diff --git a/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/UserTextPart.test.ts b/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/UserTextPart.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04f72729
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/UserTextPart.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
+
+import { prepareUserMarkdownContent } from './userTextPartContent';
+
+describe('prepareUserMarkdownContent', () => {
+    test('keeps fenced code < and -> unescaped for the markdown renderer', () => {
+        const content = prepareUserMarkdownContent({
+            textContent: '```rust\nlet values: Vec<i32> = vec![];\nlet next = old -> new;\n```',
+            skillNames: new Set(),
+        });
+
+        expect(content).toContain('Vec<i32>');
+        expect(content).toContain('old -> new');
+        expect(content).not.toContain('&lt;');
+        expect(content).not.toContain('-&gt;');
+    });
+
+    test('escapes raw HTML outside fences so tags display as text', () => {
+        const content = prepareUserMarkdownContent({
+            textContent: 'Use <b>bold</b> and <script>alert("x")</script>',
+            skillNames: new Set(),
+        });
+
+        expect(content).toContain('&lt;b&gt;bold&lt;/b&gt;');
+        expect(content).toContain('&lt;script&gt;alert(&quot;x&quot;)&lt;/script&gt;');
+        expect(content).not.toContain('<b>bold</b>');
+        expect(content).not.toContain('<script>');
+    });
+
+    test('adds hard line breaks outside fences but not inside', () => {
+        const content = prepareUserMarkdownContent({
+            textContent: 'first\nsecond\n```ts\nconst x = 1\nconst y = 2\n```\nthird',
+            skillNames: new Set(),
+        });
+
+        expect(content).toContain('first  \nsecond  \n```ts\n');
+        expect(content).toContain('const x = 1\nconst y = 2\n```  \nthird');
+        expect(content).not.toContain('const x = 1  \nconst y = 2');
+    });
+
+    test('preserves mention conversion', () => {
+        const content = prepareUserMarkdownContent({
+            textContent: '@agent hello\n/skill-name',
+            agentMention: { name: 'build-agent', token: '@agent' },
+            skillNames: new Set(['skill-name']),
+        });
+
+        expect(content).toContain('[@agent](#openchamber-agent:build-agent)');
+        expect(content).toContain('[/skill-name](#openchamber-skill:skill-name)');
+        expect(content).toContain('hello  \n[/skill-name]');
+    });
+});
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/UserTextPart.tsx b/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/UserTextPart.tsx
index 41024580..9809b031 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/UserTextPart.tsx
+++ b/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/UserTextPart.tsx
@@ -10,11 +10,10 @@ import { useEffectiveDirectory } from '@/hooks/useEffectiveDirectory';
 import { getDirectoryForFilePath } from '@/lib/path-utils';
 import { useI18n } from '@/lib/i18n';
 import {
-    buildAgentHref,
     buildAgentMentionUrl,
-    buildSkillHref,
     parseSkillHref,
 } from '@/lib/messages/inlineMessageLinks';
+import { prepareUserMarkdownContent, SKILL_TOKEN_PATTERN } from './userTextPartContent';
 
 type PartWithText = Part & { text?: string; content?: string; value?: string };
 
@@ -25,31 +24,10 @@ type UserTextPartProps = {
     agentMention?: AgentMentionInfo;
 };
 
-const SKILL_TOKEN_PATTERN = /(^|\s)\/([a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]{0,62}[a-z0-9])?)/g;
-
-const escapeHtml = (text: string): string => {
-    return text
-        .replace(/&/g, '&amp;')
-        .replace(/</g, '&lt;')
-        .replace(/>/g, '&gt;')
-        .replace(/"/g, '&quot;')
-        .replace(/'/g, '&#x27;');
-};
-
 const normalizeUserMessageRenderingMode = (mode: unknown): 'markdown' | 'plain' => {
     return mode === 'markdown' ? 'markdown' : 'plain';
 };
 
