diff --git a/specs/api/components/schemas/loading/TextLoadRequest.yaml b/specs/api/components/schemas/loading/TextLoadRequest.yaml
index 4ded87d5..447308d4 100644
--- a/specs/api/components/schemas/loading/TextLoadRequest.yaml
+++ b/specs/api/components/schemas/loading/TextLoadRequest.yaml
@@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ required:
 properties:
   text:
     type: string
-    description: Text content (base64 encoded)
-    format: byte
+    description: Text content, either raw text or base64 encoded for compatibility with older clients
     example: VGhpcyBpcyB0aGUgZG9jdW1lbnQgdGV4dC4uLg==
   id:
     type: string
diff --git a/specs/api/paths/flow/text-load.yaml b/specs/api/paths/flow/text-load.yaml
index 5f918a3a..08bfe47b 100644
--- a/specs/api/paths/flow/text-load.yaml
+++ b/specs/api/paths/flow/text-load.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ post:
     ## Text Load Overview
 
     Fire-and-forget document loading:
-    - **Input**: Text content (base64 encoded)
+    - **Input**: Text content (raw UTF-8 or base64 encoded)
     - **Process**: Chunk, embed, store
     - **Output**: None (202 Accepted)
 
@@ -26,7 +26,14 @@ post:
 
     ## Text Format
 
-    Text must be base64 encoded:
+    Text may be sent as raw UTF-8 text:
+    ```
+    {
+      "text": "Cancer survival: 2.74× higher hazard ratio"
+    }
+    ```
+
+    Older clients may still send base64 encoded text:
     ```
     text_content = "This is the document..."
     encoded = base64.b64encode(text_content.encode('utf-8'))
@@ -78,12 +85,12 @@ post:
           simpleLoad:
             summary: Load text document
             value:
-              text: VGhpcyBpcyB0aGUgZG9jdW1lbnQgdGV4dC4uLg==
+              text: This is the document text...
               id: doc-123
               user: alice
               collection: research
           withMetadata:
-            summary: Load with RDF metadata
+            summary: Load with RDF metadata using base64 text
             value:
               text: UXVhbnR1bSBjb21wdXRpbmcgdXNlcyBxdWFudHVtIG1lY2hhbmljcyBwcmluY2lwbGVzLi4u
               id: doc-456
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_gateway/test_text_document_translator.py b/tests/unit/test_gateway/test_text_document_translator.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f836eb2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_gateway/test_text_document_translator.py
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+"""
+Unit tests for text document gateway translation compatibility.
+"""
+
+import base64
+
+from trustgraph.messaging.translators.document_loading import TextDocumentTranslator
+
+
+class TestTextDocumentTranslator:
+    def test_to_pulsar_decodes_base64_text(self):
+        translator = TextDocumentTranslator()
+        payload = "Cancer survival: 2.74× higher hazard ratio"
+
+        msg = translator.to_pulsar(
+            {
+                "id": "doc-1",
+                "user": "alice",
+                "collection": "research",
+                "charset": "utf-8",
+                "text": base64.b64encode(payload.encode("utf-8")).decode("ascii"),
+            }
+        )
+
+        assert msg.metadata.id == "doc-1"
+        assert msg.metadata.user == "alice"
+        assert msg.metadata.collection == "research"
+        assert msg.text == payload.encode("utf-8")
+
+    def test_to_pulsar_accepts_raw_utf8_text(self):
+        translator = TextDocumentTranslator()
+        payload = "Cancer survival: 2.74× higher hazard ratio"
+
+        msg = translator.to_pulsar(
+            {
+                "charset": "utf-8",
+                "text": payload,
+            }
+        )
+
+        assert msg.text == payload.encode("utf-8")
+
+    def test_to_pulsar_falls_back_to_raw_non_base64_ascii(self):
+        translator = TextDocumentTranslator()
+        payload = "plain-text payload"
+
+        msg = translator.to_pulsar(
+            {
+                "charset": "utf-8",
+                "text": payload,
+            }
+        )
+
+        assert msg.text == payload.encode("utf-8")
diff --git a/trustgraph-base/trustgraph/messaging/translators/document_loading.py b/trustgraph-base/trustgraph/messaging/translators/document_loading.py
index 7c2a013f..51cda697 100644
--- a/trustgraph-base/trustgraph/messaging/translators/document_loading.py
+++ b/trustgraph-base/trustgraph/messaging/translators/document_loading.py
@@ -4,6 +4,29 @@ from ...schema import Document, TextDocument, Chunk, DocumentEmbeddings, ChunkEm
 from .base import SendTranslator
 
 
+def _decode_text_payload(payload: str | bytes, charset: str) -> str:
+    """
+    Decode text-load payloads.
+
+    Historical clients send base64-encoded text, but direct REST callers may
+    send raw UTF-8 text. Support both so Unicode text-load requests do not fail
+    at the gateway translation layer.
+    """
+    if isinstance(payload, bytes):
+        if not payload.isascii():
+            return payload.decode(charset)
+        candidate = payload.decode("ascii")
+    else:
+        if not payload.isascii():
+            return payload
+        candidate = payload
+
+    try:
+        return base64.b64decode(candidate, validate=True).decode(charset)
+    except (ValueError, UnicodeDecodeError):
+        return candidate
+
+
 class DocumentTranslator(SendTranslator):
     """Translator for Document schema objects (PDF docs etc.)"""
 
@@ -49,8 +72,7 @@ class TextDocumentTranslator(SendTranslator):
     def to_pulsar(self, data: Dict[str, Any]) -> TextDocument:
         charset = data.get("charset", "utf-8")
 
-        # Text is base64 encoded in input
-        text = base64.b64decode(data["text"]).decode(charset)
+        text = _decode_text_payload(data["text"], charset)
 
         from ...schema import Metadata
         return TextDocument(
@@ -169,4 +191,4 @@ class DocumentEmbeddingsTranslator(SendTranslator):
 
             result["metadata"] = metadata_dict
 
-        return result
\ No newline at end of file
+        return result