diff --git a/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim b/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim
index 21e2ee6..ab627fe 100644
--- a/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim
+++ b/autoload/nuwiki/commands.vim
@@ -881,7 +881,12 @@ function! nuwiki#commands#smart_return() abort
       " newline. Indent gets dropped (matches vimwiki's break-out).
       return "\<Esc>0DA\<CR>"
     endif
-    let l:cont = l:indent . l:marker . ' '
+    " If any auto-indent mechanism is active (autoindent, smartindent,
+    " cindent, or indentexpr), Vim already inserts the previous line's
+    " indent after `<CR>`. Skipping our own indent in that case avoids
+    " doubling it and pushing the new bullet one level deeper.
+    let l:auto = &autoindent || &smartindent || &cindent || !empty(&indentexpr)
+    let l:cont = (l:auto ? '' : l:indent) . l:marker . ' '
     if l:has_cb
       let l:cont .= '[ ] '
     endif
diff --git a/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua b/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua
index 14de31c..0134d52 100644
--- a/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua
+++ b/lua/nuwiki/commands.lua
@@ -790,7 +790,15 @@ function M.smart_return()
       -- "break out of the list" behaviour on an empty bullet).
       return esc .. '0DA' .. cr
     end
-    return cr .. indent .. marker .. ' ' .. (cb and '[ ] ' or '')
+    -- nvim defaults `autoindent=on`, which inserts the previous line's
+    -- indent right after the `<CR>` we return. If we then add our own
+    -- `indent`, the new bullet is pushed one level deeper than the one
+    -- the user is continuing. Skip our copy whenever any auto-indent
+    -- mechanism is active and let Vim/Nvim insert the indent for us.
+    local auto = vim.bo.autoindent or vim.bo.smartindent or vim.bo.cindent
+        or (vim.bo.indentexpr ~= nil and vim.bo.indentexpr ~= '')
+    local effective_indent = auto and '' or indent
+    return cr .. effective_indent .. marker .. ' ' .. (cb and '[ ] ' or '')
   end
   return cr
 end