diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ChatPipelinePanel.tsx b/frontend/src/components/ChatPipelinePanel.tsx
index cc407e5e..cf5ce51e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ChatPipelinePanel.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ChatPipelinePanel.tsx
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ export function ChatPipelinePanel({
 										onStopAgent={onStopAgent}
 										onDeleteItem={onDeleteItem}
 										mergesInFlight={mergesInFlight}
+										isMergeStage
 									/>
 									<StagePanel
 										title="QA"
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/StagePanel.tsx b/frontend/src/components/StagePanel.tsx
index 3c5b2e9f..5bb08e29 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/StagePanel.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/StagePanel.tsx
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ interface StagePanelProps {
 	onStartAgent?: (storyId: string, agentName?: string) => void;
 	/** Set of story IDs that currently have a deterministic merge in progress. */
 	mergesInFlight?: Set<string>;
+	/** True when this panel shows merge-stage items — enables the mergemaster robot icon. */
+	isMergeStage?: boolean;
 }
 
 function AgentLozenge({
@@ -262,6 +264,7 @@ export function StagePanel({
 	busyAgentNames,
 	onStartAgent,
 	mergesInFlight,
+	isMergeStage,
 }: StagePanelProps) {
 	const showStartButton =
 		Boolean(onStartAgent) &&
@@ -393,6 +396,18 @@ export function StagePanel({
 													</span>
 												);
 											})()}
+										{isMergeStage &&
+											item.agent?.status === "running" && (
+												<span
+													data-testid={`mergemaster-icon-${item.story_id}`}
+													title="Mergemaster recovery agent running"
+													style={{
+														marginRight: "4px",
+													}}
+												>
+													🤖
+												</span>
+											)}
 										{mergesInFlight?.has(item.story_id) && (
 											<span
 												data-testid={`merge-in-flight-icon-${item.story_id}`}