diff --git a/scripts/e2e-test.sh b/scripts/e2e-test.sh
new file mode 100755
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+++ b/scripts/e2e-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,249 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Othala E2E Test — runs a REAL task through the full pipeline with live AI.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   ./scripts/e2e-test.sh [--model claude|codex|gemini] [--timeout 600]
+#
+# What it does:
+#   1. Creates a real chat task via CLI
+#   2. Starts the daemon (spawns actual AI agent)
+#   3. Waits for the agent to complete, QA to pass, pipeline to finish
+#   4. Verifies the task reached a terminal state
+#   5. Reports pass/fail with details
+#
+# Requirements:
+#   - Run from the Othala repo root
+#   - Inside `nix develop` shell (or wrap with `nix develop --command`)
+#   - At least one AI model available (claude/codex/gemini)
+# ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+set -euo pipefail
+
+REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
+cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+
+MODEL="${MODEL:-claude}"
+TIMEOUT="${TIMEOUT:-600}"
+VERIFY_CMD="${VERIFY_CMD:-cargo check --workspace}"
+TASK_TITLE="${TASK_TITLE:-E2E test: add is_submitting helper to TaskState}"
+
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+YELLOW='\033[0;33m'
+CYAN='\033[0;36m'
+BOLD='\033[1m'
+NC='\033[0m'
+
+log() { echo -e "${CYAN}[e2e]${NC} $*" >&2; }
+pass() { echo -e "${GREEN}${BOLD}PASS${NC} $*" >&2; }
+fail() { echo -e "${RED}${BOLD}FAIL${NC} $*" >&2; }
+warn() { echo -e "${YELLOW}WARN${NC} $*" >&2; }
+
+# Parse args
+while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
+	case "$1" in
+	--model)
+		MODEL="$2"
+		shift 2
+		;;
+	--timeout)
+		TIMEOUT="$2"
+		shift 2
+		;;
+	--title)
+		TASK_TITLE="$2"
+		shift 2
+		;;
+	--verify)
+		VERIFY_CMD="$2"
+		shift 2
+		;;
+	*)
+		echo "Unknown arg: $1"
+		exit 1
+		;;
+	esac
+done
+
+OTHALA="cargo run -p orchd --bin othala --"
+
+# ─── Pre-flight checks ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+log "Pre-flight checks..."
+
+if ! command -v cargo &>/dev/null; then
+	fail "cargo not found. Run inside nix develop."
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! command -v "$MODEL" &>/dev/null; then
+	warn "$MODEL CLI not found in PATH — daemon may fail to spawn agent"
+fi
+
+if ! git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree &>/dev/null; then
+	fail "Not inside a git repository"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+log "Building othala binary..."
+cargo build -p orchd --bin othala 2>&1 | tail -3
+
+# ─── Step 1: Create the task ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+log "Creating task: ${TASK_TITLE}"
+TASK_JSON=$($OTHALA chat new --repo othala --title "$TASK_TITLE" --model "$MODEL" --json 2>/dev/null)
+TASK_ID=$(echo "$TASK_JSON" | jq -r '.id')
+BRANCH=$(echo "$TASK_JSON" | jq -r '.branch_name // empty')
+WORKTREE=$(echo "$TASK_JSON" | jq -r '.worktree_path // empty')
+
+if [[ -z "$TASK_ID" || "$TASK_ID" == "null" ]]; then
+	fail "Failed to create task. Output: $TASK_JSON"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+log "Task created: ${BOLD}$TASK_ID${NC}"
+log "  Branch:   $BRANCH"
+log "  Worktree: $WORKTREE"
+
+# ─── Step 2: Verify initial state ────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+STATE=$($OTHALA status "$TASK_ID" --json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.state')
+if [[ "$STATE" != "CHATTING" ]]; then
+	fail "Expected initial state CHATTING, got: $STATE"
+	exit 1
+fi
+pass "Initial state is CHATTING"
+
+# ─── Step 3: Run the daemon ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+log "Starting daemon (model=$MODEL, timeout=${TIMEOUT}s, exit-on-idle)..."
+log "  Verify command: $VERIFY_CMD"
+
+DAEMON_LOG=$(mktemp /tmp/othala-e2e-daemon-XXXX.log)
+$OTHALA daemon \
+	--timeout "$TIMEOUT" \
+	--exit-on-idle \
+	--skip-context-gen \
+	--verify-command "$VERIFY_CMD" \
+	>"$DAEMON_LOG" 2>&1 &
+DAEMON_PID=$!
