diff --git a/docs/TUI.md b/docs/TUI.md
index 0a8ecb48c..2583f46a4 100644
--- a/docs/TUI.md
+++ b/docs/TUI.md
@@ -52,9 +52,14 @@ branch at its right (`AppShell.promptTopRule` / `promptBottomRule`,
 `src/tui-opentui/shell.ts`). Both rules cost zero transcript rows because they
 ride the prompt box's own border.
 
-While a turn is live the lockup slot swaps the wordmark for the phase word —
-`thinking`, `streaming 12 tok`, the running tool's name — led by a single
-density cell (`rampPulse`, `src/tui-opentui/ramp.ts`). The cell, not the word,
+While a turn is live the lockup slot swaps the wordmark for a semantic
+activity word — never the raw tool, MCP server, or plugin identifier that is
+actually executing. `resolveTurnLabel` (`src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.ts`)
+maps execution onto the closed set `ACTIVITY_STATES` exported from that
+module (`thinking`, `planning`, `researching`, `building`, `working`,
+`waiting`, `stalled`, `stopping`); that export is the source of truth for
+what the slot can say, not this list. It is led by a single density cell
+(`rampPulse`, `src/tui-opentui/ramp.ts`). The cell, not the word,
 is what says whether the session is healthy, and it carries four states:
 
 | State | Cell | Reads as |
diff --git a/src/tui-opentui/runtime-bridge.ts b/src/tui-opentui/runtime-bridge.ts
index a461ba7a4..35433db3b 100644
--- a/src/tui-opentui/runtime-bridge.ts
+++ b/src/tui-opentui/runtime-bridge.ts
@@ -802,12 +802,10 @@ export function attachSessionBridge(
     const input = {
       isProcessing: turn.isProcessing,
       status: turn.status,
-      awaitingResponse: turn.awaitingResponse,
       currentToolName: turn.currentToolName,
       streamingType: turn.streamingType,
-      streamTokenCount: turn.streamTokenCount,
     }
-    const label = resolveTurnLabel(input)
+    const label = resolveTurnLabel(input, isStalled)
     if (label === undefined) {
       // The bottom-left status slot rides the same re-entry as the landing
       // mark, so it crossfades between phases without a timer of its own.
@@ -1037,7 +1035,10 @@ export function attachSessionBridge(
       setStatusFlash(shell, STALL_NOTICE_MESSAGE)
     }
 
-    paintPhaseAt(nowMs, level !== "quiet")
+    // Same "is this stalled at all" question `paintPhase` asks above — call
+    // the one definition (`isStalledForDisplay`) rather than re-deriving it
+    // from `stallLevel`'s result, so the two call sites can never disagree.
+    paintPhaseAt(nowMs, isStalledForDisplay(stallArgs))
   }
 
   setShellBridgeHooks(shell, {
diff --git a/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.test.ts b/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.test.ts
index 12f67eed9..58fcbc203 100644
--- a/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.test.ts
+++ b/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
 
 import {
+  ACTIVITY_STATES,
   classifyAgentSendFailure,
   classifySendFailureMessage,
   resolveRampPhase,
@@ -9,94 +10,157 @@ import {
   shouldSettleUiAfterSendFailure,
 } from "./session-chrome.js"
 
