diff --git a/server/lib/tuiHandshake.js b/server/lib/tuiHandshake.js
index 93c5f085a..ed3520bb3 100644
--- a/server/lib/tuiHandshake.js
+++ b/server/lib/tuiHandshake.js
@@ -837,8 +837,15 @@ export function createMcpBootTracker() {
     observe(strippedText) {
       if (active) return true;
       if (typeof strippedText !== 'string' || !strippedText) return active;
-      tail = (tail + strippedText).slice(-MCP_BOOT_TAIL_CAP);
-      if (isMcpBootSignal(tail)) active = true;
+      // Search BEFORE truncating. Codex commonly sends a whole-screen repaint
+      // in one PTY chunk: the MCP status sits above the composer/footer, and
+      // that suffix alone can exceed MCP_BOOT_TAIL_CAP. Truncating first drops
+      // a perfectly visible `Starting MCP servers` banner and falls back to the
+      // ordinary three-paste budget while Codex is still booting. The retained
+      // tail exists only to join a marker split across consecutive chunks.
+      const combined = tail + strippedText;
+      if (isMcpBootSignal(combined)) active = true;
+      tail = combined.slice(-MCP_BOOT_TAIL_CAP);
       return active;
     },
     get active() { return active; },
diff --git a/server/services/agentTuiSpawning.test.js b/server/services/agentTuiSpawning.test.js
index 0ed20a712..68ef58394 100644
--- a/server/services/agentTuiSpawning.test.js
+++ b/server/services/agentTuiSpawning.test.js
@@ -1666,8 +1666,13 @@ describe('spawnTuiAgent runtime', () => {
     runSpawn({ prompt: 'evaluate our animation prompts and generate drafts' });
     await flushMicrotasks();
 
-    // Codex prints its MCP-boot banner during startup → latches the boot tracker.
-    await capturedOnData(Buffer.from('>_ OpenAI Codex (v0.144.1)\nStarting MCP servers (0/3): codex_apps, node_repl, playwright\n'));
+    // Codex prints its MCP-boot banner during a whole-screen repaint. The
+    // composer/footer after the status line exceeds the tracker's 256-char
+    // cross-chunk tail in real transcripts; the tracker must search the full
+    // new repaint before truncating that tail, or it misses the banner and
+    // kills the run at the ordinary three-attempt cap.
+    const footer = `\n\n› Ask Codex to do anything\n\n  gpt-5.6-sol high · ${'workspace footer '.repeat(24)}`;
+    await capturedOnData(Buffer.from(`>_ OpenAI Codex (v0.148.0)\nStarting MCP servers (1/2): codex_apps (0s • esc to interrupt)${footer}`));
     await flushMicrotasks();
     // Fire the paste (past prompt-delay floor + readiness idle threshold).
     await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(2000);