@@ -848,11 +848,9 @@ describe("createPruningCompactor — consolidated handoff (CL-7521)", () => {
       baseURL: "http://localhost:1",
       credentialId: "test",
     };
-    const notices: string[] = [];
     const summarize = createModelSummarizer({
       getSource: () => source,
       complete: async () => "",
-      onFailure: (text) => notices.push(text),
     });
     const result = await smallCompactor({
       summaryMaxChars: 500,
@@ -862,9 +860,6 @@ describe("createPruningCompactor — consolidated handoff (CL-7521)", () => {
     expect(result.record.decisions.summarizeFailureKind).toBe("empty");
     expect(result.record.reason).toContain("statistics-only stub: empty");
     expect(compactedTurns(result.output)).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(notices).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(notices[0]).toContain("statistics-only stub");
-    expect(notices[0]).toContain("empty");
   });
 
   test("an aborted summarizer keeps prior context instead of stubbing", async () => {
 
@@ -943,6 +943,10 @@ export async function runExec(config: Config): Promise<ExecResult> {
               currentStorage?.readBlob.bind(currentStorage),
             ),
           telemetry: liveTelemetry,
+          // Operator-visible once a statistics-only stub actually replaces turns.
+          onFailure: (text) => {
+            stderr.write(`${text}\n`);
+          },
           onFolded: () => {
             // Fold restarts the cached prefix — drop idle execute-promoted
             // schemas rather than carrying them forever, and persist so a
 
@@ -246,9 +246,6 @@ describe("createCompactionLifecycle", () => {
         }) as never,
       getSignal: () => lifecycle.getSignal(),
       telemetry,
-      onFailure: (text) => {
-        notices.push(text);
-      },
       complete: (_promptTurns, _source, signal) =>
         new Promise<string>((_resolve, reject) => {
           signal.addEventListener(
@@ -297,8 +294,7 @@ describe("createCompactionLifecycle", () => {
     expect(telemetryEvents).toEqual([]);
   });
 
-  test("a genuine summarizer failure still notifies and emits telemetry", async () => {
-    const notices: string[] = [];
+  test("a genuine summarizer failure still emits telemetry", async () => {
     const captured: {
       event: string;
       properties?: Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
@@ -322,16 +318,11 @@ describe("createCompactionLifecycle", () => {
           credentialId: "test",
         }) as never,
       telemetry,
-      onFailure: (text) => {
-        notices.push(text);
-      },
       complete: async () => {
         throw new Error("model unreachable");
       },
     });
     await expect(summarize(turns(5))).rejects.toThrow("model unreachable");
-    expect(notices).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(notices[0]).toContain("Compaction summary failed");
     const failures = captured.filter((e) => e.event === "summarizer_failure");
     expect(failures).toHaveLength(1);
     expect(failures[0]?.properties?.["error_kind"]).toBe("failed");
 
@@ -567,9 +567,10 @@ describe("createSessionPruningCompactor", () => {
 });
 
