diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index df55d8d..ddd68a4 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ lembas info                         # paths + counts, useful when confused
 lembas secret-key                   # generate LEMBAS_SECRET_KEY
 lembas create-admin                 # create or promote an admin
 
-pytest                              # 1417 tests, ~88s
+pytest                              # 1420 tests, ~88s
                                     # PLAN.md tracks what is and is not built
 ruff check .                        # lint (line length 100)
 python scripts/build_artwork.py     # regenerate artwork (SVG + PWA icons;
@@ -777,6 +777,21 @@ pins that each one has a row in `SHORTCUTS` — `/help` reads that list, so a ke
 missing from it is a key nobody can discover, and that is the direction this
 actually rots.
 
+**The directory chip shows a name, not a path.** A real project path is long
+enough that showing it whole filled the chip's 16rem basis and pushed the mode
+select off the end of the row -- and the leading directories are the part nobody
+reads: what you check before sending is that you are in `myproject` rather than
+`myproject-old`. `setDir` shows `baseName(path)` and puts the whole thing in the
+tooltip; the hidden field still submits the full path, because shortening a
+label must never shorten a value, and there is a test on the row for that. Three
+CSS rules hold the row together and none of them is visible from the markup:
+`.composer__agent` needs `min-width: 0` or the group will not shrink below its
+content and the *last* child is what falls off, `.composer__dir` is capped
+because it is the only child here whose content is unbounded, and the mode
+select is `flex: none` because it is the control being read and changed
+constantly. The topbar's copy of the same path was already bounded and
+truncating, and is left alone.
+
 **The composer's toolbar is one row, always.** It used to wrap, and
 `.composer__actions` is last in the DOM with `margin-left: auto` — so the moment
 an agent chat added a connection, a directory and a mode, Send and the
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/static/css/chat.css b/src/lembas/web/static/css/chat.css
index 6d3f27f..3e1d6e1 100644
--- a/src/lembas/web/static/css/chat.css
+++ b/src/lembas/web/static/css/chat.css
@@ -911,7 +911,17 @@
   scrollbar-width: none;
 }
 .composer__context::-webkit-scrollbar { display: none; }
-.composer__agent { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: var(--sp-2); flex-wrap: nowrap; }
+/* `min-width: 0` because a flex item will not shrink below its content without
+   it, and this one holds a connection name, a path and a mode. Without it the
+   whole group refused to shrink and the last child -- the mode select -- was
+   what fell off the end. */
+.composer__agent {
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  gap: var(--sp-2);
+  flex-wrap: nowrap;
+  min-width: 0;
+}
 
 /* Floors, not fixed widths: a select narrower than this shows no text at all,
    which is worse than the scrolling it was avoiding. */
@@ -922,14 +932,24 @@
    bracketing the row. */
 .composer__btn { flex: none; border-radius: var(--radius-full); }
 
-/* The directory, on a new chat. Monospace because it is a path, and it grows
-   to fit rather than being pinned to a width that truncates every real one. */
+/* The directory, on a new chat. Monospace because it is a path.
+
+   It shows the directory's own name rather than the whole path (see `setDir`),
+   so it needs a fraction of the room it used to and is capped rather than
+   allowed to grow: at `0 1 16rem` a real project path filled the basis, and the
+   mode select next to it was pushed off the end of the row. The cap is on this
+   one because it is the only child here whose content is unbounded -- a
+   connection name and a mode are both short and known. */
 .composer__dir {
-  flex: 0 1 16rem;
-  min-width: 5rem;
+  flex: 0 1 auto;
+  min-width: 4rem;
+  max-width: 11rem;
   font-family: var(--font-mono);
   font-weight: 400;
 }
+/* The mode is a control that is read and changed constantly; it never shrinks
+   and never scrolls out of reach. It is the thing that was being cut. */
+.composer__context select[name="agent_mode"] { flex: none; }
 .composer__dir-path { overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; }
 
