diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/apply-pipeline.sh b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/apply-pipeline.sh
index e3fa5b9..b132918 100755
--- a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/apply-pipeline.sh
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/apply-pipeline.sh
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ JWT_VALIDATION_KEYCLOAK_URL="${JWT_VALIDATION_KEYCLOAK_URL:-$(_ab_base_key KEYCL
 JWT_VALIDATION_KEYCLOAK_REALM="${JWT_VALIDATION_KEYCLOAK_REALM:-$(_ab_base_key KEYCLOAK_REALM)}"
 export JWT_VALIDATION_ISSUER JWT_VALIDATION_KEYCLOAK_URL JWT_VALIDATION_KEYCLOAK_REALM
 
+# --- SPARC defaults (consumed only when sparc is in the resolved set).
+SPARC_REFLECTOR_ENDPOINT="${SPARC_REFLECTOR_ENDPOINT:-http://sparc-service.rossoctl-system.svc.cluster.local:8090}"
+SPARC_TIMEOUT_MS="${SPARC_TIMEOUT_MS:-30000}"
+export SPARC_REFLECTOR_ENDPOINT SPARC_TIMEOUT_MS
+
 echo "Applying AuthBridge pipeline to $NAMESPACE/$AGENT_NAME"
 echo "  Plugins: $PIPELINE_PLUGINS"
 if [ -n "${PIPELINE_OVERLAY_FILE:-}" ]; then
@@ -113,7 +118,7 @@ fi
 
 # --- Pre-flight: validate plugin names in PIPELINE_PLUGINS up front so
 # we fail before any kubectl call.
-KNOWN_PLUGINS=(jwt-validation token-exchange token-broker a2a-parser mcp-parser inference-parser ibac)
+KNOWN_PLUGINS=(jwt-validation token-exchange token-broker a2a-parser mcp-parser inference-parser sparc ibac)
 VALID_POLICIES=(enforce observe off)
 is_known() { local needle=$1; shift; for x in "$@"; do [[ "$x" == "$needle" ]] && return 0; done; return 1; }
 for tok in $PIPELINE_PLUGINS; do
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/pipeline-merge.py b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/pipeline-merge.py
index 3cfe749..52a68b0 100755
--- a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/pipeline-merge.py
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/pipeline-merge.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@
     "token-broker",     # gate (mutex with token-exchange)
     "inference-parser", # observe-only, after token gate
     "mcp-parser",       # observe-only, after token gate
-    "ibac",             # last: reads parser extension slots
+    "sparc",            # semantic pre-execution guardrail; reads parser slots
+    "ibac",             # intent-based access control; reads parser extension slots
 ]
 