 describe("createSessionPruningCompactor stub fallback", () => {
-  test("a summarizer stub fallback folds without success telemetry or onFolded", async () => {
+  test("a summarizer stub fallback folds without success telemetry and still runs onFolded", async () => {
     const captured: { event: string }[] = [];
-    const folds: { turnsBefore: number; turnsAfter: number }[] = [];
+    const folds: { turnsBefore: number; turnsAfter: number; stub: boolean }[] =
+      [];
     const telemetry: Telemetry = {
       enabled: true,
       installationId: "test",
@@ -593,12 +594,12 @@ describe("createSessionPruningCompactor stub fallback", () => {
       complete: async () => {
         throw new Error("model unreachable");
       },
-      onFailure: (text) => notices.push(text),
     });
     const compactor = createSessionPruningCompactor({
       summarize,
       telemetry,
       onFolded: (info) => folds.push(info),
+      onFailure: (text) => notices.push(text),
       compactionShape: { tailBudgetTokens: 1 },
     });
     const now = Date.now();
@@ -613,11 +614,123 @@ describe("createSessionPruningCompactor stub fallback", () => {
     });
     expect(result.record.decisions.summarizeFailed).toBe(1);
     expect(result.record.reason).toContain("statistics-only stub");
-    expect(folds).toEqual([]);
+    expect(folds).toEqual([
+      { turnsBefore: 8, turnsAfter: result.output.length, stub: true },
+    ]);
     expect(captured).toEqual([]);
     expect(notices).toHaveLength(1);
     expect(notices[0]).toContain("statistics-only stub");
     expect(notices[0]).toContain("failed");
+    expect(notices[0]).toContain("model unreachable");
+  });
+
+  test("verify abort after a failed summary keeps prior context and fires no stub notice", async () => {
+    const notices: string[] = [];
+    const folds: { stub: boolean }[] = [];
+    const summarize = createModelSummarizer({
+      getSource: () =>
+        ({
+          id: "test",
+          provider: "openai",
+          model: "test-model",
+          baseURL: "http://localhost:1",
+          credentialId: "test",
+        }) as never,
+      complete: async () => {
+        throw new Error("model unreachable");
+      },
+    });
+    const now = Date.now();
+    const turns = [
+      {
+        role: "user" as const,
+        content: [
+          {
+            type: "text" as const,
+            text: "Migrate the auth module to opaque tokens",
+          },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "assistant" as const,
+        content: [
+          {
+            type: "tool_call" as const,
+            id: "c1",
+            name: "run_shell",
+            arguments: { command: "bun test auth" },
+          },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "user" as const,
+        content: [
+          {
+            type: "tool_result" as const,
+            callId: "c1",
+            isError: true,
+            content: [
+              { type: "text" as const, text: "token refresh assertion failed" },
+            ],
+          },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "assistant" as const,
+        content: [
+          { type: "text" as const, text: "Working through the failure" },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "user" as const,
+        content: [
+          {
+            type: "text" as const,
+            text: "Confirm there are no errors remaining in auth",
+          },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "assistant" as const,
+        content: [
+          { type: "text" as const, text: "Continuing the auth work now" },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "user" as const,
+        content: [
+          {
+            type: "text" as const,
+            text: "There are no errors remaining in the suite",
+          },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "assistant" as const,
+        content: [
+          { type: "text" as const, text: "I will keep going from here" },
+        ],
+        timestamp: now,
+      },
+    ];
+    const result = await createSessionPruningCompactor({
+      summarize,
+      onFolded: (info) => folds.push(info),
+      onFailure: (text) => notices.push(text),
+      compactionShape: { tailBudgetTokens: 1 },
+    }).apply(turns as never, { state: {} as never, trigger: "test" });
+    expect(result.output).toBe(turns);
+    expect(result.record.reason).toBe("verify failed — keeping prior context");
+    expect(result.record.decisions.summarizedTurnCount).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(folds).toEqual([]);
+    expect(notices).toEqual([]);
   });
 });
 
 
@@ -58,7 +58,11 @@ import {
   createPruningCompactor,
   type CompactionShape,
 } from "./compactor.js";
-import type { SummaryContext } from "./summarizer.js";
+import {
+  classifySummarizerFailure,
+  summarizerStubFallbackNotice,
+  type SummaryContext,
+} from "./summarizer.js";
 import { NOOP_TELEMETRY, type Telemetry } from "../telemetry/index.js";
 import { COMPACTION_ABORTED_REASON } from "./compaction-lifecycle.js";
 
@@ -418,7 +422,17 @@ export interface SessionPruningCompactorArgs {
   readPriorHandoff?: () => Promise<string | undefined>;
   telemetry?: Telemetry;
   /** Fires only when turns were actually folded away — not on no-ops. */
-  onFolded?: (info: { turnsBefore: number; turnsAfter: number }) => void;
+  onFolded?: (info: {
+    turnsBefore: number;
+    turnsAfter: number;
+    /** True when the fold used a statistics-only stub, not an LLM summary. */
+    stub: boolean;
+  }) => void;
+  /**
+   * Operator-visible notice for a statistics-only stub that actually replaced
+   * turns. Verify abort (keeping prior context) does not fire this.
+   */
+  onFailure?: (text: string) => void;
   /**
    * True when the lifecycle has discarded (or will discard) the in-flight
    * compact — e.g. bound to the session compaction lifecycle's signal. A
@@ -434,10 +448,39 @@ export interface SessionPruningCompactorArgs {
   compactionShape?: Partial<CompactionShape>;
 }
 
