diff --git a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.test.ts b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.test.ts
index 57cdf843fe..e740dc4327 100644
--- a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.test.ts
+++ b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.test.ts
@@ -41,11 +41,24 @@ describe("asNonEmptyString", () => {
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 describe("appendTextBlock", () => {
-	it("returns the same blocks when text is empty or whitespace", () => {
+	it("returns the same blocks for empty text", () => {
 		const blocks: RenderBlock[] = [{ type: "response", text: "hello" }];
 		expect(appendTextBlock(blocks, "response", "")).toBe(blocks);
-		expect(appendTextBlock(blocks, "response", "   ")).toBe(blocks);
+		expect(appendTextBlock(blocks, "thinking", "")).toBe(blocks);
+	});
+
+	it("does not start a block with whitespace-only text", () => {
+		const blocks: RenderBlock[] = [{ type: "response", text: "hello" }];
 		expect(appendTextBlock(blocks, "thinking", "\n\t")).toBe(blocks);
+		const empty: RenderBlock[] = [];
+		expect(appendTextBlock(empty, "response", "   ")).toBe(empty);
+	});
+
+	it("appends whitespace-only text to a matching block", () => {
+		const blocks: RenderBlock[] = [{ type: "response", text: "writing." }];
+		expect(appendTextBlock(blocks, "response", "\n\n")).toEqual([
+			{ type: "response", text: "writing.\n\n" },
+		]);
 	});
 
 	it("appends a new response block to an empty list", () => {
diff --git a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.ts b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.ts
index 2b570259eb..b0b9870196 100644
--- a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.ts
+++ b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/blockUtils.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ const textBlock = (
  * Append a text or thinking block to a render block list, merging
  * with the previous block when the types match. Text never merges
  * across a provider-executed call or between narration and an answer.
+ * Whitespace-only text extends a matching block but never starts one:
+ * models stream paragraph breaks as separate "\n\n" deltas, and
+ * dropping them joins the paragraphs. Returns `blocks` unchanged when
+ * nothing is appended.
  */
 export const appendTextBlock = (
 	blocks: RenderBlock[],
@@ -24,15 +28,15 @@ export const appendTextBlock = (
 	text: string,
 	narration = false,
 ): RenderBlock[] => {
-	if (!text.trim()) {
-		return blocks;
-	}
-	const nextBlocks = [...blocks];
-	const last = nextBlocks[nextBlocks.length - 1];
+	const last = blocks[blocks.length - 1];
 	const keepsApart =
 		last?.type === "response" &&
 		(last.beforeProviderTool || (last.narration ?? false) !== narration);
 	if (last && last.type === type && !keepsApart) {
+		if (!text) {
+			return blocks;
+		}
+		const nextBlocks = [...blocks];
 		nextBlocks[nextBlocks.length - 1] = textBlock(
 			type,
 			`${last.text}${text}`,
@@ -40,8 +44,10 @@ export const appendTextBlock = (
 		);
 		return nextBlocks;
 	}
-	nextBlocks.push(textBlock(type, text, narration));
-	return nextBlocks;
+	if (!text.trim()) {
+		return blocks;
+	}
+	return [...blocks, textBlock(type, text, narration)];
 };
 
 type ToolGroupRenderBlock = {
diff --git a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.test.ts b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.test.ts
index 565151706a..e4af1f59e5 100644
--- a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.test.ts
+++ b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.test.ts
@@ -250,6 +250,20 @@ describe("parseMessageContent", () => {
 		});
 	});
 
+	it("keeps whitespace-only parts between text parts", () => {
+		// Interrupted turns are saved with one part per streamed delta.
+		const result = parseMessageContent([
+			{ type: "text", text: "\n" },
+			{ type: "text", text: "writing." },
+			{ type: "text", text: "\n\n" },
+			{ type: "text", text: "Like this" },
+		]);
+		expect(result.markdown).toBe("writing.\n\nLike this");
+		expect(result.blocks).toEqual([
+			{ type: "response", text: "writing.\n\nLike this" },
+		]);
+	});
+
 	it("parses a reasoning block", () => {
 		const result = parseMessageContent([
 			{ type: "reasoning", text: "Let me think..." },
diff --git a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.ts b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.ts
index 7bde510ac0..83c55d8a39 100644
--- a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.ts
+++ b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/messageParsing.ts
@@ -19,9 +19,12 @@ import type {
 	StreamState,
 } from "./types";
 
