diff --git a/ffi/curl.lua b/ffi/curl.lua
index aaa2a89..f0424f5 100644
--- a/ffi/curl.lua
+++ b/ffi/curl.lua
@@ -1,16 +1,115 @@
 -- ffi/curl.lua — libcurl easy interface binding.
--- Phase 0: blocking POST. Phase 1: SSE streaming via WRITEFUNCTION callback.
+-- Phase 0: blocking POST with header list and response capture into Lua string.
+-- Phase 1: SSE streaming via streaming WRITEFUNCTION (this same callback hook).
+-- See docs/PHASE0.md §6.
 
 local ffi = require("ffi")
 
 ffi.cdef[[
 typedef void CURL;
+
+struct curl_slist {
+    char *data;
+    struct curl_slist *next;
+};
+
 CURL *curl_easy_init(void);
 void  curl_easy_cleanup(CURL *handle);
-int   curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, int option, ...);
 int   curl_easy_perform(CURL *handle);
+const char *curl_easy_strerror(int code);
+
+struct curl_slist *curl_slist_append(struct curl_slist *list, const char *string);
+void               curl_slist_free_all(struct curl_slist *list);
+
+int   curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, int option, ...);
 ]]
 
+-- libcurl-dev's unversioned `libcurl.so` symlink isn't assumed; fall back to
+-- versioned sonames so a runtime-only host (Debian without -dev) just works.
+local function load_curl()
+    local errs = {}
+    for _, name in ipairs({"curl", "curl.so.4", "curl-gnutls.so.4"}) do
+        local ok, lib = pcall(ffi.load, name)
+        if ok then return lib end
+        errs[#errs+1] = name .. ": " .. tostring(lib)
+    end
+    error("libcurl not loadable: " .. table.concat(errs, "; "))
+end
+
+local C = load_curl()
+
+-- CURLoption codes from curl/curl.h. The bases are:
+--   CURLOPTTYPE_LONG          = 0
+--   CURLOPTTYPE_OBJECTPOINT   = 10000
+--   CURLOPTTYPE_FUNCTIONPOINT = 20000
+local OPT = {
+    URL            = 10002,
+    POST           = 47,
+    POSTFIELDS     = 10015,
+    HTTPHEADER     = 10023,
+    WRITEFUNCTION  = 20011,
+    NOSIGNAL       = 99,
+    TIMEOUT_MS     = 155,
+    USERAGENT      = 10018,
+}
+
+-- Variadic FFI calls demand explicit per-argument types. Pre-cast setopt to
+-- the three concrete signatures Phase 0 needs; bypasses libffi-flavoured
+-- variadic dispatch entirely.
+local setopt_str  = ffi.cast("int(*)(void*, int, const char*)", C.curl_easy_setopt)
+local setopt_long = ffi.cast("int(*)(void*, int, long)",        C.curl_easy_setopt)
+local setopt_ptr  = ffi.cast("int(*)(void*, int, void*)",       C.curl_easy_setopt)
+
 local M = {}
--- Phase 0 stubs; full binding lands with broker.chat() implementation.
+
+-- POST `body` to `url` with `headers` (list of "Name: value" strings) and an
+-- optional `timeout_ms`.
+-- Returns:
+--   string         response body on success
+--   nil, errmsg    on libcurl failure (non-zero CURLcode)
+function M.post(url, body, headers, timeout_ms)
+    local handle = C.curl_easy_init()
+    if handle == nil then return nil, "curl_easy_init returned NULL" end
+
+    local chunks = {}
+    local write_cb = ffi.cast(
+        "size_t(*)(char*, size_t, size_t, void*)",
+        function(ptr, size, nmemb, _)
+            local n = tonumber(size) * tonumber(nmemb)
+            chunks[#chunks+1] = ffi.string(ptr, n)
+            return n
+        end)
+
+    local slist = nil
+    for _, h in ipairs(headers or {}) do
+        slist = C.curl_slist_append(slist, h)
+    end
+
+    setopt_str (handle, OPT.URL,            url)
+    setopt_long(handle, OPT.POST,           1)
+    setopt_str (handle, OPT.POSTFIELDS,     body)
+    setopt_ptr (handle, OPT.HTTPHEADER,     slist)
+    setopt_ptr (handle, OPT.WRITEFUNCTION,  write_cb)
+    setopt_long(handle, OPT.NOSIGNAL,       1)
+    setopt_str (handle, OPT.USERAGENT,      "aish/0.0 (luajit-ffi)")
+    if timeout_ms then
+        setopt_long(handle, OPT.TIMEOUT_MS, timeout_ms)
+    end
+
+    local rc = C.curl_easy_perform(handle)
+    local result, err
+    if rc == 0 then
+        result = table.concat(chunks)
+    else
+        err = ffi.string(C.curl_easy_strerror(rc))
+    end
+
+    C.curl_easy_cleanup(handle)
+    if slist ~= nil then C.curl_slist_free_all(slist) end
+    write_cb:free()
+
+    if rc == 0 then return result end
+    return nil, err
+end
+
 return M