diff --git a/docs/tools/subagent.md b/docs/tools/subagent.md
index 554458cd..9a729d83 100644
--- a/docs/tools/subagent.md
+++ b/docs/tools/subagent.md
@@ -71,6 +71,48 @@ after a restart has to re-supply `dir` when the session lives anywhere
 other than the daemon's own working directory — and a restart is the
 situation you reach for `continue` in most often.
 
+## Roles
+
+A `start` may name a **role**: `role: "reviewer"` runs that subagent under
+the spawning agent's own `reviewer.md`. Role files live in one directory
+per agent, `subagent_roles/` inside that agent's state directory, one
+markdown file per role, and the `role` argument is the filename without
+its extension.
+
+One convention directory of named files, because a named set enumerates.
+Anything that watches roles — a check for a safety clause that has gone
+stale, an operator asking what this agent can dispatch — lists the
+directory and has the answer. Per-agent rather than hive-wide: the clauses
+a role carries come out of that one agent's own prompt files, and the
+daemon only ever spawns on that agent's behalf.
+
+**The role is the system prompt; the task is the turn — never the other
+way round.** The daemon writes the named role's text, alone, into a
+per-session file under the harness directory and points
+`--append-system-prompt-file` at it — nothing about the task reaches that
+file. It reads the task instructions (`prompt_file`) and folds them ahead
+of the turn's own prompt instead, the same channel that carries them to
+the subagent without a role. A task baked into the system prompt would
+re-assert itself as an instruction on every later turn of the session, not
+just the one the caller wrote it for — the system prompt is the
+subagent's standing identity, not a one-shot channel. The caller's own
+task file stays untouched either way.
+
+### A role with no file refuses the call
+
+A named role with no file **fails the `start`** and names the roles the
+directory does hold. No fallback, no spawn, no reservation — the refusal
+lands before the daemon claims the session name, so a caller that fixes
+the name may retry it immediately.
+
+The reason is the state every agent starts in. The directory starts
+empty: hyperhive ships no role files, and nothing creates one until an
+agent writes its own, so a name with no file behind it counts as the
+ordinary first-run answer rather than a rare corruption. Falling back to a spawn
+without the role would hand that subagent a prompt missing every clause
+the role existed to carry, and would do it quietly. An empty role file
+draws the same refusal, for the same reason.
+
 ## Goals, and turns toward them
 
 `start` takes an optional `goal`. Without one a session is a single turn,
diff --git a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/lib.rs b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/lib.rs
index 365eb8cc..1bed0f8f 100644
--- a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/lib.rs
+++ b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/lib.rs
@@ -19,4 +19,5 @@
 pub mod mcp;
 pub mod mcp_config;
 pub mod paths;
+pub mod role;
 pub mod session;
diff --git a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/mcp.rs b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/mcp.rs
index 9d1bf134..21f4d7ee 100644
--- a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/mcp.rs
+++ b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/mcp.rs
@@ -62,6 +62,16 @@ struct StartArgs {
     /// file, not an inline string, so a large recipe can't blow past a
     /// shell argument length limit.
     prompt_file: String,
+    /// Which named role this subagent runs as — `reviewer` loads your own
+    /// `reviewer.md` role file, the short name being the filename without
+    /// its extension. The role becomes the subagent's system prompt, ahead
+    /// of the task in `prompt_file`: it says what this subagent *is* and
+    /// what it must never do, where the task says what to do this once.
+    /// Roles are per-agent, so the set you can name is your own. Omit it
+    /// for the task instructions alone. **A role you do not have is an
+    /// error, not a spawn** — the reply lists the roles you do have.
+    #[serde(default)]
+    role: Option<String>,
     /// Written to the subagent's stdin as its first turn's prompt. Default:
     /// a generic "carry out your instructions" nudge — the real task detail
     /// belongs in `prompt_file`, not here.
@@ -201,7 +211,9 @@ impl SubagentMcp {
             configures for it. Pass `goal` to make this a multi-turn run: the daemon re-prompts \
             the subagent toward that goal each time a turn ends, up to `max_turns` (default 5), \
             stopping early when the subagent reports the goal reached or asks for help. Whichever \
-            way it stops, one todo is pushed at the end and `status` says which. See the \
+            way it stops, one todo is pushed at the end and `status` says which. Pass `role` to \
+            run it as one of your own named roles, whose file becomes its system prompt — a role \
+            you do not have refuses the whole call rather than spawning without it. See the \
             `base:claude-subagents` skill for when to reach for this."