+
+log "Daemon started (PID=$DAEMON_PID, log=$DAEMON_LOG)"
+
+cleanup() {
+	if kill -0 "$DAEMON_PID" 2>/dev/null; then
+		log "Cleaning up daemon (PID=$DAEMON_PID)..."
+		kill "$DAEMON_PID" 2>/dev/null || true
+		wait "$DAEMON_PID" 2>/dev/null || true
+	fi
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+# ─── Step 4: Poll until completion ───────────────────────────────────────────
+
+log "Polling task state..."
+POLL_INTERVAL=5
+ELAPSED=0
+LAST_STATE=""
+
+while kill -0 "$DAEMON_PID" 2>/dev/null; do
+	STATE=$($OTHALA status "$TASK_ID" --json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.state // "UNKNOWN"')
+
+	if [[ "$STATE" != "$LAST_STATE" ]]; then
+		log "  State: ${BOLD}$STATE${NC} (${ELAPSED}s elapsed)"
+		LAST_STATE="$STATE"
+	fi
+
+	case "$STATE" in
+	MERGED | AWAITING_MERGE)
+		pass "Task reached $STATE after ${ELAPSED}s"
+		break
+		;;
+	STOPPED)
+		fail "Task STOPPED (agent exhausted retries or was killed)"
+		REASON=$($OTHALA status "$TASK_ID" --json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.last_failure_reason // "unknown"')
+		log "  Failure reason: $REASON"
+		break
+		;;
+	esac
+
+	sleep "$POLL_INTERVAL"
+	ELAPSED=$((ELAPSED + POLL_INTERVAL))
+done
+
+# Wait for daemon to finish if still running
+if kill -0 "$DAEMON_PID" 2>/dev/null; then
+	log "Waiting for daemon to exit..."
+	wait "$DAEMON_PID" 2>/dev/null || true
+fi
+
+# ─── Step 5: Collect results ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+log ""
+log "═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════"
+log "  E2E TEST RESULTS"
+log "═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════"
+
+FINAL_STATE=$($OTHALA status "$TASK_ID" --json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.state // "UNKNOWN"')
+RETRY_COUNT=$($OTHALA status "$TASK_ID" --json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.retry_count // 0')
+
+log "  Task ID:     $TASK_ID"
+log "  Final State: $FINAL_STATE"
+log "  Model:       $MODEL"
+log "  Retries:     $RETRY_COUNT"
+log "  Duration:    ${ELAPSED}s"
+log ""
+
+# Check branch has commits beyond the initial empty commit
+if [[ -n "$BRANCH" ]] && git rev-parse --verify "$BRANCH" &>/dev/null; then
+	COMMIT_COUNT=$(git log "main..$BRANCH" --oneline 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
+	log "  Commits on $BRANCH: $COMMIT_COUNT"
+	if [[ "$COMMIT_COUNT" -gt 1 ]]; then
+		pass "Branch has agent commits"
+	else
+		warn "Branch has no agent commits beyond initial empty commit"
+	fi
+fi
+
+# Check QA results
+if [[ -d ".othala/qa/results" ]]; then
+	QA_FILES=$(find .othala/qa/results -name "*.json" -newer ".orch/state.sqlite" 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
+	log "  QA result files: $QA_FILES"
+else
+	warn "No QA results directory found"
+fi
+
+# Check events
+if [[ -d ".orch/events" ]]; then
+	EVENT_COUNT=$(wc -l <".orch/events/global.jsonl" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+	log "  Events logged: $EVENT_COUNT"
+fi
+
+log ""
+
+# Final verdict
+case "$FINAL_STATE" in
+AWAITING_MERGE | MERGED)
+	pass "E2E test PASSED — task completed successfully"
+	EXIT_CODE=0
+	;;
+STOPPED)
+	fail "E2E test FAILED — task stopped after $RETRY_COUNT retries"
+	EXIT_CODE=1
+	;;
+CHATTING)
+	fail "E2E test FAILED — task still chatting (timeout?)"
+	EXIT_CODE=1
+	;;
+*)
+	fail "E2E test FAILED — unexpected final state: $FINAL_STATE"
+	EXIT_CODE=1
+	;;
+esac
+
+log ""
+log "Daemon log: $DAEMON_LOG"
+log "To inspect: $OTHALA status $TASK_ID"
+log "To delete:  $OTHALA delete $TASK_ID"
+
+exit "$EXIT_CODE"