diff --git a/python/src/server/services/crawling/crawling_service.py b/python/src/server/services/crawling/crawling_service.py
index 1e92ca14..c5eca80c 100644
--- a/python/src/server/services/crawling/crawling_service.py
+++ b/python/src/server/services/crawling/crawling_service.py
@@ -753,7 +753,14 @@ class CrawlingService:
             if crawl_results and len(crawl_results) > 0:
                 content = crawl_results[0].get('markdown', '')
                 if self.url_handler.is_link_collection_file(url, content):
-                    # Extract links from the content
+                    # If this file was selected by discovery, skip link extraction (single-file mode)
+                    if request.get("is_discovery_target"):
+                        logger.info(f"Discovery single-file mode: skipping link extraction for {url}")
+                        crawl_type = "discovery_single_file"
+                        logger.info(f"Discovery file crawling completed: {len(crawl_results)} result")
+                        return crawl_results, crawl_type
+
+                    # Extract links from the content for non-discovery files
                     extracted_links = self.url_handler.extract_markdown_links(content, url)
 
                     # Filter out self-referential links to avoid redundant crawling
@@ -838,6 +845,20 @@ class CrawlingService:
                 "Detected sitemap, parsing URLs...",
                 crawl_type=crawl_type
             )
+
+            # If this sitemap was selected by discovery, just return the sitemap itself (single-file mode)
+            if request.get("is_discovery_target"):
+                logger.info(f"Discovery single-file mode: returning sitemap itself without crawling URLs from {url}")
+                crawl_type = "discovery_sitemap"
+                # Return the sitemap file as the result
+                crawl_results = [{
+                    'url': url,
+                    'markdown': f"# Sitemap: {url}\n\nThis is a sitemap file discovered and returned in single-file mode.",
+                    'title': f"Sitemap - {self.url_handler.extract_display_name(url)}",
+                    'crawl_type': crawl_type
+                }]
+                return crawl_results, crawl_type
+
             sitemap_urls = self.parse_sitemap(url)
 
             if sitemap_urls: