diff --git a/apps/server/src/providers/codex-provider.ts b/apps/server/src/providers/codex-provider.ts
index 3c8979f6..f4211b4f 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/providers/codex-provider.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/providers/codex-provider.ts
@@ -845,11 +845,9 @@ export class CodexProvider extends BaseProvider {
         options.model,
         CODEX_JSON_FLAG,
         ...configOverrideArgs,
+        ...(schemaPath ? [CODEX_OUTPUT_SCHEMA_FLAG, schemaPath] : []),
         '-', // Read prompt from stdin to avoid shell escaping issues
       ];
-      if (schemaPath) {
-        args.push(CODEX_OUTPUT_SCHEMA_FLAG, schemaPath);
-      }
 
       const envOverrides = buildEnv();
       if (executionPlan.openAiApiKey && !envOverrides[OPENAI_API_KEY_ENV]) {
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/auto-mode/facade.ts b/apps/server/src/services/auto-mode/facade.ts
index c63d9889..2d8e9c9e 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/auto-mode/facade.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/auto-mode/facade.ts
@@ -519,15 +519,22 @@ export class AutoModeServiceFacade {
     useWorktrees = false,
     _calledInternally = false
   ): Promise<void> {
-    // Do not call handleFacadeError here: ExecutionService.executeFeature already
-    // classifies and emits auto_mode_error, so calling handleFacadeError would
-    // produce duplicate error events. Simply let the error propagate to the caller.
-    return await this.recoveryService.resumeFeature(
-      this.projectPath,
-      featureId,
-      useWorktrees,
-      _calledInternally
-    );
+    // Note: ExecutionService.executeFeature catches its own errors internally and
+    // does NOT re-throw them (it emits auto_mode_error and returns normally).
+    // Therefore, errors that reach this catch block are pre-execution failures
+    // (e.g., feature not found, context read error) that ExecutionService never
+    // handled — so calling handleFacadeError here does NOT produce duplicate events.
+    try {
+      return await this.recoveryService.resumeFeature(
+        this.projectPath,
+        featureId,
+        useWorktrees,
+        _calledInternally
+      );
+    } catch (error) {
+      this.handleFacadeError(error, 'resumeFeature', featureId);
+      throw error;
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/branch-utils.ts b/apps/server/src/services/branch-utils.ts
index 3526c5ab..a2e1c3c0 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/branch-utils.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/branch-utils.ts
@@ -92,20 +92,22 @@ export async function stashChanges(
     }
     args.push('-m', message);
 
-    await execGitCommandWithLockRetry(args, cwd);
+    const stdout = await execGitCommandWithLockRetry(args, cwd);
+
+    // git exits 0 but prints a benign message when there is nothing to stash
+    const stdoutLower = stdout.toLowerCase();
+    if (
+      stdoutLower.includes('no local changes to save') ||
+      stdoutLower.includes('nothing to stash')
+    ) {
+      logger.debug('stashChanges: nothing to stash', { cwd, message, stdout });
+      return false;
+    }
+
     return true;
   } catch (error) {
     const errorMsg = getErrorMessage(error);
 
-    // "Nothing to stash" is benign – no work was lost, just return false
-    if (
-      errorMsg.toLowerCase().includes('no local changes to save') ||
-      errorMsg.toLowerCase().includes('nothing to stash')
-    ) {
-      logger.debug('stashChanges: nothing to stash', { cwd, message, error: errorMsg });
-      return false;
-    }
-
     // Unexpected error – log full details and re-throw so the caller aborts
     // rather than proceeding with an un-stashed working tree
     logger.error('stashChanges: unexpected error during stash', {
diff --git a/apps/ui/src/components/views/board-view/dialogs/create-branch-dialog.tsx b/apps/ui/src/components/views/board-view/dialogs/create-branch-dialog.tsx
index ce5087c4..9c22e801 100644
--- a/apps/ui/src/components/views/board-view/dialogs/create-branch-dialog.tsx
+++ b/apps/ui/src/components/views/board-view/dialogs/create-branch-dialog.tsx
@@ -112,6 +112,9 @@ export function CreateBranchDialog({
     if (open) {
       setBranchName('');
       setBaseBranch('');
+      // Update the ref synchronously so fetchBranches() sees the cleared value
+      // immediately, rather than the stale value from the previous open.
+      baseBranchRef.current = '';
       setError(null);
       setBranches([]);
       setBaseBranchPopoverOpen(false);