diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f056855..b0194c1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -124,10 +124,10 @@ let the content script reach it).
 
 ## Limitations (MVP)
 
-- **Detection is capitalization-based.** Names written in lowercase, or split
-  across formatting (e.g. **bold** in the middle of a name), can be missed. The
-  resolver's exact-name match keeps false *positives* low; the trade-off is some
-  false *negatives*.
+- **Detection is mostly capitalization-based**, with a cue-phrase pass that also catches
+  lowercase names right after "check out / by / fan of / recommend …". Names split across
+  inline formatting (e.g. **bold** mid-name) can still be missed. The resolver's
+  exact-name match keeps false *positives* low; the trade-off is some false *negatives*.
 - **Links are direct when MusicBrainz has the artist's `url-relations`** (official
   Bandcamp / Spotify pages); otherwise they fall back to a search URL. (Each
   confirmed artist costs one extra throttled MusicBrainz lookup, cached after.)
diff --git a/extension/content.js b/extension/content.js
index 41ab4cf..5b4d235 100644
--- a/extension/content.js
+++ b/extension/content.js
@@ -11,43 +11,10 @@
   const api = globalThis.browser ?? globalThis.chrome;
   const log = (...a) => console.log("[rsl]", ...a);
 
-  // ---- candidate extraction -------------------------------------------------
-  // A token is a Capitalized or ALL-CAPS word; a candidate is 1-4 tokens joined by
-  // spaces, with a few lowercase connectors allowed inside ("Signs of the Swarm").
-  const TOKEN = "[A-Z][A-Za-z0-9'’.&\\-]*";
-  const CAND_RE = new RegExp(`${TOKEN}(?:[ ]+(?:${TOKEN}|of|the|and|&|in|on|to|for|a|an)){0,3}`, "g");
-  const CONNECTORS = new Set(["of", "the", "and", "&", "in", "on", "to", "for", "a", "an"]);
-
-  // Common capitalized words that are almost never the artist being recommended.
-  // Deliberately small: the resolver's exact-name match is the real filter, so we
-  // avoid stoplisting plausible one-word band names (Yes, Love, Tool, ...).
-  const STOP = new Set([
-    "I", "A", "An", "The", "And", "But", "Or", "Nor", "So", "Yet", "For", "If", "As",
-    "At", "By", "In", "On", "To", "Of", "Up", "Off", "Out", "It", "He", "She", "We",
-    "They", "You", "Me", "Him", "Her", "Us", "Them", "My", "Your", "His", "Its", "Our",
-    "Their", "This", "That", "These", "Those", "Is", "Are", "Was", "Were", "Be", "Been",
-    "Am", "Do", "Does", "Did", "Has", "Have", "Had", "Will", "Would", "Can", "Could",
-    "Should", "Not", "No", "Yeah", "Ok", "Okay", "Lol", "Imo", "Imho", "Tbh", "Edit",
-    "Reddit", "Spotify", "Bandcamp", "Youtube", "Google", "Apple", "Album", "Albums",
-    "Band", "Bands", "Song", "Songs", "Track", "Tracks", "Ep", "Lp", "Cd", "Op", "Vol",
-  ]);
-
-  function matchesIn(text) {
-    const out = [];
-    CAND_RE.lastIndex = 0;
-    let m;
-    while ((m = CAND_RE.exec(text))) {
-      let str = m[0].replace(/[.,;:!?’'")\]]+$/u, ""); // trim trailing punctuation
-      let parts = str.split(/\s+/);
-      while (parts.length && CONNECTORS.has(parts[parts.length - 1].toLowerCase())) parts.pop();
-      str = parts.join(" ");
-      if (!str) continue;
-      const single = parts.length === 1;
-      if (single && (STOP.has(str) || str.length < 2 || /^\d+$/.test(str))) continue;
-      out.push({ name: str, index: m.index, length: str.length }); // only trailing trimmed -> index unchanged
-    }
-    return out;
-  }
+  // Candidate extraction is pure + lives in extract.js (loaded first per manifest order;
+  // defines globalThis.RSLExtract) so it can be unit-tested in node. allMatchesIn(text)
+  // returns {name,index,length} for Title-Case runs AND cue-phrase ("check out <x>") names.
+  const Extract = globalThis.RSLExtract;
 
