diff --git a/scripts/triage/parse.ts b/scripts/triage/parse.ts
index 6e13979..7d9706a 100644
--- a/scripts/triage/parse.ts
+++ b/scripts/triage/parse.ts
@@ -8,9 +8,69 @@ export function stripCodeFence(text: string): string {
     .trim();
 }
 
+// LLMs sometimes emit conversational preamble/postamble around the JSON array.
+// Scan for the first balanced outermost [...] that parses as an array of objects,
+// respecting quoted strings so brackets inside string values do not affect depth
+// counting and so scalar arrays like [1,2] in prose are not mistaken for the
+// decisions array.
+function extractJsonArray(text: string): string {
+  let i = 0;
+  while (i < text.length) {
+    if (text[i] === "[") {
+      let depth = 0;
+      let j = i;
+      let inStr = false;
+      let esc = false;
+      while (j < text.length) {
+        const ch = text[j];
+        if (esc) {
+          esc = false;
+        } else if (inStr) {
+          if (ch === "\\") esc = true;
+          else if (ch === '"') inStr = false;
+        } else {
+          if (ch === '"') inStr = true;
+          else if (ch === "[") depth++;
+          else if (ch === "]") {
+            depth--;
+            if (depth === 0) {
+              const candidate = text.slice(i, j + 1);
+              try {
+                const arr: unknown = JSON.parse(candidate);
+                if (
+                  Array.isArray(arr) &&
+                  arr.every(
+                    (el: unknown) => typeof el === "object" && el !== null,
+                  )
+                ) {
+                  return candidate;
+                }
+              } catch {
+                // not valid JSON, try next candidate
+              }
+              break;
+            }
+          }
+        }
+        j++;
+      }
+      i = j + 1;
+    } else {
+      i++;
+    }
+  }
+  return text;
+}
+
 export function parseDecisions(text: string): IssueDecision[] {
   const clean = stripCodeFence(text);
-  const parsed: unknown = JSON.parse(clean);
+  let parsed: unknown;
+  try {
+    parsed = JSON.parse(clean);
+  } catch {
+    // LLMs sometimes emit conversational preamble/postamble around the JSON array
+    parsed = JSON.parse(extractJsonArray(clean));
+  }
   if (!Array.isArray(parsed)) {
     throw new Error("eval: expected JSON array of IssueDecision");
   }
diff --git a/test/triage-parse.test.ts b/test/triage-parse.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b09d24c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/triage-parse.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { parseDecisions, stripCodeFence } from "../scripts/triage/parse.js";
+
+describe("stripCodeFence", () => {
+  it("removes ```json fence", () => {
+    expect(stripCodeFence("```json\n[]\n```")).toBe("[]");
+  });
+
+  it("removes plain ``` fence", () => {
+    expect(stripCodeFence("```\n[]\n```")).toBe("[]");
+  });
+
+  it("returns plain text unchanged", () => {
+    expect(stripCodeFence("[]")).toBe("[]");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("parseDecisions", () => {
+  const DECISIONS = [{ number: 1, decision: "ready", reason: "clear spec" }];
+
+  it("parses a bare JSON array", () => {
+    expect(parseDecisions(JSON.stringify(DECISIONS))).toEqual(DECISIONS);
+  });
+
+  it("extracts JSON array when model emits conversational preamble", () => {
+    const text = `I'll check each issue.\n${JSON.stringify(DECISIONS)}`;
+    expect(parseDecisions(text)).toEqual(DECISIONS);
+  });
+
+  it("extracts JSON array when model emits preamble and postamble", () => {
+    const text = `Sure! Here you go:\n${JSON.stringify(DECISIONS)}\nLet me know if you need more.`;
+    expect(parseDecisions(text)).toEqual(DECISIONS);
+  });
+
+  it("strips code fence then extracts JSON array with preamble", () => {
+    const text = `I'll evaluate now.\n\`\`\`json\n${JSON.stringify(DECISIONS)}\n\`\`\``;
+    expect(parseDecisions(text)).toEqual(DECISIONS);
+  });
+
+  it("handles preamble containing '['", () => {
+    const text = `Analyzing issues [#12, #34]:\n${JSON.stringify(DECISIONS)}`;
+    expect(parseDecisions(text)).toEqual(DECISIONS);
+  });
+
+  it("handles postamble containing ']'", () => {
+    const text = `${JSON.stringify(DECISIONS)}\nNote: sub-issues [#45] were skipped.`;
+    expect(parseDecisions(text)).toEqual(DECISIONS);
+  });
+
+  it("skips scalar array in preamble and extracts decisions array", () => {
+    const text = `See [1,2] for examples.\n${JSON.stringify(DECISIONS)}`;
+    expect(parseDecisions(text)).toEqual(DECISIONS);
+  });
+
+  it("handles closing bracket inside a reason string value", () => {
+    const d = [{ number: 1, decision: "ready", reason: "] edge case" }];
+    expect(parseDecisions(`preamble\n${JSON.stringify(d)}`)).toEqual(d);
+  });
+
+  it("throws when input contains no JSON array", () => {
+    expect(() => parseDecisions("I'll check each issue.")).toThrow(SyntaxError);
+  });
+
+  it("throws a meaningful error when result is not an array", () => {
+    expect(() => parseDecisions(JSON.stringify({ not: "an array" }))).toThrow(
+      "eval: expected JSON array of IssueDecision",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("throws when decision.number is not a number", () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      parseDecisions(
+        JSON.stringify([{ number: "1", decision: "ready", reason: "x" }]),
+      ),
+    ).toThrow("eval: decision.number must be a number");
+  });
+});