diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 872cbb5f6..fa789eea5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,15 @@ Newest first. `Unreleased` is what is on `main` and not yet tagged.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Tool selection reads a skill choice the model wrapped in a code fence
+
+Before a run, the deployment's model picks which of a Bot's skills the message needs, so a Bot holding
+many tools is offered only the relevant ones. The request asks for bare JSON, but an endpoint that
+ignores `response_format`, as Anthropic's OpenAI-compatible one does, lets the model fence the object
+or lead with a sentence. Every such answer read as no answer, so the Bot was offered every tool it
+holds and the audit row said `unavailable`. The object is now read out of the answer, the way the
+router already reads its own. A bare JSON answer is read as before.
+
 ### A long message reaches the coworker it is for, and is recorded
 
 A message over 10,000 characters, such as a pasted email thread or log, was refused by the router
diff --git a/server/src/plugins/selection.ts b/server/src/plugins/selection.ts
index 9cbd766b8..1cd9314c1 100644
--- a/server/src/plugins/selection.ts
+++ b/server/src/plugins/selection.ts
@@ -128,9 +128,20 @@ export function readChosenSkills(
   answer: string,
   skills: readonly SelectableSkill[],
 ): string[] | null {
+  /*
+   * The object in the answer, not the answer as a whole.
+   *
+   * `response_format` asks for bare JSON and does not guarantee it: Anthropic's OpenAI-compatible
+   * endpoint ignores the field, and a model left to itself often fences its object or leads with a
+   * sentence. Parsed whole, every such answer read as a selector that could not say, and a Bot on
+   * that model was offered its entire catalogue on every run. The router reads its answer from the
+   * same completer this way already (`classify.ts`); an answer with no object in it is still null.
+   */
+  const object = answer.match(/\{[\s\S]*\}/);
+  if (!object) return null;
   let parsed: unknown;
   try {
-    parsed = JSON.parse(answer);
+    parsed = JSON.parse(object[0]);
   } catch {
     return null;
   }
diff --git a/server/tests/plugin-selection.test.ts b/server/tests/plugin-selection.test.ts
index 9ae8f77e3..776d0a061 100644
--- a/server/tests/plugin-selection.test.ts
+++ b/server/tests/plugin-selection.test.ts
@@ -114,6 +114,23 @@ describe("what gets offered", () => {
     expect(offered).toContain("drive/tool_0");
     expect(offered).toContain("slack/tool_0");
   });
+
+  test("a choice wrapped in a code fence still narrows, rather than reading as no answer", async () => {
+    const selection = await selectTools({
+      tools: manyTools,
+      skills,
+      text: "read my drive",
+      choose: async () =>
+        ["```json", JSON.stringify({ skills: ["drive-audit"] }), "```"].join(
+          "\n",
+        ),
+    });
+    expect(selection.reason).toBe("selected");
+    expect(selection.skills).toEqual(["drive-audit"]);
+    expect(selection.offered.map((entry) => entry.ref)).not.toContain(
+      "slack/tool_0",
+    );
+  });
 });
 
 describe("a declaration is not a grant", () => {
@@ -274,6 +291,20 @@ describe("reading pass one's answer", () => {
     expect(readChosenSkills("null", skills)).toBeNull();
     expect(readChosenSkills("{}", skills)).toBeNull();
     expect(readChosenSkills("not json", skills)).toBeNull();
+    expect(readChosenSkills("{skills: drive-audit}", skills)).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  test("a fenced or padded answer is read, the way the router reads its own", () => {
+    // `response_format` is a request, not a guarantee: an endpoint that ignores it, as Anthropic's
+    // OpenAI-compatible one does, lets the model wrap the object in a fence or a sentence.
+    const fenced = [
+      "```json",
+      JSON.stringify({ skills: ["drive-audit"] }),
+      "```",
+    ].join("\n");
+    expect(readChosenSkills(fenced, skills)).toEqual(["drive-audit"]);
+    const padded = `Here is the selection:\n${JSON.stringify({ skills: ["slack-digest"] })}`;
+    expect(readChosenSkills(padded, skills)).toEqual(["slack-digest"]);
   });
 
   test("an answer naming only unknown slugs is an empty choice, not a failure", () => {