diff --git a/server/src/worktree.rs b/server/src/worktree.rs
index 7b4097a..136079a 100644
--- a/server/src/worktree.rs
+++ b/server/src/worktree.rs
@@ -155,43 +155,13 @@ fn create_worktree_sync(
     Ok(())
 }
 
-/// Exclude `.story_kit/work/` from git tracking in a worktree.
+/// Placeholder for worktree isolation of `.story_kit/work/`.
 ///
-/// This prevents pipeline file moves (upcoming → current → qa → merge → archived)
-/// from being committed on feature branches, which avoids rename/delete merge
-/// conflicts when merging back to master.
-///
-/// Instead of sparse checkout (which has complex config-leaking issues between
-/// worktrees and the main checkout), we write `.story_kit/work/` to the
-/// worktree's local exclude file (`$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`). This makes git
-/// treat those paths as untracked without affecting other checkouts.
-fn configure_sparse_checkout(wt_path: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
-    // Mark all .story_kit/work/ files with skip-worktree so git ignores
-    // any local changes to them. This prevents pipeline file moves from
-    // showing up as modifications on the feature branch.
-    let ls_output = Command::new("git")
-        .args(["ls-files", "-z", ".story_kit/work/"])
-        .current_dir(wt_path)
-        .output()
-        .map_err(|e| format!("git ls-files: {e}"))?;
-
-    let files: Vec<String> = String::from_utf8_lossy(&ls_output.stdout)
-        .split('\0')
-        .filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
-        .map(|s| s.to_string())
-        .collect();
-
-    if !files.is_empty() {
-        let mut args: Vec<&str> = vec!["update-index", "--skip-worktree"];
-        for f in &files {
-            args.push(f.as_str());
-        }
-        let _ = Command::new("git")
-            .args(&args)
-            .current_dir(wt_path)
-            .output();
-    }
-
+/// Previous approaches (sparse checkout, skip-worktree) all leaked state
+/// from worktrees back to the main checkout's config/index. For now this
+/// is a no-op — merge conflicts from pipeline file moves are handled at
+/// merge time by the mergemaster (squash merge ignores work/ diffs).
+fn configure_sparse_checkout(_wt_path: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
@@ -431,7 +401,7 @@ mod tests {
     }
 
     #[test]
-    fn sparse_checkout_excludes_story_kit_work() {
+    fn worktree_has_all_files_including_work() {
         let tmp = TempDir::new().unwrap();
         let project_root = tmp.path().join("my-project");
         fs::create_dir_all(&project_root).unwrap();
@@ -456,25 +426,11 @@ mod tests {
         let branch = "feature/test-sparse";
         create_worktree_sync(&project_root, &wt_path, branch).unwrap();
 
-        // .story_kit/work/ still exists on disk but has skip-worktree set
+        // Worktree should have all files including .story_kit/work/
         assert!(wt_path.join(".story_kit").join("work").exists());
         assert!(wt_path.join(".git").exists());
 
-        // Modify the work file — git should not report it as changed
-        fs::write(work_dir.join("test_story.md"), "# Modified").unwrap();
-        let status = Command::new("git")
-            .args(["status", "--porcelain", ".story_kit/work/"])
-            .current_dir(&wt_path)
-            .output()
-            .unwrap();
-        let status_output = String::from_utf8_lossy(&status.stdout);
-        assert!(
-            status_output.trim().is_empty(),
-            ".story_kit/work/ changes should be invisible in worktree, got: {status_output}"
-        );
-
-        // Main checkout must NOT be affected.
-        // The .story_kit/work/ directory must still exist in the project root.
+        // Main checkout must NOT be affected by worktree creation.
         assert!(
             work_dir.exists(),
             ".story_kit/work/ must still exist in the main checkout"