diff --git a/agent/display.py b/agent/display.py
index 22b918e1b..caa94b7d0 100644
--- a/agent/display.py
+++ b/agent/display.py
@@ -284,11 +284,11 @@ class KawaiiSpinner:
         The CLI already drives a TUI widget (_spinner_text) for spinner display,
         so KawaiiSpinner's \\r-based animation is redundant under StdoutProxy.
         """
-        out = self._out
-        # StdoutProxy has a 'raw' attribute (bool) that plain file objects lack.
-        if hasattr(out, 'raw') and type(out).__name__ == 'StdoutProxy':
-            return True
-        return False
+        try:
+            from prompt_toolkit.patch_stdout import StdoutProxy
+            return isinstance(self._out, StdoutProxy)
+        except ImportError:
+            return False
 
     def _animate(self):
         # When stdout is not a real terminal (e.g. Docker, systemd, pipe),
diff --git a/cli.py b/cli.py
index ca93fbb00..750a7a14a 100644
--- a/cli.py
+++ b/cli.py
@@ -4034,6 +4034,17 @@ class HermesCLI:
                     provider_data_collection=self._provider_data_collection,
                     fallback_model=self._fallback_model,
                 )
+                # Silence raw spinner; route thinking through TUI widget when no foreground agent is active.
+                bg_agent._print_fn = lambda *_a, **_kw: None
+
+                def _bg_thinking(text: str) -> None:
+                    # Concurrent bg tasks may race on _spinner_text; acceptable for best-effort UI.
+                    if not self._agent_running:
+                        self._spinner_text = text
+                        if self._app:
+                            self._app.invalidate()
+
+                bg_agent.thinking_callback = _bg_thinking
 
                 result = bg_agent.run_conversation(
                     user_message=prompt,
@@ -4096,6 +4107,9 @@ class HermesCLI:
                 _cprint(f"  ❌ Background task #{task_num} failed: {e}")
             finally:
                 self._background_tasks.pop(task_id, None)
+                # Clear spinner only if no foreground agent owns it
+                if not self._agent_running:
+                    self._spinner_text = ""
                 if self._app:
                     self._invalidate(min_interval=0)