     )]
     fn start(&self, Parameters(args): Parameters<StartArgs>) -> String {
@@ -212,6 +224,7 @@ impl SubagentMcp {
                 model: args.model,
                 effort: args.effort,
                 prompt_file: args.prompt_file,
+                role: args.role,
                 trigger: args.trigger,
                 dir: args.dir,
                 goal: args.goal,
@@ -546,6 +559,45 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn a_start_call_that_names_no_role_still_parses() {
+        // Backwards compatibility at the boundary it actually has to hold
+        // at: the JSON a caller sends. Every `start` written before roles
+        // existed names no role, so the argument has to be optional in the
+        // schema *and* absent-tolerant in the deserializer, which are two
+        // separate ways this could regress.
+        let args: StartArgs = serde_json::from_value(serde_json::json!({
+            "name": "batch-1",
+            "prompt_file": "/tmp/prompt.md",
+        }))
+        .expect("a pre-role `start` payload still deserializes");
+        assert_eq!(args.role, None, "no role named means no role");
+
+        let schema =
+            serde_json::to_value(schemars::schema_for!(StartArgs)).expect("a schema serializes");
+        let required = schema
+            .get("required")
+            .and_then(serde_json::Value::as_array)
+            .cloned()
+            .unwrap_or_default();
+        assert!(
+            !required.iter().any(|r| r == "role"),
+            "`role` must stay optional — a required one breaks every existing call. Required: \
+             {required:?}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_start_call_carries_the_role_it_names() {
+        let args: StartArgs = serde_json::from_value(serde_json::json!({
+            "name": "batch-1",
+            "prompt_file": "/tmp/prompt.md",
+            "role": "reviewer",
+        }))
+        .expect("a payload naming a role deserializes");
+        assert_eq!(args.role.as_deref(), Some("reviewer"));
+    }
+
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn an_unminted_signal_token_is_a_bare_404() {
         // No enumeration: a token this daemon never issued gets the same
diff --git a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/paths.rs b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/paths.rs
index c6140a64..57ef5d71 100644
--- a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/paths.rs
+++ b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/paths.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,18 @@ pub fn state_dir() -> PathBuf {
     PathBuf::from(format!("/agents/{label}/state"))
 }
 
+/// Where this agent's named subagent role files live, one markdown file per
+/// role under the agent's own [`state_dir`]. Per-agent rather than
+/// hive-wide: the clauses a role carries came out of one agent's own prompt
+/// files, and this daemon only ever spawns on behalf of that agent. The
+/// directory is a convention, not a registry — it is created by whoever
+/// writes a role into it, and its absence simply means this agent ships no
+/// roles yet (see `crate::role`).
+#[must_use]
+pub fn subagent_roles_dir() -> PathBuf {
+    state_dir().join("subagent_roles")
+}
+
 /// Harness-internal scratch dir this daemon writes its own generated
 /// subagent `--mcp-config` file into (see `crate::mcp_config`). Delegates to
 /// the shared resolver so this and `hive-agent`'s own harness dir always
diff --git a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/role.rs b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/role.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..87f000f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/role.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
+//! Named roles: the system prompt a subagent runs under, chosen by name at
+//! dispatch (`start(role: "reviewer")` loads `reviewer.md`).
+//!
+//! One markdown file per role in one convention directory
+//! ([`crate::paths::subagent_roles_dir`]), because a named set can be
+//! listed: enumerability is the reason for the shape, not typing comfort.
+//!
+//! **A named role that is not there is an error, never a fallback.** No
+//! agent ships roles yet, so "named but missing" is the ordinary first-run
+//! state, and quietly spawning without the file would hand a subagent a
+//! prompt missing every clause the role was there to carry. See
+//! `docs/tools/subagent.md`.
+
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+
+/// Extension every role file carries. Part of the naming contract: the
+/// `role` argument is the filename without it.
+const ROLE_EXT: &str = "md";
+
+/// Load the role named `role` for this agent, from
+/// [`crate::paths::subagent_roles_dir`].
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// An unusable name, a role with no file, or a file that reads empty — see
+/// [`load_from`], which this is the ambient-path wrapper for.
+pub fn load(role: &str) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
+    load_from(&crate::paths::subagent_roles_dir(), role)
+}
+
+/// Load `role` out of `dir`, returning the file's text.
