diff --git a/broker.lua b/broker.lua
index f91b0ca..a79a60b 100644
--- a/broker.lua
+++ b/broker.lua
@@ -1,15 +1,69 @@
 -- broker.lua — llama.cpp HTTP client.
--- Phase 0: blocking POST via libcurl FFI; SSE streaming wired in Phase 1.
+-- Phase 0: blocking POST via ffi/curl + vendored dkjson; the response is read
+-- to completion and returned as a Lua string. SSE streaming wired in Phase 1.
 -- See docs/PHASE0.md §6.
 
+local curl = require("ffi.curl")
+local json = require("dkjson")
+
 local M = {}
 
+local function build_headers(model_cfg)
+    local h = { "Content-Type: application/json" }
+    if model_cfg.key_env then
+        local key = os.getenv(model_cfg.key_env)
+        if key and key ~= "" then
+            h[#h + 1] = "Authorization: Bearer " .. key
+        end
+    end
+    return h
+end
+
 -- Send a /v1/chat/completions request.
---   model_cfg: entry from config.models (endpoint, model, temperature, [key_env])
---   messages:  list of { role = ..., content = ... } including system prompt
--- Returns: assistant content string on success, (nil, errmsg) on failure.
+--   model_cfg : entry from config.models — { endpoint, model, temperature,
+--               [key_env], [timeout_ms] }
+--   messages  : ordered list of { role = ..., content = ... }, system
+--               prompt already prepended (context:to_messages handles that).
+-- Returns:
+--   assistant_content_string         on success
+--   nil, errmsg                       on transport / decode / API failure
 function M.chat(model_cfg, messages)
-    error("broker.chat: not implemented (Phase 0 pending)")
+    if not (model_cfg and model_cfg.endpoint and model_cfg.model) then
+        return nil, "broker.chat: model_cfg.endpoint and .model are required"
+    end
+
+    local url = model_cfg.endpoint:gsub("/+$", "") .. "/v1/chat/completions"
+    local body = json.encode({
+        model       = model_cfg.model,
+        messages    = messages,
+        stream      = false,
+        temperature = model_cfg.temperature or 0.2,
+    })
+    local headers    = build_headers(model_cfg)
+    local timeout_ms = model_cfg.timeout_ms or 60000
+
+    local resp, err = curl.post(url, body, headers, timeout_ms)
+    if not resp then return nil, "transport: " .. tostring(err) end
+
+    local doc, _, derr = json.decode(resp)
+    if not doc then
+        return nil, "decode: " .. tostring(derr) .. " (raw: " .. resp:sub(1, 200) .. ")"
+    end
+
+    -- OpenAI-style error envelope: { error: { message, type, ... } }
+    if doc.error then
+        local m = (type(doc.error) == "table" and doc.error.message) or tostring(doc.error)
+        return nil, "api: " .. m
+    end
+
+    local choice  = doc.choices and doc.choices[1]
+    local msg     = choice and choice.message
+    local content = msg and msg.content
+    if type(content) ~= "string" then
+        return nil, "broker.chat: no choices[1].message.content in response"
+    end
+
+    return content
 end
 
 return M