diff --git a/pkgs/standards/tigrbl/tests/unit/test_handlers_list_filters.py b/pkgs/standards/tigrbl/tests/unit/test_handlers_list_filters.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..992f64a99a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/standards/tigrbl/tests/unit/test_handlers_list_filters.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+from tigrbl import TigrblApp
+from tigrbl.engine.shortcuts import engine as build_engine, mem
+from tigrbl.specs import F, IO, S, acol
+from tigrbl.table import Base
+from tigrbl.types import Integer, String
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_list_core_respects_nested_filter_payloads():
+    class Thing(Base):
+        __tablename__ = "list_filter_things"
+
+        id = acol(
+            storage=S(type_=Integer, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True),
+            field=F(py_type=int),
+            io=IO(in_verbs=("create",), out_verbs=("read", "list")),
+        )
+        name = acol(
+            storage=S(type_=String(40), nullable=False),
+            field=F(py_type=str),
+            io=IO(
+                in_verbs=("create",),
+                out_verbs=("read", "list"),
+                filter_ops=("eq", "ilike"),
+            ),
+        )
+
+    cfg = mem()
+    app = TigrblApp(engine=build_engine(cfg))
+    app.include_model(Thing)
+    await app.initialize()
+
+    async with app.engine.asession() as session:
+        await Thing.handlers.create.core({"db": session, "payload": {"name": "alpha"}})
+        await Thing.handlers.create.core({"db": session, "payload": {"name": "bravo"}})
+
+        rows = await Thing.handlers.list.core(
+            {"db": session, "payload": {"filters": {"name": "bravo"}}}
+        )
+        assert [row.name for row in rows] == ["bravo"]
+
+        rows = await Thing.handlers.list.core(
+            {"db": session, "payload": {"filters": {"name__ilike": "%a%"}}}
+        )
+        assert sorted(row.name for row in rows) == ["alpha", "bravo"]
diff --git a/pkgs/standards/tigrbl/tigrbl/bindings/handlers/steps.py b/pkgs/standards/tigrbl/tigrbl/bindings/handlers/steps.py
index 433160a46b..185c022870 100644
--- a/pkgs/standards/tigrbl/tigrbl/bindings/handlers/steps.py
+++ b/pkgs/standards/tigrbl/tigrbl/bindings/handlers/steps.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 import inspect
 from functools import lru_cache
-from typing import Any, Callable, Mapping, Optional
+from typing import Any, Callable, Mapping, Optional, Sequence
 
 from ... import core as _core
 from ...op import OpSpec
@@ -24,10 +24,56 @@ async def _call_list_core(
     payload: Mapping[str, Any],
     ctx: Mapping[str, Any],
 ):
-    filters = dict(payload) if isinstance(payload, Mapping) else {}
-    skip = filters.pop("skip", None)
-    limit = filters.pop("limit", None)
-    filters_arg = filters if filters else None
+    params = dict(payload) if isinstance(payload, Mapping) else {}
+    skip = params.pop("skip", None)
+    limit = params.pop("limit", None)
+    raw_sort = params.pop("sort", None)
+
+    raw_filters = params.pop("filters", None)
+    filters_arg: Any = None
+
+    if isinstance(raw_filters, Mapping):
+        filters_arg = dict(raw_filters)
+    elif raw_filters is not None:
+        filters_arg = raw_filters
+
+    if params:
+        extras = dict(params)
+        if isinstance(filters_arg, Mapping):
+            merged = dict(filters_arg)
+            merged.update(extras)
+            filters_arg = merged
+        elif filters_arg is None:
+            filters_arg = extras
+
+    if isinstance(filters_arg, Mapping) and not filters_arg:
+        filters_arg = None
+
+    def _normalize_sort_entry(value: Any) -> str | None:
+        if isinstance(value, Mapping):
+            field = value.get("field")
+            if not field:
+                return None
+            direction = str(value.get("direction", "")).strip().lower()
+            if direction in ("desc", "descending", "-1"):
+                return f"{field}:desc"
+            if direction in ("asc", "ascending", "1", ""):
+                return str(field)
+            return str(field)
+        if isinstance(value, str):
+            return value
+        return None
+
+    sort_arg: Any = None
+    if isinstance(raw_sort, Mapping):
+        sort_arg = _normalize_sort_entry(raw_sort)
+    elif isinstance(raw_sort, Sequence) and not isinstance(
+        raw_sort, (str, bytes, bytearray)
+    ):
+        tokens = [token for item in raw_sort if (token := _normalize_sort_entry(item))]
+        sort_arg = tokens if tokens else None
+    elif raw_sort is not None:
+        sort_arg = raw_sort
 
     db = _ctx_db(ctx)
     req = _ctx_request(ctx)
@@ -54,6 +100,8 @@ def add_candidate(
                 kwargs["skip"] = skip
             if limit is not None:
                 kwargs["limit"] = limit
+        if sort_arg is not None:
+            kwargs["sort"] = sort_arg
         candidates.append((args, kwargs))
 
     add_candidate(False, False, True, True)