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// Three refusals, all of them loud on purpose, and all of them before any
+/// subagent is spawned:
+///
+/// - a name that is not a plain identifier (so `../` never reaches the
+///   filesystem, and the argument stays one path segment by construction),
+/// - a name with no file in `dir` — the message names what the directory
+///   does hold, which is what the one-directory-of-named-files shape buys,
+/// - a file that is there but carries nothing, which would put the same
+///   clause-free prompt in front of claude as a missing one.
+pub fn load_from(dir: &Path, role: &str) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
+    hive_types::Ident::parse(role)
+        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid role name {role:?}: {e}"))?;
+    let path = role_path(dir, role);
+    let body = std::fs::read_to_string(&path).map_err(|e| {
+        anyhow::anyhow!(
+            "no role {role:?} for this agent: reading {} failed: {e}. Roles this agent has: {}",
+            path.display(),
+            available(dir)
+        )
+    })?;
+    if body.trim().is_empty() {
+        anyhow::bail!(
+            "role {role:?} at {} is empty — refusing to spawn under a role that says nothing",
+            path.display()
+        );
+    }
+    Ok(body)
+}
+
+/// Where the file for `role` lives. `role` is a validated identifier by the
+/// time this is called, so the join stays inside `dir`.
+fn role_path(dir: &Path, role: &str) -> PathBuf {
+    dir.join(format!("{role}.{ROLE_EXT}"))
+}
+
+/// The role names `dir` holds, comma-separated, for an error message to
+/// offer. Says so plainly when there are none — the expected answer until
+/// an agent writes its first role file, and far more useful than an empty
+/// list that reads like a lookup bug.
+fn available(dir: &Path) -> String {
+    let mut names: Vec<String> = std::fs::read_dir(dir)
+        .into_iter()
+        .flatten()
+        .flatten()
+        .filter_map(|entry| {
+            let path = entry.path();
+            (path.extension()?.to_str()? == ROLE_EXT)
+                .then(|| path.file_stem()?.to_str().map(ToOwned::to_owned))
+                .flatten()
+        })
+        .collect();
+    if names.is_empty() {
+        return "none — this agent ships no role files".to_owned();
+    }
+    names.sort();
+    names.join(", ")
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// A roles directory of this test's own, under the usual scratch root.
+    /// Each test names its own so a parallel run never shares one.
+    fn roles_dir(tag: &str) -> PathBuf {
+        let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("hive-subagent-roles-test-{tag}"));
+        let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&dir);
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).expect("a scratch dir is creatable");
+        dir
+    }
+
+    fn write_role(dir: &Path, role: &str, body: &str) {
+        std::fs::write(dir.join(format!("{role}.md")), body).expect("a scratch role is writable");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_named_role_loads_its_file_verbatim() {
+        let dir = roles_dir("loads");
+        write_role(
+            &dir,
+            "reviewer",
+            "review the diff, block on anything unsafe",
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            load_from(&dir, "reviewer").expect("a role that exists loads"),
+            "review the diff, block on anything unsafe"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_unknown_role_is_an_error_naming_what_exists() {
+        // The load-bearing case: with no agent shipping roles yet, a named
+        // role with no file is the normal first-run state. It must refuse,
+        // because the alternative is a subagent running under a prompt
+        // missing every clause the role carried.
+        let dir = roles_dir("unknown");
+        write_role(&dir, "reviewer", "…");
+        let err = load_from(&dir, "reviwer")
+            .expect_err("a misspelled role must not fall back to no role at all")
+            .to_string();
+        assert!(
+            err.contains("reviwer"),
+            "the error names what was asked for: {err}"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            err.contains("reviewer"),
+            "the error offers the roles that do exist: {err}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_empty_roles_directory_says_so() {
+        let dir = roles_dir("empty-dir");
+        let err = load_from(&dir, "reviewer")
+            .expect_err("no file, no role")
+            .to_string();
+        assert!(
+            err.contains("no role files"),
+            "the first-run state reads as itself, not as a lookup bug: {err}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_role_directory_that_does_not_exist_is_the_same_refusal() {
+        let dir = roles_dir("absent").join("not-created");
+        let err = load_from(&dir, "reviewer")
+            .expect_err("an absent directory is an absent role")
+            .to_string();
+        assert!(err.contains("reviewer"), "{err}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_empty_role_file_is_refused_like_a_missing_one() {
+        let dir = roles_dir("empty-file");
+        write_role(&dir, "hollow", "   \n\n");
+        let err = load_from(&dir, "hollow")
+            .expect_err("an empty role is no role")
+            .to_string();
+        assert!(err.contains("empty"), "{err}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_role_name_that_is_not_an_identifier_never_reaches_the_filesystem() {
+        let dir = roles_dir("traversal");
+        for bad in ["../secrets", "reviewer.md", "Reviewer", "a/b", ""] {
+            let err = load_from(&dir, bad)
+                .expect_err("only plain identifiers name a role")
+                .to_string();
+            assert!(
+                err.contains("invalid role name"),
+                "{bad:?} must be refused as a name, before any read: {err}"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
index dcb5367b..29fac636 100644
--- a/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
+++ b/hive-subagent-mcp/src/session.rs
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
 
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::os::unix::process::ExitStatusExt as _;
-use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex, PoisonError};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 
@@ -945,6 +945,87 @@ fn build_config(
     }
 }
 
+/// Which file `--append-system-prompt-file` is pointed at, and the prompt
+/// this turn actually opens with, for one spawn.
