diff --git a/src/main/services/skill-service.ts b/src/main/services/skill-service.ts
index 1ec573e7..2b6bb4e4 100644
--- a/src/main/services/skill-service.ts
+++ b/src/main/services/skill-service.ts
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ export class SkillService {
         readFileSync(row.object_key, "utf8").trim(),
       ].join("\n\n");
       const partTokens = estimateTokens(part);
-      if (compiledParts.length > 0 && compiledTokens + partTokens > input.maxTokens) {
+      if (compiledTokens + partTokens > input.maxTokens) {
         omitted.push(manifest.name);
         continue;
       }
diff --git a/tests/unit/builtin-skills.test.ts b/tests/unit/builtin-skills.test.ts
index 8b40a4f7..a03c9d8e 100644
--- a/tests/unit/builtin-skills.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/builtin-skills.test.ts
@@ -247,4 +247,23 @@ describe("built-in skills", () => {
     expect(parseFrontmatter(HUMANIZER_MD).description).toContain("sound more natural and human-written");
     expect(parseFrontmatter("no frontmatter")).toEqual({});
   });
+
+  test("no skill, not even the first forced one, may exceed the skill budget", () => {
+    const h = harness();
+    const staged = stageBuiltinSkillsLibrary(h.sourceRoot, h.libraryRoot);
+    h.connection.transaction(() => importStagedSkills(h.skills, h.orgId, staged));
+    let agentId = "";
+    h.connection.transaction(() => {
+      agentId = h.organization.createAgent({
+        orgId: h.orgId, name: "Ada", role: "Engineer", department: "Engineering",
+        modelProviderId: null, modelId: null, budgetCents: 1000, managerAgentId: null,
+      });
+    });
+    const snapshotId = h.connection.transaction(() => h.skills.resolveRuntimeSnapshot({ orgId: h.orgId, agentId, runId: "run_tiny", maxTokens: 10 }));
+    const prompt = (h.connection.db.prepare("select compiled_prompt from skill_runtime_snapshots where id = ?").get(snapshotId) as { compiled_prompt: string }).compiled_prompt;
+    expect(prompt).not.toContain("# Skill:");
+    expect(prompt).toContain("# Skills omitted for size");
+    expect(prompt).toContain("humanizer");
+    h.connection.close();
+  });
 });