-// In Markdown a single "\n" is a soft break (rendered as a space). Users type plain
-// text where each newline is meant literally, so convert soft breaks into hard breaks
-// (two trailing spaces) outside of fenced code blocks, where newlines are already literal.
-const applyHardLineBreaks = (markdown: string): string => {
-    return markdown
-        .split(/(```[\s\S]*?```|~~~[\s\S]*?~~~)/g)
-        .map((segment, index) => (index % 2 === 1 ? segment : segment.replace(/ *\n/g, '  \n')))
-        .join('');
-};
-
 const UserTextPart: React.FC<UserTextPartProps> = ({ part, messageId, agentMention }) => {
     const partWithText = part as PartWithText;
     const rawText = partWithText.text;
@@ -145,26 +123,11 @@ const UserTextPart: React.FC<UserTextPartProps> = ({ part, messageId, agentMenti
     }, []);
 
     const processedMarkdownContent = React.useMemo(() => {
-        let content = textContent;
-
-        // Step 1: First escape HTML to protect against XSS and ensure HTML tags display as text
-        content = escapeHtml(content);
-
-        // Step 2: Insert agent mention links with an internal href so markdown renders them as mentions, not external links.
-        if (agentMention?.token && content.includes(agentMention.token)) {
-            const mentionMarkdown = `[${agentMention.token}](${buildAgentHref(agentMention.name)})`;
-            content = content.replace(agentMention.token, mentionMarkdown);
-        }
-
-        content = content.replace(SKILL_TOKEN_PATTERN, (match, prefix: string, skillName: string) => {
-            if (!skillByName.has(skillName)) return match;
-            return `${prefix}[/${skillName}](${buildSkillHref(skillName)})`;
+        return prepareUserMarkdownContent({
+            textContent,
+            agentMention,
+            skillNames: new Set(skillByName.keys()),
         });
-
-        // Step 4: Preserve user newlines (markdown soft breaks would otherwise collapse to spaces)
-        content = applyHardLineBreaks(content);
-
-        return content;
     }, [agentMention, skillByName, textContent]);
 
     const plainTextContent = React.useMemo(() => {
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/userTextPartContent.ts b/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/userTextPartContent.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c5422270
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui/src/components/chat/message/parts/userTextPartContent.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import type { AgentMentionInfo } from '../types';
+import { buildAgentHref, buildSkillHref } from '@/lib/messages/inlineMessageLinks';
+
+export const SKILL_TOKEN_PATTERN = /(^|\s)\/([a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]{0,62}[a-z0-9])?)/g;
+
+const FENCED_CODE_SEGMENT_PATTERN = /(```[\s\S]*?```|~~~[\s\S]*?~~~)/g;
+
+const escapeHtml = (text: string): string => {
+    return text
+        .replace(/&/g, '&amp;')
+        .replace(/</g, '&lt;')
+        .replace(/>/g, '&gt;')
+        .replace(/"/g, '&quot;')
+        .replace(/'/g, '&#x27;');
+};
+
+const mapNonFencedSegments = (markdown: string, mapSegment: (segment: string) => string): string => {
+    return markdown
+        .split(FENCED_CODE_SEGMENT_PATTERN)
+        .map((segment, index) => (index % 2 === 1 ? segment : mapSegment(segment)))
+        .join('');
+};
+
+// In Markdown a single "\n" is a soft break (rendered as a space). Users type plain
+// text where each newline is meant literally, so convert soft breaks into hard breaks
+// (two trailing spaces) outside of fenced code blocks, where newlines are already literal.
+const applyHardLineBreaks = (markdown: string): string => {
+    return mapNonFencedSegments(markdown, (segment) => segment.replace(/ *\n/g, '  \n'));
+};
+
+export const prepareUserMarkdownContent = ({
+    textContent,
+    agentMention,
+    skillNames,
+}: {
+    textContent: string;
+    agentMention?: AgentMentionInfo;
+    skillNames: ReadonlySet<string>;
+}): string => {
+    let content = mapNonFencedSegments(textContent, escapeHtml);
+
+    // Insert agent mention links with an internal href so markdown renders them as mentions, not external links.
+    if (agentMention?.token && content.includes(agentMention.token)) {
+        const mentionMarkdown = `[${agentMention.token}](${buildAgentHref(agentMention.name)})`;
+        content = content.replace(agentMention.token, mentionMarkdown);
+    }
+
+    content = content.replace(SKILL_TOKEN_PATTERN, (match, prefix: string, skillName: string) => {
+        if (!skillNames.has(skillName)) return match;
+        return `${prefix}[/${skillName}](${buildSkillHref(skillName)})`;
+    });
+
+    // Preserve user newlines (markdown soft breaks would otherwise collapse to spaces)
+    return applyHardLineBreaks(content);
+};