diff --git a/src/lib/detection/__tests__/agentic.test.ts b/src/lib/detection/__tests__/agentic.test.ts
index a6a8c764d..86903a0c3 100644
--- a/src/lib/detection/__tests__/agentic.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/detection/__tests__/agentic.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import {
+  AgentOutputParseError,
   coerceAgenticReport,
+  extractJson,
   manifestGlob,
   resolveProjectDir,
 } from '@lib/detection/agentic';
@@ -110,6 +112,44 @@ describe('coerceAgenticReport', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('extractJson', () => {
+  const report =
+    '{"repoType":"monorepo","projects":[{"path":"apps/web","framework":"Next.js"}]}';
+
+  it('reads the object out of bare, fenced, and prose-wrapped output', () => {
+    expect(extractJson(report)).toMatchObject({ repoType: 'monorepo' });
+    expect(extractJson('```json\n' + report + '\n```')).toMatchObject({
+      repoType: 'monorepo',
+    });
+    expect(extractJson(`Here it is:\n${report}\nDone.`)).toMatchObject({
+      repoType: 'monorepo',
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('balances braces instead of reaching for the last one', () => {
+    // Trailing prose with a closing brace used to be swallowed into the slice.
+    expect(extractJson(`${report}\nAll set }`)).toMatchObject({
+      repoType: 'monorepo',
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('reports truncation instead of a raw SyntaxError when the object is cut short', () => {
+    // Single-line output cut mid-`projects`: the last `}` closes a nested
+    // project, so a lastIndexOf-based slice ends inside the array.
+    const truncated =
+      '{"repoType":"monorepo","projects":[{"path":"apps/web","framework":"Next.js"},{"path":"apps/api"';
+    expect(() => extractJson(truncated)).toThrow(AgentOutputParseError);
+    expect(() => extractJson(truncated)).toThrow(/truncated/i);
+  });
+
+  it('reports malformed JSON and missing objects as parse errors', () => {
+    expect(() => extractJson('{"repoType":"monorepo",}')).toThrow(
+      AgentOutputParseError,
+    );
+    expect(() => extractJson('no json here')).toThrow(AgentOutputParseError);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('resolveProjectDir', () => {
   it('scopes to the chosen sub-app inside the repo', () => {
     expect(resolveProjectDir('/repo', 'apps/web')).toBe('/repo/apps/web');
diff --git a/src/lib/detection/__tests__/project-scope.test.ts b/src/lib/detection/__tests__/project-scope.test.ts
index e9a9036c6..86b0e41d3 100644
--- a/src/lib/detection/__tests__/project-scope.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/detection/__tests__/project-scope.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import {
+  AgentOutputParseError,
   detectProjectsWithAgent,
   type AgenticProject,
 } from '@lib/detection/agentic';
@@ -181,6 +182,26 @@ describe('scopeInstallDirToProject', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('fires error without an exception when the agent output was truncated', async () => {
+    // Unparseable agent output is expected input, not a wizard bug — it must
+    // not show up in error tracking, but the outcome still has to be recorded.
+    flagsSpy.mockResolvedValue(FLAG_ON);
+    scan.mockRejectedValue(
+      new AgentOutputParseError(
+        'Agent output was truncated before the JSON object ended',
+      ),
+    );
+    const session = buildSession({ installDir: '/repo' });
+    await scopeInstallDirToProject(session);
+
+    expect(session.installDir).toBe('/repo');
+    expect(outcomeEvent()).toMatchObject({
+      outcome: 'error',
+      error_message: 'Agent output was truncated before the JSON object ended',
+    });
+    expect(exceptionSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it('leaves the session untouched and fires timeout when the scan outruns the budget', async () => {
     // The scan is abandoned, not cancelled — the run must not wait on it forever.
     vi.useFakeTimers();
diff --git a/src/lib/detection/agentic.ts b/src/lib/detection/agentic.ts
index 301a4a31c..ddbc2bd15 100644
--- a/src/lib/detection/agentic.ts
+++ b/src/lib/detection/agentic.ts
@@ -165,15 +165,72 @@ function buildPrompt(
   ].join('\n');
 }
 
