diff --git a/packages/cli/src/context/memory/capture-signals.ts b/packages/cli/src/context/memory/capture-signals.ts
index 86a123e0..5c84c589 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/context/memory/capture-signals.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/context/memory/capture-signals.ts
@@ -16,8 +16,18 @@ export function detectCaptureSignals(input: MemoryAgentInput): CaptureSignals {
   const assistantMessage = input.assistantMessage?.trim() ?? '';
   const reasons: string[] = [];
 
+  // The user-message length gate is a research-path proxy for "the turn was substantive
+  // enough to promote the assistant's SQL." External ingest carries a fixed boilerplate
+  // user message and keeps the real content in the assistant message, so the proxy never
+  // holds there - treat the deliberate submission itself as the substantive signal.
+  const deliberateSubmission = input.sourceType === 'external_ingest';
+
   let sl = false;
-  if (assistantMessage && SQL_AGGREGATE_PATTERN.test(assistantMessage) && userMessage.length >= 100) {
+  if (
+    assistantMessage &&
+    SQL_AGGREGATE_PATTERN.test(assistantMessage) &&
+    (deliberateSubmission || userMessage.length >= 100)
+  ) {
     sl = true;
     reasons.push('sql aggregate in assistant message');
   }
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/context/memory/memory-agent.service.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/context/memory/memory-agent.service.test.ts
index 36bae425..5fdebe9b 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/context/memory/memory-agent.service.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/context/memory/memory-agent.service.test.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,31 @@ describe('MemoryAgentService.detectCaptureSignals', () => {
     expect(result.sl).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it('fires sl on assistant SQL for external_ingest despite a short boilerplate user message', () => {
+    // `ktx ingest --file` keeps the content in assistantMessage and uses a fixed boilerplate
+    // user message, so the substantive-turn gate must come from the deliberate submission itself.
+    const result = detectCaptureSignals({
+      userId: 'u',
+      chatId: 'c',
+      userMessage: 'Ingest external text artifact "verified_pairs.md" into ktx memory.',
+      assistantMessage: 'Q: total claims completed?\nSQL: SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Claim_No_Date) FROM dimJob_Details',
+      sourceType: 'external_ingest',
+    });
+    expect(result.sl).toBe(true);
+    expect(result.reasons).toContain('sql aggregate in assistant message');
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the substantive-turn gate for non-ingest source types with a short user message', () => {
+    const result = detectCaptureSignals({
+      userId: 'u',
+      chatId: 'c',
+      userMessage: 'Ingest external text artifact "verified_pairs.md" into ktx memory.',
+      assistantMessage: 'SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Claim_No_Date) FROM dimJob_Details',
+      sourceType: 'research',
+    });
+    expect(result.sl).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it('fires sl on definition keywords in user message regardless of length', () => {
     const result = detectCaptureSignals({
       userId: 'u',