diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/DOCUMENTATION.md b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/DOCUMENTATION.md
index 27ea3a96..a0a27dd0 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/DOCUMENTATION.md
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/DOCUMENTATION.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Notifications Module Documentation
 
 ## Purpose
-This module provides notification message preparation utilities for the web server runtime, including text truncation and optional message summarization for system notifications.
+This module provides notification message preparation utilities for the web server runtime, including text truncation, plain-text normalization, and optional message summarization for system notifications.
 
 ## Entrypoints and structure
 - `packages/web/server/lib/notifications/index.js`: public entrypoint imported by `packages/web/server/index.js`.
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ The `settings` parameter for `prepareNotificationLastMessage` supports:
 - Returns empty string for empty/null message.
 - Returns truncated original message if summarization disabled, message under threshold, or summarization fails.
 - Returns truncated summary if summarization succeeds and returns non-empty string.
+- Normalizes markdown-like formatting to plain text before truncation.
 - Always applies `maxLastMessageLength` truncation to final result.
 
 ## Notes for contributors
diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.js b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.js
index 98224222..8eb2e52d 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.js
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.js
@@ -9,6 +9,26 @@ const resolvePositiveNumber = (value, fallback) => {
   return value;
 };
 
+const normalizeNotificationPlainText = (text) => {
+  if (typeof text !== 'string') {
+    return '';
+  }
+
+  return text
+    .replace(/```[\s\S]*?```/g, ' ')
+    .replace(/`([^`]*)`/g, '$1')
+    .replace(/^[\t ]*[-*+]\s+/gm, '')
+    .replace(/^#{1,6}\s+/gm, '')
+    .replace(/\*\*(.*?)\*\*/g, '$1')
+    .replace(/__(.*?)__/g, '$1')
+    .replace(/\*(.*?)\*/g, '$1')
+    .replace(/_(.*?)_/g, '$1')
+    .replace(/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)\)/g, '$1')
+    .replace(/\s*\n\s*/g, ' ')
+    .replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
+    .trim();
+};
+
 export const truncateNotificationText = (text, maxLength = DEFAULT_NOTIFICATION_MESSAGE_MAX_LENGTH) => {
   if (typeof text !== 'string') {
     return '';
@@ -45,5 +65,6 @@ export const prepareNotificationLastMessage = async ({ message, settings, summar
     }
   }
 
-  return truncateNotificationText(messageForNotification, maxLastMessageLength);
+  const plainTextMessage = normalizeNotificationPlainText(messageForNotification) || normalizeNotificationPlainText(originalMessage);
+  return truncateNotificationText(plainTextMessage, maxLastMessageLength);
 };
diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.test.js b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.test.js
index 8d4f74cd..e455910d 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.test.js
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/message.test.js
@@ -56,4 +56,19 @@ describe('notification message helpers', () => {
 
     expect(result).toBe('short summary');
   });
+
+  it('normalizes markdown summary to plain text', async () => {
+    const result = await prepareNotificationLastMessage({
+      message: '0123456789',
+      summarize: async () => "**Committed.**\n\n- Commit: `85924b9d`\n- Message: `fix desktop notifications`",
+      settings: {
+        summarizeLastMessage: true,
+        summaryThreshold: 5,
+        summaryLength: 80,
+        maxLastMessageLength: 200,
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(result).toBe('Committed. Commit: 85924b9d Message: fix desktop notifications');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/runtime.js b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/runtime.js
index 8bd276d6..e8bb32c3 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/runtime.js
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/runtime.js
@@ -134,7 +134,6 @@ export const createNotificationTriggerRuntime = (deps) => {
     }
 
     const sessionId = extractSessionIdFromPayload(payload);
-
     if (payload.type === 'message.updated') {
       const info = payload.properties?.info;
       if (info?.role === 'assistant' && info?.finish === 'stop' && sessionId) {
diff --git a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/template-runtime.js b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/template-runtime.js
index f0641174..a93005ed 100644
--- a/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/template-runtime.js
+++ b/packages/web/server/lib/notifications/template-runtime.js
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ export const createNotificationTemplateRuntime = (deps) => {
     if (!text || typeof text !== 'string' || text.trim().length === 0) return text;
 
     try {
-      const prompt = `Summarize the following text in approximately ${targetLength} characters. Be concise and capture the key point. Output ONLY the summary text, nothing else.\n\nText:\n${text}`;
+      const prompt = `Summarize the following text in approximately ${targetLength} characters. Be concise and capture the key point. Output plain text only. Do not use markdown, bullets, headings, code fences, backticks, or quotes. Output only the summary text.\n\nText:\n${text}`;
 
       const completionTimeout = createTimeoutSignal(15000);
       let response;