diff --git a/frontend/src/components/common/ProgressModal.tsx b/frontend/src/components/common/ProgressModal.tsx
index e8833026..76b5b585 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/common/ProgressModal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/common/ProgressModal.tsx
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ export default function ProgressModal({
   const stepCompletionTimersRef = useRef<Map<string, NodeJS.Timeout>>(new Map());
   const visuallyCompletedStepsRef = useRef<Set<string>>(new Set());
   const lastProcessedStepLogsHashRef = useRef<string>('');
-  const lastProcessedPhaseRef = useRef<string>('');
+  const lastVisuallyCompletedCountRef = useRef<number>(0);
   
   // Sync ref with state
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -334,9 +334,6 @@ export default function ProgressModal({
   const allStepsVisuallyCompleted = steps.length > 0 && 
     steps.every(step => visuallyCompletedSteps.has(step.phase));
   
-  // Track the count of visually completed steps to detect changes without causing infinite loops
-  const visuallyCompletedCount = visuallyCompletedSteps.size;
-  
   // Track step completions with 2-second delay between each step
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!isOpen) {
@@ -344,13 +341,29 @@ export default function ProgressModal({
       setVisuallyCompletedSteps(new Set());
       visuallyCompletedStepsRef.current = new Set();
       lastProcessedStepLogsHashRef.current = '';
-      lastProcessedPhaseRef.current = '';
+      lastVisuallyCompletedCountRef.current = 0;
       stepCompletionTimersRef.current.forEach(timer => clearTimeout(timer));
       stepCompletionTimersRef.current.clear();
       return;
     }
     
     const phaseOrder = ['INIT', 'PREP', 'AI_CALL', 'PARSE', 'SAVE', 'DONE'];
+    const currentVisuallyCompletedCount = visuallyCompletedSteps.size;
+    
+    // Check if we need to process:
+    // 1. Backend progress changed (stepLogsHash or currentPhase)
+    // 2. A step just completed visually (count increased)
+    const currentHash = `${stepLogsHash}|${currentPhase}`;
+    const hashChanged = currentHash !== lastProcessedStepLogsHashRef.current;
+    const countChanged = currentVisuallyCompletedCount > lastVisuallyCompletedCountRef.current;
+    
+    if (!hashChanged && !countChanged) {
+      return; // Nothing changed, skip processing
+    }
+    
+    // Update tracking refs
+    lastProcessedStepLogsHashRef.current = currentHash;
+    lastVisuallyCompletedCountRef.current = currentVisuallyCompletedCount;
     
     // Process steps sequentially - find the first step that should be completed but isn't visually completed yet
     for (let index = 0; index < steps.length; index++) {
@@ -372,7 +385,6 @@ export default function ProgressModal({
         // Only schedule if previous step is completed (or this is first step)
         if (previousStepCompleted) {
           // Calculate delay: 2 seconds after previous step visually completed (or 0 for first step)
-          // For subsequent steps, add 2 seconds delay
           const delay = previousStep ? 2000 : 0;
           
           // Schedule completion
@@ -400,7 +412,7 @@ export default function ProgressModal({
       stepCompletionTimersRef.current.forEach(timer => clearTimeout(timer));
       stepCompletionTimersRef.current.clear();
     };
-  }, [isOpen, currentPhase, stepLogsHash, steps, stepLogs, visuallyCompletedCount]); // Use count instead of Set to avoid infinite loops
+  }, [isOpen, currentPhase, stepLogsHash, steps, stepLogs, visuallyCompletedSteps.size]); // Use .size instead of the Set
   
   // Don't auto-close - user must click close button