diff --git a/daras_ai_v2/bots.py b/daras_ai_v2/bots.py
index b7222cb44..eb53d9796 100644
--- a/daras_ai_v2/bots.py
+++ b/daras_ai_v2/bots.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from daras_ai_v2.asr import run_google_translate, should_translate_lang
 from daras_ai_v2.base import BasePage, RecipeRunState, StateKeys
 from daras_ai_v2.language_model import CHATML_ROLE_USER, CHATML_ROLE_ASSISTANT
+from daras_ai_v2.search_ref import SearchReference
 from daras_ai_v2.vector_search import doc_url_to_file_metadata
 from gooeysite.bg_db_conn import db_middleware
 from recipes.VideoBots import VideoBotsPage, ReplyButton
@@ -205,7 +206,9 @@ def get_interactive_msg_info(self) -> ButtonPressed:
     def on_run_created(self, sr: "SavedRun"):
         pass
 
-    def send_run_status(self, update_msg_id: str | None) -> str | None:
+    def send_run_status(
+        self, update_msg_id: str | None, references: list[SearchReference] | None = None
+    ) -> str | None:
         pass
 
     def nice_filename(self, mime_type: str) -> str:
@@ -411,7 +414,9 @@ def _process_and_send_msg(
                 text = state.get("output_text") and state.get("output_text")[0]
                 if not text:
                     # if no text, send the run status as text
-                    update_msg_id = bot.send_run_status(update_msg_id=update_msg_id)
+                    update_msg_id = bot.send_run_status(
+                        update_msg_id=update_msg_id, references=state.get("references")
+                    )
                     continue  # no text, wait for the next update
                 streaming_done = state.get("finish_reason")
                 # send the response to the user
diff --git a/daras_ai_v2/slack_bot.py b/daras_ai_v2/slack_bot.py
index 388b1af7d..927b55b85 100644
--- a/daras_ai_v2/slack_bot.py
+++ b/daras_ai_v2/slack_bot.py
@@ -11,13 +11,12 @@
 from bots.models import BotIntegration, Platform, Conversation
 from daras_ai.image_input import upload_file_from_bytes
 from daras_ai_v2.asr import (
-    run_google_translate,
     audio_bytes_to_wav,
-    should_translate_lang,
 )
 from daras_ai_v2.bots import BotInterface, SLACK_MAX_SIZE, ButtonPressed
 from daras_ai_v2.exceptions import raise_for_status
 from daras_ai_v2.functional import fetch_parallel
+from daras_ai_v2.search_ref import SearchReference
 from daras_ai_v2.text_splitter import text_splitter
 from recipes.VideoBots import ReplyButton
 
@@ -133,7 +132,9 @@ def get_interactive_msg_info(self) -> ButtonPressed:
             button_id=self._actions[0]["value"], context_msg_id=self._msg_ts
         )
 
-    def send_run_status(self, update_msg_id: str | None) -> str | None:
+    def send_run_status(
+        self, update_msg_id: str | None, references: list[SearchReference] | None = None
+    ) -> str | None:
         if not self.run_status:
             return update_msg_id
         return self.send_msg(text=self.run_status, update_msg_id=update_msg_id)
diff --git a/routers/bots_api.py b/routers/bots_api.py
index c960fa33f..63a2637db 100644
--- a/routers/bots_api.py
+++ b/routers/bots_api.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 from daras_ai_v2.base import RecipeRunState, StateKeys
 from daras_ai_v2.bots import BotInterface, msg_handler, ButtonPressed
 from daras_ai_v2.redis_cache import get_redis_cache
+from daras_ai_v2.search_ref import SearchReference
 from recipes.VideoBots import VideoBotsPage, ReplyButton
 from routers.api import (
     AsyncApiResponseModelV3,
@@ -141,6 +142,8 @@ class MessagePart(BaseModel):
         description="Details about the status of the run as a human readable string"
     )
 
+    references: list[SearchReference] | None
+
     text: str | None
     audio: str | None
     video: str | None
@@ -326,9 +329,20 @@ def on_run_created(self, sr: SavedRun):
         self.uid = sr.uid
         self.queue.put(RunStart(**build_async_api_response(sr)))
 
-    def send_run_status(self, update_msg_id: str | None) -> str | None:
+    def send_run_status(
+        self, update_msg_id: str | None, references: list[SearchReference] | None = None
+    ) -> str | None:
         self.queue.put(
-            MessagePart(status=self.recipe_run_state, detail=self.run_status)
+            MessagePart(
+                status=self.recipe_run_state,
+                detail=self.run_status,
+                references=(
+                    #  avoid sending the entire snippet to save bandwidth
+                    [r | dict(snippet="") for r in references]
+                    if references
+                    else None
+                ),
+            )
         )
         return None