diff --git a/src/browser/components/Messages/CompactionBackground.tsx b/src/browser/components/Messages/CompactionBackground.tsx
index ae3050b03f..ff9153ca4d 100644
--- a/src/browser/components/Messages/CompactionBackground.tsx
+++ b/src/browser/components/Messages/CompactionBackground.tsx
@@ -1,27 +1,35 @@
 import React from "react";
 
 /**
- * Animated background for compaction streaming
- * Shimmer effect with moving gradient and particles for dynamic appearance
+ * Animated background for compaction streaming.
+ * Combines a subtle gradient with a GPU-accelerated shimmer effect.
+ *
+ * Uses CSS transform animation (compositor thread) instead of background-position
+ * (main thread repaint) to avoid frame drops during heavy streaming work.
  */
-
 export const CompactionBackground: React.FC = () => {
   return (
     <div className="pointer-events-none absolute inset-0 overflow-hidden rounded-md">
+      {/* Subtle gradient background */}
       <div
-        className="absolute inset-0 animate-[gradient-move_8s_ease_infinite] opacity-40"
+        className="absolute inset-0 opacity-40"
         style={{
           background:
             "linear-gradient(-45deg, var(--color-plan-mode-alpha), color-mix(in srgb, var(--color-plan-mode) 30%, transparent), var(--color-plan-mode-alpha), color-mix(in srgb, var(--color-plan-mode) 25%, transparent))",
-          backgroundSize: "400% 400%",
         }}
       />
+      {/* Shimmer uses CSS transform animation - runs on compositor thread, not main thread */}
+      {/* Math: element is 300% wide, highlight at 50% = 150% from left edge.
+          marginLeft -180% puts highlight at -30% (off-screen left).
+          translateX 53.33% (of 300%) = 160%, moving highlight to 130% (off-screen right). */}
       <div
-        className="absolute inset-0 animate-[shimmer_3s_infinite_linear]"
+        className="absolute inset-0 animate-[shimmer-slide_3s_infinite_linear]"
+        data-chromatic="ignore"
         style={{
           background:
             "linear-gradient(90deg, transparent 0%, transparent 40%, var(--color-plan-mode-alpha) 50%, transparent 60%, transparent 100%)",
-          backgroundSize: "1000px 100%",
+          width: "300%",
+          marginLeft: "-180%",
         }}
       />
     </div>
diff --git a/src/browser/stories/App.chat.stories.tsx b/src/browser/stories/App.chat.stories.tsx
index 0ee0c8550a..b3fbfe402c 100644
--- a/src/browser/stories/App.chat.stories.tsx
+++ b/src/browser/stories/App.chat.stories.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
   STABLE_TIMESTAMP,
   createUserMessage,
   createAssistantMessage,
+  createCompactionRequestMessage,
   createFileReadTool,
   createFileEditTool,
   createTerminalTool,
@@ -325,3 +326,46 @@ export const GenericTool: AppStory = {
     });
   },
 };
+
+/** Streaming compaction with shimmer effect - tests GPU-accelerated animation */
+export const StreamingCompaction: AppStory = {
+  render: () => (
+    <AppWithMocks
+      setup={() =>
+        setupStreamingChatStory({
+          workspaceId: "ws-compaction",
+          messages: [
+            createUserMessage("msg-1", "Help me refactor this codebase", {
+              historySequence: 1,
+              timestamp: STABLE_TIMESTAMP - 300000,
+            }),
+            createAssistantMessage(
+              "msg-2",
+              "I've analyzed the codebase and made several improvements to the architecture.",
+              {
+                historySequence: 2,
+                timestamp: STABLE_TIMESTAMP - 200000,
+              }
+            ),
+            createCompactionRequestMessage("msg-3", {
+              historySequence: 3,
+              timestamp: STABLE_TIMESTAMP - 3000,
+            }),
+          ],
+          streamingMessageId: "msg-4",
+          historySequence: 4,
+          streamText:
+            "## Conversation Summary\n\nThe user requested help refactoring the codebase. Key changes made:\n\n- Restructured component hierarchy for better separation of concerns\n- Extracted shared utilities into dedicated modules\n- Improved type safety across API boundaries",
+        })
+      }
+    />
+  ),
+  parameters: {
+    docs: {
+      description: {
+        story:
+          "Shows the compaction shimmer effect during streaming. The shimmer uses GPU-accelerated CSS transforms instead of background-position animations to prevent frame drops.",
+      },
+    },
+  },
+};
diff --git a/src/browser/stories/mockFactory.ts b/src/browser/stories/mockFactory.ts
index 1a99141144..3c36c55b9c 100644
--- a/src/browser/stories/mockFactory.ts
+++ b/src/browser/stories/mockFactory.ts
@@ -171,6 +171,29 @@ export function createUserMessage(
   };
 }
 
+/** Create a compaction request user message (triggers shimmer effect on streaming response) */
+export function createCompactionRequestMessage(
+  id: string,
+  opts: { historySequence: number; timestamp?: number; rawCommand?: string }
+): ChatMuxMessage {
+  const rawCommand = opts.rawCommand ?? "/compact";
+  return {
+    type: "message",
+    id,
+    role: "user",
+    parts: [{ type: "text", text: rawCommand }],
+    metadata: {
+      historySequence: opts.historySequence,
+      timestamp: opts.timestamp ?? STABLE_TIMESTAMP,
+      muxMetadata: {
+        type: "compaction-request",
+        rawCommand,
+        parsed: {},
+      },
+    },
+  };
+}
+
 export function createAssistantMessage(
   id: string,
   text: string,
diff --git a/src/browser/styles/globals.css b/src/browser/styles/globals.css
index 710513b9b6..ed412722f6 100644
--- a/src/browser/styles/globals.css
+++ b/src/browser/styles/globals.css
@@ -1655,13 +1655,13 @@ pre code {
   box-shadow: var(--thumb-shadow, none);
 }
 
-/* Custom animations for CompactionBackground */
-@keyframes shimmer {
-  0% {
-    background-position: -1000px 0;
+/* GPU-accelerated shimmer for CompactionBackground - runs on compositor thread */
+@keyframes shimmer-slide {
+  from {
+    transform: translateX(0);
   }
-  100% {
-    background-position: 1000px 0;
+  to {
+    transform: translateX(53.33%);
   }
 }