diff --git a/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim b/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim
index 2926ab1..d57885e 100644
--- a/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim
+++ b/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim
@@ -1161,9 +1161,12 @@ endfunction
 
 " 0-based byte offsets of the cell-separator `|` in `s`. Pipes that are literal
 " cell content are skipped: those inside `[[…]]` wikilinks, `{{…}}`
-" transclusions, `` `…` `` inline code, and backslash-escaped `\|`. Byte-based
-" (strpart/stridx) to match the rest of the table code. Keeps a `[[url|title]]`
-" link in one cell instead of splitting on its internal pipe.
+" transclusions, and `` `…` `` inline code. Byte-based (strpart/stridx) to match
+" the rest of the table code. Keeps a `[[url|title]]` link in one cell instead
+" of splitting on its internal pipe.
+"
+" Backslash-escaped `\|` is intentionally NOT skipped, to match the server
+" lexer (nuwiki-rs). See the nuwiki-rs issue for the coordinated `\|` follow-up.
 function! s:cell_bar_positions(s) abort
   let l:out = []
   let l:i = 0
@@ -1171,9 +1174,7 @@ function! s:cell_bar_positions(s) abort
   while l:i < l:n
     let l:c = strpart(a:s, l:i, 1)
     let l:two = strpart(a:s, l:i, 2)
-    if l:c ==# '\'
-      let l:i += 2
-    elseif l:c ==# '`'
+    if l:c ==# '`'
       let l:close = stridx(a:s, '`', l:i + 1)
       let l:i = l:close < 0 ? l:n : l:close + 1
     elseif l:two ==# '[['
diff --git a/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua b/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua
index ed67924..76f2649 100644
--- a/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua
+++ b/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua
@@ -823,18 +823,19 @@ local is_table_row = require('nuwiki.util').is_table_row
 
 -- 1-based byte positions of the cell-separator `|` characters in `s`. Pipes
 -- that are literal cell content are skipped: those inside `[[…]]` wikilinks,
--- `{{…}}` transclusions, `` `…` `` inline code, and backslash-escaped `\|`.
--- This keeps a `[[url|title]]` link in one cell instead of splitting on its
--- internal pipe.
+-- `{{…}}` transclusions, and `` `…` `` inline code. This keeps a
+-- `[[url|title]]` link in one cell instead of splitting on its internal pipe.
+--
+-- Backslash-escaped `\|` is intentionally NOT skipped, to match the server
+-- lexer (nuwiki-rs), which can't skip it yet without leaving a stray backslash
+-- in the output. See nuwiki-rs issue for the coordinated `\|` follow-up.
 local function cell_bar_positions(s)
   local out = {}
   local i = 1
   local n = #s
   while i <= n do
     local c = s:sub(i, i)
-    if c == '\\' then
-      i = i + 2 -- skip the escaped char (e.g. `\|`)
-    elseif c == '`' then
+    if c == '`' then
       local close = s:find('`', i + 1, true)
       i = (close or n) + 1
     elseif s:sub(i, i + 1) == '[[' then