diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/agent-runner-execution.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/agent-runner-execution.ts
index 1aaf22fc6..f86ecb8a9 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/agent-runner-execution.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/agent-runner-execution.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import crypto from "node:crypto";
 import fs from "node:fs";
-import path from "node:path";
 import { resolveAgentModelFallbacksOverride } from "../../agents/agent-scope.js";
 import { runCliAgent } from "../../agents/cli-runner.js";
 import { getCliSessionId } from "../../agents/cli-session.js";
@@ -193,50 +192,6 @@ export async function runAgentTurnWithFallback(params: {
                     data: { text: cliText },
                   });
                 }
-                // Write CLI result to transcript for subagent announce flow
-                if (cliText && params.sessionKey && params.followupRun.run.sessionId) {
-                  try {
-                    const agentId = resolveAgentIdFromSessionKey(params.sessionKey);
-                    const transcriptPath = resolveSessionTranscriptPath(
-                      params.followupRun.run.sessionId,
-                      agentId,
-                    );
-                    // Ensure directory exists
-                    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(transcriptPath), { recursive: true });
-                    // Create session header if file doesn't exist
-                    if (!fs.existsSync(transcriptPath)) {
-                      const header = {
-                        type: "session",
-                        version: 1,
-                        id: params.followupRun.run.sessionId,
-                        timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
-                        cwd: process.cwd(),
-                      };
-                      fs.writeFileSync(transcriptPath, JSON.stringify(header) + "\n", "utf-8");
-                    }
-                    // Append assistant message
-                    const messageEntry = {
-                      type: "message",
-                      id: crypto.randomUUID().slice(0, 8),
-                      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
-                      message: {
-                        role: "assistant",
-                        content: [{ type: "text", text: cliText }],
-                        timestamp: Date.now(),
-                        stopReason: "cli",
-                        usage: result.meta?.agentMeta?.usage ?? {
-                          input: 0,
-                          output: 0,
-                          totalTokens: 0,
-                        },
-                      },
-                    };
-                    fs.appendFileSync(transcriptPath, JSON.stringify(messageEntry) + "\n", "utf-8");
-                  } catch (err) {
-                    // Best effort - don't fail the run if transcript write fails
-                    logVerbose(`CLI transcript write failed: ${String(err)}`);
-                  }
-                }
                 emitAgentEvent({
                   runId,
                   stream: "lifecycle",
diff --git a/src/commands/agent.ts b/src/commands/agent.ts
index 0e745557c..31c137d77 100644
--- a/src/commands/agent.ts
+++ b/src/commands/agent.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import crypto from "node:crypto";
 import {
   listAgentIds,
   resolveAgentDir,
@@ -40,6 +43,7 @@ import {
   type SessionEntry,
   updateSessionStore,
 } from "../config/sessions.js";
+import { resolveSessionTranscriptPath } from "../config/sessions/paths.js";
 import {
   clearAgentRunContext,
   emitAgentEvent,
@@ -460,6 +464,43 @@ export async function agentCommand(
       result = fallbackResult.result;
       fallbackProvider = fallbackResult.provider;
       fallbackModel = fallbackResult.model;
+
+      // Write CLI transcript for subagent announce flow
+      // CLI backends don't normally write transcripts, but subagent-announce
+      // needs them to read the findings when the run completes.
+      if (isCliProvider(fallbackProvider, cfg) && result.payloads?.[0]?.text) {
+        try {
+          const agentId = resolveAgentIdFromSessionKey(sessionKey);
+          const transcriptPath = resolveSessionTranscriptPath(sessionId, agentId);
+          fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(transcriptPath), { recursive: true });
+          if (!fs.existsSync(transcriptPath)) {
+            const header = {
+              type: "session",
+              version: 1,
+              id: sessionId,
+              timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
+              cwd: process.cwd(),
+            };
+            fs.writeFileSync(transcriptPath, JSON.stringify(header) + "\n", "utf-8");
+          }
+          const messageEntry = {
+            type: "message",
+            id: crypto.randomUUID().slice(0, 8),
+            timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
+            message: {
+              role: "assistant",
+              content: [{ type: "text", text: result.payloads[0].text }],
+              timestamp: Date.now(),
+              stopReason: "cli",
+              usage: result.meta?.usage ?? { input: 0, output: 0, totalTokens: 0 },
+            },
+          };
+          fs.appendFileSync(transcriptPath, JSON.stringify(messageEntry) + "\n", "utf-8");
+        } catch {
+          // Transcript write failure is non-fatal - log silently
+        }
+      }
+
       if (!lifecycleEnded) {
         emitAgentEvent({
           runId,