diff --git a/src/agents/cli-output.ts b/src/agents/cli-output.ts
index 05724873983..25bfd7dbdb3 100644
--- a/src/agents/cli-output.ts
+++ b/src/agents/cli-output.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import type { CliBackendConfig } from "../config/types.js";
+import { extractBalancedJsonFragments } from "../shared/balanced-json.js";
 import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../shared/string-coerce.js";
 import { isRecord } from "../utils.js";
 
@@ -39,48 +40,7 @@ function usesClaudeStreamJsonDialect(params: {
 }
 
 function extractJsonObjectCandidates(raw: string): string[] {
-  const candidates: string[] = [];
-  let depth = 0;
-  let start = -1;
-  let inString = false;
-  let escaped = false;
-
-  for (let index = 0; index < raw.length; index += 1) {
-    const char = raw[index] ?? "";
-    if (escaped) {
-      escaped = false;
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === "\\") {
-      if (inString) {
-        escaped = true;
-      }
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === '"') {
-      inString = !inString;
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (inString) {
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === "{") {
-      if (depth === 0) {
-        start = index;
-      }
-      depth += 1;
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === "}" && depth > 0) {
-      depth -= 1;
-      if (depth === 0 && start >= 0) {
-        candidates.push(raw.slice(start, index + 1));
-        start = -1;
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
-  return candidates;
+  return extractBalancedJsonFragments(raw, { openers: ["{"] }).map((fragment) => fragment.json);
 }
 
 function parseJsonRecordCandidates(raw: string): Record<string, unknown>[] {
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.tool-call-argument-repair.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.tool-call-argument-repair.ts
index d74f6ac333a..8c4f1119d61 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.tool-call-argument-repair.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.tool-call-argument-repair.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import {
   createHtmlEntityToolCallArgumentDecodingWrapper,
   decodeHtmlEntitiesInObject,
 } from "../../../plugin-sdk/provider-stream-shared.js";
+import { extractBalancedJsonPrefix } from "../../../shared/balanced-json.js";
 import { normalizeProviderId } from "../../model-selection.js";
 import { log } from "../logger.js";
 import { wrapStreamObjectEvents } from "./stream-wrapper.js";
@@ -12,60 +13,6 @@ function isToolCallBlockType(type: unknown): boolean {
   return type === "toolCall" || type === "toolUse" || type === "functionCall";
 }
 
-type BalancedJsonPrefix = {
-  json: string;
-  startIndex: number;
-};
-
-function extractBalancedJsonPrefix(raw: string): BalancedJsonPrefix | null {
-  let start = 0;
-  while (start < raw.length) {
-    const char = raw[start];
-    if (char === "{" || char === "[") {
-      break;
-    }
-    start += 1;
-  }
-  if (start >= raw.length) {
-    return null;
-  }
-
-  let depth = 0;
-  let inString = false;
-  let escaped = false;
-  for (let i = start; i < raw.length; i += 1) {
-    const char = raw[i];
-    if (char === undefined) {
-      break;
-    }
-    if (inString) {
-      if (escaped) {
-        escaped = false;
-      } else if (char === "\\") {
-        escaped = true;
-      } else if (char === '"') {
-        inString = false;
-      }
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === '"') {
-      inString = true;
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === "{" || char === "[") {
-      depth += 1;
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === "}" || char === "]") {
-      depth -= 1;
-      if (depth === 0) {
-        return { json: raw.slice(start, i + 1), startIndex: start };
-      }
-    }
-  }
-  return null;
-}
-
 const MAX_TOOLCALL_REPAIR_BUFFER_CHARS = 64_000;
 const MAX_TOOLCALL_REPAIR_LEADING_CHARS = 96;
 const MAX_TOOLCALL_REPAIR_TRAILING_CHARS = 3;
diff --git a/src/memory-host-sdk/host/qmd-query-parser.ts b/src/memory-host-sdk/host/qmd-query-parser.ts
index dbc415eafbe..a6ec8bf049f 100644
--- a/src/memory-host-sdk/host/qmd-query-parser.ts
+++ b/src/memory-host-sdk/host/qmd-query-parser.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { formatErrorMessage } from "../../infra/errors.js";
 import { createSubsystemLogger } from "../../logging/subsystem.js";
+import { extractBalancedJsonPrefix } from "../../shared/balanced-json.js";
 import { normalizeLowercaseStringOrEmpty } from "../../shared/string-coerce.js";
 
