diff --git a/cmd/nomos/store.go b/cmd/nomos/store.go
index a3f3265..4a00f80 100644
--- a/cmd/nomos/store.go
+++ b/cmd/nomos/store.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"log/slog"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
@@ -37,10 +38,18 @@ func (s *store) close() {
 	}
 }
 
+// session is a chat session elevated to a task: goal-structured work with a
+// lifecycle status and an outcome (see migration 018 / the task-board plan).
+// Outcome/Summary/EntityID are empty until set, hence omitempty.
 type session struct {
 	ID           string    `json:"id"`
 	Title        string    `json:"title"`
 	Actor        string    `json:"actor"`
+	Goal         string    `json:"goal"`
+	Status       string    `json:"status"`
+	Outcome      string    `json:"outcome,omitempty"`
+	Summary      string    `json:"summary,omitempty"`
+	EntityID     string    `json:"entity_id,omitempty"`
 	CreatedAt    time.Time `json:"created_at"`
 	LastActiveAt time.Time `json:"last_active_at"`
 }
@@ -55,7 +64,7 @@ type message struct {
 
 func (s *store) createSession(ctx context.Context, title string) (*session, error) {
 	if s == nil {
-		return &session{ID: "ephemeral", Title: title, Actor: "agent:nomos"}, nil
+		return &session{ID: "ephemeral", Title: title, Actor: "agent:nomos", Status: "active"}, nil
 	}
 	var id string
 	err := s.pool.QueryRow(ctx,
@@ -64,7 +73,38 @@ func (s *store) createSession(ctx context.Context, title string) (*session, erro
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	return &session{ID: id, Title: title, Actor: "agent:nomos", CreatedAt: time.Now(), LastActiveAt: time.Now()}, nil
+	// Give the task its own entity so knowledge and involved-entity edges hang
+	// off the existing relationships graph. Best-effort: a failure here must not
+	// block the chat — the session is usable without a graph anchor.
+	entityID := s.createTaskEntity(ctx, id, title)
+	return &session{ID: id, Title: title, Actor: "agent:nomos", Status: "active",
+		EntityID: entityID, CreatedAt: time.Now(), LastActiveAt: time.Now()}, nil
+}
+
+// createTaskEntity creates (or reuses) the task:<session-id> entity that
+// anchors this task's knowledge and involved-entity relationships, and records
+// it on the session. Returns the entity id, or "" on failure — non-fatal, see
+// caller. Requires the 'task' entity type (seeds/ontology.yaml).
+func (s *store) createTaskEntity(ctx context.Context, sessionID, title string) string {
+	entityID, _ := uuid.NewV7()
+	slug := "task:" + sessionID
+	// name is UNIQUE(type,name) and chat titles collide ("hi" ×6), so key the
+	// name on the session id and keep the human title in attributes for display.
+	name := "task " + sessionID
+	attrs, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"title": title})
+	if err := s.pool.QueryRow(ctx, `
+		INSERT INTO entities (id, slug, type, name, attributes)
+		VALUES ($1, $2, 'task', $3, $4)
+		ON CONFLICT (slug) DO UPDATE SET updated_at = now()
+		RETURNING id`, entityID, slug, name, string(attrs)).Scan(&entityID); err != nil {
+		slog.Warn("nomos: could not create task entity", "session", sessionID, "error", err)
+		return ""
+	}
+	if _, err := s.pool.Exec(ctx,
+		`UPDATE agent_sessions SET entity_id = $1 WHERE id = $2`, entityID, sessionID); err != nil {
+		slog.Warn("nomos: could not link task entity", "session", sessionID, "error", err)
+	}
+	return entityID.String()
 }
 
