diff --git a/agentydragon/prompts/manager.md b/agentydragon/prompts/manager.md
index de3d4030a3..8402f027c4 100644
--- a/agentydragon/prompts/manager.md
+++ b/agentydragon/prompts/manager.md
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ You are the **Project Manager** Codex agent for the `codex` repository.  Your re
 ### First Actions
 
 1. Summarize the current tasks by reading each task’s Markdown as defined by the repository conventions: list each task number, title, live **Status**, and dependencies.
-2. Produce a one‑line tmux launch command to spin up all unblocked tasks in parallel, following the conventions defined in repository documentation.
+2. Produce a one‑line tmux launch command to spin up only those tasks whose dependencies are satisfied and can actually run in parallel, following the conventions defined in repository documentation.
 3. Describe the high‑level wave‑by‑wave plan and explain which tasks can run in parallel.
 
 More functionality and refinements will be added later.  Begin by executing these steps and await further instructions.
diff --git a/agentydragon/tools/check_task_frontmatter.py b/agentydragon/tools/check_task_frontmatter.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..4fa9857e5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/agentydragon/tools/check_task_frontmatter.py
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""
+check_task_frontmatter.py: Validate structured YAML frontmatter in task Markdown files.
+
+This script ensures each task file under agentydragon/tasks/ has a YAML frontmatter block
+with the required keys: id, title, status, summary, and goal.
+It also enforces that `status` is one of the allowed enum values.
+
+Usage:
+    python3 agentydragon/tools/check_task_frontmatter.py
+
+Returns exit code 0 if all files pass, 1 otherwise.
+"""
+
+import sys
+import pathlib
+
+try:
+    import yaml
+except ImportError:
+    print("Missing dependency: PyYAML is required to run this script.", file=sys.stderr)
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+REQUIRED_KEYS = ["id", "title", "status", "summary", "goal"]
+ALLOWED_STATUSES = ["Not started", "Started", "Done", "Cancelled"]
+
+def parse_frontmatter(text):
+    # Expect frontmatter delimited by '---' on its own line
+    lines = text.splitlines()
+    if len(lines) < 3 or lines[0].strip() != '---':
+        return None
+    try:
+        end = lines[1:].index('---') + 1
+    except ValueError:
+        return None
+    front = '\n'.join(lines[1:end])
+    try:
+        data = yaml.safe_load(front)
+    except yaml.YAMLError as e:
+        print(f"YAML parse error: {e}")
+        return None
+    return data
+
+def main():
+    root = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+    tasks_dir = root / 'agentydragon' / 'tasks'
+    failures = 0
+
+    for md in tasks_dir.glob('[0-9][0-9]-*.md'):
+        if md.name == 'task-template.md' or md.name.endswith('-plan.md'):
+            continue
+        text = md.read_text(encoding='utf-8')
+        data = parse_frontmatter(text)
+        if not data:
+            print(f"{md}: missing or malformed YAML frontmatter")
+            failures += 1
+            continue
+        for key in REQUIRED_KEYS:
+            if key not in data:
+                print(f"{md}: missing required frontmatter key '{key}'")
+                failures += 1
+        status = data.get('status')
+        if status not in ALLOWED_STATUSES:
+            print(f"{md}: invalid status '{status}'; must be one of {ALLOWED_STATUSES}")
+            failures += 1
+
+    if failures:
+        print(f"\nFound {failures} frontmatter errors.", file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(1)
+    print("All task frontmatter OK.")
+    sys.exit(0)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
\ No newline at end of file