diff --git a/src/features/assistant/useEncounterAdvisor.ts b/src/features/assistant/useEncounterAdvisor.ts
index 6b1ce20..eae059e 100644
--- a/src/features/assistant/useEncounterAdvisor.ts
+++ b/src/features/assistant/useEncounterAdvisor.ts
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ export function useEncounterAdvisor(campaign: Campaign, encounter: Encounter) {
 
       if (canUseLlm) {
         const prompt = buildBalancePrompt(ctx, { difficulty: current, targetDifficulty: target, candidates });
-        const res = await complete(getLlmConfig(), { system: prompt.system, user: prompt.user, schema: balanceSuggestionSchema });
+        const res = await complete<BalanceSuggestion>(getLlmConfig(), { system: prompt.system, user: prompt.user, schema: balanceSuggestionSchema });
         if (res.ok && 'data' in res) {
           const valid = res.data.add.filter((a) => candidates.some((c) => c.name === a.name));
           if (valid.length) {
diff --git a/src/lib/llm/types.ts b/src/lib/llm/types.ts
index 67fb822..82e32a2 100644
--- a/src/lib/llm/types.ts
+++ b/src/lib/llm/types.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type { ZodType } from 'zod';
+import type { ZodType, ZodTypeDef } from 'zod';
 
 export type LlmProvider = 'anthropic' | 'openai-compatible';
 
@@ -34,8 +34,10 @@ export interface CompleteOptions<T = unknown> {
   system: string;
   /** User message. */
   user: string;
-  /** When provided, structured JSON output is requested and validated against it. */
-  schema?: ZodType<T>;
+  /** When provided, structured JSON output is requested and validated against it.
+   *  Input is left open (`any`) so schemas using coerce/preprocess/transform — whose
+   *  parsed input type differs from T — are accepted; T is pinned to the output. */
+  schema?: ZodType<T, ZodTypeDef, any>;
   /** A short name describing the JSON shape (used by providers that require it). */
   schemaName?: string;
   signal?: AbortSignal;