diff --git a/crates/op-ai-skills/skills/phases/planning/style-guide-selector.md b/crates/op-ai-skills/skills/phases/planning/style-guide-selector.md
index b42b65bc2..fc68381d6 100644
--- a/crates/op-ai-skills/skills/phases/planning/style-guide-selector.md
+++ b/crates/op-ai-skills/skills/phases/planning/style-guide-selector.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: Select a pre-built visual style guide based on user request
 phase: [planning]
 trigger: null
 priority: 3
-budget: 500
+budget: 1500
 category: base
 ---
 
diff --git a/crates/op-ai-skills/src/resolve.rs b/crates/op-ai-skills/src/resolve.rs
index 9a2cb883e..187a52ef5 100644
--- a/crates/op-ai-skills/src/resolve.rs
+++ b/crates/op-ai-skills/src/resolve.rs
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ mod tests {
         };
         let ctx = resolve_skills(Phase::Planning, "plan a landing page", &opts);
         assert!(ctx.memory.document_context.is_some());
-        assert_eq!(ctx.budget_max, 4000);
+        assert_eq!(ctx.budget_max, 6000);
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/crates/op-ai-skills/src/types.rs b/crates/op-ai-skills/src/types.rs
index 971ef6e36..1ac724da9 100644
--- a/crates/op-ai-skills/src/types.rs
+++ b/crates/op-ai-skills/src/types.rs
@@ -57,9 +57,18 @@ impl Phase {
     /// headroom the codebase had already decided was correct. Tier-scaled
     /// callers (Basic/Standard mobile/desktop) are unaffected: they pass an
     /// explicit `budget_override` and never fall through to this default.
+    ///
+    /// Planning moved 4000 → 6000 for a related reason (2026-07-28). Its
+    /// three `Base` skills are budget-EXEMPT but still counted against the
+    /// total, and they need ~4500 tokens on their own once
+    /// `style-guide-selector` carries the injected style-guide catalog. At
+    /// 4000 the phase was already over budget before Step 3 ran, so
+    /// `landing-page-predesign` — the phase's only Domain skill — could never
+    /// be included on ANY prompt, matched or not. The ceiling now covers the
+    /// base set plus that skill with headroom.
     pub fn default_budget(self) -> u32 {
         match self {
-            Phase::Planning => 4000,
+            Phase::Planning => 6000,
             Phase::Generation => 12000,
             Phase::Validation => 3000,
             Phase::Maintenance => 5000,
@@ -69,7 +78,7 @@ impl Phase {
 
 /// Per-phase default token budgets — the TS `DEFAULT_BUDGETS` record.
 pub const DEFAULT_BUDGETS: [(Phase, u32); 4] = [
-    (Phase::Planning, 4000),
+    (Phase::Planning, 6000),
     (Phase::Generation, 12000),
     (Phase::Validation, 3000),
     (Phase::Maintenance, 5000),
@@ -322,7 +331,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn default_budget_table() {
-        assert_eq!(Phase::Planning.default_budget(), 4000);
+        assert_eq!(Phase::Planning.default_budget(), 6000);
         assert_eq!(Phase::Generation.default_budget(), 12000);
         assert_eq!(Phase::Validation.default_budget(), 3000);
         assert_eq!(Phase::Maintenance.default_budget(), 5000);
diff --git a/crates/op-orchestrator/src/prompt_skill_budget_tests.rs b/crates/op-orchestrator/src/prompt_skill_budget_tests.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f0078c6a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/op-orchestrator/src/prompt_skill_budget_tests.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@
+//! Budget guards for planning skills whose content is AUGMENTED at runtime.
+//!
+//! `op-ai-skills` has `no_skill_silently_exceeds_its_own_budget`, but that
+//! test measures the file on disk — and `style-guide-selector.md` carries a
+//! `{{availableStyleGuides}}` placeholder that the orchestrator substitutes
+//! with the whole style-guide catalog before the trimmer ever sees it. The
+//! static corpus was 210 tokens against a 500 budget; the injected catalog
+//! took the real prompt to 819 tokens, and Step 1 of `trim_by_budget_pinned`
+//! silently chopped 1287 chars off the tail — the selection rules that tell
+//! the model what to DO with the catalog — on every planning call
+//! (2026-07-28 production log).