 const log = createSubsystemLogger("memory");
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ export function parseQmdQueryJson(stdout: string, stderr: string): QmdQueryResul
     if (parsed !== null) {
       return parsed;
     }
-    const noisyPayload = extractFirstJsonArray(trimmedStdout);
+    const noisyPayload = extractBalancedJsonPrefix(trimmedStdout, { openers: ["["] })?.json;
     if (!noisyPayload) {
       throw new Error("qmd query JSON response was not an array");
     }
@@ -113,44 +114,3 @@ function parseQmdQueryResultArray(raw: string): QmdQueryResult[] | null {
 function parseQmdLineNumber(value: unknown): number | undefined {
   return typeof value === "number" && Number.isFinite(value) && value > 0 ? value : undefined;
 }
-
-function extractFirstJsonArray(raw: string): string | null {
-  const start = raw.indexOf("[");
-  if (start < 0) {
-    return null;
-  }
-  let depth = 0;
-  let inString = false;
-  let escaped = false;
-  for (let i = start; i < raw.length; i += 1) {
-    const char = raw[i];
-    if (char === undefined) {
-      break;
-    }
-    if (inString) {
-      if (escaped) {
-        escaped = false;
-        continue;
-      }
-      if (char === "\\") {
-        escaped = true;
-      } else if (char === '"') {
-        inString = false;
-      }
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === '"') {
-      inString = true;
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (char === "[") {
-      depth += 1;
-    } else if (char === "]") {
-      depth -= 1;
-      if (depth === 0) {
-        return raw.slice(start, i + 1);
-      }
-    }
-  }
-  return null;
-}
diff --git a/src/shared/balanced-json.ts b/src/shared/balanced-json.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cfab52c4887
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/balanced-json.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+export type JsonOpeningDelimiter = "{" | "[";
+
+export type BalancedJsonFragment = {
+  json: string;
+  startIndex: number;
+  endIndex: number;
+};
+
+const CLOSING_DELIMITER: Record<JsonOpeningDelimiter, "}" | "]"> = {
+  "{": "}",
+  "[": "]",
+};
+
+function isJsonOpeningDelimiter(
+  char: string | undefined,
+  openers: readonly JsonOpeningDelimiter[],
+): char is JsonOpeningDelimiter {
+  return char === "{" ? openers.includes("{") : char === "[" && openers.includes("[");
+}
+
+export function extractBalancedJsonPrefix(
+  raw: string,
+  opts: { openers?: readonly JsonOpeningDelimiter[] } = {},
+): BalancedJsonFragment | null {
+  const openers = opts.openers ?? (["{", "["] as const);
+  let start = 0;
+  while (start < raw.length && !isJsonOpeningDelimiter(raw[start], openers)) {
+    start += 1;
+  }
+  if (start >= raw.length) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const stack: JsonOpeningDelimiter[] = [];
+  let inString = false;
+  let escaped = false;
+  for (let i = start; i < raw.length; i += 1) {
+    const char = raw[i];
+    if (char === undefined) {
+      break;
+    }
+    if (inString) {
+      if (escaped) {
+        escaped = false;
+      } else if (char === "\\") {
+        escaped = true;
+      } else if (char === '"') {
+        inString = false;
+      }
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (char === '"') {
+      inString = true;
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (isJsonOpeningDelimiter(char, openers)) {
+      stack.push(char);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const opener = stack.at(-1);
+    if (opener && char === CLOSING_DELIMITER[opener]) {
+      stack.pop();
+      if (stack.length === 0) {
+        return { json: raw.slice(start, i + 1), startIndex: start, endIndex: i };
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+export function extractBalancedJsonFragments(
+  raw: string,
+  opts: { openers?: readonly JsonOpeningDelimiter[] } = {},
+): BalancedJsonFragment[] {
+  const fragments: BalancedJsonFragment[] = [];
+  let offset = 0;
+  while (offset < raw.length) {
+    const fragment = extractBalancedJsonPrefix(raw.slice(offset), opts);
+    if (!fragment) {
+      break;
+    }
+    fragments.push({
+      json: fragment.json,
+      startIndex: offset + fragment.startIndex,
+      endIndex: offset + fragment.endIndex,
+    });
+    offset += fragment.endIndex + 1;
+  }
+  return fragments;
+}