diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.css
index 394ad05c..b551351c 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.css
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.css
@@ -4,7 +4,19 @@
    not row: with a second field (hive) added, a row layout put fields of
    different natural widths on one baseline and looked misaligned —
    mara: "make it a col". Reuses the same base16 slots (../theme.css)
-   every other component draws from. */
+   every other component draws from.
+
+   `.create-agent-page` caps the panel's own width: `Panel` has no width
+   opinion of its own, so left unconstrained it filled `.shell-body`'s
+   full 60em column — a lot of bare panel to the right of a ~16em-wide
+   form, the "weird empty space" mara flagged alongside the field
+   misalignment. 24em roughly matches the fields' own 16em cap
+   (../ui/form-field/FormField.css) plus the panel's 1em body padding on
+   each side and a little breathing room, so the panel reads as sized to
+   its content instead of to the page column. */
+.create-agent-page {
+  max-width: 24em;
+}
 .create-agent-intro {
   margin: 0 0 1.5em;
   color: var(--muted);
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.tsx
index 7bb605b2..fb2dd464 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/CreateAgentPage.tsx
@@ -125,44 +125,48 @@ export function CreateAgentPage() {
   }
 
   return (
-    <Panel title="create agent">
-      <p class="create-agent-intro">
-        Create a new agent's swarm-level identity. This only queues the job — check{' '}
-        <Link href="/jobs">jobs</Link> to watch it settle.
-      </p>
-      {hivesError && <ApiErrorPanel context="failed to load the hive list" problem={hivesError} />}
-      <form class="create-agent-form" onSubmit={submit}>
-        <TextField
-          id="agent-name"
-          label="agent name"
-          value={name}
-          pattern={NAME_PATTERN}
-          title="1-63 chars: lowercase letters, digits, hyphens"
-          required
-          onInput={setName}
-        />
-        <SelectField
-          id="agent-hive"
-          label="hive"
-          value={hive}
-          onChange={setHive}
-          options={hiveOptions}
-          required
-          disabled={!hivesReady}
-          placeholder={!hives ? 'loading…' : hives.length === 0 ? 'no hives configured' : 'select a hive'}
-        />
-        <Button variant="primary" type="submit" disabled={result.status === 'submitting' || !hivesReady}>
-          {result.status === 'submitting' ? 'creating…' : 'create'}
-        </Button>
-      </form>
-      {result.status === 'done' && (
-        <p class="create-agent-result create-agent-result-ok">
-          queued as job node #{result.nodeId} — <Link href="/jobs">watch it in jobs</Link>
+    <div class="create-agent-page">
+      <Panel title="create agent">
+        <p class="create-agent-intro">
+          Create a new agent's swarm-level identity. This only queues the job — check{' '}
+          <Link href="/jobs">jobs</Link> to watch it settle.
         </p>
-      )}
-      {result.status === 'error' && (
-        <ApiErrorPanel context="failed to queue" problem={result.problem} />
-      )}
-    </Panel>
+        {hivesError && <ApiErrorPanel context="failed to load the hive list" problem={hivesError} />}
+        <form class="create-agent-form" onSubmit={submit}>
+          <TextField
+            id="agent-name"
+            label="agent name"
+            value={name}
+            pattern={NAME_PATTERN}
+            title="1-63 chars: lowercase letters, digits, hyphens"
+            required
+            onInput={setName}
+          />
+          <SelectField
+            id="agent-hive"
+            label="hive"
+            value={hive}
+            onChange={setHive}
+            options={hiveOptions}
+            required
+            disabled={!hivesReady}
+            placeholder={
+              !hives ? 'loading…' : hives.length === 0 ? 'no hives configured' : 'select a hive'
+            }
+          />
+          <Button variant="primary" type="submit" disabled={result.status === 'submitting' || !hivesReady}>
+            {result.status === 'submitting' ? 'creating…' : 'create'}
+          </Button>
+        </form>
+        {result.status === 'done' && (
+          <p class="create-agent-result create-agent-result-ok">
+            queued as job node #{result.nodeId} — <Link href="/jobs">watch it in jobs</Link>
+          </p>
+        )}
+        {result.status === 'error' && (
+          <ApiErrorPanel context="failed to queue" problem={result.problem} />
+        )}
+      </Panel>
+    </div>
   );
 }
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/form-field/FormField.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/form-field/FormField.css
index 29257bdd..a2365e9a 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/form-field/FormField.css
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/form-field/FormField.css
@@ -8,11 +8,24 @@
    every control in the kit whether or not it's ever used on a touch
    device, since the alternative is a component that behaves differently
    per input method. Colours are the shared base16-derived vars
-   (../../theme.css), never literal. */
+   (../../theme.css), never literal.
+
+   The field wrapper repeats `.ui-form-control`'s own `width: 100%;
+   max-width: 16em` rather than leaving the wrapper unconstrained: inside
+   a shrink-to-fit flex column (`CreateAgentPage`'s form is one), an
+   unconstrained wrapper sizes to its own content — and a `width: 100%`
+   *control* inside an auto-width wrapper resolves against that shrunk
+   width, not the intended 16em cap, so two fields with differently-long
+   labels ("agent name" vs "hive") ended up with differently-wide inputs —
+   the misalignment mara reported on the create-agent page. Matching the
+   two declarations here means every field's control width is driven by
+   the same fixed cap regardless of its label's length or its siblings'. */
 .ui-form-field {
   display: flex;
   flex-direction: column;
   gap: 0.3em;
+  width: 100%;
+  max-width: 16em;
 }
 .ui-form-field-label {
   font-size: 0.85em;