diff --git a/packages/email-renderer/package.json b/packages/email-renderer/package.json
index ef0f24f5..68f92596 100644
--- a/packages/email-renderer/package.json
+++ b/packages/email-renderer/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@wrnexus/email-renderer",
-  "version": "0.1.25",
+  "version": "0.1.26",
   "type": "module",
   "description": "WRNexus block email renderers with HTML, text, AMP Email, and MJML interoperability.",
   "exports": {
diff --git a/packages/email-renderer/src/blocks.ts b/packages/email-renderer/src/blocks.ts
index f482ae66..264e009e 100644
--- a/packages/email-renderer/src/blocks.ts
+++ b/packages/email-renderer/src/blocks.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ const html = (value: unknown) =>
     .replaceAll('"', """)
     .replaceAll("'", "'");
 const attrs = (node: BlockNode) => node.props as Record<string, unknown>;
+const isEmailRootChild = (node: BlockNode, context: unknown) =>
+  (context as { rootBlockIds?: string[] } | undefined)?.rootBlockIds?.includes(node.id) ?? false;
 export const ampLayoutClass = (node: BlockNode) =>
   "wrn-layout-" + Array.from(node.id, char => char.codePointAt(0)!.toString(16)).join("-");
 
@@ -228,7 +230,9 @@ export const columnsBlock = defineBlock({
       ),
     ampEmail: ({ node, slots }) =>
       emailCell(`<table role="presentation" width="100%"><tr class="wrn-columns">${slots.columns}</tr></table>`, node),
-    mjml: ({ slots }) => slots.columns,
+    mjml: ({ node, slots, context }) => isEmailRootChild(node, context)
+      ? `<mj-section padding="0">${slots.columns}</mj-section>`
+      : slots.columns,
   },
   textRenderer: ({ slots }) => slots.columns,
 } satisfies BlockDefinition);
@@ -285,7 +289,15 @@ const leaf = (
       slots: {},
     },
     create: ({ id }) => ({ id: id(), type, version: 1, props: {}, styles: {}, slots: {} }),
-    renderers,
+    renderers: {
+      ...renderers,
+      ...(renderers?.mjml ? { mjml: async (input) => {
+        const content = await renderers.mjml!(input);
+        return isEmailRootChild(input.node, input.context)
+          ? `<mj-section padding="0"><mj-column padding="0">${content}</mj-column></mj-section>`
+          : content;
+      } } : {}),
+    },
     textRenderer,
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/email-renderer/src/email.ts b/packages/email-renderer/src/email.ts
index 49426e33..bea04d2f 100644
--- a/packages/email-renderer/src/email.ts
+++ b/packages/email-renderer/src/email.ts
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ export async function renderEmail(
     direction: options.direction ?? "ltr",
     countdownImageUrl: options.countdownImageUrl,
     brandLinkColor: String(source.root.props.linkColor ?? "#2563eb"),
+    rootBlockIds: Object.values(source.root.slots).flat().map(node => node.id),
   };
   const [htmlResult, textResult, mjmlResult] = await Promise.all([
     renderTree(source, emailKind, registry, { ...base, target: "emailHtml", data: options.variables }),
diff --git a/packages/email-renderer/test/root-mjml.test.ts b/packages/email-renderer/test/root-mjml.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8baa8045
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/email-renderer/test/root-mjml.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import { expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import type { BlockDocument, BlockNode } from "@wrnexus/blocks";
+import { renderEmail, validateMjml } from "../src/index.ts";
+
+const text = (id: string): BlockNode => ({ id, type: "content.text", version: 1, props: { text: id }, styles: {}, slots: {} });
+const columns = (id: string): BlockNode => ({ id, type: "layout.columns", version: 1, props: {}, styles: {}, slots: { columns: [0, 1].map(index => ({ id: `${id}-${index}`, type: "layout.column", version: 1, props: { width: "50%" }, styles: {}, slots: { content: [text(`${id}-text-${index}`)] } })) } });
+
+test("root content and separate column rows produce valid ordered MJML without changing the document", async () => {
+  const document: BlockDocument = { schemaVersion: 1, kind: "email", meta: { subject: "Root blocks", lang: "en" }, theme: { tokens: {} }, root: { id: "root", type: "layout.email-document", version: 1, props: {}, styles: {}, slots: { content: [text("intro"), columns("first"), columns("second"), { id: "cta", type: "content.button", version: 1, props: { label: "Act", href: "https://example.com" }, styles: {}, slots: {} }, text("end")] } } };
+  const before = structuredClone(document);
+  const rendered = await renderEmail(document, { mjml: true });
+  expect(rendered.ok).toBe(true);
+  if (!rendered.ok) return;
+  const mjml = rendered.value.exports!.mjml!;
+  expect(await validateMjml(mjml)).toEqual([]);
+  expect(mjml.match(/<mj-section\b/g)).toHaveLength(5);
+  expect(mjml.indexOf("intro")).toBeLessThan(mjml.indexOf("first-text-0"));
+  expect(mjml.indexOf("first-text-1")).toBeLessThan(mjml.indexOf("second-text-0"));
+  expect(mjml.indexOf("second-text-1")).toBeLessThan(mjml.indexOf(">Act<"));
+  expect(document).toEqual(before);
+});