Say it the way she'd actually say it

Wording fixes from the review of the clarify + phrasing PRs.

- "На когда напомнить?" → "Когда?". After she has just been asked something,
  the long form is the phrasing of a form field, not of a person.
- A reminder now wants a subject as well as a time. "напомни в 11" had a time
  and nothing to say at 11, and she asked nothing at all — she now asks
  "О чём напомнить?". Subject first, since a reminder with no subject is not
  worth setting.
- The expiry notice is five phrasings picked at random instead of one fixed
  sentence. It is the line he hears every time he walks off mid-request, so it
  is the line that repeats most.
- The nudge prompt's ban on "обращения" is now "ласковые обращения". It was
  meant to forbid "милый"/"дорогой", not his name — "Ками, ноутбук на трёх
  процентах" is how she talks, and the eval's cringe check already only flags
  pet names.
- The nudge example no longer claims she plugged the laptop in. She has no
  hands and no smart plug; an example where she acts teaches the model to
  invent actions Maven never took.
- replySystem: "тепло" → "спокойно и без официальных формулировок". A one-word
  mood instruction a 1.7B can't act on, replaced with the behaviour meant.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01CGeSZxh1DCtRxmFVSYVGvJ

TALK-EVAL-31-07-2026.md

@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+# Conversational phrasing eval — 31-07-2026
+
+Every score measured tonight, on the three paths the nudge eval never touched:
+chat, query-with-notes, and general knowledge.
+
+**Short version: the plumbing got fixed and the score barely moved.** Grammar and
+Russian prompts together took the composite from ~9 to ~14 of 27. Everything
+still failing is the model not knowing things or not holding a constraint, and
+prompting is out of levers. Settles the measurement half of Vikunja #395 / #398 /
+#400.
+
+## How to reproduce
+
+```sh
+# llama-server: -c 4096 -ngl 99 -t 6, model /mnt/hdd1/llms/qwen3.5/Qwen3.5-0.8B.Q4_K_M.gguf
+MAVEN_LLM_URL=http://127.0.0.1:18099 no_proxy=127.0.0.1,localhost \
+  deps/go/go/bin/go test -count=1 -timeout 40m \
+  -run TestLLMTalkBaseline ./internal/phraser/eval/ -v
+```
+
+Three runs per configuration, always. The fixture is 27 cases, so one reply
+changing moves the composite by 3.7 points — a single run cannot tell a real
+change from sampling noise. This was learned the expensive way: an earlier claim
+that "one nudge case fails every run" turned out to be three different cases
+across three runs.
+
+**Run the box otherwise idle.** See the contamination note at the bottom.
+
+## Composite, per configuration
+
+| config | overall /27 | chat /9 | query /9 | knowledge /9 | canned fallbacks |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| baseline, no grammar | 7, 12, 7 | 1, 1, 0 | 2, 4, 2 | 4, 7, 5 | 0, 0, 0 |
+| + GBNF grammar (#398) | 14, 15, 8 | 1, 3, 0 | 5, 6, 3 | 8, 6, 5 | 0, 0, 0 |
+| + Russian prompts (#400) | 11, 17, 15 | 1, 5, 3 | 5, 6, 8 | 5, 6, 4 | 0, 0, 0 |
+| + truncation fix, 1000ch/768tok | 12, 13, 10 | 2, 2, 1 | 7, 7, 5 | 3, 4, 4 | 3, 3, 6 |
+| + rebalanced, 600ch/1024tok | **void — contaminated** | | | | |
+
+"Canned fallbacks" counts replies that came back as the hardcoded `"не знаю."`
+or `"поговорили."`. It is not a check, it is a health signal: those strings mean
+the phraser gave up, and the eval scores them as ordinary bad replies.
+
+## Per-check
+
+| check | no grammar | + grammar | + RU prompts | + truncation fix |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| nonempty | 27, 27, 27 | 27, 27, 27 | 27, 27, 27 | 27, 27, 27 |
+| ellipsis | 20, 19, 23 | 27, 27, 27 | 27, 27, 27 | 27, 27, 27 |
+| lang | 13, 16, 15 | 23, 26, 26 | 25, 26, 25 | 26, 27, 27 |
+| feminine | — | — | 25, 24, 26 | 25, 25, 27 |
+| address | — | — | 21, 22, 22 | 22, 21, 22 |
+| ontopic | — | — | 17, 24, 18 | 17, 19, 14 |
+
+`nonempty` reading 27/27 everywhere is not good news — it was a broken check.
+It tested for a non-blank string, so replies of literally `{` and `"15-16"`
+passed it. Fixed on `overnight/fix-truncation`; it needs a letter now.
+
+## What each change actually bought
+
+**GBNF grammar (#398) — the biggest single win.** Qwen3.5-0.8B writes
+`Thinking Process:` as plain text with no tags, `stripThink` only handles
+`</think>`, so the JSON never closed and the plain-text fallback shipped the
+literal reasoning. `ellipsis` went 20→27 and `lang` 13→26. The router had been
+using a grammar for ages; the phraser asking nicely in the prompt was the
+oversight.
+
+**Russian prompts (#400) — modest, plus a large latency win.** Chat 1.3→3.0
+average, query 4.7→6.3, knowledge 6.3→5.0. All inside the run-to-run spread, so
+"probably better on the paths it targeted, not provable in three runs". p50
+latency dropped from ~11.5s to ~2.3s and that part is consistent across all
+three runs — shorter prompts, and she stopped emitting English reasoning first.
+
+**Truncation fix — necessary, and did not help the score.** Two real bugs
+(replies of `{`, and a `nonempty` check that passed them), both fixed, and the
+composite went nowhere. A complete rambling wrong answer fails the same checks a
+truncated one did. Worth doing anyway: the daemon was shipping `{` to a
+text-to-speech voice.
+
+## The truncation bug, since the cause was counter-intuitive
+
+The grammar's `string ::= ... {0,400}` rule was the cause, not the token cap.
+Measured against Qwen3.5-0.8B at three caps — 256, 768 and 2048 — the reply came
+back **exactly 400 characters every time, cut mid-word** (`"Нужно записать и,"`).
+
+Then I raised the bound to 1000 while the cap was 768 tokens and made it worse:
+Russian runs ~1.5 characters per token here, so generation died on the *token*
+cap instead, mid-object, and the new guard correctly refused it and shipped
+`"не знаю."` — 3, 3 and 6 fallbacks per run, from zero. **The two limits have to
+agree.** 600 characters needs ~400 tokens; the cap is 1024.
+
+## Where the remaining failures live
+
+`address` is stuck at 21-22 of 27 and `ontopic` at 14-19. Both resist prompting.
+
+**The prompt now explicitly forbids exactly what she does.** It says never "вы",
+use the singular — and she writes `вашей`, `подождите`, `делаете`, `хотите`,
+`напишите`. Telling a 0.8B "never do X" does not work. Same for
+`feminine`: `я готов`, `я понял`, `я нашел`, `я заметил`, `я сказал`.
+
+**Some of `ontopic` is the fixture, not the model.** `chat-how-are-you` got
+`"Привет! Я здесь, чтобы поговорить. Как дела сегодня?"` — a fine reply that
+fails because `want_any` is `[норм, хорош, порядк, тут, работ]`. It fails in
+every run, so it inflates the count. The `ontopic` column currently measures the
+fixture as much as the model. Not fixed yet, deliberately: changing it would
+break comparability with the runs above.
+
+**Two replies worth reading, because they are not fixable by prompting:**
+
+- Thunder and lightning: *"Скорость молнии — 8-10 тысяч километров в секунду, но
+  звук — 300 метров в секунду, что делает молнию громче."* Confidently wrong,
+  and it concludes lightning is *louder* rather than sound being *slower*.
+- "расскажи обо мне": *"Ты — прекрасное существо, с душой и вниманием… Спасибо за
+  твою улыбку… О тебе — заповедь любви."* Sycophantic filler, zero information,
+  and precisely the "not a relationship" non-goal.
+- Boiling an egg: `"15-16"` one run, `"1"` another. No unit, wrong number.
+
+The first argues for reading instead of recalling (#403 — Kiwix retrieval scores
+8/8 on the same questions given English keywords). The second and third argue
+for templates on the paths where correctness matters (#392).
+
+## Contamination note — how the last row got voided
+
+I started the query-rewrite agent against the same llama-server the sweep was
+using, and assumed contention would only affect latency. It did not. The
+knowledge path collapsed to 0 of 9 with eight canned `"не знаю."` replies, p95
+tripled to 23.7s, and **the report still said "0 errors"**.
+
+That is Vikunja #397, and it is worse than filed: a merely *busy* server
+produces a clean-looking report with a third of the fixture silently answering
+`"не знаю."`. `PhraseChat` and `PhraseQuery` swallow every failure and return a
+hardcoded string, so infrastructure trouble is indistinguishable from bad
+phrasing in the score. The talk test guards the *start* and *end* of a run with
+a model check, which catches a dead server but not a loaded one.
+
+**Until #397 is fixed, treat any run made on a busy box as void.**
+
+## Next
+
+- Re-run 600ch/1024tok clean, to fill the void row.
+- Score `Qwen3.5-2B-UD-Q4_K_XL` (already at `/mnt/hdd1/llms/qwen3.5/`, never
+  measured) on this fixture and the router fixture. Not the 4B — too big for
+  this box, owner's call.
+- Newer sub-500M candidates (LFM2.5 200M/300M) are worth a run for routing.
+  Note `MODEL-BAKEOFF-31-07-2026.md` found LFM2.5-**1.2B** worse than
+  Qwen3.5-0.8B at Russian routing and 2.4× slower — but those are a different,
+  older generation, so that result does not predict the small ones.
+- Fix `chat-how-are-you`'s `want_any`, and re-baseline once, so `ontopic`
+  measures the model.
+- #397 first if anything, since it decides whether any of the above is
+  trustworthy.

