diff --git a/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs b/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
index ab4479f..f1e6444 100644
--- a/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
+++ b/src/AcDream.App/Rendering/GameWindow.cs
@@ -895,7 +895,14 @@ public sealed class GameWindow : IDisposable
                 _panelHost.Register(
                     new AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Panels.Vitals.VitalsPanel(_vitalsVm));
 
-                Console.WriteLine("devtools: ImGui panel host ready (VitalsPanel registered)");
+                // ChatPanel: reads the tail of the shared ChatLog. No GUID
+                // dependency — works pre-login (empty) and post-login (live
+                // tail of received speech/tells/channels/system msgs).
+                var chatVm = new AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Panels.Chat.ChatVM(Chat);
+                _panelHost.Register(
+                    new AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Panels.Chat.ChatPanel(chatVm));
+
+                Console.WriteLine("devtools: ImGui panel host ready (VitalsPanel + ChatPanel registered)");
             }
             catch (Exception ex)
             {
diff --git a/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Chat/ChatPanel.cs b/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Chat/ChatPanel.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ca9c6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Chat/ChatPanel.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+namespace AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Panels.Chat;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Second real UI panel — shows the tail of the chat log.
+/// Exercises <see cref="IPanelRenderer.Text"/> + <see cref="IPanelRenderer.Separator"/>
+/// on a non-trivial render pattern (N lines, not a single widget) —
+/// proving the D.2a abstraction contract holds for more than the vitals
+/// HUD before we grow the panel catalog further.
+///
+/// <para>
+/// D.2a scope: show the last <see cref="ChatVM.DefaultDisplayLimit"/>
+/// lines with a separator above the tail and each entry as a single
+/// <c>Text</c> call. No input field (outbound chat already has wire
+/// support via <c>SendChat</c> — a text-input widget on <see cref="IPanelRenderer"/>
+/// lands with the first panel that actually needs one, not here).
+/// </para>
+/// </summary>
+public sealed class ChatPanel : IPanel
+{
+    private readonly ChatVM _vm;
+
+    public ChatPanel(ChatVM vm)
+    {
+        _vm = vm ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(vm));
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public string Id => "acdream.chat";
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public string Title => "Chat";
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public bool IsVisible { get; set; } = true;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public void Render(PanelContext ctx, IPanelRenderer renderer)
+    {
+        if (!renderer.Begin(Title))
+        {
+            renderer.End();
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var lines = _vm.RecentLines();
+        if (lines.Count == 0)
+        {
+            renderer.Text("(no messages yet)");
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            // Header separator so the reader always sees the tail start;
+            // the IPanel contract promises pressing Begin opens the window
+            // at a stable anchor.
+            renderer.Separator();
+            for (int i = 0; i < lines.Count; i++)
+            {
+                renderer.Text(lines[i]);
+            }
+        }
+
+        renderer.End();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Chat/ChatVM.cs b/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Chat/ChatVM.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa05d27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Chat/ChatVM.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+using AcDream.Core.Chat;
+
+namespace AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Panels.Chat;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// ViewModel for the chat panel. Reads the tail of <see cref="ChatLog"/>
+/// and formats each <see cref="ChatEntry"/> into a single display line.
+///
+/// <para>
+/// Formatting lives here (not in the panel) so the same rendering logic
+/// survives the Phase D.2b backend swap — under the custom retail-look
+/// toolkit we'll want different per-<see cref="ChatKind"/> styling, but
+/// the plain-text form is the fallback and the starting point.
+/// </para>
+///
+/// <para>
+/// D.2a snapshots the log every frame. Cheap: the default 500-entry cap
+/// keeps it &lt; 1 ms. A future iteration can subscribe to
+/// <see cref="ChatLog.EntryAppended"/> for incremental updates once we
+/// add virtualized scrolling in <see cref="IPanelRenderer"/>.
+/// </para>
+/// </summary>
+public sealed class ChatVM
+{
+    /// <summary>Default number of tail entries rendered.</summary>
+    public const int DefaultDisplayLimit = 20;
+
+    private readonly ChatLog _log;
+    private readonly int _displayLimit;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Build a ChatVM bound to a <see cref="ChatLog"/> instance.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="log">Live chat log. Never null.</param>
+    /// <param name="displayLimit">
+    /// Maximum number of tail entries to surface per
+    /// <see cref="RecentLines"/> call. Must be &gt;= 1. Defaults to
+    /// <see cref="DefaultDisplayLimit"/>.
+    /// </param>
+    public ChatVM(ChatLog log, int displayLimit = DefaultDisplayLimit)
+    {
+        _log = log ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(log));
+        if (displayLimit < 1)
+            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(displayLimit), displayLimit, "must be >= 1");
+        _displayLimit = displayLimit;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Snapshot the tail of the chat log, formatted as display strings,
+    /// oldest-first. Never returns null; returns an empty array if the
+    /// log is empty.
+    /// </summary>
+    public IReadOnlyList<string> RecentLines()
+    {
+        var snap = _log.Snapshot();
+        int start = Math.Max(0, snap.Length - _displayLimit);
+        int count = snap.Length - start;
+        if (count <= 0) return Array.Empty<string>();
+
+        var lines = new string[count];
+        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
+        {
+            lines[i] = FormatEntry(snap[start + i]);
+        }
+        return lines;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Format a single <see cref="ChatEntry"/> for display. Public so tests
+    /// can assert the per-kind formatting without touching a full log.
