diff --git a/packages/api/src/skills/__tests__/import.test.ts b/packages/api/src/skills/__tests__/import.test.ts
index eb35f92de6..9aa1ebf620 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/skills/__tests__/import.test.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/skills/__tests__/import.test.ts
@@ -188,6 +188,16 @@ describe('parseFrontmatter', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('does not treat frontmatter scalar lines that start with --- text as closing fences', () => {
+    const raw = `---\nname: marker\ndescription: 'first\n---not a closing fence\nlast'\nalways-apply: false\n---\n\nbody`;
+    expect(parseFrontmatter(raw)).toEqual({
+      name: 'marker',
+      description: 'first ---not a closing fence last',
+      alwaysApply: false,
+      invalidBooleans: [],
+    });
+  });
+
   it('returns empty fields when frontmatter is unterminated', () => {
     const raw = `---\nname: incomplete\n`;
     expect(parseFrontmatter(raw)).toEqual({
diff --git a/packages/api/src/skills/parse.ts b/packages/api/src/skills/parse.ts
index 5261824706..ca640c63d3 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/skills/parse.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/skills/parse.ts
@@ -23,11 +23,12 @@ function extractFrontmatterBlock(raw: string): string | null {
   if (!content.startsWith('---\n')) {
     return null;
   }
-  const closingIdx = content.indexOf('\n---', 4);
-  if (closingIdx === -1) {
+  const body = content.slice(4);
+  const closingFence = /(?:^|\n)---[ \t]*(?:\n|$)/.exec(body);
+  if (!closingFence) {
     return null;
   }
-  return content.slice(4, closingIdx);
+  return body.slice(0, closingFence.index);
 }
 
 function getCaseInsensitive(frontmatter: Record<string, unknown>, key: string): unknown {