diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eb534b121..31e357465 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 - Simplified send/agent/relay/heartbeat to web-only delivery; removed Twilio mocks/tests and dead code.
 - Tau RPC timeout is now inactivity-based (5m without events) and error messages show seconds only.
 - Directive triggers (`/think`, `/verbose`, `/stop` et al.) now reply immediately using normalized bodies (timestamps/group prefixes stripped) without waiting for the agent.
+- Batched history blocks no longer trip directive parsing; `/think` in prior messages won't emit stray acknowledgements.
 
 ## 1.4.1 — 2025-12-04
 
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply.triggers.test.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply.triggers.test.ts
index 94168c010..7baeb9dd0 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply.triggers.test.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply.triggers.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
+import * as tauRpc from "../process/tau-rpc.js";
 import { getReplyFromConfig } from "./reply.js";
 
 const baseCfg = {
@@ -12,6 +13,10 @@ const baseCfg = {
   },
 };
 
+afterEach(() => {
+  vi.restoreAllMocks();
+});
+
 describe("trigger handling", () => {
   it("aborts even with timestamp prefix", async () => {
     const runner = vi.fn();
@@ -46,4 +51,38 @@ describe("trigger handling", () => {
     expect(text?.startsWith("⚙️ Restarting" ?? "")).toBe(true);
     expect(runner).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  it("ignores think directives that only appear in the context wrapper", async () => {
+    const rpcMock = vi.spyOn(tauRpc, "runPiRpc").mockResolvedValue({
+      stdout:
+        '{"type":"message_end","message":{"role":"assistant","content":[{"type":"text","text":"ok"}]}}',
+      stderr: "",
+      code: 0,
+      signal: null,
+      killed: false,
+    });
+
+    const res = await getReplyFromConfig(
+      {
+        Body: [
+          "[Chat messages since your last reply - for context]",
+          "Peter: /thinking high [2025-12-05T21:45:00.000Z]",
+          "",
+          "[Current message - respond to this]",
+          "Give me the status",
+        ].join("\n"),
+        From: "+1002",
+        To: "+2000",
+      },
+      {},
+      baseCfg,
+    );
+
+    const text = Array.isArray(res) ? res[0]?.text : res?.text;
+    expect(text).toBe("ok");
+    expect(rpcMock).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    const prompt = rpcMock.mock.calls[0]?.[0]?.prompt ?? "";
+    expect(prompt).toContain("Give me the status");
+    expect(prompt).not.toContain("/thinking high");
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
index b52671c31..ccd183748 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
@@ -298,20 +298,33 @@ export async function getReplyFromConfig(
     IsNewSession: isNewSession ? "true" : "false",
   };
 
+  const directiveSource = stripStructuralPrefixes(
+    sessionCtx.BodyStripped ?? sessionCtx.Body ?? "",
+  );
   const {
-    cleaned: thinkCleaned,
+    cleaned: thinkCleanedDirective,
     thinkLevel: inlineThink,
     rawLevel: rawThinkLevel,
     hasDirective: hasThinkDirective,
-  } = extractThinkDirective(sessionCtx.BodyStripped ?? sessionCtx.Body ?? "");
+  } = extractThinkDirective(directiveSource);
   const {
-    cleaned: verboseCleaned,
+    cleaned: verboseCleanedDirective,
     verboseLevel: inlineVerbose,
     rawLevel: rawVerboseLevel,
     hasDirective: hasVerboseDirective,
-  } = extractVerboseDirective(thinkCleaned);
-  sessionCtx.Body = verboseCleaned;
-  sessionCtx.BodyStripped = verboseCleaned;
+  } = extractVerboseDirective(thinkCleanedDirective);
+
+  // Keep the full body (including context wrapper) for the agent, but strip
+  // directives from it separately so history remains intact.
+  const { cleaned: thinkCleanedFull } = extractThinkDirective(
+    sessionCtx.Body ?? "",
+  );
+  const { cleaned: verboseCleanedFull } = extractVerboseDirective(
+    thinkCleanedFull,
+  );
+
+  sessionCtx.Body = verboseCleanedFull;
+  sessionCtx.BodyStripped = verboseCleanedFull;
 
   const isGroup =
     typeof ctx.From === "string" &&
@@ -331,16 +344,16 @@ export async function getReplyFromConfig(
     hasThinkDirective &&
     hasVerboseDirective &&
     (() => {
-      const stripped = stripStructuralPrefixes(verboseCleaned ?? "");
+      const stripped = stripStructuralPrefixes(verboseCleanedDirective ?? "");
       const noMentions = isGroup ? stripMentions(stripped, ctx, cfg) : stripped;
       return noMentions.length === 0;
     })();
 
   const directiveOnly = (() => {
     if (!hasThinkDirective) return false;
-    if (!thinkCleaned) return true;
+    if (!thinkCleanedDirective) return true;
     // Check after stripping both think and verbose so combined directives count.
-    const stripped = stripStructuralPrefixes(verboseCleaned);
+    const stripped = stripStructuralPrefixes(verboseCleanedDirective);
     const noMentions = isGroup ? stripMentions(stripped, ctx, cfg) : stripped;
     return noMentions.length === 0;
   })();
@@ -406,8 +419,8 @@ export async function getReplyFromConfig(
 
   const verboseDirectiveOnly = (() => {
     if (!hasVerboseDirective) return false;
-    if (!verboseCleaned) return true;
-    const stripped = stripStructuralPrefixes(verboseCleaned);
+    if (!verboseCleanedDirective) return true;
+    const stripped = stripStructuralPrefixes(verboseCleanedDirective);
     const noMentions = isGroup ? stripMentions(stripped, ctx, cfg) : stripped;
     return noMentions.length === 0;
   })();