diff --git a/apps/daemon/src/prompts/discovery.ts b/apps/daemon/src/prompts/discovery.ts
index 7309a1d10d..0b2a7dbee0 100644
--- a/apps/daemon/src/prompts/discovery.ts
+++ b/apps/daemon/src/prompts/discovery.ts
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ Emit \`<artifact>\` **only when this turn wrote a new canonical HTML file**. If
 
 ## RULE 3 — TodoWrite the plan, then live updates
 
-Once the design-system / inferred direction / brand-spec is locked, your **first tool call** is TodoWrite with a plan of 5–10 short imperative items in the order you'll do them. The chat renders this as a live "Todos" card — it is the user's primary way to see your plan and redirect cheaply.
+Once the design-system / inferred direction / brand-spec is locked, your **first tool call** is TodoWrite with a plan of short imperative items covering the work, in the order you'll do them. The chat renders this as a live "Todos" card — it is the user's primary way to see your plan and redirect cheaply. (No numeric cap — the TodoWrite schema is unbounded and complex briefs legitimately need more than ten steps.)
 
 The standard plan template (adapt the middle steps to the brief):
 
diff --git a/apps/daemon/tests/prompts/discovery-todo-cap.test.ts b/apps/daemon/tests/prompts/discovery-todo-cap.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..76392b5c07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/daemon/tests/prompts/discovery-todo-cap.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+import { DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY } from '../../src/prompts/discovery.js';
+
+// The system prompt historically told the model to write "a plan of 5–10 short
+// imperative items". That upper bound caused the agent to cap every plan at
+// exactly ten steps and then stop or skip additional items — even when the task
+// genuinely needed more. There is no maxItems constraint in the upstream
+// TodoWrite JSON schema (the array is unbounded), so the cap is entirely
+// prompt-driven and can be removed here.
+//
+// This test locks the absence of the cap so a future prompt edit cannot
+// accidentally re-introduce the "5–10" or "5 to 10" wording.
+
+describe('discovery.ts RULE 3 — TodoWrite plan item count', () => {
+  it('does not cap the plan at 10 items via "5–10" wording', () => {
+    // The old wording was "a plan of 5–10 short imperative items".
+    // After the fix the sentence must not mention an upper bound of 10.
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).not.toMatch(/5[–\-]10\s+short\s+imperative/);
+  });
+
+  it('does not cap the plan at 10 items via "5 to 10" wording', () => {
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).not.toMatch(/5 to 10\s+(?:short\s+)?items/i);
+  });
+
+  it('does not re-introduce a numeric cap via "at most / maximum / no more than" phrasing', () => {
+    // Guard against semantically equivalent upper-bound re-introduction.
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).not.toMatch(
+      /(?:at most|maximum|no more than)\s+1[0-9]\s+(?:todo|plan|step|item)/i,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('still instructs the agent to write at least a few items', () => {
+    // The intent — plan with TodoWrite before building — must survive the fix.
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).toContain('TodoWrite');
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).toContain('RULE 3');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/contracts/src/prompts/discovery.ts b/packages/contracts/src/prompts/discovery.ts
index 725eaabb0d..ff6c60c1a3 100644
--- a/packages/contracts/src/prompts/discovery.ts
+++ b/packages/contracts/src/prompts/discovery.ts
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ Skip directly to RULE 3. Do **not** emit any second direction-picking form and d
 
 ## RULE 3 — TodoWrite the plan, then live updates
 
-Once the design-system / inferred direction / brand-spec is locked, your **first tool call** is TodoWrite with a plan of 5–10 short imperative items in the order you'll do them. The chat renders this as a live "Todos" card — it is the user's primary way to see your plan and redirect cheaply.
+Once the design-system / inferred direction / brand-spec is locked, your **first tool call** is TodoWrite with a plan of short imperative items covering the work, in the order you'll do them. The chat renders this as a live "Todos" card — it is the user's primary way to see your plan and redirect cheaply. (No numeric cap — the TodoWrite schema is unbounded and complex briefs legitimately need more than ten steps.)
 
 The standard plan template (adapt the middle steps to the brief):
 
diff --git a/packages/contracts/tests/system-prompt.test.ts b/packages/contracts/tests/system-prompt.test.ts
index c42211e4e6..57718ee06c 100644
--- a/packages/contracts/tests/system-prompt.test.ts
+++ b/packages/contracts/tests/system-prompt.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,37 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 
 import { composeSystemPrompt } from '../src/prompts/system.js';
+import { DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY } from '../src/prompts/discovery.js';
+
+// Guard: the contracts copy of DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY must have the same
+// cap removal as apps/daemon/src/prompts/discovery.ts. The web app imports
+// composeSystemPrompt from @open-design/contracts, so only testing the daemon
+// copy leaves the web-originated chat path unguarded.
+describe('DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY (contracts copy) — TodoWrite plan item count', () => {
+  it('does not cap the plan at 10 items via "5–10" wording', () => {
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).not.toMatch(/5[–\-]10\s+short\s+imperative/);
+  });
+
+  it('does not cap the plan at 10 items via "5 to 10" wording', () => {
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).not.toMatch(/5 to 10\s+(?:short\s+)?items/i);
+  });
+
+  it('does not re-introduce a numeric cap via "at most / maximum / no more than" phrasing', () => {
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).not.toMatch(
+      /(?:at most|maximum|no more than)\s+1[0-9]\s+(?:todo|plan|step|item)/i,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('still instructs the agent to write a TodoWrite plan', () => {
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).toContain('TodoWrite');
+    expect(DISCOVERY_AND_PHILOSOPHY).toContain('RULE 3');
+  });
+
+  it('also absent from the composed system prompt', () => {
+    const prompt = composeSystemPrompt({});
+    expect(prompt).not.toMatch(/5[–\-]10\s+short\s+imperative/);
+  });
+});
 
 describe('composeSystemPrompt', () => {
   it('treats an active design system as the visual direction', () => {