diff --git a/src/cli/src/commands/trace.ts b/src/cli/src/commands/trace.ts
index 9c25042..a3f2a41 100644
--- a/src/cli/src/commands/trace.ts
+++ b/src/cli/src/commands/trace.ts
@@ -144,9 +144,14 @@ export function createTraceCommand(deps?: Partial<TraceCommandDeps>): Command {
         if (degraded !== null) degradedCount++;
         if (err !== null) errorCount++;
 
-        const ms = num(e.payload['durationMs']) ?? num(e.payload['totalDurationMs']);
-        const label = str(e.payload['stage']) ?? e.eventKind;
-        if (ms !== null && (slowest === null || ms > slowest.ms)) slowest = { name: label, ms };
+        // Only real steps compete for "slowest" — tool_call_trace and
+        // pipeline_execution are aggregates OF those steps, so including them
+        // would always name the total and tell you nothing.
+        const ms = num(e.payload['durationMs']);
+        const label = str(e.payload['stage']);
+        if (ms !== null && label !== null && (slowest === null || ms > slowest.ms)) {
+          slowest = { name: label, ms };
+        }
 
         const marks = [
           degraded !== null ? `⚠ ${degraded}` : null,