diff --git a/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/BotActivityBar.tsx b/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/BotActivityBar.tsx
index 238624cf7..dd116c29b 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/BotActivityBar.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/BotActivityBar.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import * as React from "react";
 import { Loader2 } from "lucide-react";
 import { AnimatePresence, motion, useReducedMotion } from "motion/react";
 
-import { useAgentWorking } from "@/features/agents/agentWorkingSignal";
 import {
   getAgentTranscript,
   subscribeAgentObserverStore,
@@ -163,10 +162,9 @@ function useStripHoverPopover(): StripHoverPopover {
  * `composerLiveActivity` preview flag off, the hover popover keeps the
  * legacy "View activity" item instead.
  *
- * Typing-fallback-only agents (working source "typing", no observer turn)
- * render a passive, borderless, width-uncapped status instead: no hover
- * card, no click-through, not focusable — there is no transcript or session
- * behind the signal to open.
+ * Only observer-backed agents reach this pill: typing-fallback-only agents
+ * are diverted into the combined typing indicator group by
+ * ChannelComposerActivityRow before the strip renders.
  */
 function BotActivityAgentPill({
   agent,
@@ -197,10 +195,6 @@ function BotActivityAgentPill({
   const pillKey = agent.pubkey.toLowerCase();
   const open = hover.activePubkey === pillKey;
   const shouldReduceMotion = useReducedMotion();
-  // Typing-fallback-only agents (no observer turn) render borderless and
-  // uncapped — the basic "is typing" presentation.
-  const typingOnly =
-    useAgentWorking(agent.pubkey, channelId).source === "typing";
   const transcript = useAgentTranscript(true, agent.pubkey);
   const now = useNow(PILL_LABEL_TICK_MS);
   const headline = React.useMemo(
@@ -209,11 +203,8 @@ function BotActivityAgentPill({
   );
   const activeId = headline?.id ?? GENERIC_LABEL_ID;
   // No fresh action headline (see deriveActivityPillLabel) — decay to the
-  // agent-named generic label. Typing-fallback-only agents read
-  // "is typing…" (matching the human indicator's vocabulary); observer-backed
-  // agents read "is working…".
-  const activeLabel =
-    headline?.label ?? `${agent.name} is ${typingOnly ? "typing" : "working"}…`;
+  // agent-named generic working label.
+  const activeLabel = headline?.label ?? `${agent.name} is working…`;
   // The rendered label lags the derived one while the pill is moving: the
   // push-up ticker plays after the slot settles (or immediately when idle).
   // Keyed by transcript item id, not label text — a NEW action swaps, while
@@ -261,7 +252,7 @@ function BotActivityAgentPill({
     <>
       <UserAvatar
         avatarUrl={avatarUrl}
-        className="!h-[18px] !w-[18px] shrink-0 text-3xs"
+        className="!h-5 !w-5 shrink-0 text-3xs"
         displayName={agent.name}
         size="xs"
       />
@@ -288,20 +279,6 @@ function BotActivityAgentPill({
     </>
   );
 
