diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/build-activity-log.sh b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/build-activity-log.sh
index ef266a5..bd92c51 100755
--- a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/build-activity-log.sh
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/build-activity-log.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,13 @@ jq -r '
   def trunc(n): if length > n then (.[0:n] + "…") else . end;
   select(.type=="tool_use" or .type=="text") |
     if .type=="text" then
-      "💬 " + ((.part.text // "") | trunc(4000))
+      # Drop the PR-description block from the reasoning trail — it is already published verbatim as
+      # the PR description, so repeating it here is redundant noise. Skip a text part that is nothing
+      # but that block (would otherwise be an empty "💬 " entry).
+      ((.part.text // "")
+       | gsub("BEGIN_PR_DESCRIPTION.*?END_PR_DESCRIPTION"; ""; "m")
+       | gsub("\\A[[:space:]]+|[[:space:]]+\\z"; "")) as $t |
+      if $t == "" then empty else "💬 " + ($t | trunc(4000)) end
     else
       (.part.tool // "?") as $t |
       ((.part.state.title // (.part.state.input | tojson | trunc(160)) // "")) as $title |
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh
index bc80037..ba3eca8 100755
--- a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh
@@ -18,14 +18,25 @@ hdr=(-H "Authorization: token $TOK" -H "Content-Type: application/json")
 post() { curl -sS -w 'comment -> HTTP %{http_code}\n' -X POST "${hdr[@]}" \
   "$API/issues/$NUM/comments" -d "$(jq -nc --arg b "$1" '{body:$b}')"; }
 
-# drop machine-readable markers (DELEGATE / CLOSE_ISSUE / the BEGIN_SUBTASKS..END_SUBTASKS block)
+# drop machine-readable markers: DELEGATE / CLOSE_ISSUE, and the BEGIN_SUBTASKS..END_SUBTASKS and
+# BEGIN_PR_DESCRIPTION..END_PR_DESCRIPTION blocks (the PR description is published separately).
 reply=$(awk '
   /^[[:space:]]*BEGIN_SUBTASKS/{s=1}
+  /^[[:space:]]*BEGIN_PR_DESCRIPTION/{p=1}
   /^[[:space:]]*DELEGATE:[[:space:]]*@/{next}
   /^[[:space:]]*CLOSE_ISSUE[[:space:]]*$/{next}
   s{ if(/^[[:space:]]*END_SUBTASKS/){s=0}; next }
+  p{ if(/^[[:space:]]*END_PR_DESCRIPTION/){p=0}; next }
   {print}
 ' /tmp/agent_out.md 2>/dev/null)
+# Strip a leading self-header the model sometimes emits ("🤖 **@pm**" on its own line) so we don't
+# double it when we prepend our own. Removes a leading run of such header lines and blank lines.
+reply=$(printf '%s' "$reply" | awk '
+  BEGIN{s=1}
+  s && /^[^A-Za-z0-9]*\*\*@[A-Za-z]+\*\*[[:space:]]*$/ {next}
+  s && /^[[:space:]]*$/ {next}
+  {s=0; print}
+')
 [ -z "$reply" ] && reply="_(Made changes without a text summary — see the diff below.)_"
 # Prefer the agent's clean delimited PR description; fall back to the whole reply.
 prdesc=$(awk '/BEGIN_PR_DESCRIPTION/{f=1;next} /END_PR_DESCRIPTION/{f=0} f' /tmp/agent_out.md)
@@ -133,7 +144,7 @@ activity=""
 if [ -s /tmp/activity_log.md ]; then
   entries=$(wc -l < /tmp/activity_log.md 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
   log=$(cat /tmp/activity_log.md)
-  activity=$(printf '\n\n---\n🤖 **@%s** — activity log (%s entries):\n<details>\n<summary>tool calls & reasoning</summary>\n\n%s\n\n</details>' "$NAME" "$entries" "$log")
+  activity=$(printf '\n\n<details>\n<summary>🔧 activity — %s tool calls & reasoning</summary>\n\n%s\n\n</details>' "$entries" "$log")
 fi
 
 # One PR per run: publish ONLY this run's own branch ($BRANCH), never sibling
@@ -175,6 +186,7 @@ prpost() {
 if [ "$NEW" = "true" ]; then
   prpost "$prnum" "$(printf '🤖 **@%s** — ✅ PR ready for review — @ffaerber please review & merge:\n- %s%s' "$NAME" "$url" "$activity")"
 else
-  # Resume (comment is on a PR thread): include the write-up here too.
-  prpost "$prnum" "$(printf '🤖 **@%s** — updated branch/PR:\n- %s\n\n%s%s' "$NAME" "$url" "$prdesc" "$activity")"
+  # Resume: just link the PR — its body and the diff already carry the description, so we don't
+  # repeat the full write-up in the comment (the reasoning trail below shows what this run did).
+  prpost "$prnum" "$(printf '🤖 **@%s** — pushed an update to the PR:\n- %s%s' "$NAME" "$url" "$activity")"
 fi