diff --git a/templates/AGENTS.multiagent-safety.md b/templates/AGENTS.multiagent-safety.md
index 47ce5f3..4c0ef44 100644
--- a/templates/AGENTS.multiagent-safety.md
+++ b/templates/AGENTS.multiagent-safety.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 - Before deleting/replacing code, each agent must read the latest session comments/handoffs first and confirm the target code is in their owned scope.
 - If ownership is unclear or overlaps, stop that edit, post a blocker comment, and let the leader/integrator reassign scope.
 - For git isolation, each agent must start on a dedicated branch via `scripts/agent-branch-start.sh "<task-or-plan>" "<agent-name>"`.
-- Agent completion must use `scripts/agent-branch-finish.sh` (merge into `dev`, push, delete agent branch).
+- Agent completion must use `scripts/agent-branch-finish.sh` (direct merge to base when allowed; auto PR fallback for protected bases, then cleanup after merge).
 
 1. Explicit ownership before edits
 
diff --git a/templates/githooks/pre-push b/templates/githooks/pre-push
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88b7704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/githooks/pre-push
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [[ "${ALLOW_PUSH_ON_PROTECTED_BRANCH:-0}" == "1" || "${ALLOW_COMMIT_ON_PROTECTED_BRANCH:-0}" == "1" ]]; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+is_vscode_git_context=0
+if [[ -n "${VSCODE_GIT_IPC_HANDLE:-}" || -n "${VSCODE_GIT_ASKPASS_NODE:-}" || -n "${VSCODE_IPC_HOOK_CLI:-}" ]]; then
+  is_vscode_git_context=1
+fi
+
+if [[ "$is_vscode_git_context" == "1" ]]; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+protected_branches_raw="${MUSAFETY_PROTECTED_BRANCHES:-$(git config --get multiagent.protectedBranches || true)}"
+if [[ -z "$protected_branches_raw" ]]; then
+  protected_branches_raw="dev main master"
+fi
+protected_branches_raw="${protected_branches_raw//,/ }"
+
+is_protected_branch() {
+  local branch="$1"
+  for protected_branch in $protected_branches_raw; do
+    if [[ "$branch" == "$protected_branch" ]]; then
+      return 0
+    fi
+  done
+  return 1
+}
+
+blocked_refs=()
+while IFS=' ' read -r local_ref local_sha remote_ref remote_sha; do
+  if [[ -z "${remote_ref:-}" || "$remote_ref" != refs/heads/* ]]; then
+    continue
+  fi
+
+  remote_branch="${remote_ref#refs/heads/}"
+  if is_protected_branch "$remote_branch"; then
+    blocked_refs+=("$remote_branch")
+  fi
+done
+
+if [[ "${#blocked_refs[@]}" -gt 0 ]]; then
+  {
+    echo "[agent-branch-guard] Push to protected branch blocked outside VS Code Git context."
+    echo "[agent-branch-guard] Protected target(s): ${blocked_refs[*]}"
+    echo "[agent-branch-guard] Use VS Code Source Control for protected-branch push, or push from an agent branch and merge via PR."
+    echo
+    echo "Temporary bypass (not recommended):"
+    echo "  ALLOW_PUSH_ON_PROTECTED_BRANCH=1 git push ..."
+  } >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/templates/scripts/agent-branch-finish.sh b/templates/scripts/agent-branch-finish.sh
index 012bf53..a076529 100755
--- a/templates/scripts/agent-branch-finish.sh
+++ b/templates/scripts/agent-branch-finish.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ BASE_BRANCH_EXPLICIT=0
 SOURCE_BRANCH=""
 PUSH_ENABLED=1
 DELETE_REMOTE_BRANCH=1
+MERGE_MODE="auto"
+GH_BIN="${MUSAFETY_GH_BIN:-gh}"
 
 while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
   case "$1" in
@@ -26,14 +28,34 @@ while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
       DELETE_REMOTE_BRANCH=0
       shift
       ;;
+    --mode)
+      MERGE_MODE="${2:-auto}"
+      shift 2
+      ;;
+    --via-pr)
+      MERGE_MODE="pr"
+      shift
+      ;;
+    --direct-only)
+      MERGE_MODE="direct"
+      shift
+      ;;
     *)
       echo "[agent-branch-finish] Unknown argument: $1" >&2
-      echo "Usage: $0 [--base <branch>] [--branch <branch>] [--no-push] [--keep-remote-branch]" >&2
+      echo "Usage: $0 [--base <branch>] [--branch <branch>] [--no-push] [--keep-remote-branch] [--mode auto|direct|pr|--via-pr|--direct-only]" >&2
       exit 1
       ;;
   esac
 done
 
