diff --git a/src/db.py b/src/db.py
index f8bfa9d..51ae5a1 100644
--- a/src/db.py
+++ b/src/db.py
@@ -159,6 +159,44 @@ def get_next_work_item_id(repo: str, prefix: str = "ET") -> str:
     return f"{prefix}-{next_num:03d}"
 
 
+def ensure_unique_work_item_id(work_item_id: str, repo: str) -> str:
+    """BUG 2a: guarantee work_item_id uniqueness within (repo) over M-6 derive.
+
+    M-6 derives the work_item_id from the Plane sequence_id. That number can
+    collide (e.g. an issue was deleted and the sequence reused, or two issues
+    map to the same number) -> the SAME ET-NNN gets handed to two different
+    tasks, which then physically share a branch/worktree slug prefix and step on
+    each other (see ET-006: task 8 and task 25).
+
+    This is a guard LAYERED ON TOP of the M-6 derive (it does NOT replace it):
+    given the derived id, if that exact <PREFIX>-NNN already exists in the tasks
+    table for this repo, walk forward (ET-007, ET-008, ...) until a free number
+    is found and return that instead. If the derived id is free, it is returned
+    unchanged.
+    """
+    if not work_item_id or "-" not in work_item_id:
+        return work_item_id
+    prefix, num_str = work_item_id.rsplit("-", 1)
+    try:
+        num = int(num_str)
+    except ValueError:
+        return work_item_id
+    width = len(num_str)
+
+    conn = get_db()
+    try:
+        candidate = work_item_id
+        while conn.execute(
+            "SELECT 1 FROM tasks WHERE repo = ? AND work_item_id = ? LIMIT 1",
+            (repo, candidate),
+        ).fetchone() is not None:
+            num += 1
+            candidate = f"{prefix}-{num:0{width}d}"
+        return candidate
+    finally:
+        conn.close()
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # ORCH-5 (M-7): idempotent webhook event logging
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/webhooks/plane.py b/src/webhooks/plane.py
index 63b9879..9efe6be 100644
--- a/src/webhooks/plane.py
+++ b/src/webhooks/plane.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from ..db import (
     get_db,
     get_task_by_plane_id,
     get_next_work_item_id,
+    ensure_unique_work_item_id,
     update_task_stage,
     enqueue_job,
     insert_event_dedup,
@@ -317,10 +318,41 @@ async def start_pipeline(data: dict, project_id: str = ""):
             f"fell back to DB increment: {work_item_id}"
         )
 
+    # BUG 2a: uniqueness-guard LAYERED ON TOP of the M-6 derive above (the derive
+    # itself is untouched). If the derived ET-NNN is already taken by another
+    # task in this repo (collision -> two tasks would share branch/worktree, see
+    # ET-006), bump to the next free number.
+    _derived = work_item_id
+    work_item_id = ensure_unique_work_item_id(work_item_id, repo)
+    if work_item_id != _derived:
+        logger.warning(
+            f"work_item_id collision: derived {_derived} already in use for "
+            f"{repo}; reassigned {plane_id} -> {work_item_id}"
+        )
+
     # Create slug from name
     slug = re.sub(r"[^a-z0-9]+", "-", name.lower()).strip("-")[:30]
     branch = f"feature/{work_item_id}-{slug}"
 
+    # BUG 2b (defense-in-depth): the worktree/path is keyed by BRANCH
+    # (git_worktree.get_worktree_path) and tasks are reverse-resolved by
+    # (repo, branch). With 2a the work_item_id is unique, so the branch prefix is
+    # too; but the slug could still collide (e.g. two issues with the same title
+    # under different ids -> fine) or, worse, an identical branch already exist.
+    # Guard physically: if this exact branch is already owned by another task in
+    # this repo, disambiguate with the (now unique) work_item_id so two tasks can
+    # never share a worktree.
+    _conn_b = get_db()
+    _branch_taken = _conn_b.execute(
+        "SELECT 1 FROM tasks WHERE repo = ? AND branch = ? LIMIT 1", (repo, branch)
+    ).fetchone()
+    _conn_b.close()
+    if _branch_taken is not None:
+        branch = f"feature/{work_item_id}-{plane_id[:8]}"
+        logger.warning(
+            f"branch collision for {repo}; disambiguated to unique branch {branch}"
+        )
+
     # Insert task into DB
     conn = get_db()
     conn.execute(