diff --git a/$MEMEX_DIR/state/memory-image.lisp b/$MEMEX_DIR/state/memory-image.lisp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/docs/README.org b/docs/README.org
index 8bdf4b0..33f06d6 100644
--- a/docs/README.org
+++ b/docs/README.org
@@ -413,7 +413,17 @@ The physical implementation of the daemon, tangled from this Org document into =
 
 (defvar *auth-providers* (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
 (defun register-auth-provider (name fn) (setf (gethash name *auth-providers*) fn))
-(defun get-provider-auth (provider) (let ((auth-fn (gethash provider *auth-providers*))) (if auth-fn (funcall auth-fn) nil)))
+(defun get-provider-auth (provider)
+  "Retrieves authentication credentials for a provider. 
+   Supports direct plists, functions, or environment variable fallbacks."
+  (let ((auth (gethash provider *auth-providers*)))
+    (cond
+      ((functionp auth) (funcall auth))
+      ((listp auth) auth)
+      (t (case provider
+           (:gemini (list :api-key (uiop:getenv "GEMINI_API_KEY")))
+           (:openrouter (list :api-key (uiop:getenv "OPENROUTER_API_KEY")))
+           (t nil))))))
 
 (defvar *neuro-backends* (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
 (defvar *provider-cascade* '(:gemini))
diff --git a/org-agent-server b/org-agent-server
index b2317d7..6f84800 100755
Binary files a/org-agent-server and b/org-agent-server differ
diff --git a/src/neuro.lisp b/src/neuro.lisp
index a904417..80e27c8 100644
--- a/src/neuro.lisp
+++ b/src/neuro.lisp
@@ -4,7 +4,17 @@
 
 (defvar *auth-providers* (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
 (defun register-auth-provider (name fn) (setf (gethash name *auth-providers*) fn))
-(defun get-provider-auth (provider) (let ((auth-fn (gethash provider *auth-providers*))) (if auth-fn (funcall auth-fn) nil)))
+(defun get-provider-auth (provider)
+  "Retrieves authentication credentials for a provider. 
+   Supports direct plists, functions, or environment variable fallbacks."
+  (let ((auth (gethash provider *auth-providers*)))
+    (cond
+      ((functionp auth) (funcall auth))
+      ((listp auth) auth)
+      (t (case provider
+           (:gemini (list :api-key (uiop:getenv "GEMINI_API_KEY")))
+           (:openrouter (list :api-key (uiop:getenv "OPENROUTER_API_KEY")))
+           (t nil))))))
 
 (defvar *neuro-backends* (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
 (defvar *provider-cascade* '(:gemini))
@@ -114,14 +124,12 @@
                     ((and (let ((p (getf context :payload))) (eq (getf p :sensor) :chat-message))
                           (> (length cleaned-thought) 0))
                      (kernel-log "SYSTEM 1: SALVAGING plain-text response.~%")
-                     ;; Heuristic: If it looks like meta-commentary with quoted text, extract the quote
-                     (let* ((quote-match (cl-ppcre:scan-to-strings "\"((?:\\\\.|[^\"\\\\])*)\"" cleaned-thought))
-                            (payload-text (if (and quote-match (> (length quote-match) 0)) 
-                                              (elt (nth-value 1 (cl-ppcre:scan-to-strings "\"((?:\\\\.|[^\"\\\\])*)\"" cleaned-thought)) 0)
-                                              cleaned-thought)))
+                     ;; Remove common AI conversational filler at the start or end of the response
+                     (let* ((no-prefix (cl-ppcre:regex-replace "(?i)^(okay,? |sure,? |i will |i've |i have |here is |got it\\.? |understood\\.? |done\\.? |yes,? )+" cleaned-thought ""))
+                            (no-suffix (cl-ppcre:regex-replace "(?i)(\\s+okay,?|\\s+sure,?|\\s+got it\\.?|\\s+understood\\.?)$" no-prefix ""))
+                            (payload-text (string-trim '(#\Space #\Newline #\Tab #\") no-suffix)))
                        `(:type :request :target :emacs :payload (:action :insert-at-end :buffer "*org-agent-chat*" :text ,payload-text))))
-                    (t (kernel-log "SYSTEM 1 ERROR: Could not parse response as Lisp plist.~%") nil)))
-                '(:type :LOG :payload (:text "Skill triggered (Deterministic only)")))))
+                    (t (kernel-log "SYSTEM 1 ERROR: Could not parse response as Lisp plist.~%") nil)))                '(:type :LOG :payload (:text "Skill triggered (Deterministic only)")))))
         nil)))
 
 (defun distill-prompt (full-prompt successful-output)
diff --git a/src/org-agent.el b/src/org-agent.el
index 0fb371a..f98060e 100644
--- a/src/org-agent.el
+++ b/src/org-agent.el
@@ -142,6 +142,18 @@ will assume you have started it manually (e.g., via SBCL)."
       (org-agent--execute-request proc id payload))
      ((member type '(:response :RESPONSE))
       (message "org-agent: Received response for ID %s" id))
+     ((member type '(:log :LOG))
+      (let ((text (org-agent--plist-get payload :text)))
+        (save-excursion
+          (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*org-agent-chat*")
+            (goto-char (point-max))
+            ;; Clean up Thinking... if it exists
+            (save-excursion
+              (when (search-backward "** Thinking..." nil t)
+                (delete-region (point) (point-max))
+                (when (eq (char-before) ?\n) (backward-delete-char 1))))
+            (goto-char (point-max))
+            (insert "\n*SYSTEM LOG*: " text "\n")))))
      (t (message "org-agent: Received unknown message type %s" type)))))
 
 (defun org-agent--execute-request (proc id payload)
@@ -173,7 +185,7 @@ will assume you have started it manually (e.g., via SBCL)."
               (when (eq (char-before) ?\n)
                 (backward-delete-char 1)))
             (goto-char (point-max))
-            (insert "\n" text "\n")
+            (insert text "\n")
             (org-agent-send `(:type :RESPONSE :id ,id :payload (:status :success)))))))
      ((member action '(:refactor-subtree :REFACTOR-SUBTREE))
       (let ((target-id (org-agent--plist-get payload :target-id))