diff --git a/src/application/WorkflowEvidence.test.ts b/src/application/WorkflowEvidence.test.ts
index 5ca63d15e..dab61a79c 100644
--- a/src/application/WorkflowEvidence.test.ts
+++ b/src/application/WorkflowEvidence.test.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,63 @@ describe("workflow residual question retention", () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  it.each([
+    ["spaces", "  Which boundary?  "],
+    ["line feed and tab", "\nWhich boundary?\t"],
+    ["byte order mark", "\uFEFFWhich boundary?\uFEFF"],
+  ])(
+    "normalizes edge whitespace from %s without changing workflow Evidence",
+    (_, question) => {
+      const records = new InvestigationRecords();
+      const result = { residual_unknowns: [question] };
+      const evidence = createWorkflowEvidence({
+        target: undefined,
+        operation: "inspect_native_api",
+        parameters: {},
+        result,
+        upstreamProfile: undefined,
+      });
+
+      expect(records.recordEvidence(evidence).ok).toBe(true);
+      expect(
+        recordWorkflowUnknowns({
+          name: "inspect_native_api",
+          result,
+          evidenceId: evidence.evidence_id,
+          recordUnknown: (unknown) => records.recordUnknown(unknown),
+        }).ok,
+      ).toBe(true);
+      expect(records.listUnknowns()).toMatchObject([
+        { question: "Which boundary?" },
+      ]);
+      expect(evidence.normalized_result).toEqual(result);
+    },
+  );
+
+  it("rejects questions that are empty after whitespace normalization", () => {
+    const records = new InvestigationRecords();
+    const result = { residual_unknowns: [" \n\t "] };
+    const evidence = createWorkflowEvidence({
+      target: undefined,
+      operation: "inspect_native_api",
+      parameters: {},
+      result,
+      upstreamProfile: undefined,
+    });
+
+    expect(records.recordEvidence(evidence).ok).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      recordWorkflowUnknowns({
+        name: "inspect_native_api",
+        result,
+        evidenceId: evidence.evidence_id,
+        recordUnknown: (unknown) => records.recordUnknown(unknown),
+      }).ok,
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(records.listUnknowns()).toEqual([]);
+    expect(evidence.normalized_result).toEqual(result);
+  });
+
   it("preserves registry failures rather than presenting a completed workflow", () => {
     const error = new UnknownRegistryError("limit");
     expect(