+    /// </summary>
+    public static string FormatEntry(ChatEntry entry) => entry.Kind switch
+    {
+        ChatKind.LocalSpeech   => $"{entry.Sender}: {entry.Text}",
+        ChatKind.RangedSpeech  => $"{entry.Sender} says distantly: {entry.Text}",
+        ChatKind.Channel       => $"[ch {entry.ChannelId}] {entry.Sender}: {entry.Text}",
+        ChatKind.Tell          => $"[Tell] {entry.Sender}: {entry.Text}",
+        ChatKind.System        => $"[System] {entry.Text}",
+        ChatKind.Popup         => $"[Popup] {entry.Text}",
+        _                      => entry.Text,
+    };
+}
diff --git a/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Vitals/VitalsPanel.cs b/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Vitals/VitalsPanel.cs
index 5040c7e..0b0b58a 100644
--- a/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Vitals/VitalsPanel.cs
+++ b/src/AcDream.UI.Abstractions/Panels/Vitals/VitalsPanel.cs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ namespace AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Panels.Vitals;
 /// <summary>
 /// First real UI panel — shows the local player's vitals as progress bars.
 /// Backend-agnostic; renders exclusively through <see cref="IPanelRenderer"/>
-/// so the same file works under Hexa.NET.ImGui (D.2a) and the future custom
+/// so the same file works under ImGui.NET (D.2a) and the future custom
 /// retail-look toolkit (D.2b).
 ///
 /// <para>
diff --git a/tests/AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Tests/ChatVMTests.cs b/tests/AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Tests/ChatVMTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..199ab94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Tests/ChatVMTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+using AcDream.Core.Chat;
+using AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Panels.Chat;
+
+namespace AcDream.UI.Abstractions.Tests;
+
+public sealed class ChatVMTests
+{
+    [Fact]
+    public void RecentLines_ReturnsEmpty_ForEmptyLog()
+    {
+        var log = new ChatLog();
+        var vm = new ChatVM(log);
+
+        Assert.Empty(vm.RecentLines());
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void RecentLines_ReturnsAllEntries_WhenBelowLimit()
+    {
+        var log = new ChatLog();
+        log.OnLocalSpeech(sender: "Caith", text: "hello", senderGuid: 0x5000_0001u, isRanged: false);
+        log.OnLocalSpeech(sender: "Regal", text: "world", senderGuid: 0x5000_0002u, isRanged: false);
+
+        var vm = new ChatVM(log, displayLimit: 20);
+        var lines = vm.RecentLines();
+
+        Assert.Equal(2, lines.Count);
+        Assert.Equal("Caith: hello", lines[0]);
+        Assert.Equal("Regal: world", lines[1]);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void RecentLines_ReturnsTail_WhenAboveLimit_InOldestFirstOrder()
+    {
+        var log = new ChatLog();
+        for (int i = 0; i < 30; i++)
+            log.OnLocalSpeech(sender: "A", text: $"msg{i}", senderGuid: 0x5000_0001u, isRanged: false);
+
+        var vm = new ChatVM(log, displayLimit: 5);
+        var lines = vm.RecentLines();
+
+        // Tail = msg25..msg29 (5 entries, oldest first).
+        Assert.Equal(5, lines.Count);
+        Assert.Equal("A: msg25", lines[0]);
+        Assert.Equal("A: msg29", lines[4]);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void FormatEntry_LocalSpeech_SenderColonText()
+    {
+        var entry = new ChatEntry(ChatKind.LocalSpeech, "Caith", "hello", 0x5000_0001u, 0);
+        Assert.Equal("Caith: hello", ChatVM.FormatEntry(entry));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void FormatEntry_RangedSpeech_IncludesDistanceHint()
+    {
+        var entry = new ChatEntry(ChatKind.RangedSpeech, "Caith", "hello", 0x5000_0001u, 0);
+        Assert.Equal("Caith says distantly: hello", ChatVM.FormatEntry(entry));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void FormatEntry_Channel_IncludesChannelId()
+    {
+        var entry = new ChatEntry(ChatKind.Channel, "Caith", "g'day", 0x5000_0001u, 7u);
+        Assert.Equal("[ch 7] Caith: g'day", ChatVM.FormatEntry(entry));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void FormatEntry_Tell_PrefixedWithTellTag()
+    {
+        var entry = new ChatEntry(ChatKind.Tell, "Regal", "psst", 0x5000_0002u, 0);
+        Assert.Equal("[Tell] Regal: psst", ChatVM.FormatEntry(entry));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void FormatEntry_System_NoSenderShown()
+    {
+        var entry = new ChatEntry(ChatKind.System, Sender: "", "Your spell fizzled!", 0, 0);
+        Assert.Equal("[System] Your spell fizzled!", ChatVM.FormatEntry(entry));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void FormatEntry_Popup_Prefixed()
+    {
+        var entry = new ChatEntry(ChatKind.Popup, Sender: "", "A door stands before you.", 0, 0);
+        Assert.Equal("[Popup] A door stands before you.", ChatVM.FormatEntry(entry));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Constructor_ThrowsOnNullLog()
+    {
+        Assert.Throws<ArgumentNullException>(() => new ChatVM(null!));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Constructor_ThrowsOnZeroOrNegativeLimit()
+    {
+        var log = new ChatLog();
+        Assert.Throws<ArgumentOutOfRangeException>(() => new ChatVM(log, displayLimit: 0));
+        Assert.Throws<ArgumentOutOfRangeException>(() => new ChatVM(log, displayLimit: -1));
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void RecentLines_ReturnsNewLineData_AfterSubsequentAppend()
+    {
+        // Confirm the VM isn't caching — each call re-snapshots the log.
+        var log = new ChatLog();
+        var vm = new ChatVM(log);
+
+        Assert.Empty(vm.RecentLines());
+
+        log.OnLocalSpeech("Caith", "hello", 0x5000_0001u, false);
+        var after = vm.RecentLines();
+        Assert.Single(after);
+        Assert.Equal("Caith: hello", after[0]);
+    }
+}