diff --git a/packages/cloud-agents/scripts/verify-reland.ts b/packages/cloud-agents/scripts/verify-reland.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4c7cac97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cloud-agents/scripts/verify-reland.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env npx tsx
+import { routeTask } from '../src/server/router/router-service';
+import type { RoutingContext } from '../src/server/router/types';
+
+const context: RoutingContext = {
+  taskDescription: 'Review the README in the Roomote repo',
+  source: { type: 'slack', channelName: 'engineering' },
+  availableEnvironments: [
+    {
+      id: 'env-roomote',
+      name: 'Roomote',
+      description: 'The main Roomote product — web app, API server, workers',
+      repositoryNames: ['RooCodeInc/Roomote'],
+    },
+    {
+      id: 'env-website',
+      name: 'Roomote Website',
+      description: 'Astro marketing website for Roomote',
+      repositoryNames: ['RooCodeInc/roomote-website'],
+    },
+  ],
+};
+
+const decision = await routeTask(context);
+console.log(
+  JSON.stringify(
+    {
+      R_ROUTER_MODEL: process.env.R_ROUTER_MODEL ?? null,
+      status: decision.status,
+      ...(decision.status === 'routed'
+        ? {
+            workspace: decision.result.workspace,
+            model: decision.result.debug ? undefined : undefined,
+            debug: decision.result.debug,
+          }
+        : {}),
+      ...(decision.status === 'fallback' ? { reason: decision.reason } : {}),
+    },
+    null,
+    2,
+  ),
+);
+process.exit(0);
diff --git a/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/__tests__/router-service.test.ts b/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/__tests__/router-service.test.ts
index 0142435f..449a4222 100644
--- a/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/__tests__/router-service.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/__tests__/router-service.test.ts
@@ -106,20 +106,30 @@ describe('routeTask', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it('uses pasted GitHub issue context when choosing a workspace', async () => {
+  it('fetches pasted GitHub issue context when the precheck asks for it', async () => {
     mockCallRouterMcpTool.mockResolvedValue({
       title: 'Fix the dashboard refresh failure',
       body: 'The dashboard API request belongs to the web application.',
     });
-    mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject.mockResolvedValue({
-      object: {
-        workspaceValue: 'Full Stack',
-        reasoning: 'The linked issue describes the web application.',
-        confidence: 0.92,
-        needsExternalLookup: false,
-        externalReference: null,
-      },
-    });
+    mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({
+        object: {
+          workspaceValue: 'Full Stack',
+          reasoning: 'The message alone does not identify the workspace.',
+          confidence: 0.4,
+          needsExternalLookup: true,
+          externalReference: 'acme/web#42',
+        },
+      })
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce({
+        object: {
+          workspaceValue: 'Full Stack',
+          reasoning: 'The linked issue describes the web application.',
+          confidence: 0.92,
+          needsExternalLookup: false,
+          externalReference: null,
+        },
+      });
 
     const result = await routeTask(
       createContext({
@@ -142,7 +152,8 @@ describe('routeTask', () => {
         issue_number: 42,
       },
     });
-    expect(mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+    expect(mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith(
       expect.objectContaining({
         prompt: expect.stringContaining('Fix the dashboard refresh failure'),
       }),
@@ -153,6 +164,71 @@ describe('routeTask', () => {
         debug: {
           phase: 'mcp',
           toolsUsed: ['github.issue_read'],
+          needsExternalLookup: true,
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('skips the issue fetch when the precheck routes without external context', async () => {
+    mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject.mockResolvedValue({
+      object: {
+        workspaceValue: 'Full Stack',
+        reasoning: 'The message already identifies the dashboard work.',
