diff --git a/packages/app/src/renderer/components/PackageSetupCard.tsx b/packages/app/src/renderer/components/PackageSetupCard.tsx
index 2868f9b..1e932d3 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/renderer/components/PackageSetupCard.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/renderer/components/PackageSetupCard.tsx
@@ -126,8 +126,10 @@ function StepRow({ packageId, step, onChanged }: { packageId: string; step: Setu
   }
 
   return (
-    <div className="flex items-center gap-2 py-1 min-h-[24px]">
-      <StatusIcon status={step.status} />
+    <div className="flex items-start gap-2 py-1 min-h-[24px]">
+      <span className="flex items-center h-[18px]">
+        <StatusIcon status={step.status} />
+      </span>
       <div className="flex-1 min-w-0">
         <div className="flex items-center gap-1.5">
           <KindIcon kind={step.kind} />
@@ -140,7 +142,7 @@ function StepRow({ packageId, step, onChanged }: { packageId: string; step: Setu
           <div className="text-[10px] text-warm-faint dark:text-dark-faint mt-0.5">{step.hint}</div>
         )}
       </div>
-      <div className="flex-shrink-0">{renderAction()}</div>
+      <div className="flex-shrink-0 flex items-center h-[18px]">{renderAction()}</div>
       {install?.kind === 'browser-extension' && install.manual && (
         <ManualInstallModal
           open={manualOpen}
diff --git a/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.test.ts b/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.test.ts
index 950b6bc..bcc29ce 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.test.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,42 @@ describe('PrerequisiteChecker', () => {
     expect(steps[0].status).toBe('missing')
   })
 
+  it('accepts zero-padded CalVer (e.g. yt-dlp 2026.03.17) by stripping leading zeros', async () => {
+    const exec = { run: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ exitCode: 0, stdout: '2026.03.17\n', stderr: '' }) }
+    const checker = new PrerequisiteChecker(exec as any)
+    const pkg = mkPkg('p1', [
+      {
+        id: 'yt-dlp',
+        name: 'yt-dlp',
+        kind: 'cli',
+        detect: { type: 'exec', command: 'yt-dlp', args: ['--version'], versionRegex: '(\\d{4}\\.\\d{2}\\.\\d{2})' },
+        minVersion: '2024.01.01',
+        install: { kind: 'cli', command: { darwin: 'brew install yt-dlp' } },
+      },
+    ])
+    const steps = await checker.check(pkg)
+    expect(steps[0].status).toBe('ok')
+    expect(steps[0].detectedVersion).toBe('2026.03.17')
+  })
+
+  it('correctly compares zero-padded CalVer across years/months', async () => {
+    const exec = { run: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ exitCode: 0, stdout: '2024.02.05\n', stderr: '' }) }
+    const checker = new PrerequisiteChecker(exec as any)
+    const pkg = mkPkg('p1', [
+      {
+        id: 'yt-dlp',
+        name: 'yt-dlp',
+        kind: 'cli',
+        detect: { type: 'exec', command: 'yt-dlp', args: ['--version'], versionRegex: '(\\d{4}\\.\\d{2}\\.\\d{2})' },
+        minVersion: '2024.03.01',
+        install: { kind: 'cli', command: { darwin: 'brew install yt-dlp' } },
+      },
+    ])
+    const steps = await checker.check(pkg)
+    expect(steps[0].status).toBe('outdated')
+    expect(steps[0].detectedVersion).toBe('2024.02.05')
+  })
+
   it('marks outdated when version is below minVersion', async () => {
     const exec = { run: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ exitCode: 0, stdout: 'v0.2.1\n', stderr: '' }) }
     const checker = new PrerequisiteChecker(exec as any)
diff --git a/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.ts b/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.ts
index a37495b..4e3ebe1 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/connectors/prerequisites.ts
@@ -89,10 +89,15 @@ export class PrerequisiteChecker {
         return baseStep(p, 'error', { hint: 'Could not parse version' })
       }
       const detectedVersion = vm[1]
-      if (!valid(detectedVersion)) {
+      // Normalize for semver: strip leading zeros from numeric segments so
+      // zero-padded CalVer (yt-dlp, Ubuntu, Postgres) like `2026.03.17`
+      // validates as `2026.3.17`. Ordering is preserved.
+      const normalizedDetected = stripLeadingZeros(detectedVersion)
+      const normalizedMin = stripLeadingZeros(p.minVersion)
+      if (!valid(normalizedDetected)) {
         return baseStep(p, 'error', { hint: 'Could not parse detected version' })
       }
-      if (gte(detectedVersion, p.minVersion)) {
+      if (gte(normalizedDetected, normalizedMin)) {
         return baseStep(p, 'ok', { detectedVersion })
       }
       return baseStep(p, 'outdated', {
@@ -104,3 +109,7 @@ export class PrerequisiteChecker {
     return result.exitCode === 0 ? baseStep(p, 'ok') : baseStep(p, 'missing')
   }
 }
+
+function stripLeadingZeros(version: string): string {
+  return version.replace(/(^|\.)0+(\d)/g, '$1$2')
+}