diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/app.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/app.rs
index fae20fe695..6a46013162 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/app.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/app.rs
@@ -117,16 +117,17 @@ use self::pending_interactive_replay::PendingInteractiveReplayState;
 
 const EXTERNAL_EDITOR_HINT: &str = "Save and close external editor to continue.";
 const THREAD_EVENT_CHANNEL_CAPACITY: usize = 32768;
-
 enum ThreadInteractiveRequest {
     Approval(ApprovalRequest),
     McpServerElicitation(McpServerElicitationFormRequest),
 }
+const TITLE_SPINNER_FRAMES: [&str; 10] = ["⠋", "⠙", "⠹", "⠸", "⠼", "⠴", "⠦", "⠧", "⠇", "⠏"];
 /// Baseline cadence for periodic stream commit animation ticks.
 ///
 /// Smooth-mode streaming drains one line per tick, so this interval controls
 /// perceived typing speed for non-backlogged output.
 const COMMIT_ANIMATION_TICK: Duration = tui::TARGET_FRAME_INTERVAL;
+const TITLE_SPINNER_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_millis(200);
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct AppExitInfo {
@@ -729,12 +730,47 @@ fn normalize_harness_overrides_for_cwd(
     Ok(overrides)
 }
 
-fn normalize_title_context(title_override: Option<String>) -> Option<String> {
-    title_override
+fn compute_title_context(
+    title_override: Option<String>,
+    task_running: bool,
+    tick: u128,
+) -> Option<String> {
+    let context = title_override
         .as_deref()
         .map(str::trim)
         .filter(|name| !name.is_empty())
-        .map(ToString::to_string)
+        .map(ToString::to_string);
+
+    if !task_running {
+        return context;
+    }
+
+    let frame = TITLE_SPINNER_FRAMES[tick as usize % TITLE_SPINNER_FRAMES.len()];
+    context
+        .map(|context| format!("{frame} - {context}"))
+        .or_else(|| Some(frame.to_string()))
+}
+
+fn title_animation_tick() -> u128 {
+    std::time::SystemTime::now()
+        .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)
+        .unwrap_or_default()
+        .as_millis()
+        / TITLE_SPINNER_INTERVAL.as_millis()
+}
+
+fn update_terminal_title(
+    tui: &mut tui::Tui,
+    title_override: Option<String>,
+    task_running: bool,
+) -> Result<()> {
+    let title_context = compute_title_context(title_override, task_running, title_animation_tick());
+    tui.set_title_context(title_context.as_deref())?;
+    if task_running {
+        tui.frame_requester()
+            .schedule_frame_in(TITLE_SPINNER_INTERVAL);
+    }
+    Ok(())
 }
 
 impl App {
@@ -1924,8 +1960,8 @@ impl App {
             primary_session_configured: None,
             pending_primary_events: VecDeque::new(),
         };
-        let title_context = normalize_title_context(app.chat_widget.title_override());
-        tui.set_title_context(title_context.as_deref())?;
+        let task_running = app.chat_widget.is_task_running();
+        update_terminal_title(tui, app.chat_widget.title_override(), task_running)?;
 
         // On startup, if Agent mode (workspace-write) or ReadOnly is active, warn about world-writable dirs on Windows.
         #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
@@ -2025,8 +2061,8 @@ impl App {
                     AppRunControl::Continue
                 }
             };
-            let title_context = normalize_title_context(app.chat_widget.title_override());
-            tui.set_title_context(title_context.as_deref())?;
+            let task_running = app.chat_widget.is_task_running();
+            update_terminal_title(tui, app.chat_widget.title_override(), task_running)?;
             if App::should_stop_waiting_for_initial_session(
                 waiting_for_initial_session_configured,
                 app.primary_thread_id,
@@ -3900,10 +3936,28 @@ mod tests {
     }
 
     #[test]
-    fn normalize_title_context_uses_manual_title_when_present() {
+    fn title_context_adds_spinner_while_running() {
         assert_eq!(
-            normalize_title_context(Some("Named thread".to_string())),
-            Some("Named thread".to_string())
+            compute_title_context(Some("Named thread".to_string()), true, 0),
+            Some("⠋ - Named thread".to_string())
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            compute_title_context(Some("Named thread".to_string()), true, 9),
+            Some("⠏ - Named thread".to_string())
+        );
+        assert_eq!(compute_title_context(None, true, 0), Some("⠋".to_string()));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn title_context_defaults_to_none_without_manual_title() {
+        assert_eq!(compute_title_context(None, false, 0), None);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn title_context_prefers_manual_title_when_idle() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            compute_title_context(Some("manual title".to_string()), false, 0),
+            Some("manual title".to_string())
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
index 1dc9689806..692bab1aae 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
@@ -8545,6 +8545,10 @@ impl ChatWidget {
         self.title_override = title;
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn is_task_running(&self) -> bool {
+        self.bottom_pane.is_task_running()
+    }
+
     /// Returns the current thread's precomputed rollout path.
     ///
     /// For fresh non-ephemeral threads this path may exist before the file is
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/tui.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/tui.rs
index 190c967a96..2a95faa2f3 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/tui.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/tui.rs
@@ -61,6 +61,13 @@ pub(crate) const TARGET_FRAME_INTERVAL: Duration = frame_rate_limiter::MIN_FRAME
 pub type Terminal = CustomTerminal<CrosstermBackend<Stdout>>;
 const DEFAULT_TERMINAL_TITLE: &str = "Codex";
 
+fn has_spinner_prefix(context: &str) -> bool {
+    matches!(
+        context.chars().next(),
+        Some('⠋' | '⠙' | '⠹' | '⠸' | '⠼' | '⠴' | '⠦' | '⠧' | '⠇' | '⠏')
+    )
+}
+
 fn format_terminal_title(context: Option<&str>) -> String {
     let context = context
         .map(|text| {
@@ -73,6 +80,9 @@ fn format_terminal_title(context: Option<&str>) -> String {
         .filter(|text| !text.is_empty());
 
     match context {
+        Some(context) if has_spinner_prefix(&context) => {
+            format!("{DEFAULT_TERMINAL_TITLE} {context}")
+        }
         Some(context) => format!("{DEFAULT_TERMINAL_TITLE} - {context}"),
         None => DEFAULT_TERMINAL_TITLE.to_string(),
     }
@@ -608,6 +618,15 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn terminal_title_places_spinner_after_codex() {
+        assert_eq!(format_terminal_title(Some("⠋")), "Codex ⠋");
+        assert_eq!(
+            format_terminal_title(Some("⠋ - fix title syncing")),
+            "Codex ⠋ - fix title syncing"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn terminal_title_strips_control_characters() {
         assert_eq!(