diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/chat/AgentChatPane.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/chat/AgentChatPane.tsx
index 8c5897113..9d209d4ca 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/chat/AgentChatPane.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/chat/AgentChatPane.tsx
@@ -13842,10 +13842,16 @@ export function AgentChatPane({
                           style={{ aspectRatio: "560 / 300" }}
                           exit={{ opacity: 0, scale: 0.8, transition: { duration: 0.3, ease: "easeOut" } }}
                         >
+                          {/* `h-auto` + `max-h-full` left the image at its
+                              natural height once the box shrank, so a short
+                              window cropped the wordmark against the column's
+                              `overflow-hidden` instead of scaling it. Filling
+                              the box and letterboxing inside it with
+                              `object-contain` keeps the shrink proportional. */}
                           <img
                             src="./logo.png"
                             alt="ADE"
-                            className="relative z-10 h-auto max-h-full w-full max-w-full object-contain"
+                            className="relative z-10 h-full w-full object-contain"
                           />
                         </motion.div>
 
@@ -13867,14 +13873,6 @@ export function AgentChatPane({
                           </div>
                         ) : null}
 
-                        {onImportedSession && !appPanelOpen ? (
-                          <ImportFloatingBadge
-                            projectRoot={projectRoot}
-                            disabled={!laneId || draftLaunchTargetIsAutoCreate}
-                            onOpen={() => setImportBrowserOpen(true)}
-                          />
-                        ) : null}
-
                         {/* Launch shelf — everything that answers "where does this
                             run". It is drawn as a recessed drawer tucked under the
                             composer rather than as another centered band: the lane
@@ -14016,6 +14014,19 @@ export function AgentChatPane({
                             <WorkActivityModule />
                           </motion.div>
                         ) : null}
+
+                        {/* Last row in the column. Sat between the composer and
+                            the launch shelf before, where it wedged itself into
+                            the shelf's row and overlapped it in a narrow window;
+                            at the bottom it is a hint below everything it can
+                            act on rather than a band cutting the stack in two. */}
+                        {onImportedSession && !appPanelOpen ? (
+                          <ImportFloatingBadge
+                            projectRoot={projectRoot}
+                            disabled={!laneId || draftLaunchTargetIsAutoCreate}
+                            onOpen={() => setImportBrowserOpen(true)}
+                          />
+                        ) : null}
                       </div>
                     </div>
                     {appPanelOpen ? (
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.test.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.test.tsx
index f5f42d30d..c7338e10f 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.test.tsx
@@ -31,11 +31,22 @@ describe("ImportFloatingBadge", () => {
 
   it("dismisses machine-locally per project without opening", () => {
     const onOpen = vi.fn();
-    render(<ImportFloatingBadge projectRoot="/Users/dev/ade" onOpen={onOpen} />);
+    const { container } = render(<ImportFloatingBadge projectRoot="/Users/dev/ade" onOpen={onOpen} />);
     fireEvent.click(screen.getByLabelText("Hide import hint"));
     expect(onOpen).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(readImportBadgeDismissed("/Users/dev/ade")).toBe(true);
     expect(screen.queryByText("Import your chats from outside ADE")).toBeNull();
+    // Not merely invisible — zero nodes. The badge is a row in a `gap-3`
+    // flex column, so anything it leaves behind once retired (an empty
+    // wrapper included) spends gap the retired hint no longer earns.
+    expect(container.firstChild).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("occupies no layout row for a project that never opts in", () => {
+    const { container } = render(<ImportFloatingBadge projectRoot={null} onOpen={vi.fn()} />);
+    expect(container.firstChild).toBeNull();
+    expect(screen.queryByText("Import your chats from outside ADE")).toBeNull();
+    expect(screen.queryByLabelText("Hide import hint")).toBeNull();
   });
 
   it("stays visible for a different project on this machine", () => {
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.tsx
index 9e361349c..836e513ff 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.tsx
@@ -58,7 +58,9 @@ export function ImportFloatingBadge({
   if (!projectRoot || dismissed) return null;
 
   return (
-    <div className="flex w-full justify-center">
+    // `shrink-0` because the draft column this sits in is a height-capped
+    // flex-col where the logo is the only row meant to absorb overflow.
+    <div className="flex w-full shrink-0 justify-center">
       <div
         className={cn(
           "relative inline-flex items-center gap-3 rounded-full border border-violet-300/25 bg-gradient-to-r from-violet-500/18 via-[#1A1830] to-cyan-400/12 px-3 py-1.5 shadow-[0_10px_28px_rgba(88,28,135,0.28)]",
diff --git a/docs/features/chat/composer-and-ui.md b/docs/features/chat/composer-and-ui.md
index b07141d23..ae48225ec 100644
--- a/docs/features/chat/composer-and-ui.md
+++ b/docs/features/chat/composer-and-ui.md
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ so a new-chat composer is centered rather than shifted for invisible chrome.
 
