diff --git a/qa/_llm_telemetry_check.mjs b/qa/_llm_telemetry_check.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c63e1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qa/_llm_telemetry_check.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+// Isolated LLM telemetry check — uses a non-tool prompt + waits for the
+// 12s deadline so the timeout-or-error branch fires deterministically.
+import { chromium } from "playwright";
+
+const b = await chromium.launch({ headless: true });
+const ctx = await b.newContext({ viewport: { width: 1440, height: 900 } });
+const p = await ctx.newPage();
+const msgs = [];
+p.on("console", (m) => msgs.push({ type: m.type(), text: m.text() }));
+await ctx.addInitScript(() => localStorage.setItem("fm.canvas.tour.seen", String(Date.now())));
+
+await p.goto("https://canvas.flow-master.ai/", { waitUntil: "domcontentloaded" });
+await p.waitForTimeout(2500);
+await p.locator(".persona-chip").filter({ hasText: /Mariana/ }).click();
+await p.waitForSelector(".topbar", { timeout: 30000 });
+await p.waitForTimeout(2000);
+await p.locator(".tab").filter({ hasText: /Assistant/i }).first().click();
+await p.waitForSelector(".agent-composer textarea", { timeout: 15000 });
+await p.waitForTimeout(2000);
+
+// Three different non-tool prompts to make sure we hit the LLM fallback
+const prompts = [
+  "tell me a haiku",
+  "summarize what you can do for me",
+  "is the sky blue today",
+];
+for (const q of prompts) {
+  const ta = p.locator(".agent-composer textarea").first();
+  await ta.fill(q);
+  await ta.press("Enter");
+  await p.waitForTimeout(14000); // > 12s LLM deadline
+}
+
+const llm = msgs.filter((m) => m.text.includes("[llm]"));
+console.log("[llm] entries:", llm.length);
+for (const e of llm) console.log(`  [${e.type}] ${e.text.slice(0, 200)}`);
+
+const replies = await p.locator(".agent-turn-body").allTextContents();
+console.log("\nlast 3 replies:");
+for (const r of replies.slice(-3)) console.log("  -", r.slice(0, 160));
+
+await b.close();
diff --git a/qa/_wave3_verify.mjs b/qa/_wave3_verify.mjs
index 9aa5646..22b60d3 100644
--- a/qa/_wave3_verify.mjs
+++ b/qa/_wave3_verify.mjs
@@ -55,11 +55,13 @@ else fail("wave3_studio_draft_lands_via_split_post", `posts=${JSON.stringify(flo
 
 console.log("\n=== watch-out 2: LLM telemetry shows in console ===");
 await p.locator(".tab").filter({ hasText: /Assistant/i }).first().click();
-await p.waitForTimeout(3000);
+await p.waitForSelector(".agent-composer textarea", { timeout: 15000 });
+await p.waitForTimeout(2000);
 const txt = p.locator(".agent-composer textarea").first();
-await txt.fill("Briefly: what is EA2?");
+// Genuinely non-tool prompt so routeAgentInput falls through to llmFallback.
+await txt.fill("tell me a haiku about flowcharts");
 await txt.press("Enter");
-await p.waitForTimeout(10000);
+await p.waitForTimeout(14000);
 const llmConsoleEntries = consoleMsgs.filter(m =>
   m.type === "warning" || m.type === "info"
 ).filter(m => m.text.includes("[llm]"));
diff --git a/src/lib/agentTools.ts b/src/lib/agentTools.ts
index 3597604..c374914 100644
--- a/src/lib/agentTools.ts
+++ b/src/lib/agentTools.ts
@@ -103,9 +103,11 @@ const TOOLS: ToolDef[] = [
   {
     name: "send_chat",
     description: "Send a chat message to a teammate",
-    matcher: /^(message|tell|text|ask)\s+(.+?)\s+(that|about|:)\s+(.+)$/i,
+    // Recipient must be a single word (a name). Stops "tell me a haiku about X"
+    // from matching as message-target="me a haiku" / body="X".
+    matcher: /^(message|tell|text|ask)\s+([A-Za-z][A-Za-z'-]*)\s+(that|about|:)\s+(.+)$/i,
     async run(input, ctx) {
-      const m = input.match(/^(message|tell|text|ask)\s+(.+?)\s+(that|about|:)\s+(.+)$/i);
+      const m = input.match(/^(message|tell|text|ask)\s+([A-Za-z][A-Za-z'-]*)\s+(that|about|:)\s+(.+)$/i);
       if (!m) return { ok: false, display: "Try: message Mariana that the laptop quote is approved" };
       const target = m[2].toLowerCase();
       const body = m[4];
@@ -114,7 +116,7 @@ const TOOLS: ToolDef[] = [
         aisha: "hr-head@flow-master.ai", hr: "hr-head@flow-master.ai",
         rohan: "it-head@flow-master.ai", it: "it-head@flow-master.ai",
       };
-      const recipient = Object.entries(directory).find(([k]) => target.includes(k))?.[1];
+      const recipient = directory[target];
       if (!recipient) return { ok: false, display: `I don't know who "${target}" is. Try Mariana, Aisha, or Rohan.` };
       const threads = await chatApi.listThreads(ctx.userEmail);
       const existing = threads.find((t) => t.participants.includes(recipient) && t.participants.includes(ctx.userEmail));