diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 67f65e4b57..9b15e12882 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ file is the human-readable summary of what changed and why.
## Unreleased
+### TUI
+
+- **New spinners** — the in-progress tool/thinking spinner is now cli-spinners
+ "sand" (falling braille dots) and the busy footer spinner next to
+ `esc interrupt` is now cli-spinners "aesthetic" (a `▰▱` progress ramp),
+ still tinted with the active agent's accent color.
+ ([#129](https://github.com/quickbeard/codev-code/pull/129))
+
### CodeGraph
- **`codev codegraph enable` wires the CodeGraph MCP server** — for standalone
diff --git a/DIVERGENCES.md b/DIVERGENCES.md
index 1b6d43516c..bfb7bcaddf 100644
--- a/DIVERGENCES.md
+++ b/DIVERGENCES.md
@@ -120,6 +120,8 @@ from the squash message first, or use a plain merge.
| `packages/tui/src/component/prompt/index.tsx` | The busy-state footer arm (`status().type !== "idle"`) also renders `props.hint` after the `esc interrupt` text, gated on `status().type !== "retry"` | The hidden-sidebar hint (see the `routes/session/index.tsx` hint row) only rendered in the footer `Switch`'s idle fallback arm, so it vanished for the whole duration of a running turn — exactly when todos are being created. Retry keeps its `space-between` error row uncluttered. | Keep the `{props.hint}` line in the busy `Match` arm (additive); take upstream's surrounding changes. |
| `packages/tui/src/component/prompt/index.tsx` | Removed the editor open-file label from the footer's right-side group and lifted the state behind it out of `Prompt`: the local `dismissedEditorSelectionKey` signal and the `editorContext`/`editorPath`/`editorSelectionLabel`/`editorFileLabel`/`editorFileLabelDisplay`/`editorContextLabelState` memos are gone, replaced by `useEditorLabel()` (fork-only `src/context/editor-label.tsx`) — `selection()` feeds the `prompt.editor_context.clear` `enabled` predicate and the submit-time editor part, `state()` replaces `editor.labelState()` there, and `dismiss()` replaces the local `dismissEditorContext`. The pure helpers `hasEditorRangeSelection`/`getEditorRangeLabel` moved to that context module and are imported back for `formatEditorContext`. | The label now lives in the sidebar footer (see its row above). The dismissal state had to move with it: the sidebar must label the *effective* selection — the one this file actually attaches on submit — or it would advertise context the prompt has dismissed and won't send. | Keep the deletions, the `useEditorLabel` import + its three call sites, and the helper import from `../../context/editor-label`; take upstream's surrounding changes. If upstream reworks the editor-context label, apply the change to `editorContextFileLabel` in the fork-only sidebar module rather than restoring the footer render. |
| `packages/tui/src/routes/session/index.tsx`, `packages/tui/src/component/prompt/index.tsx` | Left accent border removed entirely: the user-message block's `border={["left"]}`/`borderColor` (agent accent)/`customBorderChars` props and the prompt input box's two bordered boxes (main box with its `bottomLeft: "╹"` char, plus the height-1 `╹` terminator row) are replaced with `paddingLeft={1}`; the now-unused `borderHighlight` memo and the `tint`/`SplitBorder` imports are removed from the prompt (the `highlight`/`agentMetaAlpha` memos stay — they still color the agent name label); the fork's in-scrollbox banner box gains `paddingLeft={1}` so the banner/tips left edge lines up with the prompt/message blocks' background edge (the removed border glyph used to occupy that aligned column) | No vertical accent line next to sent messages or the prompt — removed rather than recolored to the background because background-colored glyphs render oddly on some terminals (e.g. PowerShell). `paddingLeft={1}` keeps the same 1-column offset, so text alignment with other transcript blocks is unchanged. | Keep our `paddingLeft={1}` boxes and the `borderHighlight`/`tint`/`SplitBorder` removals; take upstream's surrounding changes. If upstream adds new accent-colored left borders to these blocks, replace them with `paddingLeft={1}` the same way. |
+| `packages/tui/src/component/spinner.tsx` | `SPINNER_FRAMES` swapped from cli-spinners "dots" (10 braille frames) to cli-spinners "sand" (35 braille frames, falling-sand animation); interval stays 80 ms | Fork visual identity for the shared `Spinner` component (in-progress tool/thinking rows, startup loading, session-list dialogs). | Keep our frames array; take upstream's surrounding changes. |
+| `packages/tui/src/component/prompt/index.tsx` | Busy footer spinner is cli-spinners "aesthetic" instead of the Knight Rider block scanner: module-level `FOOTER_FRAMES` (`▰▱` ramp, 7 chars, 8 frames), `spinnerDef` keeps the agent-color resolution but returns those frames plus a per-char color fn (`▰` → agent color, `▱` → `deriveInactiveColor(color, 0.3)`) instead of `createFrames`/`createColors` from `ui/spinner`, and the `` interval is 120 ms (was 40; cli-spinners' stock 80 felt too fast). `ui/spinner.ts` itself is untouched; only its `deriveInactiveColor` import remains. | Fork visual identity for the busy indicator next to `esc interrupt`; the agent accent color still drives it. | Keep `FOOTER_FRAMES`, our `spinnerDef` body, the `deriveInactiveColor` import, and the 120 ms interval; take upstream's surrounding changes. If upstream reworks `spinnerDef`, re-apply the aesthetic frames + per-char color fn on top. |
| `packages/tui/src/app.tsx` | Mounted `` (fork-only `./context/editor-label`) immediately inside `` | The effective-editor-selection state is shared by the prompt and the sidebar footer, so it has to be provided above both. | Keep the import and the wrapper; take upstream's surrounding provider changes. If upstream moves `EditorContextProvider`, keep ours directly inside it. |
| `packages/app/index.html` | `` → "CoDev Code" | Web UI tab title. | Keep our title. |
| `packages/app/src/pages/layout.tsx`, `packages/app/src/pages/layout-new.tsx` | Dropped the `` mount and its import from both layouts (added upstream in v1.17.18; since v1.18.3 upstream itself removed the sibling `HelpButton`, so nothing is imported from `help-button` anymore) | `TabsInfoPopup` is a dev-channel-only "Introducing Tabs" promo whose `muted autoplay loop` `