diff --git a/src/agents/system-prompt.ts b/src/agents/system-prompt.ts
index df003eaf7..9ec850872 100644
--- a/src/agents/system-prompt.ts
+++ b/src/agents/system-prompt.ts
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ export function buildAgentSystemPrompt(params: {
     "To request a native reply/quote on supported surfaces, include one tag in your reply:",
     "- [[reply_to_current]] replies to the triggering message.",
     "- [[reply_to:<id>]] replies to a specific message id when you have it.",
+    "Whitespace inside the tag is allowed (e.g. [[ reply_to_current ]] / [[ reply_to: 123 ]]).",
     "Tags are stripped before sending; support depends on the current provider config.",
     "",
     "## Messaging",
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply.directive.test.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply.directive.test.ts
index b494c1057..0b555e9bf 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply.directive.test.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply.directive.test.ts
@@ -249,6 +249,42 @@ describe("directive behavior", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("strips reply tags with whitespace and maps reply_to_current to MessageSid", async () => {
+    await withTempHome(async (home) => {
+      vi.mocked(runEmbeddedPiAgent).mockResolvedValue({
+        payloads: [{ text: "hello [[ reply_to_current ]]" }],
+        meta: {
+          durationMs: 5,
+          agentMeta: { sessionId: "s", provider: "p", model: "m" },
+        },
+      });
+
+      const res = await getReplyFromConfig(
+        {
+          Body: "ping",
+          From: "+1004",
+          To: "+2000",
+          MessageSid: "msg-123",
+        },
+        {},
+        {
+          agents: {
+            defaults: {
+              model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-5",
+              workspace: path.join(home, "clawd"),
+            },
+          },
+          whatsapp: { allowFrom: ["*"] },
+          session: { store: path.join(home, "sessions.json") },
+        },
+      );
+
+      const payload = Array.isArray(res) ? res[0] : res;
+      expect(payload?.text).toBe("hello");
+      expect(payload?.replyToId).toBe("msg-123");
+    });
+  });
+
   it("prefers explicit reply_to id over reply_to_current", async () => {
     await withTempHome(async (home) => {
       vi.mocked(runEmbeddedPiAgent).mockResolvedValue({
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-tags.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-tags.ts
index ef2de524a..9e81affcb 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-tags.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/reply-tags.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+const REPLY_TAG_RE =
+  /\[\[\s*(?:reply_to_current|reply_to\s*:\s*([^\]\n]+))\s*\]\]/gi;
+
+function normalizeReplyText(text: string) {
+  return text
+    .replace(/[ \t]+/g, " ")
+    .replace(/[ \t]*\n[ \t]*/g, "\n")
+    .trim();
+}
+
 export function extractReplyToTag(
   text?: string,
   currentMessageId?: string,
@@ -7,29 +17,28 @@ export function extractReplyToTag(
   hasTag: boolean;
 } {
   if (!text) return { cleaned: "", hasTag: false };
-  let cleaned = text;
-  let replyToId: string | undefined;
+
+  let sawCurrent = false;
+  let lastExplicitId: string | undefined;
   let hasTag = false;
 
-  const currentMatch = cleaned.match(/\[\[\s*reply_to_current\s*\]\]/i);
-  if (currentMatch) {
-    cleaned = cleaned.replace(/\[\[\s*reply_to_current\s*\]\]/gi, " ");
-    hasTag = true;
-    if (currentMessageId?.trim()) {
-      replyToId = currentMessageId.trim();
-    }
-  }
+  const cleaned = normalizeReplyText(
+    text.replace(REPLY_TAG_RE, (_full, idRaw: string | undefined) => {
+      hasTag = true;
+      if (idRaw === undefined) {
+        sawCurrent = true;
+        return " ";
+      }
 
-  const idMatch = cleaned.match(/\[\[\s*reply_to\s*:\s*([^\]\n]+)\s*\]\]/i);
-  if (idMatch?.[1]) {
-    cleaned = cleaned.replace(/\[\[\s*reply_to\s*:\s*[^\]\n]+\s*\]\]/gi, " ");
-    replyToId = idMatch[1].trim();
-    hasTag = true;
-  }
+      const id = idRaw.trim();
+      if (id) lastExplicitId = id;
+      return " ";
+    }),
+  );
+
+  const replyToId =
+    lastExplicitId ??
+    (sawCurrent ? currentMessageId?.trim() || undefined : undefined);
 
-  cleaned = cleaned
-    .replace(/[ \t]+/g, " ")
-    .replace(/[ \t]*\n[ \t]*/g, "\n")
-    .trim();
   return { cleaned, replyToId, hasTag };
 }