diff --git a/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageImage.test.tsx b/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageImage.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..53cfe21d5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageImage.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+// @vitest-environment jsdom
+import React, { act } from 'react';
+import { createRoot, type Root } from 'react-dom/client';
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { UserMessageImage } from './UserMessageImage';
+
+const { readFileContent } = vi.hoisted(() => ({ readFileContent: vi.fn() }));
+vi.mock('@/infrastructure/api/service-api/WorkspaceAPI', () => ({ workspaceAPI: { readFileContent } }));
+vi.mock('@/infrastructure/i18n', () => ({ useI18n: () => ({ t: (_key: string, values: { message: string }) => `Load failed: ${values.message}` }) }));
+vi.mock('@/shared/utils/logger', () => ({ createLogger: () => ({ warn: vi.fn(), debug: vi.fn(), info: vi.fn(), error: vi.fn() }) }));
+
+const image = { id: 'image', name: 'Photo.png', imagePath: '/Lark images/Photo.png', mimeType: 'image/png' };
+
+describe('UserMessageImage', () => {
+  let container: HTMLDivElement;
+  let root: Root;
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    globalThis.IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT = true;
+    readFileContent.mockReset();
+    container = document.createElement('div');
+    document.body.appendChild(container);
+    root = createRoot(container);
+  });
+  afterEach(() => { act(() => root.unmount()); container.remove(); });
+  const render = async (element: React.ReactNode) => { await act(async () => { root.render(element); }); };
+
+
+  it('reads host image bytes through the transport and previews the same data URL', async () => {
+    readFileContent.mockResolvedValue('aW1hZ2U=');
+    const onPreview = vi.fn();
+    await render(<UserMessageImage image={image} onPreview={onPreview} />);
+    const thumbnail = container.querySelector('img')!;
+    expect(readFileContent).toHaveBeenCalledWith(image.imagePath, 'base64');
+    expect(thumbnail.getAttribute('src')).toBe('data:image/png;base64,aW1hZ2U=');
+    act(() => thumbnail.click());
+    expect(onPreview).toHaveBeenCalledWith(thumbnail.getAttribute('src'));
+  });
+
+  it('uses embedded clipboard data without reading a host file', async () => {
+    await render(<UserMessageImage image={{ ...image, dataUrl: 'data:image/png;base64,AA==' }} onPreview={vi.fn()} />);
+    expect(container.querySelector('img')!.getAttribute('src')).toBe('data:image/png;base64,AA==');
+    expect(readFileContent).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('displays read failures without falling back to controller-local URLs', async () => {
+    readFileContent.mockRejectedValue(new Error('Host offline'));
+    await render(<UserMessageImage image={image} onPreview={vi.fn()} />);
+    expect(container.querySelector('[role=alert]')!.textContent).toContain('Host offline');
+    expect(container.querySelector('img')).toBeNull();
+    expect(readFileContent).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it('ignores a stale image read after the attachment changes', async () => {
+    let finishOld!: (content: string) => void;
+    readFileContent.mockImplementationOnce(() => new Promise<string>(resolve => { finishOld = resolve; }));
+    readFileContent.mockResolvedValueOnce('NEW');
+    await render(<UserMessageImage image={image} onPreview={vi.fn()} />);
+    await render(<UserMessageImage image={{ ...image, imagePath: '/new.png' }} onPreview={vi.fn()} />);
+    expect(container.querySelector('img')!.getAttribute('src')).toBe('data:image/png;base64,NEW');
+    await act(async () => { finishOld('OLD'); });
+    expect(container.querySelector('img')!.getAttribute('src')).toBe('data:image/png;base64,NEW');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageImage.tsx b/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageImage.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..687f94d148
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageImage.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
+import { workspaceAPI } from '@/infrastructure/api/service-api/WorkspaceAPI';
+import { useI18n } from '@/infrastructure/i18n';
+import { createLogger } from '@/shared/utils/logger';
+import type { ImageDisplayData } from '../../utils/imagePayload';
+import { getMimeTypeFromFilename } from '../../utils/imageUtils';
+
+const log = createLogger('UserMessageImage');
+
+interface UserMessageImageProps {
+  image: ImageDisplayData;
+  onPreview: (source: string) => void;
+}
+
+export function UserMessageImage({ image, onPreview }: UserMessageImageProps) {
+  const { t } = useI18n('tools');
+  const { dataUrl, imagePath, mimeType, name } = image;
+  const [loaded, setLoaded] = useState<{ path: string; source: string } | null>(null);
+  const [error, setError] = useState<string | null>(null);
+  const source = dataUrl || (loaded && loaded.path === imagePath ? loaded.source : undefined);
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    let disposed = false;
+    setLoaded(null);
+    setError(null);
+    if (!dataUrl && imagePath) {
+      // Attachment paths belong to the runtime host. The transport routes this
+      // read to that host, including peer mode; never construct a local asset URL.
+      void workspaceAPI.readFileContent(imagePath, 'base64').then(content => {
+        if (!disposed) {
+          setLoaded({ path: imagePath, source: `data:${mimeType || getMimeTypeFromFilename(imagePath)};base64,${content}` });
+        }
+      }).catch(cause => {
+        if (!disposed) {
+          log.warn('Failed to load message image', { imagePath, error: cause });
+          setError(String(cause));
+        }
+      });
+    }
+    return () => { disposed = true; };
+  }, [dataUrl, imagePath, mimeType]);
+
+  const failure = error ? t('editor.imageViewer.loadImageFailedWithMessage', { message: error }) : null;
+  return (
+    <div
+      data-openbitfun-component="user-message-item"
+      data-openbitfun-part="image"
+      className="user-message-item__image-thumb"
+      onClick={event => { event.stopPropagation(); if (source && !error) onPreview(source); }}
+      title={failure || name}
+    >
+      {failure ? <span role="alert">{failure}</span> : source ? (
+        <img src={source} alt={name} onError={() => setError(name)} />
+      ) : <span>{name}</span>}
+    </div>
+  );
+}
diff --git a/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageItem.tsx b/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageItem.tsx
index b173578414..f8099223a0 100644
--- a/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageItem.tsx
+++ b/src/web-ui/src/flow_chat/components/modern/UserMessageItem.tsx
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ import {
 } from '../../utils/composerPresentation';
 import { restoreImageContextsFromPayload } from '../../utils/imageContextRestoration';
 import { UserMessagePresentationContent } from './UserMessagePresentationContent';
+import { UserMessageImage } from './UserMessageImage';
 import './UserMessageItem.scss';
 
 const log = createLogger('UserMessageItem');
@@ -633,14 +634,9 @@ export const UserMessageItem = React.memo<UserMessageItemProps>(
 
         {message.images && message.images.length > 0 && (
           <div className="user-message-item__images" data-openbitfun-component="user-message-item" data-openbitfun-part="images">
-            {message.images.map(img => {
-              const src = img.dataUrl || (img.imagePath ? `https://asset.localhost/${encodeURIComponent(img.imagePath)}` : undefined);
-              return src ? (
-                <div data-openbitfun-component="user-message-item" data-openbitfun-part="image" key={img.id} className="user-message-item__image-thumb" onClick={(e) => { e.stopPropagation(); setLightboxImage(src); }}>
-                  <img src={src} alt={img.name} />
-                </div>
-              ) : null;
-            })}
+            {message.images.map(img => (
+              <UserMessageImage key={img.id} image={img} onPreview={setLightboxImage} />
+            ))}
           </div>
         )}