scalar: Unicode.Scalar) -> Bool {
+        switch scalar.value {
+        case 0x2801...0x28FF, 0x25D0...0x25D3, 0x25F4...0x25F7,
+             0x00B7, 0x2722, 0x2733, 0x2736, 0x273B, 0x273D:
+            return true
+        default:
+            return false
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Drops one leading spinner glyph plus its following space ("◐ Fix tests" becomes
+    /// "Fix tests"). A title made of the glyph alone is left as is.
+    static func strippingLeadingStatusGlyph(_ title: String) -> String {
+        guard let first = title.unicodeScalars.first,
+              isStatusGlyph(first),
+              let firstCharacter = title.first,
+              firstCharacter.unicodeScalars.count == 1 || firstCharacter.unicodeScalars.dropFirst().allSatisfy({ $0.value == 0xFE0E }),
+              title.dropFirst().first == " " else {
+            return title
+        }
+        let rest = title.dropFirst(2)
+        return rest.isEmpty ? title : String(rest)
+    }
+}
+
 private enum SidebarWorktreeCreationResult: Sendable {
     case success(path: String, branch: String)
     case branchCheckedOut(path: String)
@@ -276,6 +305,14 @@ struct TabItemView: View, Equatable {
         SidebarAgentIndicator.make(for: tab)
     }
 
+    /// Program-set titles lose a leading spinner glyph only while the agent badge shows that
+    /// state; without a badge the glyph is the row's only activity sign. A title the user
+    /// typed is shown exactly as written.
+    private var sidebarDisplayTitle: String {
+        guard tab.customTitle == nil, agentIndicator != nil else { return tab.title }
+        return SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph(tab.title)
+    }
+
     /// Status entry keys/values that used to duplicate agent state in the metadata rows.
     /// Filtered out at render time so older CLI builds that still send them don't double up
     /// with the badge above.
@@ -434,7 +471,7 @@ struct TabItemView: View, Equatable {
                 }
                 .frame(minWidth: SidebarRowMetrics.leadingIconSlotWidth, alignment: .center)
 
-                Text(tab.title)
+                Text(sidebarDisplayTitle)
                     .font(.system(size: rowMetrics.titleFontSize, weight: titleFontWeight))
                     .foregroundColor(activePrimaryTextColor)
                     .lineLimit(1)
@@ -456,6 +493,9 @@ struct TabItemView: View, Equatable {
                             .opacity(agentIndicator.isStale ? 0.55 : 1)
                             .lineLimit(1)
                     }
+                    // The badge keeps its full width; the title truncates first.
+                    .fixedSize(horizontal: true, vertical: false)
+                    .layoutPriority(2)
                     .safeHelp(agentIndicator.label)
                     .accessibilityLabel(Text(agentIndicator.label))
                 }
diff --git a/programaTests/ProgramStatusStoreTests.swift b/programaTests/ProgramStatusStoreTests.swift
index 6d7157036..a5cd0e2a2 100644
--- a/programaTests/ProgramStatusStoreTests.swift
+++ b/programaTests/ProgramStatusStoreTests.swift
@@ -232,4 +232,17 @@ final class ProgramStatusStoreTests: XCTestCase {
         workspace.updatePanelAgentState(panelId: a, state: .blocked, source: .hooks)
         XCTAssertEqual(SidebarAgentIndicator.make(for: workspace)?.tint, .blocked)
     }
+
+    func testSidebarTitleStripsLeadingSpinnerGlyphOnly() {
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("◐ CPU usage monitoring"), "CPU usage monitoring")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("✳ Claude Code"), "Claude Code")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("⠋ Build"), "Build")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("🚀 Deploy"), "🚀 Deploy")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("~/Developer"), "~/Developer")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("main"), "main")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("◐"), "◐")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("◐ "), "◐ ")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("© Example"), "© Example")
+        XCTAssertEqual(SidebarTitle.strippingLeadingStatusGlyph("™ Product"), "™ Product")
+    }
 }