 ### Empty draft surface
 
-The draft (new-chat) branch is three elements, not seven: the wordmark, the
+The draft (new-chat) branch is three elements at its core, not seven: the wordmark, the
 composer, and a **launch shelf** tucked under the composer, with the activity
 module below. There is no standing "Start a new conversation" caption — the
 wordmark already identifies the app, so the line was a band of vertical space
@@ -130,6 +130,21 @@ spent restating what the user could see. Only a non-default mode still writes a
 line there (`isOrchestratorDraft` renders "Orchestrate a swarm of agents"),
 because that names something the surface does not otherwise show.
 
+The column's row order is wordmark, the optional orchestrator heading, composer,
+launch shelf, activity module, then the `ImportFloatingBadge` import hint as the
+last row. The hint used to sit between the composer and the shelf, where it
+wedged itself into the shelf's row and overlapped it in a narrow window; at the
+bottom it reads as a hint below
+everything it can act on rather than a band cutting the stack in two. Every row
+below the wordmark is `shrink-0` — the wordmark is the only row meant to absorb
+overflow in this height-capped flex column, and it does so by filling its
+aspect-ratio box and letterboxing inside it (`h-full w-full object-contain`).
+Sizing it `h-auto max-h-full` instead left the image at its natural height once
+the box shrank, so a short window cropped the wordmark against the enclosing
+`overflow-hidden` wrapper rather than scaling it down proportionally. The badge
+renders zero nodes when it is dismissed or has no project, so a retired hint
+spends none of the column's `gap-3`; both are pinned by tests.
+
 The shelf holds everything that answers **where this runs**, as two adjacent
 dropdowns plus two labelled actions: `DraftMachinePicker`, then a `LaneCombobox`
 (mounted `compact`, so its 28px trigger matches the composer pills above it),
diff --git a/docs/features/terminals-and-sessions/external-session-import.md b/docs/features/terminals-and-sessions/external-session-import.md
index 047341b2a..4bdc25c96 100644
--- a/docs/features/terminals-and-sessions/external-session-import.md
+++ b/docs/features/terminals-and-sessions/external-session-import.md
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ continuation metadata is recorded as soon as ADE knows the provider target.
 | `apps/ade-cli/src/services/sync/syncRemoteCommandService.ts`, `apps/desktop/src/main/services/sync/syncRemoteCommandService.ts` | Registers `work.listExternalSessions` and `work.importExternalSession` for paired controllers. The desktop file is a re-export of the ade-cli implementation. |
 | `apps/desktop/src/shared/types/sync.ts` | Sync command DTO aliases for external-session list/import payloads and results. |
 | `apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportSessionBrowser.tsx` | Desktop two-stage browser/details flow: provider filters, search (which spans the sampled `messages` text, not just titles), project/all scope, progressive scans, full details with a bounded scrollable message sample, target lane selection, imported/active badges, Open-in-ADE, and safe action dispatch. Asks for 200 rows per provider to match the service's project-scope discovery window; the default 50 threw away most of what was already scanned. A provider that fails its scan leaves a muted per-provider notice ("OpenCode CLI not found…") instead of an unexplained empty list, and only a total scan failure still becomes the blocking error state. The dialog height is content-driven rather than pinned, because the details stage is far shorter than the list stage. |
+| `apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/ImportFloatingBadge.tsx` | The "Import your chats from outside ADE" hint on the Work draft surface, plus its machine-local per-project dismissal (`readImportBadgeDismissed`). It is the last row of the draft column, below the activity module, and is `shrink-0` because the wordmark above it is the only row meant to absorb overflow when the column is height-capped. It returns `null` — not an empty wrapper — once dismissed or when there is no project root, so a retired hint spends none of the column's row gap. |
 | `apps/desktop/src/shared/externalSessionAffordances.ts`, `apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/affordances.ts` | Canonical capability-to-action mapper for the 2x2 Continue/Copy x ADE-chat/CLI-session policy, plus the renderer compatibility export. Shared directly with the TUI. |
 | `apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/sessionPresentation.ts` | Pure desktop heading/time/anchor helpers. Provider titles win, then the opening prompt (`preview`), then cwd + relative time. `sessionAnchors` returns the row's "started"/"latest" pair and drops whichever one the heading is already showing, so a row never prints the same sentence twice. |
 | `apps/desktop/src/renderer/components/terminals/importSessions/contract.ts` | Renderer bridge/types/display helpers for external sessions. |