diff --git a/app/page.tsx b/app/page.tsx
index 9b69292..44d9fc9 100644
--- a/app/page.tsx
+++ b/app/page.tsx
@@ -1361,7 +1361,7 @@ export default function Home() {
                   )}
                 </div>
                 <div className="message-body">
-                  <span className="role">{msg.role === 'user' ? '>' : '#'}</span>
+                  {msg.role === 'user' && <span className="role">&gt;</span>}
                   <div className="content">
                     {msg.images && msg.images.length > 0 && (
                       <div className="message-images">
@@ -1405,7 +1405,6 @@ export default function Home() {
                   <span className="message-label">[OUTPUT]</span>
                 </div>
                 <div className="message-body">
-                  <span className="role">#</span>
                   {streamingContent
                     ? <RenderedMarkdown
                         html={streamingHtml || undefined}
diff --git a/app/share/[id]/page.tsx b/app/share/[id]/page.tsx
index 45250d8..1671cf4 100644
--- a/app/share/[id]/page.tsx
+++ b/app/share/[id]/page.tsx
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ export default async function SharePage({ params }: { params: Promise<{ id: stri
                 <span className="message-label">{msg.role === 'assistant' ? '[OUTPUT]' : '[INPUT]'}</span>
               </div>
               <div className="message-body">
-                <span className="role">{msg.role === 'user' ? '>' : '#'}</span>
+                {msg.role === 'user' && <span className="role">&gt;</span>}
                 <div className="content">
                   {msg.images && msg.images.length > 0 && (
                     <div className="message-images">
diff --git a/tests/unit.test.ts b/tests/unit.test.ts
index 2911460..1f20977 100644
--- a/tests/unit.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit.test.ts
@@ -341,6 +341,24 @@ test('page source uses friendly client error formatting instead of raw String(er
   );
 });
 
+test('assistant messages do not render a leading role hash', () => {
+  const pageSource = readFileSync(join(import.meta.dirname, '../app/page.tsx'), 'utf8');
+  const sharePageSource = readFileSync(join(import.meta.dirname, '../app/share/[id]/page.tsx'), 'utf8');
+
+  assert.ok(
+    pageSource.includes(`{msg.role === 'user' && <span className="role">&gt;</span>}`),
+    'live chat should only render the role gutter for user messages',
+  );
+  assert.ok(
+    !pageSource.includes('<span className="role">#</span>'),
+    'live chat should not render a leading hash for assistant messages, including streaming output',
+  );
+  assert.ok(
+    sharePageSource.includes(`{msg.role === 'user' && <span className="role">&gt;</span>}`),
+    'shared chat should only render the role gutter for user messages',
+  );
+});
+
 test('followup UI wiring hides XML in assistant messages and submits the selected followup', () => {
   const pageSource = readFileSync(join(import.meta.dirname, '../app/page.tsx'), 'utf8');
   const renderedMarkdownSource = readFileSync(join(import.meta.dirname, '../app/rendered-markdown.tsx'), 'utf8');