diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
index 89a88a09f..0cf20c4c1 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+
+- Fixed selector dialogs (the `ask` tool, hook prompts) collapsing to a single visible option on shorter terminals when options carried long descriptions: the highlighted option's wrapped description consumed the entire row budget, hiding every other option and making the menu feel unnavigable (down moved the lone visible entry, left/right did nothing). When the fully-expanded list overflows, `HookSelectorComponent` now renders a compact list — every option label stays on screen and only the highlighted option expands its description, truncated to the remaining rows — so the whole menu is always visible and the detail pane follows the cursor.
+
 ## [15.8.3] - 2026-06-03
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/hook-selector.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/hook-selector.ts
index b1d87a2ba..9a4716838 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/hook-selector.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/modes/components/hook-selector.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
  */
 import {
 	Container,
+	Ellipsis,
 	extractPrintableText,
 	fuzzyFilter,
 	Markdown,
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ import {
 	Spacer,
 	Text,
 	type TUI,
+	truncateToWidth,
 	visibleWidth,
 	wrapTextWithAnsi,
 } from "@oh-my-pi/pi-tui";
@@ -278,20 +280,51 @@ export class HookSelectorComponent extends Container {
 		isSelected: boolean,
 		isDisabled: boolean,
 		mdTheme: MarkdownTheme,
+		descRows: number | "full",
+		renderWidth?: number,
 	): string[] {
 		const textColor = isDisabled ? "dim" : isSelected ? "accent" : "text";
 		const prefixColor = isDisabled ? "dim" : "accent";
 		const label = renderInlineMarkdown(option.label, mdTheme, t => theme.fg(textColor, t));
 		const prefix = isSelected ? theme.fg(prefixColor, `${theme.nav.cursor} `) : "  ";
 		const lines = [prefix + label];
-		if (option.description) {
-			const descriptionColor = isDisabled ? "dim" : "muted";
-			const description = renderInlineMarkdown(option.description, mdTheme, t => theme.fg(descriptionColor, t));
-			lines.push(`    ${description}`);
+		if (option.description && descRows !== 0) {
+			const descriptionColor: ThemeColor = isDisabled ? "dim" : "muted";
+			if (descRows === "full") {
+				const description = renderInlineMarkdown(option.description, mdTheme, t => theme.fg(descriptionColor, t));
+				lines.push(`    ${description}`);
+			} else {
+				lines.push(
+					...this.#wrapDescriptionRows(option.description, descRows, descriptionColor, mdTheme, renderWidth),
+				);
+			}
 		}
 		return lines;
 	}
 
+	/** Wrap an option description into indented rows, truncating to `maxRows`
+	 *  with an ellipsis. Pre-wrapping (rather than emitting one long line that the
+	 *  list re-wraps) lets compact mode bound how much of the highlighted option's
+	 *  detail is shown, so every option label stays on screen on short terminals. */
+	#wrapDescriptionRows(
+		description: string,
+		maxRows: number,
+		color: ThemeColor,
+		mdTheme: MarkdownTheme,
+		renderWidth = this.#lastRenderWidth,
+	): string[] {
+		if (maxRows <= 0) return [];
+		const indent = "    ";
+		const innerWidth = Math.max(1, (renderWidth ?? 80) - 2);
+		const bodyWidth = Math.max(1, innerWidth - indent.length);
+		const colored = renderInlineMarkdown(description, mdTheme, t => theme.fg(color, t));
+		const wrapped = wrapTextWithAnsi(colored, bodyWidth);
+		if (wrapped.length <= maxRows) return wrapped.map(row => indent + row);
+		const kept = wrapped.slice(0, maxRows);
+		kept[maxRows - 1] = truncateToWidth(wrapped.slice(maxRows - 1).join(" "), bodyWidth, Ellipsis.Unicode);
+		return kept.map(row => indent + row);
+	}
+
 	#renderedLineRowCount(line: string, renderWidth: number): number {
 		const normalized = replaceTabs(line);
 		if (this.#outlinedList) {
@@ -309,10 +342,11 @@ export class HookSelectorComponent extends Container {
 		renderWidth: number | undefined,
 		isSelected: boolean,
 		mdTheme: MarkdownTheme,
+		descRows: number | "full",
 	): number {
-		if (renderWidth === undefined) return option.description ? 2 : 1;
+		if (renderWidth === undefined) return option.description && descRows !== 0 ? 2 : 1;
 		let rows = 0;
-		for (const line of this.#renderOptionLines(option, isSelected, false, mdTheme)) {
+		for (const line of this.#renderOptionLines(option, isSelected, false, mdTheme, descRows, renderWidth)) {
 			rows += this.#renderedLineRowCount(line, renderWidth);
 		}
 		return rows;
@@ -322,7 +356,7 @@ export class HookSelectorComponent extends Container {
 		const themeForRows = mdTheme ?? getMarkdownTheme();
 		let rows = 0;
 		for (const option of options) {
-			rows += this.#optionRowCount(option, renderWidth, false, themeForRows);
+			rows += this.#optionRowCount(option, renderWidth, false, themeForRows, "full");
 		}
 		return rows;
 	}
@@ -331,19 +365,37 @@ export class HookSelectorComponent extends Container {
 		total: number,
 		renderWidth?: number,
 		mdTheme: MarkdownTheme = getMarkdownTheme(),
+		compact = false,
 	): { startIndex: number; endIndex: number } {
 		if (total === 0) return { startIndex: 0, endIndex: 0 };
 
