diff --git a/src/lib/chat/provider.ts b/src/lib/chat/provider.ts
index 4d76928..553f9ce 100644
--- a/src/lib/chat/provider.ts
+++ b/src/lib/chat/provider.ts
@@ -273,34 +273,65 @@ async function checkOllamaHealth(): Promise<boolean> {
 }
 
 /**
- * Tools to send to Ollama — a trimmed subset to keep context small.
- * Smaller models struggle with 17 tool definitions, so we send only
- * the most commonly used ones. Bulk tools are excluded (handled by
- * the RBAC layer + confirmation flow anyway).
+ * Dynamic tool selection for Ollama — pick only the tools relevant to
+ * the user's request so smaller models aren't overwhelmed by 20 definitions.
+ * `search_entities` is always included (needed for name→ID resolution).
  */
-const OLLAMA_TOOL_ALLOWLIST = new Set([
-  "search_entities",
-  "list_projects",
-  "get_project",
-  "list_deliverables",
-  "list_users",
-  "get_blocked_stages",
-  "list_overdue",
-  "get_workload",
-  "assign_artist",
-  "advance_stage",
-  "create_project",
-  "create_deliverable",
-]);
+const TOOL_GROUPS: Record<string, { keywords: RegExp; tools: string[] }> = {
+  status: {
+    keywords: /status|overview|how.?s|progress|update me|what.?s going|summary|blocked|overdue|late|behind|bottleneck/i,
+    tools: ["list_projects", "get_project", "list_deliverables", "get_blocked_stages", "list_overdue"],
+  },
+  workload: {
+    keywords: /workload|capacity|busy|bandwidth|availab|who.?s free|how many|assigned/i,
+    tools: ["get_workload", "list_users", "get_available_artists", "get_suggested_artists"],
+  },
+  assign: {
+    keywords: /assign|reassign|move .* to|put .* on|give .* to|allocat/i,
+    tools: ["assign_artist", "remove_assignment", "get_available_artists", "get_suggested_artists", "list_users"],
+  },
+  create: {
+    keywords: /create|new project|new deliverable|add.*project|add.*deliverable|set up|setup/i,
+    tools: ["create_project", "create_deliverable"],
+  },
+  advance: {
+    keywords: /advance|approve|move.*stage|next stage|complete.*stage|mark.*done|progress.*stage|skip/i,
+    tools: ["advance_stage"],
+  },
+  revision: {
+    keywords: /revision|review|feedback|note|comment|round/i,
+    tools: ["create_revision", "list_revisions"],
+  },
+};
+
+function getOllamaTools(userMessage: string) {
+  // Always include search_entities for name resolution
+  const selected = new Set(["search_entities"]);
+
+  // Match user message against keyword groups
+  let matched = false;
+  for (const group of Object.values(TOOL_GROUPS)) {
+    if (group.keywords.test(userMessage)) {
+      matched = true;
+      for (const tool of group.tools) selected.add(tool);
+    }
+  }
+
+  // If nothing matched (generic question), include basic query tools
+  if (!matched) {
+    for (const t of ["list_projects", "get_project", "list_deliverables", "list_users"]) {
+      selected.add(t);
+    }
+  }
+
+  console.log(`[Ollama] Selected ${selected.size} tools for: "${userMessage.slice(0, 60)}…"`);
 
-function getOllamaTools() {
   return TOOL_DEFINITIONS
-    .filter((t) => OLLAMA_TOOL_ALLOWLIST.has(t.name))
+    .filter((t) => selected.has(t.name))
     .map((t) => ({
       type: "function" as const,
       function: {
         name: t.name,
-        // Shorten descriptions for smaller context
         description: t.description.split(".")[0] + ".",
         parameters: t.input_schema,
       },
@@ -388,10 +419,18 @@ async function chatWithOllama(
     ollamaMessages[0].content = sp.trim() + "\n\nUse bullet points, not tables. Be concise.";
   }
 
+  // Extract the last user message for dynamic tool selection
+  const lastUserContent = [...messages].reverse().find((m) => m.role === "user");
+  const userText = typeof lastUserContent?.content === "string"
+    ? lastUserContent.content
+    : Array.isArray(lastUserContent?.content)
+      ? lastUserContent.content.map((b: any) => b.text || b.content || "").join(" ")
+      : "";
+
   const requestBody = JSON.stringify({
     model: getOllamaChatModel(),
     messages: ollamaMessages,
-    tools: getOllamaTools(),
+    tools: getOllamaTools(userText),
     stream: false,
     options: {
       temperature: 0.3,