+//!
+//! The corpus test cannot catch this: `op-ai-skills` is below the
+//! orchestrator in the dependency graph and cannot see the catalog. So the
+//! guard has to live here, on the side that owns the augmentation.
+
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+
+use jian_ops_schema::{DesignMdColor, DesignMdSpec, DesignMdTypography};
+use op_ai_skills::budget::estimate_tokens;
+use op_ai_skills::resolver::inject_dynamic_content;
+
+use super::*;
+
+/// Every placeholder the orchestrator substitutes into a PLANNING skill.
+/// Adding a runtime-augmented planning key without adding it here is what
+/// this guard exists to make impossible — a new key with no worst-case entry
+/// leaves the same blind spot `{{availableStyleGuides}}` sat in.
+const AUGMENTED_PLANNING_KEYS: [&str; 1] = ["availableStyleGuides"];
+
+/// A design.md spec filled to the size limits `build_design_md_style_policy`
+/// enforces (200/300/400-char truncations, 10 palette rows, 6 surface rows),
+/// so the design.md branch is measured at ITS worst case too — that branch
+/// interpolates USER content, and a fixed budget has to cover it.
+fn saturated_design_md() -> DesignMdSpec {
+    let color = |i: usize| DesignMdColor {
+        name: format!("Palette Color Number {i}"),
+        hex: format!("#0000{i:02}"),
+        role: format!("surface role {i} — card, panel and sidebar backgrounds"),
+    };
+    DesignMdSpec {
+        raw: String::new(),
+        project_name: Some("A Rather Long Project Name For Measurement".into()),
+        visual_theme: Some("v".repeat(400)),
+        color_palette: Some((0..20).map(color).collect()),
+        typography: Some(DesignMdTypography {
+            font_family: Some("f".repeat(120)),
+            headings: Some("h".repeat(120)),
+            body: Some("b".repeat(120)),
+            scale: Some("s".repeat(400)),
+        }),
+        component_styles: Some("c".repeat(600)),
+        layout_principles: Some("l".repeat(800)),
+        generation_notes: Some("n".repeat(800)),
+    }
+}
+
+/// The worst-case value of `{{availableStyleGuides}}` over every branch that
+/// can produce one: both catalog planning modes crossed with every model tier
+/// (the tier sets the snippet count), plus the design.md branch.
+fn worst_case_style_guide_context() -> (String, String) {
+    // One model id per tier — `snippet_limit` is the only tier-sensitive
+    // input, and it is what makes the catalog branch grow.
+    let models = ["claude-opus", "glm-4", "minimax-m3", ""];
+    let prompts = [
+        "a fintech dashboard",
+        "a dark minimalist mobile music app landing page",
+        "xyz123",
+    ];
+    let design_md = saturated_design_md();
+    let mut worst = (String::new(), String::new());
+    for mode in [PlanningMode::Rich, PlanningMode::Minimal] {
+        for model in models {
+            for prompt in prompts {
+                for spec in [None, Some(&design_md)] {
+                    let ctx = build_planning_style_guide_context(prompt, Some(model), mode, spec);
+                    if ctx.available_style_guides.chars().count() > worst.0.chars().count() {
+                        let label = format!(
+                            "mode={mode:?} model={model:?} design_md={} prompt={prompt:?}",
+                            spec.is_some()
+                        );
+                        worst = (ctx.available_style_guides, label);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    worst
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn runtime_augmented_planning_skills_fit_their_own_budget() {
+    let (context, label) = worst_case_style_guide_context();
+    let dynamic = HashMap::from([("availableStyleGuides".to_string(), context.clone())]);
+
+    let mut offenders = Vec::new();
+    for skill in op_ai_skills::get_skills_by_phase(op_ai_skills::Phase::Planning) {
+        let augmented = inject_dynamic_content(&skill.content, &dynamic);
+        if augmented == skill.content {
+            continue; // no placeholder — the corpus test already covers it
+        }
+        let actual = estimate_tokens(&augmented);
+        if actual > skill.meta.budget {
+            offenders.push(format!(
+                "{} (budget={}, augmented={actual}, over by {}) — worst case {label}",
+                skill.meta.name,
+                skill.meta.budget,
+                actual - skill.meta.budget
+            ));
+        }
+    }
+    assert!(
+        offenders.is_empty(),
+        "planning skills are truncated AFTER runtime augmentation, silently dropping \
+         their tail from every planning prompt: {offenders:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn every_augmented_placeholder_has_a_worst_case_in_this_guard() {
+    // The guard is only as good as its key list. Any `{{placeholder}}` a
+    // planning skill declares must be one this file measures — otherwise a
+    // new augmented key reopens exactly the hole this file closes.
