diff --git a/docs/PROGRESS.md b/docs/PROGRESS.md
index aaada68..cf5bdd0 100644
--- a/docs/PROGRESS.md
+++ b/docs/PROGRESS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,26 @@
 # Progress
 
+## Phase 152 (Session-preview cold-start optimization without UI changes) — Completed
+- Scope:
+  - Reduce the overview cold-start stall caused by session preview history reads without changing page structure, copy, or data semantics.
+- Changed files:
+  - `src/clients/openclaw-live-client.ts`
+  - `test/openclaw-live-client-history.test.ts`
+  - `docs/PROGRESS.md`
+- Implementation:
+  - Replaced the per-session external `tail` subprocess path with an in-process reverse file reader that scans recent JSONL history directly from the end of the file.
+  - Kept the same `sessionsHistory` API shape and the same history normalization logic so execution chains, previews, and UI copy stay unchanged.
+  - Added regression coverage for large cached history files and files without a trailing newline.
+- Verification:
+  - `npm run build`
+  - `npm test`
+  - `npm run smoke:ui`
+  - Local route timing after restart on `UI_PORT=4522`:
+    - `overview` first open: about `5.38s` -> about `0.84s`
+    - `usage-cost` first open: about `1.18s` -> about `0.95s`
+    - `projects-tasks` first open: about `0.38s` -> about `0.57s`
+    - repeated `overview` opens: about `0.82s`, `0.62s`, `1.13s`, `0.25s`, `0.21s`
+
 ## Phase 151 (Route-latency optimization without UI changes) — Completed
 - Scope:
   - Reduce slow first-navigation and post-cache-expiry stalls without changing page structure, copy, or data surfaces.
diff --git a/src/clients/openclaw-live-client.ts b/src/clients/openclaw-live-client.ts
index b46a4c9..816cc3e 100644
--- a/src/clients/openclaw-live-client.ts
+++ b/src/clients/openclaw-live-client.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
-import { readdir, readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { open, readdir, readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { promisify } from "node:util";
 import type {
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ const INACTIVE_SESSION_STATES = new Set([
   "canceled",
 ]);
 const FALLBACK_ACTIVE_RECENCY_WINDOW_MS = 45 * 60 * 1000;
+const SESSION_HISTORY_TAIL_MIN_LINES = 80;
+const SESSION_HISTORY_TAIL_LINE_MULTIPLIER = 8;
+const SESSION_HISTORY_TAIL_CHUNK_BYTES = 64 * 1024;
 
 /**
  * Live read client using official OpenClaw CLI JSON outputs.
@@ -429,12 +432,10 @@ async function readSessionHistoryFile(
   sessionFile: string,
   limit: number,
 ): Promise<SessionsHistoryResponse | undefined> {
+  const targetLineCount = Math.max(limit * SESSION_HISTORY_TAIL_LINE_MULTIPLIER, SESSION_HISTORY_TAIL_MIN_LINES);
   try {
-    const { stdout } = await execFileAsync("tail", ["-n", String(Math.max(limit * 8, 80)), sessionFile], {
-      timeout: 5_000,
-      maxBuffer: 512 * 1024,
-    });
-    return normalizeSessionHistoryChunk(stdout, limit);
+    const raw = await readRecentSessionHistoryChunk(sessionFile, targetLineCount);
+    return normalizeSessionHistoryChunk(raw, limit);
   } catch {
     try {
       const raw = await readFile(sessionFile, "utf8");
@@ -445,6 +446,49 @@ async function readSessionHistoryFile(
   }
 }
 
