diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ce0a816..6bccfd8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ This usage allows rendering to canvas, SVG, WebGL and (eventually) server-side.
 
 For hyphenation in manual layout, insert soft hyphens before `prepare()` / `prepareWithSegments()`. Pretext treats them as optional break points: unchosen soft hyphens stay invisible, while chosen breaks materialize as a trailing `-`. For mixed-language or user-generated app text, prefer conservative, locale-aware insertion over aggressive pattern hyphenation. Automatic hyphenation is not built in today.
 
-If your manual layout needs a small helper for rich-text inline flow, code spans, mentions, chips, and browser-like boundary whitespace collapse, there is a helper at `@chenglou/pretext/rich-inline`. It stays inline-only and `white-space: normal`-only on purpose:
+If your manual layout needs a small helper for rich-text inline flow, code spans, mentions, chips, and browser-like boundary whitespace collapse, there is a helper at `@chenglou/pretext/rich-inline`. By default it uses `white-space: normal` boundary collapsing; pass `{ whiteSpace: 'pre-wrap' }` to preserve leading/trailing spaces on each item instead:
 
 ```ts
 import { materializeRichInlineLineRange, prepareRichInline, walkRichInlineLineRanges } from '@chenglou/pretext/rich-inline'
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ It is intentionally narrow:
 - raw inline text in, including boundary spaces
 - caller-owned `extraWidth` for pill chrome
 - `break: 'never'` for atomic items like chips and mentions
-- `white-space: normal` only
+- `white-space: normal` (default) or `pre-wrap`
 - not a nested markup tree and not a general CSS inline formatting engine
 
 ### API Glossary
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ type LayoutCursor = {
 
 Helper for rich-text inline flow:
 ```ts
-prepareRichInline(items: RichInlineItem[]): PreparedRichInline // compile raw inline items with their original text. The compiler owns cross-item collapsed whitespace and caches each item's natural width
+prepareRichInline(items: RichInlineItem[], options?: { whiteSpace?: 'normal' | 'pre-wrap' }): PreparedRichInline // compile raw inline items with their original text. The compiler owns cross-item collapsed whitespace and caches each item's natural width. Pass `{ whiteSpace: 'pre-wrap' }` to preserve leading/trailing spaces instead of collapsing them into inter-item gaps
 layoutNextRichInlineLineRange(prepared: PreparedRichInline, maxWidth: number, start?: RichInlineCursor): RichInlineLineRange | null // stream one line of rich-text inline flow at a time without building fragment text strings
 walkRichInlineLineRanges(prepared: PreparedRichInline, maxWidth: number, onLine: (line: RichInlineLineRange) => void): number // non-materializing line walker for rich-text inline flow shrinkwrap/stats work
 materializeRichInlineLineRange(prepared: PreparedRichInline, line: RichInlineLineRange): RichInlineLine // turns one previously computed rich-inline line range back into full fragment text
diff --git a/src/layout.test.ts b/src/layout.test.ts
index 0c13c82..368d7d5 100644
--- a/src/layout.test.ts
+++ b/src/layout.test.ts
@@ -984,6 +984,67 @@ describe('rich-inline invariants', () => {
       maxLineWidth: Math.max(...widths),
     })
   })
+
+  test('prepareRichInline with pre-wrap preserves trailing spaces on the current line', () => {
+    const prepared = prepareRichInline(
+      [
+        { text: 'Hello   ', font: FONT },
+        { text: 'World', font: FONT },
+      ],
+      { whiteSpace: 'pre-wrap' },
+    )
+    // The width of 'Hello   ' is sufficient for the first item, 
+    // and the spaces should stay on that line.
+    const widthOfHelloAndSpaces = measureWidth('Hello   ', FONT) + 0.1
+
+    const lines: string[] = []
+    walkRichInlineLineRanges(prepared, widthOfHelloAndSpaces, range => {
+      const line = materializeRichInlineLineRange(prepared, range)
+      lines.push(line.fragments.map(f => f.text).join(''))
+    })
+
+    expect(lines).toEqual(['Hello   ', 'World'])
+  })
+
+  test('prepareRichInline default normal mode still collapses boundary whitespace', () => {
+    const prepared = prepareRichInline([
+      { text: '  Hello  ', font: FONT },
+      { text: '  World  ', font: FONT },
+    ])
+    // Default normal mode: boundary spaces are collapsed into gapBefore.
+    // The fragments should contain trimmed text with inter-item gap.
+    const lines: Array<{ text: string, gapBefore: number }[]> = []
+    walkRichInlineLineRanges(prepared, 500, range => {
+      const line = materializeRichInlineLineRange(prepared, range)
+      lines.push(line.fragments.map(f => ({ text: f.text, gapBefore: f.gapBefore })))
+    })
+
+    expect(lines).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(lines[0]![0]!.text).toBe('Hello')
+    expect(lines[0]![0]!.gapBefore).toBe(0)
+    expect(lines[0]![1]!.text).toBe('World')
+    expect(lines[0]![1]!.gapBefore).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+  })
+
+  test('prepareRichInline pre-wrap keeps whitespace-only items visible', () => {
+    const prepared = prepareRichInline(
+      [
+        { text: 'Hello', font: FONT },
+        { text: '   ', font: FONT },
+        { text: 'World', font: FONT },
+      ],
+      { whiteSpace: 'pre-wrap' },
+    )
+    // whitespace-only item should not be skipped in pre-wrap mode.
+    // All three items should contribute fragments.
+    const fragments: string[] = []
+    walkRichInlineLineRanges(prepared, 500, range => {
+      const line = materializeRichInlineLineRange(prepared, range)
+      for (const f of line.fragments) fragments.push(f.text)
+    })
+
+    expect(fragments).toEqual(['Hello', '   ', 'World'])
+  })
 })
 
