diff --git a/external/eyrie b/external/eyrie
index ed620222..2de6e53e 160000
--- a/external/eyrie
+++ b/external/eyrie
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit ed620222fee915e3ee3a9d628ce2b91bc154f5c5
+Subproject commit 2de6e53e84612df49cf70bb1b4f627074d45ed7d
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index a0b9c871..de6ece11 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ require (
 	charm.land/bubbles/v2 v2.1.1
 	charm.land/bubbletea/v2 v2.0.8
 	charm.land/lipgloss/v2 v2.0.5
-	github.com/GrayCodeAI/eyrie v0.2.2
+	github.com/GrayCodeAI/eyrie v0.2.3-0.20260811021922-2de6e53e8461
 	github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk-core-contracts v0.1.12
 	github.com/GrayCodeAI/inspect v0.0.0-20260726091806-08f3151d5738
 	github.com/GrayCodeAI/sight v0.0.0-20260726091804-84c96edfc589
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 6a41de4a..82e610db 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ github.com/BobuSumisu/aho-corasick v1.0.3 h1:uuf+JHwU9CHP2Vx+wAy6jcksJThhJS9ehR8
 github.com/BobuSumisu/aho-corasick v1.0.3/go.mod h1:hm4jLcvZKI2vRF2WDU1N4p/jpWtpOzp3nLmi9AzX/XE=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v1.6.0 h1:dRaEfpa2VI55EwlIW72hMRHdWouJeRF7TPYhI+AUQjk=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v1.6.0/go.mod h1:ukJfTF/6rtPPRCnwkur4qwRxa8vTRFBF0uk2lLoLwho=
-github.com/GrayCodeAI/eyrie v0.2.2 h1:iMURJ9lJ2MqVi1uvXEY4hOAD5oL8bS32X4nVh7NoACg=
-github.com/GrayCodeAI/eyrie v0.2.2/go.mod h1:AW/UPuj+EWxMibiD+/Cy0TWd6RmTvth+KeGXSxU3t6I=
+github.com/GrayCodeAI/eyrie v0.2.3-0.20260811021922-2de6e53e8461 h1:eERy9jYNIGUxx+QB9ksJA9Vz7HcQMjYZG87IvWNEcbU=
+github.com/GrayCodeAI/eyrie v0.2.3-0.20260811021922-2de6e53e8461/go.mod h1:AW/UPuj+EWxMibiD+/Cy0TWd6RmTvth+KeGXSxU3t6I=
 github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk-core-contracts v0.1.12 h1:percfsd771JLmO9gMkrQtENEPBA9ZN3dG1Nc1moN3ZQ=
 github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk-core-contracts v0.1.12/go.mod h1:BXbh68YrCf+s9HVqND5F8DAvl2MnE5NcOwZZZB56HGA=
 github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk-mcpkit v0.1.6-0.20260729083555-85ac53f3ec84 h1:HzoXUYNNyt88IccaPBxSvOQ/5PZzJOcSHbvBjX3l2mQ=
diff --git a/internal/engine/stream.go b/internal/engine/stream.go
index 79fa161f..2f05a06a 100644
--- a/internal/engine/stream.go
+++ b/internal/engine/stream.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk/internal/hooks"
 	"github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk/internal/observability/oteltrace"
 	"github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk/internal/plugin"
+	"github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk/internal/prompt"
 	"github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk/internal/tool"
 
 	"github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk/internal/ui/icons"
@@ -217,11 +218,33 @@ func (s *Session) agentLoop(ctx context.Context, ch chan<- StreamEvent) {
 			}
 		}
 
+		// Payload tiering: classify the latest user request once per turn.
+		// Early conversational turns get a minimal system prompt and no tool
+		// schemas; anything resembling work keeps the full prompt and the
+		// promoted tool surface. This keeps simple turns cheap on slow
+		// (local/remote) models without starving real requests of tools.
+		lastUserMsg := ""
+		for i := len(s.Persistence().RawMessages()) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+			m := s.Persistence().RawMessages()[i]
+			if m.Role == "user" && len(m.ToolResults) == 0 {
+				lastUserMsg = m.Content
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		smallTalk := lastUserMsg != "" && isSmallTalkPrompt(lastUserMsg) && !sessionHasToolUse(s.Persistence().RawMessages())
+
 		// Build the LLM ChatOptions via the ChatService. The service owns
 		// the GLMThinking toggle, output schema, anthropic caching flag,
 		// and the active provider/model — building opts manually here
 		// would duplicate that logic.
-		baseOpts := s.ChatLLM().BuildOptions(s.Persistence().System(), activeModel, maxTok, nil)
+		baseSystem := s.Persistence().System()
+		if smallTalk {
+			// The identity preamble already coaches the model to answer
+			// greetings without tools — the role/tool/practice sections
+			// below it only add prefill cost on this turn.
+			baseSystem = prompt.System()
+		}
+		baseOpts := s.ChatLLM().BuildOptions(baseSystem, activeModel, maxTok, nil)
 		opts := baseOpts
 		// Inject beliefs as ephemeral context (not persisted to s.Persistence().System())
 		if s.LifecycleSvc().Beliefs() != nil && s.LifecycleSvc().Beliefs().Size() > 0 {
@@ -273,18 +296,12 @@ func (s *Session) agentLoop(ctx context.Context, ch chan<- StreamEvent) {
 			// current request. This keeps the default schema compact while
 			// making URL, verification, git, and code-intelligence requests
 			// discoverable without requiring the model to guess ToolSearch.
-			lastUserMsg := ""
-			for i := len(s.Persistence().RawMessages()) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
-				msg := s.Persistence().RawMessages()[i]
-				if msg.Role == "user" && len(msg.ToolResults) == 0 {
-					lastUserMsg = msg.Content
-					break
-				}
-			}
 			if lastUserMsg != "" {
 				s.Tools().Registry().PromoteForIntent(lastUserMsg)
 			}
-			opts.Tools = s.Tools().Registry().EyrieTools()
+			if !smallTalk {
+				opts.Tools = s.Tools().Registry().EyrieTools()
+			}
 		}
 
