diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 09f1ba0..d9d5374 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,7 +7,18 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
-## [0.25.0] - 2026-06-13
+## [0.25.1] - 2026-06-14
+
+### Fixed
+- **Distiller subagent no longer pins fragile MCP tool names.** The
+  `task-journal-distiller` agent dropped its explicit `tools:` list (which named
+  the journal MCP tools under one marketplace-specific prefix and would have left
+  the agent unable to write events on any install with a different prefix). It
+  now inherits the session's tools, so it can always reach the journal MCP.
+
+### Added
+- **`task-journal capture status`** — reports whether realtime capture is ON or
+  OFF (the `.capture-disabled` marker) without changing it.
 
 ### Added
 - **In-session compaction distiller.** A new `task-journal-distiller` subagent
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 75af620..bba8867 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2572,7 +2572,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "task-journal-cli"
-version = "0.25.0"
+version = "0.25.1"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "assert_cmd",
@@ -2596,7 +2596,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "task-journal-core"
-version = "0.25.0"
+version = "0.25.1"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "chrono",
@@ -2621,7 +2621,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "task-journal-mcp"
-version = "0.25.0"
+version = "0.25.1"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "chrono",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b405d35..58b3319 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ members = [
 ]
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.25.0"
+version = "0.25.1"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.88"
 license = "MIT"
diff --git a/crates/tj-cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/tj-cli/Cargo.toml
index e0628d5..37a3129 100644
--- a/crates/tj-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/tj-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ default = ["embed"]
 embed = ["tj-core/embed"]
 
 [dependencies]
-tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.25.0", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
+tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.25.1", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 clap = { workspace = true }
 tracing = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/crates/tj-cli/src/main.rs b/crates/tj-cli/src/main.rs
index b87a70e..f08e8b5 100644
--- a/crates/tj-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/tj-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -657,7 +657,7 @@ enum Commands {
     /// already-running session — without touching the read-only SessionStart
     /// resume. Use it to silence a stale auto-capture hook.
     Capture {
-        /// "on" (remove the marker) or "off" (write it).
+        /// "on" (remove the marker), "off" (write it), or "status" (report it).
         state: String,
     },
     /// Distil this project's recurring decisions and constraints into durable
@@ -1348,7 +1348,14 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
                     let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&marker);
                     println!("realtime capture ON.");
                 }
-                other => anyhow::bail!("expected `on` or `off`, got `{other}`"),
+                "status" => {
+                    if marker.exists() {
+                        println!("realtime capture OFF (.capture-disabled present).");
+                    } else {
+                        println!("realtime capture ON.");
+                    }
+                }
+                other => anyhow::bail!("expected `on`, `off`, or `status`, got `{other}`"),
             }
         }
         Commands::Consolidate {
diff --git a/crates/tj-cli/tests/cli.rs b/crates/tj-cli/tests/cli.rs
index 6d85971..564a5ed 100644
--- a/crates/tj-cli/tests/cli.rs
+++ b/crates/tj-cli/tests/cli.rs
@@ -5400,6 +5400,36 @@ fn consolidate_skips_without_api_key_and_spends_nothing() {
         .stdout(contains("skipped"));
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn capture_status_reports_current_state() {
+    // `capture status` reports ON/OFF without changing anything.
+    let dir = assert_fs::TempDir::new().unwrap();
+
+    // Fresh install → ON.
+    Command::cargo_bin("task-journal")
+        .unwrap()
+        .env("XDG_DATA_HOME", dir.path())
+        .args(["capture", "status"])
+        .assert()
+        .success()
+        .stdout(contains("ON"));
+
+    // After `off` → OFF, and status must not flip it back.
+    Command::cargo_bin("task-journal")
+        .unwrap()
+        .env("XDG_DATA_HOME", dir.path())
+        .args(["capture", "off"])
+        .assert()
+        .success();
+    Command::cargo_bin("task-journal")
+        .unwrap()
+        .env("XDG_DATA_HOME", dir.path())
+        .args(["capture", "status"])
+        .assert()
+        .success()
+        .stdout(contains("OFF"));
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn capture_off_marker_no_ops_ingest_hook_capture() {
     // `capture off` writes a marker that makes ingest-hook skip the capture
diff --git a/crates/tj-mcp/Cargo.toml b/crates/tj-mcp/Cargo.toml
index cf4783e..68f928a 100644
--- a/crates/tj-mcp/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/tj-mcp/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
 # Lean: the MCP server doesn't embed yet, so it skips the model2vec backend.
-tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.25.0", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
+tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.25.1", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 tokio = { workspace = true }
 tracing = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index d6eb8a4..286f3de 100644
--- a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "task-journal",
-  "version": "0.25.0",
+  "version": "0.25.1",
   "description": "Append-only journal of AI-coding task reasoning chains: hypotheses, decisions, rejections, evidence. Renders compact resume packs so an agent can pick up a 2-week-old task with full context.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Mher Shahinyan"
diff --git a/plugin/agents/task-journal-distiller.md b/plugin/agents/task-journal-distiller.md
index d490260..dd8e0f0 100644
--- a/plugin/agents/task-journal-distiller.md
+++ b/plugin/agents/task-journal-distiller.md
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ name: task-journal-distiller
 description: Distills a conversation segment into task-journal memory. Use when a compaction just happened (or is about to), or when asked to "capture what we just did" — it reads the segment from the transcript, finds the decisions / rejections / findings that were NOT yet logged for the active task, and records them via the task-journal MCP. Runs in the background so it never blocks the main chat. Does NOT close tasks.
 model: haiku
 background: true
-tools: Read, Bash, Grep, Glob, mcp__plugin_task-journal_task-journal__task_search, mcp__plugin_task-journal_task-journal__task_pack, mcp__plugin_task-journal_task-journal__event_add
 ---
 
 You are the **task-journal distiller**. A segment of a coding conversation is