diff --git a/docs/performance.md b/docs/performance.md
index 8195656..96e0797 100644
--- a/docs/performance.md
+++ b/docs/performance.md
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ scheduler outlier block a change.
 | Cold no-op invocation, including startup and dispatch | 2,000 ms | 2,000 ms | 4,000 ms | 4,000 ms |
 | Base-cli lifecycle increment over Click warm dispatch | 5 ms | 5 ms | 15 ms | 15 ms |
 | Warm invocation and non-persistence feature scenarios | 50 ms | 50 ms | 100 ms | 100 ms |
-| File-persistence-enabled scenario | 50 ms | 50 ms | 250 ms | 50 ms |
+| File-persistence-enabled scenario | 125 ms | 125 ms | 250 ms | 50 ms |
 
 An initial 31-sample local calibration on macOS (Python 3.14.6, Apple Silicon)
 measured approximately 101 ms for base-cli cold import, 0.56 ms for warm
@@ -76,6 +76,16 @@ budget instead of weakening other warm-scenario gates. These measurements are
 CI calibration evidence, not adoption claims or release comparisons; review
 subsequent retained artifacts before tightening platform budgets.
 
+October 2026 hosted recalibration separates sustained persistence cost from
+filesystem tails on Unix/macOS: median must remain at most **50 ms** and p95
+at most **125 ms**. The previous 50 ms p95 cap repeatedly rejected otherwise
+unchanged runtime code, including the validation-only PR. Observed pairs were
+14.66/118.04 ms (Unix median/p95) and 24.93/61.93 and 26.12/87.37 ms (macOS).
+Evidence: [Unix run](https://github.com/basefoundry/base-cli/actions/runs/37048785893)
+and [macOS validation-only run](https://github.com/basefoundry/base-cli/actions/runs/37052368353).
+A sustained slowdown over 50 ms still fails; p95 over 125 ms also fails.
+Windows, WSL, parser, import, and non-persistence limits are unchanged.
+
 Each report is versioned as `base-cli.benchmark` schema version 1 and contains
 the package version, source revision, UTC timestamp, platform profile, Python
 version/ABI, OS release, architecture, CPU count, sample count, medians, p95,
diff --git a/lib/python/base_cli/output.py b/lib/python/base_cli/output.py
index 4258c41..287382d 100644
--- a/lib/python/base_cli/output.py
+++ b/lib/python/base_cli/output.py
@@ -311,12 +311,14 @@ def _write_table(
 
     table_rows = [[_table_cell(_cell_value(record.get(key))) for _header, key in columns] for record in records]
     headers = [_table_cell(header) for header, _key in columns]
+    header_widths = [_display_width(header) for header in headers]
+    row_widths = [[_display_width(value) for value in row] for row in table_rows]
     widths = [
-        max(_display_width(header), selected_minimums[index] if index < len(selected_minimums) else 0)
-        for index, header in enumerate(headers)
+        max(header_widths[index], selected_minimums[index] if index < len(selected_minimums) else 0)
+        for index, _header in enumerate(headers)
     ]
-    for row in table_rows:
-        widths = [max(width, _display_width(value)) for width, value in zip(widths, row, strict=False)]
+    for measured_row in row_widths:
+        widths = [max(width, measured) for width, measured in zip(widths, measured_row, strict=False)]
 
     if max_cell_width is not None:
         if max_cell_width < 1:
@@ -327,8 +329,17 @@ def _write_table(
         raise ValueError("terminal_width must be greater than 0 when set")
     available_width = terminal_width if terminal_width is not None else _terminal_width(stream)
     widths = _fit_table_width(widths, available_width)
-    bounded_headers = [_truncate(header, width) for header, width in zip(headers, widths, strict=False)]
-    bounded_rows = [[_truncate(value, width) for value, width in zip(row, widths, strict=False)] for row in table_rows]
+    bounded_headers = [
+        _truncate(header, width, measured_width=header_widths[index])
+        for index, (header, width) in enumerate(zip(headers, widths, strict=False))
+    ]
+    bounded_rows = [
+        [
+            _truncate(value, width, measured_width=row_widths[row_index][column_index])
+            for column_index, (value, width) in enumerate(zip(row, widths, strict=False))
+        ]
+        for row_index, row in enumerate(table_rows)
+    ]
 
     if rich and try_render_rich_table(
         stream,
@@ -360,18 +371,59 @@ def _terminal_width(stream: TextIO) -> int:
             return _DEFAULT_TERMINAL_WIDTH
 
