diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/investigations/live/useStage.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/investigations/live/useStage.ts
index 130b6b75e06..f862e2acaf7 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/investigations/live/useStage.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/investigations/live/useStage.ts
@@ -2,11 +2,9 @@
 
 import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
 
-import type { InFlight } from "../../model/live";
-import { startStage, stepStage, type Stage } from "../../model/stage";
-import type { Review } from "../../model/types";
+import { stageTick, startStage, stepStage, type Stage } from "../../model/stage";
+import type { InFlight, Review } from "../../model/types";
 
-const TICK_MS = 30;
 const CHAR_MS = 3;
 
 function prefersReducedMotion(): boolean {
@@ -25,11 +23,11 @@ export function useStage(
   const input = { reading, reviews, now, slots, running, charMs };
   const next = stepStage(stage, input);
   if (next !== stage) setStage(next);
-  const busy = running || next.lanes.length > 0;
+  const tick = stageTick(next, running, now, charMs);
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (!busy) return;
-    const timer = window.setInterval(() => setNow(Date.now()), TICK_MS);
+    if (!tick) return;
+    const timer = window.setInterval(() => setNow(Date.now()), tick);
     return () => window.clearInterval(timer);
-  }, [busy]);
+  }, [tick]);
   return { stage: next, now, charMs };
 }
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.test.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.test.ts
index 593584d098f..12e5f367f72 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.test.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
-import { holdMs, laneText, releasedReviews, startStage, stepStage, typedChars, type StageInput } from "./stage";
+import {
+  holdMs,
+  laneText,
+  releasedReviews,
+  stageTick,
+  startStage,
+  stepStage,
+  typedChars,
+  type StageInput,
+} from "./stage";
 import type { Review } from "./types";
 
 function review(id: string, reasoning = "Checked the tool output. It matched."): Review {
@@ -106,3 +115,13 @@ describe("now reading stage", () => {
     expect([...stopped.released].sort()).toEqual(["a", "x"]);
   });
 });
+
+describe("stage tick", () => {
+  it("ticks fast only while reasoning is typing, slowly for live timers, and stops when idle", () => {
+    const landed = stepStage(startStage([]), input({ reviews: [review("a")], now: 0, charMs: 3 }));
+    expect(stageTick(landed, true, 1, 3)).toBe(30);
+    expect(stageTick(landed, true, 10_000, 3)).toBe(500);
+    expect(stageTick(startStage([]), true, 0, 3)).toBe(500);
+    expect(stageTick(startStage([]), false, 0, 3)).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.ts
index d4ac960e958..558de0095f1 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/lens/model/stage.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type { InFlight } from "./live";
+import type { InFlight } from "./types";
 import type { Review } from "./types";
 
 export interface Lane {
@@ -119,6 +119,17 @@ export function stepStage(stage: Stage, input: StageInput): Stage {
   };
 }
 
+const TYPING_TICK_MS = 30;
+const CLOCK_TICK_MS = 500;
+
+export function stageTick(stage: Stage, running: boolean, now: number, charMs: number): number | null {
+  const typing = stage.lanes.some(
+    (lane) => lane.review && typedChars(lane, now, charMs) < laneText(lane.review.reasoning).length,
+  );
+  if (typing) return TYPING_TICK_MS;
+  return running || stage.lanes.length ? CLOCK_TICK_MS : null;
+}
+
 export function releasedReviews(reviews: readonly Review[], stage: Stage): Review[] {
   return reviews.filter((review) => stage.released.has(review.execution_id));
 }