+// The load-bearing guarantee: whatever tool identifier, MCP server name, or
+// plugin name the runtime hands us, the rendered ticker string must land in
+// the small closed set of human activity states — never the raw identifier.
+// A previously-unmapped tool (or one this test doesn't enumerate) must still
+// fall back into the set rather than leaking through verbatim.
+describe("resolveTurnLabel closed-set guarantee", () => {
+  const leakingIdentifiers = [
+    "run_shell",
+    "grep",
+    "read_file",
+    "write_file",
+    "edit_file",
+    "search_files",
+    "list_dir",
+    "web_search",
+    "web_fetch",
+    "manage_tasks",
+    "task",
+    "submit_output",
+    "ask_operator",
+    "mcp__glitchtip__authenticate",
+    "mcp__railway__deploy",
+    "some_未knownしplugin_tool",
+    "a-plugin-defined-tool-name",
+    "totally_unmapped_future_tool",
+  ]
+
+  for (const currentToolName of leakingIdentifiers) {
+    test(`"${currentToolName}" resolves to a member of the closed set`, () => {
+      const label = resolveTurnLabel(
+        {
+          isProcessing: true,
+          status: "running",
+          currentToolName,
+          streamingType: "tool",
+        },
+        false,
+      )
+      expect(label).not.toBe(currentToolName)
+      expect(ACTIVITY_STATES).toContain(label!)
+    })
+  }
+
+  test("a stalled turn renders a distinct stalled state", () => {
+    const label = resolveTurnLabel(
+      {
+        isProcessing: true,
+        status: "running",
+        currentToolName: "run_shell",
+        streamingType: "tool",
+      },
+      true,
+    )
+    expect(label).toBe("stalled")
+    expect(ACTIVITY_STATES).toContain(label!)
+  })
+
+  test("waiting on the operator is distinguishable from working", () => {
+    const label = resolveTurnLabel(
+      {
+        isProcessing: true,
+        status: "blocked",
+        currentToolName: "run_shell",
+        streamingType: "tool",
+      },
+      false,
+    )
+    expect(label).toBe("waiting")
+    expect(label).not.toBe("working")
+    expect(ACTIVITY_STATES).toContain(label!)
+  })
+})
+
 describe("resolveTurnLabel", () => {
   test("idle processing off yields no label", () => {
     expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({
-        isProcessing: false,
-        status: "idle",
-        awaitingResponse: false,
-        currentToolName: null,
-        streamingType: null,
-      }),
+      resolveTurnLabel(
+        {
+          isProcessing: false,
+          status: "idle",
+          currentToolName: null,
+          streamingType: null,
+        },
+        false,
+      ),
     ).toBeUndefined()
   })
 
-  test("blocked gate shows approval wait", () => {
+  test("blocked gate shows a waiting-on-operator state", () => {
     expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({
-        isProcessing: true,
-        status: "blocked",
-        awaitingResponse: false,
-        currentToolName: "run_shell",
-        streamingType: "tool",
-      }),
-    ).toBe("blocked")
+      resolveTurnLabel(
+        {
+          isProcessing: true,
+          status: "blocked",
+          currentToolName: "run_shell",
+          streamingType: "tool",
+        },
+        false,
+      ),
+    ).toBe("waiting")
   })
 
   test("stopping beats tool phase", () => {
     expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({
-        isProcessing: true,
-        status: "stopping",
-        awaitingResponse: false,
-        currentToolName: "grep",
-        streamingType: "tool",
-      }),
+      resolveTurnLabel(
+        {
+          isProcessing: true,
+          status: "stopping",
+          currentToolName: "grep",
+          streamingType: "tool",
+        },
+        false,
+      ),
     ).toBe("stopping")
   })
 
-  test("tool phase beats generic working", () => {
+  test("tool phase maps to its semantic activity, never the raw name", () => {
     expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({
-        isProcessing: true,
-        status: "running",
-        awaitingResponse: true,
-        currentToolName: "grep",
-        streamingType: "tool",
-      }),
-    ).toBe("grep")
+      resolveTurnLabel(
+        {
+          isProcessing: true,
+          status: "running",
+          currentToolName: "grep",
+          streamingType: "tool",
+        },
+        false,
+      ),
+    ).toBe("researching")
   })
 
   test("thinking and text phases", () => {
     const base = {
       isProcessing: true,
       status: "running" as const,
-      awaitingResponse: false,
       currentToolName: null,
     }
     expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({ ...base, streamingType: "thinking" }),
+      resolveTurnLabel({ ...base, streamingType: "thinking" }, false),
     ).toBe("thinking")
     expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({ ...base, streamingType: "text", streamTokenCount: 7 }),
-    ).toBe("streaming 7 tok")
-    expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({
-        ...base,
-        awaitingResponse: true,
-        streamingType: null,
-      }),
+      resolveTurnLabel({ ...base, streamingType: "text" }, false),
     ).toBe("working")
-  })
-
-  test("text phase with no count yet reads zero", () => {
     expect(
-      resolveTurnLabel({
-        isProcessing: true,
-        status: "running",
-        awaitingResponse: false,
-        currentToolName: null,
-        streamingType: "text",
-      }),
-    ).toBe("streaming 0 tok")
+      resolveTurnLabel({ ...base, streamingType: null }, false),
+    ).toBe("working")
   })
 })
 
