diff --git a/frontend/src/components/chat/ChatWidget.tsx b/frontend/src/components/chat/ChatWidget.tsx
index 53fbd9f..5ff4184 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/chat/ChatWidget.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/chat/ChatWidget.tsx
@@ -197,9 +197,14 @@ export default function ChatWidget() {
   const activeConv = getActiveConversation();
   const messages = activeConv?.messages ?? [];
 
-  // Auto-scroll on new messages
+  // Auto-scroll on new messages — use direct scrollTop instead of scrollIntoView
+  // because scrollIntoView walks up the DOM and scrolls ALL ancestors (including
+  // the panel with overflow:hidden), which pushes the header off-screen.
   useEffect(() => {
-    messagesEndRef.current?.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth' });
+    const container = messagesEndRef.current?.parentElement;
+    if (container) {
+      container.scrollTo({ top: container.scrollHeight, behavior: 'smooth' });
+    }
   }, [messages.length, streaming]);
 
   // Focus input when panel opens