diff --git a/src/agents/tools/cron-tool.ts b/src/agents/tools/cron-tool.ts
index 29c86e646e..d69bf94979 100644
--- a/src/agents/tools/cron-tool.ts
+++ b/src/agents/tools/cron-tool.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import type { CronDelivery, CronMessageChannel } from "../../cron/types.js";
 import { loadConfig } from "../../config/config.js";
 import { normalizeCronJobCreate, normalizeCronJobPatch } from "../../cron/normalize.js";
 import { parseAgentSessionKey } from "../../sessions/session-key-utils.js";
+import { extractTextFromChatContent } from "../../shared/chat-content.js";
 import { isRecord, truncateUtf16Safe } from "../../utils.js";
 import { resolveSessionAgentId } from "../agent-scope.js";
 import { optionalStringEnum, stringEnum } from "../schema/typebox.js";
@@ -69,38 +70,13 @@ function truncateText(input: string, maxLen: number) {
   return `${truncated}...`;
 }
 
-function normalizeContextText(raw: string) {
-  return raw.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
-}
-
 function extractMessageText(message: ChatMessage): { role: string; text: string } | null {
   const role = typeof message.role === "string" ? message.role : "";
   if (role !== "user" && role !== "assistant") {
     return null;
   }
-  const content = message.content;
-  if (typeof content === "string") {
-    const normalized = normalizeContextText(content);
-    return normalized ? { role, text: normalized } : null;
-  }
-  if (!Array.isArray(content)) {
-    return null;
-  }
-  const chunks: string[] = [];
-  for (const block of content) {
-    if (!block || typeof block !== "object") {
-      continue;
-    }
-    if ((block as { type?: unknown }).type !== "text") {
-      continue;
-    }
-    const text = (block as { text?: unknown }).text;
-    if (typeof text === "string" && text.trim()) {
-      chunks.push(text);
-    }
-  }
-  const joined = normalizeContextText(chunks.join(" "));
-  return joined ? { role, text: joined } : null;
+  const text = extractTextFromChatContent(message.content);
+  return text ? { role, text } : null;
 }
 
 async function buildReminderContextLines(params: {
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts
index 35e3556d39..b4d201e947 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-subagents.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import { callGateway } from "../../gateway/call.js";
 import { logVerbose } from "../../globals.js";
 import { formatTimeAgo } from "../../infra/format-time/format-relative.ts";
 import { parseAgentSessionKey } from "../../routing/session-key.js";
+import { extractTextFromChatContent } from "../../shared/chat-content.js";
 import {
   formatDurationCompact,
   formatTokenUsageDisplay,
@@ -202,45 +203,15 @@ function buildSubagentsHelp() {
 type ChatMessage = {
   role?: unknown;
   content?: unknown;
-  name?: unknown;
-  toolName?: unknown;
 };
 
-function normalizeMessageText(text: string) {
-  return text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
-}
-
 export function extractMessageText(message: ChatMessage): { role: string; text: string } | null {
   const role = typeof message.role === "string" ? message.role : "";
   const shouldSanitize = role === "assistant";
-  const content = message.content;
-  if (typeof content === "string") {
-    const normalized = normalizeMessageText(
-      shouldSanitize ? sanitizeTextContent(content) : content,
-    );
-    return normalized ? { role, text: normalized } : null;
-  }
-  if (!Array.isArray(content)) {
-    return null;
-  }
-  const chunks: string[] = [];
-  for (const block of content) {
-    if (!block || typeof block !== "object") {
-      continue;
-    }
-    if ((block as { type?: unknown }).type !== "text") {
-      continue;
-    }
-    const text = (block as { text?: unknown }).text;
-    if (typeof text === "string") {
-      const value = shouldSanitize ? sanitizeTextContent(text) : text;
-      if (value.trim()) {
-        chunks.push(value);
-      }
-    }
-  }
-  const joined = normalizeMessageText(chunks.join(" "));
-  return joined ? { role, text: joined } : null;
+  const text = extractTextFromChatContent(message.content, {
+    sanitizeText: shouldSanitize ? sanitizeTextContent : undefined,
+  });
+  return text ? { role, text } : null;
 }
 
 function formatLogLines(messages: ChatMessage[]) {
diff --git a/src/shared/chat-content.test.ts b/src/shared/chat-content.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7e01037fe1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/chat-content.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { extractTextFromChatContent } from "./chat-content.js";
+
+describe("extractTextFromChatContent", () => {
+  it("normalizes string content", () => {
+    expect(extractTextFromChatContent("  hello\nworld  ")).toBe("hello world");
+  });
+
+  it("extracts text blocks from array content", () => {
+    expect(
+      extractTextFromChatContent([
+        { type: "text", text: " hello " },
+        { type: "image_url", image_url: "https://example.com" },
+        { type: "text", text: "world" },
+      ]),
+    ).toBe("hello world");
+  });
+
+  it("applies sanitizer when provided", () => {
+    expect(
+      extractTextFromChatContent("Here [Tool Call: foo (ID: 1)] ok", {
+        sanitizeText: (text) => text.replace(/\[Tool Call:[^\]]+\]\s*/g, ""),
+      }),
+    ).toBe("Here ok");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/shared/chat-content.ts b/src/shared/chat-content.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5f8541d9c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/chat-content.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+export function extractTextFromChatContent(
+  content: unknown,
+  opts?: { sanitizeText?: (text: string) => string },
+): string | null {
+  const normalize = (text: string) => text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
+
+  if (typeof content === "string") {
+    const value = opts?.sanitizeText ? opts.sanitizeText(content) : content;
+    const normalized = normalize(value);
+    return normalized ? normalized : null;
+  }
+
+  if (!Array.isArray(content)) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const chunks: string[] = [];
+  for (const block of content) {
+    if (!block || typeof block !== "object") {
+      continue;
+    }
+    if ((block as { type?: unknown }).type !== "text") {
+      continue;
+    }
+    const text = (block as { text?: unknown }).text;
+    if (typeof text !== "string") {
+      continue;
+    }
+    const value = opts?.sanitizeText ? opts.sanitizeText(text) : text;
+    if (value.trim()) {
+      chunks.push(value);
+    }
+  }
+
+  const joined = normalize(chunks.join(" "));
+  return joined ? joined : null;
+}