diff --git a/backend/__tests__/unit/services/nativeRuntimePrompt.test.js b/backend/__tests__/unit/services/nativeRuntimePrompt.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..29e86d0c2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/__tests__/unit/services/nativeRuntimePrompt.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/**
+ * The native runtime must use the server-composed cue (#1071, TASK-034).
+ *
+ * `payload.content` is where every inline cue lives — the pod-context frame,
+ * the ADR-012 §9 DM frame, the board-wake task list, the lease warning —
+ * because metadata gets deprioritised by the model. The wrapper's
+ * `extractPrompt` has always preferred it; this tier did not, and the gap was
+ * invisible because both tiers still "ran".
+ *
+ * These drive the real function rather than asserting on source text. The
+ * regression they pin is that `trigger.type` is the RAW event type, so
+ * `chat.mention` never matched a branch testing for `'mention'` and every
+ * message-shaped wake reached the model with its cue discarded.
+ */
+const { buildUserMessage } = require('../../../services/nativeRuntimeService');
+
+const POD = 'Sprint Pod';
+const boardWakeCue = '[The kernel found unclaimed work in this pod — 1 pending, unassigned:]\n\n- TASK-034 — Native runtime runs on board wakes';
+
+describe('the inline cue reaches the model verbatim', () => {
+  it.each([
+    ['message.posted (board wake)', 'message.posted'],
+    ['chat.mention', 'chat.mention'],
+    ['dm.message', 'dm.message'],
+    ['thread.mention', 'thread.mention'],
+    ['an unknown future type', 'some.new.type'],
+  ])('%s — content is the prompt, unmodified', (_label, type) => {
+    const out = buildUserMessage({ type, payload: { content: boardWakeCue } }, POD);
+    expect(out).toBe(boardWakeCue);
+  });
+
+  it('the board-wake task list survives — the whole point of TASK-034', () => {
+    const out = buildUserMessage({ type: 'message.posted', payload: { content: boardWakeCue } }, POD);
+    expect(out).toContain('TASK-034');
+    expect(out).toContain('1 pending, unassigned');
+    // The pre-fix fallthrough replaced all of this with a generic instruction.
+    expect(out).not.toContain('Use commonly_read_context to understand');
+  });
+
+  it.each(['prompt', 'text'])('falls back to payload.%s like the wrapper does', (key) => {
+    const out = buildUserMessage({ type: 'message.posted', payload: { [key]: 'do the thing' } }, POD);
+    expect(out).toBe('do the thing');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('content-less events still get something usable', () => {
+  it('a mention with no content names the message instead of going generic', () => {
+    const out = buildUserMessage(
+      { type: 'chat.mention', payload: { username: 'sam', messageId: '56527' } },
+      POD,
+    );
+    expect(out).toContain('sam');
+    expect(out).toContain('56527');
+    expect(out).toContain(POD);
+  });
+
+  it('heartbeat keeps its own prompt when no cue is supplied', () => {
+    const out = buildUserMessage({ type: 'heartbeat', payload: {} }, POD);
+    expect(out).toContain('heartbeat');
+    expect(out).toContain(POD);
+  });
+
+  it('whitespace-only content is not a cue', () => {
+    const out = buildUserMessage({ type: 'heartbeat', payload: { content: '   \n  ' } }, POD);
+    expect(out).toContain('heartbeat');
+  });
+
+  it('a genuinely unknown, content-less type still returns a usable instruction', () => {
+    const out = buildUserMessage({ type: 'pod.join', payload: {} }, POD);
+    expect(out).toContain('pod.join');
+    expect(out.length).toBeGreaterThan(20);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/backend/services/nativeRuntimeService.ts b/backend/services/nativeRuntimeService.ts
index a8dd121982..7f0c37f1d8 100644
--- a/backend/services/nativeRuntimeService.ts
+++ b/backend/services/nativeRuntimeService.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,13 @@ import axios, { AxiosError } from 'axios';
 // --- public surface --------------------------------------------------------
 
