diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatSubagentRun.test.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatSubagentRun.test.tsx
index c4aeb758b91..f2237c33cc5 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatSubagentRun.test.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatSubagentRun.test.tsx
@@ -232,6 +232,43 @@ describe('NativeChatToolRun with a spawn group', () => {
     expect(screen.queryByText('1 tool call')).toBeNull()
   })
 
+  // Every settled turn sits here by default: the list passes
+  // `expandOverride={expandedTurnIds.has(turnKey)}` — false until the reader
+  // opens that turn — and `activeTurnIsWorking={false}`. The completed-turn
+  // guard above bailed before the roster branch, so the one row this feature
+  // exists to draw vanished the moment its turn finished, and the message row
+  // that kept itself alive for it rendered an empty ghost bubble.
+  it('keeps the roster visible on a completed turn whose activity is collapsed', () => {
+    render(
+      <NativeChatToolRun
+        blocks={[]}
+        subagentGroups={[group([{ id: 'a', label: 'read', state: 'completed' }])]}
+        expandSignal={false}
+        expandOverride={false}
+        activeTurnIsWorking={false}
+      />
+    )
+
+    expect(screen.getByText('Ran 1 subagent')).toBeInTheDocument()
+  })
+
+  // The roster-only branch returns a `mt-3` wrapper whenever it has rows, so a
+  // group that draws nothing must not count as one — that wrapper would be the
+  // empty bubble with a margin that the message row refuses to emit.
+  it('draws nothing at all for a spawn group that carries no children', () => {
+    const { container } = render(
+      <NativeChatToolRun
+        blocks={[]}
+        subagentGroups={[group([])]}
+        expandSignal={false}
+        expandOverride={false}
+        activeTurnIsWorking={false}
+      />
+    )
+
+    expect(container).toBeEmptyDOMElement()
+  })
+
   it('renders the roster alongside the tool activity of its turn', () => {
     render(
       <NativeChatToolRun
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatToolRun.tsx b/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatToolRun.tsx
index 3e89cd00f0c..837c526dea4 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatToolRun.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/native-chat/NativeChatToolRun.tsx
@@ -210,13 +210,18 @@ export function NativeChatToolRun({
   // Re-sync when the global toolbar toggle flips.
   useEffect(() => setOpen(expandOverride ?? expandSignal), [expandOverride, expandSignal])
 
-  const subagentRows = subagentGroups.map((group) => (
-    <NativeChatSubagentRun
-      key={group.groupId}
-      block={group}
-      activeTurnIsWorking={activeTurnIsWorking}
-    />
-  ))
+  // Childless groups are dropped so `subagentRows.length` stays an honest test of
+  // "something will draw": the roster-only branch below returns a margin-bearing
+  // wrapper on the strength of it, and a group with no children renders null.
+  const subagentRows = subagentGroups
+    .filter((group) => group.agents.length > 0)
+    .map((group) => (
+      <NativeChatSubagentRun
+        key={group.groupId}
+        block={group}
+        activeTurnIsWorking={activeTurnIsWorking}
+      />
+    ))
   const callCount = countToolCalls(blocks) || blocks.length
   const summary = summarizeToolRun(blocks)
   const latestActiveCall = structuredActivityUi
@@ -241,6 +246,19 @@ export function NativeChatToolRun({
           value0: callCount
         })
 
+  // A roster with no tool calls beside it is the whole run: rendering the tool
+  // header too would announce "1 tool call" for activity that has none.
+  //
+  // Ordered BEFORE the completed-turn guard below on purpose. That guard hides
+  // TOOL activity behind the turn-status disclosure, and a roster row has none
+  // to hide: it is the compact summary this row exists to leave behind. Bailing
+  // there instead dropped it from every settled turn — the default state of the
+  // whole transcript — and left the caller, which counts a spawn group as
+  // renderable, drawing the empty bubble it explicitly guards against.
+  if (blocks.length === 0) {
+    return subagentRows.length > 0 ? <div className="mt-3">{subagentRows}</div> : null
+  }
+
   // Completed turn activity belongs behind the turn-status disclosure. Keeping
   // the grouped row visible here made a failed child command look like the
   // whole response was still running (or had failed) even while collapsed.
@@ -253,12 +271,6 @@ export function NativeChatToolRun({
     return null
   }
 
-  // A roster with no tool calls beside it is the whole run: rendering the tool
-  // header too would announce "1 tool call" for activity that has none.
-  if (blocks.length === 0) {
-    return subagentRows.length > 0 ? <div className="mt-3">{subagentRows}</div> : null
-  }
-
   return (
     // Extra top margin sets the tool run apart from the assistant prose above it
     // so the turn's activity doesn't crowd the message text.