diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/streaming-message.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/streaming-message.ts
index da574b47..d1681988 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/streaming-message.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/streaming-message.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
 import type { AssistantMessage, Message } from "@mariozechner/pi-ai";
-import { Container, Markdown, Text } from "@mariozechner/pi-tui";
+import { Container, Markdown, Spacer, Text } from "@mariozechner/pi-tui";
 import chalk from "chalk";
 
 /**
  * Component that renders a streaming message with live updates
  */
 export class StreamingMessageComponent extends Container {
+	private spacer: Spacer;
 	private markdown: Markdown;
 	private statsText: Text;
 
 	constructor() {
 		super();
+		this.spacer = new Spacer(1);
 		this.markdown = new Markdown("");
 		this.statsText = new Text("", 1, 0);
+		this.addChild(this.spacer);
 		this.addChild(this.markdown);
 		this.addChild(this.statsText);
 	}
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/tui-renderer.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/tui-renderer.ts
index 59300528..e381b4ce 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/tui-renderer.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/tui/tui-renderer.ts
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ export class TuiRenderer {
 					this.editor.setText("");
 					this.ui.requestRender();
 				} else if (event.message.role === "assistant") {
-					// Create streaming component for assistant messages
+					// Create streaming component for assistant messages (has its own spacer)
 					this.streamingComponent = new StreamingMessageComponent();
 					this.chatContainer.addChild(this.streamingComponent);
 					this.streamingComponent.updateContent(event.message);
@@ -304,6 +304,9 @@ export class TuiRenderer {
 		} else if (message.role === "assistant") {
 			const assistantMsg = message as AssistantMessage;
 
+			// Add spacer before assistant message
+			this.chatContainer.addChild(new Spacer(1));
+
 			// Render content in order
 			for (const content of assistantMsg.content) {
 				if (content.type === "text" && content.text.trim()) {
diff --git a/packages/tui/src/tui.ts b/packages/tui/src/tui.ts
index a7d7dbc4..1f6d13ad 100644
--- a/packages/tui/src/tui.ts
+++ b/packages/tui/src/tui.ts
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ export class TUI extends Container {
 		for (let i = firstChanged; i < newLines.length; i++) {
 			if (i > firstChanged) buffer += "\r\n";
 			if (visibleWidth(newLines[i]) > width) {
-				throw new Error("Rendered line exceeds terminal width");
+				throw new Error(`Rendered line ${i} exceeds terminal width\n\n${newLines[i]}`);
 			}
 			buffer += newLines[i];
 		}