diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/AgentsPage.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/AgentsPage.tsx
index 63128fad..454d569f 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/AgentsPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/AgentsPage.tsx
@@ -212,13 +212,13 @@ export function AgentsPage() {
     {
       key: "status",
       header: "status",
+      // Technical freshness only — the agent's own free-text status
+      // string used to be concatenated into this same badge, which
+      // stuffed a full sentence into a pill meant for a short discrete
+      // label and blew the row out (mara: "looks messy"). That string
+      // now lives in its own "message" column below.
       render: (a) => {
         const { tone, label } = FRESHNESS[a.freshness];
-        const text = a.snapshot?.status_text;
-        // A `running: false` snapshot always carries `status_text: null`
-        // (the wire contract's own rule, not something this page derives),
-        // so an agent that reported recently but isn't running still shows
-        // a bare freshness badge rather than a stale status string.
         return (
           <Badge
             tone={tone}
@@ -229,7 +229,6 @@ export function AgentsPage() {
             }
             value={
               <>
-                {text ? `${text} — ` : ""}
                 {label}
                 {a.last_seen_unix !== null ? (
                   <>
@@ -243,6 +242,17 @@ export function AgentsPage() {
         );
       },
     },
+    {
+      key: "message",
+      header: "message",
+      cellClass: "ui-table-prose",
+      // Plain text, not a Badge — the agent's own free-form status
+      // sentence, as distinct from the technical freshness state in the
+      // "status" column. A `running: false` snapshot always carries
+      // `status_text: null` (the wire contract's own rule), so a stopped
+      // agent just shows an em dash here rather than a stale message.
+      render: (a) => a.snapshot?.status_text ?? "—",
+    },
     {
       key: "wanted",
       header: "wanted",
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.css
index cec0a17c..258cc238 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.css
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.css
@@ -26,3 +26,12 @@
   text-align: center;
   padding: 1.25em 0.75em;
 }
+
+/* A cell holding free-form prose (an operator- or agent-provided string,
+   not a short discrete label) rather than open-ended growth that drags
+   the whole table wider — caps the column and wraps within it instead. */
+.ui-table-prose {
+  max-width: 32em;
+  white-space: normal;
+  word-break: break-word;
+}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
index 2f6d0e44..3655c611 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ export interface TableColumn<T> {
   // can pass real markup instead of forking a second table primitive.
   header: ComponentChildren;
   render: (row: T) => ComponentChildren;
+  /** Extra class on this column's `<td>` — e.g. `ui-table-prose` for a
+   * free-text cell that should cap its width and wrap instead of
+   * dragging the whole table wider. Omit for the default cell styling. */
+  cellClass?: string;
   /**
    * ARIA sort state for this column's `<th>` — `'ascending'` /
    * `'descending'` while this is the active sort column, `'none'` while
@@ -72,7 +76,9 @@ export function Table<T>({
             rows.map((row) => (
               <tr key={rowKey(row)}>
                 {columns.map((c) => (
-                  <td key={c.key}>{c.render(row)}</td>
+                  <td key={c.key} class={c.cellClass}>
+                    {c.render(row)}
+                  </td>
                 ))}
               </tr>
             ))