cmd/mavend/clarify.go

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"log"
+	"math/rand"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/dialogue"
@@ -21,8 +23,12 @@ const clarifyTTL = 90 * time.Second
 // raw utterance, chat and system have nothing to fill in. For those a clarify
 // decision keeps the canned "не поняла" reply — inventing a question for noise
 // is worse than admitting she missed it.
+// A reminder wants BOTH what to remind about and when. Subject first: "напомни
+// в 11" has a time and nothing to say at 11, and a reminder with no subject is
+// not worth setting. Order here is the order she asks in — she still only asks
+// about the first one missing.
 var wantedSlots = map[router.Intent][]dialogue.Slot{
-	router.IntentReminder: {dialogue.SlotTime},
+	router.IntentReminder: {dialogue.SlotText, dialogue.SlotTime},
 	router.IntentFact:     {dialogue.SlotKey},
 	router.IntentAct:      {dialogue.SlotFn},
 }
@@ -35,7 +41,8 @@ var wantedSlots = map[router.Intent][]dialogue.Slot{
 // questions, so there is no gender agreement to get wrong; the feminine
 // self-reference lives in the reply she gives when she drops the request.
 var clarifyQuestions = map[dialogue.Slot]string{
-	dialogue.SlotTime: "На когда напомнить?",
+	dialogue.SlotTime: "Когда?",
+	dialogue.SlotText: "О чём напомнить?",
 	dialogue.SlotKey:  "Что записать?",
 	dialogue.SlotFn:   "Что сделать?",
 }
@@ -45,11 +52,55 @@ var clarifyQuestions = map[dialogue.Slot]string{
 // landed. Feminine self-reference ("поняла"), as everywhere.
 const clarifyGaveUp = "Прости, я не поняла. Скажи, пожалуйста, по-другому."
 
