diff --git a/packages/plugin-kit/src/config-comment-parser.js b/packages/plugin-kit/src/config-comment-parser.js
index f22f97a9..f9a28223 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-kit/src/config-comment-parser.js
+++ b/packages/plugin-kit/src/config-comment-parser.js
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ export class ConfigCommentParser {
 		const items = /** @type {StringConfig} */ ({});
 
 		// Collapse whitespace around `:` and `,` to make parsing easier
-		const trimmedString = string.replace(/\s*([:,])\s*/gu, "$1");
+		const trimmedString = string
+			.trim()
+			.replace(/(?<!\s)\s*([:,])\s*/gu, "$1");
 
 		trimmedString.split(/\s|,+/u).forEach(name => {
 			if (!name) {
diff --git a/packages/plugin-kit/tests/config-comment-parser.test.js b/packages/plugin-kit/tests/config-comment-parser.test.js
index e9895dcd..549ee8ac 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-kit/tests/config-comment-parser.test.js
+++ b/packages/plugin-kit/tests/config-comment-parser.test.js
@@ -74,6 +74,55 @@ describe("ConfigCommentParser", () => {
 				b: null,
 			});
 		});
+
+		it("should return an empty object for an empty string", () => {
+			const code = "";
+			const result = commentParser.parseStringConfig(code, comment);
+
+			assert.deepStrictEqual(result, {});
+		});
+
+		it("should parse string config with one item, no value, and leading whitespace", () => {
+			const code = `${" ".repeat(100000)}a`;
+			const result = commentParser.parseStringConfig(code, comment);
+
+			assert.deepStrictEqual(result, {
+				a: null,
+			});
+		});
+
+		it("should parse string config with one item, no value, and trailing whitespace", () => {
+			const code = `a${" ".repeat(100000)}`;
+			const result = commentParser.parseStringConfig(code, comment);
+
+			assert.deepStrictEqual(result, {
+				a: null,
+			});
+		});
+
+		it("should parse string config with two items, no values, and whitespace in the middle", () => {
+			const code = `a${" ".repeat(100000)}b`;
+			const result = commentParser.parseStringConfig(code, comment);
+
+			assert.deepStrictEqual(result, {
+				a: null,
+				b: null,
+			});
+		});
+
+		it("should parse string config with multiple items with values separated by commas and lots of whitespace", () => {
+			const whitespace = " ".repeat(100000);
+			const code = `a: 1${whitespace},${whitespace}b: 2${whitespace},${whitespace}c: 3${whitespace},${whitespace}d: 4`;
+			const result = commentParser.parseStringConfig(code, comment);
+
+			assert.deepStrictEqual(result, {
+				a: "1",
+				b: "2",
+				c: "3",
+				d: "4",
+			});
+		});
+
 	});
 
 	describe("parseListConfig", () => {