+		// In compact mode every option contributes only its label rows; the
+		// highlighted option's description is layered on afterwards (see
+		// #updateList), so the window is sized to keep as many labels visible as
+		// possible rather than letting one long description swallow the budget.
+		const descMode: number | "full" = compact ? 0 : "full";
 		const rowBudget = Math.max(1, this.#maxVisible);
 		const selectedIndex = Math.max(0, Math.min(this.#selectedIndex, total - 1));
 		let startIndex = selectedIndex;
 		let endIndex = selectedIndex + 1;
-		let rows = this.#optionRowCount(this.#filteredOptions[selectedIndex]!.option, renderWidth, true, mdTheme);
+		let rows = this.#optionRowCount(
+			this.#filteredOptions[selectedIndex]!.option,
+			renderWidth,
+			true,
+			mdTheme,
+			descMode,
+		);
 		let beforeRows = 0;
 		const targetBeforeRows = Math.max(0, Math.floor((rowBudget - rows) / 2));
 
 		while (startIndex > 0) {
-			const cost = this.#optionRowCount(this.#filteredOptions[startIndex - 1]!.option, renderWidth, false, mdTheme);
+			const cost = this.#optionRowCount(
+				this.#filteredOptions[startIndex - 1]!.option,
+				renderWidth,
+				false,
+				mdTheme,
+				descMode,
+			);
 			if (beforeRows + cost > targetBeforeRows || rows + cost > rowBudget) break;
 			startIndex--;
 			beforeRows += cost;
@@ -351,14 +403,26 @@ export class HookSelectorComponent extends Container {
 		}
 
 		while (endIndex < total) {
-			const cost = this.#optionRowCount(this.#filteredOptions[endIndex]!.option, renderWidth, false, mdTheme);
+			const cost = this.#optionRowCount(
+				this.#filteredOptions[endIndex]!.option,
+				renderWidth,
+				false,
+				mdTheme,
+				descMode,
+			);
 			if (rows + cost > rowBudget) break;
 			endIndex++;
 			rows += cost;
 		}
 
 		while (startIndex > 0) {
-			const cost = this.#optionRowCount(this.#filteredOptions[startIndex - 1]!.option, renderWidth, false, mdTheme);
+			const cost = this.#optionRowCount(
+				this.#filteredOptions[startIndex - 1]!.option,
+				renderWidth,
+				false,
+				mdTheme,
+				descMode,
+			);
 			if (rows + cost > rowBudget) break;
 			startIndex--;
 			rows += cost;
@@ -371,13 +435,42 @@ export class HookSelectorComponent extends Container {
 		const lines: string[] = [];
 		const total = this.#filteredOptions.length;
 		const mdTheme = getMarkdownTheme();
-		const { startIndex, endIndex } = this.#getVisibleOptionRange(total, renderWidth, mdTheme);
+		// Compact mode kicks in exactly when the fully-expanded list (all
+		// descriptions) would overflow the row budget — the same condition that
+		// enables search. There we collapse every option to its label and show
+		// only the highlighted option's description, so the whole menu stays
+		// visible on short terminals instead of collapsing to a single entry.
+		const compact = this.#isSearchEnabled(renderWidth, mdTheme);
+		const { startIndex, endIndex } = this.#getVisibleOptionRange(total, renderWidth, mdTheme, compact);
+
+		let selectedDescRows = 0;
+		if (compact && renderWidth !== undefined) {
+			let labelRows = 0;
+			for (let i = startIndex; i < endIndex; i++) {
+				const filtered = this.#filteredOptions[i];
+				if (filtered === undefined) continue;
+				labelRows += this.#optionRowCount(filtered.option, renderWidth, i === this.#selectedIndex, mdTheme, 0);
+			}
+			// Reserve one row for the status line; give the remainder to the
+			// highlighted option's description.
+			selectedDescRows = Math.max(0, Math.max(1, this.#maxVisible) - labelRows - 1);
+		}
 
