diff --git a/ui/src/components/logs/derive-trace-groups.ts b/ui/src/components/logs/derive-trace-groups.ts
index 61ea9914..f0cfecef 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/logs/derive-trace-groups.ts
+++ b/ui/src/components/logs/derive-trace-groups.ts
@@ -18,11 +18,16 @@ export interface LeafItem {
 export type DerivedItem = LeafItem | TraceGroup;
 
 /**
- * Tuple key for coalescing. Includes `message` so two adjacent logs that
- * share event/module/level but report different content stay distinct
+ * Tuple key for coalescing standalone leaves. Includes `message` and
+ * `source` so two adjacent logs that share event/module/level but report
+ * different content (or come from a different service) stay distinct
  * (e.g. `User logged in: alice` and `User logged in: bob`). Excludes
  * `latencyMs` and `metadata` because those drift per request even on
  * truly redundant polls — including them would prevent any coalescing.
+ *
+ * NB: this only applies to *leaves* (entries without `requestId`). Trace
+ * children render uncoalesced so retries and duplicated-stage emissions
+ * stay individually inspectable.
  */
 function coalesceKey(entry: LogsEntry): string {
   return [
@@ -35,52 +40,6 @@ function coalesceKey(entry: LogsEntry): string {
   ].join(' ');
 }
 
-/**
- * Coalesce identical consecutive children inside a single trace.
- *
- * Key tuple includes `message` so two children that share
- * event/stage/level/module but report different content stay visible as
- * separate rows. Includes `source` so adjacent rows from different
- * services with otherwise-identical fields stay distinct (a request can
- * fan out across multiple sources participating in the same trace).
- * Excludes `latencyMs` — it drifts per request and would defeat the
- * dedup on truly redundant polls.
- *
- * Exported so it can be unit-tested independently from the React row.
- */
-export function coalesceChildren(children: LogsEntry[]): Array<{ head: LogsEntry; count: number }> {
-  if (children.length === 0) return [];
-  const out: Array<{ head: LogsEntry; count: number }> = [];
-  let head: LogsEntry | null = null;
-  let count = 0;
-  let key = '';
-  const flush = () => {
-    if (head) out.push({ head, count });
-    head = null;
-    count = 0;
-  };
-  for (const child of children) {
-    const k = [
-      child.event ?? '',
-      child.message ?? '',
-      child.stage ?? '',
-      child.level,
-      child.module ?? '',
-      child.source ?? '',
-    ].join(' ');
-    if (head && k === key) {
-      count += 1;
-    } else {
-      flush();
-      head = child;
-      count = 1;
-      key = k;
-    }
-  }
-  flush();
-  return out;
-}
-
 /**
  * For an entry without an explicit `stage` field, derive a short chip label
  * from the event name so the trace timeline still renders meaningful badges
@@ -108,7 +67,8 @@ export function deriveStageHint(entry: LogsEntry): string | undefined {
  * Trace groups gather all children sharing a requestId regardless of
  * interleaving; they're sorted by `ts asc` before display, with the
  * group's positional `ts` set to the oldest child so it slots correctly
- * in the reverse-chronological display sort below.
+ * in the reverse-chronological display sort below. Children are NOT
+ * coalesced — every stage is preserved for individual inspection.
  */
 export function deriveTraceGroups(entries: LogsEntry[]): DerivedItem[] {
   const items: DerivedItem[] = [];
diff --git a/ui/src/components/logs/logs-trace-row.tsx b/ui/src/components/logs/logs-trace-row.tsx
index 4b8d70f9..a6f14bf9 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/logs/logs-trace-row.tsx
+++ b/ui/src/components/logs/logs-trace-row.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { memo } from 'react';
 import { ChevronDown, ChevronRight, GitBranch } from 'lucide-react';
 import type { LogsEntry, LogsLevel } from '@/lib/api-client';
 import { cn } from '@/lib/utils';
-import { coalesceChildren, deriveStageHint } from './derive-trace-groups';
+import { deriveStageHint } from './derive-trace-groups';
 import { LogLevelBadge } from './log-level-badge';
 import { LogsRow } from './logs-row';
 import { FOCUS_RING, MONO_NUMERIC, ROW_DENSITY, ROW_INTERACTIVE, type RowDensity } from './tokens';
@@ -110,18 +110,24 @@ function LogsTraceRowImpl({
           {group.requestId.slice(-8)}
         </span>
       </button>
+      {/* Children render unconditionally — every stage is preserved so
+          retries, duplicated stage logs, and multi-attempt traces stay
+          individually inspectable. The user-facing noise problem this
+          PR addresses lives at the standalone-leaf level (dashboard
+          self-polling spam) where leaf-coalesce in deriveTraceGroups
+          handles it; opting in to see internals is a deliberate debug
+          choice, so collapsing trace stages there would hide intent. */}
       {isExpanded
-        ? coalesceChildren(group.children).map((run) => (
+        ? group.children.map((child) => (
             <LogsRow
-              key={run.head.id}
-              entry={run.head}
-              isSelected={run.head.id === selectedEntryId}
+              key={child.id}
+              entry={child}
+              isSelected={child.id === selectedEntryId}
               density={density}
               sourceLabel={sourceLabel}
               onSelect={onSelect}
               indent={20}
-              stageHint={deriveStageHint(run.head)}
-              repeatCount={run.count > 1 ? run.count : undefined}
+              stageHint={deriveStageHint(child)}
             />
           ))
         : null}
diff --git a/ui/tests/unit/ui/components/logs-derive-trace-groups.test.ts b/ui/tests/unit/ui/components/logs-derive-trace-groups.test.ts
index 03560ac5..41a726e9 100644
--- a/ui/tests/unit/ui/components/logs-derive-trace-groups.test.ts
+++ b/ui/tests/unit/ui/components/logs-derive-trace-groups.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import type { LogsEntry } from '@/lib/api-client';
 import {
-  coalesceChildren,
   deriveStageHint,
   deriveTraceGroups,
   type LeafItem,
@@ -51,53 +50,6 @@ describe('deriveStageHint', () => {
   });
 });
 
