diff --git a/.changeset/stalled-card-hardening.md b/.changeset/stalled-card-hardening.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2eec3e2293
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/stalled-card-hardening.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+"@runfusion/fusion": patch
+---
+
+summary: Cards can no longer sit waiting unowned, and every silent skip on the planning path now says so.
+category: fix
+dev: Closes the second FN-8596 strand: a triage card with stale execution stamps and NO status was owned by nobody — planning excluded it (stamps read as advanced) and `recoverAdvancedTriageTasks` also excluded it, because it bails on `workflowIrPinColumnId === "triage"`. `hasAdvancedPastPlanning` now decides purely on arrival order (a stamp predating `columnMovedAt` belongs to a previous pass) for any card in the planner column, whatever its status. Adds `SelfHealingManager.detectStalledCards`, a detect-only watchdog emitting `task:stall-watchdog-detected` for any non-terminal, unpaused card idle past 30m with no live session and no queued continuation — deduped per shape, never mutating (recovery stays with the sweep that owns each shape). Makes the previously silent skips observable: `runIfStillPlanningUnderTaskLock`, the planning handoff `moveTaskIf`, and the four `requestPreMergeOptionalStepFix` refusals now log why nothing was scheduled.
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/__tests__/replan-target.test.ts b/packages/engine/src/__tests__/replan-target.test.ts
index be4a510293..ec3321bb15 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/__tests__/replan-target.test.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/__tests__/replan-target.test.ts
@@ -192,15 +192,24 @@ const planningGuardCases: PlanningGuardCase[] = [
     },
     stillPlanning: false,
   },
+  /*
+  FNXC:WorkflowReplan 2026-07-26-20:30 (FN-8596, second strand):
+  A stale stamp with NO status is STILL plannable — this deliberately differs from the
+  no-`columnMovedAt` PR #2360 case above, and production forced the distinction. After the stale-
+  status sweep cleared `planning` to null, this exact shape was owned by NOBODY: planning excluded
+  it (stamps read as advanced) and `recoverAdvancedTriageTasks` also excluded it, because it bails
+  on `workflowIrPinColumnId === "triage"` — it cannot resume a card into the column it already
+  occupies. The card sat indefinitely. Arrival order is the honest signal regardless of status.
+  */
   {
-    label: "stranded-advanced triage card with stale stamps but NO planning status (PR #2360)",
+    label: "triage card with stale stamps and NO status is still plannable (nobody else owns it)",
     task: {
       column: "triage",
       steps: [planStep("step-1")],
       executionStartedAt: "2026-07-26T13:50:57.686Z",
-      columnMovedAt: "2026-07-26T13:51:33.266Z",
+      columnMovedAt: "2026-07-26T14:17:59.396Z",
     },
-    stillPlanning: false,
+    stillPlanning: true,
   },
   {
     label: "triage card parked by a reviewer outage after an execution attempt",
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/replan-target.ts b/packages/engine/src/replan-target.ts
index 6f8ffaafee..f2cb0447c1 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/replan-target.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/replan-target.ts
@@ -136,10 +136,23 @@ export function hasAdvancedPastPlanning(
     const stampPredatesArrival = Number.isFinite(arrivedAtMs)
       && Number.isFinite(newestStampMs)
       && newestStampMs < arrivedAtMs;
-    const claimedInPlannerLane = task.column === "triage"
-      && task.status != null
-      && PLANNING_STAGE_STATUSES.has(task.status);
-    if (!(stampPredatesArrival && claimedInPlannerLane)) {
+    /*
+    FNXC:WorkflowReplan 2026-07-26-20:30 (FN-8596, second strand):
+    The planner-lane test is the COLUMN, deliberately not the status. Requiring a planning-stage
+    status left a hole that stranded the same card a second time: after the stale-status sweep
+    cleared `planning` to null, the card had stale stamps and NO status, so planning excluded it
+    (stamps read as advanced) AND `recoverAdvancedTriageTasks` — the designated owner of that
+    "stranded-advanced" class — also excluded it, because it bails on
+    `workflowIrPinColumnId === "triage"` (it cannot resume a card into the column it already sits
+    in). Nobody owned the card and it sat indefinitely.
+    Arrival order alone is the honest signal: a stamp written BEFORE the card reached the planner
+    column belongs to a previous pass, whatever the status is now. A card that genuinely advanced
+    out of triage is caught by the column check at the top, and one that was claimed by execution
+    AFTER landing here has a stamp NEWER than its arrival, so it still reads advanced and stays with
+    the advanced-recovery sweep.
+    */
+    const inPlannerLane = task.column === "triage";
+    if (!(stampPredatesArrival && inPlannerLane)) {
       return true;
     }
     return false;