-// clarifyExpired — his answer came after the TTL, so the parked request is
-// already gone. Same tone as clarifyGaveUp, different reason: too much time
+// clarifyExpiredVariants — his answer came after the TTL, so the parked request
+// is already gone. Same tone as clarifyGaveUp, different reason: too much time
 // passed, not "I did not understand". Feminine self-reference ("ждала",
 // "отпустила"); he is addressed with a plain imperative.
-const clarifyExpired = "Прости, я слишком долго ждала ответа и отпустила прошлую просьбу. Если она ещё нужна, скажи заново."
+//
+// Five phrasings, not one. This is the line he hears whenever he walks off
+// mid-request, so it is the line that repeats most — and the same sentence every
+// time is what makes a house assistant sound like a kiosk. They all carry the
+// same two facts (the old request is gone; say it again if it still matters),
+// because the wording may vary and the meaning may not.
+//
+// Fixed templates rather than model output, for the same reason as
+// clarifyQuestions: this text has to be right every time, and it is not worth a
+// generation to say something this small.
+var clarifyExpiredVariants = []string{
+	"Прости, я слишком долго ждала ответа и отпустила прошлую просьбу. Если она ещё нужна, скажи заново.",
+	"Кажется, прошлая просьба уже не важна — я её отпустила. Если я ошибаюсь, повтори.",
+	"Ты как-то резко замолчал, и я не стала ждать дальше. Если та просьба ещё нужна, скажи заново.",
+	"Я не дождалась ответа и убрала прошлую просьбу. Повтори, если она всё ещё нужна.",
+	"Столько времени прошло, что я отпустила прошлую просьбу. Скажи заново, если она в силе.",
+}
+
+// clarifyExpiredLine picks one of them at random.
+func clarifyExpiredLine() string {
+	return clarifyExpiredVariants[rand.Intn(len(clarifyExpiredVariants))]
+}
+
+// isClarifyExpired reports whether s opens with any of the expiry lines. The
+// notice is glued in front of this turn's reply (see withNotice), so a caller
+// checking for it has to match a prefix, not the whole string.
+func isClarifyExpired(s string) bool {
+	for _, v := range clarifyExpiredVariants {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(s, v) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// trimClarifyExpired strips a leading expiry notice, leaving this turn's actual
+// reply. "" ⇒ the notice was the whole thing.
+func trimClarifyExpired(s string) string {
+	for _, v := range clarifyExpiredVariants {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(s, v) {
+			return strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(s, v))
+		}
+	}
+	return strings.TrimSpace(s)
+}
 
 // clarifyExpiredNotice returns that line when a parked question had just timed
 // out, and "" when nothing was parked. Call it right after
@@ -63,7 +114,7 @@ func (h *reactiveHandler) clarifyExpiredNotice() string {
 		return ""
 	}
 	log.Printf("voice: clarify — parked question expired, telling him and routing the words fresh")
-	return clarifyExpired
+	return clarifyExpiredLine()
 }
 
 // withNotice glues the expiry notice in front of this turn's reply. One turn

cmd/mavend/clarify_test.go

@@ -56,10 +56,13 @@ func TestClarifyQuestionForMissingSlot(t *testing.T) {
 		want  string
 		asked bool
 	}{
-		{"reminder without a time", clarifyDec(router.IntentReminder, router.Slots{Text: "напомни позвонить маме"}, "напомни позвонить маме"), "На когда напомнить?", true},
+		{"reminder without a time", clarifyDec(router.IntentReminder, router.Slots{Text: "напомни позвонить маме"}, "напомни позвонить маме"), "Когда?", true},
 		{"fact without a key", clarifyDec(router.IntentFact, router.Slots{Text: "запиши"}, "запиши"), "Что записать?", true},
 		{"act without a fn", clarifyDec(router.IntentAct, router.Slots{Text: "сделай это"}, "сделай это"), "Что сделать?", true},
-		{"reminder that already has a time", clarifyDec(router.IntentReminder, router.Slots{HasTime: true}, "напомни в 11"), "", false},
+		// A time with nothing to say at that time is still half a reminder, so
+		// the subject is what she asks about — not silence.
+		{"reminder that has a time but no subject", clarifyDec(router.IntentReminder, router.Slots{HasTime: true}, "напомни в 11"), "О чём напомнить?", true},
+		{"reminder that has both", clarifyDec(router.IntentReminder, router.Slots{Text: "позвонить маме", HasTime: true}, "напомни в 11 позвонить маме"), "", false},
 		{"chat is never worth a question", clarifyDec(router.IntentChat, router.Slots{Text: "мгм"}, "мгм"), "", false},
 		{"query is never worth a question", clarifyDec(router.IntentQuery, router.Slots{Text: "а"}, "а"), "", false},
 	}
@@ -78,7 +81,7 @@ func TestClarifyReminderCompletesOnAnswer(t *testing.T) {
 	h, st, _ := newClarifyHandler(t)
 
 	question, asked := h.askClarify(clarifyDec(router.IntentReminder, router.Slots{Text: "напомни позвонить маме"}, "напомни позвонить маме"))
-	if !asked || question != "На когда напомнить?" {
+	if !asked || question != "Когда?" {
 		t.Fatalf("expected the time question, got %q asked=%v", question, asked)
 	}
 
@@ -152,7 +155,7 @@ func TestClarifyAsksThreeTimesThenSaysSo(t *testing.T) {
 		if !handled {
 			t.Fatalf("answer %d must be consumed as an answer", i)
 		}
-		if reply != "На когда напомнить?" {
+		if reply != "Когда?" {
 			t.Fatalf("attempt %d should ask again, got %q", i, reply)
 		}
 		if h.clarifyStore.Get(voiceDialogueID, h.now()) == nil {
@@ -304,17 +307,17 @@ func TestClarifyExpiryIsAnnouncedAndWordsStillRoute(t *testing.T) {
 	*now = now.Add(clarifyTTL + time.Second)
 
 	reply := h.handleText(ctx, "как дела")
-	if !strings.HasPrefix(reply, clarifyExpired) {
+	if !isClarifyExpired(reply) {
 		t.Fatalf("expired question must be announced first, got %q", reply)
 	}
-	if strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(reply, clarifyExpired)) == "" {
+	if trimClarifyExpired(reply) == "" {
 		t.Fatalf("the new words must still be answered, got only the notice: %q", reply)
 	}
 	if h.clarifyStore.Get(voiceDialogueID, h.now()) != nil {
 		t.Fatal("the expired question must be gone")
 	}
 	// The notice is said once, not on every later utterance.
-	if reply := h.handleText(ctx, "как дела"); strings.Contains(reply, clarifyExpired) {
+	if reply := h.handleText(ctx, "как дела"); isClarifyExpired(reply) {
 		t.Fatalf("notice repeated on a later turn: %q", reply)
 	}
 }

cmd/mavend/replier_llm.go

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func newLLMReplier(c completer, block func() string) *llmReplier {
 	return &llmReplier{c: c, stub: voice.NewStubReplier(), block: block}
 }
 
