diff --git a/apps/api/tests/contract/test_retrieval_contract.py b/apps/api/tests/contract/test_retrieval_contract.py
index 06cbc173b..2c9db2ff7 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/contract/test_retrieval_contract.py
+++ b/apps/api/tests/contract/test_retrieval_contract.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-from collections.abc import Callable
+from collections.abc import Callable, Coroutine, Sequence
 from contextlib import AbstractAsyncContextManager
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
-from typing import cast
+from typing import Any, cast
 from uuid import uuid4
 
 import pytest
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
 from shared.services.retrieval.workflow.run_request import WorkflowRunRequest
 from shared.services.retrieval.workflow.types import PlannedStep, QueryPlan, WorkflowResult
 
+LLMFnInput = str | Sequence[dict[str, Any]]
+LLMFn = Callable[[LLMFnInput], Coroutine[Any, Any, str]]
+
 
 async def _seed_retrieval_document(
     *,
@@ -23,6 +26,9 @@ async def _seed_retrieval_document(
     section_path: str,
     content: str,
     chunk_id: str | None = None,
+    chunk_type: str = "text",
+    file_path: str | None = None,
+    chunk_metadata: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
 ) -> dict[str, str]:
     document_id = f"doc_{uuid4().hex[:12]}"
     job_id = f"job_{uuid4().hex[:12]}"
@@ -80,9 +86,11 @@ async def _seed_retrieval_document(
         document_id=document_id,
         job_result_id=job_result_id,
         section_id=section_id,
-        chunk_type="text",
+        chunk_type=chunk_type,
         content=content,
         section_path=section_path,
+        file_path=file_path,
+        chunk_metadata=chunk_metadata,
     )
 
     return {
@@ -600,6 +608,121 @@ async def test_agentic_retrieval_should_reference_discovery_content_when_navigat
     }
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_agentic_retrieval_should_not_send_table_artifacts_to_vlm(
+    developer_api_client_factory: Callable[
+        [], AbstractAsyncContextManager[AsyncClient]
+    ],
+    monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setenv("LLM_MOCK_ENABLED", "true")
+    vlm_calls: list[LLMFnInput] = []
+
+    async def fake_vlm(prompt: LLMFnInput) -> str:
+        vlm_calls.append(prompt)
+        return '{"status":"DONE","answer":"unexpected table VLM answer"}'
+
+    def fake_create_retrieval_vlm_fn(**_kwargs: object) -> LLMFn:
+        return fake_vlm
+
+    class FakeResultStorage:
+        def generate_artifact_url(
+            self,
+            *,
+            job_id: str,
+            artifact_ref: str,
+            expires_in: int = 3600,
+        ) -> str | None:
+            del expires_in
+            return f"https://assets.example.com/{job_id}/{artifact_ref}"
+
+        def normalize_artifact_ref(self, artifact_ref: str | None) -> str | None:
+            if not artifact_ref:
+                return None
+            normalized = artifact_ref.strip().replace("\\", "/").lstrip("/")
+            if not normalized:
+                return None
+            root_dir = normalized.split("/", 1)[0]
+            if root_dir not in {"images", "tables"}:
+                return None
+            return normalized
+
+    def fake_get_result_storage() -> FakeResultStorage:
+        return FakeResultStorage()
+
+    async with developer_api_client_factory() as api_client:
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            "shared.services.retrieval.llm_adapter.create_retrieval_vlm_fn",
+            fake_create_retrieval_vlm_fn,
+        )
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            "shared.services.retrieval.hydration.assets.get_result_storage",
+            fake_get_result_storage,
+        )
+        table_document = await _seed_retrieval_document(
+            user_id="local-dev-user",
+            namespace="contract-agentic-table-vlm-filter",
+            source_file_name="table-report.md",
+            section_path="Realdata Results Summary / Main Metrics",
+            content=(
+                "<table><tr><th>budget</th><th>metric</th><th>value</th></tr>"
+                "<tr><td>1000</td><td>Flat inspect_evidence_score_mean</td>"
+                "<td>0.5674</td></tr></table>"
+            ),
+            chunk_type="table",
+            file_path="tables/table-0-main-metrics.html",
+        )
+        await _seed_retrieval_document(
+            user_id="local-dev-user",
+            namespace="contract-agentic-table-vlm-filter",
+            source_file_name="filler-table-report.md",
+            section_path="Appendix / Filler Metrics",
+            content=(
+                "<table><tr><th>metric</th><th>value</th></tr>"
+                "<tr><td>unrelated filler metric</td><td>999</td></tr></table>"
+            ),
+            chunk_type="table",
+            file_path="tables/table-1-filler-metrics.html",
+        )
+
+        response = await api_client.post(
+            "/api/v1/retrieval/query",
+            json={
+                "namespace": "contract-agentic-table-vlm-filter",
+                "query": "budget 1000 Flat inspect_evidence_score_mean",
+                "top_k": 1,
+                "data_type": 4,
+                "use_agentic": True,
+            },
+        )
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+
+    response_json = cast(dict[str, object], response.json())
+    referenced_chunks = cast(list[dict[str, object]], response_json["referenced_chunks"])
+    results = cast(list[dict[str, object]], response_json["results"])
+
+    assert response_json["router_used"] == "workflow_single_step"
+    assert vlm_calls == []
+    matching_references = [
+        reference
+        for reference in referenced_chunks
+        if reference["chunk_id"] == table_document["chunk_id"]
+    ]
+    assert len(matching_references) == 1
+    assert matching_references[0]["document_id"] == table_document["document_id"]
+    assert matching_references[0]["chunk_type"] == "table"
+    assert matching_references[0]["section_path"] == table_document["section_path"]
+    assert matching_references[0]["file_path"] == "tables/table-0-main-metrics.html"
+    assert matching_references[0]["job_id"] == table_document["job_id"]
+    assert str(matching_references[0]["asset_url"]).startswith(
+        "https://assets.example.com/"
+    )
+    assert len(results) == 1
+    assert results[0]["chunk_type"] == "table"
+    assert _result_source(results[0])["document_id"] == table_document["document_id"]
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_agentic_retrieval_should_not_hydrate_references_outside_request_scope(
     developer_api_client_factory: Callable[
diff --git a/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/evidence/builder.py b/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/evidence/builder.py
index 6da147f42..9e158191a 100644
--- a/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/evidence/builder.py
+++ b/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/evidence/builder.py
@@ -52,18 +52,29 @@ def with_context_prompt_projection(
     return projected
 