 describe("resolveRampPhase", () => {
   const base = {
     isProcessing: true,
-    awaitingResponse: false,
     currentToolName: null,
     streamingType: null,
   }
diff --git a/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.ts b/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.ts
index 943dd506e..deb51e3d1 100644
--- a/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.ts
+++ b/src/tui-opentui/session-chrome.ts
@@ -20,11 +20,59 @@ export type TurnStatus =
 export type TurnLabelInput = {
   readonly isProcessing: boolean
   readonly status: TurnStatus
-  readonly awaitingResponse: boolean
   readonly currentToolName: string | null
   readonly streamingType: "text" | "thinking" | "tool" | null
-  /** Text deltas seen so far this turn; read only while `streamingType` is `text`. */
-  readonly streamTokenCount?: number
+}
+
+/**
+ * Closed set the status ticker is allowed to render. Every path through
+ * `resolveTurnLabel` returns one of these — never a tool identifier, MCP
+ * server name, or plugin name. This is what the leak-prevention test checks
+ * membership against, so it must stay the single source of truth for "what
+ * can appear in the ticker."
+ */
+export const ACTIVITY_STATES = [
+  "thinking",
+  "planning",
+  "researching",
+  "building",
+  "working",
+  "waiting",
+  "stalled",
+  "stopping",
+] as const
+
+export type ActivityState = (typeof ACTIVITY_STATES)[number]
+
+/**
+ * Execution → activity-state mapping, kept in this one place with an
+ * explicit fallback so a newly added tool (built-in, MCP, or plugin) renders
+ * a generic "working" state instead of leaking its identifier — no ticker
+ * change is required to add a tool correctly.
+ */
+const TOOL_ACTIVITY_STATES: Readonly<Record<string, ActivityState>> = {
+  read_file: "researching",
+  search_files: "researching",
+  grep: "researching",
+  list_dir: "researching",
+  web_search: "researching",
+  web_fetch: "researching",
+  write_file: "building",
+  edit_file: "building",
+  run_shell: "building",
+  delete_file: "building",
+  manage_tasks: "planning",
+  task: "planning",
+  advance_workflow: "planning",
+  tool_search: "researching",
+  search_agents: "researching",
+  ask_operator: "waiting",
+  submit_output: "working",
+}
+
+function activityStateForTool(name: string | null): ActivityState {
+  if (name === null) return "working"
+  return TOOL_ACTIVITY_STATES[name] ?? "working"
 }
 
 /**
@@ -32,22 +80,25 @@ export type TurnLabelInput = {
  * unpunctuated — the ramp's color and motion carry the state, so the word only
  * has to name it. Returns undefined when idle so the phase segment disappears.
  *
- * Text streaming carries a live count (`streaming 7 tok`) rather than the
- * bare word: it is the one phase with something to count, and the count is
- * what tells the operator the slot is not stalled.
+ * `isStalled` is the caller's own `isStalledForDisplay` result (see
+ * stall-watchdog.ts) — this function does not re-derive staleness, it only
+ * ranks "stalled" against the other phases so the ticker and the ramp never
+ * disagree about which runs look stuck. Required, not defaulted: a caller
+ * that forgets to pass it is exactly the bug this state exists to prevent —
+ * a wedged run silently painted as ordinary work.
  */
-export function resolveTurnLabel(input: TurnLabelInput): string | undefined {
+export function resolveTurnLabel(
+  input: TurnLabelInput,
+  isStalled: boolean,
+): ActivityState | undefined {
   if (!input.isProcessing) return undefined
-  if (input.status === "blocked") return "blocked"
+  if (input.status === "blocked") return "waiting"
   if (input.status === "stopping" || input.status === "stopped") {
     return "stopping"
   }
-  if (input.currentToolName !== null) return input.currentToolName
-  if (input.streamingType === "tool") return "tool"
+  if (isStalled) return "stalled"
+  if (input.currentToolName !== null) return activityStateForTool(input.currentToolName)
   if (input.streamingType === "thinking") return "thinking"
-  if (input.streamingType === "text") {
-    return `streaming ${String(input.streamTokenCount ?? 0)} tok`
-  }
   return "working"
 }
 