-const replySystem = `Ты — Maven, домашняя ассистентка (о себе — в женском роде). Владелец — мужчина, говоришь с ним на "ты", в единственном числе; никогда не "вы"/"ваш" и не "он"/"его". Подтверди действие РОВНО ОДНИМ коротким предложением (≤120 символов), тепло и по-русски. Не задавай вопросов, не повторяй слова, не добавляй ничего после точки. Отвечай ТОЛЬКО одним объектом JSON с полями "response" (текст) и "mood" (ровно одно из: neutral, happy, thinking, tired, confused).
+const replySystem = `Ты — Maven, домашняя ассистентка (о себе — в женском роде). Владелец — мужчина, говоришь с ним на "ты", в единственном числе; никогда не "вы"/"ваш" и не "он"/"его". Подтверди действие РОВНО ОДНИМ коротким предложением (≤120 символов), по-русски, спокойно и без официальных формулировок. Не задавай вопросов, не повторяй слова, не добавляй ничего после точки. Отвечай ТОЛЬКО одним объектом JSON с полями "response" (текст) и "mood" (ровно одно из: neutral, happy, thinking, tired, confused).
 Пример: {"response": "Записала, что ты выпил стакан воды.", "mood": "neutral"}
 Никогда не пиши "..." в поле response.`
 

internal/kiwix/client.go

@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+// Package kiwix reads a local Kiwix server (offline Wikipedia and friends).
+//
+// Why: the resident model is a 0.8B and invents facts. Letting her read a local
+// article snippet beats letting her recall. Nothing here talks to the internet;
+// the Kiwix server is on the same box.
+//
+// This is search only. Full articles are ~100KB of HTML, far too big for a 4096
+// token context, so the unit of context is the search snippet (~500 chars).
+package kiwix
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/xml"
+	"fmt"
+	"html"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
+	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Result is one search hit.
+type Result struct {
+	Title     string // article title, e.g. "Rayleigh scattering"
+	Path      string // e.g. /content/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2026-02/Rayleigh_scattering
+	Snippet   string // plain text, tags stripped, entities decoded
+	WordCount int    // 0 if the server did not say
+}
+
+// Client is a Kiwix HTTP client. Boring on purpose: no retries, no cache.
+type Client struct {
+	base string
+	http *http.Client
+}
+
+// New makes a client for a Kiwix base URL like http://127.0.0.1:8034.
+func New(baseURL string) *Client {
+	return &Client{
+		base: strings.TrimRight(baseURL, "/"),
+		http: &http.Client{Timeout: 10 * time.Second},
+	}
+}
+
+// Search runs a keyword search in one ZIM (book) and returns up to limit hits.
+//
+// Ranking is keyword based, not semantic: "Rayleigh scattering" finds the right
+// article, "why is the sky blue" finds a TV episode. Pass keywords, not questions.
+func (c *Client) Search(ctx context.Context, pattern, book string, limit int) ([]Result, error) {
+	if limit <= 0 {
+		limit = 5
+	}
+	q := url.Values{}
+	q.Set("pattern", pattern)
+	q.Set("books.name", book)
+	q.Set("format", "xml")
+	q.Set("pageLength", strconv.Itoa(limit))
+
+	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, c.base+"/search?"+q.Encode(), nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	resp, err := c.http.Do(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("kiwix search: http %d", resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+	return ParseSearchRSS(resp.Body)
+}
+
+// rss mirrors just the bits of the RSS 2.0 reply we use.
+type rss struct {
+	Items []struct {
+		Title string `xml:"title"`
+		Link  string `xml:"link"`
+		// innerxml keeps the <b> match markers so we can strip them ourselves.
+		Description struct {
+			Inner string `xml:",innerxml"`
+		} `xml:"description"`
+		WordCount string `xml:"wordCount"`
+	} `xml:"channel>item"`
+}
+
+var tagRE = regexp.MustCompile(`<[^>]*>`)
+
+// ParseSearchRSS turns a Kiwix search reply into results. Exported so the parser
+// is testable from a captured response, with no server running.
+func ParseSearchRSS(r io.Reader) ([]Result, error) {
+	var doc rss
+	if err := xml.NewDecoder(r).Decode(&doc); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("kiwix search: bad xml: %w", err)
+	}
+	out := make([]Result, 0, len(doc.Items))
+	for _, it := range doc.Items {
+		n, _ := strconv.Atoi(strings.ReplaceAll(it.WordCount, ",", ""))
+		out = append(out, Result{
+			Title:     strings.TrimSpace(it.Title),
+			Path:      strings.TrimSpace(it.Link),
+			Snippet:   plainText(it.Description.Inner),
+			WordCount: n,
+		})
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// plainText drops markup and decodes entities, leaving text a model can read.
+func plainText(s string) string {
+	s = tagRE.ReplaceAllString(s, "")
+	s = html.UnescapeString(s)
+	return strings.TrimSpace(strings.Join(strings.Fields(s), " "))
+}

internal/kiwix/kiwix_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package kiwix
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// A real reply from the live server, trimmed to two items.
+const sampleRSS = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<rss version="2.0" xmlns:opensearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
+  <channel>
+    <title>Search: Rayleigh scattering</title>
+    <opensearch:totalResults>800</opensearch:totalResults>
+    <item>
+      <title>Rayleigh scattering</title>
+      <link>/content/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2026-02/Rayleigh_scattering</link>
+      <description><b>Rayleigh</b> scattering causes the blue color of the sky &amp; yellow colors near the Sun.[1]</description>
+      <book><title>Wikipedia</title></book>
+      <wordCount>2,818</wordCount>
+    </item>
+    <item>
+      <title>Hyper–Rayleigh scattering</title>
+      <link>/content/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2026-02/Hyper%E2%80%93Rayleigh_scattering</link>
+      <description>...<b>Rayleigh</b> scattering" is a nonlinear optical counterpart.</description>
+      <book><title>Wikipedia</title></book>
+      <wordCount>914</wordCount>
+    </item>
+  </channel>
+</rss>`
+
+func TestParseSearchRSS(t *testing.T) {
+	got, err := ParseSearchRSS(strings.NewReader(sampleRSS))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(got) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("want 2 results, got %d", len(got))
+	}
+	if got[0].Title != "Rayleigh scattering" {
+		t.Errorf("title = %q", got[0].Title)
+	}
+	if got[0].Path != "/content/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2026-02/Rayleigh_scattering" {
+		t.Errorf("path = %q", got[0].Path)
+	}
+	if got[0].WordCount != 2818 {
+		t.Errorf("wordCount = %d", got[0].WordCount)
+	}
+	want := "Rayleigh scattering causes the blue color of the sky & yellow colors near the Sun.[1]"
+	if got[0].Snippet != want {
+		t.Errorf("snippet = %q, want %q", got[0].Snippet, want)
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(got[1].Snippet, "<b>") {
+		t.Errorf("second snippet still has tags: %q", got[1].Snippet)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseSearchRSSBadXML(t *testing.T) {
+	if _, err := ParseSearchRSS(strings.NewReader("not xml at all")); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("want an error on junk input")
+	}
+}
+
+// Opt-in: needs a live Kiwix server. CI has none.
+// MAVEN_KIWIX_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8034 no_proxy=127.0.0.1,localhost go test -run Retrieval -v ./internal/kiwix/
+func TestRetrievalEval(t *testing.T) {
+	base := os.Getenv("MAVEN_KIWIX_URL")
+	if base == "" {
+		t.Skip("set MAVEN_KIWIX_URL to run the retrieval eval")
+	}
+	noProxyLoopback(t)
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 2*time.Minute)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	rep, err := RunRetrievalEval(ctx, New(base), 5)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("eval: %v", err)
+	}
+	// No pass bar on purpose: the number is the finding.
+	t.Log("\n" + rep.String() + rep.Detail())
+}
+
+// noProxyLoopback stops the box's SOCKS bridge from eating loopback requests.
+func noProxyLoopback(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("no_proxy", "127.0.0.1,localhost")
+	t.Setenv("NO_PROXY", "127.0.0.1,localhost")
+}

