diff --git a/src/prd.mjs b/src/prd.mjs
index 1681e85..cd4713f 100644
--- a/src/prd.mjs
+++ b/src/prd.mjs
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ function today() {
   return new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10);
 }
 
+function yamlString(value) {
+  return JSON.stringify(String(value ?? ""));
+}
+
 function gitEmail(root) {
   try {
     return execSync("git config user.email", { cwd: root, stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "ignore"] })
@@ -110,7 +114,7 @@ export function renderPrd({ id, title, idea, author }) {
   return `---
 openprd: "${OPENPRD.version}"
 id: "${id}"
-title: ${title}
+title: ${yamlString(title)}
 status: Draft
 authors:
   - ${author}
diff --git a/test/prd.test.mjs b/test/prd.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9e5852
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/prd.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import test from "node:test";
+
+import { renderPrd } from "../src/prd.mjs";
+
+test("renderPrd quotes titles so YAML metacharacters stay valid", () => {
+  const body = renderPrd({
+    id: "0001",
+    title: 'Ship CLI: handle "quoted" flags',
+    idea: 'Ship CLI: handle "quoted" flags',
+    author: "dev@example.com",
+  });
+
+  assert.match(body, /^title: "Ship CLI: handle \\"quoted\\" flags"$/m);
+});