diff --git a/src/core/contracts/graph.ts b/src/core/contracts/graph.ts
index 9686552..5dccfb5 100644
--- a/src/core/contracts/graph.ts
+++ b/src/core/contracts/graph.ts
@@ -341,9 +341,34 @@ export interface Position {
 	y: number;
 }
 
+/** The auto-title's character cap (owner, 2026-10-06): long enough to
+ *  stay informative in the sidebar and the top bar, short enough that a
+ *  first message never reads as a paragraph. Tunable — one number, one
+ *  place. */
+export const TITLE_MAX_CHARS = 72;
+
 /** Derive a short chat title from the learner's first message (pure).
+ *  Smart truncation (owner, 2026-10-06): the cut snaps to a word boundary
+ *  AT OR UNDER the cap — a title never ends mid-word. The one exception
+ *  is a single word longer than the cap (rare, but real: identifiers,
+ *  URLs): it cuts at the cap, splitting the word. Whitespace collapses to
+ *  single spaces first, so boundaries are always single-space boundaries.
  *  Used on chat creation; deterministic so tests can pin it. */
 export function titleFromPrompt(prompt: string): string {
 	const oneLine = prompt.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
-	return oneLine.length > 72 ? `${oneLine.slice(0, 72)}…` : oneLine;
+	if (oneLine.length <= TITLE_MAX_CHARS) return oneLine;
+	// Last space among the first TITLE_MAX_CHARS characters; the cut sits
+	// before it so no trailing space rides into the title.
+	let cut = -1;
+	for (let i = TITLE_MAX_CHARS; i > 0; i--) {
+		if (oneLine[i - 1] === " ") {
+			cut = i - 1;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	// One long word: no boundary exists under the cap — split it (owner's
+	// special case). This also lands correctly when the first word exactly
+	// fills the cap: cutting at the cap IS the boundary.
+	if (cut < 0) cut = TITLE_MAX_CHARS;
+	return `${oneLine.slice(0, cut)}…`;
 }
diff --git a/tests/title-from-prompt.test.ts b/tests/title-from-prompt.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9897455
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/title-from-prompt.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/**
+ * The auto-title's smart truncation (owner, 2026-10-06): the cut snaps to
+ * a word boundary at or under TITLE_MAX_CHARS (72); a single word longer
+ * than the cap splits at the cap. Pure seam: titleFromPrompt in
+ * core/contracts/graph.ts, applied server-side at chat creation (the one
+ * seam — home and both drafts post raw text; the route derives).
+ */
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { describe, it } from "node:test";
+
+import { TITLE_MAX_CHARS, titleFromPrompt } from "../src/core/contracts/graph.ts";
+
+describe("titleFromPrompt (smart truncation)", () => {
+	it("short prompts pass through untouched — no ellipsis, whitespace collapsed", () => {
+		assert.equal(titleFromPrompt("Relational databases"), "Relational databases");
+		assert.equal(titleFromPrompt("line one\nline two\ttabbed"), "line one line two tabbed");
+	});
+
+	it("exactly at the cap: unchanged, no ellipsis", () => {
+		const exact = "a".repeat(TITLE_MAX_CHARS);
+		assert.equal(titleFromPrompt(exact), exact);
+	});
+
+	it("over the cap: the cut snaps to the last word boundary under it", () => {
+		// > 72 chars total so truncation actually fires.
+		const words = ["teach", "me", "the", "relational", "model", "and", "its", "information", "principle", "underlying", "everything", "please"];
+		const joined = words.join(" "); // 10 words, > 72 chars
+		const out = titleFromPrompt(joined);
+		assert.ok(out.endsWith("…"), "marks the truncation");
+		assert.ok(!out.slice(0, -1).endsWith(" "), "… attaches directly to the kept word");
+		// The kept prefix is a prefix of the original at a word boundary:
+		const kept = out.slice(0, -1);
+		assert.ok(joined.startsWith(kept));
+		assert.ok(kept.length <= TITLE_MAX_CHARS);
+		assert.equal(joined[kept.length], " ", "the cut dropped a whole word, never half of one");
+	});
+
+	it("boundary landing exactly at the cap is a clean cut (no mid-word split)", () => {
+		const first = "b".repeat(TITLE_MAX_CHARS); // fills the cap exactly
+		const prompt = `${first} then more words after it`;
+		const out = titleFromPrompt(prompt);
+		assert.equal(out, `${first}…`);
+	});
+
+	it("a single word longer than the cap splits at the cap", () => {
+		const giant = "x".repeat(TITLE_MAX_CHARS + 30);
+		assert.equal(titleFromPrompt(giant), `${"x".repeat(TITLE_MAX_CHARS)}…`);
+	});
+
+	it("the kept title never carries a trailing space", () => {
+		const prompt = `${"c".repeat(60)}  ${"d".repeat(60)}`; // collapses to one space
+		const out = titleFromPrompt(prompt);
+		assert.ok(!out.slice(0, -1).endsWith(" "));
+		assert.ok(out.endsWith("…"));
+	});
+});