diff --git a/headroom/transforms/content_router.py b/headroom/transforms/content_router.py
index 657638e40..4a862f7c1 100644
--- a/headroom/transforms/content_router.py
+++ b/headroom/transforms/content_router.py
@@ -2406,7 +2406,24 @@ class ContentRouter(Transform):
         Returns:
             RouterCompressionResult with reassembled content.
         """
-        sections = split_into_sections(content)
+        from .tag_protector import protect_tags, restore_tags
+
+        # Protect custom-tag blocks BEFORE splitting into sections. Section
+        # boundaries (code fences, blank lines) split a
+        # ``<system-reminder>...</system-reminder>`` pair across sections, so
+        # the per-section tag protection inside ``_try_ml_compressor`` never
+        # sees a matched pair (an unmatched tag protects nothing) and
+        # instruction blocks — Claude Code ships CLAUDE.md inside
+        # <system-reminder> — leak into lossy ML compression and arrive
+        # word-dropped. Protecting here keeps the whole block as one
+        # placeholder that spans sections intact.
+        cleaned, protected = protect_tags(
+            content,
+            compress_tagged_content=self.config.compress_tagged_content,
+        )
+        sections_source = cleaned if protected else content
+
+        sections = split_into_sections(sections_source)
         if logger.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG):
             _log_router_debug(
                 "content_router_mixed_sections",
@@ -2422,10 +2439,32 @@ class ContentRouter(Transform):
                 strategy_used=CompressionStrategy.PASSTHROUGH,
             )
 
+        # Placeholders must survive byte-exact: ``restore_tags`` DISCARDS a
+        # protected block whose placeholder was stripped or rewritten
+        # (Hotfix-A9), so a compressor eating a placeholder would silently
+        # drop the whole tag block — worse than the mangling this fixes.
+        # Any section carrying a placeholder is passed through verbatim
+        # instead of ever entering a compressor.
+        placeholders = [placeholder for placeholder, _ in protected]
+
         compressed_sections: list[str] = []
         routing_log: list[RoutingDecision] = []
 
         for i, section in enumerate(sections):
+            if placeholders and any(ph in section.content for ph in placeholders):
+                section_tokens = _estimate_tokens(section.content)
+                compressed_sections.append(section.content)
+                routing_log.append(
+                    RoutingDecision(
+                        content_type=section.content_type,
+                        strategy=CompressionStrategy.PASSTHROUGH,
+                        original_tokens=section_tokens,
+                        compressed_tokens=section_tokens,
+                        section_index=i,
+                    )
+                )
+                continue
+
             # Get strategy for this section
             strategy = self._strategy_from_detection_type(section.content_type)
 
@@ -2455,8 +2494,12 @@ class ContentRouter(Transform):
                 )
             )
 
+        compressed = "\n\n".join(compressed_sections)
+        if protected:
+            compressed = restore_tags(compressed, protected)
+
         return RouterCompressionResult(
-            compressed="\n\n".join(compressed_sections),
+            compressed=compressed,
             original=content,
             strategy_used=CompressionStrategy.MIXED,
             routing_log=routing_log,
diff --git a/tests/test_transforms/test_content_router.py b/tests/test_transforms/test_content_router.py
index 52f9bfa5b..916bd62ab 100644
--- a/tests/test_transforms/test_content_router.py
+++ b/tests/test_transforms/test_content_router.py
@@ -1699,3 +1699,70 @@ class TestCompressBlockContent:
         assert any("router:tool_result" in t for t in transforms_applied), (
             f"Expected router:tool_result:* in transforms, got: {transforms_applied}"
         )
+
+
+# =============================================================================
+# Mixed content: custom-tag protection (system-reminder mangling regression)
+# =============================================================================
+
+
+class TestMixedContentTagProtection:
+    """_compress_mixed must protect custom-tag blocks BEFORE section split.
+
+    Splitting first lands the open/close tags of a
+    ``<system-reminder>...</system-reminder>`` pair in different sections;
+    per-section protection then sees only unmatched tags (which protect
+    nothing) and the block's content — Claude Code ships CLAUDE.md this way —
+    is lossy-compressed and arrives word-dropped.
+    """
+
+    REMINDER = (
+        "<system-reminder>\n"
+        "Instruction prose that must survive byte-exact.\n\n"
+        "```bash\nrtk gain\n```\n\n"
+        "More instructions after the fence, also byte-exact.\n"
+        "</system-reminder>"
+    )
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _mangling_router() -> ContentRouter:
+        """Router whose per-section compressor visibly mangles everything."""
+        router = ContentRouter(ContentRouterConfig(min_section_tokens=1))
+
+        def mangle(content, strategy, context, language=None, question=None, bias=1.0):
+            return "MANGLED", 1, None
+
+        router._apply_strategy_to_content = mangle  # type: ignore[method-assign]
+        return router
+
+    def test_reminder_block_survives_mixed_compression_verbatim(self):
+        router = self._mangling_router()
+        content = (
+            "Prose before the reminder that may compress.\n\n"
+            + self.REMINDER
+            + "\n\nProse after the reminder that may compress."
+        )
+
+        result = router._compress_mixed(content, context="")
+
+        # The tag block (fence and all) is byte-exact in the output...
+        assert self.REMINDER in result.compressed
+        # ...while content outside it still went through the compressor.
+        assert "MANGLED" in result.compressed
+
+    def test_reminder_only_content_passes_through(self):
+        router = self._mangling_router()
+
+        result = router._compress_mixed(self.REMINDER, context="")
+
+        assert self.REMINDER in result.compressed
+        assert "MANGLED" not in result.compressed
+
+    def test_untagged_mixed_content_still_compresses(self):
+        router = self._mangling_router()
+        content = "Plain prose section.\n\n```python\nprint('hi')\n```\n\nMore prose."
+
+        result = router._compress_mixed(content, context="")
+
+        assert "MANGLED" in result.compressed
+        assert result.strategy_used == CompressionStrategy.MIXED