diff --git a/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md
index 6c0416351..33dfa5812 100644
--- a/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/tui/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 ### Fixed
 
 - Fixed duplicate fullscreen right-click paste in VS Code-based terminals on Windows ([#8186](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/8186)).
+- Fixed padded text exceeding narrow terminal widths ([#8252](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/issues/8252)).
 
 ## [0.84.2] - 2026-08-14
 
diff --git a/packages/tui/src/components/text.ts b/packages/tui/src/components/text.ts
index 3809a48a8..7a50e2721 100644
--- a/packages/tui/src/components/text.ts
+++ b/packages/tui/src/components/text.ts
@@ -60,15 +60,16 @@ export class Text implements Component {
 		// Replace tabs with 3 spaces
 		const normalizedText = this.text.replace(/\t/g, "   ");
 
-		// Calculate content width (subtract left/right margins)
-		const contentWidth = Math.max(1, width - this.paddingX * 2);
+		// Reduce margins when necessary so content and padding fit within the available width.
+		const paddingX = Math.min(this.paddingX, Math.max(0, Math.floor((width - 1) / 2)));
+		const contentWidth = Math.max(1, width - paddingX * 2);
 
 		// Wrap text (this preserves ANSI codes but does NOT pad)
 		const wrappedLines = wrapTextWithAnsi(normalizedText, contentWidth);
 
 		// Add margins and background to each line
-		const leftMargin = " ".repeat(this.paddingX);
-		const rightMargin = " ".repeat(this.paddingX);
+		const leftMargin = " ".repeat(paddingX);
+		const rightMargin = " ".repeat(paddingX);
 		const contentLines: string[] = [];
 
 		for (const line of wrappedLines) {