diff --git a/.story_kit/work/1_upcoming/150_bug_qa_2_agent_never_auto_assigned_because_pipeline_stage_only_matches_exact_qa.md b/.story_kit/work/1_upcoming/150_bug_qa_2_agent_never_auto_assigned_because_pipeline_stage_only_matches_exact_qa.md
index f29f9bb..90f4a7a 100644
--- a/.story_kit/work/1_upcoming/150_bug_qa_2_agent_never_auto_assigned_because_pipeline_stage_only_matches_exact_qa.md
+++ b/.story_kit/work/1_upcoming/150_bug_qa_2_agent_never_auto_assigned_because_pipeline_stage_only_matches_exact_qa.md
@@ -6,30 +6,57 @@ name: "qa-2 agent never auto-assigned because pipeline_stage only matches exact
 
 ## Description
 
-server/src/agents.rs line 154: pipeline_stage() matches qa exactly but qa-2 falls through to Other. Fix: change line 156 from exact match to starts_with, same as coders:
+The `pipeline_stage()` function in `server/src/agents.rs` (line 154) determines an agent's pipeline role by parsing its **name** — there's no structured `stage` field in the agent config. This means `qa-2` falls through to `PipelineStage::Other` because it doesn't exactly match `"qa"`.
 
-Current:
-  qa => PipelineStage::Qa,
+### Root Cause
 
-Fix:
-  name if name.starts_with(qa) => PipelineStage::Qa,
+`project.toml` agent config has `name` and `role` (freetext description), but no `stage` or `pipeline_role` field. The code guesses the pipeline stage from the name:
 
-Also update the test at line 3542 to cover qa-2.
+```rust
+match agent_name {
+    "qa" => PipelineStage::Qa,
+    "mergemaster" => PipelineStage::Mergemaster,
+    name if name.starts_with("coder") => PipelineStage::Coder,
+    _ => PipelineStage::Other,
+}
+```
+
+### The Fix
+
+1. Add a `stage` field to `[[agent]]` in `project.toml` config schema. Valid values: `"coder"`, `"qa"`, `"mergemaster"`, `"other"`.
+2. Update `ProjectConfig` / agent config deserialization in the server to parse the new field.
+3. Replace `pipeline_stage(agent_name)` with a lookup from the agent's config `stage` field.
+4. Update `project.toml` to add `stage` to all agents:
+   - supervisor: `stage = "other"`
+   - coder-1, coder-2, coder-opus: `stage = "coder"`
+   - qa, qa-2: `stage = "qa"`
+   - mergemaster: `stage = "mergemaster"`
+5. Keep the name-based `pipeline_stage()` as a fallback for backwards compatibility if `stage` is not set.
+
+### Key Files
+- `server/src/agents.rs` line 154: `pipeline_stage()` — name-based matching
+- `server/src/agents.rs` line 1728: `find_free_agent_for_stage()` — uses `pipeline_stage()`
+- `server/src/config.rs` (or wherever `ProjectConfig` is defined): agent config deserialization
+- `.story_kit/project.toml`: agent definitions
 
 ## How to Reproduce
 
-1. Have multiple items in 3_qa/
-2. qa agent gets assigned to one
-3. qa-2 never gets assigned to the others
+1. Have multiple items in `3_qa/`
+2. `qa` agent gets assigned to one
+3. `qa-2` never gets assigned to the others
 
 ## Actual Result
 
-qa-2 is never auto-assigned. pipeline_stage(qa-2) returns PipelineStage::Other instead of PipelineStage::Qa.
+`qa-2` is never auto-assigned. `pipeline_stage("qa-2")` returns `PipelineStage::Other`.
 
 ## Expected Result
 
-qa-2 should be recognized as a QA agent and auto-assigned to items in 3_qa/.
+`qa-2` should be recognized as a QA agent and auto-assigned to items in `3_qa/`.
 
 ## Acceptance Criteria
 
-- [ ] Bug is fixed and verified
+- [ ] Agent config in `project.toml` supports a `stage` field (`coder`, `qa`, `mergemaster`, `other`)
+- [ ] `find_free_agent_for_stage` uses the config `stage` field instead of name parsing
+- [ ] `qa-2` is correctly auto-assigned to QA work
+- [ ] Backwards compatible: if `stage` is not set, falls back to name-based matching
+- [ ] All existing agents in `project.toml` have `stage` set