diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a9aa6e2303ce4bf15ffe35b0a1a1948e0950d06a..39826863f2f483b73475a5f325ee8bc3e5f70801 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4081,6 +4081,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "crashes"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "anyhow",
  "bincode",
  "cfg-if",
  "crash-handler",
@@ -9994,6 +9995,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "async-recursion",
  "collections",
+ "crashes",
  "editor",
  "fs",
  "gpui",
diff --git a/crates/crashes/Cargo.toml b/crates/crashes/Cargo.toml
index 5e451853a925d86ffcc1491a5c95af1f94e6ed05..3523426752e670c2c1023a1e0af221029f501070 100644
--- a/crates/crashes/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/crashes/Cargo.toml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ edition.workspace = true
 license = "GPL-3.0-or-later"
 
 [dependencies]
+anyhow.workspace = true
 bincode.workspace = true
 cfg-if.workspace = true
 crash-handler.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/crashes/src/crashes.rs b/crates/crashes/src/crashes.rs
index a1a43dbb88198b7afd4b89141f7578c0a5bc25ce..99ec14fc049d359f1720a3e0605bc4597ceadbbe 100644
--- a/crates/crashes/src/crashes.rs
+++ b/crates/crashes/src/crashes.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use log::info;
 use minidumper::{Client, LoopAction, MinidumpBinary};
 use release_channel::{RELEASE_CHANNEL, ReleaseChannel};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use std::cell::Cell;
 use std::mem;
 
 #[cfg(not(target_os = "windows"))]
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ use std::{
     env,
     fs::{self, File},
     io,
-    panic::{self, PanicHookInfo},
+    panic::{self, AssertUnwindSafe, PanicHookInfo},
     path::{Path, PathBuf},
     process::{self},
     sync::{
@@ -26,6 +27,31 @@ use std::{
     time::Duration,
 };
 
+thread_local! {
+    static ALLOW_UNWIND: Cell<bool> = const { Cell::new(false) };
+}
+
+/// Catch a panic as an error instead of aborting the process. Unlike plain
+/// `catch_unwind`, this bypasses the crash-reporting panic hook which would
+/// normally abort before unwinding can occur.
+///
+/// **Use sparingly.** Prefer this only for isolating third-party code
+/// that is known to panic, where you want to handle the failure gracefully
+/// instead of crashing.
+pub fn recoverable_panic<T>(closure: impl FnOnce() -> T) -> anyhow::Result<T> {
+    ALLOW_UNWIND.with(|flag| flag.set(true));
+    let result = panic::catch_unwind(AssertUnwindSafe(closure));
+    ALLOW_UNWIND.with(|flag| flag.set(false));
+    result.map_err(|payload| {
+        let message = payload
+            .downcast_ref::<&str>()
+            .map(|s| s.to_string())
+            .or_else(|| payload.downcast_ref::<String>().cloned())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| "unknown panic".to_string());
+        anyhow::anyhow!("panic: {message}")
+    })
+}
+
 // set once the crash handler has initialized and the client has connected to it
 pub static CRASH_HANDLER: OnceLock<Arc<Client>> = OnceLock::new();
 // set when the first minidump request is made to avoid generating duplicate crash reports
@@ -57,6 +83,9 @@ pub fn init(crash_init: InitCrashHandler, spawn: impl FnOnce(BoxFuture<'static,
     if !should_install_crash_handler() {
         let old_hook = panic::take_hook();
         panic::set_hook(Box::new(move |info| {
+            if ALLOW_UNWIND.with(|flag| flag.get()) {
+                return;
+            }
             unsafe { env::set_var("RUST_BACKTRACE", "1") };
             old_hook(info);
             // prevent the macOS crash dialog from popping up
@@ -322,6 +351,11 @@ pub fn panic_hook(info: &PanicHookInfo) {
     let current_thread = std::thread::current();
     let thread_name = current_thread.name().unwrap_or("<unnamed>");
 
+    if ALLOW_UNWIND.with(|flag| flag.get()) {
+        log::error!("thread '{thread_name}' panicked at {span} (allowing unwind):\n{message}");
+        return;
+    }
+
     // wait 500ms for the crash handler process to start up
     // if it's still not there just write panic info and no minidump
     let retry_frequency = Duration::from_millis(100);
diff --git a/crates/markdown_preview/Cargo.toml b/crates/markdown_preview/Cargo.toml
index 55912c66a017fa22902f9b05e5fa924230710d69..1cfc1b4e59ef14b47ab5845dc67e2ad77c9232e5 100644
--- a/crates/markdown_preview/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/markdown_preview/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ test-support = []
 anyhow.workspace = true
 async-recursion.workspace = true
 collections.workspace = true
+crashes.workspace = true
 editor.workspace = true
 fs.workspace = true
 gpui.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/markdown_preview/src/markdown_renderer.rs b/crates/markdown_preview/src/markdown_renderer.rs
index 4d26b7e8958a04f1bb64abc5be5502e23896f313..67131a6b2cb81f82a2c550944c96fb4e1ed5a93a 100644
--- a/crates/markdown_preview/src/markdown_renderer.rs
+++ b/crates/markdown_preview/src/markdown_renderer.rs
@@ -133,7 +133,9 @@ impl CachedMermaidDiagram {
         let _task = cx.spawn(async move |this, cx| {
             let value = cx
                 .background_spawn(async move {
-                    let svg_string = mermaid_rs_renderer::render(&contents.contents)?;
+                    let svg_string = crashes::recoverable_panic(|| {
+                        mermaid_rs_renderer::render(&contents.contents)
+                    })??;
                     let scale = contents.scale as f32 / 100.0;
                     svg_renderer
                         .render_single_frame(svg_string.as_bytes(), scale, true)