diff --git a/scripts/wake-digest.py b/scripts/wake-digest.py
index 85b8d0b..4aea6b4 100755
--- a/scripts/wake-digest.py
+++ b/scripts/wake-digest.py
@@ -100,16 +100,50 @@ def extract_anchor(text, anchor, limit=900):
     paraphrases the steward's own words is the lossy extraction this whole
     architecture is designed to avoid.
 
-    Handles both wrap shapes: `**ANCHOR: content**` (label and content share the
-    bold run) and `**ANCHOR for next-Claude:** content` (label closes first)."""
+    Matching is CASE-INSENSITIVE. /wrap-up names these fields in prose ("The
+    pulling thread", "**Pulling thread:**") and has never mandated a case, so a
+    case-sensitive reader demands of the wrap a shape its own producer was never
+    told to emit. Censused 2026-08-23 by running this function over all 195 wrap
+    files: 86 threads and 84 questions sat in the body, correctly written, and
+    were unreadable for that reason alone — including the last three wraps.
+
+    Shapes handled (the four the wraps actually emit):
+        **ANCHOR:** content                      label closes first
+        **ANCHOR: content**                      label and content share the bold run
+        **ANCHOR for next-Claude:** content      label runs long
+        **ANCHOR** *(aside)*:\n\ncontent          content in the NEXT paragraph
+
+    The label ends at the first ':' ON THE ANCHOR'S OWN LINE. The old 40-char
+    window was a proxy for "same line"; when an aside pushed the colon past it the
+    function returned THE LABEL and the wake inherited a heading in place of the
+    question (2026-08-22).
+
+    Where the anchor appears more than once, a match in LABEL POSITION wins over an
+    earlier narrative mention — case-insensitivity would otherwise let "…as the
+    pulling thread showed…" outrank the field it is describing.
+    """
     text = strip_frontmatter(text)
-    i = text.find(anchor)
-    if i < 0:
+    cands = list(re.finditer(re.escape(anchor), text, re.I))
+    if not cands:
         return None
-    s = text[i + len(anchor): i + len(anchor) + limit + 120]
-    c = s.find(":")
-    if 0 <= c <= 40:                      # remainder of the label, not content
-        s = s[c + 1:]
+
+    def in_label_position(m):
+        bol = text.rfind("\n", 0, m.start()) + 1
+        pre = re.sub(r"(?i)\b(the|a|our)\b", "", text[bol:m.start()])
+        return pre.strip(" *#->\t") == ""
+
+    m = next((c for c in cands if in_label_position(c)), cands[0])
+    s = text[m.end():]
+
+    line, nl, rest = s.partition("\n")
+    c = line.find(":")
+    if c >= 0:                            # remainder of the label, not content
+        line = line[c + 1:]
+    if not line.replace("*", "").strip():  # label ended the line — content is below
+        s = rest.lstrip("\n")
+    else:
+        s = line + nl + rest
+
     cut = re.search(r"\n\s*\n", s)
     if cut:
         s = s[: cut.start()]
@@ -895,6 +929,28 @@ def selftest():
         extract_anchor("**A:** " + "w " * 200, "A", limit=50).endswith("…[truncated]"))
     chk("extract_anchor returns None when the anchor is absent",
         extract_anchor("no anchor here", "PULLING THREAD") is None)
+    # --- 2026-08-23 [FIX]: the three shapes the last three wraps emitted, none of
+    # which the case-sensitive/40-char version could read. Each earned from a real
+    # miss, not invented: 86 threads + 84 questions across 195 wraps.
+    chk("extract_anchor matches case-insensitively  (**The pulling thread: …**)",
+        extract_anchor("**The pulling thread: the beacon, 12:00Z. Run ONCE.**\n\nnext",
+                       "PULLING THREAD")
+        == "the beacon, 12:00Z. Run ONCE.")
+    chk("extract_anchor takes the NEXT paragraph when the label ends the line",
+        extract_anchor("**Literal question for next-Claude** *(checkable, and the "
+                       "REVIEWED half is not my corpus)*:\n\nHas the rate risen?\n\nz",
+                       "LITERAL QUESTION")
+        == "Has the rate risen?")
+    chk("extract_anchor prefers a LABEL over an earlier narrative mention"
+        "  [negative control — case-insensitivity must not let prose outrank the field]",
+        extract_anchor("Yesterday the pulling thread went slack.\n\n"
+                       "**Pulling thread:** the beacon.\n\nz", "PULLING THREAD")
+        == "the beacon.")
+    chk("extract_anchor still finds a narrative-only mention when no label exists"
+        "  [positive control — proves the check above is not passing vacuously]",
+        extract_anchor("Yesterday the pulling thread: went slack.\n\nz",
+                       "PULLING THREAD")
+        == "went slack.")
     MEMDIR = os.path.realpath(MEM)
     TOUCH = "~/_Dev/studium-engine/docs/the-chamber-touchstone.md"
     chk("classify_pointers accepts an in-directory relative pointer",