diff --git a/server/src/agents/pool/pipeline/merge/runner.rs b/server/src/agents/pool/pipeline/merge/runner.rs
index 616067d5..f04026a2 100644
--- a/server/src/agents/pool/pipeline/merge/runner.rs
+++ b/server/src/agents/pool/pipeline/merge/runner.rs
@@ -138,6 +138,19 @@ impl AgentPool {
                 return;
             }
 
+            // Story 1060: if the story was deleted while the merge was running,
+            // discard the result silently — no MergeFailure notification, no
+            // state-machine transition.  Writing failure for a tombstoned story
+            // would emit a spurious "merge failed" notification to chat.
+            if crate::crdt_state::is_tombstoned(&sid) {
+                slog!(
+                    "[merge] Merge for '{}' completed but story is tombstoned; skipping result write",
+                    sid
+                );
+                crate::crdt_state::delete_merge_job(&sid);
+                return;
+            }
+
             let success = matches!(
                 &report,
                 Ok(r) if matches!(r.result, crate::agents::merge::MergeResult::Success { .. })