diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9cda1a3..a452783 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ LLM_FLAGS=--no-display-prompt -no-cnv --simple-io
 SHELL=/bin/bash -x
 
 
-agent_message.txt: llm_chat.php consolidated_system_message.txt user_message.txt settings.json settings_to_flags.php
-	php $^ | $(LLM_BIN) -m $(LLM_MODEL) -f /dev/stdin $(LLM_FLAGS) `php settings_to_flags.php` 2> /dev/null | sed -e 's/\[end of text\]//' | tee $@
+agent_message.txt: llm_chat.php consolidated_system_message.txt user_message.txt
+	php $^ | $(LLM_BIN) -m $(LLM_MODEL) -f /dev/stdin $(LLM_FLAGS) $(shell php settings_to_flags.php settings.json) 2> /dev/null | sed -e 's/\[end of text\]//' | tee $@
 
 consolidated_system_message.txt: $(wildcard *.sys)
 	cat $^ > $@
diff --git a/settings_to_flags.php b/settings_to_flags.php
index d42f4b4..aed23fb 100755
--- a/settings_to_flags.php
+++ b/settings_to_flags.php
@@ -15,27 +15,17 @@
 //   "raw": ["--no-penalize-nl"]
 // }
 
-$path = __DIR__ . '/settings.json';
-if (!file_exists($path)) {
+if (!file_exists($argv[1])) {
     // No settings file -> no extra flags
     exit(0);
 }
 
-$json = json_decode(file_get_contents($path), true);
+$json = json_decode(file_get_contents($argv[1]), true);
 if (!is_array($json)) {
-    fwrite(STDERR, "settings.json is not valid JSON\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, $argv[1]." is not valid JSON\n");
     exit(0);
 }
 
-$flags = isset($json['flags']) && is_array($json['flags']) ? $json['flags'] : [];
-$raw   = isset($json['raw']) && is_array($json['raw']) ? $json['raw'] : [];
-
-// Normalize keys: strip leading dashes, kebab→snake, lowercase
-$norm = function(string $k): string {
-    $k = ltrim($k, '-');
-    $k = strtolower(str_replace('-', '_', $k));
-    return $k;
-};
 
 // Map high-level keys to llama.cpp flags.
 // Add more as needed.
@@ -58,10 +48,9 @@ $map = [
 ];
 
 $out = [];
-
 // Structured flags
-foreach ($flags as $key => $val) {
-    $k = $norm($key);
+foreach ($json as $key => $val) {
+    $k = $key;
     if (!isset($map[$k])) {
         // Unknown key: ignore silently (or push to raw if you prefer)
         continue;
@@ -79,12 +68,6 @@ foreach ($flags as $key => $val) {
     $out[] = $flag . ' ' . escapeshellarg((string)$val);
 }
 
-// Raw passthrough flags (assumed already valid for llama.cpp)
-foreach ($raw as $r) {
-    if (is_string($r) && strlen(trim($r)) > 0) {
-        $out[] = $r;
-    }
-}
 
 // Print as a single line for easy inclusion in Makefile pipeline
 echo implode(' ', $out);