diff --git a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/agent-menu/hive-agent-menu.js b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/agent-menu/hive-agent-menu.js
index bfed9242..637ee768 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/agent-menu/hive-agent-menu.js
+++ b/frontend/packages/dashboard/src/agent-menu/hive-agent-menu.js
@@ -26,9 +26,18 @@ import { el } from '@hive/shared/dom.js';
 import { themedConfirm, themedToast } from '@hive/shared/modal.js';
 import '@hive/shared/hive-menu.js'; // registers <hive-menu> — side-effect import
 
-// Single-agent POST helper shared by all menu items.
-async function agentMenuPost(actionPath, name, body, graceful) {
-  const url = actionPath + encodeURIComponent(name) + (graceful ? '?graceful=true' : '');
+// Single-agent POST helper shared by all menu items. `flags` is an object
+// of boolean query params to set truthy (e.g. `{ graceful: true }` or
+// `{ paused: true }`) — every menu action so far needs at most one, but
+// this stays a plain object rather than a single named arg so a future
+// action needing two doesn't have to touch this signature again.
+async function agentMenuPost(actionPath, name, body, flags) {
+  const params = new URLSearchParams();
+  for (const [k, v] of Object.entries(flags || {})) {
+    if (v) params.set(k, 'true');
+  }
+  const qs = params.toString();
+  const url = actionPath + encodeURIComponent(name) + (qs ? '?' + qs : '');
   try {
     const resp = await fetch(url, {
       method: 'POST',
@@ -79,20 +88,25 @@ class HiveAgentMenu extends HTMLElement {
       }, label);
       item.addEventListener('click', async () => {
         close();
-        let graceful = false;
+        let flags = {};
         if (opts.confirm) {
+          const checkboxes = [];
+          if (opts.graceful) {
+            checkboxes.push({ name: 'graceful', label: opts.gracefulLabel || 'stop gracefully — let the agent finish its turn and flush state before the container stops' });
+          }
+          if (opts.paused) {
+            checkboxes.push({ name: 'paused', label: opts.pausedLabel || 'start paused — come up without driving turns until resumed' });
+          }
           const r = await themedConfirm({
             message: opts.confirm,
             danger: true,
             confirmLabel: opts.confirmLabel || 'confirm',
-            checkboxes: opts.graceful
-              ? [{ name: 'graceful', label: opts.gracefulLabel || 'stop gracefully — let the agent finish its turn and flush state before the container stops' }]
-              : [],
+            checkboxes,
           });
           if (!r) return;
-          graceful = !!r.graceful;
+          flags = { graceful: !!r.graceful, paused: !!r.paused };
         }
-        await agentMenuPost(opts.action, c.name, opts.body || null, graceful);
+        await agentMenuPost(opts.action, c.name, opts.body || null, flags);
       });
       li.append(item);
       return li;
@@ -127,7 +141,12 @@ class HiveAgentMenu extends HTMLElement {
       );
     } else {
       dropdown.append(
-        menuItem('▶ ST4RT', { action: '/api/start/', confirm: `start ${c.name}?` }),
+        menuItem('▶ ST4RT', {
+          action: '/api/start/',
+          confirm: `start ${c.name}?`,
+          paused: true,
+          pausedLabel: 'start paused — come up without driving turns until resumed',
+        }),
       );
     }
     // Pause/resume is orthogonal to running: a paused stopped agent boots
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/lifecycle_ops.rs b/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/lifecycle_ops.rs
index ff6855a6..298f9653 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/lifecycle_ops.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/dashboard/lifecycle_ops.rs
@@ -164,26 +164,64 @@ pub(super) async fn post_restart(
     (StatusCode::OK, "ok").into_response()
 }
 
