diff --git a/dev/dev-agent.sh b/dev/dev-agent.sh
index e0959af..7b13494 100755
--- a/dev/dev-agent.sh
+++ b/dev/dev-agent.sh
@@ -967,7 +967,10 @@ while [ "$REVIEW_ROUND" -lt "$MAX_REVIEW_ROUNDS" ]; do
     CI_FIX_COUNT=$(( ${CI_FIX_COUNT:-0} + 1 ))
     if [ "$CI_FIX_COUNT" -gt 2 ]; then
       log "CI failure not recoverable after ${CI_FIX_COUNT} fix attempts"
-      notify "❌ PR #${PR_NUMBER} CI failed ${CI_FIX_COUNT}x: ${FAILED_STEP:-unknown}. Needs human attention."
+      # Escalate to supervisor — write marker for factory-poll.sh to pick up
+      echo "{\"issue\":${ISSUE},\"pr\":${PR_NUMBER},\"reason\":\"ci_exhausted\",\"step\":\"${FAILED_STEP:-unknown}\",\"attempts\":${CI_FIX_COUNT},\"ts\":\"$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)\"}" \
+        >> "${FACTORY_ROOT}/factory/escalations.jsonl"
+      log "escalated to supervisor via escalations.jsonl"
       break
     fi
 
diff --git a/factory/factory-poll.sh b/factory/factory-poll.sh
index 3877f98..4627039 100755
--- a/factory/factory-poll.sh
+++ b/factory/factory-poll.sh
@@ -267,6 +267,13 @@ done
 # =============================================================================
 # P4: HOUSEKEEPING — stale processes
 # =============================================================================
+# Check for dev-agent escalations
+ESCALATION_FILE="${FACTORY_ROOT}/factory/escalations.jsonl"
+if [ -s "$ESCALATION_FILE" ]; then
+  ESCALATION_COUNT=$(wc -l < "$ESCALATION_FILE")
+  p3 "Dev-agent escalated ${ESCALATION_COUNT} issue(s) — see ${ESCALATION_FILE}"
+fi
+
 status "P4: housekeeping"
 
 # Stale claude processes (>3h, not caught by P0)