diff --git a/pkg/parser/footer_test.go b/pkg/parser/footer_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f86507
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/parser/footer_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+package parser
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
+	"slices"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestFooterPreservesOrdinaryMarkdown(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, block := range []string{
+		"## Greeting\n```sh\necho hello\n```",
+		"Ordinary prose mentioning tags: [greeting]",
+		"description: ordinary metadata",
+		"description: |\n  tags: [greeting]",
+		"metadata:\n  tags: [greeting]",
+		"- tags: [greeting]",
+		"tags: [unterminated",
+	} {
+		t.Run(block, func(t *testing.T) {
+			input := "# Documentation\nIntro\n---\n" + block + "\n---\n"
+			body, tags := extractFooterTags([]byte(input))
+			if string(body) != input || len(tags) != 0 {
+				t.Fatalf("extractFooterTags() = (%q, %v), want (%q, [])", body, tags, input)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFooterTagsPreserveCommandBetweenRules(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		name, footer string
+		wantTags     []string
+	}{
+		{"ordinary closing rule", "---\n", nil},
+		{"inline tags", "---\ntags: [greeting, sample]\n---\n", []string{"greeting", "sample"}},
+		{"case insensitive tags", "---\nTaGs: Greeting, Sample\n---\n", []string{"Greeting", "Sample"}},
+		{"list tags", "---\ntags:\n  - greeting\n  - sample\n---\n", []string{"greeting", "sample"}},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			commandBody := "# Documentation\nIntro\n---\n## Greeting\n```sh\necho hello\n```\n"
+			input := commandBody + tc.footer
+			body, tags := extractFooterTags([]byte(input))
+			wantBody := commandBody
+			if tc.wantTags == nil {
+				wantBody = input
+			}
+			if string(body) != wantBody || !reflect.DeepEqual(tags, tc.wantTags) {
+				t.Fatalf("extractFooterTags() = (%q, %v), want (%q, %v)", body, tags, wantBody, tc.wantTags)
+			}
+			path := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "rules.md")
+			if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(input), 0600); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			index, err := NewParser().ParseSingleFile(path)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if len(index.Cheats) != 1 || index.Cheats[0].Command != "echo hello" {
+				t.Fatalf("parsed cheats = %+v, want one echo hello command", index.Cheats)
+			}
+			if tc.wantTags != nil && (!slices.Contains(index.Cheats[0].Tags, "greeting") || !slices.Contains(index.Cheats[0].Tags, "sample")) {
+				t.Fatalf("footer tags not applied: %v", index.Cheats[0].Tags)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/parser/tags.go b/pkg/parser/tags.go
index 4011991..b51c602 100644
--- a/pkg/parser/tags.go
+++ b/pkg/parser/tags.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
+
+	yaml "go.yaml.in/yaml/v3"
 )
 
 // ============================================================================
@@ -177,7 +179,11 @@ func extractYAMLFooter(data []byte, end int) ([]byte, []string, bool) {
 		lineStart := findLineStart(data, lineEnd)
 		line := bytes.TrimRight(data[lineStart:lineEnd], " \t\r")
 		if bytes.Equal(line, []byte("---")) && lineStart != openEnd-3 {
-			tags := parseYAMLTags(data[lineEnd+1 : openEnd])
+			block := data[lineEnd+1 : openEnd]
+			if !isTagMetadata(block) {
+				return nil, nil, false
+			}
+			tags := parseYAMLTags(block)
 			return data[:lineStart], tags, true
 		}
 		if lineStart == 0 {
@@ -188,6 +194,19 @@ func extractYAMLFooter(data []byte, end int) ([]byte, []string, bool) {
 	return nil, nil, false
 }
 
+func isTagMetadata(block []byte) bool {
+	var metadata map[string]any
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(block, &metadata); err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	for key := range metadata {
+		if strings.EqualFold(key, "tags") {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 func findLineStart(data []byte, end int) int {
 	start := end
 	for start > 0 && data[start-1] != '\n' {