internal/kiwix/knowledge_v1.json

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+{
+  "name": "kiwix-knowledge-v1",
+  "book": "wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2026-02",
+  "note": "The 9 knowledge cases from internal/phraser/eval/talk_v1.json. Queries are hand-written English keywords on purpose: Kiwix ranks by keyword, not meaning, so a natural question fails. Writing them by hand separates 'retrieval is broken' from 'the model writes bad queries'.",
+  "cases": [
+    {
+      "id": "know-sky-blue",
+      "question": "почему небо синее?",
+      "query": "Rayleigh scattering sky blue",
+      "want_titles": ["Rayleigh scattering", "Diffuse sky radiation"]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-boil-egg",
+      "question": "сколько варить яйцо вкрутую?",
+      "query": "boiled egg cooking",
+      "want_titles": ["Boiled egg", "Egg as food"]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-ssd-vs-hdd",
+      "question": "чем ssd отличается от hdd?",
+      "query": "solid-state drive",
+      "want_titles": ["Solid-state drive", "Hard disk drive"]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-cat-purr",
+      "question": "почему кошки мурчат?",
+      "query": "cat purr",
+      "want_titles": ["Purr", "Cat communication"]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-hiccups",
+      "question": "как быстро избавиться от икоты?",
+      "query": "hiccup",
+      "want_titles": ["Hiccup"]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-polite-form",
+      "question": "не могли бы вы объяснить, что такое vpn?",
+      "query": "virtual private network",
+      "want_titles": ["Virtual private network"]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-dont-know",
+      "question": "как зовут моего соседа снизу?",
+      "query": "name of my downstairs neighbour",
+      "want_titles": [],
+      "expect_miss": true,
+      "note": "Unanswerable by design. Retrieval SHOULD find nothing useful. Counted as a hit only when nothing relevant comes back."
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-water-per-day",
+      "question": "сколько воды в день надо пить?",
+      "query": "human daily water requirement drinking",
+      "want_titles": ["Drinking water", "Water", "Dehydration", "Hydration"]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "know-thunder-delay",
+      "question": "почему гром слышно позже молнии?",
+      "query": "thunder speed of sound lightning",
+      "want_titles": ["Thunder", "Lightning"]
+    }
+  ]
+}

internal/kiwix/retrieval_eval.go

@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+package kiwix
+
+// This scores retrieval alone: no LLM. For each general-knowledge question we
+// hand-write English keywords and ask whether the article that would answer it
+// comes back in the top N hits. If this score is low, reading Wikipedia cannot
+// help the model no matter how good the prompt is.
+//
+// The unanswerable case (know-dont-know) is not scored. Whether the junk it
+// returns is "nothing useful" is a human judgement, so the report just prints
+// the titles and leaves the score to the 8 answerable cases.
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	_ "embed"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+//go:embed knowledge_v1.json
+var knowledgeFixtureJSON []byte
+
+// EvalCase — one question with hand-written keywords.
+type EvalCase struct {
+	ID         string   `json:"id"`
+	Question   string   `json:"question"`
+	Query      string   `json:"query"`
+	WantTitles []string `json:"want_titles"`
+	ExpectMiss bool     `json:"expect_miss"`
+}
+
+type fixture struct {
+	Name  string     `json:"name"`
+	Book  string     `json:"book"`
+	Cases []EvalCase `json:"cases"`
+}
+
+// Outcome — what one case retrieved.
+type Outcome struct {
+	Case   EvalCase
+	Titles []string // titles of the top N hits, in rank order
+	Rank   int      // 1-based rank of the first wanted title, 0 if none
+	Err    error
+}
+
+// Hit is true when a wanted title came back.
+func (o Outcome) Hit() bool { return o.Rank > 0 }
+
+// Report — the score plus per-case detail.
+type Report struct {
+	Name     string
+	Book     string
+	TopN     int
+	Scored   int // answerable cases
+	Hits     int
+	Errors   int
+	Outcomes []Outcome
+}
+
+// Accuracy over the answerable cases.
+func (r Report) Accuracy() float64 {
+	if r.Scored == 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return float64(r.Hits) / float64(r.Scored)
+}
+
+// RunRetrievalEval searches for every fixture case.
+func RunRetrievalEval(ctx context.Context, c *Client, topN int) (Report, error) {
+	var f fixture
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(knowledgeFixtureJSON, &f); err != nil {
+		return Report{}, err
+	}
+	rep := Report{Name: f.Name, Book: f.Book, TopN: topN}
+	for _, cs := range f.Cases {
+		res, err := c.Search(ctx, cs.Query, f.Book, topN)
+		o := Outcome{Case: cs, Err: err}
+		if err != nil {
+			rep.Errors++
+		}
+		for i, hit := range res {
+			o.Titles = append(o.Titles, hit.Title)
+			if o.Rank == 0 && matches(cs.WantTitles, hit.Title) {
+				o.Rank = i + 1
+			}
+		}
+		if !cs.ExpectMiss {
+			rep.Scored++
+			if o.Hit() {
+				rep.Hits++
+			}
+		}
+		rep.Outcomes = append(rep.Outcomes, o)
+	}
+	return rep, nil
+}
+
+func matches(want []string, title string) bool {
+	for _, w := range want {
+		if strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSpace(title), w) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// String — the headline number.
+func (r Report) String() string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "%s: %d/%d answerable questions retrieve a wanted article in top %d (%.1f%%), %d errors\n",
+		r.Name, r.Hits, r.Scored, r.TopN, 100*r.Accuracy(), r.Errors)
+	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "  book: %s\n", r.Book)
+	return b.String()
+}
+
+// Detail — per case: what was asked, what was searched, what came back.
+func (r Report) Detail() string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	for _, o := range r.Outcomes {
+		mark := "MISS"
+		switch {
+		case o.Case.ExpectMiss:
+			mark = "n/a "
+		case o.Hit():
+			mark = fmt.Sprintf("hit@%d", o.Rank)
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "  %-6s %-20s q=%q\n", mark, o.Case.ID, o.Case.Query)
+		if o.Err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         error: %v\n", o.Err)
+			continue
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         got: %s\n", strings.Join(o.Titles, " | "))
+	}
+	return b.String()
+}

