diff --git a/packages/dashboard/app/components/AgentImportModal.tsx b/packages/dashboard/app/components/AgentImportModal.tsx
index a4a12ae6a4..42cc1a0f32 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/app/components/AgentImportModal.tsx
+++ b/packages/dashboard/app/components/AgentImportModal.tsx
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ export function AgentImportModal({ isOpen, onClose, onImported, projectId, initi
   const [companyName, setCompanyName] = useState("Unknown");
   const [agents, setAgents] = useState<AgentPreview[]>([]);
   const [skills, setSkills] = useState<SkillPreview[]>([]);
+  const [previewWarnings, setPreviewWarnings] = useState<string[]>([]);
   const [selectedAgentNames, setSelectedAgentNames] = useState<string[]>([]);
   const [selectedSkillNames, setSelectedSkillNames] = useState<string[]>([]);
   const [isParsing, setIsParsing] = useState(false);
@@ -215,6 +216,7 @@ export function AgentImportModal({ isOpen, onClose, onImported, projectId, initi
     setCompanyName("Unknown");
     setAgents([]);
     setSkills([]);
+    setPreviewWarnings([]);
     setSelectedAgentNames([]);
     setSelectedSkillNames([]);
     setIsParsing(false);
@@ -345,6 +347,7 @@ export function AgentImportModal({ isOpen, onClose, onImported, projectId, initi
         created: string[];
         skipped: string[];
         errors: Array<{ name: string; error: string }>;
+        warnings?: string[];
       };
 
       const previewAgents = (data.agents && data.agents.length > 0)
@@ -355,6 +358,7 @@ export function AgentImportModal({ isOpen, onClose, onImported, projectId, initi
       setCompanyName(data.companyName ?? "Unknown");
       setAgents(previewAgents);
       setSkills(previewSkills);
+      setPreviewWarnings(Array.isArray(data.warnings) ? data.warnings : []);
       setSelectedAgentNames(previewAgents.map((agent) => agent.name));
       setSelectedSkillNames(previewSkills.map((skill) => skill.name));
       setStep("preview");
@@ -678,6 +682,17 @@ export function AgentImportModal({ isOpen, onClose, onImported, projectId, initi
                 <span className="agent-import-company-name">{companyName}</span>
               </div>
 
+              {previewWarnings.length > 0 && (
+                <div className="agent-import-result-warnings">
+                  {previewWarnings.map((warning, idx) => (
+                    <div key={idx} className="agent-import-result-warning">
+                      <AlertTriangle size={12} />
+                      <span>{warning}</span>
+                    </div>
+                  ))}
+                </div>
+              )}
+
               <div className="agent-import-count">
                 <FileText size={14} />
                 <span>{agents.length} agent{agents.length !== 1 ? "s" : ""} found</span>
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/app/components/__tests__/AgentImportModal.test.tsx b/packages/dashboard/app/components/__tests__/AgentImportModal.test.tsx
index 9922f5c06a..5958c61896 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/app/components/__tests__/AgentImportModal.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/dashboard/app/components/__tests__/AgentImportModal.test.tsx
@@ -110,6 +110,36 @@ describe("AgentImportModal", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("surfaces dry-run warnings in the preview step, before import (issue #1261)", async () => {
+    vi.mocked(globalThis.fetch).mockImplementationOnce(() => mockFetchResponse({
+      ok: true,
+      status: 200,
+      body: {
+        dryRun: true,
+        companyName: "Acme Co",
+        agents: [{ name: "CEO", role: "custom" }],
+        created: ["CEO"],
+        skipped: [],
+        errors: [],
+        warnings: [
+          "1 imported agent(s) have role \"custom\" and won't be auto-assigned mission or queue work.",
+        ],
+      },
+    }));
+
+    render(<AgentImportModal isOpen={true} onClose={onClose} onImported={onImported} />);
+
+    fireEvent.change(screen.getByLabelText("Manifest content"), {
+      target: { value: "---\nname: CEO\n---\nLead" },
+    });
+
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Preview" }));
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(screen.getByText(/won't be auto-assigned mission or queue work/)).toBeTruthy();
+    });
+  });
+
   it("imports agents from preview step and shows result summary", async () => {
     vi.mocked(globalThis.fetch)
       .mockImplementationOnce(() => mockFetchResponse({
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/src/routes/register-agent-import-export-generation-routes.ts b/packages/dashboard/src/routes/register-agent-import-export-generation-routes.ts
index 8d4317b762..ccec071bf4 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/src/routes/register-agent-import-export-generation-routes.ts
+++ b/packages/dashboard/src/routes/register-agent-import-export-generation-routes.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { Readable } from "node:stream";
 import { pipeline as streamPipeline } from "node:stream/promises";
+import { listEligibleExecutorAgents } from "@fusion/engine";
 import { ApiError, badRequest, notFound, rateLimited } from "../api-error.js";
 import { createSessionDiagnostics } from "../ai-session-diagnostics.js";
 import { writeSSEEvent } from "../sse-buffer.js";
@@ -741,7 +742,6 @@ async function persistImportedSkills(
       const customRoleCount = importItems.filter((item) => item.input.role === "custom").length;
       const importsAnExecutor = importItems.some((item) => item.input.role === "executor");
       if (customRoleCount > 0 && !importsAnExecutor) {
-        const { listEligibleExecutorAgents } = await import("@fusion/engine");
         const existingExecutors = await listEligibleExecutorAgents(agentStore).catch(() => []);
         if (existingExecutors.length === 0) {
           importWarnings.push(