 		for (let i = startIndex; i < endIndex; i++) {
 			const filtered = this.#filteredOptions[i];
 			if (filtered === undefined) continue;
 			const isSelected = i === this.#selectedIndex;
-			lines.push(...this.#renderOptionLines(filtered.option, isSelected, this.#isDisabled(filtered.index), mdTheme));
+			const descMode: number | "full" = compact ? (isSelected ? selectedDescRows : 0) : "full";
+			lines.push(
+				...this.#renderOptionLines(
+					filtered.option,
+					isSelected,
+					this.#isDisabled(filtered.index),
+					mdTheme,
+					descMode,
+					renderWidth,
+				),
+			);
 		}
 
 		if (total === 0) {
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/test/hook-selector-overflow.test.ts b/packages/coding-agent/test/hook-selector-overflow.test.ts
index 672ebcd81..5a7719b89 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/test/hook-selector-overflow.test.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/test/hook-selector-overflow.test.ts
@@ -95,30 +95,48 @@ describe("HookSelectorComponent", () => {
 		}
 	});
 
-	it("counts description rows toward the visible row cap", () => {
+	it("collapses to labels with only the highlighted description when descriptions overflow", () => {
+		const options = [
+			{ label: "Path A", description: "Reuse existing credentials." },
+			{ label: "Path B", description: "Authorize a provider in the browser." },
+			{ label: "Path C", description: "Edit provider keys manually." },
+			{ label: "Path D", description: "Continue with offline-only tools." },
+		];
 		const component = new HookSelectorComponent(
 			"Which setup path should be used?",
-			[
-				{ label: "Path A", description: "Reuse existing credentials." },
-				{ label: "Path B", description: "Authorize a provider in the browser." },
-				{ label: "Path C", description: "Edit provider keys manually." },
-				{ label: "Path D", description: "Continue with offline-only tools." },
-			],
+			options,
 			() => {},
 			() => {},
-			{ outline: true, initialIndex: 0, maxVisible: 4 },
+			{ outline: true, initialIndex: 0, maxVisible: 6 },
 		);
 
 		const plain = component
 			.render(76)
 			.map(line => Bun.stripANSI(line))
 			.join("\n");
+		// Every option label stays on screen so the user can see the whole menu...
 		expect(plain).toContain("Path A");
-		expect(plain).toContain("Reuse existing credentials.");
 		expect(plain).toContain("Path B");
-		expect(plain).toContain("Authorize a provider in the browser.");
-		expect(plain).not.toContain("Path C");
+		expect(plain).toContain("Path C");
+		expect(plain).toContain("Path D");
+		// ...but only the highlighted option expands its description.
+		expect(plain).toContain("Reuse existing credentials.");
+		expect(plain).not.toContain("Authorize a provider in the browser.");
+		expect(plain).not.toContain("Edit provider keys manually.");
 		expect(plain).toContain("(1/4)");
+
+		// The detail pane follows the cursor: moving down expands Path B and
+		// collapses Path A's description.
+		component.handleInput("\x1b[B");
+		const afterDown = component
+			.render(76)
+			.map(line => Bun.stripANSI(line))
+			.join("\n");
+		expect(afterDown).toContain("Path A");
+		expect(afterDown).toContain("Path D");
+		expect(afterDown).toContain("Authorize a provider in the browser.");
+		expect(afterDown).not.toContain("Reuse existing credentials.");
+		expect(afterDown).toContain("(2/4)");
 	});
 
 	it("counts wrapped outlined rows toward the visible row cap", () => {