-function extractJson(text: string): unknown {
+/**
+ * The agent's output didn't contain a usable JSON report. Expected input, not a
+ * wizard bug: callers report the outcome without also raising an exception.
+ */
+export class AgentOutputParseError extends Error {
+  constructor(message: string) {
+    super(message);
+    this.name = 'AgentOutputParseError';
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Index of the `}` closing the object that opens at `start`, or -1 when the
+ * text ends first (the agent's output was cut off mid-object).
+ *
+ * Braces and brackets are balanced rather than reaching for the last `}`:
+ * with truncated single-line JSON the last `}` belongs to a nested project
+ * object, so the slice would end inside the `projects` array and JSON.parse
+ * would throw a raw SyntaxError.
+ */
+function findObjectEnd(text: string, start: number): number {
+  const stack: string[] = [];
+  let inString = false;
+  let escaped = false;
+  for (let i = start; i < text.length; i++) {
+    const char = text[i];
+    if (inString) {
+      if (escaped) escaped = false;
+      else if (char === '\\') escaped = true;
+      else if (char === '"') inString = false;
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (char === '"') {
+      inString = true;
+    } else if (char === '{' || char === '[') {
+      stack.push(char);
+    } else if (char === '}' || char === ']') {
+      if (stack.pop() !== (char === '}' ? '{' : '[')) return -1;
+      if (stack.length === 0) return i;
+    }
+  }
+  return -1;
+}
+
+export function extractJson(text: string): unknown {
   const fenced = text.match(/```(?:json)?\s*([\s\S]*?)```/i);
   const candidate = fenced ? fenced[1] : text;
   const start = candidate.indexOf('{');
-  const end = candidate.lastIndexOf('}');
-  if (start === -1 || end === -1 || end < start) {
-    throw new Error('Agent did not return a JSON object');
+  if (start === -1) {
+    throw new AgentOutputParseError('Agent did not return a JSON object');
+  }
+  const end = findObjectEnd(candidate, start);
+  if (end === -1) {
+    throw new AgentOutputParseError(
+      'Agent output was truncated before the JSON object ended',
+    );
+  }
+  try {
+    return JSON.parse(candidate.slice(start, end + 1));
+  } catch (err) {
+    throw new AgentOutputParseError(
+      `Agent returned malformed JSON: ${
+        err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)
+      }`,
+    );
   }
-  return JSON.parse(candidate.slice(start, end + 1));
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/lib/detection/project-scope.ts b/src/lib/detection/project-scope.ts
index fc3462e98..376612e39 100644
--- a/src/lib/detection/project-scope.ts
+++ b/src/lib/detection/project-scope.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /** Non-interactive project scoping — scan the repo agentically and pick which project the run integrates. */
 
 import {
+  AgentOutputParseError,
   detectProjectsWithAgent,
   resolveProjectDir,
   type AgenticDetectionReport,
@@ -96,7 +97,11 @@ export async function scopeInstallDirToProject(
     ]);
   } catch (err) {
     const error = err instanceof Error ? err : new Error(String(err));
-    analytics.captureException(error, { step: 'agentic_detection' });
+    // Unparseable/truncated agent output is expected input, not a wizard bug —
+    // the outcome event records it, so it doesn't also need to be an exception.
+    if (!(error instanceof AgentOutputParseError)) {
+      analytics.captureException(error, { step: 'agentic_detection' });
+    }
     captureOutcome('error', {
       duration_ms: Date.now() - startedAt,
       error_message: error.message,
diff --git a/src/lib/warehouse-sources/__tests__/detect.test.ts b/src/lib/warehouse-sources/__tests__/detect.test.ts
index d504766e0..164a87278 100644
--- a/src/lib/warehouse-sources/__tests__/detect.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/warehouse-sources/__tests__/detect.test.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,26 @@ describe('detectWarehouseSources', () => {
     expect(detectWarehouseSources(tmpDir)).toEqual([]);
   });
 
+  it('still reads deps from a package.json with comments and trailing commas', () => {
+    // JSONC-style manifests exist in the wild; a strict parse used to drop
+    // every npm signal for the project.
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(tmpDir, 'package.json'),
+      '{\n  // our db driver\n  "dependencies": { "pg": "^8.0.0", },\n}\n',
+    );
+    expect(kinds(tmpDir)).toEqual(['Postgres']);
+  });
+
+  it('skips an unparseable package.json without throwing', () => {
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tmpDir, 'package.json'), 'not json at all');
+    expect(detectWarehouseSources(tmpDir)).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('skips a package.json holding a non-object', () => {
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tmpDir, 'package.json'), '"pg"');
+    expect(detectWarehouseSources(tmpDir)).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   it('detects Postgres from an npm driver dependency', () => {
     writePackageJson(tmpDir, { pg: '^8.0.0' });
     expect(kinds(tmpDir)).toEqual(['Postgres']);
diff --git a/src/lib/warehouse-sources/detect.ts b/src/lib/warehouse-sources/detect.ts
index b153115c3..dd126ab10 100644
--- a/src/lib/warehouse-sources/detect.ts
+++ b/src/lib/warehouse-sources/detect.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
  * Note we only read `.env` KEY NAMES, never values.
  */
 
-import { analytics } from '@utils/analytics';
+import * as jsonc from 'jsonc-parser';
 import { walkProjectFiles, safeReadFile } from '@utils/bounded-fs';
 import type { PackageJson } from '@utils/package-json';
 import {
@@ -147,20 +147,20 @@ function ingestorFor(name: string): Ingestor | null {
 }
 
 function addNpmDeps(content: string, signals: ProjectSignals): void {
-  try {
-    const pkg = JSON.parse(content) as PackageJson;
-    for (const dep of Object.keys({
-      ...pkg.dependencies,
-      ...pkg.devDependencies,
-    })) {
-      addCapped(signals.npm, dep);
-    }
-  } catch (error) {
-    // Malformed package.json — skip it, but record that we hit it.
-    analytics.captureException(
-      error instanceof Error ? error : new Error(String(error)),
-      { step: 'detectWarehouseSources.parsePackageJson' },
-    );
+  // Tolerant parse: the walk hands us every file named package.json in the
+  // tree, and some carry comments or trailing commas. A strict JSON.parse
+  // throws on those, so the project silently loses all its npm signals.
+  const pkg = jsonc.parse(content, undefined, {
+    allowTrailingComma: true,
+    disallowComments: false,
+  }) as PackageJson | undefined;
+  if (typeof pkg !== 'object' || pkg === null) return;
+
+  for (const dep of Object.keys({
+    ...pkg.dependencies,
+    ...pkg.devDependencies,
+  })) {
+    addCapped(signals.npm, dep);
   }
 }