diff --git a/internal/tui/chat/render_test.go b/internal/tui/chat/render_test.go
index 3f91582..add5637 100644
--- a/internal/tui/chat/render_test.go
+++ b/internal/tui/chat/render_test.go
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ func TestExecCommandPreservesSafeBoundedMultilineInvocation(t *testing.T) {
 
 	plain := ansi.Strip(RenderBlock(block, 32, DefaultStyles(true), 0))
 	want := strings.Join([]string{
-		"✓ ran python3 - <<'PY'",
+		"✓ ran python3 - <<'PY' in .",
 		"  │     import json",
 		"  │ print('long command line th…",
 		"  │ … +4 lines",
diff --git a/internal/tui/chat/tool.go b/internal/tui/chat/tool.go
index 604635f..29b4c45 100644
--- a/internal/tui/chat/tool.go
+++ b/internal/tui/chat/tool.go
@@ -216,6 +216,9 @@ func classifyTool(tool *agent.ToolBlock) toolPresentation {
 		if decodeObject(input, &in) && in.Cmd != "" {
 			// Preserve command line boundaries for the exec-specific renderer. The
 			// working directory remains compact metadata in the header.
+			if in.Workdir == "" {
+				in.Workdir = "."
+			}
 			p.argument, p.context = escape.Multiline(in.Cmd), escape.SingleLine(in.Workdir)
 			if in.TimeoutMS != nil && *in.TimeoutMS > 0 && *in.TimeoutMS <= spec.ExecMaxTimeoutMS {
 				p.timeout = (time.Duration(*in.TimeoutMS) * time.Millisecond).String()