diff --git a/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp.go b/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp.go
index 4fecb09..489c0c5 100644
--- a/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp.go
+++ b/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp.go
@@ -79,6 +79,17 @@ func (l *LlamaCpp) Commands(s ShardSpec) ([]Command, error) {
 		// measure is one it has to route to blind.
 		"--metrics",
 	}
+	// The model's own chat template, which is what turns a tool call into a
+	// tool_calls array instead of a JSON object sitting in the reply text.
+	//
+	// Without it qwen2.5-coder emitted exactly the right call —
+	// {"name": "list_files", "arguments": {"path": "."}} — as plain content,
+	// and every OpenAI-compatible client saw a model that ignores its tools.
+	// It also affects ordinary chat, because the generic fallback template is
+	// not the one the model was trained on.
+	if !hasFlag(p.Args, "--jinja", "--no-jinja") {
+		args = append(args, "--jinja")
+	}
 	if p.ServedModelName != "" {
 		args = append(args, "--alias", p.ServedModelName)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp_test.go b/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp_test.go
index 3b17ab0..c23deaf 100644
--- a/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp_test.go
+++ b/internal/agent/engines/llamacpp_test.go
@@ -154,3 +154,35 @@ func flagValue(args []string, flag string) (string, bool) {
 	}
 	return "", false
 }
+
+func TestLlamaCppUsesTheModelsChatTemplate(t *testing.T) {
+	// Tool calling is the reason. Without --jinja, llama.cpp uses a generic
+	// template and a model that decides to call a tool emits the call as text:
+	// qwen2.5-coder returned {"name": "list_files", "arguments": {"path": "."}}
+	// in content, with tool_calls null, so every OpenAI-compatible client saw a
+	// model that ignores the tools it was given.
+	l := &LlamaCpp{}
+	cmds, err := l.Commands(ShardSpec{HTTPPort: 8080, Profile: Profile{ModelPath: "/m.gguf"}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !slices.Contains(cmds[0].Args, "--jinja") {
+		t.Errorf("--jinja is missing; tool calls will come back as text: %v", cmds[0].Args)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLlamaCppLetsAProfileTurnTheTemplateOff(t *testing.T) {
+	// A model whose bundled template is broken has to be serviceable without
+	// editing the adapter.
+	l := &LlamaCpp{}
+	cmds, err := l.Commands(ShardSpec{
+		HTTPPort: 8080,
+		Profile:  Profile{ModelPath: "/m.gguf", Args: []string{"--no-jinja"}},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if slices.Contains(cmds[0].Args, "--jinja") {
+		t.Errorf("the profile said --no-jinja and got both: %v", cmds[0].Args)
+	}
+}