-  // Typing-fallback-only: a passive status readout — no hover card, no
-  // click-through, not focusable. There is no observer turn (and so no
-  // transcript or session) behind it to open.
-  if (typingOnly) {
-    return (
-      <div
-        className="inline-flex h-7 min-w-0 items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full bg-background px-2 text-xs font-semibold leading-none text-muted-foreground"
-        data-testid="bot-activity-composer-typing"
-      >
-        {pillContent}
-      </div>
-    );
-  }
-
   return (
     <Popover
       onOpenChange={(nextOpen) => {
@@ -316,7 +293,7 @@ function BotActivityAgentPill({
       <PopoverTrigger asChild>
         <button
           aria-label={`${agent.name} is working. View activity.`}
-          className="inline-flex h-7 min-w-0 max-w-50 items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full border border-border/60 bg-background px-2 text-xs font-semibold leading-none text-muted-foreground shadow-xs transition-colors hover:border-primary/30 hover:bg-primary/5 hover:text-foreground focus-visible:outline-hidden focus-visible:ring-1 focus-visible:ring-ring data-[state=open]:border-primary/40 data-[state=open]:bg-primary/10 data-[state=open]:text-primary"
+          className="inline-flex h-7 min-w-0 max-w-50 items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full border border-border/60 bg-background pl-0.75 pr-2 text-xs font-semibold leading-none text-muted-foreground shadow-xs transition-colors hover:border-primary/30 hover:bg-primary/5 hover:text-foreground focus-visible:outline-hidden focus-visible:ring-1 focus-visible:ring-ring data-[state=open]:border-primary/40 data-[state=open]:bg-primary/10 data-[state=open]:text-primary"
           data-testid="bot-activity-composer-trigger"
           onBlur={hover.scheduleClose}
           onClick={(event) => {
diff --git a/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/ChannelComposerActivityRow.tsx b/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/ChannelComposerActivityRow.tsx
index 71cd5e4c6..d55090046 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/ChannelComposerActivityRow.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/features/channels/ui/ChannelComposerActivityRow.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
-import { useChannelWorkingAgentPubkeys } from "@/features/agents/agentWorkingSignal";
+import * as React from "react";
+
+import {
+  getAgentWorkingState,
+  subscribeAgentWorkingSignal,
+  useChannelWorkingAgentPubkeys,
+} from "@/features/agents/agentWorkingSignal";
 import {
   BotActivityComposerAction,
   type BotActivityAgent,
@@ -6,11 +12,18 @@ import {
 import { TypingIndicatorRow } from "@/features/messages/ui/TypingIndicatorRow";
 import type { UserProfileLookup } from "@/features/profile/lib/identity";
 import type { Channel } from "@/shared/api/types";
+import { cn } from "@/shared/lib/cn";
 
 /**
  * Status strip anchored directly below the message composer: the inline
  * "agents working" trigger plus the typing indicator.
  *
+ * The working set splits by signal source: observer-backed agents get the
+ * interactive activity pills, while typing-fallback-only agents (no observer
+ * turn — nothing to hover or open) merge with the human typers into ONE
+ * combined typing indicator group ("X and Y are typing…") with an
+ * overlapping avatar set.
+ *
  * The row has a FIXED height (not min-h): it must not grow when the inline
  * bot-activity button (h-7) mounts, or the bottom-anchored composer above it
  * visibly bumps up. 34px (h-8.5) = 28px button + 6px bottom padding, the
@@ -34,37 +47,106 @@ export function ChannelComposerActivityRow({
   profiles?: UserProfileLookup;
   typingPubkeys: string[];
 }) {
+  const channelId = channel?.id ?? null;
   // Unified working set for the composer bar: observer-derived turns primary,
   // bot typing fallback (both folded together by agentWorkingSignal). This is
   // what makes the bar show for an agent whose observer stream is live but
   // whose typing signal never arrives — and vice versa.
-  const workingBotPubkeys = useChannelWorkingAgentPubkeys(channel?.id ?? null);
+  const workingBotPubkeys = useChannelWorkingAgentPubkeys(channelId);
+
+  // Typing-fallback-only pubkeys (channel-scoped working source "typing").
+  // Snapshot is a joined string so useSyncExternalStore only re-renders when
+  // the partition actually changes, not on every signal write.
+  const getAgentTypingSnapshot = React.useCallback(
+    () =>
+      workingBotPubkeys
+        .filter(
+          (pubkey) =>
+            getAgentWorkingState(pubkey, channelId).source === "typing",
+        )
+        .join(","),
+    [channelId, workingBotPubkeys],
+  );
+  const agentTypingKey = React.useSyncExternalStore(
+    subscribeAgentWorkingSignal,
+    getAgentTypingSnapshot,
+  );
+  const agentTypingPubkeys = React.useMemo(
+    () => (agentTypingKey === "" ? [] : agentTypingKey.split(",")),
+    [agentTypingKey],
+  );
+  const observerWorkingPubkeys = React.useMemo(() => {
+    const typingSet = new Set(agentTypingPubkeys);
+    return workingBotPubkeys.filter((pubkey) => !typingSet.has(pubkey));
+  }, [agentTypingPubkeys, workingBotPubkeys]);
+
+  // Humans and typing-fallback agents share one indicator group.
+  const combinedTypingPubkeys = React.useMemo(
+    () => [...typingPubkeys, ...agentTypingPubkeys],
+    [agentTypingPubkeys, typingPubkeys],
+  );
+
+  // The channel-agent roster carries names for agents that have no profile
+  // entry (e.g. relay-roster-only agents); overlay them so the typing label
+  // never falls back to a truncated pubkey.
+  const typingProfiles = React.useMemo(() => {
+    if (agentTypingPubkeys.length === 0 || agents.length === 0) {
+      return profiles;
+    }
+    const merged: UserProfileLookup = { ...profiles };
+    for (const agent of agents) {
+      const key = agent.pubkey.toLowerCase();
+      merged[key] = {
+        ...merged[key],
+        displayName: merged[key]?.displayName || agent.name,
+        avatarUrl: merged[key]?.avatarUrl ?? null,
+        nip05Handle: merged[key]?.nip05Handle ?? null,
+        isAgent: true,
+      };
+    }
+    return merged;
+  }, [agentTypingPubkeys.length, agents, profiles]);
 
