diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TaskRowViewModel.cs b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TaskRowViewModel.cs
index b5c16431..57b52327 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TaskRowViewModel.cs
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TaskRowViewModel.cs
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ public sealed partial class TaskRowViewModel : ViewModelBase
     // Set by the custom drag while this row is being dragged — drives the "grabbed" row style.
     [ObservableProperty] private bool _isDragging;
 
+    // Transient: set from HubBroadcaster's OperationProgress while the worker is still creating
+    // this task's worktree (the silent gap between Queued and the first agent output). Cleared
+    // by the next entity refresh — UpdateFromEntity always reflects a settled state, so there's
+    // nothing left to show past that point.
+    [ObservableProperty] private string? _creationPhase;
+
     // True while a drag is hovering this row (i.e. it would show a drop-hint gap). Used to
     // suppress the ordinary hover highlight/transitions so they don't fight the hint.
     public bool IsDropTarget => DropHintAbove || DropHintBelow;
@@ -145,6 +151,16 @@ public sealed partial class TaskRowViewModel : ViewModelBase
         ? "1 roadblock reported during the run — see details"
         : $"{RoadblockCount} roadblocks reported during the run — see details";
 
+    /// Mirrors WorktreeManager.PhaseCreatingWorktree — a hub payload token, not a display string.
+    private const string PhaseCreatingWorktree = "creating_worktree";
+
+    public bool HasCreationPhase => CreationPhase is not null;
+    public string? CreationPhaseLabel => CreationPhase switch
+    {
+        PhaseCreatingWorktree => Loc.T("ops.worker.creatingWorktree"),
+        _ => null,
+    };
+
     // True for every Failed task, even one that predates this field — FailureReasonLabel then
     // falls back to "unknown" instead of leaving the tooltip blank.
     public bool HasFailureReason => Status == TaskStatus.Failed;
@@ -345,6 +361,11 @@ public sealed partial class TaskRowViewModel : ViewModelBase
     partial void OnRoadblockCountChanged(int value) { OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasRoadblock)); OnPropertyChanged(nameof(RoadblockTooltip)); }
     partial void OnDropHintAboveChanged(bool value) => OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsDropTarget));
     partial void OnDropHintBelowChanged(bool value) => OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsDropTarget));
+    partial void OnCreationPhaseChanged(string? value)
+    {
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasCreationPhase));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(CreationPhaseLabel));
+    }
 
     public void RefreshLocalized()
     {
@@ -363,6 +384,9 @@ public sealed partial class TaskRowViewModel : ViewModelBase
 
     public void UpdateFromEntity(TaskEntity t)
     {
+        // Any entity-backed refresh reflects a settled state, so the transient creation-phase
+        // banner (set from the OperationProgress broadcast) has nothing left to announce.
+        CreationPhase     = null;
         var (add, del) = ParseDiffStat(t.Worktree?.DiffStat);
         Number            = t.Number;
         Title             = t.Title;
diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TasksIslandViewModel.cs b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TasksIslandViewModel.cs
index 0b5fb0a2..17d1920f 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TasksIslandViewModel.cs
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/ViewModels/Islands/TasksIslandViewModel.cs
@@ -188,6 +188,7 @@ public sealed partial class TasksIslandViewModel : ViewModelBase, IDisposable
             _worker.ConnectionRestoredEvent += () => LoadForList(_currentList);
             _worker.RefineStartedEvent     += OnRefineStarted;
             _worker.RefineFinishedEvent    += OnRefineFinished;
+            _worker.OperationProgressEvent += OnWorkerOperationProgress;
         }
         _langChangedHandler = (_, _) => RefreshLocalizedText();
         Loc.LanguageChanged += _langChangedHandler;
@@ -1563,6 +1564,18 @@ public sealed partial class TasksIslandViewModel : ViewModelBase, IDisposable
         if (row is not null) row.IsRefining = false;
     }
 
+    // OperationProgress is a generic channel shared with merge phases (TaskMergeService), whose
+    // opKey is also the task id — filter on the phase token so a merge in flight can't clobber
+    // this row's creation-phase banner.
+    private const string CreationPhaseCreatingWorktree = "creating_worktree";
+
+    private void OnWorkerOperationProgress(string opKey, string phase, int current, int total)
+    {
+        if (phase != CreationPhaseCreatingWorktree) return;
+        var row = Items.FirstOrDefault(r => r.Id == opKey);
+        if (row is not null) row.CreationPhase = phase;
+    }
+
     partial void OnSelectedTaskChanged(TaskRowViewModel? value)
     {
         foreach (var i in Items) i.IsSelected = ReferenceEquals(i, value);
diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Islands/TaskRowView.axaml b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Islands/TaskRowView.axaml
index 07af2efa..928b059e 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Islands/TaskRowView.axaml
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Ui/Views/Islands/TaskRowView.axaml
@@ -143,6 +143,12 @@
               <TextBlock Text="{Binding StatusLabel}"/>
             </Border>
 
