diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 7043d355..4ffba5c8 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2763,7 +2763,7 @@ checksum = "04744f49eae99ab78e0d5c0b603ab218f515ea8cfe5a456d7629ad883a3b6e7d"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "orchestrator-cli"
-version = "0.6.21"
+version = "0.6.22"
 dependencies = [
  "animus-actor",
  "animus-control-protocol",
diff --git a/crates/orchestrator-cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/orchestrator-cli/Cargo.toml
index fabdd0c4..f8add0a7 100644
--- a/crates/orchestrator-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/orchestrator-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "orchestrator-cli"
-version = "0.6.21"
+version = "0.6.22"
 edition = "2021"
 license = "Elastic-2.0"
 default-run = "animus"
diff --git a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/cli_types/subject_types.rs b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/cli_types/subject_types.rs
index 97096171..34af5f28 100644
--- a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/cli_types/subject_types.rs
+++ b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/cli_types/subject_types.rs
@@ -92,6 +92,12 @@ pub(crate) struct SubjectListArgs {
     /// Opaque cursor from a prior page's `next_cursor`, to fetch the next page.
     #[arg(long, value_name = "CURSOR")]
     pub cursor: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Case-insensitive substring filter on the subject TITLE. Looks a subject
+    /// up by name without paging the whole set: the full set is fetched and
+    /// filtered by title, then `--limit` is applied to the matches.
+    #[arg(long, value_name = "TEXT")]
+    pub query: Option<String>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Args)]
diff --git a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_command_args.rs b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_command_args.rs
index 3a1e4c35..285b1afe 100644
--- a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_command_args.rs
+++ b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_command_args.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ pub(super) fn build_subject_list_args(input: &SubjectListInput) -> Vec<String> {
         args.push(limit.to_string());
     }
     push_opt(&mut args, "--cursor", input.cursor.clone());
+    push_opt(&mut args, "--query", input.query.clone());
     args
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_inputs.rs b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_inputs.rs
index 499e300c..b14e3d3e 100644
--- a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_inputs.rs
+++ b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/subject_inputs.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ pub(super) struct SubjectListInput {
     /// Opaque cursor from a prior result's `next_cursor`, to fetch the next page.
     #[serde(default)]
     pub(super) cursor: Option<String>,
+    /// Case-insensitive substring filter on the subject title — look a subject up
+    /// by name (e.g. a repo's owner/repo) without paging. The full set is fetched
+    /// and filtered, so the match is found even on a large board.
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub(super) query: Option<String>,
     #[serde(default)]
     pub(super) project_root: Option<String>,
 }
diff --git a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/tests.rs b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/tests.rs
index d7614daf..efb91370 100644
--- a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_mcp/tests.rs
@@ -1581,6 +1581,7 @@ fn mcp_subject_list_routes_via_control() {
         status: Some("ready".to_string()),
         limit: Some(25),
         cursor: Some("page2".to_string()),
+        query: Some("flaky".to_string()),
         project_root: None,
     };
     let args = build_subject_list_args(&input);
@@ -1597,6 +1598,8 @@ fn mcp_subject_list_routes_via_control() {
             "25".to_string(),
             "--cursor".to_string(),
             "page2".to_string(),
+            "--query".to_string(),
+            "flaky".to_string(),
         ]
     );
 }
diff --git a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_subject.rs b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_subject.rs
index 0a1aeef7..8850ad93 100644
--- a/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_subject.rs
+++ b/crates/orchestrator-cli/src/services/operations/ops_subject.rs
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ const DEFAULT_SUBJECT_LIST_LIMIT: u32 = 50;
 
 async fn handle_subject_list(args: SubjectListArgs, project_root: &str, json: bool) -> Result<()> {
     let kind = resolve_kind(args.kind.as_deref(), project_root, json)?;
+    let query = args.query.as_deref().map(str::trim).filter(|s| !s.is_empty()).map(str::to_string);
     let mut filter = serde_json::Map::new();
     filter.insert("kind".to_string(), json!([kind]));
     if let Some(status) = args.status.as_deref() {
@@ -64,16 +65,67 @@ async fn handle_subject_list(args: SubjectListArgs, project_root: &str, json: bo
     // that honor `limit` also return `total` + `next_cursor` for paging; backends
     // that ignore it simply return everything (no behavior change for them).
     let limit = args.limit.unwrap_or(DEFAULT_SUBJECT_LIST_LIMIT);
-    if limit > 0 {
-        filter.insert("limit".to_string(), json!(limit));
+    // A --query lookup must see the WHOLE set (the backend has no title filter,
+    // and the daemon drops unknown filter fields), so fetch unbounded and apply
+    // both the title filter and the page limit client-side below.
+    let fetch_limit = if query.is_some() { 0 } else { limit };
+    if fetch_limit > 0 {
+        filter.insert("limit".to_string(), json!(fetch_limit));
     }
     if let Some(cursor) = args.cursor.as_deref() {
         filter.insert("cursor".to_string(), json!(cursor));
     }
     let params = Some(Value::Object(filter));
+    if let Some(q) = query {
+        return dispatch_list_filtered(&kind, params, &q, limit, project_root, json).await;
+    }
     dispatch(&kind, "list", params, project_root, json).await
 }
 
+/// `subject list --query`: fetch the full set, filter by a case-insensitive
+/// substring of the subject TITLE, then apply the page `limit` to the matches.
+/// Lets agents/UI resolve a subject by name without paging — and without the
+/// agent-facing MCP result truncating a huge unfiltered list. Mirrors
+/// `dispatch`'s output (json envelope vs human table); the result is the
+/// filtered subset with an exact `total` and a null `next_cursor`.
+async fn dispatch_list_filtered(
+    kind: &str,
+    params: Option<Value>,
+    query: &str,
+    limit: u32,
+    project_root: &str,
+    json: bool,
+) -> Result<()> {
+    let resolution = resolve_subject_dispatch(Path::new(project_root)).await?;
+    let method = format!("{kind}/list");
+    let raw = route_or_not_found(&resolution.selected, &method, params).await?;
+    let needle = query.to_lowercase();
+    let mut matches: Vec<Value> = extract_subjects(&raw)
+        .into_iter()
+        .filter(|s| s.get("title").and_then(Value::as_str).map(|t| t.to_lowercase().contains(&needle)).unwrap_or(false))
+        .cloned()
+        .collect();
+    let total = matches.len() as u64;
+    if limit > 0 {
+        matches.truncate(limit as usize);
+    }
+    let result = json!({ "subjects": matches, "next_cursor": Value::Null, "total": total });
+    if json {
+        return print_value(
+            SubjectCallResponse {
+                kind: kind.to_string(),
+                verb: "list",
+                method,
+                plugin_count: resolution.selected.plugin_count(),
+                result,
+            },
+            true,
+        );
+    }
+    render_subject_human("list", kind, &result);
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 async fn handle_subject_get(args: SubjectGetArgs, project_root: &str, json: bool) -> Result<()> {
     let kind = resolve_kind(args.kind.as_deref(), project_root, json)?;
     if args.id.trim().is_empty() {