diff --git a/src/routes/learningAI.js b/src/routes/learningAI.js
index 4f2baab5..b079eb3e 100644
--- a/src/routes/learningAI.js
+++ b/src/routes/learningAI.js
@@ -167,6 +167,13 @@ Then each slide separated by ---. Guidelines:
 - First slide: title slide with presentation name and brief subtitle
 - Use # for slide titles
 - Use bullet points (- ) for lists, keep them concise (max 5 bullets per slide)
+- A slide that contains a table must contain ONLY that table and its heading.
+  Anything after a table starts a new, untitled slide when the deck is built.
+- Leave a blank line before and after every table, or it is not read as a table
+  at all and appears as literal pipe characters on the slide.
+- Do not nest lists more than one level deep, and do not put an ordered list
+  inside a bullet: it overfills the slide.
+- Prefer more slides with less on each. A slide should hold one idea.
 - Include a summary/key takeaways slide at the end
 - Do NOT include HTML tags or inline styles`;
     }
diff --git a/test/backend-hardening.test.js b/test/backend-hardening.test.js
index c8f88025..e44adfe2 100644
--- a/test/backend-hardening.test.js
+++ b/test/backend-hardening.test.js
@@ -330,3 +330,17 @@ test('a deck can only embed images the requester owns', () => {
   assert.match(src, /workdir = await fsp\.mkdtemp\(/);
   assert.match(src, /\} finally \{[\s\S]{0,200}rm\(workdir, \{ recursive: true, force: true \}\)/);
 });
+
+test('the slide prompt carries the rules pandoc actually enforces', () => {
+  // Found by generating a deck with ds-deepseek-v4-flash and rendering it: the
+  // model produced exactly the 6 headings asked for, but the deck came out with
+  // 8 slides. pandoc splits a slide after a table, and the remainder becomes an
+  // untitled orphan. A table with no blank line before it is not parsed as a
+  // table at all — it renders as literal pipe characters.
+  const src = read('src/routes/learningAI.js');
+  assert.match(src, /A slide that contains a table must contain ONLY that table/);
+  assert.match(src, /Leave a blank line before and after every table/);
+  // And the overfull slide in that same test: a nested ordered list inside a
+  // bullet ran past the bottom of the slide.
+  assert.match(src, /do not put an ordered list\s*\n\s*inside a bullet/);
+});