diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/de.json b/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/de.json
index 8901dbed..9d6a4eb6 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/de.json
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/de.json
@@ -698,6 +698,9 @@
       "merging": "Wird zusammengeführt…",
       "verifying": "Verify-Kommando der Liste läuft… ({0})"
     },
+    "diff": {
+      "parsing": "Diff wird geparst…"
+    },
     "review": {
       "submitting": "Wird zur Prüfung eingereicht…",
       "rejecting": "Wird abgelehnt…",
diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/en.json b/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/en.json
index 1a7d6493..35ce84f3 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/en.json
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Localization/locales/en.json
@@ -698,6 +698,9 @@
       "merging": "Merging…",
       "verifying": "Running the list's verify command… ({0})"
     },
+    "diff": {
+      "parsing": "Parsing diff…"
+    },
     "review": {
       "submitting": "Submitting for review…",
       "rejecting": "Rejecting…",
diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Modals/DiffViewerViewModel.cs b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Modals/DiffViewerViewModel.cs
index f8003bc6..dfd0e7e9 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Modals/DiffViewerViewModel.cs
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Modals/DiffViewerViewModel.cs
@@ -98,6 +98,14 @@ public sealed partial class DiffViewerViewModel : ViewModelBase
 
     public Action? CloseAction { get; set; }
 
+    // Parsing a large diff (UnifiedDiffParser.Parse + DiffTree.Build, both pure CPU work) is
+    // offloaded to a threadpool thread so it never blocks the UI dispatcher.
+    public OperationStatus ParseOp { get; } = new();
+
+    // Guards the fire-and-forget planning parse below against a stale write: a second
+    // DisplayedDiff change while the first parse is still running must not clobber PlanningFiles.
+    private int _planningFilesGeneration;
+
     public DiffViewerViewModel(GitService git, IWorkerClient worker, AppSettings settings)
     {
         _git = git;
@@ -179,8 +187,18 @@ public sealed partial class DiffViewerViewModel : ViewModelBase
             return;
         }
 
-        var files = UnifiedDiffParser.Parse(raw).ToList();
-        foreach (var node in DiffTree.Build(files))
+        List<DiffFileViewModel> files;
+        List<DiffTreeNodeViewModel> tree;
+        using (ParseOp.Begin(Loc.T("ops.diff.parsing")))
+        {
+            (files, tree) = await Task.Run(() =>
+            {
+                var parsed = UnifiedDiffParser.Parse(raw);
+                return (parsed, DiffTree.Build(parsed));
+            }, ct);
+        }
+
+        foreach (var node in tree)
             FileTree.Add(node);
 
         SelectedNode = DiffTree.FirstLeaf(FileTree);
@@ -254,10 +272,24 @@ public sealed partial class DiffViewerViewModel : ViewModelBase
 
     partial void OnIsCombinedModeChanged(bool value) => ToggleCombinedCommand.Execute(null);
 
+    // DisplayedDiff is set from four places (OnSelectedSubtaskChanged plus three branches of
+    // ToggleCombinedAsync), and OnSelectedSubtaskChanged is itself a synchronous, non-awaitable
+    // callback — funneling the offload through this single change handler covers all of them
+    // without touching every call site. Fire-and-forget is safe because the generation counter
+    // below discards a parse whose result is no longer the current DisplayedDiff.
     partial void OnDisplayedDiffChanged(string value)
     {
+        var generation = ++_planningFilesGeneration;
+        _ = ApplyParsedPlanningFilesAsync(value, generation);
+    }
+
+    private async Task ApplyParsedPlanningFilesAsync(string diff, int generation)
+    {
+        var files = await Task.Run(() => UnifiedDiffParser.Parse(diff));
+        if (generation != _planningFilesGeneration) return;
+
         PlanningFiles.Clear();
-        foreach (var file in UnifiedDiffParser.Parse(value))
+        foreach (var file in files)
             PlanningFiles.Add(file);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Modals/DiffViewerView.axaml b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Modals/DiffViewerView.axaml
index 2788b78a..a6e7e137 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Modals/DiffViewerView.axaml
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Modals/DiffViewerView.axaml
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
                       ToolTip.Tip="{loc:Tr modals.diff.wrapLines}">
           <PathIcon Data="{StaticResource Icon.Wrap}" Width="14" Height="14"/>
         </ToggleButton>
+        <ctl:OperationIndicator Status="{Binding ParseOp}"/>
       </StackPanel>
 
       <!-- Planning toolbar: combined-mode toggle + warning/loading -->
diff --git a/tests/ClaudeDo.Ui.Tests/ViewModels/DiffViewerViewModelTests.cs b/tests/ClaudeDo.Ui.Tests/ViewModels/DiffViewerViewModelTests.cs
index 5c27c6b5..98169c56 100644
--- a/tests/ClaudeDo.Ui.Tests/ViewModels/DiffViewerViewModelTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ClaudeDo.Ui.Tests/ViewModels/DiffViewerViewModelTests.cs
@@ -140,6 +140,33 @@ public class DiffViewerViewModelTests
         Assert.Equal("DIFF-B", vm.DisplayedDiff);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task Planning_SelectSubtask_PopulatesPlanningFilesAsync()
+    {
+        const string diff = "diff --git a/foo.cs b/foo.cs\n" +
+                             "--- a/foo.cs\n" +
+                             "+++ b/foo.cs\n" +
+                             "@@ -1,1 +1,1 @@\n" +
+                             "-old\n" +
+                             "+new\n";
+        var fake = new FakePlanningWorker
+        {
+            AggregateResult = new[] { new SubtaskDiffDto("s1", "First", "b1", "base1", "head1", null, diff) }
+        };
+        var vm = new DiffViewerViewModel(null!, fake, TestSettings());
+        vm.ConfigurePlanning("plan-1", "main");
+
+        await vm.LoadAsync();
+
+        // OnDisplayedDiffChanged offloads the parse via Task.Run and writes PlanningFiles back
+        // fire-and-forget, so it may not have landed yet when LoadAsync returns.
+        var deadline = DateTime.UtcNow.AddSeconds(5);
+        while (DateTime.UtcNow < deadline && vm.PlanningFiles.Count == 0) await Task.Delay(10);
+
+        var file = Assert.Single(vm.PlanningFiles);
+        Assert.Equal("foo.cs", file.Path);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public async Task Planning_ToggleCombined_Success_DisplaysUnifiedDiff()
     {