 		// Inject memory metadata from yaad
@@ -874,6 +891,37 @@ func (s *Session) agentLoop(ctx context.Context, ch chan<- StreamEvent) {
 	}
 }
 
+// isSmallTalkPrompt reports whether prompt is a pure conversational
+// exchange (greeting, pleasantry, identity question) that needs neither the
+// full system prompt nor any tool schemas. The system prompt instructs the
+// model to answer these directly, so sending the tool surface would only
+// add prompt-prefill cost.
+func isSmallTalkPrompt(prompt string) bool {
+	text := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(prompt))
+	text = strings.Trim(text, " \t\r\n.,!?;:")
+	switch text {
+	case "hi", "hello", "hey", "how are you", "how are you doing", "how's it going", "what's up",
+		"who are you", "what can you do", "thanks", "thank you", "good morning", "good afternoon",
+		"good evening", "nice to meet you", "goodbye", "bye":
+		return true
+	default:
+		return false
+	}
+}
+
+// sessionHasToolUse reports whether any message in the conversation already
+// executed a tool. Once tools are in play, later turns keep the full prompt
+// and tool surface even if they read like small talk ("thanks"), so the
+// follow-up context is not lost.
+func sessionHasToolUse(msgs []types.EyrieMessage) bool {
+	for _, m := range msgs {
+		if len(m.ToolResults) > 0 {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // extractDataURI extracts the first base64 data URI from a string.
 // Returns the full data URI (e.g., "data:image/png;base64,...") or empty string.
 func extractDataURI(s string) string {
diff --git a/internal/engine/stream_prompt_test.go b/internal/engine/stream_prompt_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7c6a6b17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/engine/stream_prompt_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+package engine
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/GrayCodeAI/hawk/internal/types"
+)
+
+func TestIsSmallTalkPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		prompt string
+		skip   bool
+	}{
+		{prompt: "Hi", skip: true},
+		{prompt: "Hello!", skip: true},
+		{prompt: "what can you do?", skip: true},
+		{prompt: "how's it going", skip: true},
+		{prompt: "good morning", skip: true},
+		{prompt: "thanks", skip: true},
+		{prompt: "Hi, inspect this repository", skip: false},
+		{prompt: "run the tests", skip: false},
+		{prompt: "hello there, who fixes this bug?", skip: false},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.prompt, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if got := isSmallTalkPrompt(tt.prompt); got != tt.skip {
+				t.Fatalf("isSmallTalkPrompt(%q) = %v, want %v", tt.prompt, got, tt.skip)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestSessionHasToolUse(t *testing.T) {
+	plain := []types.EyrieMessage{{Role: "user", Content: "hi"}}
+	used := []types.EyrieMessage{
+		{Role: "user", Content: "read stream.go"},
+		{Role: "assistant", ToolUse: []types.ToolCall{{Name: "Read"}}},
+		{Role: "user", Content: "thanks", ToolResults: []types.ToolResult{{}}},
+	}
+	if sessionHasToolUse(plain) {
+		t.Fatal("sessionHasToolUse(plain) = true, want false")
+	}
+	if !sessionHasToolUse(used) {
+		t.Fatal("sessionHasToolUse(used) = false, want true")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/sandbox/sandbox.Dockerfile b/internal/sandbox/sandbox.Dockerfile
index baa41e4d..949ce57f 100644
--- a/internal/sandbox/sandbox.Dockerfile
+++ b/internal/sandbox/sandbox.Dockerfile
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ RUN npm install --global npm@12.0.2 && \
     npm cache clean --force && \
     rm -rf /root/.npm && \
     apt-get update && \
+    apt-get upgrade -y --no-install-recommends && \
     apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
         bash \
         ca-certificates \