   // ---- DOM walking ----------------------------------------------------------
   const SKIP_TAGS = new Set([
@@ -95,7 +62,7 @@
 
   function wrapNode(node) {
     const text = node.nodeValue;
-    const ms = matchesIn(text).filter((m) => {
+    const ms = Extract.allMatchesIn(text).filter((m) => {
       const links = resolved.get(m.name);
       return links && ((links.primary && links.primary.url) || links.spotify);
     });
@@ -147,7 +114,7 @@
     if (!nodes.length) return;
 
     const seen = new Set();
-    for (const node of nodes) for (const m of matchesIn(node.nodeValue)) seen.add(m.name);
+    for (const node of nodes) for (const m of Extract.allMatchesIn(node.nodeValue)) seen.add(m.name);
     log("candidates found:", seen.size);
 
     const ask = [...seen].filter((c) => !resolved.has(c));
diff --git a/extension/extract.js b/extension/extract.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff1d678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extension/extract.js
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+// Pure candidate extraction from comment text. Loaded as a content script (defines
+// globalThis.RSLExtract; runs before content.js per manifest order) AND require()-able in
+// node for unit tests (extract.test.cjs). No DOM access here — strings in, matches out.
+//
+// Each match is { name, index, length } so the content script can wrap it in place.
+(function (root, factory) {
+  const api = factory();
+  root.RSLExtract = api;
+  if (typeof module !== "undefined" && module.exports) module.exports = api; // node (cjs)
+})(typeof globalThis !== "undefined" ? globalThis : this, function () {
+  "use strict";
+
+  // A token is a Capitalized / ALL-CAPS word; a Title-Case candidate is 1-4 tokens with a
+  // few lowercase connectors allowed inside ("Signs of the Swarm").
+  const TOKEN = "[A-Z][A-Za-z0-9'’.&\\-]*";
+  const CAND_RE = new RegExp(`${TOKEN}(?:[ ]+(?:${TOKEN}|of|the|and|&|in|on|to|for|a|an)){0,3}`, "g");
+  const CONNECTORS = new Set(["of", "the", "and", "&", "in", "on", "to", "for", "a", "an"]);
+
+  // Cue phrases that often precede an artist name written in lowercase
+  // ("check out devourment", "by cattle decapitation"). Group 1 = the next 1-2 words;
+  // the `d` flag gives us the group's position so the match can be wrapped in place.
+  const CUE_RE = /\b(?:by|check ?out|listen(?: to)?|recommend(?:ed|ations?)?|fan of|into|loves?|playing)\s+([A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9'’.&-]*(?:\s+[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9'’.&-]*)?)/gid;
+
+  // Common capitalized words that are almost never the artist being recommended.
+  // Deliberately small: the resolver's exact-name match is the real filter.
+  const STOP = new Set([
+    "I", "A", "An", "The", "And", "But", "Or", "Nor", "So", "Yet", "For", "If", "As",
+    "At", "By", "In", "On", "To", "Of", "Up", "Off", "Out", "It", "He", "She", "We",
+    "They", "You", "Me", "Him", "Her", "Us", "Them", "My", "Your", "His", "Its", "Our",
+    "Their", "This", "That", "These", "Those", "Is", "Are", "Was", "Were", "Be", "Been",
+    "Am", "Do", "Does", "Did", "Has", "Have", "Had", "Will", "Would", "Can", "Could",
+    "Should", "Not", "No", "Yeah", "Ok", "Okay", "Lol", "Imo", "Imho", "Tbh", "Edit",
+    "Reddit", "Spotify", "Bandcamp", "Youtube", "Google", "Apple", "Album", "Albums",
+    "Band", "Bands", "Song", "Songs", "Track", "Tracks", "Ep", "Lp", "Cd", "Op", "Vol",
+  ]);
+
+  // Lowercase words unlikely to be the artist immediately after a cue phrase.
+  const CUE_STOP = new Set([
+    "the", "this", "that", "a", "an", "it", "them", "him", "her", "us", "new", "more",
+    "some", "any", "good", "best", "my", "your", "his", "their", "out", "to", "one", "all",
+  ]);
+
+  const TRAILING_PUNCT = /[.,;:!?’'")\]]+$/u;
+
+  function matchesIn(text) {
+    const out = [];
+    CAND_RE.lastIndex = 0;
+    let m;
+    while ((m = CAND_RE.exec(text))) {
+      let str = m[0].replace(TRAILING_PUNCT, "");
+      const parts = str.split(/\s+/);
+      while (parts.length && CONNECTORS.has(parts[parts.length - 1].toLowerCase())) parts.pop();
+      str = parts.join(" ");
+      if (!str) continue;
+      const single = parts.length === 1;
+      if (single && (STOP.has(str) || str.length < 2 || /^\d+$/.test(str))) continue;