+        confidence: 0.95,
+        needsExternalLookup: false,
+        externalReference: null,
+      },
+    });
+
+    const result = await routeTask(
+      createContext({
+        taskDescription:
+          'Fix the dashboard refresh bug, context: https://github.com/acme/web/issues/42',
+      }),
+    );
+
+    expect(mockCallRouterMcpTool).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(result).toMatchObject({
+      status: 'routed',
+      result: {
+        debug: {
+          phase: 'direct',
+          toolsUsed: [],
+          needsExternalLookup: false,
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the precheck decision when the requested fetch returns nothing', async () => {
+    mockCallRouterMcpTool.mockRejectedValue(new Error('Not connected'));
+    mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject.mockResolvedValue({
+      object: {
+        workspaceValue: 'Full Stack',
+        reasoning: 'Best guess without the linked issue.',
+        confidence: 0.4,
+        needsExternalLookup: true,
+        externalReference: 'acme/web#42',
+      },
+    });
+
+    const result = await routeTask(
+      createContext({
+        taskDescription:
+          'Please investigate https://github.com/acme/web/issues/42',
+      }),
+    );
+
+    expect(mockGenerateTrackedNonTaskObject).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(result).toMatchObject({
+      status: 'routed',
+      result: {
+        debug: {
+          phase: 'direct',
+          toolsUsed: [],
+          needsExternalLookup: true,
         },
       },
     });
diff --git a/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/mcp-gather.ts b/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/mcp-gather.ts
index a769eb7c..1241e049 100644
--- a/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/mcp-gather.ts
+++ b/packages/cloud-agents/src/server/router/mcp-gather.ts
@@ -66,28 +66,48 @@ export async function gatherContextFromConfiguredMcps<
     z.infer<TSubmitRoutingDecisionSchema> & LookupAwareRoutingResponse
   >
 > {
+  const generateRoutingDecision = async (messages: ModelMessage[]) => {
+    const { object } = await generateTrackedNonTaskObject({
+      userId: context.routingActor?.userId,
+      surface: NON_TASK_INFERENCE_SURFACES.routerTaskRouting,
+      model: routingModel,
+      schema: submitRoutingDecisionSchema,
+      system: routingPrompt,
+      prompt: serializeContextMessages(messages),
+    });
+
+    return object as z.infer<TSubmitRoutingDecisionSchema> &
+      LookupAwareRoutingResponse;
+  };
+
+  const response = await generateRoutingDecision(contextMessages);
+  const needsExternalLookup =
+    typeof response.needsExternalLookup === 'boolean'
+      ? response.needsExternalLookup
+      : null;
+
+  if (needsExternalLookup !== true) {
+    return { response, toolsUsed: [], phase: 'direct', needsExternalLookup };
+  }
+
+  // The precheck asked for the linked issue, so the fetch deadline is only
+  // paid when it can change the decision. Fail-open: with nothing fetched,
+  // the precheck decision stands.
   const externalIssueContext = await gatherExternalIssueContext(context);
-  const { object } = await generateTrackedNonTaskObject({
-    userId: context.routingActor?.userId,
-    surface: NON_TASK_INFERENCE_SURFACES.routerTaskRouting,
-    model: routingModel,
-    schema: submitRoutingDecisionSchema,
-    system: routingPrompt,
-    prompt: serializeContextMessages([
-      ...contextMessages,
-      ...externalIssueContext.contextMessages,
-    ]),
-  });
-  const response = object as z.infer<TSubmitRoutingDecisionSchema> &
-    LookupAwareRoutingResponse;
+
+  if (externalIssueContext.contextMessages.length === 0) {
+    return { response, toolsUsed: [], phase: 'direct', needsExternalLookup };
+  }
+
+  const informedResponse = await generateRoutingDecision([
+    ...contextMessages,
+    ...externalIssueContext.contextMessages,
+  ]);
 
   return {
-    response,
+    response: informedResponse,
     toolsUsed: externalIssueContext.toolsUsed,
-    phase: externalIssueContext.toolsUsed.length > 0 ? 'mcp' : 'direct',
-    needsExternalLookup:
-      typeof response.needsExternalLookup === 'boolean'
-        ? response.needsExternalLookup
-        : null,
+    phase: 'mcp',
+    needsExternalLookup: true,
   };
 }