-/// `POST /api/start/{name}` — start `name`.
+/// Query params for `post_start`. `?paused=1` writes the pause marker
+/// before (or instead of) starting — see `post_start`'s doc.
+#[derive(Deserialize, IntoParams)]
+pub(super) struct StartParams {
+    #[serde(default)]
+    paused: bool,
+}
+
+/// `POST /api/start/{name}?paused=1` — start `name`, optionally paused.
+///
+/// Plain `?paused=1` mirrors `hivectl agent <name> start --paused`: if
+/// `name` is already running, this just writes the pause marker in place
+/// and returns without submitting a start DAG (nothing to start). If it's
+/// down, the marker is written *before* the start DAG is submitted, so
+/// the container comes up paused rather than racing the harness's own
+/// pause-gate poll against an already-in-flight start.
 #[utoipa::path(
     post,
     path = "/api/start/{name}",
-    params(("name" = String, Path, description = "agent name")),
+    params(
+        ("name" = String, Path, description = "agent name"),
+        StartParams,
+    ),
     responses(
-        (status = 200, description = "start queued", body = String),
+        (status = 200, description = "start queued (or paused in place)", body = String),
         (status = 400, description = "bad agent name"),
         (status = 404, description = "no such agent"),
+        (status = 500, description = "pause marker write failed"),
     ),
     tag = "lifecycle_ops"
 )]
 pub(super) async fn post_start(
     State(state): State<AppState>,
     AxumPath(name): AxumPath<String>,
+    Query(params): Query<StartParams>,
 ) -> Response {
     let logical = strip_container_prefix(&name);
     if let Some(reject) = guard_agent_name(&state, &logical).await {
         return reject;
     }
+    if params.paused {
+        let ident = match Ident::parse(&logical) {
+            Ok(i) => i,
+            Err(e) => {
+                return (StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, format!("bad agent name: {e}")).into_response();
+            }
+        };
+        let already_running = lifecycle::is_running(&logical).await;
+        if let Err(e) = crate::coordinator::Coordinator::set_paused(&ident, true).await {
+            return error_response(&format!("pause {logical}: {e}"));
+        }
+        state.coord.rescan_containers_and_emit().await;
+        if already_running {
+            // Already up — pausing in place is the whole request, no DAG
+            // to submit.
+            return (StatusCode::OK, "ok").into_response();
+        }
+    }
     submit::start(
         &state.coord,
         &logical,
diff --git a/hivectl/src/agents.rs b/hivectl/src/agents.rs
index e37f33b9..c66f7e5d 100644
--- a/hivectl/src/agents.rs
+++ b/hivectl/src/agents.rs
@@ -43,13 +43,29 @@ async fn agents_restart(socket: &Path, name: &str, no_wait: bool) -> Result<()>
 /// scope-based path), just scoped to this one name — a separate
 /// per-agent wire request would have duplicated logic this scope-based
 /// one already covers.
-async fn agents_start(socket: &Path, name: &str) -> Result<()> {
+///
+/// `paused`: if the agent is already running, sets the pause marker in
+/// place and returns without submitting a start DAG at all (nothing to
+/// start). Otherwise sets the marker *before* the start request, so the
+/// container comes up paused rather than racing the harness's own
+/// pause-gate poll against a start that's already in flight — the same
+/// "pausing a stopped agent makes it come up paused" guarantee `pause`
+/// already provides on its own.
+async fn agents_start(socket: &Path, name: &str, paused: bool) -> Result<()> {
     if !crate::util::agent_exists(socket, name).await? {
         bail!(
             "no such agent: '{name}' (no state dir under {}/) — use 'hivectl agent {name} create' to provision a brand-new agent",
             hive_host_sock::AGENTS_ROOT
         );
     }
+    if paused {
+        let already_running = agent_running(socket, name).await?;
+        set_paused(socket, name, true).await?;
+        if already_running {
+            eprintln!("'{name}' is already running — paused in place, not (re)started");
+            return Ok(());
+        }
+    }
     render(
         crate::client::request(
             socket,
@@ -64,6 +80,27 @@ async fn agents_start(socket: &Path, name: &str) -> Result<()> {
     )
 }
 
+/// Whether `name`'s container is currently running, per the same
+/// `AgentStatus` roster `hivectl list-agents` renders. No per-agent wire
+/// request exists for this (nor should one, for a single boolean a rarely
+/// called CLI flag needs) — filter the hive-wide roster down to one row.
+async fn agent_running(socket: &Path, name: &str) -> Result<bool> {
+    let resp = crate::client::request(socket, HostRequest::AgentStatus)
+        .await
+        .with_context(|| format!("connect to daemon socket {}", socket.display()))?;
+    if !resp.ok {
+        bail!(
+            "agent status: {}",
+            resp.error.as_deref().unwrap_or("unknown error")
+        );
+    }
+    Ok(resp
+        .agent_statuses
+        .unwrap_or_default()
+        .iter()
+        .any(|r| r.name == name && r.running))
+}
+
 /// `hivectl agent <name> stop` — graceful-only stop (signal → drain →
 /// reconcile), never escalating to a hard kill. Reuses the hive-wide
 /// `hivectl stop --graceful` DAG (`HostRequest::Stop`'s scope-based
@@ -198,7 +235,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn run_agent(socket: &Path, name: &str, cmd: AgentCmd) -> Resul
         AgentCmd::Restart { no_wait } => agents_restart(socket, name, no_wait).await,
         AgentCmd::Pause => set_paused(socket, name, true).await,
         AgentCmd::Resume => set_paused(socket, name, false).await,
-        AgentCmd::Start => agents_start(socket, name).await,
+        AgentCmd::Start { paused } => agents_start(socket, name, paused).await,
         AgentCmd::Create => {
             let name = crate::util::parse_ident(name)?;
             render(crate::client::request(socket, HostRequest::Spawn { name }).await?)
diff --git a/hivectl/src/cli.rs b/hivectl/src/cli.rs
index 5bed6734..9f0761dc 100644
--- a/hivectl/src/cli.rs
+++ b/hivectl/src/cli.rs
@@ -471,7 +471,15 @@ pub enum AgentCmd {
     /// Start this EXISTING agent container. Fails immediately if `name`
     /// has no config/topology entry at all — it never attempts
     /// first-time creation. Use `create` for that.
-    Start,
+    Start {
+        /// Start (or leave) the agent paused: if it's currently down, the
+        /// pause marker is written before the container boots, so it comes
+        /// up paused instead of driving turns immediately. If it's already
+        /// running, this pauses it in place and does not attempt a
+        /// (re)start.
+        #[arg(long)]
+        paused: bool,
+    },
     /// Create this agent container from scratch (full first-time
     /// provisioning), bypassing the approval queue.
     ///