diff --git a/src/headless-ui.ts b/src/headless-ui.ts
index 6404b2e0a..ca9e0d4e9 100644
--- a/src/headless-ui.ts
+++ b/src/headless-ui.ts
@@ -90,8 +90,39 @@ const TUI_FOOTER_STATUS_KEYS = new Set([
 	"ollama",
 	"sf-fast",
 	"sf-auto",
+	"zz-notifications",
 ]);
 
+/**
+ * Categorize notification messages so headless logs are scannable —
+ * `[mcp]` for MCP-client ready lines, `[search]` for search status,
+ * `[parallel]` for slice-parallel/subagent dispatch. Returns null to
+ * fall through to the default formatting.
+ */
+function formatCategorizedNotification(message: string): string | null {
+	if (message.startsWith("MCP client ready")) return `[mcp]     ${message}`;
+	if (message.startsWith("Web search:")) return `[search]  ${message}`;
+	if (message.startsWith("Native Anthropic web search")) return `[search]  ${message}`;
+	if (message.includes("dispatching") && message.includes("subagents"))
+		return `[parallel] ${message}`;
+	if (message.startsWith("Slice-parallel:")) return `[parallel] ${message}`;
+	if (message.startsWith("sf-reactive:")) return `[parallel] ${message}`;
+	return null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * True when statusKey indicates a real phase/milestone/slice/task transition
+ * (rather than a generic status update). Drives [phase] vs [status] tagging.
+ */
+function isPhaseStatusKey(statusKey: string): boolean {
+	return (
+		statusKey.startsWith("phase:") ||
+		statusKey.startsWith("milestone:") ||
+		statusKey.startsWith("slice:") ||
+		statusKey.startsWith("task:")
+	);
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Tool-Arg Summarizer
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -351,6 +382,9 @@ export function formatProgress(
 			if (method === "notify") {
 				const msg = String(event.message ?? "");
 				if (!msg) return null;
+				// Categorise known prefixes so headless logs are scannable.
+				const categorised = formatCategorizedNotification(msg);
+				if (categorised) return categorised;
 				// Bold important notifications
 				const isImportant =
 					/^(committed:|verification gate:|milestone|blocked:)/i.test(msg);
@@ -368,10 +402,13 @@ export function formatProgress(
 				// Show meaningful phase transitions.
 				if (statusKey) {
 					const label = parsePhaseLabel(statusKey, msg);
-					if (label) return `${c.cyan}${tag("phase")}${label}${c.reset}`;
+					if (label) {
+						const labelTag = isPhaseStatusKey(statusKey) ? tag("phase") : tag("status");
+						return `${c.cyan}${labelTag}${label}${c.reset}`;
+					}
 				}
 				// Fallback: show message if non-empty.
-				if (msg) return `${c.cyan}${tag("phase")}${msg}${c.reset}`;
+				if (msg) return `${c.cyan}${tag("status")}${msg}${c.reset}`;
 				return null;
 			}