Why: A parallel group only checked the first step, free text cancelled confirmation and permission holds, and a failed reply deleted the pending request before the decision ran. Evidence: GOWORK=off go vet ./...; go test -count=1 ./squad/ ./cli/; go test -race -count=1 ./squad/. New tests cover the second parallel member, free-text holds, restored pending, AtomicWrite, and listenGuard. Impact: Any member that needs approval or bash permission keeps the whole group suspended. Free text on confirmation, permission, and quality review is stored as steering and the same request stays pending. A dispatch error restores pending.json. Refs: feature/agent-stack-r0-r1 Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>