 
-def _fit_table_width(widths: list[int], terminal_width: int) -> list[int]:
+def _fit_table_width(
+    widths: list[int],
+    terminal_width: int,
+    *,
+    _work_counter: list[int] | None = None,
+) -> list[int]:
     if not widths:
         return widths
     available = max(1, terminal_width - 2 * (len(widths) - 1))
     if sum(widths) <= available:
         return widths
     result = list(widths)
-    while sum(result) > available:
-        index = max(range(len(result)), key=result.__getitem__)
-        if result[index] <= 1:
+    remaining = sum(result) - available
+
+    def record_work(units: int) -> None:
+        if _work_counter is not None:
+            _work_counter[0] += units
+
+    # ``order`` is a stable snapshot of the columns sorted by current width.
+    # ``position`` marks the first column not in the active width level, while
+    # ``active_count`` tracks how many columns share that level. Mutating only
+    # the active prefix keeps ties deterministic as widths are reduced.
+    order = sorted(range(len(result)), key=lambda index: (-result[index], index))
+    position = 0
+    level = result[order[0]]
+    active_count = 0
+    while position < len(order) and result[order[position]] == level:
+        active_count += 1
+        position += 1
+    while remaining > 0 and active_count:
+        # When every remaining column is active, floor the next level at one;
+        # there is no legal width below one even if the arithmetic target is 0.
+        next_level = result[order[position]] if position < len(order) else 1
+        next_level = max(1, next_level)
+        capacity = (level - next_level) * active_count
+        if capacity <= 0:
+            break
+        if remaining <= capacity:
+            quotient, remainder = divmod(remaining, active_count)
+            for rank in range(active_count):
+                index = order[rank]
+                result[index] -= quotient + (rank < remainder)
+            record_work(active_count)
+            remaining = 0
             break
-        result[index] -= 1
+        for rank in range(active_count):
+            result[order[rank]] = next_level
+        record_work(active_count)
+        remaining -= capacity
+        level = next_level
+        while position < len(order) and result[order[position]] == level:
+            active_count += 1
+            position += 1
     return result
 
 
@@ -394,8 +446,8 @@ def _display_width(value: str) -> int:
     return width
 
 
-def _truncate(value: str, width: int) -> str:
-    if _display_width(value) <= width:
+def _truncate(value: str, width: int, *, measured_width: int | None = None) -> str:
+    if (measured_width if measured_width is not None else _display_width(value)) <= width:
         return value
     if width <= 1:
         return "…"[:width]
diff --git a/scripts/benchmark_runtime.py b/scripts/benchmark_runtime.py
index 24f3e78..f5ade65 100755
--- a/scripts/benchmark_runtime.py
+++ b/scripts/benchmark_runtime.py
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@
     "wsl": 100.0,
 }
 PERSISTENCE_ENABLED_P95_BUDGETS_MS = {
-    "unix": 50.0,
-    "macos": 50.0,
+    "unix": 125.0,
+    "macos": 125.0,
     "windows": 250.0,
     "wsl": 50.0,
 }
@@ -331,6 +331,11 @@ def _check_results(results: dict[str, FrameworkMetrics]) -> list[str]:
             feature_budget = _feature_budget_for_platform(name, BENCHMARK_PLATFORM)
             if p95 is not None and p95 > feature_budget:
                 failures.append(f"base-cli {name} p95 exceeded {feature_budget:.0f} ms")
+    if BENCHMARK_PLATFORM in {"unix", "macos"} and isinstance(features, dict):
+        persistence = features.get("persistence_enabled_ms", {})
+        median = persistence.get("median") if isinstance(persistence, dict) else None
+        if not isinstance(median, (int, float)) or not 0 <= median <= 50.0:
+            failures.append("base-cli persistence_enabled_ms median is missing, invalid, or exceeded 50 ms")
     return failures
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_benchmark_runtime.py b/tests/test_benchmark_runtime.py
index 8528e5e..7518e06 100644
--- a/tests/test_benchmark_runtime.py
+++ b/tests/test_benchmark_runtime.py
@@ -125,6 +125,18 @@ def test_windows_persistence_budget_rejects_material_regressions(self) -> None:
 
         self.assertTrue(any("persistence_enabled_ms p95 exceeded 250 ms" in failure for failure in failures))
 
+    def test_persistence_budget_separates_sustained_cost_from_filesystem_tails(self) -> None:
+        for profile in ("unix", "macos"):
+            for median, p95, fails in ((26.0, 118.0, False), (51.0, 60.0, True), (26.0, 126.0, True)):
+                with self.subTest(profile=profile, median=median, p95=p95):
+                    metrics = self._complete_results()
+                    sample = self._summary(p95)
+                    sample["median"] = median
+                    metrics["base-cli"]["features"]["persistence_enabled_ms"] = sample
+                    with mock.patch.object(benchmark_runtime, "BENCHMARK_PLATFORM", profile):
+                        failures = benchmark_runtime._check_results(metrics)
+                    self.assertEqual(any("persistence_enabled_ms" in failure for failure in failures), fails)
+
     def test_github_summary_separates_lifecycle_overhead_from_parser(self) -> None:
         metrics = self._complete_results(lifecycle_p95=4.0, click_p95=1.5)
         report = {
diff --git a/tests/test_output.py b/tests/test_output.py
index 15bf6a3..a20ae53 100644
--- a/tests/test_output.py
+++ b/tests/test_output.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     NDJSON_SCHEMA_VERSION,
     NdjsonWriter,
     OutputFormatError,
+    _fit_table_width,
     render_document,
     render_records,
     resolve_output_format,
@@ -140,6 +141,17 @@ def test_terminal_table_uses_display_width_and_deterministic_truncation(self) ->
         self.assertIn("…", output)
         self.assertLessEqual(max(len(line) for line in output.splitlines()), 20)
 
+    def test_table_width_fitting_handles_large_widths_without_per_unit_loop(self) -> None:
+        widths = [10_000_000, 9_000_000, 8_000_000, 7_000_000]
+        work = [0]
+
+        fitted = _fit_table_width(widths, terminal_width=120, _work_counter=work)
+
+        self.assertEqual(sum(fitted), 114)
+        self.assertGreaterEqual(min(fitted), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(fitted, [28, 28, 29, 29])
+        self.assertLessEqual(work[0], len(widths) * 3)
+
     def test_terminal_width_and_cell_width_validate_inputs(self) -> None:
         with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, "terminal_width"):
             render_records(