diff --git a/.story_kit/work/1_upcoming/88_story_auto_assign_agents_to_available_work_on_server_startup.md b/.story_kit/work/1_upcoming/88_story_auto_assign_agents_to_available_work_on_server_startup.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d43fc34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.story_kit/work/1_upcoming/88_story_auto_assign_agents_to_available_work_on_server_startup.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+name: "Auto-assign agents to available work on server startup"
+test_plan: pending
+---
+
+# Story 88: Auto-assign agents to available work on server startup
+
+## User Story
+
+As a user, I want the server to automatically scan the pipeline on startup and assign agents to any work items that need attention, so that work resumes without manual intervention after a restart.
+
+## Acceptance Criteria
+
+- [ ] On server startup, scan work/2_current/ for stories with no running agent and auto-call start_agent for each
+- [ ] On server startup, scan work/3_qa/ for items with no running QA agent and auto-start the QA agent
+- [ ] On server startup, scan work/4_merge/ for items with no running mergemaster agent and auto-start the mergemaster agent
+- [ ] Items in work/1_upcoming/ are NOT auto-started (they require explicit user action)
+- [ ] Auto-assignment respects the agent roster limits from project.toml (don't exceed max concurrent agents)
+- [ ] Auto-assignment logs clearly which stories are being resumed and which agents are assigned
+
+## Out of Scope
+
+- TBD