+///
+/// **The role is the system prompt; the task is the turn — never the
+/// other way round.** No role: `prompt_file`, passed through untouched, is
+/// the system prompt, and `trigger` is returned as given — the path every
+/// `start` took before roles existed, unchanged. A role: its text, alone,
+/// becomes the system-prompt file under [`crate::paths::harness_dir`] —
+/// nothing about the task reaches it — and the task instructions are read
+/// and folded ahead of `trigger` instead, so they still reach the subagent,
+/// on the same channel they always have: the turn's own prompt. Per
+/// session, like the generated `--mcp-config` beside it, so two concurrent
+/// `start`s never share a system-prompt file.
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// A role naming unreadable task instructions, or a harness dir that
+/// cannot be written. Both refuse the spawn rather than dropping either
+/// half — see `docs/tools/subagent.md`.
+fn system_prompt_and_trigger(
+    name: &str,
+    role: Option<&str>,
+    prompt_file: &str,
+    trigger: String,
+) -> anyhow::Result<(PathBuf, String)> {
+    // `harness_dir` panics outside a container (`HYPERHIVE_HARNESS_DIR`
+    // unset) — read lazily, only once a role means it's actually needed, so
+    // the no-role path never touches it, in tests or otherwise.
+    let Some(role) = role else {
+        return Ok((PathBuf::from(prompt_file), trigger));
+    };
+    compose_prompt(
+        &crate::paths::harness_dir(),
+        name,
+        Some(role),
+        prompt_file,
+        trigger,
+    )
+}
+
+/// [`system_prompt_and_trigger`] with the harness dir as an argument rather
+/// than an ambient container-only environment read — the split a test uses
+/// to control where the role-only file lands.
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// See [`system_prompt_and_trigger`].
+fn compose_prompt(
+    dir: &Path,
+    name: &str,
+    role: Option<&str>,
+    prompt_file: &str,
+    trigger: String,
+) -> anyhow::Result<(PathBuf, String)> {
+    let Some(role) = role else {
+        return Ok((PathBuf::from(prompt_file), trigger));
+    };
+    let task = std::fs::read_to_string(prompt_file).map_err(|e| {
+        anyhow::anyhow!("reading the task instructions at {prompt_file} failed: {e}")
+    })?;
+    let path = render_role_prompt(dir, name, role)?;
+    Ok((path, format!("{}\n\n{trigger}", task.trim_end())))
+}
+
+/// Write `name`'s system-prompt file — `role`'s text, alone — into `dir`,
+/// returning the file's path. Split from [`compose_prompt`] so the
+/// directory is an argument rather than an ambient container-only
+/// environment read.
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// A `dir` that cannot be created or written.
+fn render_role_prompt(dir: &Path, name: &str, role: &str) -> anyhow::Result<PathBuf> {
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(dir)
+        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("creating {} failed: {e}", dir.display()))?;
+    let path = dir.join(format!("subagent-system-prompt-{name}.md"));
+    std::fs::write(&path, role)
+        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("writing {} failed: {e}", path.display()))?;
+    Ok(path)
+}
+
 /// The [`SessionStore`] a subagent's turn actually runs against — same
 /// resolution `hive_claude::Claude` itself uses, so a lookup here can't
 /// disagree with what the driver does a moment later.
