diff --git a/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts b/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts
index 8357d080c5..f8b8af1b15 100644
--- a/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/v2-layout-invariants.test.ts
@@ -2063,12 +2063,34 @@ describe('v2 layout invariants (CSS rule presence)', () => {
       expect(thread).toContain('noAgentsHint={noAgentsInPodLive ? noAgentsHint : null}');
       expect(threadMessages).toContain('className="v2-chat__no-agents"');
       expect(threadMessages).toContain('podChat.noAgentsInPod.action');
-      expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-chat__no-agents')).toContain('margin: -4px 0 8px 50px');
+      // The box lives in the ONE shared side-row slot rule (with the delivery
+      // hint); the derivation from `.v2-msg`'s grid is pinned by the next test.
+      const slot = v2.slice(
+        v2.indexOf('.v2-chat__delivery-hint,\n.v2-chat__no-agents {'),
+        v2.indexOf('}', v2.indexOf('.v2-chat__delivery-hint,\n.v2-chat__no-agents {')),
+      );
+      expect(slot).toContain('margin: -4px 0 8px 36px');
+      expect(slot).toContain('width: calc(100% - 36px)');
+      // Their box is declared exactly once in the sheet — the shared slot — so
+      // there is no second copy left for the cascade to pick between. The
+      // margin pair is unique to this slot; `width: calc(100% - 36px)` is not
+      // asserted globally because `.v2-thread-block` carries a complement of
+      // its own one indent over.
+      expect(v2.match(/margin: -4px 0 8px 36px;/g) || []).toHaveLength(1);
+      // And neither row's own block restates a box. `ruleBody` cannot answer
+      // this: it takes the FIRST line-start match, and the shared rule's second
+      // selector line is itself a line-start `.v2-chat__no-agents {`, so it
+      // reports the shared rule as the row's own — the TASK-140 trap, one file
+      // over. lastIndexOf reaches the standalone block.
+      for (const selector of ['\n.v2-chat__delivery-hint {', '\n.v2-chat__no-agents {']) {
+        const from = v2.lastIndexOf(selector);
+        expect(from).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+        expect(v2.slice(from, v2.indexOf('}', from))).not.toMatch(/(^|\s)(margin|width):/);
+      }
       // `.v2-chat__messages > *` sets width: 100%, so the 50px indent must come
       // OUT of the width. Without this the row overruns the pane by 50px and the
       // full-width phone act and the body line are cut (ux-lead's 390 shot).
       expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-chat__messages > *')).toContain('width: 100%');
-      expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-chat__no-agents')).toContain('width: calc(100% - 50px)');
       expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-chat__no-agents-kicker')).toContain('font-size: 11px');
       expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-chat__no-agents-kicker')).toContain('text-transform: lowercase');
       expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-chat__no-agents-body')).toContain('color: var(--v2-text-secondary)');
@@ -2081,6 +2103,51 @@ describe('v2 layout invariants (CSS rule presence)', () => {
       expect(phone).not.toMatch(/[^-]height: 44px/);
     });
 
+    test('both chat side-rows share one slot whose indent is the message text column', () => {
+      // ux-lead's TASK-150 ruling: the delivery cue and the no-agent row must
+      // land on the message text column — derived from the grid those rows'
+      // own messages actually use, not a number by assumption. This guard reads
+      // the avatar track and the gap out of the rule in play and compares; if
+      // that column moves and the slot rule stays put, the suite fails instead
+      // of the two edges quietly parting.
+      //
+      // The grid in play is the THREAD override, not the base `.v2-msg` rule:
+      // these rows only ever render as siblings of a message inside
+      // `.v2-thread`, where `.v2-thread .v2-msg` (0,3,0) replaces the base grid
+      // (0,1,0). Deriving from the base rule is the mistake this rule shipped
+      // with — it read 38 + 12 = 50 and the gate measured both rows 14px right
+      // of `.v2-msg__content` at 390, 720 and 1440; 36px put them on it
+      // (ux-lead verified by injection on their fixture, right edge and
+      // scrollWidth unchanged).
+      const at = v2.indexOf('.v2-chat__delivery-hint,\n.v2-chat__no-agents {');
+      expect(at).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+      const slot = v2.slice(v2.indexOf('{', at) + 1, v2.indexOf('}', at));
+      const threadGrid = ruleBody(v2, '.v2-thread .v2-msg');
+      const lead = /grid-template-columns:\s*(\d+)px/.exec(threadGrid);
+      const gap = /(?:^|\s)gap:\s*(\d+)px/.exec(threadGrid);
+      expect(lead?.[1]).toBe('28');
+      expect(gap?.[1]).toBe('8');
+      const indent = `${Number(lead?.[1]) + Number(gap?.[1])}px`;
+      expect(indent).toBe('36px');
+      // The base grid is deliberately NOT the target. Without this line a
+      // future reader finds 38 + 12 = 50 unreferenced and "corrects" the slot
+      // back to it, which is exactly how this shipped wrong the first time.
+      expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-msg')).toContain('grid-template-columns: 38px');
+      expect(slot).toContain(`margin: -4px 0 8px ${indent};`);
+      expect(slot).toContain(`width: calc(100% - ${indent});`);
+      // Neither row restates its own box any more. A second declaration is
+      // exactly how the two drifted apart, and last-in-sheet-wins would pick
+      // between them silently — the delivery cue is the one that never had the
+      // width complement at all.
+      expect(ruleBody(v2, '.v2-chat__delivery-hint')).not.toMatch(/(^|\s)(margin|width):/);
+      // The phone block that carries the transcript must not restate the slot:
+      // the ≤760 act override is a BUTTON rule, and a row-level geometry rule in
+      // there would outrank the shared rule exactly where it matters (390).
+      const phone = mediaBlockContaining(v2, '.v2-chat__messages');
+      expect(phone).toContain('padding-inline: 14px');
+      expect(phone).not.toMatch(/\.v2-chat__(?:delivery-hint|no-agents)/);
+    });
+
     test('pod focus keeps one bounded panel above the existing board and stays usable on phones', () => {
       expect(podBoard).toContain('className="v2-board__focus"');
       expect(podBoard).toContain('v2-board__focus-editor');
diff --git a/frontend/src/v2/v2.css b/frontend/src/v2/v2.css
index 40d3246e51..143aa6d1e0 100644
--- a/frontend/src/v2/v2.css
+++ b/frontend/src/v2/v2.css
@@ -1818,9 +1818,10 @@ body.modern-ui.v2-canvas {
 