internal/kiwix/rewrite.go

@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@
+package kiwix
+
+// Turning a Russian question into an English Kiwix search.
+//
+// Kiwix ranks by keyword, not by meaning. "why is the sky blue" returns a TV
+// episode; "Rayleigh scattering sky blue" returns the right article. So the
+// model's job here is NOT translation — it is naming the English article the
+// answer lives in.
+//
+// The output space is a handful of words, so it is worth locking down hard: a
+// GBNF grammar for the shape, a tiny token cap, and a cleanup pass that throws
+// away anything odd rather than handing junk to Kiwix.
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"unicode"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/llm"
+)
+
+// Completer — the LLM seam, so tests can fake it. *llm.Client satisfies it.
+type Completer interface {
+	Complete(ctx context.Context, r llm.Req) (string, error)
+}
+
+// queryGrammar — one JSON object holding 1..6 keyword words. Latin letters,
+// digits and hyphens only, so the model physically cannot answer the question
+// or reply in Russian.
+//
+// Why the JSON wrapper: this model always thinks out loud and this llama-server
+// build ignores the thinking switch (see ROUTING-EVAL-31-07-2026.md). A bare
+// word-list grammar just captured the reasoning — every case came back as
+// "Let me analyze this request carefully". Demanding JSON, like routeGrammar and
+// responseGrammar already do, gives the reasoning nowhere to go.
+const queryGrammar = `
+root ::= "{" ws "\"query\"" ws ":" ws "\"" word (" " word){0,5} "\"" ws "}"
+word ::= [A-Za-z0-9] [A-Za-z0-9-]{0,23}
+ws   ::= [ \t\n]*
+`
+
+// rewriteSystem — asks for search keywords, not an answer and not a translation.
+const rewriteSystem = `You turn a question into a search query for English Wikipedia.
+
+Rules:
+- Output ONLY English search keywords. Never an answer, never an explanation.
+- Do NOT translate the sentence. Name the thing the answer is about.
+- The output must be a noun phrase, like a Wikipedia article title.
+- Never use question words: no why, how, what, when, which, "how much",
+  "how long", "how to", "vs", "reason", "difference".
+- 2 to 4 words.
+
+Reply with JSON: {"query":"<keywords>"}
+
+Good:
+"почему листья желтеют осенью?" -> {"query":"leaf senescence autumn"}
+"как работает микроволновка?" -> {"query":"microwave oven"}
+"не могли бы вы объяснить, что такое блокчейн?" -> {"query":"blockchain"}
+"сколько живут собаки?" -> {"query":"dog lifespan"}
+"как избавиться от комаров в квартире?" -> {"query":"mosquito control"}
+"чем чай отличается от кофе?" -> {"query":"tea"}
+
+Only JSON, no explanation.`
+
+// maxQueryTokens — the output is a few words plus the JSON wrapper. A tight cap
+// is the cheapest guard against the model rambling into an answer.
+const maxQueryTokens = 32
+
+// Rewriter asks the resident model for English search keywords.
+type Rewriter struct{ c Completer }
+
+func NewRewriter(c Completer) *Rewriter { return &Rewriter{c: c} }
+
+// Rewrite returns English keywords for a question in any language.
+// It errors rather than returning something Kiwix should not see.
+func (r *Rewriter) Rewrite(ctx context.Context, question string) (string, error) {
+	raw, err := r.c.Complete(ctx, llm.Req{
+		System:        rewriteSystem,
+		User:          strings.TrimSpace(question),
+		Grammar:       queryGrammar,
+		MaxTokens:     maxQueryTokens,
+		RepeatPenalty: 1.15,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return CleanQuery(unwrapJSON(raw))
+}
+
+// unwrapJSON pulls the query out of {"query":"..."}. If the reply is not that
+// shape it is returned as-is, and CleanQuery decides whether it is usable.
+func unwrapJSON(raw string) string {
+	s := strings.TrimSpace(raw)
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(s, "{") {
+		return s
+	}
+	var got struct{ Query string }
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(s), &got); err != nil {
+		return s
+	}
+	return got.Query
+}
+
+// maxQueryWords matches the grammar's bound. Anything longer is prose.
+const maxQueryWords = 6
+
+// CleanQuery checks and tidies whatever the model produced. The grammar makes
+// bad output unlikely, not impossible (a server without grammar support, a
+// different model), so this is the real gate in front of Kiwix.
+//
+// Exported so it can be tested without a model.
+func CleanQuery(raw string) (string, error) {
+	s := strings.TrimSpace(raw)
+	// Models like to wrap answers in quotes. Drop surrounding ones.
+	s = strings.Trim(s, "\"'`")
+	// Keep the first line only: everything after it is prose.
+	if i := strings.IndexAny(s, "\r\n"); i >= 0 {
+		s = s[:i]
+	}
+	// Keep letters, digits, spaces and hyphens; anything else becomes a space.
+	var b strings.Builder
+	for _, ru := range s {
+		switch {
+		case unicode.IsLetter(ru) || unicode.IsDigit(ru) || ru == '-':
+			b.WriteRune(ru)
+		default:
+			b.WriteRune(' ')
+		}
+	}
+	words := strings.Fields(b.String())
+	if len(words) == 0 {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("kiwix rewrite: empty query")
+	}
+	if len(words) > maxQueryWords {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("kiwix rewrite: %d words, want at most %d (looks like prose)", len(words), maxQueryWords)
+	}
+	words = dropStopWords(words)
+	out := strings.Join(words, " ")
+	// The ZIMs are English. Non-Latin letters mean the model ignored the ask.
+	for _, ru := range out {
+		if unicode.IsLetter(ru) && !isLatin(ru) {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("kiwix rewrite: query is not English: %q", out)
+		}
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// stopWords — question words and filler. The model keeps writing question-shaped
+// queries ("why is the sky blue", "how much water to drink daily") no matter how
+// the prompt is worded, and Kiwix ranks on every word, so those words drag in
+// song and episode titles. Dropping them in code is not a style preference: a
+// keyword ranker gets nothing from them.
+var stopWords = map[string]bool{
+	"a": true, "an": true, "the": true, "is": true, "are": true, "was": true,
+	"do": true, "does": true, "did": true, "to": true, "of": true, "in": true,
+	"on": true, "for": true, "and": true, "or": true, "my": true, "me": true,
+	"i": true, "it": true, "its": true, "be": true, "been": true, "get": true,
+	"how": true, "why": true, "what": true, "when": true, "which": true,
+	"who": true, "where": true, "much": true, "many": true, "long": true,
+	"vs": true, "than": true, "rid": true, "from": true, "about": true,
+}
+
+// dropStopWords removes filler, but never everything: if the query was nothing
+// but stop words there is nothing better to search, so the original is kept and
+// the caller sees whatever Kiwix makes of it.
+func dropStopWords(words []string) []string {
+	kept := make([]string, 0, len(words))
+	for _, w := range words {
+		if !stopWords[strings.ToLower(w)] {
+			kept = append(kept, w)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(kept) == 0 {
+		return words
+	}
+	return kept
+}
+
+func isLatin(ru rune) bool {
+	return (ru >= 'a' && ru <= 'z') || (ru >= 'A' && ru <= 'Z')
+}