 .composer__hint {
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/static/js/ui.js b/src/lembas/web/static/js/ui.js
index 1c4f144..5a1d608 100644
--- a/src/lembas/web/static/js/ui.js
+++ b/src/lembas/web/static/js/ui.js
@@ -542,6 +542,15 @@ document.addEventListener("lembas:notify", function (event) {
   exactly what it means.
 */
 (function () {
+  /* The last segment of a path, with trailing slashes ignored so `/srv/app/`
+     reads as `app` rather than as nothing. `/` is itself, since it has no name
+     of its own and "the root" is what somebody means by it. */
+  function baseName(path) {
+    var trimmed = String(path || "").replace(/\/+$/, "");
+    if (!trimmed) return "/";
+    return trimmed.slice(trimmed.lastIndexOf("/") + 1) || "/";
+  }
+
   function wire(root) {
     var kind = root.querySelector("#chat-kind");
     var extra = root.querySelector("[data-agent-extra]");
@@ -551,11 +560,20 @@ document.addEventListener("lembas:notify", function (event) {
     if (!kind || !extra) return;
 
     /* The directory is a hidden field plus a button, so the two have to be set
-       together or the button shows one path and the form submits another. */
+       together or the button shows one path and the form submits another.
+
+       The button shows the directory's own name; the full path goes in the
+       tooltip and, of course, in the field that is submitted. A real project
+       path is long enough that showing it whole made the button eat the row and
+       squeeze the mode select beside it, and the leading directories are the
+       part nobody is reading -- what you check before sending is that you are
+       in `myproject` rather than `myproject-old`. */
     function setDir(value) {
       if (!dir) return;
       dir.value = value || "";
-      if (dirLabel) dirLabel.textContent = value || "the login directory";
+      if (dirLabel) dirLabel.textContent = value ? baseName(value) : "the login directory";
+      var button = dirLabel && dirLabel.closest("[data-dir-browse]");
+      if (button) button.title = value || "The connection's own login directory";
     }
 
     function sync() {
diff --git a/tests/test_agent_mode.py b/tests/test_agent_mode.py
index fdb8b16..7fc5f77 100644
--- a/tests/test_agent_mode.py
+++ b/tests/test_agent_mode.py
@@ -316,3 +316,59 @@ def test_an_unknown_mode_on_the_row_refreshes_to_manual(client: TestClient, db,
     db.commit()
     agent_session.refresh(db, agent)
     assert agent.mode == policy.MODE_MANUAL
+
+
+# --- The directory chip on the new-chat screen ------------------------------------
+def test_the_directory_is_a_hidden_field_carrying_the_whole_path(
+    client: TestClient, db, registered
+):
+    """The button shows the directory's own name so it stops eating the row, and
+    the mode select beside it stops being cut. What is *submitted* has to stay
+    the full path -- shortening a label must never shorten a value."""
+    _agent_chat(db)  # gives us an enabled feature and a profile to pick
+
+    page = client.get("/chat").text
+    assert 'name="project_dir"' in page
+    assert "data-dir-value" in page
+    assert "data-dir-label" in page
+    # The hidden field is what the form posts; the button is decoration beside
+    # it. If the name ever moved onto the button, the label would become the
+    # value and the shortening would reach the server.
+    field = control_named(page, "project_dir")
+    assert field.get("type") == "hidden"
+    assert "data-dir-value" in field
+
+
+def test_starting_a_chat_stores_the_full_path(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    """The behaviour behind the markup above, asserted on the row."""
+    from lembas.db.models import Chat as ChatRow
+
+    chat = _agent_chat(db)
+    deep = "/srv/projects/a-rather-long-project-name/services/worker"
+
+    client.post(
+        "/api/chats/start",
+        data={
+            "content": "Hello",
+            "kind": "agent",
+            "ssh_profile_id": chat.ssh_profile_id,
+            "project_dir": deep,
+        },
+    )
+    started = db.scalars(select(ChatRow).where(ChatRow.project_dir != "")).all()
+    assert deep in [c.project_dir for c in started]
+
+
+def test_the_composer_row_cannot_be_pushed_apart_by_a_path():
+    """Three rules that have to hold together, and none of which is visible from
+    the markup: the group may shrink, the directory is capped, and the mode
+    never shrinks. The mode select was what fell off the end of the row."""
+    from pathlib import Path
+
+    import lembas
+
+    css = (Path(lembas.__file__).parent / "web/static/css/chat.css").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    agent = css[css.index(".composer__agent {") : css.index(".composer__dir {")]
+    assert "min-width: 0" in agent, "the group cannot shrink below its content"
+    assert "max-width" in css[css.index(".composer__dir {") : css.index(".composer__dir-path")]
+    assert 'select[name="agent_mode"] { flex: none; }' in css