diff --git a/public/css/assistant.css b/public/css/assistant.css
index 3cbae761..7baf10b8 100644
--- a/public/css/assistant.css
+++ b/public/css/assistant.css
@@ -472,7 +472,10 @@ body.assistant-mode-workspace .assistant-history .card,
 body.assistant-mode-workspace .assistant-rail-actions,
 body.assistant-mode-workspace .assistant-side { display:none; }
 body.assistant-mode-workspace .assistant-layout { grid-template-columns:210px minmax(0,1fr); }
-body.assistant-mode-workspace.menu-hidden .assistant-layout { grid-template-columns:0 minmax(0,1fr); }
+/* Collapsed is the 52px strip in workspace mode too. This said 0, and loading
+   after styles.css it beat the 52px rule there, so the collapsed menu (name
+   card included) vanished whenever the workspace launcher was showing. */
+body.assistant-mode-workspace.menu-hidden .assistant-layout { grid-template-columns:52px minmax(0,1fr); }
 /* Workspace mode works on a phone too: the launcher is the same grid of cards,
    one per column. Suppressing it here is what made the Workspace pill do
    nothing at all on mobile. */
diff --git a/public/css/styles.css b/public/css/styles.css
index 15b02d97..db3f4620 100644
--- a/public/css/styles.css
+++ b/public/css/styles.css
@@ -1311,6 +1311,12 @@ button, a, .btn-sm, .btn-generate, .btn-send, .tab-btn, input, textarea, select,
      The phone sheet has nothing to collapse — the same control closes it —
      so none of this may leak past the breakpoint. */
   body.menu-hidden .sidebar { width:52px; }
+  /* Collapsed, the strip is a column of its own: plain white against the tiled
+     ground, no drawn border — the white is the edge. Flat on the tiles, the 52px
+     column had no edge and read as icons pressed against the page card. The
+     full-width menu stays flat. Same strip in both views. */
+  body.menu-hidden .sidebar,
+  body.assistant-workspace.menu-hidden .assistant-history { background:white; }
   body.menu-hidden .sidebar-tabs,
   body.menu-hidden .assistant-mode-switch,
   body.menu-hidden .sidebar-section-label,
diff --git a/public/js/app.js b/public/js/app.js
index 257dc9d2..408f18d6 100644
--- a/public/js/app.js
+++ b/public/js/app.js
@@ -314,8 +314,12 @@ document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
   }
 
   function searchSources() {
-    // The assistant publishes its chats; anything else searches the menu.
-    if (window.location.pathname === '/assistant' && typeof window.assistantSearchableChats === 'function') {
+    // Search follows the view, not the address: the assistant's chat view
+    // searches chats, and Workspace — including the workspace launcher shown
+    // inside the assistant, which keeps the /assistant URL — searches the menu.
+    var inChats = document.body.classList.contains('assistant-workspace')
+      && !document.body.classList.contains('assistant-mode-workspace');
+    if (inChats && typeof window.assistantSearchableChats === 'function') {
       return { kind: 'chats', items: window.assistantSearchableChats() };
     }
     var items = [];
diff --git a/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js b/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js
index 0c200f38..6e97bea1 100644
--- a/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js
+++ b/public/js/clinicalAssistant.js
@@ -1350,6 +1350,7 @@ import {
       '<div id="create-image-history" class="create-image-history"><p class="assistant-muted">Loading your images…</p></div>' +
       '</div></div>';
     document.body.appendChild(modal);
+    fitSelectOptions(modal.querySelector('#create-image-chat'));
     modal.addEventListener('click', function (event) {
       if (event.target === modal || event.target.closest('[data-create-image-close]')) modal.remove();
     });
@@ -2391,6 +2392,36 @@ import {
     return truncateOnWord(String(first && first.content || 'Clinical assistant chat').replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim(), 160);
   }
 
+  // A native <select> opens a list as wide as its longest option, so full chat
+  // titles pushed "Base it on" far past the dialog. Each label keeps as many
+  // whole words as fit the select's own width; the full title stays on hover.
+  var OPTION_CHROME = 44; // list padding + scrollbar, which the text cannot use
+  function fitSelectOptions(select) {
+    if (!select) return;
+    var style = window.getComputedStyle(select);
+    var room = select.clientWidth - OPTION_CHROME;
+    if (room <= 0) return; // not laid out (or no layout engine): leave labels alone
+    var ctx = fitSelectOptions.ctx || (fitSelectOptions.ctx = document.createElement('canvas').getContext('2d'));
+    if (!ctx) return;
+    ctx.font = style.fontWeight + ' ' + style.fontSize + ' ' + style.fontFamily;
+    Array.prototype.forEach.call(select.options, function (opt) {
+      var full = opt.getAttribute('data-full-title') || opt.textContent;
+      opt.setAttribute('data-full-title', full);
+      opt.title = full;
+      if (ctx.measureText(full).width <= room) { opt.textContent = full; return; }
+      var words = full.split(/\s+/), text = '';
+      for (var i = 0; i < words.length; i++) {
+        var next = text ? text + ' ' + words[i] : words[i];
+        if (ctx.measureText(next + '…').width > room) break;
+        text = next;
+      }
+      // One word wider than the box: fall back to cutting characters.