+async function readRecentSessionHistoryChunk(sessionFile: string, targetLineCount: number): Promise<string> {
+  const handle = await open(sessionFile, "r");
+  try {
+    const { size } = await handle.stat();
+    if (size <= 0) return "";
+
+    let position = size;
+    let newlineCount = 0;
+    const chunks: Buffer[] = [];
+
+    while (position > 0 && newlineCount < targetLineCount) {
+      const bytesToRead = Math.min(SESSION_HISTORY_TAIL_CHUNK_BYTES, position);
+      position -= bytesToRead;
+
+      const buffer = Buffer.allocUnsafe(bytesToRead);
+      const { bytesRead } = await handle.read(buffer, 0, bytesToRead, position);
+      if (bytesRead <= 0) break;
+
+      const chunk = bytesRead === bytesToRead ? buffer : buffer.subarray(0, bytesRead);
+      chunks.push(chunk);
+      newlineCount += countLineFeeds(chunk);
+    }
+
+    if (chunks.length === 0) return "";
+
+    const raw = Buffer.concat(chunks.reverse()).toString("utf8");
+    if (position <= 0) return raw;
+
+    const firstLineBreak = raw.indexOf("\n");
+    return firstLineBreak >= 0 ? raw.slice(firstLineBreak + 1) : raw;
+  } finally {
+    await handle.close();
+  }
+}
+
+function countLineFeeds(buffer: Uint8Array): number {
+  let count = 0;
+  for (const byte of buffer) {
+    if (byte === 0x0a) count += 1;
+  }
+  return count;
+}
+
 function normalizeSessionHistoryChunk(raw: string, limit: number): SessionsHistoryResponse {
   const lines = raw
     .split(/\r?\n/)
diff --git a/test/openclaw-live-client-history.test.ts b/test/openclaw-live-client-history.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a36256b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/openclaw-live-client-history.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import test from "node:test";
+import { OpenClawLiveClient } from "../src/clients/openclaw-live-client";
+
+function attachSessionFile(client: OpenClawLiveClient, sessionKey: string, sessionFile: string): void {
+  const internalClient = client as OpenClawLiveClient & {
+    sessionCache: Map<string, { sessionFile?: string }>;
+  };
+  internalClient.sessionCache.set(sessionKey, { sessionFile });
+}
+
+test("sessionsHistory reads recent history from large cached session files", async () => {
+  const tempDir = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "openclaw-history-"));
+  try {
+    const sessionKey = "agent:main:cron:demo:run:child";
+    const sessionFile = join(tempDir, "session.jsonl");
+    const payload = "x".repeat(2048);
+    const lines = Array.from({ length: 120 }, (_, index) =>
+      JSON.stringify({ seq: index + 1, message: `entry-${index + 1}`, payload }),
+    );
+    await writeFile(sessionFile, `${lines.join("\n")}\n`, "utf8");
+
+    const client = new OpenClawLiveClient();
+    attachSessionFile(client, sessionKey, sessionFile);
+
+    const response = await client.sessionsHistory({ sessionKey, limit: 3 });
+    const history = Array.isArray(response.json?.history) ? response.json.history : [];
+
+    assert.deepEqual(
+      history.map((item) => (typeof item === "string" ? item : item.seq)),
+      [118, 119, 120],
+    );
+    assert.match(response.rawText, /"seq":118/);
+    assert.match(response.rawText, /"seq":120/);
+  } finally {
+    await rm(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
+test("sessionsHistory keeps the last line when the history file has no trailing newline", async () => {
+  const tempDir = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "openclaw-history-"));
+  try {
+    const sessionKey = "agent:coq:main";
+    const sessionFile = join(tempDir, "session.jsonl");
+    const lines = [
+      JSON.stringify({ seq: 1, message: "first" }),
+      JSON.stringify({ seq: 2, message: "second" }),
+      JSON.stringify({ seq: 3, message: "third" }),
+    ];
+    await writeFile(sessionFile, lines.join("\n"), "utf8");
+
+    const client = new OpenClawLiveClient();
+    attachSessionFile(client, sessionKey, sessionFile);
+
+    const response = await client.sessionsHistory({ sessionKey, limit: 2 });
+    const history = Array.isArray(response.json?.history) ? response.json.history : [];
+
+    assert.deepEqual(
+      history.map((item) => (typeof item === "string" ? item : item.seq)),
+      [2, 3],
+    );
+    assert.equal(response.rawText.trim().split("\n").length, 2);
+  } finally {
+    await rm(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});