-/** Concatenate text chunks, skipping whitespace-only values. */
+/**
+ * Concatenate text chunks. A whitespace-only chunk is dropped only while the
+ * text is still empty, so paragraph breaks between chunks survive.
+ */
 const appendText = (current: string, next: string): string => {
-	if (!next.trim()) {
+	if (!current && !next.trim()) {
 		return current;
 	}
 	return `${current}${next}`;
@@ -377,7 +380,8 @@ export const getEditableUserMessagePayload = (
 	fileBlocks: readonly TypesGen.ChatMessagePart[] | undefined;
 } => {
 	// Concatenate text parts verbatim to match the server-side string_agg in
-	// GetChatUserPromptsByChatID; parseMessageContent/appendText is for streaming and drops whitespace-only chunks.
+	// GetChatUserPromptsByChatID; parseMessageContent/appendText drops leading
+	// whitespace-only chunks.
 	const text = (message.content ?? [])
 		.filter((part): part is TypesGen.ChatTextPart => part.type === "text")
 		.map((part) => part.text)
diff --git a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.test.ts b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.test.ts
index b557df0267..17eba6e94d 100644
--- a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.test.ts
+++ b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.test.ts
@@ -95,6 +95,22 @@ describe("applyMessagePartToStreamState", () => {
 		expect(result).toBeNull();
 	});
 
+	it.each([
+		{ partType: "text", blockType: "response" },
+		{ partType: "reasoning", blockType: "thinking" },
+	] as const)(
+		"keeps whitespace-only $partType deltas between paragraphs",
+		({ partType, blockType }) => {
+			let state: StreamState | null = null;
+			for (const text of ["writing.", "\n\n", "Like this"]) {
+				state = applyMessagePartToStreamState(state, { type: partType, text });
+			}
+			expect(state?.blocks).toEqual([
+				{ type: blockType, text: "writing.\n\nLike this" },
+			]);
+		},
+	);
+
 	it("returns prev for workspace file reference parts", () => {
 		const prev = createEmptyStreamState();
 		const result = applyMessagePartToStreamState(prev, {
diff --git a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.ts b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.ts
index a11f6de9c4..0c1a2fd5e8 100644
--- a/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.ts
+++ b/site/src/pages/AgentsPage/components/ChatConversation/streamState.ts
@@ -26,30 +26,28 @@ export const applyMessagePartToStreamState = (
 
 	switch (part.type) {
 		case "text": {
-			// Skip empty and whitespace-only deltas so they don't
-			// create a non-null StreamState with empty blocks, which
-			// would prematurely end the "starting" phase.
-			if (!part.text.trim()) {
+			const blocks = appendTextBlock(
+				nextState.blocks,
+				"response",
+				part.text,
+				part.narration,
+			);
+			// Keeps a leading whitespace-only delta from creating a non-null
+			// state with no blocks, which would end the "starting" phase early.
+			if (blocks === nextState.blocks) {
 				return prev;
 			}
-			return {
-				...nextState,
-				blocks: appendTextBlock(
-					nextState.blocks,
-					"response",
-					part.text,
-					part.narration,
-				),
-			};
+			return { ...nextState, blocks };
 		}
 		case "reasoning": {
-			if (!part.text.trim()) {
+			const blocks = appendTextBlock(nextState.blocks, "thinking", part.text);
+			if (blocks === nextState.blocks) {
 				return prev;
 			}
 			return {
 				...nextState,
 				startedAt: nextState.startedAt ?? part.created_at,
-				blocks: appendTextBlock(nextState.blocks, "thinking", part.text),
+				blocks,
 			};
 		}
 		case "tool-call": {