diff --git a/src/tui-opentui/shell.ts b/src/tui-opentui/shell.ts
index 47efdee0d..ba0ae4228 100644
--- a/src/tui-opentui/shell.ts
+++ b/src/tui-opentui/shell.ts
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ import {
   type LockupInput,
 } from "./lockup.js"
 import type { RampPhase, StallAge } from "./ramp.js"
+import type { ActivityState } from "./session-chrome.js"
 import {
   BORDER,
   composeCostContextMeter,
@@ -641,8 +642,12 @@ export type AppShell = {
    */
   lockupNowMs: number
   lockupAnimating: boolean
-  /** Live phase word the slot shows, or null for the idle wordmark. */
-  lockupPhase: string | null
+  /**
+   * Live activity state the slot shows, or null for the idle wordmark.
+   * Typed to the closed set (not `string`) so a raw tool/MCP/plugin
+   * identifier reaching this field is a compile error, not just a test one.
+   */
+  lockupPhase: ActivityState | null
   /** Clock reading when `lockupPhase` last changed — the fade's origin. */
   lockupChangedMs: number
   /** Density ramp phase for the same turn — drives the slot's pulse cell and tint. */
@@ -876,8 +881,11 @@ function syncLandingSuggestions(shell: AppShell): void {
 export type LockupFrame = {
   readonly nowMs: number
   readonly animating: boolean
-  /** Live phase word, or null for the idle wordmark. */
-  readonly phase: string | null
+  /**
+   * Live activity state, or null for the idle wordmark. Typed to the closed
+   * set so the caller cannot hand this a raw tool identifier.
+   */
+  readonly phase: ActivityState | null
   /** The turn's ramp phase, or null when idle. */
   readonly rampPhase: RampPhase | null
   /** How long the turn has been stalled, or null when it is not stalled. */
diff --git a/src/tui-opentui/turn-monitor.test.ts b/src/tui-opentui/turn-monitor.test.ts
index 0ac5b2cd3..7ef061c1f 100644
--- a/src/tui-opentui/turn-monitor.test.ts
+++ b/src/tui-opentui/turn-monitor.test.ts
@@ -73,16 +73,18 @@ describe("turn progress label", () => {
         expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("thinking")
 
         t.bridge.handle({ type: "inference.text.delta", data: { token: "hi" } })
-        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("streaming 1 tok")
+        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("working")
 
         t.bridge.handle({ type: "inference.text.delta", data: { token: " there" } })
-        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("streaming 2 tok")
+        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("working")
 
         t.bridge.handle({
           type: "inference.tool_call.end",
-          data: { name: "bash", callId: "c1" },
+          data: { name: "mcp__glitchtip__resolve_issue", callId: "c1" },
         })
-        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("bash")
+        // Unmapped tool identifiers — including MCP tools — fall back to the
+        // generic working state rather than leaking the raw name.
+        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("working")
 
         t.bridge.handle({ type: "reactor.done", data: {} })
         expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBeNull()
@@ -223,7 +225,7 @@ describe("turn progress label", () => {
     })
   })
 
-  test("an open permission overlay freezes the ramp and reads blocked", async () => {
+  test("an open permission overlay freezes the ramp and reads waiting", async () => {
     await withTestRenderer(async (h) => {
       const t: Harness = await setup(h)
       try {
@@ -231,7 +233,7 @@ describe("turn progress label", () => {
         t.shell.overlayKind = "permissions"
         t.bridge.gateOpened()
         t.tick()
-        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("blocked")
+        expect(t.shell.lockupPhase).toBe("waiting")
 
         // Frozen is the signal: the ramp must not move while a human is asked.
         const frozen = t.shell.lockupPhase