 func (s *store) saveMessage(ctx context.Context, sessionID, role string, content json.RawMessage) error {
@@ -151,7 +191,9 @@ func (s *store) listSessions(ctx context.Context) ([]session, error) {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
 	rows, err := s.pool.Query(ctx,
-		`SELECT id, title, actor, created_at, last_active_at FROM agent_sessions ORDER BY last_active_at DESC LIMIT 50`)
+		`SELECT id, title, actor, goal, status, COALESCE(outcome, ''), summary,
+		        COALESCE(entity_id::text, ''), created_at, last_active_at
+		 FROM agent_sessions ORDER BY last_active_at DESC LIMIT 50`)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -160,7 +202,8 @@ func (s *store) listSessions(ctx context.Context) ([]session, error) {
 	var out []session
 	for rows.Next() {
 		var sess session
-		if err := rows.Scan(&sess.ID, &sess.Title, &sess.Actor, &sess.CreatedAt, &sess.LastActiveAt); err != nil {
+		if err := rows.Scan(&sess.ID, &sess.Title, &sess.Actor, &sess.Goal, &sess.Status,
+			&sess.Outcome, &sess.Summary, &sess.EntityID, &sess.CreatedAt, &sess.LastActiveAt); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		out = append(out, sess)
diff --git a/migrations/018_tasks.up.sql b/migrations/018_tasks.up.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3f5f31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/018_tasks.up.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+-- 018_tasks.up.sql
+-- Elevate a chat session into a "task": a goal-structured unit of work with a
+-- lifecycle status, an outcome, and a one-line summary — the first-class object
+-- the task board and the live context panel render. See
+-- plans/2026-07-11-goal-oriented-chat-control-panel.md.
+--
+-- entity_id links the session to its OWN entity (type 'task', registered in
+-- seeds/ontology.yaml) so knowledge notes and involved-entity edges hang off
+-- the existing relationships graph unchanged — get_relations and
+-- get_entity_knowledge just work. Intentionally no hard FK (mirrors 017's
+-- decoupling): a race between task-entity creation and the session insert must
+-- not be able to break the session.
+
+ALTER TABLE agent_sessions ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS goal      TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '';
+ALTER TABLE agent_sessions ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS status    TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'active';
+ALTER TABLE agent_sessions ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS outcome   TEXT;
+ALTER TABLE agent_sessions ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS summary   TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '';
+ALTER TABLE agent_sessions ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS entity_id UUID;
+
+-- Ordered plan steps. A step is a described unit of work that maps to a
+-- run/request_execution call (no fixed step enum, per general-gated-execution).
+-- execution_id is the gated action a step runs, if any; its terminal status
+-- auto-closes the step server-side.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS session_plan_steps (
+    id           UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
+    session_id   UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES agent_sessions(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+    seq          INT  NOT NULL,
+    title        TEXT NOT NULL,
+    detail       TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
+    status       TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'pending',
+                 -- pending | running | done | failed | skipped | blocked
+    execution_id UUID,
+    target_slug  TEXT,
+    started_at   TIMESTAMPTZ,
+    finished_at  TIMESTAMPTZ,
+    created_at   TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now()
+);
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_plan_steps_session ON session_plan_steps(session_id, seq);
+
+-- Structured decisions the agent surfaces to the operator mid-task. context
+-- carries { entities:[], options:[], why:"" } for the pinned question card.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS session_questions (
+    id          UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
+    session_id  UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES agent_sessions(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+    prompt      TEXT NOT NULL,
+    context     JSONB NOT NULL DEFAULT '{}',
+    status      TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'open',   -- open | answered | dismissed
+    answer      TEXT,
+    created_at  TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT now(),
+    answered_at TIMESTAMPTZ
+);
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_questions_session_open
+    ON session_questions(session_id) WHERE status = 'open';
diff --git a/seeds/ontology.yaml b/seeds/ontology.yaml
index 9e3b64e..4cdb4e0 100644
--- a/seeds/ontology.yaml
+++ b/seeds/ontology.yaml
@@ -641,6 +641,14 @@ entity_types:
     domain: cognition
     layer: cognition
     description: Recorded investigation/postmortem.
+  task:
+    parent: entity
+    domain: cognition
+    layer: cognition
+    description: A goal-structured unit of agent work — one chat/session elevated
+      to a task with a plan, lifecycle status, and outcome. Anchors the knowledge
+      and involved-entity relationships for the task so future tasks can learn
+      from it. Typed rows in agent_sessions.
 
 # ─── Relationship types ────────────────────────────────────────────────
 # cardinality is source→target: e.g. `hosts` one-to-many = one machine
@@ -928,6 +936,14 @@ relationship_types:
     target: entity
     cardinality: many-to-one
     description: Document describes an entity.
+  involves:
+    inverse: involved-in
+    source: task
+    target: entity
+    cardinality: many-to-many
+    description: Task explored or acted on an entity (captured from its tool
+      calls). A task's involved-entity set is its graph neighborhood, so future
+      tasks on the same entities can surface this task's knowledge and outcome.
   procedure-for:
     inverse: has-procedure
     source: runbook