diff --git a/poc-memory/src/agents/api.rs b/poc-memory/src/agents/api.rs
index 73dab21..acdffe1 100644
--- a/poc-memory/src/agents/api.rs
+++ b/poc-memory/src/agents/api.rs
@@ -99,17 +99,23 @@ pub async fn call_api_with_tools(
     Err(format!("agent exceeded {} tool turns", max_turns))
 }
 
-/// Synchronous wrapper — creates a tokio runtime and blocks.
-/// Used by the existing sync call path in knowledge.rs.
+/// Synchronous wrapper — runs the async function on a dedicated thread
+/// with its own tokio runtime. Safe to call from any context.
 pub fn call_api_with_tools_sync(
     agent: &str,
     prompt: &str,
     log: &dyn Fn(&str),
 ) -> Result<String, String> {
-    let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
-        .enable_all()
-        .build()
-        .map_err(|e| format!("tokio runtime: {}", e))?;
-
-    rt.block_on(call_api_with_tools(agent, prompt, log))
+    // Run on a new thread to avoid conflicts with any existing runtime
+    let agent = agent.to_string();
+    let prompt = prompt.to_string();
+    std::thread::scope(|s| {
+        s.spawn(|| {
+            let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
+                .enable_all()
+                .build()
+                .map_err(|e| format!("tokio runtime: {}", e))?;
+            rt.block_on(call_api_with_tools(&agent, &prompt, &|msg| eprintln!("[api] {}", msg)))
+        }).join().unwrap()
+    })
 }