diff --git a/draftlogs/7986_fix.md b/draftlogs/7986_fix.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..482e6eb38f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/draftlogs/7986_fix.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Fix the `node.pad` clamp warning in Sankey traces: it never fired after the `@plotly/d3-sankey` v0.12 upgrade because the layout getter now returns the configured padding rather than the effective (post-clamp) value; the warning now measures the laid-out node gaps and fires with the effective padding [[#7986](https://github.com/plotly/plotly.js/pull/7986)]
diff --git a/src/traces/sankey/render.js b/src/traces/sankey/render.js
index 83f8bbb2f98..093317e0bdc 100644
--- a/src/traces/sankey/render.js
+++ b/src/traces/sankey/render.js
@@ -90,8 +90,41 @@ function sankeyModel(layout, d, traceIndex) {
 
     var graph = sankey();
 
-    if(sankey.nodePadding() < nodePad) {
-        Lib.warn('node.pad was reduced to ', sankey.nodePadding(), ' to fit within the figure.');
+    /*
+     * Detect a clamped node.pad from the laid-out node positions rather than
+     * from `sankey.nodePadding()`: since @plotly/d3-sankey v0.12 the getter
+     * returns the *configured* value (the post-clamp padding is kept in an
+     * internal variable), so comparing against it never fires. Measuring the
+     * smallest gap between consecutive nodes sharing a column works for both
+     * @plotly/d3-sankey and @plotly/d3-sankey-circular.
+     */
+    var effectiveNodePad = null;
+    if(graph.nodes.length > 1) {
+        var colAttr = horizontal ? 'x0' : 'y0';
+        var posAttr = horizontal ? 'y0' : 'x0';
+        var columns = {};
+        graph.nodes.forEach(function(n) {
+            var ck = n[colAttr];
+            if(!columns[ck]) columns[ck] = [];
+            columns[ck].push(n);
+        });
+        Object.keys(columns).forEach(function(ck) {
+            var col = columns[ck].sort(function(a, b) { return a[posAttr] - b[posAttr]; });
+            for(var i = 1; i < col.length; i++) {
+                var gap = col[i][posAttr] - col[i - 1][posAttr];
+                if(effectiveNodePad === null || gap < effectiveNodePad) {
+                    effectiveNodePad = gap;
+                }
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    if(effectiveNodePad !== null && effectiveNodePad < nodePad) {
+        Lib.warn(
+            'node.pad was reduced to ',
+            Math.round(effectiveNodePad * 100) / 100,
+            ' to fit within the figure.'
+        );
     }
 
     // Counters for nested loops
diff --git a/test/jasmine/tests/sankey_test.js b/test/jasmine/tests/sankey_test.js
index d82ecdf9296..dbce9eb7422 100644
--- a/test/jasmine/tests/sankey_test.js
+++ b/test/jasmine/tests/sankey_test.js
@@ -389,6 +389,71 @@ describe('sankey tests', function () {
         });
     });
 
+    describe('node.pad clamp warning (issue 7832)', function() {
+        var gd;
+        beforeEach(function() {
+            gd = createGraphDiv();
+        });
+        afterEach(destroyGraphDiv);
+
+        function padWarnings() {
+            var warnings = [];
+            spyOn(Lib, 'warn').and.callFake(function(msg) {
+                warnings.push(msg);
+            });
+            return warnings;
+        }
+
+        it('fires when node.pad is clamped to fit the figure', function(done) {
+            var warnings = padWarnings();
+            var labels = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i'];
+            // 8 sibling nodes cannot fit in a ~300px-high domain with
+            // node.pad: 40 -> d3-sankey clamps the padding
+            Plotly.newPlot(gd, [{
+                type: 'sankey',
+                domain: { x: [0, 1], y: [0, 0.5] },
+                node: {
+                    label: labels,
+                    pad: 40,
+                    thickness: 15
+                },
+                link: {
+                    source: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
+                    target: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8],
+                    value: [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
+                }
+            }])
+                .then(function() {
+                    expect(warnings.length).toBe(1);
+                    expect(warnings[0]).toContain('node.pad was reduced');
+                })
+                .then(done, done.fail);
+        });
+
+        it('does not fire when node.pad fits', function(done) {
+            var warnings = padWarnings();
+
+            Plotly.newPlot(gd, [{
+                type: 'sankey',
+                domain: { x: [0, 1], y: [0, 1] },
+                node: {
+                    label: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'],
+                    pad: 20,
+                    thickness: 10
+                },
+                link: {
+                    source: [0, 0, 0],
+                    target: [1, 2, 3],
+                    value: [1, 1, 1]
+                }
+            }])
+                .then(function() {
+                    expect(warnings.length).toBe(0);
+                })
+                .then(done, done.fail);
+        });
+    });
+
     describe('lifecycle methods', function () {
         var gd;
         beforeEach(function () {