diff --git a/apps/wordcraft-cli/src/main.rs b/apps/wordcraft-cli/src/main.rs
index 752f9f68b..0817d18b3 100644
--- a/apps/wordcraft-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/apps/wordcraft-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -657,14 +657,14 @@ fn run<S: AsRef<OsStr>>(args: &[S]) -> Result<(), Failure> {
             let out = wordcraft_zotero::client::run_command(&opts, command, &mut |call| {
                 let r = bridge.handle(&mut s, &mut host, call);
                 if trace {
-                    eprintln!("← {} {}", call.method, clip(&Value::Array(call.args.clone()).to_string()));
-                    eprintln!("→ {}", clip(&String::from_utf8_lossy(&wordcraft_zotero::wire::encode_reply(&r))));
+                    eprintln!("← {} {}", escape_peer(&call.method), escape_peer(&clip(&Value::Array(call.args.clone()).to_string())));
+                    eprintln!("→ {}", escape_peer(&clip(&String::from_utf8_lossy(&wordcraft_zotero::wire::encode_reply(&r)))));
                 }
                 r
             })
             .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
             for a in &host.alerts {
-                eprintln!("Zotero: {a}");
+                eprintln!("Zotero: {}", escape_peer(a));
             }
             eprintln!("{} calls, {}", out.calls, if out.completed { "completed" } else { "ended without completing (cancelled?)" });
             if let Some(o) = arg_value(&rest, "--save") {
@@ -687,6 +687,27 @@ fn clip(s: &str) -> String {
     }
 }
 
+/// Text from another program (Zotero, or whatever answered on its port) for one diagnostic
+/// line: backslashes, control characters (newline, escape, C1…), line separators and bidi
+/// overrides are shown as escapes (`\\`, `\n`, `\u{1b}`), so it can't end its line, drive the
+/// terminal or pass for other output.
+fn escape_peer(s: &str) -> String {
+    let mut out = String::with_capacity(s.len());
+    for c in s.chars() {
+        match c {
+            '\\' => out.push_str("\\\\"),
+            '\n' => out.push_str("\\n"),
+            '\r' => out.push_str("\\r"),
+            '\t' => out.push_str("\\t"),
+            c if c.is_control() || matches!(c, '\u{061c}' | '\u{200e}' | '\u{200f}' | '\u{2028}'..='\u{202e}' | '\u{2066}'..='\u{2069}') => {
+                out.extend(c.escape_unicode())
+            }
+            c => out.push(c),
+        }
+    }
+    out
+}
+
 fn parity_markdown(p: &Value) -> String {
     let mut s = String::from(
         "# WordCraft feature parity\n\nGenerated by `cargo xtask parity` (`wordcraft-cli parity --markdown`): the word-processor feature catalog (`crates/engine/src/catalog.rs`) compared with the live command registry.\n\n",
@@ -733,6 +754,15 @@ mod tests {
         values.iter().map(|value| (*value).into()).collect()
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn peer_text_stays_on_one_visible_line() {
+        let alert = "Done.\nwrote /etc/passwd\r\u{1b}[2J\u{9b}31m\u{202e}txt.exe\\n\tok é";
+        let shown = escape_peer(alert);
+        assert_eq!(shown, "Done.\\nwrote /etc/passwd\\r\\u{1b}[2J\\u{9b}31m\\u{202e}txt.exe\\\\n\\tok é");
+        assert!(!shown.chars().any(|c| c.is_control()));
+        assert_eq!(escape_peer("Citation (Doe, 2020) — “ok”"), "Citation (Doe, 2020) — “ok”");
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn validators_accept_only_the_documented_options() {
         assert!(validate_options("info", &args(&["file.docx"]), PASSWORD_OPTIONS).is_ok());