@@ -966,6 +1047,11 @@ pub struct StartRequest {
     pub effort: Option<String>,
     /// File holding the subagent's task instructions.
     pub prompt_file: String,
+    /// Which named role this subagent runs as — a file in this agent's own
+    /// role directory, named without its extension. `None` is the
+    /// pre-role shape: the task instructions alone. A name with no file
+    /// refuses the whole `start` (see [`crate::role`]).
+    pub role: Option<String>,
     /// The first turn's prompt. A goal, when given, is appended to it.
     pub trigger: String,
     /// Working directory for the session; `None` inherits the daemon's.
@@ -1005,6 +1091,10 @@ pub fn start(state: &Arc<State>, req: StartRequest) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
     let name = req.name.as_str();
     validate_name(name)?;
     check_model(req.model.as_deref(), available_models().as_deref())?;
+    // Before `reserve`, so a role this agent does not have costs the caller
+    // an error and nothing else: no name claimed, no session archived, no
+    // process spawned.
+    let role = req.role.as_deref().map(crate::role::load).transpose()?;
     if !state.reserve(name) {
         anyhow::bail!("subagent `{name}` is already running — use `continue` or `interrupt`");
     }
@@ -1027,9 +1117,12 @@ pub fn start(state: &Arc<State>, req: StartRequest) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
     let result = start_reserved(
         state,
         name,
-        req.model,
-        req.effort,
-        &req.prompt_file,
+        SpawnSpec {
+            model: req.model,
+            effort: req.effort,
+            prompt_file: req.prompt_file,
+            role,
+        },
         trigger,
         dir.as_deref(),
     );
@@ -1039,6 +1132,21 @@ pub fn start(state: &Arc<State>, req: StartRequest) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
     result
 }
 
+/// How one spawn is shaped, as against which session it is for: the four
+/// values `start` has already resolved by the time it commits to running.
+/// A struct rather than four more parameters — the role made
+/// `start_reserved`'s list long enough to be both unreadable and a lint,
+/// the same reason [`StartRequest`] exists.
+struct SpawnSpec {
+    model: Option<String>,
+    effort: Option<String>,
+    /// The caller's task-instruction file, as given.
+    prompt_file: String,
+    /// The named role's *text*, already loaded — `start` reads it before
+    /// reserving the name, so an unknown role never gets this far.
+    role: Option<String>,
+}
+
 /// The slow, fallible part of `start`, run only after `reserve` has
 /// already closed the TOCTOU window — split out so `start` can release the
 /// reservation on any error path here without duplicating that logic per
@@ -1046,18 +1154,18 @@ pub fn start(state: &Arc<State>, req: StartRequest) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
 fn start_reserved(
     state: &Arc<State>,
     name: &str,
-    model: Option<String>,
-    effort: Option<String>,
-    prompt_file: &str,
+    spec: SpawnSpec,
     trigger: String,
     dir: Option<&str>,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
     let signal_url = state.mint_signal_url(name);
+    let (system_prompt, trigger) =
+        system_prompt_and_trigger(name, spec.role.as_deref(), &spec.prompt_file, trigger)?;
     let config = build_config(
         name,
-        model,
-        effort,
-        Some(prompt_file),
+        spec.model,
+        spec.effort,
+        Some(&system_prompt.to_string_lossy()),
         dir,
         Some(&signal_url),
     );
@@ -1936,6 +2044,7 @@ mod tests {
             model: None,
             effort: None,
             prompt_file: "/tmp/prompt.md".to_owned(),
+            role: None,
             trigger: "trigger".to_owned(),
             dir: None,
             goal: None,
@@ -2032,6 +2141,135 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    /// A scratch file holding `body`, named after `tag` so parallel tests
+    /// never share one.
+    fn scratch_file(tag: &str, body: &str) -> PathBuf {
+        let path = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("hive-subagent-session-test-{tag}.md"));
+        std::fs::write(&path, body).expect("a scratch file is writable");
+        path
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn without_a_role_the_task_file_is_what_claude_is_pointed_at() {
+        // The no-role path, pinned: the caller's own path reaches
+        // `--append-system-prompt-file` unchanged, nothing is rendered on
+        // the way, and the trigger passes through untouched too — no
+        // system-prompt file, no extra flag beyond the one every `start`
+        // written before roles existed already sent. "Unchanged" is the
+        // whole assertion.
