diff --git a/src/fabledassistant/services/tools/_helpers.py b/src/fabledassistant/services/tools/_helpers.py
index 8367631..d6bbc2f 100644
--- a/src/fabledassistant/services/tools/_helpers.py
+++ b/src/fabledassistant/services/tools/_helpers.py
@@ -22,6 +22,37 @@ def schedule_embedding(note_id: int, user_id: int, title: str, body: str) -> Non
         asyncio.create_task(upsert_note_embedding(note_id, user_id, text))
 
 
+def _normalize(s: str) -> str:
+    """Lowercase and collapse non-alphanumerics to single spaces."""
+    return re.sub(r"[^a-z0-9]+", " ", s.lower()).strip()
+
+
+def score_project_match(query: str, project) -> float:
+    """Score how well `query` matches `project`. Range [0.0, 1.0].
+
+    Tiered: exact title → 1.0, substring either-way → 0.85, query found in
+    description/summary → 0.70, otherwise SequenceMatcher ratio. Substring
+    tiers exist because LLM-generated colloquial queries (e.g. "famous
+    supply project" for "Famous-Supply Work topics") would otherwise score
+    too low under pure SequenceMatcher and be treated as no match.
+    """
+    q = _normalize(query)
+    if not q:
+        return 0.0
+    title = _normalize(project.title)
+    description = _normalize(project.description or "")
+    summary = _normalize(project.auto_summary or "")
+    combined = f"{title} {description} {summary}".strip()
+
+    if q == title:
+        return 1.0
+    if q in title or title in q:
+        return 0.85
+    if q in combined:
+        return 0.70
+    return SequenceMatcher(None, q, combined).ratio()
+
+
 async def resolve_project(user_id: int, project_name: str):
     """Exact-then-fuzzy project lookup. Returns the Project or None.
 
diff --git a/tests/test_tool_use_fixes.py b/tests/test_tool_use_fixes.py
index 2a9fd49..d7ff034 100644
--- a/tests/test_tool_use_fixes.py
+++ b/tests/test_tool_use_fixes.py
@@ -54,3 +54,36 @@ def test_strip_type_nouns_handles_empty_string():
     from fabledassistant.services.notes import _strip_type_nouns
     assert _strip_type_nouns("") == []
     assert _strip_type_nouns("   ") == []
+
+
+def test_score_project_match_exact_title_returns_1():
+    from fabledassistant.services.tools._helpers import score_project_match
+    p = _project(5, "Famous-Supply Work topics")
+    assert score_project_match("Famous-Supply Work topics", p) == 1.0
+
+
+def test_score_project_match_colloquial_substring_at_least_85():
+    """'famous supply' is a substring of normalized 'famous supply work topics'
+    after stripping the hyphen. Substring match returns 0.85."""
+    from fabledassistant.services.tools._helpers import score_project_match
+    p = _project(5, "Famous-Supply Work topics", auto_summary="AT&T fiber circuit")
+    score = score_project_match("famous supply project", p)
+    assert score >= 0.85, f"expected substring tier (>=0.85), got {score}"
+
+
+def test_score_project_match_query_in_summary_returns_70():
+    from fabledassistant.services.tools._helpers import score_project_match
+    p = _project(12, "Minstrel", auto_summary="self-hosted music server")
+    assert score_project_match("music server", p) == 0.70
+
+
+def test_score_project_match_unrelated_returns_low():
+    from fabledassistant.services.tools._helpers import score_project_match
+    p = _project(12, "Minstrel", auto_summary="self-hosted music server")
+    assert score_project_match("garden renovation", p) < 0.5
+
+
+def test_score_project_match_empty_query_returns_zero():
+    from fabledassistant.services.tools._helpers import score_project_match
+    p = _project(5, "Famous-Supply Work topics")
+    assert score_project_match("", p) == 0.0