diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index b6b2a10..6029301 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@ioai/rosview",
-  "version": "1.6.3",
+  "version": "1.7.0",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@ioai/rosview",
-      "version": "1.6.3",
+      "version": "1.7.0",
       "license": "MIT",
       "devDependencies": {
         "@eslint/js": "^9.39.4",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b9aed50..fa75263 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@ioai/rosview",
-  "version": "1.6.3",
+  "version": "1.7.0",
   "description": "High-performance robotics data visualization for MCAP, ROS bag, ROS2 db3, HDF5 and BVH — embeddable React component and standalone SPA",
   "keywords": [
     "ros",
diff --git a/src/features/panels/Image/ImagePanel.tsx b/src/features/panels/Image/ImagePanel.tsx
index 2af9d4e..bd3811f 100644
--- a/src/features/panels/Image/ImagePanel.tsx
+++ b/src/features/panels/Image/ImagePanel.tsx
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import { isH264MessageEvent, toWorkerFrame } from './core/messageFrameAdapter';
 import { applyDepthTopicPreset } from './core/depthColorDefaults';
 import type { ImageConfig } from './defaults';
 import { TopicQuickPicker } from '../framework/TopicQuickPicker';
+import { PanelTopicBar } from '../framework/PanelTopicBar';
 import ImageRenderWorkerClass from './core/ImageRender.worker.ts?worker&inline';
 
 type ColorOptions = Pick<ImageConfig, 'colorMode' | 'flatColor' | 'gradient' | 'colorMap' | 'explicitAlpha' | 'minValue' | 'maxValue'>;
@@ -304,7 +305,7 @@ export const ImagePanel: React.FC<ImagePanelProps> = (props) => {
       style={{ background: backgroundColor }}
       data-testid="image-panel"
     >
-      <div className="flex shrink-0 items-center gap-2 border-b border-zinc-800 bg-zinc-950">
+      <PanelTopicBar className="border-zinc-800 bg-zinc-950">
         <TopicQuickPicker
           value={topic}
           onChange={(nextTopic) => setConfig((prev) => applyDepthTopicPreset(nextTopic, prev))}
@@ -313,7 +314,7 @@ export const ImagePanel: React.FC<ImagePanelProps> = (props) => {
           className="min-w-0 flex-1"
           triggerClassName="border-zinc-700 bg-zinc-950 text-zinc-100 hover:bg-zinc-900 hover:text-zinc-50"
         />
-      </div>
+      </PanelTopicBar>
       <div
         ref={viewportRef}
         className="flex-1 relative min-h-0 min-w-0 flex items-center justify-center"
diff --git a/src/features/panels/RawMessages/RawMessagesPanel.tsx b/src/features/panels/RawMessages/RawMessagesPanel.tsx
index 02a6da7..c624cec 100644
--- a/src/features/panels/RawMessages/RawMessagesPanel.tsx
+++ b/src/features/panels/RawMessages/RawMessagesPanel.tsx
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import { isRosImageSchema } from '@/shared/ros/rosMessageTypes';
 import { formatLocalTimestamp } from '@/shared/utils/time';
 import { scheduleFrame } from '@/shared/utils/rafScheduler';
 import { TopicQuickPicker } from '../framework/TopicQuickPicker';
+import { PanelTopicBar } from '../framework/PanelTopicBar';
 import type { RawMessagesConfig } from './defaults';
 import { buildRowsForMessageEvent, type FlatRow } from './shapeTree';
 
@@ -705,7 +706,7 @@ export const RawMessagesPanel: React.FC<RawMessagesPanelProps> = ({
 
   return (
     <div className="flex h-full flex-col overflow-hidden bg-background">
-      <div className="shrink-0 border-b bg-muted px-2 py-1">
+      <PanelTopicBar>
         <TopicQuickPicker
           value={topic}
           topics={topics}
@@ -713,7 +714,7 @@ export const RawMessagesPanel: React.FC<RawMessagesPanelProps> = ({
           placeholder={formatMessage({ id: 'panels.framework.topicPicker.placeholder' })}
           className="min-w-0 w-full"
         />
-      </div>
+      </PanelTopicBar>
 
