diff --git a/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.test.ts b/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.test.ts
index 2853a62..26a361d 100644
--- a/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.test.ts
+++ b/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.test.ts
@@ -188,6 +188,36 @@ describe('applyPatch', () => {
     expect(propsById['craft-1'].style).toEqual({ color: 'blue', fontSize: '16px' });
   });
 
+  test('update_props: style: null does NOT wipe existing style (existing keys preserved)', () => {
+    const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {});
+    const { query, actions, propsById } = makeSingleNodeHarness('craft-1', 'ai-node-1', {
+      text: 'Old',
+      style: { color: 'red', fontSize: '16px' },
+    });
+    const ops = [
+      {
+        op: 'update_props',
+        node_id: 'ai-node-1',
+        props: { style: null },
+      },
+    ];
+    const result = __test.applyPatch(actions, query, ops);
+    expect(result.ok).toBe(true);
+    expect(propsById['craft-1'].style).toEqual({ color: 'red', fontSize: '16px' });
+    warnSpy.mockRestore();
+  });
+
+  test('update_props: a valid style object still merges shallowly alongside a style:null-safe path', () => {
+    const { query, actions, propsById } = makeSingleNodeHarness('craft-1', 'ai-node-1', {
+      style: { color: 'red', fontSize: '16px' },
+    });
+    const ops = [
+      { op: 'update_props', node_id: 'ai-node-1', props: { style: { color: 'blue' } } },
+    ];
+    __test.applyPatch(actions, query, ops);
+    expect(propsById['craft-1'].style).toEqual({ color: 'blue', fontSize: '16px' });
+  });
+
   test('an op with an unknown resolvedName tree is skipped without throwing; other ops in the batch still apply', () => {
     const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {});
     const { query, actions, propsById } = makeSingleNodeHarness('craft-1', 'ai-node-1', {});
diff --git a/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.ts b/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.ts
index cfcc8cf..814208b 100644
--- a/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.ts
+++ b/craft/src/utils/apply-ai-response.ts
@@ -181,9 +181,16 @@ function applyPatch(
             // AI usually only means to change one or two style keys, and a
             // blind Object.assign would clobber every other style the user
             // (or a previous AI turn) had already set.
-            if (key === 'style' && value && typeof value === 'object' && !Array.isArray(value)) {
-              const existingStyle = p.style && typeof p.style === 'object' ? p.style : {};
-              p.style = { ...existingStyle, ...(value as Record<string, unknown>) };
+            if (key === 'style') {
+              if (value && typeof value === 'object' && !Array.isArray(value)) {
+                const existingStyle = p.style && typeof p.style === 'object' ? p.style : {};
+                p.style = { ...existingStyle, ...(value as Record<string, unknown>) };
+              } else {
+                // `style: null` (or any other non-object) is not a valid
+                // style patch — ignore it rather than clobbering the whole
+                // style object with null/undefined/a stray primitive.
+                console.warn('sitesmith patch: update_props ignoring non-object "style" value', value);
+              }
             } else {
               p[key] = value;
             }