+            <!-- Transient creation-phase chip: fills the silent gap between Queued and the
+                 first agent output while the worker creates this task's worktree. -->
+            <Border Classes="chip chip-tag" IsVisible="{Binding HasCreationPhase}">
+              <TextBlock Text="{Binding CreationPhaseLabel}"/>
+            </Border>
+
             <!-- Dequeue button (visible when row is Queued, or planning parent has queued subtasks) -->
             <Button Classes="icon-btn dequeue-btn"
                     IsVisible="{Binding CanRemoveFromQueue}"
diff --git a/src/ClaudeDo.Worker/Runner/WorktreeManager.cs b/src/ClaudeDo.Worker/Runner/WorktreeManager.cs
index 398309e1..3b9f8de9 100644
--- a/src/ClaudeDo.Worker/Runner/WorktreeManager.cs
+++ b/src/ClaudeDo.Worker/Runner/WorktreeManager.cs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ using ClaudeDo.Data.Models;
 using ClaudeDo.Data.Repositories;
 using ClaudeDo.Worker.Config;
 using ClaudeDo.Worker.Git;
+using ClaudeDo.Worker.Hub;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
 
 namespace ClaudeDo.Worker.Runner;
@@ -12,19 +13,31 @@ public sealed record WorktreeContext(string WorktreePath, string BranchName, str
 
 public sealed class WorktreeManager
 {
+    // Phase token for the OperationProgress broadcast while `git worktree add` (+ the
+    // self-heal retry) is in flight -- stable identifier, localized by the UI via the
+    // pre-existing "ops.worker.creatingWorktree" key. opKey is the task id.
+    public const string PhaseCreatingWorktree = "creating_worktree";
+
     private readonly GitService _git;
     private readonly IDbContextFactory<ClaudeDoDbContext> _dbFactory;
     private readonly WorkerConfig _cfg;
     private readonly ILogger<WorktreeManager> _logger;
+    private readonly HubBroadcaster? _broadcaster;
 
-    public WorktreeManager(GitService git, IDbContextFactory<ClaudeDoDbContext> dbFactory, WorkerConfig cfg, ILogger<WorktreeManager> logger)
+    public WorktreeManager(
+        GitService git, IDbContextFactory<ClaudeDoDbContext> dbFactory, WorkerConfig cfg,
+        ILogger<WorktreeManager> logger, HubBroadcaster? broadcaster = null)
     {
         _git = git;
         _dbFactory = dbFactory;
         _cfg = cfg;
         _logger = logger;
+        _broadcaster = broadcaster;
     }
 
+    private Task BroadcastCreating(string taskId) =>
+        _broadcaster?.OperationProgress(taskId, PhaseCreatingWorktree, 0, 0) ?? Task.CompletedTask;
+
     public async Task<WorktreeContext> CreateAsync(TaskEntity task, ListEntity list, CancellationToken ct)
     {
         var workingDir = list.WorkingDir
@@ -63,6 +76,7 @@ public sealed class WorktreeManager
 
         // Create the worktree. If a stale branch from a previous run remains
         // (e.g. after force-remove), delete it and retry once.
+        await BroadcastCreating(task.Id);
         try
         {
             await _git.WorktreeAddAsync(workingDir, branchName, worktreePath, baseCommit, ct);
@@ -70,6 +84,9 @@ public sealed class WorktreeManager
         catch (InvalidOperationException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("already exists", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
         {
             _logger.LogWarning("Branch {Branch} already exists; cleaning phantom worktrees and retrying", branchName);
+            // Self-heal is the slow section (list -> remove -> prune -> branch delete -> retry);
+            // report it as its own section rather than staying silent through the retry.
+            await BroadcastCreating(task.Id);
 