       <div
         ref={viewportRef}
diff --git a/src/features/panels/framework/PanelTopicBar.test.tsx b/src/features/panels/framework/PanelTopicBar.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f85f036
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/panels/framework/PanelTopicBar.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/**
+ * @vitest-environment happy-dom
+ */
+import { act } from 'react';
+import { createRoot, type Root } from 'react-dom/client';
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { PanelTopicBar } from './PanelTopicBar';
+
+(globalThis as unknown as { IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT: boolean }).IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT = true;
+
+describe('PanelTopicBar', () => {
+  let container: HTMLDivElement;
+  let root: Root;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    container = document.createElement('div');
+    document.body.appendChild(container);
+    root = createRoot(container);
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    act(() => root.unmount());
+    container.remove();
+  });
+
+  function getBar(): HTMLDivElement {
+    const el = container.firstElementChild;
+    if (!(el instanceof HTMLDivElement)) throw new Error('bar div not found');
+    return el;
+  }
+
+  it('renders children inside a compact, horizontally-padded row', () => {
+    act(() => {
+      root.render(
+        <PanelTopicBar>
+          <button type="button">picker</button>
+        </PanelTopicBar>,
+      );
+    });
+    const bar = getBar();
+    expect(bar.textContent).toBe('picker');
+    // No vertical padding: height should come purely from content, matching
+    // the Image panel's compact reference experience (RawMessages used to
+    // add `py-1`, which made its bar taller than Image's).
+    expect(bar.className).not.toMatch(/(^|\s)py-\d/);
+    expect(bar.className).toContain('items-center');
+    expect(bar.className).toContain('px-2');
+  });
+
+  it('merges className overrides without losing the shared layout classes', () => {
+    act(() => {
+      root.render(
+        <PanelTopicBar className="border-zinc-800 bg-zinc-950">
+          <span>content</span>
+        </PanelTopicBar>,
+      );
+    });
+    const bar = getBar();
+    expect(bar.className).toContain('border-zinc-800');
+    expect(bar.className).toContain('bg-zinc-950');
+    // The override replaces the default border/background color utilities
+    // rather than doubling up on conflicting classes.
+    expect(bar.className).not.toContain('border-border');
+    expect(bar.className).not.toContain('bg-muted');
+    expect(bar.className).toContain('items-center');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/features/panels/framework/PanelTopicBar.tsx b/src/features/panels/framework/PanelTopicBar.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74f021c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/panels/framework/PanelTopicBar.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import React from 'react';
+import { cn } from '@/shared/lib/utils';
+
+export interface PanelTopicBarProps {
+  className?: string;
+  children: React.ReactNode;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Shared container for a panel's top "topic picker" row (`TopicQuickPicker`
+ * plus any adjacent controls). Height comes purely from the row's content
+ * (the picker's own `h-8` trigger) with horizontal-only padding, so every
+ * panel using this gets the same compact height instead of each hand-rolling
+ * its own wrapper with inconsistent vertical padding. Colors/borders stay
+ * overridable via `className` (e.g. Image panel's permanently-dark chrome)
+ * since panels can differ there while sharing the same box model.
+ */
+export const PanelTopicBar: React.FC<PanelTopicBarProps> = ({ className, children }) => (
+  <div
+    data-testid="panel-topic-bar"
+    className={cn('flex shrink-0 items-center gap-2 border-b border-border bg-muted px-2', className)}
+  >
+    {children}
+  </div>
+);
diff --git a/src/features/panels/framework/index.ts b/src/features/panels/framework/index.ts
index 893183b..703b67a 100644
--- a/src/features/panels/framework/index.ts
+++ b/src/features/panels/framework/index.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ export type {
 } from './foxgloveAdapter';
 export { TopicQuickPicker } from './TopicQuickPicker';
 export type { TopicQuickPickerProps } from './TopicQuickPicker';
+export { PanelTopicBar } from './PanelTopicBar';
+export type { PanelTopicBarProps } from './PanelTopicBar';
 export { PanelErrorBoundary } from './PanelErrorBoundary';
 export { PanelRuntimeShell } from './PanelRuntimeShell';
 export {