internal/kiwix/rewrite_eval.go

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+package kiwix
+
+// End-to-end score: Russian question -> model rewrite -> Kiwix search -> did a
+// wanted article come back. Same 9 cases as the retrieval eval, so the two
+// numbers are directly comparable: retrieval with hand-written keywords is the
+// ceiling, this is what the model actually reaches.
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// RewriteOutcome — one case, end to end.
+type RewriteOutcome struct {
+	Outcome
+	ModelQuery string // what the model asked for ("" if it failed)
+	RewriteErr error
+}
+
+// RunRewriteEval rewrites every question with the model, then searches.
+func RunRewriteEval(ctx context.Context, c *Client, rw *Rewriter, topN int) (RewriteReport, error) {
+	var f fixture
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(knowledgeFixtureJSON, &f); err != nil {
+		return RewriteReport{}, err
+	}
+	rep := RewriteReport{Report: Report{Name: f.Name + "-rewrite", Book: f.Book, TopN: topN}}
+	for _, cs := range f.Cases {
+		out := RewriteOutcome{Outcome: Outcome{Case: cs}}
+		q, err := rw.Rewrite(ctx, cs.Question)
+		out.ModelQuery, out.RewriteErr = q, err
+		if err == nil {
+			res, serr := c.Search(ctx, q, f.Book, topN)
+			out.Err = serr
+			for i, hit := range res {
+				out.Titles = append(out.Titles, hit.Title)
+				if out.Rank == 0 && matches(cs.WantTitles, hit.Title) {
+					out.Rank = i + 1
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		if out.RewriteErr != nil || out.Err != nil {
+			rep.Errors++
+		}
+		if !cs.ExpectMiss {
+			rep.Scored++
+			if out.Hit() {
+				rep.Hits++
+			}
+		}
+		rep.Cases = append(rep.Cases, out)
+	}
+	return rep, nil
+}
+
+// RewriteReport — the score plus per-case detail.
+type RewriteReport struct {
+	Report
+	Cases []RewriteOutcome
+}
+
+// String — the headline number.
+func (r RewriteReport) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s: %d/%d answerable questions retrieve a wanted article in top %d (%.1f%%), %d errors\n  book: %s\n",
+		r.Name, r.Hits, r.Scored, r.TopN, 100*r.Accuracy(), r.Errors, r.Book)
+}
+
+// Detail — per case: hand-written query next to the model's, and what came back.
+// The point is seeing WHERE the model's phrasing differs, not just the score.
+func (r RewriteReport) Detail() string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	for _, o := range r.Cases {
+		mark := "MISS"
+		switch {
+		case o.Case.ExpectMiss:
+			mark = "n/a "
+		case o.Hit():
+			mark = fmt.Sprintf("hit@%d", o.Rank)
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "  %-6s %-20s\n", mark, o.Case.ID)
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         asked:  %s\n", o.Case.Question)
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         hand:   %q\n", o.Case.Query)
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         model:  %q\n", o.ModelQuery)
+		if o.RewriteErr != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         rewrite rejected: %v\n", o.RewriteErr)
+			continue
+		}
+		if o.Err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         search error: %v\n", o.Err)
+			continue
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "         got:    %s\n", strings.Join(o.Titles, " | "))
+	}
+	return b.String()
+}

internal/kiwix/rewrite_eval_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package kiwix
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/llm"
+)
+
+// Opt-in: needs a live Kiwix server AND a live llama-server.
+// MAVEN_KIWIX_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8034 MAVEN_LLM_URL=http://127.0.0.1:18099 \
+//
+//	no_proxy=127.0.0.1,localhost go test -run RewriteEval -v ./internal/kiwix/
+func TestRewriteEval(t *testing.T) {
+	kbase, lbase := os.Getenv("MAVEN_KIWIX_URL"), os.Getenv("MAVEN_LLM_URL")
+	if kbase == "" || lbase == "" {
+		t.Skip("set MAVEN_KIWIX_URL and MAVEN_LLM_URL to run the rewrite eval")
+	}
+	noProxyLoopback(t)
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 15*time.Minute)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	rw := NewRewriter(llm.New(lbase, 3*time.Minute))
+	rep, err := RunRewriteEval(ctx, New(kbase), rw, 5)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("eval: %v", err)
+	}
+	// No pass bar on purpose: the number is the finding.
+	t.Log("\n" + rep.String() + rep.Detail())
+}