 CHAIN_FOR: dict[str, str] = {p: "inbound" for p in INBOUND_ORDER}
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/plugins/sparc.yaml b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/plugins/sparc.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d37bf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/plugins/sparc.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# SPARC plugin fragment.
+#
+# ${VAR} placeholders are expanded by apply-pipeline.sh (envsubst) before
+# the merge runs. SPARC_REFLECTOR_ENDPOINT defaults to the in-cluster
+# sparc-service deployed by kagenti-extensions.
+name: sparc
+config:
+  reflector_endpoint: "${SPARC_REFLECTOR_ENDPOINT}"
+  enforcement: "mcp"
+  track: "fast_track"
+  on_reject_action: "observe"
+  deny_score_threshold: 0
+  fail_policy: "open"
+  timeout_ms: ${SPARC_TIMEOUT_MS}
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/presets/full.yaml b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/presets/full.yaml
index 55d7dab..246dbe3 100644
--- a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/presets/full.yaml
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/presets/full.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # full preset.
-# Everything on: auth + token exchange + parsers + IBAC.
+# Everything on: auth + token exchange + parsers + SPARC + IBAC.
 inbound:  [a2a-parser, jwt-validation]
-outbound: [token-exchange, inference-parser, mcp-parser, ibac]
+outbound: [token-exchange, inference-parser, mcp-parser, sparc, ibac]
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/presets/sparc-only.yaml b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/presets/sparc-only.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cbb415
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/authbridge/presets/sparc-only.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# sparc-only preset.
+# SPARC guardrails without inbound auth (e.g. an upstream gateway has already
+# terminated auth, or the runner calls the agent directly without a JWT).
+# Outbound SPARC needs the parsers to populate extension slots.
+inbound:  [a2a-parser]
+outbound: [inference-parser, mcp-parser, sparc]
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/deploy-agent.sh b/exgentic_a2a_runner/deploy-agent.sh
index 2107dd1..414a32a 100755
--- a/exgentic_a2a_runner/deploy-agent.sh
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/deploy-agent.sh
@@ -135,14 +135,14 @@ while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
             echo "  --in-cluster               Running as a Kubernetes Job inside the cluster"
             echo ""
             echo "AuthBridge plugin pipeline (see AUTHBRIDGE_PIPELINE_SPEC.md):"
-            echo "  --plugin-preset PRESET     Named bundle: auth-only | ibac-only | full"
+            echo "  --plugin-preset PRESET     Named bundle: auth-only | ibac-only | sparc-only | full"
             echo "  --plugin NAME[:POLICY]     Enable plugin; POLICY ∈ {enforce(default), observe, off}; repeatable"
             echo "  --no-plugin NAME           Shorthand for --plugin NAME:off; repeatable"
             echo "  --plugin-config-file PATH  Flat-map YAML overlay merged after selectors"
             echo "  -h, --help                 Show this help message"
             echo ""
             echo "Plugin names: jwt-validation, token-exchange, token-broker, a2a-parser,"
-            echo "              mcp-parser, inference-parser, ibac"
+            echo "              mcp-parser, inference-parser, sparc, ibac"
             echo ""
             echo "Plugin tunables (consumed when the named plugin is in the active set):"
             echo "  IBAC_JUDGE_ENDPOINT          Judge LLM base URL (default: http://host.docker.internal:11434)"
@@ -556,6 +556,12 @@ ENV_VARS_WITH_CONFIG=$(echo "$ENV_VARS_WITH_CONFIG" | jq ". + [{\"name\": \"EXGE
 echo "Adding LITELLM_LOCAL_MODEL_COST_MAP=True"
 ENV_VARS_WITH_CONFIG=$(echo "$ENV_VARS_WITH_CONFIG" | jq ". + [{\"name\": \"LITELLM_LOCAL_MODEL_COST_MAP\", \"value\": \"True\"}]")
 
+# Disable LiteLLM response caching. The exgentic default is litellm_caching=True.
+# Cached runs complete in ~3.6s with no real LLM/tool calls, so inference-parser
+# never captures the conversation context and SPARC/IBAC never fire.
+echo "Adding EXGENTIC_LITELLM_CACHING=false"
+ENV_VARS_WITH_CONFIG=$(echo "$ENV_VARS_WITH_CONFIG" | jq ". + [{\"name\": \"EXGENTIC_LITELLM_CACHING\", \"value\": \"false\"}]")
+
 echo "✓ Environment variables prepared for deployment"
 echo ""
 
@@ -590,7 +596,7 @@ import os, sys
 import yaml
 
 KNOWN = ["jwt-validation", "token-exchange", "token-broker",
-         "a2a-parser", "mcp-parser", "inference-parser", "ibac"]
+         "a2a-parser", "mcp-parser", "inference-parser", "sparc", "ibac"]
 VALID = ("enforce", "observe", "off")
 CHAIN = {p: ("inbound" if p in ("a2a-parser", "jwt-validation") else "outbound")
          for p in KNOWN}
@@ -605,7 +611,7 @@ if preset:
     pdir = os.environ.get("PRESETS_DIR", "")
     pfile = os.path.join(pdir, f"{preset}.yaml")
     if not os.path.isfile(pfile):
-        die(f"unknown preset '{preset}' (looked for {pfile}); available: auth-only, ibac-only, full")
+        die(f"unknown preset '{preset}' (looked for {pfile}); available: auth-only, ibac-only, sparc-only, full")
     with open(pfile) as f:
         d = yaml.safe_load(f) or {}
     for chain in ("inbound", "outbound"):
@@ -905,12 +911,27 @@ fi
 
 echo ""
 