 /* Sender-only teaching cue shown once per pod/session when a message reaches
    a pod with agents but addresses none of them. Aligns with message text,
-   stays quiet/secondary, and disappears naturally with transcript scroll. */
+   stays quiet/secondary, and disappears naturally with transcript scroll.
+   Box geometry is NOT here: it belongs to the side-row slot rule below, which
+   this row shares with the no-agent row. */
 .v2-chat__delivery-hint {
-  margin: -4px 0 8px 50px;
   color: var(--v2-text-tertiary);
   font-size: 12px;
   line-height: 1.4;
@@ -1831,6 +1832,38 @@ body.modern-ui.v2-canvas {
   font-weight: 600;
 }
 
+/* The transcript's two side-rows — the sender-only delivery cue above and the
+   no-agent row below — occupy ONE slot, and that slot IS the message text
+   column of the transcript they sit in. Both are siblings of `.v2-msg` inside
+   `.v2-chat__messages`, so the indent is the avatar track plus the gap of the
+   rule that governs those rows HERE, which is the thread override
+   `.v2-thread .v2-msg { grid-template-columns: 28px minmax(0, 1fr); gap: 8px }`
+   — 28 + 8 = 36, NOT the base `.v2-msg` grid (38 + 12 = 50), which that
+   override replaces (0,3,0 beats 0,1,0). The first cut of this rule derived
+   from the base grid and was 14px out; ux-lead's #1860 gate measured it at
+   390, 720 and 1440 — 50px put both rows 14px right of `.v2-msg__content`,
+   36px put them on it (injection on their fixture, right edge and scrollWidth
+   unchanged). Both placements of these rows share their message's container
+   (transcript level, or inside a `.v2-thread-block` for a thread root), so the
+   same relative indent holds in both.
+
+   The width subtracts the same indent: `.v2-chat__messages > *` sets
+   width: 100%, so an indent without its complement overruns the pane by exactly
+   the indent. That was the #1846 defect — at 390 the full-width act ran 64→426
+   and the body line was cut (ux-lead's shot, 2026-09-23) — and Sam hit the same
+   class one indent over on `.v2-thread-block` (2026-08-24): indent + width must
+   sum to 100%.
+
+   One rule for both rows, so they cannot drift apart again: this is the only
+   place either row's box is declared, and v2-layout-invariants.test.ts derives
+   the expected indent from `.v2-thread .v2-msg`'s own grid, so moving that
+   column fails the suite instead of silently misaligning these rows. */
+.v2-chat__delivery-hint,
+.v2-chat__no-agents {
+  width: calc(100% - 36px);
+  margin: -4px 0 8px 36px;
+}
+
 /* The delivery hint above requires an agent to name (`agentsInPod > 0`), which
    leaves out the pod where nothing can answer at all — a team pod with no agent
    installed. This row sits in the same slot under the sent message, says why
@@ -1841,13 +1874,8 @@ body.modern-ui.v2-canvas {
   flex-direction: column;
   align-items: flex-start;
   gap: 6px;
-  /* `.v2-chat__messages > *` sets width: 100%, so the 50px indent below has to
-     be subtracted or the row overruns the pane by exactly 50px: at 390 the
-     full-width act ran 64→426 and the body line was cut (ux-lead's shot,
-     2026-09-23). Same rule as `.v2-thread-block` below — indent + width must
-     sum to 100% (Sam, 2026-08-24, the same bug one indent over). */
-  width: calc(100% - 50px);
-  margin: -4px 0 8px 50px;
+  /* Box geometry lives in the shared side-row slot rule above, next to the
+     delivery cue it shares the slot with. */
 }
 
 .v2-chat__no-agents-kicker {