diff --git a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.test.ts b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.test.ts
index 2c164833df4f..3add86b7b87b 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.test.ts
@@ -460,6 +460,31 @@ describe("AutomodeDriver", () => {
     }).pipe(Effect.provide(makeLayer(peerStatus)));
   });
 
+  // Head-of-line blocking guard: notBefore parks ONE goal, not the whole queue. A goal
+  // scheduled for tonight sitting at the head must not stall work that is due now.
+  it.effect("dispatches a due goal queued behind a not-yet-due one", () => {
+    const peerStatus = { current: "absent" as PeerStatus | "absent" };
+    return Effect.gen(function* () {
+      const supervisor = yield* AutomodeSupervisor;
+      const driver = yield* AutomodeDriver;
+      yield* armAutonomous(supervisor);
+      // Enqueued first, so it is the oldest and wins the FIFO pick — but it is not due.
+      yield* supervisor.enqueueGoal({
+        title: "Tonight",
+        repo: "/tmp/source-repo",
+        prompt: "later",
+        notBefore: "2099-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
+      });
+      yield* supervisor.enqueueGoal({ title: "Now", repo: "/tmp/source-repo", prompt: "now" });
+
+      yield* driver.tickOnce();
+
+      const goals = (yield* supervisor.getSnapshot()).goals;
+      assert.equal(goals.find((goal) => goal.title === "Now")?.status, "running");
+      assert.equal(goals.find((goal) => goal.title === "Tonight")?.status, "queued");
+    }).pipe(Effect.provide(makeLayer(peerStatus)));
+  });
+
   it.effect("does not dispatch a second goal while one is running (sequential)", () => {
     const peerStatus = { current: "absent" as PeerStatus | "absent" };
     return Effect.gen(function* () {
diff --git a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.ts b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.ts
index d4d2bdf336b6..f76071f5e09e 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/AutomodeDriver.ts
@@ -72,12 +72,28 @@ export function merge_verify_commands(
 const TERMINAL_FAIL_STATUSES = new Set<PeerStatus>(["failed", "frozen", "killed", "halted"]);
 const TERMINAL_DONE_STATUSES = new Set<PeerStatus>(["done", "completed"]);
 
-function oldestQueued(goals: ReadonlyArray<AutomodeGoal>): AutomodeGoal | null {
+/**
+ * A goal's operator-chosen not-before time. Unparseable input is treated as due now rather
+ * than parking the goal forever — the value is schema-validated at the RPC boundary, so a
+ * bad one here means corrupted state, and stalling silently is the worse failure.
+ */
+function isDue(goal: AutomodeGoal, nowMillis: number): boolean {
+  if (goal.notBefore === null) {
+    return true;
+  }
+  const at = Date.parse(goal.notBefore);
+  return Number.isNaN(at) || at <= nowMillis;
+}
+
+function oldestQueued(goals: ReadonlyArray<AutomodeGoal>, nowMillis: number): AutomodeGoal | null {
   // The snapshot sorts goals newest-first; reverse before sorting so that
   // equal-timestamp goals remain in oldest-first (FIFO) order.
+  //
+  // notBefore is filtered HERE, not checked on the winner: parking the head of the queue
+  // would stall every due goal behind it until the scheduled one fired.
   const queued = goals
     .toReversed()
-    .filter((goal) => goal.status === "queued")
+    .filter((goal) => goal.status === "queued" && isDue(goal, nowMillis))
     .sort((left, right) => left.createdAt.localeCompare(right.createdAt));
   return queued[0] ?? null;
 }
@@ -580,18 +596,11 @@ export const AutomodeDriverLive = Layer.effect(
         }
 
