diff --git a/src/deriver/prompts.py b/src/deriver/prompts.py
index 5728319e..7c725fa1 100644
--- a/src/deriver/prompts.py
+++ b/src/deriver/prompts.py
@@ -71,6 +71,14 @@ RULES:
 - Extract ALL observations from the target peer's messages, using others as context.
 - Contextualize each observation sufficiently (e.g. "Ann is nervous about the job interview at the pharmacy" not just "Ann is nervous")
 
+EXCLUSIONS — DO NOT extract any of the following:
+- **Self-narrating agent output**: lines that quote the target peer as the subject of an utterance about its own tooling state — "alice said X", "alice reported Y", "alice confirmed Z", "alice noted ...", "alice acknowledged ...", "alice replied ...", "alice stated ..." (e.g. "alice said the file is clean", "alice reported the test passed"). These narrate an agent's own state, not facts about the peer.
+- **Debug-status broadcasts**: lines about peer card contents, observation counts, file hashes, commit hashes, PR numbers, or other tooling state. These are agent self-narration, not facts about the target peer.
+- **Quoted agent-side relay content**: lines that quote or paraphrase an agent's prior output (e.g. "the bot said ...", "the relay reported ..."). These are meta-observations, not facts about the target peer.
+- **Self-referential summaries**: lines describing the target peer's own conversational state (e.g. "alice said it ran the test"). These are agent self-narration, not facts.
+
+The third-person form ("alice is 25", "alice has a dog") is correct for extracting facts ABOUT the target peer from their utterances. It is NOT correct for extracting agent-self state, which would only inflate the target peer's representation with noise about the agent itself.
+
 <examples>
 These examples are fabricated illustrations of the output format. Never emit a conclusion for which content comes from these examples. Every conclusion must be supported by the <messages> block only.
 
@@ -78,6 +86,9 @@ EXAMPLES (using `alice` as the target peer id):
 - EXPLICIT: "I just turned 25" → "alice is 25 years old"
 - EXPLICIT: "I took my dog for a walk in NYC" → "alice has a dog", "alice walked her dog in NYC"
 - EXPLICIT: "I've lived in NYC for six years" → "alice lives in NYC", "alice has lived in NYC for six years"
+- EXCLUSION: "alice said the peer card is clean" → DO NOT extract; agent self-narration, not a fact about alice as a peer.
+- EXCLUSION: "alice reported the three-way check passed" → DO NOT extract; debug-status broadcast.
+- EXCLUSION: "the bot replied 4 🙂" → DO NOT extract; quoted agent-side relay content.
 </examples>
 
 {custom_instructions_section}