+      out.push({ name: str, index: m.index, length: str.length }); // only trailing trimmed
+    }
+    return out;
+  }
+
+  function cueMatchesIn(text) {
+    const out = [];
+    CUE_RE.lastIndex = 0;
+    let m;
+    while ((m = CUE_RE.exec(text))) {
+      const gi = m.indices && m.indices[1];
+      if (!gi) continue;
+      const phrase = text.slice(gi[0], gi[1]).replace(TRAILING_PUNCT, "");
+      if (!phrase) continue;
+      const first = phrase.split(/\s+/)[0];
+      if (first.length < 2 || CUE_STOP.has(first.toLowerCase()) || /^\d+$/.test(first)) continue;
+      out.push({ name: first, index: gi[0], length: first.length });           // 1-word
+      if (phrase.length > first.length) out.push({ name: phrase, index: gi[0], length: phrase.length }); // 1-2 word
+    }
+    return out;
+  }
+
+  // Union of Title-Case + cue matches, sorted for the in-place wrapper
+  // (ascending index, longer match first so the wrapper's overlap guard prefers it).
+  function allMatchesIn(text) {
+    const all = matchesIn(text).concat(cueMatchesIn(text));
+    all.sort((a, b) => a.index - b.index || b.length - a.length);
+    return all;
+  }
+
+  return { matchesIn, cueMatchesIn, allMatchesIn };
+});
diff --git a/extension/extract.test.cjs b/extension/extract.test.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ca24fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extension/extract.test.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+// Unit tests for the pure candidate extraction (run with `node --test`). Zero-dep.
+// CJS so it can require() extract.js, which is a UMD script (also a content script).
+const { test } = require("node:test");
+const assert = require("node:assert/strict");
+const { matchesIn, cueMatchesIn, allMatchesIn } = require("./extract.js");
+
+test("matchesIn finds Title-Case / ALL-CAPS runs, skips stopwords", () => {
+  // Note: "and" is a connector, so "X and Y" greedily joins into one run (by design,
+  // for names like "Iron and Wine") — keep the two names in separate clauses here.
+  const names = matchesIn("Cattle Decapitation is great; DEVOURMENT rules. I agree").map((m) => m.name);
+  assert.ok(names.includes("Cattle Decapitation"));
+  assert.ok(names.includes("DEVOURMENT"));
+  assert.ok(!names.includes("I"));
+});
+
+test("matchesIn reports positions that map back to the text", () => {
+  const text = "Check out Devourment now";
+  const m = matchesIn(text).find((x) => x.name === "Devourment");
+  assert.equal(text.substr(m.index, m.length), "Devourment");
+});
+
+test("cueMatchesIn catches lowercase names after a cue phrase", () => {
+  const names = cueMatchesIn("you should check out devourment honestly").map((m) => m.name);
+  assert.ok(names.includes("devourment"));
+});
+
+test("cueMatchesIn positions map back to the text", () => {
+  const text = "i'm a big fan of cattle decapitation"; // "fan of" cue
+  for (const m of cueMatchesIn(text)) assert.equal(text.substr(m.index, m.length), m.name);
+});
+
+test("cueMatchesIn skips lowercase stopwords right after the cue", () => {
+  const names = cueMatchesIn("check out the new album").map((m) => m.name);
+  assert.ok(!names.includes("the"));
+});
+
+test("allMatchesIn merges cue + Title-Case and sorts ascending by index", () => {
+  const text = "Check out devourment and Cattle Decapitation";
+  const ms = allMatchesIn(text);
+  for (let i = 1; i < ms.length; i++) assert.ok(ms[i].index >= ms[i - 1].index);
+  const names = ms.map((m) => m.name);
+  assert.ok(names.includes("devourment")); // cue (lowercase)
+  assert.ok(names.includes("Cattle Decapitation")); // title-case
+});
diff --git a/extension/manifest.json b/extension/manifest.json
index 68366b7..028d77d 100644
--- a/extension/manifest.json
+++ b/extension/manifest.json
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
   "content_scripts": [
     {
       "matches": ["*://*.reddit.com/*"],
-      "js": ["content.js"],
+      "js": ["extract.js", "content.js"],
       "css": ["styles.css"],
       "run_at": "document_idle"
     }
diff --git a/scripts/check.sh b/scripts/check.sh
index 021b675..e509548 100755
--- a/scripts/check.sh
+++ b/scripts/check.sh
@@ -16,5 +16,6 @@ echo "  ok extension/manifest.json + service/package.json"
 
 echo "== node --test (unit) =="
 ( cd service && node --test )
+( cd extension && node --test )
 
 echo "ALL CHECKS PASSED"