-describe('coalesceChildren', () => {
-  it('returns empty array for empty input', () => {
-    expect(coalesceChildren([])).toEqual([]);
-  });
-
-  it('passes through a single child as count=1', () => {
-    const e = entry({ id: '1', timestamp: 't', event: 'a.b' });
-    expect(coalesceChildren([e])).toEqual([{ head: e, count: 1 }]);
-  });
-
-  it('coalesces two adjacent identical children', () => {
-    const a = entry({ id: '1', timestamp: 't1', event: 'a.b', message: 'm' });
-    const b = entry({ id: '2', timestamp: 't2', event: 'a.b', message: 'm' });
-    const result = coalesceChildren([a, b]);
-    expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(result[0]?.count).toBe(2);
-    expect(result[0]?.head).toBe(a);
-  });
-
-  it('keeps children with different messages distinct (round-1 fix)', () => {
-    const a = entry({ id: '1', timestamp: 't1', event: 'auth.ok', message: 'alice' });
-    const b = entry({ id: '2', timestamp: 't2', event: 'auth.ok', message: 'bob' });
-    expect(coalesceChildren([a, b])).toHaveLength(2);
-  });
-
-  it('keeps children with different sources distinct (round-2 fix)', () => {
-    const a = entry({ id: '1', timestamp: 't1', source: 'svc-a', event: 'e' });
-    const b = entry({ id: '2', timestamp: 't2', source: 'svc-b', event: 'e' });
-    expect(coalesceChildren([a, b])).toHaveLength(2);
-  });
-
-  it('keeps children with different stages distinct', () => {
-    const a = entry({ id: '1', timestamp: 't1', stage: 'route', event: 'e' });
-    const b = entry({ id: '2', timestamp: 't2', stage: 'dispatch', event: 'e' });
-    expect(coalesceChildren([a, b])).toHaveLength(2);
-  });
-
-  it('only collapses adjacent duplicates — interleaving breaks the run', () => {
-    const a = entry({ id: '1', timestamp: 't1', event: 'a' });
-    const b = entry({ id: '2', timestamp: 't2', event: 'b' });
-    const c = entry({ id: '3', timestamp: 't3', event: 'a' });
-    const result = coalesceChildren([a, b, c]);
-    // a, b, a — three distinct runs of count 1 each
-    expect(result.map((r) => r.count)).toEqual([1, 1, 1]);
-  });
-});
-
 describe('deriveTraceGroups', () => {
   it('returns empty array for empty input', () => {
     expect(deriveTraceGroups([])).toEqual([]);