diff --git a/cmd/bd/init.go b/cmd/bd/init.go
index d19ecbbd..b52389a5 100644
--- a/cmd/bd/init.go
+++ b/cmd/bd/init.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/fatih/color"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -28,6 +29,10 @@ and database file. Optionally specify a custom issue prefix.`,
 			prefix = filepath.Base(cwd)
 		}
 
+		// Normalize prefix: strip trailing hyphens
+		// The hyphen is added automatically during ID generation
+		prefix = strings.TrimRight(prefix, "-")
+
 		// Create .beads directory
 		beadsDir := ".beads"
 		if err := os.MkdirAll(beadsDir, 0750); err != nil {