   return (
     <div
       className="h-8.5 overflow-visible bg-background px-5 pb-1.5 pt-0"
       data-testid="channel-composer-activity-row"
     >
-      <div className="flex h-full w-full items-center gap-2 overflow-visible">
-        {workingBotPubkeys.length > 0 ? (
-          <div className="flex min-w-0 flex-1 overflow-visible">
+      <div className="flex h-full w-full items-center gap-3 overflow-visible">
+        {/* The pill strip sizes to its content (shrinkable when the row gets
+            tight); the typing group takes whatever is left so it sits
+            directly after the pills instead of splitting the row 50/50. */}
+        {observerWorkingPubkeys.length > 0 ? (
+          <div className="flex min-w-0 overflow-visible">
             <BotActivityComposerAction
               agents={agents}
-              channelId={channel?.id ?? null}
+              channelId={channelId}
               onOpenAgentSession={onOpenAgentSession}
               openAgentSessionPubkey={openAgentSessionPubkey}
               profiles={profiles}
-              workingBotPubkeys={workingBotPubkeys}
+              workingBotPubkeys={observerWorkingPubkeys}
             />
           </div>
         ) : null}
-        {typingPubkeys.length > 0 ? (
+        {combinedTypingPubkeys.length > 0 ? (
           <TypingIndicatorRow
             channel={channel}
-            className="min-w-0 flex-1 py-0 pl-[calc(0.75rem+1px)] pr-0 sm:pl-[calc(1rem+1px)]"
+            className={cn(
+              "min-w-0 flex-1 py-0 pr-0",
+              // Composer-edge alignment only when the typing group leads the
+              // row; next to pills the row's gap is the whole spacing (the
+              // base variant's px-4/sm:px-6 must be zeroed, not just left
+              // unoverridden).
+              observerWorkingPubkeys.length === 0
+                ? "pl-[calc(0.75rem+1px)] sm:pl-[calc(1rem+1px)]"
+                : "pl-0 sm:pl-0",
+            )}
             currentPubkey={currentPubkey}
-            profiles={profiles}
-            typingPubkeys={typingPubkeys}
+            // Match the activity pills' label weight so the two read as one
+            // strip.
+            labelClassName="font-semibold"
+            profiles={typingProfiles}
+            typingPubkeys={combinedTypingPubkeys}
           />
         ) : null}
       </div>
diff --git a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/TypingIndicatorRow.tsx b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/TypingIndicatorRow.tsx
index ef9a8f184..8325de220 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/TypingIndicatorRow.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/TypingIndicatorRow.tsx
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ type TypingIndicatorRowProps = {
   channel: Channel | null;
   className?: string;
   currentPubkey?: string;
+  /** Extra classes for the "… is typing" label (e.g. weight overrides). */
+  labelClassName?: string;
   profiles?: UserProfileLookup;
   typingPubkeys: string[];
   variant?: "default" | "activity";
@@ -48,13 +50,14 @@ function formatTypingLabel(names: string[]) {
     return `${names[0]}, ${names[1]}, and ${names[2]} are typing...`;
   }
 
-  return `${names[0]}, ${names[1]}, and ${names.length - 2} others are typing...`;
+  return `${names[0]}, ${names[1]}, and ${names.length - 2} more are typing...`;
 }
 
 export function TypingIndicatorRow({
   channel,
   className,
   currentPubkey,
+  labelClassName,
   profiles,
   typingPubkeys,
   variant = "default",
@@ -129,6 +132,7 @@ export function TypingIndicatorRow({
               isActivityVariant
                 ? "text-2xs font-medium leading-3"
                 : "text-xs font-medium leading-4",
+              labelClassName,
             )}
             data-testid="message-typing-indicator-label"
           >