diff --git a/e2e/pageobjects/canvas.page.ts b/e2e/pageobjects/canvas.page.ts
index 347b7286..ca5d60e4 100644
--- a/e2e/pageobjects/canvas.page.ts
+++ b/e2e/pageobjects/canvas.page.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,49 @@ export const canvas = {
     );
   },
 
+  /**
+   * What the language badge is drawn outside its band, and how many boxes the selected chip
+   * in the rail draws around it.
+   *
+   * ⚠️ Both come from the badge having a border of its own. The band is `overflow: hidden`,
+   * so a badge taller than its line box is cut; and a chip that draws its own outline around
+   * a badge that already has one reads as two rings rather than as a selection.
+   */
+  badgeBoxes(): Promise<{ cutByBand: number; outlines: number } | null> {
+    return browser.execute(() => {
+      const band = document.querySelector('.card-head');
+      const onCard = band?.querySelector('.lang-tag');
+      const chip = document.querySelector('.language-chip.on');
+      const inChip = chip?.querySelector('.lang-tag');
+      if (!band || !onCard || !chip || !inChip) return null;
+
+      // A border nobody can see is not an outline, whatever its width says. ⚠️ `transparent`
+      // computes to `rgba(…, 0)`, so the alpha is what decides — read by splitting rather
+      // than by matching, which is one escaping mistake fewer in a string sent to the page.
+      const drawn = (element: Element) => {
+        const style = getComputedStyle(element);
+        const channels = style.borderTopColor
+          .slice(style.borderTopColor.indexOf('(') + 1, style.borderTopColor.lastIndexOf(')'))
+          .split(',');
+        const alpha = channels.length > 3 ? Number(channels[3]) : 1;
+
+        return alpha > 0 && Number.parseFloat(style.borderTopWidth) > 0 ? 1 : 0;
+      };
+
+      const bandBox = band.getBoundingClientRect();
+      const badgeBox = onCard.getBoundingClientRect();
+
+      return {
+        cutByBand: Math.max(
+          0,
+          Math.round(bandBox.top - badgeBox.top),
+          Math.round(badgeBox.bottom - bandBox.bottom),
+        ),
+        outlines: drawn(chip) + drawn(inChip),
+      };
+    });
+  },
+
   /**
    * How far each todo row is drawn **outside** the box that holds it, in pixels. ⚠️ Counting
    * the rows in the DOM is not the same question: `.card-items` is `overflow: hidden` and
diff --git a/e2e/specs/06-search-and-filters.e2e.ts b/e2e/specs/06-search-and-filters.e2e.ts
index 68d02961..47fbdf60 100644
--- a/e2e/specs/06-search-and-filters.e2e.ts
+++ b/e2e/specs/06-search-and-filters.e2e.ts
@@ -126,6 +126,25 @@ describe('Search, filters and facets', () => {
       expect(await $(testid('search-matched')).isExisting()).toBe(false);
     });
 
+    /**
+     * ⚠️ Both halves of #201, and both came from the hairline #196 gave the badge. On a card
+     * the band is `overflow: hidden` and a `<span>` is inline, so the badge's border hung
+     * outside the line box its host was sized to and was cut. In the rail the chip drew a
+     * second outline two pixels further out, at a different radius — two rings around one
+     * badge rather than a selection.
+     */
+    it('draws the badge whole, with one outline around the selected one', async () => {
+      await canvas.toggleLanguage('sh');
+
+      const boxes = await canvas.badgeBoxes();
+
+      expect(boxes).not.toBeNull();
+      expect(boxes?.cutByBand).toBe(0);
+      expect(boxes?.outlines).toBe(1);
+
+      await canvas.toggleLanguage('sh');
+    });
+
     it('drops the search, the tag and the language in one click', async () => {
       await canvas.search('Docker');
       await canvas.toggleTag('ops');
diff --git a/src/app/notes/header/language-rail/language-rail.component.scss b/src/app/notes/header/language-rail/language-rail.component.scss
index 3e4a9ced..dd1be54e 100644
--- a/src/app/notes/header/language-rail/language-rail.component.scss
+++ b/src/app/notes/header/language-rail/language-rail.component.scss
@@ -31,11 +31,15 @@
   flex-shrink: 0;
 }
 
-.language-chip:hover {
+// ⚠️ The chip's own box stays invisible: the badge carries a hairline of its own since
+// #196, and a second outline two pixels further out — at a different radius — read as two
+// rings around one badge rather than as a selection. The padding stays, because it is what
+// the chip is clickable by.
+.language-chip:hover .lang-tag {
   border-color: var(--line);
 }
 
-.language-chip.on {
+.language-chip.on .lang-tag {
   border-color: var(--amber);
   background: var(--bg-2);
 }
diff --git a/src/app/notes/ui/language-badge/language-badge.component.scss b/src/app/notes/ui/language-badge/language-badge.component.scss
index 30c52bc2..82d71610 100644
--- a/src/app/notes/ui/language-badge/language-badge.component.scss
+++ b/src/app/notes/ui/language-badge/language-badge.component.scss
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 @use 'mixins' as *;
 
+// ⚠️ A box of its own, not an inline run. A `<span>` is inline by default, so its padding
+// and its border hang outside the line box its host is sized to — and `.card-head` is
+// `overflow: hidden`, which cut the badge by three pixels once #196 gave it a hairline.
 .lang-tag {
+  display: inline-flex;
+  align-items: center;
   font-family: var(--font-mono), serif;
   font-size: 9.5px;
   padding: 2px 6px;