diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 62a9b4b..bf74705 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -206,6 +206,8 @@ exactly 140.
   keeps the scrape: SMSCs that send text-only receipts leave `esm_class` at 0, and reading that as
   the spec's "default message type" would lose every one of them. A `receipted_message_id` TLV marks
   a receipt on the same footing where the message type is 0, since nothing but a receipt carries one.
+  What gets scraped is the decoded `short_message` with any UDH stripped, so a concatenated receipt
+  is read like any other.
   The `message_state` TLV is authoritative only where it names a state in the table — SMPP reserves
   0x80-0xFF for MC-vendor-specific values, so an unnameable one keeps its raw `statusId` and leaves
   `statusMsg` to the body.
diff --git a/src/defs/constants.ts b/src/defs/constants.ts
index 8980057..4c38276 100644
--- a/src/defs/constants.ts
+++ b/src/defs/constants.ts
@@ -103,6 +103,15 @@ export const consts = {
 	},
 } as const;
 
+/** esm_class bits 5-2 name the message type; bit 6 is the UDH indicator. */
+export function hasUdh(esmClass: number): boolean {
+	return (esmClass & consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR) === consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR;
+}
+
+export function messageTypeOf(esmClass: number): number {
+	return esmClass & 0x3c;
+}
+
 export type ConstGroup = keyof typeof consts;
 export type MessageState = keyof typeof consts.MESSAGE_STATE;
 
diff --git a/src/dlr.ts b/src/dlr.ts
index f909c7f..55b78b2 100644
--- a/src/dlr.ts
+++ b/src/dlr.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import type { MessageState } from './defs/constants.ts';
 import type { ParamValue } from './defs/types.ts';
 import type { PduObject } from './pdu.ts';
-import { consts, constsById } from './defs/constants.ts';
+import { consts, constsById, messageTypeOf } from './defs/constants.ts';
 import { decodeMessage } from './message.ts';
 import { paramNumber, paramText } from './defs/types.ts';
 
@@ -123,13 +123,10 @@ export function parseReceipt(message: string): Receipt {
 	};
 }
 
-/** esm_class bits 5-2 name the message type; the rest are the messaging mode and the GSM features. */
-const messageTypeBits = 0x3c;
-
 type MessageType = 'other' | 'receipt' | 'unmarked';
 
 function messageType(pduObj: PduObject): MessageType {
-	const type = paramNumber(pduObj.params.esm_class, 0) & messageTypeBits;
+	const type = messageTypeOf(paramNumber(pduObj.params.esm_class, 0));
 
 	if (type === consts.ESM_CLASS.MC_DELIVERY_RECEIPT) return 'receipt';
 	if (type !== 0) return 'other';
diff --git a/src/incoming-requests.ts b/src/incoming-requests.ts
index 9a187da..4bccb59 100644
--- a/src/incoming-requests.ts
+++ b/src/incoming-requests.ts
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ import type { SmppLog } from './log.ts';
 import { Reassembler, decodeSegments } from './reassembly.ts';
 import { bindCommands, defaults } from './session-options.ts';
 import { concatInfo } from './udh.ts';
-import { consts } from './defs/constants.ts';
+import { hasUdh } from './defs/constants.ts';
 import { createSms } from './sms.ts';
 import { dlrFromPdu } from './dlr.ts';
-import { paramText } from './defs/types.ts';
+import { paramNumber, paramText } from './defs/types.ts';
 
 export type IncomingRequestsOptions = {
 	dlrMerger: DlrMerger;
@@ -115,10 +115,8 @@ export class IncomingRequests {
 
 	private onMessage(pduObj: PduObject): void {
 		const message = pduObj.params.short_message;
-		const esmClass = pduObj.params.esm_class;
-		const hasUdh = typeof esmClass === 'number'
-			&& (esmClass & consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR) === consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR;
-		const concat = hasUdh && Buffer.isBuffer(message) ? concatInfo(message) : undefined;
+		const carriesUdh = hasUdh(paramNumber(pduObj.params.esm_class, 0));
+		const concat = carriesUdh && Buffer.isBuffer(message) ? concatInfo(message) : undefined;
 
 		if (!concat) {
 			this.emitSms([pduObj]);
diff --git a/src/message.ts b/src/message.ts
index 621d1b0..792aca5 100644
--- a/src/message.ts
+++ b/src/message.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import type { Result } from './result.ts';
 import type { EncodingName } from './defs/encodings.ts';
-import { consts } from './defs/constants.ts';
+import { hasUdh } from './defs/constants.ts';
 import { detect, encodingByDataCoding, encodings } from './defs/encodings.ts';
 
 /** A single SMS carries 1120 bits, whatever the alphabet. */
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export function decodeMessage(
 ): { message: string; udh: Buffer | undefined } {
 	const encoding = encodingByDataCoding(dataCoding);
 
-	if ((esmClass & consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR) !== consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR) {
+	if (!hasUdh(esmClass)) {
 		return { message: encodings[encoding].decode(buffer), udh: undefined };
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/pdu.ts b/src/pdu.ts
index 206e58e..5ff6339 100644
--- a/src/pdu.ts
+++ b/src/pdu.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import type { ParamValue } from './defs/types.ts';
 import type { Result, VoidResult } from './result.ts';
 import type { Tlv } from './defs/tlvs.ts';
 import { cmds, commandNameById, isCommandName } from './defs/commands.ts';
-import { consts } from './defs/constants.ts';
+import { consts, hasUdh } from './defs/constants.ts';
 import { decodeMessage, encodeMessage } from './message.ts';
 import { detect, encodingByDataCoding } from './defs/encodings.ts';
 import { errorNameById, errors, isErrorName } from './defs/errors.ts';
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ function parseOnce(pdu: Buffer, trailingNull: boolean): Result<{ aligned: boolea
 	const esmClass = paramNumber(params.esm_class, 0);
 
 	// A message carrying a UDH stays a buffer; the session needs the header intact to reassemble.
-	if (Buffer.isBuffer(message) && (esmClass & consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR) !== consts.ESM_CLASS.UDH_INDICATOR) {
+	if (Buffer.isBuffer(message) && !hasUdh(esmClass)) {
 		params.short_message = decodeMessage(message, paramNumber(params.data_coding, 0)).message;
 	}
 
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
index 116ab7b..2e4cce1 100644
--- a/todo.md
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -147,12 +147,6 @@ session message is a change to every call site.
       `reassembly`, `dlr-merger`, `send-window`, `link-timers`, `reconnect-loop`, `pending-requests`
       and `send-sms`, so the directory would make that boundary visible. Do it on the next
       extraction out of `session.ts`, not as a move of its own.
-- [ ] **Nothing owns the `esm_class` bits.** Three modules read them with their own literals:
-      `pdu.ts` decides decode-or-not, `incoming-requests.ts` reassemble-or-not and `dlr.ts`
-      receipt-or-not. That divergence is what let a UDH-carrying receipt reach `dlrFromPdu()` as an
-      undecoded buffer. Two predicates next to the constants would collapse it without touching
-      `index.ts`.
-
 - [ ] **`submit_multi` and the broadcast commands** encode and decode, but nothing exercises them
       end to end. The interop suite is the natural place.
 - [ ] **Move to TypeScript 7** once `typescript-eslint` supports it; `renovate.json` pins TypeScript