diff --git a/server/src/agents/lifecycle.rs b/server/src/agents/lifecycle.rs
index 3c1af782..3fe7b4a0 100644
--- a/server/src/agents/lifecycle.rs
+++ b/server/src/agents/lifecycle.rs
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ pub fn move_story_to_done(story_id: &str) -> Result<(), String> {
         Stage::Merge { .. } => PipelineEvent::MergeSucceeded {
             merge_commit: GitSha("accepted".to_string()),
         },
+        Stage::MergeFailure { .. } => PipelineEvent::Accepted,
         Stage::Coding | Stage::Qa | Stage::Backlog => PipelineEvent::Close,
         _ => {
             return Err(format!(
diff --git a/server/src/http/mcp/story_tools/story/delete.rs b/server/src/http/mcp/story_tools/story/delete.rs
index edfc0200..ad0b4cb1 100644
--- a/server/src/http/mcp/story_tools/story/delete.rs
+++ b/server/src/http/mcp/story_tools/story/delete.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 use crate::agents::{feature_branch_has_unmerged_changes, move_story_to_done};
 use crate::http::context::AppContext;
+use crate::pipeline_state::{Stage, read_typed};
 use serde_json::Value;
 
 pub(crate) fn tool_accept_story(args: &Value, ctx: &AppContext) -> Result<String, String> {
@@ -12,9 +13,18 @@ pub(crate) fn tool_accept_story(args: &Value, ctx: &AppContext) -> Result<String
 
     let project_root = ctx.services.agents.get_project_root(&ctx.state)?;
 
+    // Determine whether the story is in MergeFailure (manual-recovery path).
+    // For MergeFailure, the feature branch deliberately has unmerged code — the
+    // operator is accepting the story without a clean merge, so skip the check.
+    let in_merge_failure = read_typed(story_id)
+        .ok()
+        .flatten()
+        .map(|item| matches!(item.stage, Stage::MergeFailure { .. }))
+        .unwrap_or(false);
+
     // Bug 226: Refuse to accept if the feature branch has unmerged code.
     // The code must be squash-merged via merge_agent_work first.
-    if feature_branch_has_unmerged_changes(&project_root, story_id) {
+    if !in_merge_failure && feature_branch_has_unmerged_changes(&project_root, story_id) {
         return Err(format!(
             "Cannot accept story '{story_id}': feature branch 'feature/story-{story_id}' \
              has unmerged changes. Use merge_agent_work to squash-merge the code into \
diff --git a/server/src/pipeline_state/tests.rs b/server/src/pipeline_state/tests.rs
index 123589c4..d434c046 100644
--- a/server/src/pipeline_state/tests.rs
+++ b/server/src/pipeline_state/tests.rs
@@ -828,4 +828,70 @@ fn repeated_merge_failure_apply_transition_no_error_no_duplicate_notification()
     );
 }
 
+// ── Story 892: MergeFailure → Done (manual recovery) ───────────────
+
+/// Regression test (story 892): `accept_story` on a story in `MergeFailure`
+/// transitions it to `Done` and emits a `TransitionFired` event.
+#[test]
+fn merge_failure_accept_pure_transition() {
+    let s = Stage::MergeFailure {
+        reason: "conflicts unresolvable".into(),
+    };
+    let result = transition(s, PipelineEvent::Accepted).unwrap();
+    assert!(
+        matches!(result, Stage::Done { .. }),
+        "MergeFailure + Accepted should yield Done, got: {result:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+/// Regression test (story 892): `apply_transition` on a CRDT-stored `MergeFailure`
+/// story moves it to `Done` and the emitted `TransitionFired` event is present.
+#[test]
+fn merge_failure_accept_moves_to_done_via_crdt() {
+    crate::crdt_state::init_for_test();
+    crate::db::ensure_content_store();
+
+    let story_id = "99892_story_merge_failure_accept";
+    crate::db::write_item_with_content(
+        story_id,
+        "4_merge_failure",
+        "---\nname: MergeFailure Accept Test\n---\n# Story\n",
+        crate::db::ItemMeta::from_yaml("---\nname: MergeFailure Accept Test\n---\n# Story\n"),
+    );
+
+    let fired = super::apply::apply_transition(story_id, PipelineEvent::Accepted, None)
+        .expect("MergeFailure + Accepted should succeed");
+
+    // The before-stage was MergeFailure.
+    assert!(
+        matches!(fired.before, Stage::MergeFailure { .. }),
+        "fired.before should be MergeFailure: {:?}",
+        fired.before
+    );
+
+    // The after-stage is Done.
+    assert!(
+        matches!(fired.after, Stage::Done { .. }),
+        "fired.after should be Done: {:?}",
+        fired.after
+    );
+
+    // TransitionFired carries the Accepted event.
+    assert!(
+        matches!(fired.event, PipelineEvent::Accepted),
+        "fired.event should be Accepted: {:?}",
+        fired.event
+    );
+
+    // CRDT reflects 5_done.
+    let item = read_typed(story_id)
+        .expect("CRDT read should succeed")
+        .expect("item should exist");
+    assert_eq!(
+        item.stage.dir_name(),
+        "5_done",
+        "CRDT stage should be 5_done after MergeFailure + Accepted"
+    );
+}
+
 // ── ProjectionError Display ─────────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/server/src/pipeline_state/transition.rs b/server/src/pipeline_state/transition.rs
index 4ee81bf2..79095fcf 100644
--- a/server/src/pipeline_state/transition.rs
+++ b/server/src/pipeline_state/transition.rs
@@ -164,6 +164,14 @@ pub fn transition(state: Stage, event: PipelineEvent) -> Result<Stage, Transitio
             reason: ArchiveReason::Completed,
         }),
 
+        // ── MergeFailure → Done (manual recovery) ───────────────────────
+        // Allows a human operator to accept a story whose merge permanently
+        // failed, marking it Done without going through the normal merge path.
+        (MergeFailure { .. }, Accepted) => Ok(Done {
+            merged_at: now,
+            merge_commit: GitSha("manual".to_string()),
+        }),
+
         // ── Block: any active → Blocked ──────────────────────────────
         (Backlog, Block { reason })
         | (Coding, Block { reason })