diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 92c331a..e2f92df 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@ OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:11434
 # Korean on factual/tool replies; can occasionally leak a trailing CJK phrase on
 # free-form chit-chat. Swap back to qwen3:8b for the strongest tool-calling.
 OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL=qwen2.5:3b
+# Model for the auxiliary small-model calls: intent judge, tool router, weather
+# place extraction, query decomposition. BLANK (default) reuses OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL
+# so the stack runs on one already-warm model. The code's built-in default
+# (gemma4:e2b) is NOT pulled by this stack, so leaving this unset previously made
+# every router/extractor call silently fail. Only set this if you also pull the
+# model into Ollama.
+OLLAMA_INTENT_MODEL=
 OLLAMA_EMBED_MODEL=nomic-embed-text
 WHISPER_MODEL=small
 
diff --git a/docker/entrypoint.sh b/docker/entrypoint.sh
index c347c29..16f83a7 100755
--- a/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ set -euo pipefail
 : "${VNC_RESOLUTION:=1920x1080}"
 : "${OLLAMA_BASE_URL:=http://ollama:11434}"
 : "${OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL:=qwen3:8b}"
+# Auxiliary small-model calls (intent judge, tool router, weather place
+# extraction, query decomposition). The code default is gemma4:e2b, which this
+# stack does not pull, so those calls would silently fail and fall open —
+# crippling tool routing and arg extraction. Reuse the (already warm) chat model
+# by default so everything runs on one resident model; override if you pull a
+# dedicated small model.
+: "${OLLAMA_INTENT_MODEL:=${OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL}}"
 : "${OLLAMA_EMBED_MODEL:=nomic-embed-text}"
 : "${WHISPER_MODEL:=small}"
 : "${WHISPER_DEVICE:=cuda}"
@@ -25,7 +32,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 : "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:=/run/user/0}"
 : "${PULSE_SERVER:=unix:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native}"
 
-export VNC_RESOLUTION OLLAMA_BASE_URL OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL OLLAMA_EMBED_MODEL \
+export VNC_RESOLUTION OLLAMA_BASE_URL OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL OLLAMA_INTENT_MODEL OLLAMA_EMBED_MODEL \
        WHISPER_MODEL WHISPER_DEVICE WHISPER_COMPUTE_TYPE JARVIS_DB_PATH \
        PIPER_VOICE PIPER_VOICE_DIR TTS_PIPER_MODEL_PATH BRIDGE_HOST BRIDGE_PORT \
        XDG_RUNTIME_DIR PULSE_SERVER
diff --git a/docker/jarvis-config.template.json b/docker/jarvis-config.template.json
index 2b95c6a..a83fec0 100644
--- a/docker/jarvis-config.template.json
+++ b/docker/jarvis-config.template.json
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
   "ollama_base_url": "${OLLAMA_BASE_URL}",
   "ollama_embed_model": "${OLLAMA_EMBED_MODEL}",
   "ollama_chat_model": "${OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL}",
+  "intent_judge_model": "${OLLAMA_INTENT_MODEL}",
   "tts_enabled": true,
   "tts_engine": "piper",
   "tts_piper_model_path": "${TTS_PIPER_MODEL_PATH}",