diff --git a/src/renderer/styles.css b/src/renderer/styles.css
index ad88c4c06..e8e9d7861 100644
--- a/src/renderer/styles.css
+++ b/src/renderer/styles.css
@@ -3219,14 +3219,41 @@ body,
   max-width: 100%;
 }
 
-.term-md__content table {
+/* Tables in rendered Markdown — the ⌘M output view, the editor preview and the ⌘M chat view (its
+   messages and plan/question cards all render through `.term-chat__text`). Gridlines strong enough
+   to read (`--border` is a 10% separator, which made cells blur together), a tinted header row,
+   and a horizontal scroll inside the table for one wider than the view, so the thread never
+   scrolls sideways. A column's `:---:` alignment arrives as an `align` attribute, which an author
+   `text-align` would override — so only a header WITHOUT one is set (to the start edge, matching
+   its cells, instead of the browser's centred default). */
+.term-md__content table,
+.term-chat__text table {
+  display: block;
+  width: max-content;
+  max-width: 100%;
+  overflow-x: auto;
   border-collapse: collapse;
+  margin: 0 0 10px;
 }
 
 .term-md__content th,
-.term-md__content td {
-  border: 1px solid var(--border);
-  padding: 4px 8px;
+.term-md__content td,
+.term-chat__text th,
+.term-chat__text td {
+  border: 1px solid rgba(var(--tint-rgb), 0.22);
+  padding: 4px 10px;
+  vertical-align: top;
+}
+
+.term-md__content th,
+.term-chat__text th {
+  background: rgba(var(--tint-rgb), 0.06);
+  font-weight: 600;
+}
+
+.term-md__content th:not([align]),
+.term-chat__text th:not([align]) {
+  text-align: start;
 }
 
 /* Chat panel — replaces the markdown overlay on chat-capable agent nodes (Cmd+M). */
diff --git a/src/renderer/styles.markdown-table.test.ts b/src/renderer/styles.markdown-table.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fb8c500e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/styles.markdown-table.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+
+/**
+ * Rendered-Markdown tables get gridlines in every reading view. The chat view had no table rules
+ * at all (cells ran together with no lines), and the output view's lines used the 10% separator
+ * token. One rule group now covers both containers; this pins that neither drops out of it.
+ */
+const CSS = readFileSync(join(__dirname, 'styles.css'), 'utf8').replace(/\r\n/g, '\n')
+
+/** The body of the rule whose selector list is exactly `selectors` (joined by `,\n`). */
+function group(selectors: string[]): string {
+  const head = `${selectors.join(',\n')} {`
+  const at = CSS.indexOf(`\n${head}`)
+  if (at < 0) throw new Error(`no rule for ${selectors.join(', ')}`)
+  return CSS.slice(at, CSS.indexOf('}', at))
+}
+
+describe('Markdown table gridlines', () => {
+  it('every cell of both views has a visible border', () => {
+    const cells = group(['.term-md__content th', '.term-md__content td', '.term-chat__text th', '.term-chat__text td'])
+
+    expect(cells).toMatch(/border:\s*1px solid rgba\(var\(--tint-rgb\), 0\.22\)/)
+  })
+
+  it('header cells are tinted in both views', () => {
+    expect(group(['.term-md__content th', '.term-chat__text th'])).toMatch(/background:/)
+  })
+
+  it('a wide table scrolls inside itself in both views', () => {
+    const table = group(['.term-md__content table', '.term-chat__text table'])
+
+    expect(table).toMatch(/border-collapse:\s*collapse/)
+    expect(table).toMatch(/overflow-x:\s*auto/)
+    expect(table).toMatch(/max-width:\s*100%/)
+  })
+
+  it('leaves text-align to the Markdown column alignment, start-aligning only unaligned headers', () => {
+    const cells = group(['.term-md__content th', '.term-md__content td', '.term-chat__text th', '.term-chat__text td'])
+    const unaligned = group(['.term-md__content th:not([align])', '.term-chat__text th:not([align])'])
+
+    expect(cells).not.toMatch(/text-align/)
+    expect(unaligned).toMatch(/text-align:\s*start/)
+  })
+})