diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/prompts/tools/bash.md b/packages/coding-agent/src/prompts/tools/bash.md
index 34fdf0c68..817641c49 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/prompts/tools/bash.md
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/prompts/tools/bash.md
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ You **MUST** use specialized tools instead of bash for ALL file operations:
 |`rg 'pattern' dir/`|`grep(pattern="pattern", path="dir/")`|
 |`find dir -name '*.ts'`|`find(pattern="dir/**/*.ts")`|
 |`ls dir/`|`read(path="dir/")`|
-|`cat <<'EOF' > file`|`write(path="file", content="...")`|
-|`sed -i 's/old/new/' file`|`edit(path="file", edits=[...])`|
+|`cat <<'EOF' > file`|`write(path="file", content="…")`|
+|`sed -i 's/old/new/' file`|`edit(path="file", edits=[…])`|
 - If `ast_grep` / `ast_edit` tools are available in the session, you **MUST** use them for structural code search/rewrites instead of bash `grep`/`sed`/`awk`/`perl` pipelines
 - Bash is for command execution, not syntax-aware code transformation; prefer `ast_grep` for discovery and `ast_edit` for codemods
 - You **MUST NOT** use Bash for these operations like read, grep, find, edit, write, where specialized tools exist.
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/utils/prompt-format.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/utils/prompt-format.ts
index 5f387a847..a4476d1a1 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/utils/prompt-format.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/utils/prompt-format.ts
@@ -86,9 +86,7 @@ export function formatPromptContent(content: string, options: PromptFormatOption
 
 	for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
 		let line = lines[i].trimEnd();
-		const trimmed = line.trim();
-		const trimmedStart = line.trimStart();
-
+		let trimmedStart = line.trimStart();
 		if (CODE_FENCE.test(trimmedStart)) {
 			inCodeBlock = !inCodeBlock;
 			result.push(line);
@@ -103,6 +101,8 @@ export function formatPromptContent(content: string, options: PromptFormatOption
 		if (replaceAsciiSymbols) {
 			line = replaceCommonAsciiSymbols(line);
 		}
+		trimmedStart = line.trimStart();
+		const trimmed = line.trim();
 
 		const isOpeningXml = OPENING_XML.test(trimmedStart) && !trimmedStart.endsWith("/>");
 		if (isOpeningXml && line.length === trimmedStart.length) {
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/test/prompt-format.test.ts b/packages/coding-agent/test/prompt-format.test.ts
index 51ee5c72a..13dba1969 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/test/prompt-format.test.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/test/prompt-format.test.ts
@@ -43,4 +43,15 @@ describe("formatPromptContent renderPhase", () => {
 		expect(preRender).toBe("<root>\n{{#if ok}}\nvalue\n{{/if}}\n</root>");
 		expect(postRender).toBe("<root>\n{{#if ok}}\nvalue\n\n{{/if}}\n</root>");
 	});
+	test("pre-render compacts table rows and does not duplicate content when replacing ascii", () => {
+		const input =
+			'|`cat <<\'EOF\' > file`|`write(path="file", content="...")`|\n|`sed -i \'s/old/new/\' file`|`edit(path="file", edits=[...])`|';
+		const output = formatPromptContent(input, {
+			renderPhase: "pre-render",
+			replaceAsciiSymbols: true,
+		});
+		expect(output).toBe(
+			'|`cat <<\'EOF\' > file`|`write(path="file", content="…")`|\n|`sed -i \'s/old/new/\' file`|`edit(path="file", edits=[…])`|',
+		);
+	});
 });