diff --git a/src/plyngent/cli/transcript.py b/src/plyngent/cli/transcript.py
index be6acdc..b60dd00 100644
--- a/src/plyngent/cli/transcript.py
+++ b/src/plyngent/cli/transcript.py
@@ -243,23 +243,36 @@ def echo_row(row: Row, *, detail: Detail) -> None:
     click.echo()
 
 
+def _echo_reasoning(message: AssistantChatMessage) -> None:
+    """Print the model's reasoning trace for *message*, when it has one."""
+    shown = message.reasoning_content
+    if not isinstance(shown, str) or not shown.strip():
+        return
+    click.secho("reasoning:", fg="bright_black")
+    click.echo(shown)
+    click.echo()
+
+
 def _echo_assistant(row: Row, *, reasoning: bool) -> None:
+    """Print an assistant row: the thinking first, then the answer it produced.
+
+    A transcript reads in the order the model produced it, and the live stream
+    prints the reasoning before the answer; printing it after the body made the
+    answer look like it had come before the thinking behind it.
+    """
     from plyngent.cli.display import markdown_render_available, print_markdown
 
     message = row.message
     assert isinstance(message, AssistantChatMessage)
     click.echo(row.prefix())
+    if reasoning:
+        _echo_reasoning(message)
     content = message.content
     if isinstance(content, str) and content.strip():
         if markdown_render_available():
             print_markdown(content, label="")
         else:
             click.echo(content)
-    if reasoning:
-        shown = message.reasoning_content
-        if isinstance(shown, str) and shown.strip():
-            click.secho("reasoning:", fg="bright_black")
-            click.echo(shown)
     names = _tool_call_names(message)
     if names:
         click.secho(f"  tool_calls=[{', '.join(names)}]", fg="yellow")
diff --git a/tests/test_cli/test_history.py b/tests/test_cli/test_history.py
index 68aeb79..081f50e 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli/test_history.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli/test_history.py
@@ -140,6 +140,44 @@ async def test_double_verbose_prints_full_bodies(
     assert "You are plyngent." in out
 
 
+async def test_reasoning_prints_before_the_answer(
+    state: ReplState,
+    capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
+) -> None:
+    """A reasoning trace leads the answer it produced, as it does live."""
+    state.agent.messages = [
+        UserChatMessage(content="why is the sky blue?"),
+        AssistantChatMessage(content="Rayleigh scattering.", reasoning_content="Light scatters off air."),
+    ]
+    assert await handle_slash(state, "/history") is True
+    out = capsys.readouterr().out
+    assert "2. assistant:" in out
+    assert "reasoning:\nLight scatters off air." in out
+    assert out.index("reasoning:") < out.index("Rayleigh scattering.")
+    assert out.index("2. assistant:") < out.index("reasoning:")
+
+
+async def test_reasoning_is_absent_without_one(
+    state: ReplState,
+    capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
+) -> None:
+    state.agent.messages = [UserChatMessage(content="hi"), AssistantChatMessage(content="hello")]
+    assert await handle_slash(state, "/history -vv") is True
+    assert "reasoning:" not in capsys.readouterr().out
+
+
+async def test_preview_never_prints_reasoning(
+    state: ReplState,
+    capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
+) -> None:
+    state.agent.messages = [
+        UserChatMessage(content="why?"),
+        AssistantChatMessage(content="Because.", reasoning_content="Because the docs say so."),
+    ]
+    assert await handle_slash(state, "/history --preview") is True
+    assert "Because the docs say so." not in capsys.readouterr().out
+
+
 async def test_verbose_keeps_local_rows_out_of_the_way(
     state: ReplState,
     capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],