diff --git a/docs/development/agent-workflow.md b/docs/development/agent-workflow.md
index ba00a0424..2353f1450 100644
--- a/docs/development/agent-workflow.md
+++ b/docs/development/agent-workflow.md
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ Write generic filenames as prose; commands, templates, globs, URLs, package
 aliases and dotted code symbols are excluded. Bare dotted names with conventional
 file suffixes (such as .md, .json or .ts) are treated as filenames. Use a `./`
 prefix or Markdown link for other ambiguous filenames that resemble code symbols.
+Explicit relative literal paths may contain spaces; command-option snippets are excluded.
 Multi-part dotfiles are path candidates too.
 Conventional extensionless filenames such as Dockerfile, Makefile and LICENSE
 are also path candidates; use an explicit `./` prefix for other extensionless files.
@@ -49,8 +50,9 @@ The parsed HTML tree also verifies that this paragraph is outside HTML container
 including templates split across Markdown tokens. Generated HTML is inspected
 in memory only; it is never executed or emitted.
 Heading anchors decode HTML character references in text and use `github-slugger`
-for GitHub-compatible character filtering and duplicate suffixes. Explicit HTML anchors
-use `parse5`, excluding comments, scripts, styles and template contents.
+for GitHub-compatible character filtering and duplicate suffixes.
+Only headings present outside inert HTML containers contribute slugs or duplicate counters.
+Explicit HTML anchors use `parse5`, excluding comments, scripts, styles and template contents.
 Rendered HTML anchor hrefs and image sources use the same local-reference checks
 as Markdown links, including decoded attributes and fragment validation.
 Image references check file existence without interpreting image fragments as
diff --git a/tools/skills/agent-guidance-markdown.mjs b/tools/skills/agent-guidance-markdown.mjs
index 0768074d9..f6f3171b4 100644
--- a/tools/skills/agent-guidance-markdown.mjs
+++ b/tools/skills/agent-guidance-markdown.mjs
@@ -148,21 +148,37 @@ export function guidanceStandaloneImports(markdown) {
 export function guidanceAnchors(markdown) {
     const slugger = new GithubSlugger();
     const found = new Set();
-    const html = [];
-    markdownLexer.walkTokens(markdownLexer.lexer(markdown), (token) => {
-        if (token.type === 'heading') {
-            found.add(slugger.slug(inlineText(token.tokens)));
-        }
-        if (token.type === 'html') html.push(token.raw);
+    const headings = [];
+    const marker = `data-guidance-${randomUUID()}`;
+    const renderer = new Marked({
+        renderer: {
+            heading(token) {
+                const index = headings.push(inlineText(token.tokens)) - 1;
+                return `<h${token.depth} ${marker}="${index}">${this.parser.parseInline(token.tokens)}</h${token.depth}>\n`;
+            },
+        },
     });
-    return new Set([...found, ...htmlNavigation(html.join('\n')).anchors]);
+    const navigation = htmlNavigation(renderer.parse(markdown), (node) => {
+        const attribute = node.attrs?.find((attr) => attr.name === marker);
+        if (attribute)
+            found.add(slugger.slug(headings[Number(attribute.value)]));
+    });
+    return new Set([...found, ...navigation.anchors]);
 }
 
 function isLiteralRepositoryPath(token) {
     // A typo in the directory or a new root filename must still be checked.
     // Exclude recognizable prose/code forms instead of allowlisting paths.
     if (/^(?:@|--|[a-z][a-z\d+.-]*:|\/\/)/iu.test(token)) return false;
-    if (/[^\p{L}\p{N}_./#-]/u.test(token)) return false;
+    const explicitRelative = /^(?:\.\/|\.\.\/)/u.test(token);
+    if (
+        (explicitRelative
+            ? /[^\p{L}\p{N}_./# -]/u
+            : /[^\p{L}\p{N}_./#-]/u
+        ).test(token)
+    )
+        return false;
+    if (/\s+-{1,2}[\p{L}]/u.test(token)) return false;
     if (token.includes('YYYY-MM-DD') || /(?:^|\/)\.\.\.(?:\/|$)/u.test(token))
         return false;
     const path = token.split('#')[0];
diff --git a/tools/skills/validate-agent-guidance.test.mjs b/tools/skills/validate-agent-guidance.test.mjs
index e7c9dde89..488219464 100644
--- a/tools/skills/validate-agent-guidance.test.mjs
+++ b/tools/skills/validate-agent-guidance.test.mjs
@@ -883,3 +883,41 @@ for (const content of [
         );
     });
 }
+
+test('inert headings do not define or consume anchor slugs', async (t) => {
+    const body =
+        '<template>\n\n# Hidden\n\n# Visible\n\n</template>\n\n# Visible';
+    assert.match(
+        (
+            await diagnostics(t, {
+                'AGENTS.md': '[Hidden](docs/example.md#hidden)',
+                'docs/example.md': body,
+            })
+        ).join('\n'),
+        /missing anchor/
+    );
+    assert.deepEqual(
+        await diagnostics(t, {
+            'AGENTS.md': '[Visible](docs/example.md#visible)',
+            'docs/example.md': body,
+        }),
+        []
+    );
+});
+test('explicit relative literal paths support spaces', async (t) => {
+    assert.match(
+        (
+            await diagnostics(t, {
+                'AGENTS.md': '`./docs/My Guide.md`',
+            })
+        ).join('\n'),
+        /does not exist/
+    );
+    assert.deepEqual(
+        await diagnostics(t, {
+            'AGENTS.md': '`./docs/My Guide.md`',
+            'docs/My Guide.md': '',
+        }),
+        []
+    );
+});