         // 3) Queue drained → held-PR lifecycle only.
-        const next = oldestQueued(snapshot.goals);
+        const next = oldestQueued(snapshot.goals, yield* Clock.currentTimeMillis);
         if (next === null) {
           yield* maintainHeldPr(snapshot);
           return;
         }
-        if (
-          next.notBefore !== null &&
-          Date.parse(next.notBefore) > (yield* Clock.currentTimeMillis)
-        ) {
-          yield* maintainHeldPr(snapshot);
-          return;
-        }
         // Scheduler start gate (decisions 6/7/11/20): a deny leaves the goal queued for a
         // later tick — quiet, NOT a halt. Manual RPC dispatch stays ungated (human-driven).
         const gate = yield* scheduler
diff --git a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.test.ts b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.test.ts
index 7e2db8e71dfc..99df6c9442e6 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.test.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import {
   makeHermesEnv,
   makeProposal,
   normalizeProposal,
+  citedSourceThreadId,
   summarizeProposal,
   parseCodexChainHealth,
   parseHermesModelStatus,
@@ -804,6 +805,27 @@ describe("HermesCliAdapter chat preflight", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("citedSourceThreadId", () => {
+  it("claims the thread only when Hermes cited it", () => {
+    expect(
+      citedSourceThreadId("Continuing thread-9: finish the retry migration.", "thread-9"),
+    ).toBe("thread-9");
+  });
+
+  // The sweep offers a continuation as a hint; Hermes may ignore it and propose something
+  // unrelated. Stamping the id anyway would persist a source thread the card never touched.
+  it("drops the claim when the proposal ignored the candidate", () => {
+    expect(
+      citedSourceThreadId("Add a missing index to the projections table.", "thread-9"),
+    ).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("is null when no candidate was offered", () => {
+    expect(citedSourceThreadId("Anything at all.", undefined)).toBeNull();
+    expect(citedSourceThreadId("Anything at all.", "   ")).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
 describe("HermesCliAdapter proposal helpers", () => {
   it("summarizeProposal skips hermes chrome lines and uses the first real line as title", () => {
     const summarized = summarizeProposal(
diff --git a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.ts b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.ts
index a54f657dacb9..63700f3329c8 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/gits/Layers/HermesCliAdapter.ts
@@ -1086,6 +1086,24 @@ function nullableStringFromUnknown(value: unknown): string | null {
   return typeof value === "string" && value.trim().length > 0 ? value.trim() : null;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Continuation provenance: a card may claim to continue a past thread ONLY when Hermes
+ * actually cited that thread in its output. The sweep offers a continuation candidate as a
+ * hint ("propose the smallest safe continuation if it is still relevant"), and Hermes is
+ * free to ignore it and propose something else entirely — stamping the id regardless would
+ * record a source thread the card has nothing to do with, and that lie is durable: it is
+ * persisted on the card and carried into the goal.
+ */
+export function citedSourceThreadId(
+  detail: string,
+  candidateThreadId: string | undefined,
+): string | null {
+  if (candidateThreadId === undefined || candidateThreadId.trim().length === 0) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  return detail.includes(candidateThreadId) ? candidateThreadId : null;
+}
+
 export function normalizeProposal(value: unknown): HermesProposalCard | null {
   if (typeof value !== "object" || value === null) {
     return null;
@@ -1961,7 +1979,8 @@ const makeInspectGitsAndPropose =
             : `Hermes Codex OAuth chain requires re-login. Run \`${preflight.command}\`.`,
           source: "hermes chat -q",
           projectDir: input.projectDir,
-          ...(input.sourceThreadId === undefined ? {} : { sourceThreadId: input.sourceThreadId }),
+          // No sourceThreadId: Hermes was never spawned, so this auth-failure card
+          // continues nothing — claiming a source thread here is pure mislabeling.
           now,
           evidence: ["GITS preflight blocked the Hermes spawn before execution.", preflight.reason],
         });
@@ -2001,6 +2020,7 @@ const makeInspectGitsAndPropose =
       const detail =
         nonEmpty(exec.stdout) ?? nonEmpty(exec.stderr) ?? "Hermes returned no proposal.";
       const summary = summarizeProposal(detail);
+      const citedThreadId = citedSourceThreadId(detail, input.sourceThreadId);
       const proposal = makeProposal({
         title: summary.title,
         summary: summary.summary,
@@ -2013,11 +2033,12 @@ const makeInspectGitsAndPropose =
         blockedReason: exec.exitCode === 0 ? null : "Hermes proposal command did not complete.",
         source: "hermes chat -q",
         projectDir: input.projectDir,
-        ...(input.sourceThreadId === undefined ? {} : { sourceThreadId: input.sourceThreadId }),
+        ...(citedThreadId === null ? {} : { sourceThreadId: citedThreadId }),
         now,
         evidence: [
           "Hermes was invoked in read-only inspection mode.",
           `Hermes exit code: ${exec.exitCode === null ? "unknown" : String(exec.exitCode)}`,
+          ...(citedThreadId === null ? [] : [`Continues unfinished GITS thread ${citedThreadId}.`]),
         ],
       });
       const proposals = yield* Effect.tryPromise({