diff --git a/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.test.ts b/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.test.ts
index a9b30e549db..958f5ece7e3 100644
--- a/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {
   agentLogoUrl,
   resolveConfiguredCronModelSuggestions,
   resolveAgentAvatarUrl,
+  resolveAgentEmoji,
   resolveEffectiveModelFallbacks,
   sortLocaleStrings,
 } from "./agents-utils.ts";
@@ -131,3 +132,21 @@ describe("resolveAgentAvatarUrl", () => {
     expect(resolveAgentAvatarUrl({ identity: { avatar: "🦞" } })).toBeNull();
   });
 });
+
+describe("resolveAgentEmoji", () => {
+  it("strips bidi controls from emoji values", () => {
+    expect(resolveAgentEmoji({ identity: { emoji: "\u202E🤖" } })).toBe("🤖");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps only the first grapheme cluster", () => {
+    expect(resolveAgentEmoji({ identity: { emoji: "🤖😈" } })).toBe("🤖");
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to empty for control-only emoji strings", () => {
+    expect(resolveAgentEmoji({ identity: { emoji: "\u202E\u2066" } })).toBe("");
+  });
+
+  it("preserves ZWJ-composed compound emoji intact", () => {
+    expect(resolveAgentEmoji({ identity: { emoji: "👩‍💻" } })).toBe("👩‍💻");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.ts b/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.ts
index e0c06c41386..fd3e018e330 100644
--- a/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.ts
+++ b/ui/src/ui/views/agents-utils.ts
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ export function normalizeAgentLabel(agent: {
   return agent.name?.trim() || agent.identity?.name?.trim() || agent.id;
 }
 
-const AVATAR_URL_RE = /^(https?:\/\/|data:image\/|\/)/i;
+const AVATAR_URL_RE = /^(https?:\/\/|data:image\/|blob:|\/)/i;
 
 export function resolveAgentAvatarUrl(
   agent: { identity?: { avatar?: string; avatarUrl?: string } },
@@ -221,6 +221,23 @@ export function agentLogoUrl(basePath: string): string {
   return base ? `${base}/favicon.svg` : "favicon.svg";
 }
 
+const EMOJI_CONTROL_CHARS_RE = /[\u200B\u200C\u200E\u200F\u202A-\u202E\u2066-\u2069\uFEFF]/g;
+
+function sanitizeEmojiValue(value: string): string {
+  const cleaned = value.replaceAll(EMOJI_CONTROL_CHARS_RE, "").trim();
+  if (!cleaned) {
+    return "";
+  }
+  if (typeof Intl.Segmenter !== "function") {
+    return cleaned;
+  }
+  const segmenter = new Intl.Segmenter(undefined, { granularity: "grapheme" });
+  const first = segmenter.segment(cleaned)[Symbol.iterator]().next().value as
+    | { segment?: string }
+    | undefined;
+  return first?.segment?.trim() || "";
+}
+
 function isLikelyEmoji(value: string) {
   const trimmed = value.trim();
   if (!trimmed) {
@@ -245,24 +262,35 @@ function isLikelyEmoji(value: string) {
   return true;
 }
 
+function pickEmoji(value?: string | null): string {
+  if (!value) {
+    return "";
+  }
+  const sanitized = sanitizeEmojiValue(value);
+  if (!sanitized) {
+    return "";
+  }
+  return isLikelyEmoji(sanitized) ? sanitized : "";
+}
+
 export function resolveAgentEmoji(
   agent: { identity?: { emoji?: string; avatar?: string } },
   agentIdentity?: AgentIdentityResult | null,
 ) {
-  const identityEmoji = agentIdentity?.emoji?.trim();
-  if (identityEmoji && isLikelyEmoji(identityEmoji)) {
+  const identityEmoji = pickEmoji(agentIdentity?.emoji);
+  if (identityEmoji) {
     return identityEmoji;
   }
-  const agentEmoji = agent.identity?.emoji?.trim();
-  if (agentEmoji && isLikelyEmoji(agentEmoji)) {
+  const agentEmoji = pickEmoji(agent.identity?.emoji);
+  if (agentEmoji) {
     return agentEmoji;
   }
-  const identityAvatar = agentIdentity?.avatar?.trim();
-  if (identityAvatar && isLikelyEmoji(identityAvatar)) {
+  const identityAvatar = pickEmoji(agentIdentity?.avatar);
+  if (identityAvatar) {
     return identityAvatar;
   }
-  const avatar = agent.identity?.avatar?.trim();
-  if (avatar && isLikelyEmoji(avatar)) {
+  const avatar = pickEmoji(agent.identity?.avatar);
+  if (avatar) {
     return avatar;
   }
   return "";
diff --git a/ui/src/ui/views/agents.ts b/ui/src/ui/views/agents.ts
index 4e8b9a065ba..680123090cf 100644
--- a/ui/src/ui/views/agents.ts
+++ b/ui/src/ui/views/agents.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ import {
   renderAgentCron,
 } from "./agents-panels-status-files.ts";
 import { renderAgentTools, renderAgentSkills } from "./agents-panels-tools-skills.ts";
-import { agentBadgeText, buildAgentContext, normalizeAgentLabel } from "./agents-utils.ts";
+import {
+  agentBadgeText,
+  buildAgentContext,
+  normalizeAgentLabel,
+  resolveAgentEmoji,
+} from "./agents-utils.ts";
 
 export type AgentsPanel = "overview" | "files" | "tools" | "skills" | "channels" | "cron";
 
@@ -149,13 +154,19 @@ export function renderAgents(props: AgentsProps) {
                     ? html`
                         <option value="">No agents</option>
                       `
-                    : agents.map(
-                        (agent) => html`
+                    : agents.map((agent) => {
+                        const emoji = resolveAgentEmoji(
+                          agent,
+                          props.agentIdentityById[agent.id] ?? null,
+                        );
+                        const label = normalizeAgentLabel(agent);
+                        const badge = agentBadgeText(agent.id, defaultId);
+                        return html`
                         <option value=${agent.id} ?selected=${agent.id === selectedId}>
-                          ${normalizeAgentLabel(agent)}${agentBadgeText(agent.id, defaultId) ? ` (${agentBadgeText(agent.id, defaultId)})` : ""}
+                          ${emoji ? `${emoji} ` : ""}${label}${badge ? ` (${badge})` : ""}
                         </option>
-                      `,
-                      )
+                      `;
+                      })
                 }
               </select>
             </div>