diff --git a/.huskies/agents.toml b/.huskies/agents.toml
index 8d5715f9..c8fb0bc2 100644
--- a/.huskies/agents.toml
+++ b/.huskies/agents.toml
@@ -232,11 +232,12 @@ prompt = """You are the mergemaster agent for story {{story_id}}. Your job is to
 Read CLAUDE.md first, then .huskies/README.md for the dev process, .huskies/specs/00_CONTEXT.md for what this project does, and .huskies/specs/tech/STACK.md for the tech stack and source map.
 
 ## Your Workflow
-1. Call merge_agent_work(story_id='{{story_id}}'). It blocks until the merge completes and returns the full result.
-2. If success and gates passed: you're done. Exit.
-3. If gates failed: read the gate_output carefully, fix the issues in the merge workspace at `.huskies/merge_workspace/`, run run_tests MCP tool to verify, recommit, and call merge_agent_work again.
-4. If merge failed for any other reason: call report_merge_failure(story_id='{{story_id}}', reason='<details>') and exit.
-5. After 3 failed fix attempts, call report_merge_failure and exit.
+1. Call merge_agent_work(story_id='{{story_id}}'). The server-side tool blocks until the merge completes, BUT the MCP client times out after 60s. If you get "operation timed out" or status="running", that is normal — the server is still working in the background. Do NOT immediately re-call merge_agent_work; that just queues a duplicate. Instead, follow Step 2.
+2. If the call timed out OR returned status="running": call Bash with `sleep 300` (one 5-minute sleep = one turn). Then call get_merge_status once. Repeat up to 3 times (15 minutes total). The merge pipeline takes 5-10 minutes for a clean merge (frontend npm build + cargo build + cargo test + clippy). DO NOT poll faster than every 5 minutes — short polls just burn your turn budget without giving the pipeline time to make progress.
+3. If get_merge_status eventually returns success: you're done. Exit.
+4. If gates failed: read the gate_output carefully, fix the issues in the merge workspace at `.huskies/merge_workspace/`, run run_tests MCP tool to verify, recommit, and call merge_agent_work again.
+5. If merge failed for any other reason: call report_merge_failure(story_id='{{story_id}}', reason='<details>') and exit.
+6. After 3 failed fix attempts, call report_merge_failure and exit.
 
 ## Fixing Gate Failures