diff --git a/local/recipes/tui/tlc/source/src/editor/format.rs b/local/recipes/tui/tlc/source/src/editor/format.rs
index 4c53b3aaa1..10c24f0a0f 100644
--- a/local/recipes/tui/tlc/source/src/editor/format.rs
+++ b/local/recipes/tui/tlc/source/src/editor/format.rs
@@ -242,6 +242,11 @@ pub fn paragraph_range(text: &str, cursor: usize) -> (usize, usize) {
 /// terminates the paragraph) is preserved verbatim. If the cursor
 /// is on a blank line, `text` is returned unchanged.
 ///
+/// Code blocks (paragraphs where every non-blank line begins with
+/// whitespace) are detected and left unchanged — formatting them
+/// would destroy intentional indentation (e.g. Python code,
+/// indented shell scripts, ASCII art, markdown sub-blocks).
+///
 /// This is a pure string function — it does not touch the
 /// [`Buffer`] or its undo stack. The caller is responsible for
 /// recording the pre-edit state if undo is desired.
@@ -253,6 +258,13 @@ pub fn reformat_paragraph_at(text: &str, cursor: usize, width: usize) -> String
         return text.to_string();
     }
     let paragraph = &text[para_start..para_end];
+    if is_code_block(paragraph) {
+        // Don't touch indented paragraphs — formatting them would
+        // collapse the leading whitespace that the user wrote
+        // intentionally (Python indentation, markdown sub-blocks,
+        // shell heredocs, etc).
+        return text.to_string();
+    }
     let para_with_newline_end = text[para_end..]
         .find('\n')
         .map(|n| para_end + n + 1)
@@ -267,6 +279,27 @@ pub fn reformat_paragraph_at(text: &str, cursor: usize, width: usize) -> String
     out
 }
 
+/// True if `paragraph` looks like an indented code block: every
+/// non-blank line begins with at least one whitespace character.
+/// The heuristic intentionally errs on the side of preservation
+/// (false positives leave the paragraph alone rather than
+/// destroying indentation).
+#[must_use]
+pub fn is_code_block(paragraph: &str) -> bool {
+    let mut has_content = false;
+    for line in paragraph.split('\n') {
+        if line.chars().all(|c| c.is_whitespace()) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        has_content = true;
+        let first = line.chars().next().expect("non-blank line has a char");
+        if !first.is_whitespace() {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+    has_content
+}
+
 /// Compute the leading whitespace of a line — the maximal run of
 /// `' '` and `'\t'` characters at the start of `line`.
 ///
@@ -621,4 +654,55 @@ mod tests {
     fn reformat_paragraph_uses_default_width_constant() {
         assert_eq!(DEFAULT_WRAP_WIDTH, 72);
     }
+
+    // --- code-block detection (C18) ---
+
+    #[test]
+    fn is_code_block_detects_indented_paragraph() {
+        // Every non-blank line starts with whitespace → code block.
+        assert!(is_code_block("    if x:"));
+        assert!(is_code_block("    if x:\n        y\n    z"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn is_code_block_rejects_unindented_paragraph() {
+        // First line not indented → not a code block.
+        assert!(!is_code_block("foo bar baz"));
+        assert!(!is_code_block("foo\nbar\nbaz"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn is_code_block_ignores_blank_lines_in_paragraph() {
+        // Blank lines (all-whitespace) inside a paragraph are
+        // skipped — the remaining content's indentation decides.
+        assert!(is_code_block("    foo\n\n    bar"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn reformat_paragraph_skips_code_block() {
+        // Indented Python-ish paragraph must not be reformatted.
+        let text = "    if x:\n        y\n";
+        let out = reformat_paragraph_at(text, 0, 72);
+        assert_eq!(out, text, "code block should be preserved verbatim");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn reformat_paragraph_skips_shell_heredoc() {
+        // Multi-line indented shell snippet.
+        let text = "    cat <<EOF\n        hello\n    EOF\n";
+        let out = reformat_paragraph_at(text, 0, 72);
+        assert_eq!(out, text);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn reformat_paragraph_handles_mixed_code_and_prose() {
+        // The first paragraph (unindented) is reformatted; the
+        // second (indented code block) is preserved.
+        let text = "the quick brown fox\njumps over\n\n    def f():\n        return 1\n";
+        let out = reformat_paragraph_at(text, 0, 30);
+        assert!(out.contains("def f():\n        return 1"), "code preserved");
+        assert!(out.contains("the quick brown fox"), "prose still present");
+        // The prose should have been joined into one wrapped line.
+        assert!(out.contains("the quick brown fox jumps"));
+    }
 }