diff --git a/open-sse/handlers/chatCore.ts b/open-sse/handlers/chatCore.ts
index 1bdb625aaa..e83d223b32 100644
--- a/open-sse/handlers/chatCore.ts
+++ b/open-sse/handlers/chatCore.ts
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ import { recordContextEditingTelemetryHook } from "./chatCore/contextEditingTele
 import { recordCompressionCacheStats } from "./chatCore/compressionCacheStats.ts";
 import { writeCavemanOutputAnalytics } from "./chatCore/cavemanOutputAnalytics.ts";
 import { scheduleQuotaShareConsumption } from "./chatCore/quotaShareConsumption.ts";
+import { emitRequestGamificationEvent } from "./chatCore/gamificationEvent.ts";
 import {
   appendNonStreamingSseTerminalSignal,
   type NonStreamingSseTerminalState,
@@ -3752,18 +3753,7 @@ export async function handleChatCore({
     // === /Quota Share POST-hook ===
 
     // ── Gamification event (fire-and-forget) ──
-    if (apiKeyInfo?.id) {
-      try {
-        const { emitGamificationEvent } = await import("@/lib/gamification/events");
-        emitGamificationEvent({
-          apiKeyId: apiKeyInfo.id,
-          action: "request",
-          metadata: { model, provider },
-        });
-      } catch (_) {
-        /* gamification optional */
-      }
-    }
+    await emitRequestGamificationEvent({ apiKeyId: apiKeyInfo?.id, model, provider });
 
     finalizePendingScope(pendingScope, {
       providerResponse: responseBody,
@@ -4212,18 +4202,7 @@ export async function handleChatCore({
   }
 
   // ── Gamification event (fire-and-forget) ──
-  if (apiKeyInfo?.id) {
-    try {
-      const { emitGamificationEvent } = await import("@/lib/gamification/events");
-      emitGamificationEvent({
-        apiKeyId: apiKeyInfo.id,
-        action: "request",
-        metadata: { model, provider },
-      });
-    } catch (_) {
-      /* gamification optional */
-    }
-  }
+  await emitRequestGamificationEvent({ apiKeyId: apiKeyInfo?.id, model, provider });
 
   // ── Plugin onResponse hook (fire-and-forget) ──
   try {
diff --git a/open-sse/handlers/chatCore/gamificationEvent.ts b/open-sse/handlers/chatCore/gamificationEvent.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ab170667e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/open-sse/handlers/chatCore/gamificationEvent.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/**
+ * chatCore request gamification event (Quality Gate v2 / Fase 9 — chatCore god-file
+ * decomposition, #3501).
+ *
+ * Extracted from handleChatCore: emits the per-request "request" gamification event,
+ * fire-and-forget and fail-open. Shared by the non-streaming and streaming success paths (the
+ * inline block was duplicated verbatim in both). Guards on a missing api-key id and never throws
+ * to the caller — the underlying emit is intentionally not awaited; behaviour is byte-identical to
+ * the previous inline blocks.
+ */
+
+export async function emitRequestGamificationEvent(args: {
+  apiKeyId: string | null | undefined;
+  model: string | null | undefined;
+  provider: string | null | undefined;
+}): Promise<void> {
+  if (!args.apiKeyId) return;
+  try {
+    const { emitGamificationEvent } = await import("@/lib/gamification/events");
+    emitGamificationEvent({
+      apiKeyId: args.apiKeyId,
+      action: "request",
+      metadata: { model: args.model, provider: args.provider },
+    });
+  } catch (_) {
+    /* gamification optional */
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit/chatcore-gamification-event.test.ts b/tests/unit/chatcore-gamification-event.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..edc5afb70c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/chatcore-gamification-event.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+// Characterization of emitRequestGamificationEvent — the per-request gamification hook extracted
+// from handleChatCore's non-streaming AND streaming success paths (chatCore god-file
+// decomposition, #3501). The inline block was duplicated verbatim; this locks the shared helper.
+// Uses a real temp DB and polls xp_audit_log (the emit is fire-and-forget). Locks: the missing
+// api-key guard (no-op) and that a valid call awards the "request" XP audit row.
+import { test, before, after } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+
+const testDataDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "omni-gamification-test-"));
+process.env.DATA_DIR = testDataDir;
+
+const coreDb = await import("../../src/lib/db/core.ts");
+const { emitRequestGamificationEvent } = await import(
+  "../../open-sse/handlers/chatCore/gamificationEvent.ts"
+);
+
+function countAuditRows(apiKeyId: string): number {
+  const row = coreDb
+    .getDbInstance()
+    .prepare("SELECT COUNT(*) AS n FROM xp_audit_log WHERE api_key_id = ?")
+    .get(apiKeyId) as { n: number } | undefined;
+  return row?.n ?? 0;
+}
+
+async function waitForAuditRows(apiKeyId: string, min: number, timeoutMs = 3000): Promise<number> {
+  const deadline = Date.now() + timeoutMs;
+  while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+    if (countAuditRows(apiKeyId) >= min) break;
+    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 25));
+  }
+  return countAuditRows(apiKeyId);
+}
+
+before(async () => {
+  await coreDb.ensureDbInitialized();
+});
+
+after(() => {
+  coreDb.resetDbInstance();
+  try {
+    fs.rmSync(testDataDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  } catch {
+    // best-effort cleanup
+  }
+});
+
+test("missing apiKeyId is a no-op and never throws", async () => {
+  await assert.doesNotReject(
+    emitRequestGamificationEvent({ apiKeyId: null, model: "m", provider: "p" })
+  );
+  await assert.doesNotReject(
+    emitRequestGamificationEvent({ apiKeyId: undefined, model: "m", provider: "p" })
+  );
+  await assert.doesNotReject(
+    emitRequestGamificationEvent({ apiKeyId: "", model: "m", provider: "p" })
+  );
+});
+
+test("valid apiKeyId awards a 'request' XP audit row (fire-and-forget)", async () => {
+  const apiKeyId = "gamify-key-1";
+  assert.equal(countAuditRows(apiKeyId), 0);
+  await emitRequestGamificationEvent({ apiKeyId, model: "gpt-x", provider: "openai" });
+  const n = await waitForAuditRows(apiKeyId, 1);
+  assert.ok(n >= 1, "expected at least one xp_audit_log row for the request action");
+});
+
+test("never throws even when the emit path runs fully", async () => {
+  await assert.doesNotReject(
+    emitRequestGamificationEvent({ apiKeyId: "gamify-key-2", model: null, provider: null })
+  );
+});