 describe('layout invariants', () => {
diff --git a/src/rich-inline.ts b/src/rich-inline.ts
index 977fc35..7c1f2bc 100644
--- a/src/rich-inline.ts
+++ b/src/rich-inline.ts
@@ -155,7 +155,11 @@ function endsInsideFirstSegment(segmentIndex: number, graphemeIndex: number): bo
   return segmentIndex === 0 && graphemeIndex > 0
 }
 
-export function prepareRichInline(items: RichInlineItem[]): PreparedRichInline {
+export function prepareRichInline(
+  items: RichInlineItem[],
+  options?: { whiteSpace?: 'normal' | 'pre-wrap' },
+): PreparedRichInline {
+  const whiteSpace = options?.whiteSpace ?? 'normal'
   const preparedItems: PreparedRichInlineItem[] = []
   const itemsBySourceItemIndex = Array.from<PreparedRichInlineItem | undefined>({ length: items.length })
   const collapsedSpaceWidthCache = new Map<string, number>()
@@ -164,14 +168,17 @@ export function prepareRichInline(items: RichInlineItem[]): PreparedRichInline {
   for (let index = 0; index < items.length; index++) {
     const item = items[index]!
     const letterSpacing = item.letterSpacing ?? 0
-    const hasLeadingWhitespace = LEADING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE.test(item.text)
-    const hasTrailingWhitespace = TRAILING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE.test(item.text)
-    const trimmedText = item.text
-      .replace(LEADING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE, '')
-      .replace(TRAILING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE, '')
+    const isPreWrap = whiteSpace === 'pre-wrap'
+    const hasLeadingWhitespace = isPreWrap ? false : LEADING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE.test(item.text)
+    const hasTrailingWhitespace = isPreWrap ? false : TRAILING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE.test(item.text)
+    const trimmedText = isPreWrap
+      ? item.text
+      : item.text
+          .replace(LEADING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE, '')
+          .replace(TRAILING_COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE, '')
 
     if (trimmedText.length === 0) {
-      if (COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE.test(item.text) && pendingGapWidth === 0) {
+      if (!isPreWrap && COLLAPSIBLE_BOUNDARY_RE.test(item.text) && pendingGapWidth === 0) {
         pendingGapWidth = getCollapsedSpaceWidth(item.font, letterSpacing, collapsedSpaceWidthCache)
       }
       continue
@@ -183,10 +190,13 @@ export function prepareRichInline(items: RichInlineItem[]): PreparedRichInline {
         : hasLeadingWhitespace
           ? getCollapsedSpaceWidth(item.font, letterSpacing, collapsedSpaceWidthCache)
           : 0
+    const prepareOptions = isPreWrap
+      ? (letterSpacing === 0 ? { whiteSpace } : { whiteSpace, letterSpacing })
+      : (letterSpacing === 0 ? undefined : { letterSpacing })
     const prepared = prepareWithSegments(
       trimmedText,
       item.font,
-      letterSpacing === 0 ? undefined : { letterSpacing },
+      prepareOptions,
     )
     const wholeLine = prepareWholeItemLine(prepared)
     if (wholeLine === null) {