diff --git a/src/tui/tui-event-handlers.ts b/src/tui/tui-event-handlers.ts
index b503801d8dc..8ac9262bcc8 100644
--- a/src/tui/tui-event-handlers.ts
+++ b/src/tui/tui-event-handlers.ts
@@ -298,15 +298,18 @@ export function createEventHandlers(context: EventHandlerContext) {
       }
     }
     if (evt.state === "delta") {
+      // Arm watchdog and mark streaming on every delta, even when the visible
+      // text hasn't changed yet (e.g. first commentary-only or tool-call delta).
+      // Without this, the watchdog never fires and the status bar stays stale.
+      setActivityStatus("streaming");
+      if (state.activeChatRunId === evt.runId) {
+        armStreamingWatchdog(evt.runId);
+      }
       const displayText = streamAssembler.ingestDelta(evt.runId, evt.message, state.showThinking);
       if (!displayText) {
         return;
       }
       chatLog.updateAssistant(displayText, evt.runId);
-      setActivityStatus("streaming");
-      if (state.activeChatRunId === evt.runId) {
-        armStreamingWatchdog(evt.runId);
-      }
     }
     if (evt.state === "final") {
       const isLocalBtwRun = isLocalBtwRunId?.(evt.runId) ?? false;