diff --git a/.agents/skills/lib.sh b/.agents/skills/lib.sh
index 3ef014f..2e87094 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/lib.sh
+++ b/.agents/skills/lib.sh
@@ -1591,7 +1591,7 @@ send_keys_safe() {
   # lines at the terminal width (and some TUIs add indentation on the
   # continuation line too), which can split/reformat the marker across two
   # visual lines and make a literal grep miss it even though the paste landed.
-  elif ! printf '%s' "$pane_content" | tr -d '[:space:]' | grep -Fq "$marker_norm"; then
+  elif [ -n "$marker_norm" ] && ! printf '%s' "$pane_content" | tr -d '[:space:]' | grep -Fq "$marker_norm"; then
     echo "send_keys_safe: paste not visible ($sess)" >&2
     return 3
   fi
@@ -1606,7 +1606,7 @@ send_keys_safe() {
     if printf '%s\n' "$cur_content" | grep -Eq "● |✽ |[A-Za-z]+ing…|[A-Za-z]+ing\.\.\.|esc to interrupt"; then
       return 0
     fi
-    if [ "$was_popup" = "0" ] && ! _pane_tail "$sess" 3 | tr -d '[:space:]' | grep -Fq "$marker_norm" && [ "$cur_content" != "$pre_submit" ]; then
+    if [ "$was_popup" = "0" ] && { [ -z "$marker_norm" ] || ! _pane_tail "$sess" 3 | tr -d '[:space:]' | grep -Fq "$marker_norm"; } && [ "$cur_content" != "$pre_submit" ]; then
       return 0
     elif [ "$was_popup" = "1" ] && \
          ! printf '%s\n' "$cur_content" | grep -Eq "Pasted text|paste again to expand" && \