diff --git a/backend/ee-repo-ref.txt b/backend/ee-repo-ref.txt
index b9f57e8175..9a99949d04 100644
--- a/backend/ee-repo-ref.txt
+++ b/backend/ee-repo-ref.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-f78df23339e3136e8b6e9148a509508633448dd2
+bbfb0de0dc9fa06130a231eb10c64f60238d1bbd
diff --git a/backend/windmill-api-debug/src/lib.rs b/backend/windmill-api-debug/src/lib.rs
index 61ec59be75..3b43a04ad1 100644
--- a/backend/windmill-api-debug/src/lib.rs
+++ b/backend/windmill-api-debug/src/lib.rs
@@ -422,11 +422,7 @@ async fn sign_expression(
     let mut tx = user_db.begin(&authed).await?;
 
     // Truncate expression for resource field if too long (max 255 chars)
-    let resource = if request.expression.len() > 200 {
-        format!("{}...", &request.expression[..200])
-    } else {
-        request.expression.clone()
-    };
+    let resource = windmill_common::utils::truncate_with_ellipsis(&request.expression, 200);
 
     audit_log(
         &mut *tx,
diff --git a/backend/windmill-common/src/flow_conversations.rs b/backend/windmill-common/src/flow_conversations.rs
index 33056f59fa..21b1f56389 100644
--- a/backend/windmill-common/src/flow_conversations.rs
+++ b/backend/windmill-common/src/flow_conversations.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ use uuid::Uuid;
 
 use crate::db::DB;
 use crate::error::Result;
+use crate::utils::truncate_with_ellipsis;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Eq, sqlx::Type)]
 #[sqlx(type_name = "MESSAGE_TYPE", rename_all = "lowercase")]
@@ -51,12 +52,8 @@ pub async fn get_or_create_conversation_with_id(
         return Ok(existing);
     }
 
-    // Truncate title to 25 char characters max
-    let title = if title.len() > 25 {
-        format!("{}...", &title[..25])
-    } else {
-        title.to_string()
-    };
+    // Truncate title to 25 characters max
+    let title = truncate_with_ellipsis(title, 25);
 
     // Create new conversation with provided ID
     let conversation = sqlx::query_as!(
diff --git a/backend/windmill-common/src/instance_config.rs b/backend/windmill-common/src/instance_config.rs
index abf1c1b662..0c8f8e4f4a 100644
--- a/backend/windmill-common/src/instance_config.rs
+++ b/backend/windmill-common/src/instance_config.rs
@@ -1077,12 +1077,7 @@ pub fn format_setting_value(key: &str, value: &serde_json::Value) -> String {
         };
     }
     let value = mask_nested_sensitive(key, value);
-    let s = value.to_string();
-    if s.len() > 200 {
-        format!("{}...", &s[..197])
-    } else {
-        s
-    }
+    crate::utils::truncate_with_ellipsis(&value.to_string(), 197)
 }
 
 /// Extract the expiry timestamp from a license key JSON value.
diff --git a/backend/windmill-common/src/utils.rs b/backend/windmill-common/src/utils.rs
index 7b1f2a13f9..2bd6f1b204 100644
--- a/backend/windmill-common/src/utils.rs
+++ b/backend/windmill-common/src/utils.rs
@@ -1364,10 +1364,45 @@ pub fn strip_json_nul(serialized: &str) -> Cow<'_, str> {
     Cow::Owned(String::from_utf8(out).expect("removing a NUL escape preserves valid UTF-8"))
 }
 
+/// Prefix of `s` holding at most `max_chars` characters.
+/// Slicing by byte index (`&s[..n]`) panics when `n` lands inside a multibyte character.
+pub fn truncate_chars(s: &str, max_chars: usize) -> &str {
+    match s.char_indices().nth(max_chars) {
+        Some((byte_idx, _)) => &s[..byte_idx],
+        None => s,
+    }
+}
+
+/// Keep at most `max_chars` characters of `s`, appending `...` when anything was dropped —
+/// so a truncated result is `max_chars + 3` characters long, not `max_chars`.
+pub fn truncate_with_ellipsis(s: &str, max_chars: usize) -> String {
+    let truncated = truncate_chars(s, max_chars);
+    if truncated.len() < s.len() {
+        format!("{}...", truncated)
+    } else {
+        s.to_string()
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
+    #[test]
+    fn truncate_handles_multibyte_at_boundary() {
+        // Byte 25 of this string falls inside a 2-byte 'а'; naive `&s[..25]` would panic.
+        let cyrillic = "а".repeat(30);
+        assert_eq!(truncate_chars(&cyrillic, 25), "а".repeat(25));
+        assert_eq!(
+            truncate_with_ellipsis(&cyrillic, 25),
+            format!("{}...", "а".repeat(25))
+        );
+        assert_eq!(truncate_with_ellipsis("ааааааааааааа", 25), "ааааааааааааа");
+        assert_eq!(truncate_chars("abcd", 3), "abc");
+        assert_eq!(truncate_with_ellipsis("abc", 3), "abc");
+        assert_eq!(truncate_with_ellipsis("abcd", 3), "abc...");
+    }
+
     // The 6-char JSON escape for U+0000: backslash + "u0000". Written via an
     // escaped backslash so no literal NUL byte ever appears in this source.
     const NUL_ESC: &str = "\\u0000";