+function stubFallbackNoticeFromError(error: unknown): string | undefined {
+  const err = error instanceof Error ? error : new Error(String(error));
+  const kind = classifySummarizerFailure(err);
+  if (kind === "aborted") return undefined;
+  return summarizerStubFallbackNotice(kind, err);
+}
+
+function stubFallbackNoticeFromRecord(
+  pending: string | undefined,
+  kind: unknown,
+): string {
+  if (pending !== undefined) return pending;
+  const label = typeof kind === "string" && kind.length > 0 ? kind : "failed";
+  return `Compaction summary failed — using a statistics-only stub (${label})`;
+}
+
 /** Shared pruning-compactor defaults for the main session agent. */
 export function createSessionPruningCompactor(
   args: SessionPruningCompactorArgs,
 ): Compactor {
+  let pendingStubNotice: string | undefined;
+  const innerSummarize = args.summarize;
+  const summarize =
+    innerSummarize === undefined
+      ? undefined
+      : async (turns: ConversationTurn[], ctx?: SummaryContext) => {
+          try {
+            return await innerSummarize(turns, ctx);
+          } catch (error) {
+            pendingStubNotice = stubFallbackNoticeFromError(error);
+            throw error;
+          }
+        };
   const compactor = createPruningCompactor({
     summaryMaxChars: SESSION_COMPACTOR_SUMMARY_MAX_CHARS,
     // CL-9489 budgeted-tail shape: explicit defaults (same object the record
@@ -447,7 +490,7 @@ export function createSessionPruningCompactor(
       ...DEFAULT_TAIL_COMPACTION_SHAPE,
       ...args.compactionShape,
     },
-    ...(args.summarize !== undefined ? { summarize: args.summarize } : {}),
+    ...(summarize !== undefined ? { summarize } : {}),
     ...(args.summaryContext ? { summaryContext: args.summaryContext } : {}),
     ...(args.readPriorHandoff !== undefined
       ? { readPriorHandoff: args.readPriorHandoff }
@@ -457,6 +500,7 @@ export function createSessionPruningCompactor(
   return {
     ...compactor,
     async apply(turns, ctx) {
+      pendingStubNotice = undefined;
       const turnsBefore = turns.length;
       const startedAt = Date.now();
       const result = await compactor.apply(turns, ctx);
@@ -473,21 +517,33 @@ export function createSessionPruningCompactor(
       // summarizedTurnCount is only set on the branch that actually folded
       // turns away. The other branch is a no-op (or image aging alone), and
       // reporting it as compaction would drag the duration and turn-count
-      // averages toward the runs where nothing happened. A statistics-only
-      // stub fold is not a successful LLM reduction: the operator notice
-      // owns that path, and emitting the success event would relabel it.
-      if (
-        result.record.decisions.summarizedTurnCount !== undefined &&
-        result.record.decisions.summarizeFailed !== 1
-      ) {
-        telemetry.capture("compaction", {
-          mode: "llm",
-          duration_ms: Date.now() - startedAt,
-          turns_before: turnsBefore,
-          turns_after: result.output.length,
-        });
-        args.onFolded?.({ turnsBefore, turnsAfter: result.output.length });
+      // averages toward the runs where nothing happened.
+      if (result.record.decisions.summarizedTurnCount === undefined) {
+        return result;
+      }
+      const stub = result.record.decisions.summarizeFailed === 1;
+      // Stub folds still break the cached prefix, so prune still runs.
+      // Success telemetry and the TUI fold flash must not relabel a stub.
+      args.onFolded?.({
+        turnsBefore,
+        turnsAfter: result.output.length,
+        stub,
+      });
+      if (stub) {
+        args.onFailure?.(
+          stubFallbackNoticeFromRecord(
+            pendingStubNotice,
+            result.record.decisions.summarizeFailureKind,
+          ),
+        );
+        return result;
       }
+      telemetry.capture("compaction", {
+        mode: "llm",
+        duration_ms: Date.now() - startedAt,
+        turns_before: turnsBefore,
+        turns_after: result.output.length,
+      });
       return result;
     },
   };