 export interface NativeRunTrigger {
-  type: 'mention' | 'heartbeat' | 'task.assigned' | 'chat.message' | 'pod.join' | 'first_contact' | 'manual';
+  // The RAW event type, forwarded verbatim by agentEventService:994 — not a
+  // mapped vocabulary. The previous union listed names the caller never sends
+  // ('mention', 'chat.message', 'task.assigned', 'pod.join') and omitted the
+  // ones it does ('chat.mention', 'message.posted', 'dm.message'), which is
+  // how a branch that never fired went unnoticed. `string` is honest here;
+  // narrowing it again means narrowing it to what the producer emits.
+  type: string;
   eventId?: string;
   payload?: unknown;
 }
@@ -476,7 +482,15 @@ function buildSystemPrompt(installation: any, cfg: PlainConfig): string {
   );
 }
 
-function buildUserMessage(
+// The mention-shaped raw event types the caller actually sends, plus the
+// legacy union spellings. Deliberately a superset of what matches today: a
+// name in here that never arrives costs nothing, a name missing from it costs
+// a discarded cue, and this file has already paid that once.
+const MENTION_RAW_TYPES = new Set([
+  'chat.mention', 'thread.mention', 'dm.message', 'mention', 'chat.message',
+]);
+
+export function buildUserMessage(
   trigger: NativeRunTrigger,
   podName: string,
 ): string {
@@ -484,13 +498,45 @@ function buildUserMessage(
     ? trigger.payload as Record<string, any>
     : {}) as Record<string, any>;
 
-  if (trigger.type === 'mention') {
+  // Producer parity with the wrapper (#1071, TASK-034). `payload.content` is
+  // the server-composed cue and it is ALWAYS the best prompt when present:
+  // the pod-context frame, the ADR-012 §9 DM frame, the board-wake task list
+  // and the lease warning are all written inline there precisely because
+  // metadata gets deprioritised by the model. The wrapper's `extractPrompt`
+  // has always preferred it; this tier did not, and the gap was invisible
+  // because both tiers "ran".
+  //
+  // WHAT WAS BROKEN. The branches below compare `trigger.type` against
+  // 'mention' / 'chat.message', but the caller passes the RAW event type —
+  // agentEventService:994 forwards `type` verbatim, and the claimable-set gate
+  // at :697 in this same file says so out loud ("raw-type gate mirrors the
+  // wrapper's claimable set"). So `chat.mention` never matched 'mention', and
+  // every message-shaped wake fell through to the generic "Trigger: X, use
+  // commonly_read_context" below — which discards the cue entirely and tells
+  // the agent to go look around instead.
+  //
+  // Measured before the fix: of 58 events ever delivered to the 17 active
+  // native installs, 24 `message.posted` + 6 `chat.mention` = 30 took the
+  // fallthrough. Only `heartbeat` and `first_contact` ever matched a branch.
+  //
+  // The `NativeRunTrigger` union at the top of this file declares a vocabulary
+  // ('mention', 'chat.message', 'task.assigned', 'pod.join') that the caller
+  // never speaks, and omits the types it does. `require()` at the call site
+  // meant TypeScript never had to reconcile them.
+  const inlineCue = String(payload.content || payload.prompt || payload.text || '').trim();
+  if (inlineCue) return inlineCue;
+
+  // Fallbacks below are for events that carry NO content. They keep the raw
+  // type names the caller actually sends, plus the legacy union names, so a
+  // future mapped caller still lands somewhere sensible.
+  if (MENTION_RAW_TYPES.has(String(trigger.type))) {
     const user = String(payload.username || payload.userId || 'someone');
-    const text = String(payload.content || payload.text || '').trim();
+    const messageId = String(payload.messageId || '');
     return (
-      `User @${user} mentioned you in pod ${podName}: "${text}". `
-      + 'Call commonly_read_context if you need more history, then call '
-      + 'commonly_post_message with your reply.'
+      `You were mentioned in pod ${podName} by @${user}, but the event carried no `
+      + 'content — a producer bug, not your fault. '
+      + (messageId ? `It named message ${messageId}. ` : '')
+      + 'Call commonly_read_context to find it, then commonly_post_message with your reply.'
     );
   }