diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.citation.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.citation.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..69c8a18da3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.citation.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { preprocessMarkdown } from './markdown-preprocess'
+
+// Web-citation transport markers (Gemini-style grounding) arrive in model
+// output as private-use-delimited id lists. Desktop must never paint them:
+// the U+E200..U+E202 glyphs render as replacement boxes ("triple bars") and
+// the `turn…search…` ids are protocol noise no reader can follow to a source
+// (#120587). A marker that cannot be resolved to a source is dropped, never
+// invented into a link.
+const P = { E200: '', E201: '', E202: '' }
+
+describe('web citation transport markers', () => {
+  it('strips a single-id marker from prose', () => {
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(`Ice floats because it is less dense than liquid water.${P.E200}citeturn0search0${P.E201}`)).toBe(
+      'Ice floats because it is less dense than liquid water.'
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('strips a multi-id marker list', () => {
+    const input = `answer here${P.E200}citeturn0search11${P.E202}turn2search0${P.E201} and continues`
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(input)).toBe('answer here and continues')
+  })
+
+  it('strips the no-delimiter shape inside a table cell', () => {
+    // The reporter's table-cell case: the marker abuts a `|` cell wall.
+    const input = `| Firm${P.E200}citeturn0search1${P.E201} | US |`
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(input)).not.toContain('citeturn')
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(input)).toBe('| Firm | US |')
+  })
+
+  it('strips a bare citeturn token the model emitted without delimiters', () => {
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown('See citeturn3search7 for details.')).toBe('See  for details.')
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown('A citeturn0search0.')).toBe('A .')
+  })
+
+  it('strips a marker that runs to the very end of the text mid-stream', () => {
+    // preprocessMarkdown runs per streaming flush; the closing U+E201 has not
+    // arrived yet.
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(`Still typing${P.E200}citeturn0search0`)).toBe('Still typing')
+  })
+
+  it('fuses the words a stripped in-word marker separated, like the thinking strip does', () => {
+    // The marker is transport noise, not content: deleting it inside a word
+    // joins what it split (same contract as the <thinking> strip's "does not
+    // fuse the words a stripped block separated" inverse — there the block is
+    // replaced by a space; here the marker is INVISIBLE noise, so the visible
+    // letters on either side were always adjacent).
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(`word${P.E200}citeturn0search0${P.E201}word2`)).toBe('wordword2')
+  })
+
+  it('does not touch other private-use or icon-font characters', () => {
+    const icon = ''
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(`Label ${icon} stays`)).toBe(`Label ${icon} stays`)
+  })
+
+  it('keeps marker text inside inline code and math spans intact', () => {
+    // The shield machinery (normalizeVisibleProse) splits on inline code and
+    // math before prose rewrites; the marker rule must ride the same path.
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(`run \`x = ${P.E200}citeturn0search0${P.E201}\` please`)).toContain('citeturn')
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(`$\\sqrt[3]{8}$ and ${P.E200}citeturn0search0${P.E201}`)).toBe('$\\sqrt[3]{8}$ and ')
+  })
+
+  it('keeps stripping numeric [n] markers alongside the transport shape', () => {
+    expect(preprocessMarkdown(`Both shapes[1] and ${P.E200}citeturn0search0${P.E201} go away.`)).toBe(
+      'Both shapes and  go away.'
+    )
+  })
+})
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts
index 0243631071..0e2eed7831 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/markdown-preprocess.ts
@@ -169,6 +169,19 @@ const SAFE_HTML_TAG_NAMES = new Set([
 ])
 
 const CITATION_MARKER_RE = /(?<=[\p{L}\p{N})\].,!?:;"'”’])\[(?:\d+(?:\s*,\s*\d+)*)\](?!\()/gu
+
+// Web-citation transport markers (Gemini-style grounding): private-use
+// delimiters U+E200/U+E201 wrap a `citeturn<n>search<m>` id list, with U+E202
+// separating ids — `\uE200citeturn0search11\uE202turn2search0\uE201`, or the
+// single-id `\uE200citeturn0search0\uE201`. The delimiters paint as
+// replacement glyphs (the reported "triple bars") and the ids are protocol
+// noise a reader cannot follow to a source (#120587). Strip the whole marker;
+// a marker that cannot be resolved is dropped, never invented into a link.
+// The bare no-delimiter alternative only fires with the `cite` head, so plain
+// prose can't trip it. Scoped to this shape: stray private-use characters
+// (icon fonts, user content) are left alone.
+const CITATION_TRANSPORT_MARKER_RE =
+  /\uE200(?:cite)?(?:\uE202?turn\d+search\d+)+\uE201?|citeturn\d+search\d+(?:turn\d+search\d+)*/gu
 // Markdown links whose target is a filesystem path on the agent's machine:
 // `[report](/home/user/report.md)`, `[notes](file:///srv/notes.txt)`,
 // `[todo](~/todo.md)`, `[log](C:\logs\run.txt)`. Negative lookbehind keeps
@@ -421,7 +434,11 @@ function rewriteProseSegment(segment: string): string {
       autoLinkRawUrls(
         routeFileLinksToPreview(
           escapeUnknownHtmlLikeTags(
-            segment.replace(/`{3,}/g, '').replace(LOCAL_PREVIEW_URL_RE, '$1').replace(CITATION_MARKER_RE, '')
+            segment
+              .replace(/`{3,}/g, '')
+              .replace(LOCAL_PREVIEW_URL_RE, '$1')
+              .replace(CITATION_TRANSPORT_MARKER_RE, '')
+              .replace(CITATION_MARKER_RE, '')
           )
         )
       )