+    for skill in op_ai_skills::get_skills_by_phase(op_ai_skills::Phase::Planning) {
+        for (index, _) in skill.content.match_indices("{{") {
+            let rest = &skill.content[index + 2..];
+            let Some(end) = rest.find("}}") else { continue };
+            let key = &rest[..end];
+            assert!(
+                AUGMENTED_PLANNING_KEYS.contains(&key),
+                "planning skill {:?} interpolates {{{{{key}}}}}, which this budget guard \
+                 does not measure — add its worst case to AUGMENTED_PLANNING_KEYS",
+                skill.meta.name
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn no_planning_skill_is_dropped_or_truncated_by_the_phase_budget() {
+    // End-to-end through the real resolver: the per-skill cap AND the phase
+    // total. The landing-page prompt is deliberate — `landing-page-predesign`
+    // is the phase's only Domain skill, so it is the one that gets squeezed
+    // out when the base skills eat the whole total.
+    let (context, label) = worst_case_style_guide_context();
+    let opts = op_ai_skills::ResolveOptions {
+        dynamic_content: HashMap::from([("availableStyleGuides".to_string(), context)]),
+        ..Default::default()
+    };
+    let prompt = "a marketing landing page for a fintech product";
+    let ctx = op_ai_skills::resolve_skills(op_ai_skills::Phase::Planning, prompt, &opts);
+
+    let truncated: Vec<&str> = ctx
+        .report
+        .included
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|entry| entry.truncated)
+        .map(|entry| entry.name.as_str())
+        .collect();
+    assert!(
+        truncated.is_empty(),
+        "truncated planning skills {truncated:?} (worst case {label}); \
+         used {}/{} tokens",
+        ctx.report.budget_used,
+        ctx.report.budget_max
+    );
+
+    let starved: Vec<&str> = ctx
+        .report
+        .dropped
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|entry| entry.reason == op_ai_skills::DropReason::BudgetExhausted)
+        .map(|entry| entry.name.as_str())
+        .collect();
+    assert!(
+        starved.is_empty(),
+        "planning skills dropped for budget {starved:?}; used {}/{} tokens — the phase \
+         total must cover the base skills (which are budget-exempt and therefore always \
+         counted) plus every intent-matched Domain skill",
+        ctx.report.budget_used,
+        ctx.report.budget_max
+    );
+}
diff --git a/crates/op-orchestrator/src/prompt_tests.rs b/crates/op-orchestrator/src/prompt_tests.rs
index 7c2e5a187..d456e755a 100644
--- a/crates/op-orchestrator/src/prompt_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/op-orchestrator/src/prompt_tests.rs
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ fn subtask() -> crate::plan::Subtask {
 mod components_tests;
 #[path = "prompt_planning_tests.rs"]
 mod planning_tests;
+#[path = "prompt_skill_budget_tests.rs"]
+mod skill_budget_tests;
 #[path = "prompt_subagent_content_tests.rs"]
 mod subagent_content_tests;
 #[path = "prompt_timeout_feedback_tests.rs"]