diff --git a/packages/app/src/session/timeline/controller.tsx b/packages/app/src/session/timeline/controller.tsx
index e7db9164a33..e7a676b7e3b 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/session/timeline/controller.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/session/timeline/controller.tsx
@@ -68,6 +68,14 @@ export function createTimelineController(input: { session: TimelineSessionSource
       input.session.data.info()?.revert?.messageID,
     )
   })
+  const pendingUserMessageIDs = createMemo(() => {
+    const id = input.session.identity.sessionID()
+    return new Set(
+      (id ? data.session.pending.list(id) : []).flatMap((item) =>
+        item.type === "user" && item.delivery === "steer" ? [item.id] : [],
+      ),
+    )
+  })
   const titleValue = createMemo(() => input.session.data.info()?.title)
   const titleLabel = createMemo(() => sessionTitle(titleValue()) ?? language.t("command.session.new"))
   const parentMessages = createMemo(() => {
@@ -97,6 +105,7 @@ export function createTimelineController(input: { session: TimelineSessionSource
     sessionMessages: projectedMessages,
     status: input.session.data.status,
     showReasoningSummaries: settings.general.showReasoningSummaries,
+    pendingUserMessageIDs,
   })
   const [pending, setPending] = createStore({ rename: false })
 
diff --git a/packages/app/src/session/timeline/projection.ts b/packages/app/src/session/timeline/projection.ts
index 411df468954..361324560ba 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/session/timeline/projection.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/session/timeline/projection.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ export function createTimelineProjection(input: {
   sessionMessages: Accessor<SessionMessageInfo[]>
   status: Accessor<SessionStatus>
   showReasoningSummaries: Accessor<boolean>
+  pendingUserMessageIDs: Accessor<ReadonlySet<string>>
 }) {
   const sessionMessageByID = createMemo(
     () => new Map(input.sessionMessages().map((message) => [message.id, message] as const)),
@@ -75,7 +76,12 @@ export function createTimelineProjection(input: {
     return result
   })
   const projection = createMemo(() =>
-    Timeline.constructSessionMessageRows(input.sessionMessages(), input.showReasoningSummaries(), input.status()),
+    Timeline.constructSessionMessageRows(
+      input.sessionMessages(),
+      input.showReasoningSummaries(),
+      input.status(),
+      input.pendingUserMessageIDs(),
+    ),
   )
   const activeMessageID = createMemo(() => projection().activeMessageID)
   const rows = createMemo((previous: TimelineRow.TimelineRow[] | undefined) =>
diff --git a/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/projection.ts b/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/projection.ts
index a7c6684889a..61a74d44e23 100644
--- a/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/projection.ts
+++ b/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/projection.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ export type TimelineProjectionInput = {
   sessionMessages: SessionMessageInfo[]
   status: SessionStatus
   showReasoningSummaries: boolean
+  pendingUserMessageIDs?: ReadonlySet<string>
   previousRows?: TimelineRow.TimelineRow[]
 }
 
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ export function createTimelineProjection(input: TimelineProjectionInput) {
     input.sessionMessages,
     input.showReasoningSummaries,
     input.status,
+    input.pendingUserMessageIDs,
   )
   const rows = reuseTimelineRows(input.previousRows, projection.rows)
   const rowByKey = new Map(rows.map((row) => [TimelineRow.key(row), row] as const))
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ export function createReactiveTimelineProjection(input: {
   sessionMessages: Accessor<SessionMessageInfo[]>
   status: Accessor<SessionStatus>
   showReasoningSummaries: Accessor<boolean>
+  pendingUserMessageIDs?: Accessor<ReadonlySet<string>>
 }) {
   const sessionMessageByID = createMemo(
     () => new Map(input.sessionMessages().map((message) => [message.id, message] as const)),
@@ -72,7 +75,12 @@ export function createReactiveTimelineProjection(input: {
   const userContextByID = createMemo(() => indexUserContext(input.sessionMessages()))
   const assistantMessagesByParent = createMemo(() => indexAssistantMessages(input.sessionMessages()))
   const projection = createMemo(() =>
-    Timeline.constructSessionMessageRows(input.sessionMessages(), input.showReasoningSummaries(), input.status()),
+    Timeline.constructSessionMessageRows(
+      input.sessionMessages(),
+      input.showReasoningSummaries(),
+      input.status(),
+      input.pendingUserMessageIDs?.(),
+    ),
   )
   const activeMessageID = createMemo(() => projection().activeMessageID)
   const rows = createMemo((previous: TimelineRow.TimelineRow[] | undefined) =>
@@ -119,6 +127,7 @@ export namespace Timeline {
     messages: SessionMessageInfo[],
     showReasoning: boolean,
     status: SessionStatus,
+    pendingUserMessageIDs?: ReadonlySet<string>,
   ) {
     type Turn = {
       id: string
@@ -169,7 +178,7 @@ export namespace Timeline {
       current = turn
     })
 
-    const activeMessageID = turns.at(-1)?.id
+    const activeMessageID = turns.findLast((turn) => !pendingUserMessageIDs?.has(turn.id))?.id ?? turns.at(-1)?.id
     return {
       activeMessageID,
       rows: [
diff --git a/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/rows-current.test.ts b/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/rows-current.test.ts
index d93b66c3cee..fc83c1a442f 100644
--- a/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/rows-current.test.ts
+++ b/packages/session-ui/src/timeline/rows-current.test.ts
@@ -166,6 +166,22 @@ describe("current session timeline rows", () => {
     ])
   })
 
+  test("renders thinking above a queued user message", () => {
+    const source = [
+      { id: "msg_active", type: "user", text: "active", time: { created: 1 } },
+      { id: "msg_queued", type: "user", text: "queued", time: { created: 2 } },
+    ] satisfies SessionMessageInfo[]
+    const result = Timeline.constructSessionMessageRows(source, true, { type: "busy" }, new Set(["msg_queued"]))
+
+    expect(result.activeMessageID).toBe("msg_active")
+    expect(result.rows.map(TimelineRow.key)).toEqual([
+      "user-message:msg_active",
+      "thinking:msg_active",
+      "turn-gap:msg_queued",
+      "user-message:msg_queued",
+    ])
+  })
+
   test("suppresses thinking while a subagent is delegating or running", () => {
     const statuses = ["streaming", "running"] as const
     statuses.forEach((status) => {