diff --git a/src/specify_cli/bundler/lib/yamlio.py b/src/specify_cli/bundler/lib/yamlio.py
index fc90580275..b5fb0e5691 100644
--- a/src/specify_cli/bundler/lib/yamlio.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/bundler/lib/yamlio.py
@@ -60,7 +60,13 @@ def dump_yaml(path: Path, data: Any, *, within: Path | None = None) -> Path:
     try:
         path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         with path.open("w", encoding="utf-8") as handle:
-            yaml.safe_dump(data, handle, sort_keys=False, default_flow_style=False)
+            yaml.safe_dump(
+                data,
+                handle,
+                sort_keys=False,
+                default_flow_style=False,
+                allow_unicode=True,
+            )
     except OSError as exc:
         raise BundlerError(f"Could not write {path}: {exc}") from exc
     return path
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_bundler_yamlio.py b/tests/unit/test_bundler_yamlio.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e9c60d762e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_bundler_yamlio.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+"""Unit tests for the bundler YAML I/O helpers."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from specify_cli.bundler.lib.yamlio import dump_yaml, load_yaml
+
+
+def test_dump_yaml_preserves_unicode(tmp_path: Path):
+    # dump_yaml must write literal UTF-8, not \xNN / \uXXXX escapes, so bundle
+    # config stays human-readable — matching _utils.dump_frontmatter and the
+    # extensions/presets config writers (all allow_unicode=True).
+    path = tmp_path / "f.yml"
+    data = {"note": "café-münchen", "url": "https://例え.example"}
+    dump_yaml(path, data)
+    raw = path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    assert "café-münchen" in raw
+    assert "例え" in raw
+    assert "\\x" not in raw and "\\u" not in raw
+
+
+def test_dump_yaml_round_trips_unicode(tmp_path: Path):
+    path = tmp_path / "f.yml"
+    data = {"note": "café", "city": "münchen"}
+    dump_yaml(path, data)
+    assert load_yaml(path) == data