             // Find and forcefully remove any existing worktree registered against this branch.
             List<string> stalePaths;
diff --git a/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/Runner/WorktreeManagerTests.cs b/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/Runner/WorktreeManagerTests.cs
index fac749d0..7a051295 100644
--- a/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/Runner/WorktreeManagerTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/Runner/WorktreeManagerTests.cs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ using ClaudeDo.Data.Git;
 using ClaudeDo.Data.Models;
 using ClaudeDo.Data.Repositories;
 using ClaudeDo.Worker.Config;
+using ClaudeDo.Worker.Hub;
 using ClaudeDo.Worker.Runner;
 using ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests.Infrastructure;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions;
@@ -76,6 +77,73 @@ public class WorktreeManagerTests : IDisposable
         Assert.Null(row.HeadCommit);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task CreateAsync_BroadcastsCreatingWorktreePhase()
+    {
+        if (!GitAvailable) { Assert.True(true, "git not available -- skipping"); return; }
+
+        var repo = CreateRepo();
+        var (task, list) = MakeEntities(repo.RepoDir);
+        var db = new DbFixture();
+        _dbFixtures.Add(db);
+        using (var seedCtx = db.CreateContext())
+        {
+            await new ListRepository(seedCtx).AddAsync(list);
+            await new TaskRepository(seedCtx).AddAsync(task);
+        }
+
+        var fakeHub = new CapturingHubContext();
+        var broadcaster = new HubBroadcaster(fakeHub);
+        var cfg = new WorkerConfig { WorktreeRootStrategy = "sibling" };
+        var mgr = new WorktreeManager(
+            new GitService(), db.CreateFactory(), cfg, NullLogger<WorktreeManager>.Instance, broadcaster);
+
+        var ctx = await mgr.CreateAsync(task, list, CancellationToken.None);
+        _worktreeCleanups.Add((repo.RepoDir, ctx.WorktreePath));
+
+        var progressCalls = fakeHub.Proxy.Calls.Where(c => c.Method == "OperationProgress").ToList();
+        Assert.Single(progressCalls);
+        Assert.Equal(task.Id, (string?)progressCalls[0].Args[0]);
+        Assert.Equal(WorktreeManager.PhaseCreatingWorktree, (string?)progressCalls[0].Args[1]);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task CreateAsync_SelfHealPath_BroadcastsCreatingWorktreePhaseForEachSection()
+    {
+        if (!GitAvailable) { Assert.True(true, "git not available -- skipping"); return; }
+
+        var repo = CreateRepo();
+        var (task, list) = MakeEntities(repo.RepoDir);
+        var db = new DbFixture();
+        _dbFixtures.Add(db);
+        using (var seedCtx = db.CreateContext())
+        {
+            await new ListRepository(seedCtx).AddAsync(list);
+            await new TaskRepository(seedCtx).AddAsync(task);
+        }
+
+        // Pre-create the branch so `git worktree add -b` hits the "already exists" self-heal path.
+        var branchName = $"claudedo/{task.Id.Replace("-", "")}";
+        GitRepoFixture.RunGit(repo.RepoDir, "branch", branchName, repo.BaseCommit);
+
+        var fakeHub = new CapturingHubContext();
+        var broadcaster = new HubBroadcaster(fakeHub);
+        var cfg = new WorkerConfig { WorktreeRootStrategy = "sibling" };
+        var mgr = new WorktreeManager(
+            new GitService(), db.CreateFactory(), cfg, NullLogger<WorktreeManager>.Instance, broadcaster);
+
+        var ctx = await mgr.CreateAsync(task, list, CancellationToken.None);
+        _worktreeCleanups.Add((repo.RepoDir, ctx.WorktreePath));
+
+        // One message for the initial attempt, one for the self-heal retry section -- not a tick stream.
+        var progressCalls = fakeHub.Proxy.Calls
+            .Where(c => c.Method == "OperationProgress"
+                && (string?)c.Args[0] == task.Id
+                && (string?)c.Args[1] == WorktreeManager.PhaseCreatingWorktree)
+            .ToList();
+        Assert.Equal(2, progressCalls.Count);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public async Task CommitIfChangedAsync_NoChanges_HeadCommitStaysNull()
     {
diff --git a/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/UiVm/TasksIslandViewModelPlanningTests.cs b/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/UiVm/TasksIslandViewModelPlanningTests.cs
index 9a180cf5..5acef16d 100644
--- a/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/UiVm/TasksIslandViewModelPlanningTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ClaudeDo.Worker.Tests/UiVm/TasksIslandViewModelPlanningTests.cs
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ sealed class FakeWorkerClient : IWorkerClient
     public void RaiseTaskUpdated(string taskId) => TaskUpdatedEvent?.Invoke(taskId);
     public void RaiseWorktreeUpdated(string taskId) => WorktreeUpdatedEvent?.Invoke(taskId);
     public void RaiseTaskMessage(string taskId, string line) => TaskMessageEvent?.Invoke(taskId, line);
+    public void RaiseOperationProgress(string opKey, string phase, int current, int total) => OperationProgressEvent?.Invoke(opKey, phase, current, total);
 
     public Task RunNowAsync(string taskId) => Task.CompletedTask;
     public Task ContinueTaskAsync(string taskId, string followUpPrompt) => Task.CompletedTask;
@@ -277,6 +278,32 @@ public class TasksIslandViewModelPlanningTests
         Assert.Equal(("t1", false), raised);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public void OperationProgress_CreatingWorktreePhase_SetsOnlyMatchingRow()
+    {
+        var row1 = MakeRow("t1", TaskStatus.Running);
+        var row2 = MakeRow("t2", TaskStatus.Running);
+        var (_, worker) = VmFactory.Create([row1, row2]);
+
+        worker.RaiseOperationProgress("t1", "creating_worktree", 0, 0);
+
+        Assert.True(row1.HasCreationPhase);
+        Assert.False(row2.HasCreationPhase);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void OperationProgress_UnrelatedPhase_DoesNotSetCreationPhase()
+    {
+        // Same channel carries TaskMergeService's merge phases (opKey is also the task id) --
+        // the row must only react to its own creation-phase token, not any phase for its id.
+        var row = MakeRow("t1", TaskStatus.Running);
+        var (_, worker) = VmFactory.Create([row]);
+
+        worker.RaiseOperationProgress("t1", "merging", 0, 0);
+
+        Assert.False(row.HasCreationPhase);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public void ToggleExpand_TogglesParentExpansion()
     {