diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c851fcd3..b8fe2c17 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,15 @@ Newest first. `Unreleased` is what is on `main` and not yet tagged.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### A message no longer routes to a specialist because a longer word contained a connector's name
+
+When the intent router falls back — it is unreachable, or it declines — and exactly one coworker can
+reach a system the message names, the message goes to that coworker. The name was matched as a bare
+substring, so "how do I deal with a slacker" matched the **slack** connector and "una jirafa" (a
+giraffe) matched **jira**: a message naming neither system was pinned, for the life of the thread,
+to a specialist that could not answer it. A connector's name now has to appear on a word boundary,
+so a system named on its own still routes and one buried inside another word does not.
+
 ### A Bot's shell can no longer reach the embedded database without a password
 
 In the all-in-one image the cluster was `trust`-auth on loopback, and the Bot's shell runs in the
diff --git a/server/src/routing/classify.ts b/server/src/routing/classify.ts
index 0286fa7c..58a4777d 100644
--- a/server/src/routing/classify.ts
+++ b/server/src/routing/classify.ts
@@ -123,6 +123,31 @@ export function routingPrompt(
   ].join("\n");
 }
 
+/**
+ * Whether a message names a system, by its id or by that id with separators loosened.
+ *
+ * Matched at word boundaries rather than as a bare substring. `haystack.includes("slack")` is true
+ * of "how do I handle a slacker", and `includes("jira")` is true of the Spanish for giraffe,
+ * "jirafa" — so a message that names neither system was read as naming one, and in a fallback the
+ * whole conversation was pinned to that specialist. A system id has to sit on its own here: bounded
+ * by a non-alphanumeric character or an edge of the message, not buried inside a longer word.
+ *
+ * The id is still matched with separators loosened, so `google-drive` answers to "google drive" as
+ * somebody would type it, and its raw form is matched too. Deliberately not fuzzy beyond that: a
+ * router that guesses at near-misses is a router nobody can predict.
+ */
+function messageNames(haystack: string, system: string): boolean {
+  const spelled = system.toLowerCase().replace(/[-_]+/g, " ");
+  return bounded(haystack, spelled) || bounded(haystack, system.toLowerCase());
+}
+
+/** `needle` present in `haystack`, on word boundaries, with `needle`'s own characters taken literally. */
+function bounded(haystack: string, needle: string): boolean {
+  if (!needle) return false;
+  const escaped = needle.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&");
+  return new RegExp(`(?:^|[^a-z0-9])${escaped}(?:[^a-z0-9]|$)`).test(haystack);
+}
+
 /**
  * The one coworker that can reach a system this message names, when there is exactly one.
  *
@@ -130,9 +155,8 @@ export function routingPrompt(
  * purpose still wins: a specialist with no connectors is the right answer to a question about its
  * specialism, and this must not turn reach into a filter that overrides that.
  *
- * Matched on the system's own id with separators loosened, so `google-drive` answers to "Google
- * Drive" as somebody would type it. Deliberately not fuzzy beyond that: a router that guesses at
- * near-misses is a router nobody can predict.
+ * A message names a system by {@link messageNames}: its id, or that id with separators loosened, at
+ * a word boundary.
  */
 function onlyCoworkerReaching(
   text: string,
@@ -142,11 +166,7 @@ function onlyCoworkerReaching(
   const named = new Set<string>();
   for (const candidate of candidates) {
     for (const system of candidate.reaches ?? []) {
-      const spelled = system.toLowerCase().replace(/[-_]+/g, " ");
-      if (
-        haystack.includes(spelled) ||
-        haystack.includes(system.toLowerCase())
-      ) {
+      if (messageNames(haystack, system)) {
         named.add(system);
       }
     }
diff --git a/server/tests/routing-classify.test.ts b/server/tests/routing-classify.test.ts
index f801f5f6..54db5c3e 100644
--- a/server/tests/routing-classify.test.ts
+++ b/server/tests/routing-classify.test.ts
@@ -228,6 +228,54 @@ describe("falling back to somebody who can actually answer", () => {
     expect(decision.agentId).toBe("general-assistant");
   });
 
+  /*
+   * A system id buried inside a longer word does not name the system.
+   *
+   * `includes("slack")` is true of "slacker" and `includes("jira")` is true of "jirafa" — the
+   * Spanish for giraffe — so a message that names neither system was read as naming one and, in a
+   * fallback, pinned the whole conversation to that specialist. The id has to sit on its own.
+   */
+  const NAMED: RoutingCandidate[] = [
+    { id: "general", name: "General", roleDescription: "everyday work" },
+    {
+      id: "slackbot",
+      name: "Slack",
+      roleDescription: "chat",
+      reaches: ["slack"],
+    },
+    {
+      id: "jirabot",
+      name: "Jira",
+      roleDescription: "tickets",
+      reaches: ["jira"],
+    },
+  ];
+
+  test("a system id inside an unrelated word is not a match", async () => {
+    const slacker = await BROKEN.route(
+      "how do I deal with a slacker on my team",
+      NAMED,
+      "general",
+    );
+    expect(slacker.agentId).toBe("general");
+
+    const giraffe = await BROKEN.route(
+      "escribe un cuento sobre una jirafa",
+      NAMED,
+      "general",
+    );
+    expect(giraffe.agentId).toBe("general");
+  });
+
+  test("the same system named on its own still routes to its holder", async () => {
+    const decision = await BROKEN.route(
+      "post this update to slack for me",
+      NAMED,
+      "general",
+    );
+    expect(decision.agentId).toBe("slackbot");
+  });
+
   test("uses the default when two coworkers reach the same system", async () => {
     // Not a decision this can make. Two holders is exactly the case the router is for.
     const shared: RoutingCandidate[] = [