 
-def collect_media_chunks(node: DocTreeNode) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
-    media: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
+def _collect_chunks_by_type(
+    node: DocTreeNode,
+    chunk_types: set[str],
+) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+    collected_chunks: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
     for chunks in node.leaf_content.values():
         for chunk in chunks:
             chunk_type = (
                 chunk.get("chunk_type") or chunk.get("type") or ""
             ).strip().lower()
-            if chunk_type in ("image", "table"):
-                media.append(chunk)
+            if chunk_type in chunk_types:
+                collected_chunks.append(chunk)
     for child in node.children.values():
-        media.extend(collect_media_chunks(child))
-    return media
+        collected_chunks.extend(_collect_chunks_by_type(child, chunk_types))
+    return collected_chunks
+
+
+def collect_media_chunks(node: DocTreeNode) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+    return _collect_chunks_by_type(node, {"image", "table"})
+
+
+def collect_image_chunks(node: DocTreeNode) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+    return _collect_chunks_by_type(node, {"image"})
 
 
 def collect_media_chunks_all(
@@ -75,6 +86,15 @@ def collect_media_chunks_all(
     return media
 
 
+def collect_image_chunks_all(
+    doc_trees: dict[str, DocTreeNode],
+) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+    image_chunks: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
+    for tree in doc_trees.values():
+        image_chunks.extend(collect_image_chunks(tree))
+    return image_chunks
+
+
 async def build_asset_url_map(
     media_chunks: list[dict[str, Any]],
 ) -> dict[str, str]:
@@ -84,6 +104,13 @@ async def build_asset_url_map(
     )
 
 
+async def build_vlm_image_urls(
+    doc_trees: dict[str, DocTreeNode],
+) -> list[str]:
+    asset_url_map = await build_asset_url_map(collect_image_chunks_all(doc_trees))
+    return [url for url in asset_url_map.values() if url]
+
+
 def _collect_all_leaf_paths(node: DocTreeNode) -> set[str]:
     paths = set(node.leaf_content.keys())
     for child in node.children.values():
diff --git a/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/orchestrator.py b/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/orchestrator.py
index 4ffdda5d8..0e1cc51b2 100644
--- a/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/orchestrator.py
+++ b/packages/shared-python/shared/services/retrieval/agentic/orchestrator.py
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@
 )
 from shared.services.retrieval.agentic.navigation.document import DocumentNavigationRunner
 from shared.services.retrieval.agentic.evidence.builder import (
-    build_asset_url_map as _build_asset_url_map,
-    collect_media_chunks_all as _collect_media_chunks_all,
+    build_vlm_image_urls as _build_vlm_image_urls,
     render_evidence as _render_evidence,
     trim_evidence_to_budget as _trim_evidence_to_budget,
     with_context_prompt_projection as _with_context_prompt_projection,
@@ -321,12 +320,7 @@ async def run(
             # Collect image URLs from evidence for VLM switch
             evidence_image_urls: list[str] = []
             if vlm_fn:
-                asset_url_map = await _build_asset_url_map(
-                    _collect_media_chunks_all(state.doc_trees),
-                )
-                evidence_image_urls = [
-                    url for url in asset_url_map.values() if url
-                ]
+                evidence_image_urls = await _build_vlm_image_urls(state.doc_trees)
 
             async def vlm_context_call(prompt, _vlm_fn=vlm_fn):
                 return await llm_budget.call(cast(LLMFn, _vlm_fn), prompt, pool='context')