diff --git a/apps/vscode/src/shared/combineApiRequests.test.ts b/apps/vscode/src/shared/combineApiRequests.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cecc7c3062
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/vscode/src/shared/combineApiRequests.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import { describe, it } from "bun:test"
+import { strict as assert } from "node:assert"
+import type { ClineMessage } from "./ExtensionMessage"
+import { combineApiRequests } from "./combineApiRequests"
+
+function started(ts: number, text: string) {
+	return { ts, type: "say", say: "api_req_started", text } as ClineMessage
+}
+
+function finished(ts: number, text: string) {
+	return { ts, type: "say", say: "api_req_finished", text } as ClineMessage
+}
+
+describe("combineApiRequests", () => {
+	it("merges a started request with its following finished payload", () => {
+		const messages: ClineMessage[] = [
+			started(1, JSON.stringify({ request: "GET /api/data" })),
+			finished(2, JSON.stringify({ cost: 0.005, tokensIn: 10, tokensOut: 5 })),
+		]
+
+		const combined = combineApiRequests(messages)
+
+		assert.equal(combined.length, 1)
+		assert.equal(combined[0]?.say, "api_req_started")
+		assert.deepEqual(JSON.parse(combined[0]?.text ?? "{}"), {
+			request: "GET /api/data",
+			cost: 0.005,
+			tokensIn: 10,
+			tokensOut: 5,
+		})
+	})
+
+	it("keeps an api_req_started without a matching finished payload", () => {
+		const messages: ClineMessage[] = [started(1, JSON.stringify({ request: "A" }))]
+
+		const combined = combineApiRequests(messages)
+
+		assert.equal(combined.length, 1)
+		assert.deepEqual(JSON.parse(combined[0]?.text ?? "{}"), { request: "A" })
+	})
+
+	it("does not throw on a malformed api_req_started payload and keeps the row", () => {
+		const messages: ClineMessage[] = [
+			started(1, "{not-json"),
+			{ ts: 2, type: "say", say: "text", text: "hello" } as ClineMessage,
+		]
+
+		const combined = combineApiRequests(messages)
+
+		assert.equal(combined[0]?.text, "{not-json")
+		assert.equal(combined[1]?.text, "hello")
+	})
+
+	it("does not throw on a malformed api_req_finished payload", () => {
+		const messages: ClineMessage[] = [
+			started(1, JSON.stringify({ request: "A", cost: 0.1 })),
+			finished(2, "{not-json"),
+		]
+
+		const combined = combineApiRequests(messages)
+
+		// Pair is still consumed; the started row survives with its own payload.
+		assert.equal(combined.length, 1)
+		assert.deepEqual(JSON.parse(combined[0]?.text ?? "{}"), { request: "A", cost: 0.1 })
+	})
+})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/vscode/src/shared/combineApiRequests.ts b/apps/vscode/src/shared/combineApiRequests.ts
index e017ec3435..48e05fbec9 100644
--- a/apps/vscode/src/shared/combineApiRequests.ts
+++ b/apps/vscode/src/shared/combineApiRequests.ts
@@ -23,12 +23,29 @@ export function combineApiRequests(messages: ClineMessage[]): ClineMessage[] {
 
 	for (let i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
 		if (messages[i].type === "say" && messages[i].say === "api_req_started") {
-			const startedRequest = JSON.parse(messages[i].text || "{}")
+			// Malformed payloads are tolerated everywhere else that reads this row
+			// (see messageUtils, RequestStartRow, getApiMetrics) because this runs
+			// inside the render pipeline. A JSON.parse throw here would crash the
+			// whole chat view, so degrade to keeping the original row instead.
+			let startedRequest: Record<string, unknown>
+			try {
+				startedRequest = JSON.parse(messages[i].text || "{}")
+			} catch {
+				continue
+			}
+
 			let j = i + 1
 
 			while (j < messages.length) {
 				if (messages[j].type === "say" && messages[j].say === "api_req_finished") {
-					const finishedRequest = JSON.parse(messages[j].text || "{}")
+					let finishedRequest: Record<string, unknown>
+					try {
+						finishedRequest = JSON.parse(messages[j].text || "{}")
+					} catch {
+						// Unparseable finish payload — nothing to merge, keep the
+						// started row as-is but still consume the pair.
+						finishedRequest = {}
+					}
 					const combinedRequest = {
 						...startedRequest,
 						...finishedRequest,