diff --git a/src/photools3/llm_session.py b/src/photools3/llm_session.py
index e3b1f4a..4530efe 100644
--- a/src/photools3/llm_session.py
+++ b/src/photools3/llm_session.py
@@ -17,11 +17,31 @@ from photools3.models import (
     LlmResponseQuality,
 )
 from photools3.photo import Photo
-from photools3.settings import Settings
+from photools3.settings import settings
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-settings = Settings()  # type: ignore[reportCallIssue]
+
+def _clean_llm_response(txt: str):
+    # remove ```json ... ``` wrap
+    txt = re.sub(r"^```json(.*)```$", r"\1", txt, flags=re.DOTALL).strip()
+    return txt
+
+
+def _correction_prompt(
+    original_request: LlmRequest, exception: Exception, origial_json
+):
+    correction_prompt = (
+        f"The previous response was invalid due to: {exception}. "
+        f"Please provide the corrected JSON based on this content: "
+        f"{origial_json}"
+    )
+    original_request.messages.append(
+        LlmRequestMessage(
+            role=LlmMessageRole.user,
+            content=correction_prompt,
+        )
+    )
 
 
 class LlmSession:
@@ -75,35 +95,22 @@ class LlmSession:
         for attempt in range(max_retries + 1):
             try:
                 result_raw = self.client_chat_completion_create(request)
-                # Clean the response (strip markdown code blocks if present)
-                json_str = re.sub(
-                    r"^```json(.*)```$", r"\1", result_raw, flags=re.DOTALL
-                ).strip()
-
-                # Parse and validate against the class-level response_model
+                json_str = _clean_llm_response(result_raw)
                 return self.response_model.model_validate_json(json_str)
 
-            except (json.JSONDecodeError, ValidationError) as e:
-                last_error = e
+            except (json.JSONDecodeError, ValidationError) as exc:
+                last_error = exc
                 if attempt < max_retries:
                     logger.info("Chatbot response is invalid; promting to correct ...")
-                    # Prepare a correction prompt
-                    correction_prompt = (
-                        f"The previous response was invalid due to: {e}. "
-                        f"Please provide the corrected JSON based on this content: "
-                        f"{json_str if 'json_str' in locals() else 'the original input'}"
-                    )
-                    # Append correction prompt as a new user message for the next attempt
-                    request.messages.append(
-                        LlmRequestMessage(
-                            role=LlmMessageRole.user,
-                            content=correction_prompt,
-                        )
+                    _correction_prompt(
+                        request,
+                        exc,
+                        json_str if "json_str" in locals() else "origial json",
                     )
                     continue
                 else:
                     raise ValueError(
-                        f"Failed to parse or validate LLM response after {max_retries} retries: {e}"
+                        f"Failed to parse or validate LLM response after {max_retries} retries: {exc}"
                     )
             except Exception:
                 raise