diff --git a/infrastructure/tools/src/main/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellTool.kt b/infrastructure/tools/src/main/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellTool.kt
index 09f14107..4b0b8b0e 100644
--- a/infrastructure/tools/src/main/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellTool.kt
+++ b/infrastructure/tools/src/main/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellTool.kt
@@ -167,19 +167,24 @@ class ShellTool(
     // argv[0] is the program name. A single element carrying whitespace is the weak-model "whole
     // command line in one string" collapse (["npm create vite@latest frontend"]) — split it into
     // tokens so the denylist, allowlist and executor all see a real argv, instead of rejecting it and
-    // looping the stage on a call the model reliably re-emits. A JSON-escape mangle collapses
-    // differently — it leaves quotes/commas in argv[0] (["npm\",\"-v"]) — and stays rejected: there is
-    // no runnable program to recover. (Splitting on whitespace loses quoting of args with spaces —
-    // same ceiling as the `sh -c` join below; fine for agent shell use, not a general shell API.)
+    // looping the stage on a call the model reliably re-emits. Weak models also leak the JSON array
+    // separators into the individual tokens — trailing commas (["npm,","-v"]) or wrapping escaped-
+    // quotes (["npm\",","\"-v\""]) — which the model re-emits identically until the stage loop breaks.
+    // Strip stray leading/trailing quote/comma from each token so those recover too. (Internal commas,
+    // --foo=a,b, are kept; a single token that is itself the whole collapsed array — "npm\",\"-v\"," —
+    // still has interior quotes/commas and stays rejected: there is no runnable program to recover.
+    // Splitting on whitespace loses quoting of args with spaces — same ceiling as the `sh -c` join
+    // below; fine for agent shell use, not a general shell API.)
     private fun checkExecutable(raw: List<String>): ArgvParse {
-        val argv = if (raw.size == 1 && raw[0].any { it.isWhitespace() } &&
-            raw[0].none { it == '"' || it == ',' }
+        val stripped = raw.map { it.trim().trim { c -> c == '"' || c == ',' } }.filter { it.isNotEmpty() }
+        val argv = if (stripped.size == 1 && stripped[0].any { it.isWhitespace() } &&
+            stripped[0].none { it == '"' || it == ',' }
         ) {
-            raw[0].trim().split(WHITESPACE_RE)
+            stripped[0].trim().split(WHITESPACE_RE)
         } else {
-            raw
+            stripped
         }
-        return if (argv[0].any { it == '"' || it == ',' || it.isWhitespace() }) {
+        return if (argv.isEmpty() || argv[0].any { it == '"' || it == ',' || it.isWhitespace() }) {
             ArgvParse.Bad(
                 "argv[0] `${argv[0]}` is not a valid executable name — it looks like a collapsed array. " +
                     "Emit each token as a separate string element, e.g. [\"npm\", \"-v\"].",
diff --git a/infrastructure/tools/src/test/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellToolTest.kt b/infrastructure/tools/src/test/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellToolTest.kt
index 57d1fb00..efaec0ee 100644
--- a/infrastructure/tools/src/test/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellToolTest.kt
+++ b/infrastructure/tools/src/test/kotlin/com/correx/infrastructure/tools/shell/ShellToolTest.kt
@@ -204,6 +204,17 @@ class ShellToolTest {
         assertTrue((result as ValidationResult.Invalid).reason.contains("collapsed array"), result.reason)
     }
 
+    @Test
+    fun `validateRequest recovers per-token separator leak into argv`() {
+        // Repro: gemma re-emitted `npm -v` as ["npm,","-v"] (trailing comma) and ["npm\",","\"-v\""]
+        // (wrapping escaped-quotes) six times → stage_loop_break → FAILED. Strip the stray quote/comma
+        // per token so the call runs instead of looping the stage to death.
+        listOf(listOf("npm,", "-v"), listOf("npm\",", "\"-v\"")).forEach { argv ->
+            val result = ShellTool().validateRequest(rawArgvRequest(argv))
+            assertTrue(result is ValidationResult.Valid, "$argv: ${(result as? ValidationResult.Invalid)?.reason}")
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun `validateRequest splits a collapsed single-string command line into tokens`() {
         // Repro: weak model emitted ["npm create vite@latest frontend"] — the whole command line as