+case "$MERGE_MODE" in
+  auto|direct|pr) ;;
+  *)
+    echo "[agent-branch-finish] Invalid --mode value: ${MERGE_MODE} (expected auto|direct|pr)" >&2
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
+
 if ! git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   echo "[agent-branch-finish] Not inside a git repository." >&2
   exit 1
@@ -169,8 +191,94 @@ if ! git -C "$integration_worktree" merge --no-ff --no-edit "$SOURCE_BRANCH"; th
   exit 1
 fi
 
+merge_completed=1
+merge_status="direct"
+direct_push_error=""
+pr_url=""
+
+run_pr_flow() {
+  if ! command -v "$GH_BIN" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "[agent-branch-finish] PR fallback requested but GitHub CLI not found: ${GH_BIN}" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  git -C "$source_worktree" push -u origin "$SOURCE_BRANCH"
+
+  pr_title="$(git -C "$repo_root" log -1 --pretty=%s "$SOURCE_BRANCH" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  if [[ -z "$pr_title" ]]; then
+    pr_title="Merge ${SOURCE_BRANCH} into ${BASE_BRANCH}"
+  fi
+  pr_body="Automated by scripts/agent-branch-finish.sh (PR flow)."
+
+  "$GH_BIN" pr create \
+    --base "$BASE_BRANCH" \
+    --head "$SOURCE_BRANCH" \
+    --title "$pr_title" \
+    --body "$pr_body" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+
+  pr_url="$("$GH_BIN" pr view "$SOURCE_BRANCH" --json url --jq '.url' 2>/dev/null || true)"
+
+  merge_output=""
+  if merge_output="$("$GH_BIN" pr merge "$SOURCE_BRANCH" --squash --delete-branch 2>&1)"; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  auto_output=""
+  if auto_output="$("$GH_BIN" pr merge "$SOURCE_BRANCH" --squash --delete-branch --auto 2>&1)"; then
+    echo "[agent-branch-finish] PR auto-merge enabled; waiting for required checks/reviews." >&2
+    return 2
+  fi
+
+  if [[ -n "$merge_output" ]]; then
+    echo "[agent-branch-finish] PR merge not completed yet; leaving PR open." >&2
+    echo "${merge_output}" >&2
+  fi
+  if [[ -n "$auto_output" ]]; then
+    echo "${auto_output}" >&2
+  fi
+  return 2
+}
+
 if [[ "$PUSH_ENABLED" -eq 1 ]]; then
-  git -C "$integration_worktree" push origin "HEAD:${BASE_BRANCH}"
+  if [[ "$MERGE_MODE" != "pr" ]]; then
+    if ! direct_push_output="$(git -C "$integration_worktree" push origin "HEAD:${BASE_BRANCH}" 2>&1)"; then
+      direct_push_error="$direct_push_output"
+      merge_completed=0
+    fi
+  else
+    merge_completed=0
+  fi
+
+  if [[ "$merge_completed" -eq 0 ]]; then
+    if [[ "$MERGE_MODE" == "direct" ]]; then
+      echo "[agent-branch-finish] Direct push/merge failed in --direct-only mode." >&2
+      if [[ -n "$direct_push_error" ]]; then
+        echo "$direct_push_error" >&2
+      fi
+      exit 1
+    fi
+
+    if run_pr_flow; then
+      merge_completed=1
+      merge_status="pr"
+    else
+      pr_exit=$?
+      if [[ "$pr_exit" -eq 2 ]]; then
+        echo "[agent-branch-finish] PR flow created/updated branch '${SOURCE_BRANCH}' against '${BASE_BRANCH}'." >&2
+        if [[ -n "$pr_url" ]]; then
+          echo "[agent-branch-finish] PR: ${pr_url}" >&2
+        fi
+        echo "[agent-branch-finish] Merge pending review/check policy. Branch cleanup skipped for now." >&2
+        exit 0
+      fi
+      echo "[agent-branch-finish] PR flow failed." >&2
+      if [[ -n "$direct_push_error" ]]; then
+        echo "[agent-branch-finish] Direct push failure details:" >&2
+        echo "$direct_push_error" >&2
+      fi
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  fi
 fi
 
 if [[ -x "${repo_root}/scripts/agent-file-locks.py" ]]; then
@@ -209,7 +317,7 @@ if [[ -x "${repo_root}/scripts/agent-worktree-prune.sh" ]]; then
   fi
 fi
 
-echo "[agent-branch-finish] Merged '${SOURCE_BRANCH}' into '${BASE_BRANCH}' and removed branch."
+echo "[agent-branch-finish] Merged '${SOURCE_BRANCH}' into '${BASE_BRANCH}' via ${merge_status} flow and removed branch."
 if [[ "$source_worktree" == "$current_worktree" && "$source_worktree" == "${repo_root}/.omx/agent-worktrees"/* ]]; then
   echo "[agent-branch-finish] Current worktree '${source_worktree}' still exists because it is the active shell cwd." >&2
   echo "[agent-branch-finish] Leave this directory, then run: bash scripts/agent-worktree-prune.sh --base ${BASE_BRANCH}" >&2