diff --git a/agent/review_engine.py b/agent/review_engine.py
index dd2dddf8b8..69b0a2f671 100644
--- a/agent/review_engine.py
+++ b/agent/review_engine.py
@@ -26,15 +26,12 @@ DEFAULT_CONTEXT_MESSAGES = 10
 _MESSAGE_CHAR_CAP = 12_000
 
 _REVIEW_GOAL = (
-    "Act as an independent senior reviewer. Thoroughly review the work "
-    "presented in the conversation excerpt provided in your context: "
-    "investigate any code, pull request, branch, commit, documentation, "
-    "design, or other artifact it references (open the PR, read the "
-    "diff, run the code or tests where feasible) rather than judging "
-    "from the excerpt alone. Produce a full, structured review: what "
-    "the work does, whether it is correct and complete, concrete "
-    "defects or risks found (with file/line references where possible), "
-    "what was verified vs. only read, and a clear final verdict with recommended next steps."
+    "Act as an independent senior reviewer. Thoroughly review the work presented in the conversation excerpt "
+    "provided in your context: investigate any code, pull request, branch, commit, documentation, design, or other "
+    "artifact it references (open the PR, read the diff, run the code or tests where feasible) rather than judging "
+    "from the excerpt alone. Produce a full, structured review: what the work does, whether it is correct and "
+    "complete, concrete defects or risks found (with file/line references where possible), what was verified vs. "
+    "only read, and a clear final verdict with recommended next steps."
 )
 
 
@@ -123,9 +120,8 @@ def build_review_task(
 ) -> tuple:
     """Compose the reviewer subagent's (goal, context) pair."""
     lines = [
-        "You were spawned by the /review command. The following is an "
-        "excerpt of the most recent conversation between the user and "
-        "their primary agent. It is your starting evidence — the work to "
+        "You were spawned by the /review command. The following is an excerpt of the most recent conversation "
+        "between the user and their primary agent. It is your starting evidence — the work to "
         "review is referenced in it.",
         "",
         "--- Recent conversation (oldest first) ---",
diff --git a/agent/side_question.py b/agent/side_question.py
index 6dd54eb4d2..e4c34d419b 100644
--- a/agent/side_question.py
+++ b/agent/side_question.py
@@ -26,22 +26,19 @@ _PER_MESSAGE_CHAR_CAP = 2000
 _TRANSCRIPT_CHAR_BUDGET = 24000
 
 _FORK_PROMPT = (
-    "The user asked a quick SIDE question with /btw while the main work continues in the original session.\nRules:\n"
-    "- Answer ONLY the side question, using the conversation above as "
-    "context. Do not continue, redo, or critique the main task.\n"
-    "- Do NOT call any tools — they are disabled for this side question. Answer directly in text.\n"
-    "- If the conversation does not contain enough information to answer, say so plainly instead of guessing.\n"
-    "- Be concise and direct."
+    "The user asked a quick SIDE question with /btw while the main work continues in the original "
+    "session.\nRules:\n- Answer ONLY the side question, using the conversation above as context. Do not continue, "
+    "redo, or critique the main task.\n- Do NOT call any tools — they are disabled for this side question. Answer "
+    "directly in text.\n- If the conversation does not contain enough information to answer, say so plainly instead "
+    "of guessing.\n- Be concise and direct."
 )
 
 _ONESHOT_INSTRUCTIONS = (
-    "You are the same AI assistant that is currently working inside the "
-    "conversation transcribed below. The user has asked a quick SIDE question "
-    "with /btw while the main work continues.\nRules:\n"
-    "- Answer ONLY the side question. Do not continue, redo, or critique the main task.\n"
-    "- Use the transcript as your primary context; it is a snapshot and may not include the very latest activity.\n"
-    "- If the transcript does not contain enough information to answer, say so plainly instead of guessing.\n"
-    "- Be concise and direct."
+    "You are the same AI assistant that is currently working inside the conversation transcribed below. The user "
+    "has asked a quick SIDE question with /btw while the main work continues.\nRules:\n- Answer ONLY the side "
+    "question. Do not continue, redo, or critique the main task.\n- Use the transcript as your primary context; it "
+    "is a snapshot and may not include the very latest activity.\n- If the transcript does not contain enough "
+    "information to answer, say so plainly instead of guessing.\n- Be concise and direct."
 )
 
 _ROLE_LABELS = {"user": "USER", "assistant": "ASSISTANT", "tool": "TOOL RESULT"}
diff --git a/agent/thinking_timeout_guidance.py b/agent/thinking_timeout_guidance.py
index 4df59cade2..28c31935f2 100644
--- a/agent/thinking_timeout_guidance.py
+++ b/agent/thinking_timeout_guidance.py
@@ -42,14 +42,13 @@ def build_thinking_timeout_guidance(
     the config snippet so it is copy-pasteable; ``model_label`` is the optional prose name."""
     label = model_label or model
     return (
-        "\n\nThe model's thinking phase exceeded the upstream proxy's "
-        "idle timeout before the first content token arrived. This is a "
+        "\n\nThe model's thinking phase exceeded the upstream proxy's idle timeout before the first content token "
+        "arrived. This is a "
         f"known issue with reasoning models (like {label}) behind cloud "
         "gateways (NVIDIA NIM, OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek). Workarounds in priority order:\n"
         f"1. Set `providers.{provider}.models.{model}.stale_timeout_seconds: 900` "
-        "in `~/.hermes/config.yaml` to extend the per-call timeout. "
-        "(Hermes's built-in floor is 600s for known reasoning models — "
-        "if you still see this after raising, the upstream cap is even shorter.)\n"
-        "2. Lower `reasoning_budget` or set `reasoning_effort: medium` on this model if the provider supports it.\n"
-        "3. Use a smaller / faster reasoning model if the task doesn't require deep thinking."
+        "in `~/.hermes/config.yaml` to extend the per-call timeout. (Hermes's built-in floor is 600s for known "
+        "reasoning models — if you still see this after raising, the upstream cap is even shorter.)\n2. Lower "
+        "`reasoning_budget` or set `reasoning_effort: medium` on this model if the provider supports it.\n3. Use a "
+        "smaller / faster reasoning model if the task doesn't require deep thinking."
     )