+        let (path, trigger) = system_prompt_and_trigger("n", None, "/tmp/p.md", "go".to_owned())
+            .expect("passing the task file through cannot fail");
+        assert_eq!(path, PathBuf::from("/tmp/p.md"));
+        assert_eq!(trigger, "go", "no role means the trigger is untouched too");
+
+        let config = build_config("n", None, None, Some(&path.to_string_lossy()), None, None);
+        let flag = config
+            .extra_args
+            .iter()
+            .position(|a| a == "--append-system-prompt-file")
+            .expect("the task file is still passed as the appended system prompt");
+        assert_eq!(
+            config.extra_args.get(flag + 1),
+            Some(&"/tmp/p.md".to_owned())
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_role_s_system_prompt_file_holds_the_role_and_never_the_task() {
+        // A task rendered into the system prompt re-asserts itself as an
+        // instruction on every later turn of the session, not just the one
+        // it was written for — the system prompt is the subagent's
+        // standing identity, not a one-shot channel. Asserting the role is
+        // present is not enough to catch that regression; a merged file
+        // would pass that check too. The task's absence from this file is
+        // the assertion that actually pins the bug.
+        let task = scratch_file("role-only-task", "rebase the branch and report");
+        let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join("hive-subagent-session-test-role-only");
+        let (path, _trigger) = compose_prompt(
+            &dir,
+            "role-only-run",
+            Some("you are a reviewer; block on anything unsafe"),
+            &task.to_string_lossy(),
+            "go".to_owned(),
+        )
+        .expect("a role and a readable task file compose");
+        let body = std::fs::read_to_string(&path).expect("the system-prompt file is readable");
+        assert!(
+            body.contains("you are a reviewer"),
+            "the role must reach the system prompt: {body:?}"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            !body.contains("rebase the branch"),
+            "the task must NOT reach the system-prompt file: {body:?}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_role_still_delivers_the_task_as_the_turns_own_prompt() {
+        // The other half of the same fix: dropping the task from the
+        // system prompt must not drop it altogether — it goes back to
+        // being the turn's prompt, the same channel it reached the
+        // subagent by before roles existed.
+        let task = scratch_file("turn-prompt-task", "rebase the branch and report");
+        let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join("hive-subagent-session-test-turn-prompt");
+        let (_path, trigger) = compose_prompt(
+            &dir,
+            "turn-prompt-run",
+            Some("you are a reviewer"),
+            &task.to_string_lossy(),
+            "Carry out the task described in your instructions.".to_owned(),
+        )
+        .expect("a role and a readable task file compose");
+        assert!(
+            trigger.contains("rebase the branch"),
+            "the task must reach the subagent as the turn's own prompt: {trigger:?}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_role_with_an_unreadable_task_file_refuses_rather_than_dropping_either() {
+        let dir = std::env::temp_dir().join("hive-subagent-session-test-unreadable");
+        let err = compose_prompt(
+            &dir,
+            "n",
+            Some("a role"),
+            "/tmp/no-such-task-file-here.md",
+            "go".to_owned(),
+        )
+        .expect_err("an unreadable task file cannot silently become a role-only prompt");
+        assert!(err.to_string().contains("task instructions"), "{err}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_start_naming_an_unknown_role_errors_and_reserves_nothing() {
+        // The error path end to end: the refusal happens before anything is
+        // claimed, so an unknown role costs a message and nothing else —
+        // no reservation to release, no archived prior session, no spawn.
+        let state = Arc::new(State::new(PathBuf::from("/dev/null"), signal_url()));
+        let mut req = start_request("unknown-role-run");
+        req.role = Some("no-such-role-ships-anywhere".to_owned());
+        let err = start(&state, req).expect_err("a role this agent lacks must refuse the start");
+        assert!(
+            err.to_string().contains("no-such-role-ships-anywhere"),
+            "the refusal names the role that was asked for: {err}"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            state.occupancy("unknown-role-run"),
+            None,
+            "a refused start leaves the name free"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_start_naming_an_unusable_role_refuses_before_touching_the_filesystem() {
+        let state = Arc::new(State::new(PathBuf::from("/dev/null"), signal_url()));
+        let mut req = start_request("bad-role-name");
+        req.role = Some("../../etc/passwd".to_owned());
+        let err = start(&state, req).expect_err("a role name that is not an identifier refuses");
+        assert!(err.to_string().contains("invalid role name"), "{err}");
+        assert_eq!(state.occupancy("bad-role-name"), None);
+    }
+
     /// The `--tools` value as it reaches the spawned argv.
     fn spawned_tools(config: &Config) -> &str {
         let flag = config