diff --git a/api/compression_anchor.py b/api/compression_anchor.py
index 98799efc..3a457d57 100644
--- a/api/compression_anchor.py
+++ b/api/compression_anchor.py
@@ -1,5 +1,36 @@
 """
 Shared helpers for session compression anchor metadata.
+
+Manual compression anchoring versus automatic compression paths
+===============================================================
+
+When ``auto_compression=True`` is passed to ``visible_messages_for_anchor()``,
+the function accepts a broader set of message content types (including
+provider-style ``input_text`` / ``output_text`` parts) and metadata markers
+(``reasoning``, ``thinking``, etc.) from any non-tool role. This enables the
+streaming auto-compression path to determine which messages should anchor
+compression UI metadata without being limited to the legacy manual-compression
+rules.
+
+When ``auto_compression=False`` (the default), the function applies the
+historical manual-compression rules: only plain ``text`` content parts from
+non-assistant roles are counted.
+
+Why this module exists
+======================
+
+Compression anchoring needs to identify which messages in a session transcript
+are semantically significant enough to seed the compression UI metadata (e.g.,
+message count, token budget display). The original implementation hard-coded
+these rules in multiple places. This module consolidates the logic so that:
+
+1. Manual compression anchoring (CLI/legacy path) uses the stricter ruleset.
+2. Automatic compression (streaming/agent path) can leverage the relaxed ruleset
+   when it knows it is handling provider-style messages.
+
+Callers specify ``auto_compression=True`` when the messages may originate from
+an automatic/compression-aware pipeline, and ``False`` (default) for manual
+compression contexts.
 """
 
 
diff --git a/api/profiles.py b/api/profiles.py
index 8f02bd16..bebd8201 100644
--- a/api/profiles.py
+++ b/api/profiles.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ _tls = threading.local()
 _SKILL_HOME_MODULES = ("tools.skills_tool", "tools.skill_manager_tool")
 
 
-def _patch_skill_home_modules(home: Path) -> None:
+def patch_skill_home_modules(home: Path) -> None:
     """Patch imported skill modules that cache HERMES_HOME at import time."""
     for module_name in _SKILL_HOME_MODULES:
         module = sys.modules.get(module_name)
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ def _set_hermes_home(home: Path):
     """Set HERMES_HOME env var and monkey-patch cached module-level paths."""
     os.environ['HERMES_HOME'] = str(home)
 
-    _patch_skill_home_modules(home)
+    patch_skill_home_modules(home)
 
     # Patch cron/jobs module-level cache
     try:
diff --git a/api/streaming.py b/api/streaming.py
index fd772414..d60c4880 100644
--- a/api/streaming.py
+++ b/api/streaming.py
@@ -2286,7 +2286,7 @@ def _run_agent_streaming(
         # process-level active-profile global.  Falls back gracefully.
         try:
             from api.profiles import (
-                _patch_skill_home_modules,
+                patch_skill_home_modules,
                 get_hermes_home_for_profile,
                 get_profile_runtime_env,
             )
@@ -2296,7 +2296,7 @@ def _run_agent_streaming(
         except ImportError:
             _profile_home = os.environ.get('HERMES_HOME', '')
             _profile_runtime_env = {}
-            _patch_skill_home_modules = None
+            patch_skill_home_modules = None
         
         # Capture the resolved profile name now, while profile context is
         # reliable. Used in the compression migration block to stamp s.profile
@@ -2349,8 +2349,8 @@ def _run_agent_streaming(
                 # above, so we only do lightweight sys.modules lookups and
                 # attribute assignments here — no first-time import under
                 # the lock (#2024).
-                if _patch_skill_home_modules is not None:
-                    _patch_skill_home_modules(Path(_profile_home))
+                if patch_skill_home_modules is not None:
+                    patch_skill_home_modules(Path(_profile_home))
         # Lock released — agent runs without holding it
         # ── MCP Server Discovery (lazy import, idempotent) ──
         # MUST run AFTER the HERMES_HOME mutation above — `discover_mcp_tools()`
diff --git a/tests/test_issue2024_env_lock_skill_imports.py b/tests/test_issue2024_env_lock_skill_imports.py
index b2a5c952..9f7a5819 100644
--- a/tests/test_issue2024_env_lock_skill_imports.py
+++ b/tests/test_issue2024_env_lock_skill_imports.py
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class TestSysModulesLookupInEnvLock:
                 lock_lines.append(line)
 
         lock_source = "\n".join(lock_lines)
-        assert "_patch_skill_home_modules" in lock_source, (
+        assert "patch_skill_home_modules" in lock_source, (
             "Inside `_ENV_LOCK`, streaming must use the shared skill module "
             "cache patch helper instead of duplicating module-specific logic "
             "(#2023/#2024)"
@@ -179,15 +179,15 @@ class TestSysModulesLookupInEnvLock:
                 node
                 for node in ast.walk(tree)
                 if isinstance(node, ast.FunctionDef)
-                and node.name == "_patch_skill_home_modules"
+                and node.name == "patch_skill_home_modules"
             ),
             None,
         )
-        assert helper is not None, "_patch_skill_home_modules() must be defined"
+        assert helper is not None, "patch_skill_home_modules() must be defined"
 
         helper_source = ast.get_source_segment(source, helper) or ""
         assert "sys.modules.get" in helper_source, (
-            "_patch_skill_home_modules() must use sys.modules.get(), not import, "
+            "patch_skill_home_modules() must use sys.modules.get(), not import, "
             "so env-lock callers do not trigger first-time imports (#2024)"
         )
         assert "HERMES_HOME" in helper_source