internal/kiwix/rewrite_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+package kiwix
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/llm"
+)
+
+// Bad model output must never reach Kiwix. No model needed for this.
+func TestCleanQueryRejectsJunk(t *testing.T) {
+	bad := []struct{ name, raw string }{
+		{"empty", ""},
+		{"blank", "   \n  "},
+		{"russian came back", "почему небо синее"},
+		{"mixed russian", "sky синее scattering"},
+		{"full sentence", "The sky looks blue because of the scattering of sunlight by air molecules"},
+		{"prose with quotes", `Sure! Here is a good search query: "Rayleigh scattering", which explains it.`},
+	}
+	for _, c := range bad {
+		if got, err := CleanQuery(c.raw); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s: want rejection, got %q", c.name, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCleanQueryCleans(t *testing.T) {
+	ok := []struct{ raw, want string }{
+		{"Rayleigh scattering sky", "Rayleigh scattering sky"},
+		{"  boiled   egg  cooking \n", "boiled egg cooking"},
+		{`"virtual private network"`, "virtual private network"},
+		{"solid-state drive", "solid-state drive"},
+		{"cat purr.", "cat purr"},
+		{"hiccup\nAlso: hiccough", "hiccup"},
+		// Question words are filler to a keyword ranker, so they go.
+		{"why is the sky blue", "sky blue"},
+		{"how much water to drink daily", "water drink daily"},
+		{"SSD vs HDD comparison", "SSD HDD comparison"},
+		// Nothing but filler: keep it rather than return nothing.
+		{"what is it", "what is it"},
+	}
+	for _, c := range ok {
+		got, err := CleanQuery(c.raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("%q: %v", c.raw, err)
+			continue
+		}
+		if got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("%q -> %q, want %q", c.raw, got, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+type fakeCompleter struct {
+	out string
+	req llm.Req
+}
+
+func (f *fakeCompleter) Complete(_ context.Context, r llm.Req) (string, error) {
+	f.req = r
+	return f.out, nil
+}
+
+func TestRewriteConstrainsTheCall(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &fakeCompleter{out: `{"query":"Rayleigh scattering sky"}`}
+	got, err := NewRewriter(f).Rewrite(context.Background(), "почему небо синее?")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("rewrite: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got != "Rayleigh scattering sky" {
+		t.Errorf("query = %q", got)
+	}
+	if f.req.Grammar == "" {
+		t.Error("no grammar sent")
+	}
+	if f.req.MaxTokens == 0 || f.req.MaxTokens > 32 {
+		t.Errorf("max_tokens = %d, want a small cap", f.req.MaxTokens)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRewriteRejectsBadModelOutput(t *testing.T) {
+	bad := []string{
+		`{"query":"почему небо синее"}`, // never translated
+		`{"query":""}`, // empty
+		`{"query":"the sky is blue because sunlight is scattered by air"}`, // an answer
+		// Note: a SHORT English prose fragment ("Let me analyze this request")
+		// is under the word cap and cannot be caught here. The grammar is what
+		// stops that one.
+	}
+	for _, out := range bad {
+		f := &fakeCompleter{out: out}
+		if got, err := NewRewriter(f).Rewrite(context.Background(), "почему небо синее?"); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s: want rejection, got %q", out, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A reply that is not the JSON shape but is still usable keywords should pass.
+func TestRewriteFallsBackToPlainText(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &fakeCompleter{out: "Rayleigh scattering sky"}
+	got, err := NewRewriter(f).Rewrite(context.Background(), "почему небо синее?")
+	if err != nil || got != "Rayleigh scattering sky" {
+		t.Errorf("got %q, %v", got, err)
+	}
+}

internal/phraser/llmphraser.go

@@ -551,12 +551,21 @@ func (p *LLMPhraser) chatWithSystem(ctx context.Context, system, user string, ma
 // Russian only, feminine self-reference, second person masculine (the owner is
 // a man). She talks TO him, informally, singular — never "вы", never "он".
 // One short sentence — the nudge is spoken aloud.
+//
+// What the ban on обращения forbids is pet names ("дорогой", "милый"), not his
+// name: "Ками, ноутбук на трёх процентах" is exactly how she talks, and the
+// unqualified word read as forbidding that too. Hence "ласковые обращения".
+//
+// The examples also never claim a physical act. She has no hands and no smart
+// plug — she can tell him the battery is at three percent, she cannot put the
+// laptop on charge. An example that says she did teaches the model to invent
+// actions Maven never took, which is worse than a missing nudge.
 const nudgeSystem = `Ты — Maven, домашняя ассистентка. О себе говоришь в женском роде ("я проверила", "я записала"). Владелец — мужчина, обращайся к нему в мужском роде ("ты пил", "ты забыл").
 Говоришь с ним на "ты", в единственном числе ("выпей", "встань"). Никогда не "вы"/"вас"/"ваш" и никогда "он"/"его" — ты говоришь ему, а не о нём.
 
 Пиши ОДНО короткое напоминание по-русски: не больше 120 символов и не больше 16 слов. Только по делу.
 
-Запрещено: обращения ("дорогой", "милый"), эмодзи, извинения ("прости", "извини"), вопросы о самочувствии, похвала, больше одного восклицательного знака, английские слова кроме имён сервисов.
+Запрещено: ласковые обращения ("дорогой", "милый"), эмодзи, извинения ("прости", "извини"), вопросы о самочувствии, похвала, больше одного восклицательного знака, английские слова кроме имён сервисов.
 
 Отвечай ТОЛЬКО одним объектом JSON с полями "response" и "mood".
 "response" — сам текст напоминания.
@@ -564,7 +573,7 @@ const nudgeSystem = `Ты — Maven, домашняя ассистентка. О
 
 Так выглядит правильный ответ по форме. Темы здесь посторонние — их в запросе не будет:
 {"response": "Стиральная машина закончила. Развесь бельё.", "mood": "neutral"}
-{"response": "Ноутбук на трёх процентах. Я поставила его на зарядку.", "mood": "confused"}
+{"response": "Ками, ноутбук на трёх процентах. Поставь его на зарядку.", "mood": "confused"}
 
 Это примеры ФОРМЫ, а не темы. Пиши только про ту ситуацию, которую тебе дали в запросе. Не копируй примеры и никогда не пиши "..." в поле response.`