+      if (!text) { text = full; while (text.length > 1 && ctx.measureText(text + '…').width > room) text = text.slice(0, -1); }
+      opt.textContent = text.replace(/[\s.,;:!?-]+$/, '') + '…';
+    });
+  }
+  window.addEventListener('resize', function () { fitSelectOptions(document.getElementById('create-image-chat')); });
+
   // Cuts at a word boundary, and only adds an ellipsis when something was
   // actually dropped.
   function truncateOnWord(text, limit) {
diff --git a/test/assistant-workspace-layout.test.js b/test/assistant-workspace-layout.test.js
index 517a87ee..6e791fa1 100644
--- a/test/assistant-workspace-layout.test.js
+++ b/test/assistant-workspace-layout.test.js
@@ -568,3 +568,45 @@ test('desktop: the assistant rail is the app sidebar, flush and flat', () => {
   assert.match(rail, /\.assistant-history \.account-card \{ padding:8px; \}/);
   assert.match(styles, /body\.assistant-workspace\.menu-hidden \.assistant-history \{[^}]*padding:0; \}/, 'collapsed adds no gap of its own');
 });
+
+test('the collapsed menu is a bar of its own, in both views', () => {
+  const css = read('public/css/styles.css');
+  // Flat on the tiled ground, the 52px strip had no edge: its icons looked
+  // pressed against the page card. Expanded stays flat; collapsed gets a bar.
+  const desk = css.slice(css.indexOf('@media (min-width:769px) {\n  /* Collapsing is a desktop idea'));
+  const block = desk.slice(0, desk.indexOf('\n}\n'));
+  // Its own white column, no border line: the white against the tiles is the edge.
+  assert.match(block, /body\.menu-hidden \.sidebar,\s*body\.assistant-workspace\.menu-hidden \.assistant-history \{ background:white; \}/);
+  assert.match(css, /@media\(min-width:769px\)\{ \.sidebar\{ background:transparent; border-right:none; \} \}/, 'expanded stays flat');
+});
+
+test('search follows the view: Workspace searches the workspace even inside the assistant', () => {
+  const app = read('public/js/app.js');
+  const fn = app.slice(app.indexOf('function searchSources()'), app.indexOf("return { kind: 'tabs'"));
+  // Keyed on the URL, the workspace launcher (still at /assistant) searched chats.
+  assert.doesNotMatch(fn, /location\.pathname === '\/assistant'/);
+  assert.match(fn, /classList\.contains\('assistant-workspace'\)\s*&& !document\.body\.classList\.contains\('assistant-mode-workspace'\)/);
+  assert.match(fn, /if \(inChats && typeof window\.assistantSearchableChats === 'function'\)/);
+});
+
+test('collapsed workspace mode keeps the 52px strip instead of losing the menu', () => {
+  const css = read('public/css/assistant.css');
+  // This track said 0 and, loading after styles.css, won — the collapsed menu
+  // and its name card disappeared whenever the workspace launcher showed.
+  assert.doesNotMatch(css, /body\.assistant-mode-workspace\.menu-hidden \.assistant-layout \{ grid-template-columns:0 /);
+  assert.match(css, /body\.assistant-mode-workspace\.menu-hidden \.assistant-layout \{ grid-template-columns:52px minmax\(0,1fr\); \}/);
+});
+
+test('the create-image chat list never grows wider than its dialog', () => {
+  const js = read('public/js/clinicalAssistant.js');
+  // A native <select> list is as wide as its longest option; full chat titles
+  // pushed it far past the dialog.
+  assert.match(js, /document\.body\.appendChild\(modal\);\s*\n\s*fitSelectOptions\(modal\.querySelector\('#create-image-chat'\)\);/,
+    'labels are fitted once the dialog is laid out');
+  const fn = js.slice(js.indexOf('function fitSelectOptions(select)'), js.indexOf("window.addEventListener('resize', function () { fitSelectOptions"));
+  assert.match(fn, /var room = select\.clientWidth - OPTION_CHROME;/, 'fitted to the select, not a fixed character count');
+  assert.match(fn, /if \(room <= 0\) return;/, 'no layout, no change');
+  assert.match(fn, /opt\.title = full;/, 'the full title stays on hover');
+  assert.match(fn, /words\[i\]/, 'cuts on whole words');
+  assert.match(js, /window\.addEventListener\('resize', function \(\) \{ fitSelectOptions\(document\.getElementById\('create-image-chat'\)\); \}\);/);
+});