diff --git a/packages/agent-claude-code/src/claude-code.ts b/packages/agent-claude-code/src/claude-code.ts
index 72be905..b8c5191 100644
--- a/packages/agent-claude-code/src/claude-code.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-claude-code/src/claude-code.ts
@@ -176,8 +176,12 @@ async function runClaudeCode(ctx: AgentContext, model: string | null): Promise<A
 
   log("K7R2M4N8", `prompt for role=${ctx.role} (length=${fullPrompt.length}):\n${fullPrompt}`);
 
-  // Try resuming a cached session for re-entry scenarios (e.g. reviewer reject → developer re-entry).
-  if (!ctx.isFirstVisit) {
+  // Try resuming a cached session.  This covers both normal re-entry
+  // (e.g. reviewer reject → developer re-entry) AND the case where a
+  // previous run completed but frontmatter validation failed — the step
+  // was never written to CAS so isFirstVisit is still true, but the
+  // session cache holds a valid session we should resume.
+  {
     const cachedSessionId = await getCachedSessionId(
       "claude-code",
       ctx.threadId,
diff --git a/packages/agent-hermes/src/hermes.ts b/packages/agent-hermes/src/hermes.ts
index e144642..1066837 100644
--- a/packages/agent-hermes/src/hermes.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-hermes/src/hermes.ts
@@ -110,11 +110,15 @@ async function prepareSession(
   cwd: string,
   resumeDisabled: boolean,
 ): Promise<PromptAttempt> {
-  if (ctx.isFirstVisit || resumeDisabled) {
+  if (resumeDisabled) {
     await client.connect(cwd);
     return { useContinuation: false, resumed: false };
   }
 
+  // Check session cache regardless of isFirstVisit.  A previous run may
+  // have completed and cached its session but failed frontmatter
+  // validation — the step never got written to CAS so isFirstVisit is
+  // still true, yet we should resume the existing session.
   const cachedSessionId = await getCachedSessionId(ctx.threadId, ctx.role, ctx.storageRoot);
   if (cachedSessionId === null) {
     log("6RWK3N8Q", `no cached session for ${ctx.threadId}:${ctx.role}, starting new session`);