diff --git a/src/session/compactor-trigger.test.ts b/src/session/compactor-trigger.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..938c45ad2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/session/compactor-trigger.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { createPruningCompactor } from "./compactor.js";
+import type {
+  ConversationTurn,
+  ReactorState,
+  StrategyContext,
+} from "@intx/types/runtime";
+
+function ctx(trigger: string): StrategyContext {
+  return { state: {} as ReactorState, trigger };
+}
+
+function textTurn(
+  role: ConversationTurn["role"],
+  text: string,
+): ConversationTurn {
+  return {
+    role,
+    content: [{ type: "text", text }],
+    timestamp: 1,
+  };
+}
+
+// Bodies exceed the pinned tail budget so apply() takes the fold path.
+function foldableTurns(): ConversationTurn[] {
+  const body = (label: string): string => `${label} ${"x".repeat(120)}`;
+  return [
+    textTurn("user", body("old message 1")),
+    textTurn("assistant", body("old response 1")),
+    textTurn("user", body("old message 2")),
+    textTurn("assistant", body("old response 2")),
+    textTurn("user", "recent message"),
+    textTurn("assistant", "recent response"),
+  ];
+}
+
+function compactor(
+  summarize?: (turns: ConversationTurn[]) => Promise<string>,
+): ReturnType<typeof createPruningCompactor> {
+  return createPruningCompactor({
+    summaryMaxChars: 2000,
+    compactionShape: { tailBudgetTokens: 10 },
+    ...(summarize !== undefined ? { summarize } : {}),
+  });
+}
+
+describe("pruning compactor persists invocation trigger (CL-10869)", () => {
+  test.each(["director:operator-request", "director:context-threshold"])(
+    "a real fold records %s without rewriting the human reason",
+    async (trigger) => {
+      const result = await compactor().apply(foldableTurns(), ctx(trigger));
+      expect(result.record.reason).toMatch(
+        /^compacted \d+ turns, keeping \d+ tail$/,
+      );
+      expect(result.record.reason).not.toContain("director:");
+      expect(result.record.decisions.trigger).toBe(trigger);
+    },
+  );
+
+  test("a verify keep-prior record carries the trigger that was passed", async () => {
+    const trigger = "director:context-overflow";
+    const turns: ConversationTurn[] = [
+      textTurn(
+        "user",
+        "Migrate the auth module to opaque tokens in src/auth.ts",
+      ),
+      textTurn("assistant", "Reading the handler first."),
+      {
+        role: "assistant",
+        content: [
+          {
+            type: "tool_call",
+            id: "c1",
+            name: "run_shell",
+            arguments: { command: "bun run test auth" },
+          },
+        ],
+        timestamp: 3,
+      },
+      {
+        role: "user",
+        content: [
+          {
+            type: "tool_result",
+            callId: "c1",
+            isError: true,
+            content: [{ type: "text", text: "token refresh assertion failed" }],
+          },
+        ],
+        timestamp: 4,
+      },
+      textTurn("assistant", "Fix the token refresh assertion next."),
+      textTurn("user", "recent ask"),
+      textTurn("assistant", "recent reply"),
+    ];
+    const result = await compactor(
+      async () => "Auth migration done. No errors remain.",
+    ).apply(turns, ctx(trigger));
+    expect(result.output).toBe(turns);
+    expect(result.record.reason).toBe("verify failed — keeping prior context");
+    expect(result.record.decisions.verifyAbortReason).toBe("contradiction");
+    expect(result.record.decisions.trigger).toBe(trigger);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/session/compactor.ts b/src/session/compactor.ts
index 3ce3f5d61..c466830e3 100644
--- a/src/session/compactor.ts
+++ b/src/session/compactor.ts
@@ -903,10 +903,19 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
     version: "1.9.0",
     async apply(
       turns: ConversationTurn[],
-      _ctx: StrategyContext,
+      ctx: StrategyContext,
     ): Promise<StrategyResult<ConversationTurn[]>> {
       // Prior compacted summaries fold into the next handoff, not frozen.
       const shape = resolveCompactionShape(cfg.compactionShape);
+      // Operator and automatic folds share one human reason string. Keep the
+      // reactor's raw trigger (director: prefix included) on the manifest so
+      // a later reader can tell them apart.
+      const withTrigger = (
+        fields: Record<string, unknown>,
+      ): Record<string, unknown> => ({
+        ...fields,
+        trigger: ctx.trigger,
+      });
 
       if (turns.length <= COMPACT_NOOP_FLOOR) {
         return {
@@ -919,7 +928,7 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
               ...extraInstructionParameter(cfg),
             },
             reason: "no compaction needed",
-            decisions: { agedImageCount: 0 },
+            decisions: withTrigger({ agedImageCount: 0 }),
           },
         };
       }
@@ -988,14 +997,14 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
               ...extraInstructionParameter(cfg),
             },
             reason: "no compaction needed",
-            decisions: {
+            decisions: withTrigger({
               tailBudgetTokens: shape.tailBudgetTokens,
               tailTokenEstimate: tail.tailTokenEstimate,
               shortenedToolOutputs: tail.shortenedToolOutputs,
               agedImageCount: aged.agedImageCount,
               supersededReadCount: supersededReads.size,
               liveTokenEstimate: estimateContextTokens(output),
-            },
+            }),
           },
           ...(aged.blobs.length > 0 ? { blobs: aged.blobs } : {}),
         };
@@ -1036,10 +1045,10 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
                 ...extraInstructionParameter(cfg),
               },
               reason: "summarize failed",
-              decisions: {
+              decisions: withTrigger({
                 summarizeFailed: 1,
                 agedImageCount: aged.agedImageCount,
-              },
+              }),
             },
           };
         }
@@ -1061,10 +1070,10 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
               ...extraInstructionParameter(cfg),
             },
             reason: "summarize failed",
-            decisions: {
+            decisions: withTrigger({
               summarizeFailed: 1,
               agedImageCount: aged.agedImageCount,
-            },
+            }),
           },
         };
       }
@@ -1090,12 +1099,12 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
             compactionShape: shape,
           },
           reason: "verify failed — keeping prior context",
-          decisions: {
+          decisions: withTrigger({
             verifyAborted: 1,
             verifyAbortReason: abortReason,
             verifyMissing: misses.map((m) => m.kind),
             agedImageCount: aged.agedImageCount,
-          },
+          }),
         },
       });
       if (verified.aborted && verified.abortReason === "contradiction") {
@@ -1198,7 +1207,7 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
               ? ` (statistics-only stub: ${summarizeFallback})`
               : ""
           }`,
-          decisions: {
+          decisions: withTrigger({
             summarizedTurnCount: summarizedTurns.length,
             anchorTurnCount: 0,
             recentTurnCount: tailTurns.length,
@@ -1220,7 +1229,7 @@ export function createPruningCompactor(
                 }
               : {}),
             ...verifyDecisions,
-          },
+          }),
         },
         blobs: [...aged.blobs, handoff.blob],
       };