diff --git a/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md b/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md
index 1695597d..7aeacc30 100644
--- a/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md
+++ b/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md
@@ -309,9 +309,7 @@ Stop containers hive-wide in one operator action. Bare `hivectl stop` stops **ev
 * `--forge` — The forge container (`hive-forge`)
 * `--gateway` — The gateway container (`hive-gateway`)
 * `--matrix` — The matrix container (`hive-matrix`)
-* `--graceful` — Gracefully quiesce each agent (finish the current turn, drain the inbox) before stopping, instead of a hard stop.
-
-   NOTE: not yet effective — the per-agent quiesce is still being implemented (see the graceful-agent-stop tracker), so today this falls through to a hard stop. The flag is accepted now so the wire/CLI shape is stable when the quiesce lands.
+* `--graceful` — Gracefully quiesce each agent before stopping, instead of a hard stop. Each agent is enqueued as a `GracefulStop` on the rebuild queue: the harness is signalled, runs one stop-checkpoint turn to flush durable `/state`, drains, then the container is stopped (bounded by a 3-min timeout that falls back to a hard stop). Applies to agents only
 
 
 
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/bin/hivectl.rs b/hive-c0re/src/bin/hivectl.rs
index 5d76abc7..8f0529a9 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/bin/hivectl.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/bin/hivectl.rs
@@ -116,13 +116,12 @@ enum Cmd {
     Stop {
         #[command(flatten)]
         scope: ScopeArgs,
-        /// Gracefully quiesce each agent (finish the current turn, drain
-        /// the inbox) before stopping, instead of a hard stop.
-        ///
-        /// NOTE: not yet effective — the per-agent quiesce is still being
-        /// implemented (see the graceful-agent-stop tracker), so today
-        /// this falls through to a hard stop. The flag is accepted now so
-        /// the wire/CLI shape is stable when the quiesce lands.
+        /// Gracefully quiesce each agent before stopping, instead of a
+        /// hard stop. Each agent is enqueued as a `GracefulStop` on the
+        /// rebuild queue: the harness is signalled, runs one
+        /// stop-checkpoint turn to flush durable `/state`, drains, then
+        /// the container is stopped (bounded by a 3-min timeout that
+        /// falls back to a hard stop). Applies to agents only.
         #[arg(long)]
         graceful: bool,
     },
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/server.rs b/hive-c0re/src/server.rs
index 2e2a041a..10ce93f7 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/server.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/server.rs
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ async fn dispatch(req: &HostRequest, coord: Arc<Coordinator>) -> HostResponse {
                 // graceful-stop queue, to re-expand it).
                 let agents = scoped_agents(scope).await?;
                 let infra = scoped_infra(scope);
-                handle_stop(&agents, &infra, *graceful).await?
+                handle_stop(&coord, &agents, &infra, *graceful).await?
             }
             HostRequest::Start { scope } => {
                 let agents = scoped_agents(scope).await?;
@@ -220,17 +220,40 @@ async fn handle_restart_all() -> Result<HostResponse> {
 /// aggregated rather than aborting on the first error, mirroring
 /// `handle_restart_all`. Callers resolve the [`LifecycleScope`] to these
 /// explicit name lists up front — this never sees the "all" flag.
-async fn handle_stop(agents: &[String], infra: &[&str], graceful: bool) -> Result<HostResponse> {
+///
+/// A `graceful` stop enqueues a `QueueKind::GracefulStop` per agent (signal the
+/// harness, run one stop-checkpoint turn, drain, then container stop, with a
+/// timeout fallback to a hard stop), mirroring the dashboard `?graceful=1`
+/// path. `graceful` applies to agents only - infra containers have no harness
+/// turn loop, so they're always hard-stopped.
+async fn handle_stop(
+    coord: &Arc<Coordinator>,
+    agents: &[String],
+    infra: &[&str],
+    graceful: bool,
+) -> Result<HostResponse> {
     tracing::info!(?agents, ?infra, graceful, "stop");
     let mut ok_items: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
     let mut errors: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
+    let mut enqueued_graceful = false;
 
     for agent in agents {
-        // TODO(graceful agent stop): when `graceful`, run the per-agent
-        // quiesce (turn-end → drain → reject new messages) before the kill.
-        // The flag is threaded through the wire now; the quiesce itself
-        // lands with the graceful-agent-stop work.
-        let _ = graceful;
+        if graceful {
+            // Graceful stop: enqueue the quiesce orchestration rather than a
+            // hard kill. Serialised through the rebuild queue so it can't race
+            // an in-flight rebuild for the same agent, and its per-step
+            // progress surfaces on the queue snapshot + build log.
+            coord.rebuild_queue.enqueue(
+                crate::rebuild_queue::QueueKind::GracefulStop,
+                agent.clone(),
+                crate::rebuild_queue::QueueSource::Manual,
+                "manual via hivectl graceful stop".to_owned(),
+                None,
+            );
+            ok_items.push(agent.clone());
+            enqueued_graceful = true;
+            continue;
+        }
         match lifecycle::kill(agent).await {
             Ok(()) => ok_items.push(agent.clone()),
             Err(e) => {
@@ -239,6 +262,9 @@ async fn handle_stop(agents: &[String], infra: &[&str], graceful: bool) -> Resul
             }
         }
     }
+    if enqueued_graceful {
+        coord.emit_rebuild_queue_snapshot();
+    }
 
     for &container in infra {
         match crate::priv_client::control_infra_container(container, InfraAction::Stop).await {