diff --git a/packages/shared/src/domain-types.ts b/packages/shared/src/domain-types.ts
index 358fa23864..4625973c73 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/domain-types.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/domain-types.ts
@@ -86,6 +86,12 @@ export interface TaskChannel {
 export interface TaskThreadMessage {
   id: string;
   task: string;
+  /** Who authored the row; agent rows are server-emitted announcements. Absent on older backends. */
+  author_kind?: "human" | "system" | "agent";
+  /** Stable event key for non-human rows (e.g. "canvas_created", "turn_complete"). */
+  event?: string;
+  /** Structured event payload; turn_complete carries `{ run_id }` so a client rendering a run's live agent turns can dedupe the durable row. */
+  payload?: Record<string, unknown>;
   content: string;
   created_at: string;
   author?: UserBasic | null;
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/components/ThreadPanel.tsx b/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/components/ThreadPanel.tsx
index 47e5ef82ea..615b414994 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/components/ThreadPanel.tsx
+++ b/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/components/ThreadPanel.tsx
@@ -65,16 +65,23 @@ function ThreadMessageRow({
 }) {
   const forwarded = !!message.forwarded_to_agent_at;
   const showMenu = (isTaskAuthor && !forwarded) || isOwnMessage;
+  // Agent rows are server-emitted announcements (canvas created, turn complete).
+  // author_kind is authoritative; authorless is the pre-author_kind fallback.
+  const isAgent =
+    message.author_kind === "agent" ||
+    (!message.author_kind && !message.author);
 
   return (
     <div className="group flex gap-2 rounded-md px-2 py-1.5 hover:bg-fill-secondary">
       <Avatar size="xs" className="mt-0.5 shrink-0">
-        <AvatarFallback>{getUserInitials(message.author)}</AvatarFallback>
+        <AvatarFallback>
+          {isAgent ? <RobotIcon size={12} /> : getUserInitials(message.author)}
+        </AvatarFallback>
       </Avatar>
       <div className="min-w-0 flex-1">
         <div className="flex items-baseline gap-2">
           <Text size="1" weight="medium" className="truncate">
-            {userDisplayName(message.author)}
+            {isAgent ? "Agent" : userDisplayName(message.author)}
           </Text>
           <Text size="1" className="shrink-0 text-muted-foreground">
             {formatRelativeTimeShort(message.created_at)}
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.test.ts b/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.test.ts
index 6a4a67f6f7..512521b6d0 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.test.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.test.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,33 @@ describe("splitLinkSegments", () => {
     ],
     ["not a url scheme", "ftp://example.com", [text("ftp://example.com")]],
     ["empty string", "", []],
+    [
+      "markdown link uses its label",
+      "[Signups](https://us.posthog.com/code/canvas/c/d) has been created",
+      [
+        {
+          type: "link",
+          text: "Signups",
+          href: "https://us.posthog.com/code/canvas/c/d",
+        },
+        text(" has been created"),
+      ],
+    ],
+    [
+      "markdown link alongside a bare url",
+      "see [docs](https://a.com) or https://b.com",
+      [
+        text("see "),
+        { type: "link", text: "docs", href: "https://a.com" },
+        text(" or "),
+        link("https://b.com"),
+      ],
+    ],
+    [
+      "markdown label without a url stays prose",
+      "[not a link](just text)",
+      [text("[not a link](just text)")],
+    ],
   ])("%s", (_label, input, expected) => {
     expect(splitLinkSegments(input)).toEqual(expected);
   });
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.ts b/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.ts
index 476d0917d9..6e1917acab 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/src/features/canvas/utils/linkify.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 const URL_PATTERN = /https?:\/\/[^\s<>]+/gi;
 
+// Named links written as markdown `[label](https://url)` — the shape auto-posted
+// thread messages use. Label excludes brackets and the URL excludes parens so
+// the token boundaries are unambiguous (same reasoning as MENTION_PATTERN).
+const MARKDOWN_LINK_PATTERN = /\[([^\][\n]+)\]\((https?:\/\/[^\s()]+)\)/gi;
+
 export interface LinkTextSegment {
   type: "text";
   text: string;
@@ -39,8 +44,34 @@ function trimTrailingPunctuation(url: string): string {
   return url.slice(0, end);
 }
 
-/** Split plain text into text and http(s) link segments, in document order. */
+/**
+ * Split plain text into text and http(s) link segments, in document order.
+ * Markdown-style `[label](url)` tokens become links titled by their label;
+ * bare URLs in the remaining text link as themselves.
+ */
 export function splitLinkSegments(text: string): LinkSegment[] {
+  const segments: LinkSegment[] = [];
+  let lastIndex = 0;
+  MARKDOWN_LINK_PATTERN.lastIndex = 0;
+  for (const match of text.matchAll(MARKDOWN_LINK_PATTERN)) {
+    const index = match.index ?? 0;
+    if (index > lastIndex) {
+      segments.push(...splitBareUrlSegments(text.slice(lastIndex, index)));
+    }
+    segments.push({
+      type: "link",
+      text: match[1] ?? "",
+      href: match[2] ?? "",
+    });
+    lastIndex = index + match[0].length;
+  }
+  if (lastIndex < text.length) {
+    segments.push(...splitBareUrlSegments(text.slice(lastIndex)));
+  }
+  return segments;
+}
+
+function splitBareUrlSegments(text: string): LinkSegment[] {
   const segments: LinkSegment[] = [];
   let lastIndex = 0;
   URL_PATTERN.lastIndex = 0;