diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 42133818..5b63c2d2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- Chat: adjacent paragraphs in assistant messages now render with a visible gap instead of collapsing into a single visual line. Reasoning and tool-card markdown stay compact, and messages don't gain trailing space at the bottom.
+
 ## [1.13.1] - 2026-06-17
 
 - Chat: inline math delimiters no longer incorrectly treat currency amounts like `$50` as LaTeX math expressions — only `$$...$$` display math and `\(...\)` inline math are recognized.
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/index.css b/packages/ui/src/index.css
index 5515a136..cf573a83 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/index.css
+++ b/packages/ui/src/index.css
@@ -938,6 +938,30 @@ html:not(.dark) .chat-scroll {
   line-height: inherit;
 }
 
+/* Restore paragraph block spacing inside markdown content. The
+   --markdown-paragraph-spacing token existed but was never wired, so Tailwind
+   preflight's zeroed <p> margins left adjacent paragraphs collapsed into one
+   visual line. */
+.markdown-content p {
+  margin: 0 0 var(--markdown-paragraph-spacing) 0;
+}
+
+/* The markdown renderer wraps each block in a display:contents [data-md-block]
+   element, so the message-level [&_.markdown-content>*:last-child]:mb-0
+   nullifiers target the wrapper (where margin is ignored), not the paragraph.
+   Drop the trailing margin on the last paragraph of the last block directly so
+   messages don't gain extra space at the bottom. */
+.markdown-content > [data-md-block]:last-child p:last-child {
+  margin-bottom: 0;
+}
+
+/* Tool cards (code size) and reasoning (meta size, dimmed) are intentionally
+   compact — keep their paragraphs tight, matching prior behavior. */
+.markdown-content.markdown-tool p,
+.markdown-content.markdown-reasoning p {
+  margin-bottom: 0;
+}
+
 /* Tool markdown should render at code size to match tool card typography. */
 .markdown-content.markdown-tool {
   font-size: var(--text-code) !important;
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/styles/design-system.css b/packages/ui/src/styles/design-system.css
index f2e2cd79..438eaa43 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/styles/design-system.css
+++ b/packages/ui/src/styles/design-system.css
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@
   --markdown-blockquote-border: var(--markdown-blockquote-border);
 
   /* Markdown spacing defaults */
-  --markdown-paragraph-spacing: 0.35rem;
+  --markdown-paragraph-spacing: 0.75rem;
   --markdown-heading-primary-top: 0.75rem;
   --markdown-heading-primary-bottom: 0.35rem;
   --markdown-heading-secondary-top: 0.6rem;