-# Step 11.4: Apply the AuthBridge plugin pipeline overlay (if any
-# plugin selector was supplied). The operator base config enables every
-# supported plugin; this overlay sets on_error: off on the ones we
-# didn't select and tunes config on the ones we did.
+# Step 11.4: Enable TLS bridge on AgentRuntime. We set this on the CR so the
+# operator provisions the cert-manager CA secret. The actual tls_bridge config
+# is injected directly into the ConfigMap in Step 11.5 to avoid race conditions
+# with the operator's reconciliation loop.
+if [ "$AUTHBRIDGE_ENABLED" = "true" ]; then
+    echo "Step 11.4: Enabling TLS bridge on AgentRuntime..."
+    if kubectl patch agentruntime -n "$NAMESPACE" "$AGENT_NAME" --type=merge -p '{"spec":{"tlsBridgeMode":"enabled"}}' 2>/dev/null; then
+        echo "  ✓ tlsBridgeMode=enabled (CA will be provisioned by cert-manager)"
+    else
+        echo "  Warning: Could not patch AgentRuntime tlsBridgeMode (CR may not exist yet)"
+    fi
+    echo ""
+fi
+
+# Step 11.5: Apply the AuthBridge plugin pipeline overlay AFTER the TLS bridge
+# rollout has settled. The operator has now written its base ConfigMap; this
+# overlay patches the plugin selection on top without triggering another rollout.
+# Also injects tls_bridge config directly into the ConfigMap — the operator does
+# not reliably write this even when tlsBridgeMode=enabled is set on AgentRuntime.
 if [ "$AUTHBRIDGE_ENABLED" = "true" ]; then
-    echo "Step 11.4: Applying AuthBridge pipeline overlay..."
+    echo "Step 11.5: Applying AuthBridge pipeline overlay..."
     SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
     if [ ! -x "$SCRIPT_DIR/authbridge/apply-pipeline.sh" ]; then
         echo "Error: $SCRIPT_DIR/authbridge/apply-pipeline.sh not found or not executable"
@@ -929,6 +950,18 @@ if [ "$AUTHBRIDGE_ENABLED" = "true" ]; then
         TOKEN_BROKER_URL="${TOKEN_BROKER_URL:-}" \
         TOKEN_BROKER_AUDIENCE="${TOKEN_BROKER_AUDIENCE:-}" \
         "$SCRIPT_DIR/authbridge/apply-pipeline.sh"
+
+    # Inject tls_bridge section directly into the ConfigMap. The authbridge
+    # filesystem-watch reloader picks this up without a pod restart.
+    echo "  Injecting tls_bridge into authbridge ConfigMap..."
+    CM_NAME="authbridge-config-$AGENT_NAME"
+    CURRENT_CONFIG=$(kubectl -n "$NAMESPACE" get configmap "$CM_NAME" -o jsonpath='{.data.config\.yaml}')
+    NEW_CONFIG=$(printf '%s\ntls_bridge:\n  ca_dir: /etc/authbridge/tls-bridge-ca\n  mode: enabled\n' "$CURRENT_CONFIG")
+    TMP_TLS=$(mktemp)
+    printf '%s' "$NEW_CONFIG" >"$TMP_TLS"
+    kubectl -n "$NAMESPACE" create configmap "$CM_NAME" --from-file=config.yaml="$TMP_TLS" --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f - >/dev/null
+    rm -f "$TMP_TLS"
+    echo "  ✓ tls_bridge injected into $CM_NAME"
     echo ""
 fi
 
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/pyproject.toml b/exgentic_a2a_runner/pyproject.toml
index 003520a..34ea545 100644
--- a/exgentic_a2a_runner/pyproject.toml
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/pyproject.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "opentelemetry-exporter-otlp>=1.20.0",
     "opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests>=0.41b0",
     "opentelemetry-instrumentation-httpx>=0.41b0",
-    "pyyaml>=6.0",
+    "pyyaml>=6.0.3",
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/sparc-deny.yaml b/exgentic_a2a_runner/sparc-deny.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1364023
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/sparc-deny.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+sparc:
+  on_reject_action: "deny"
+  skip_tools: ["message"]
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/sparc-observe.yaml b/exgentic_a2a_runner/sparc-observe.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25a6fb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/sparc-observe.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+sparc:
+  on_reject_action: "observe"
diff --git a/exgentic_a2a_runner/uv.lock b/exgentic_a2a_runner/uv.lock
index 8c1afe0..14f60fd 100644
--- a/exgentic_a2a_runner/uv.lock
+++ b/exgentic_a2a_runner/uv.lock
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ requires-dist = [
     { name = "opentelemetry-sdk", specifier = ">=1.20.0" },
     { name = "pytest", marker = "extra == 'dev'", specifier = ">=7.0.0" },
     { name = "pytest-mock", marker = "extra == 'dev'", specifier = ">=3.10.0" },
-    { name = "pyyaml", specifier = ">=6.0" },
+    { name = "pyyaml", specifier = ">=6.0.3" },
     { name = "requests", specifier = ">=2.28.0" },
 ]
 provides-extras = ["dev"]