diff --git a/.changeset/decide-where-stored.md b/.changeset/decide-where-stored.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..351908f29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/decide-where-stored.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@bradygaster/squad-sdk": patch
+---
+
+`squad_decide` says where a decision went on a git-branch backend (`orphan`, `two-layer`): the path is a key on the `squad-state` branch, not a file in the working tree.
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7206bae77..2a54dde13 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@ Claude Code is the first host after GitHub Copilot where Squad uses the host's o
   - `.squad/squad.mjs` is a launcher Squad commits. It finds a Squad CLI on each machine: `SQUAD_CLI`, the project's `node_modules`, then `squad` on PATH. It skips a CLI older than the one that wrote it, and uses `npx` only with `SQUAD_ALLOW_NPX=1`. It shares its code with the plugin's launcher.
   - Claude hooks reach the launcher through `$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`. Standalone bundle installs write `squad state-mcp`. A CLI run through `npx` keeps the exact-version `npx` command.
   - `squad doctor` flags machine-specific launch commands and a missing launcher. Run `squad upgrade` once to fix an existing repository.
-- **Squad's own tools no longer prompt in Claude Code.** In a demo dry run, a fresh `squad init --client claude` project hit 13 permission prompts while casting the team, and the coordinator ended up hand-writing charters and asking the user to run `squad cast` themselves. `squad init` and `squad upgrade` now add a scoped allowlist to `.claude/settings.json`: the `squad_state` tools the coordinator uses, by name (never the experimental backend's approval tools), and `squad cast`, `squad client sync` `squad lockout reject` and `squad lockout status` (the steps that release a lockout, `assign`, `submit`, `approve` and `override`, still ask), as `squad …` and, when `.mcp.json` runs Squad's own launcher, as `node .squad/squad.mjs …`. Nothing else is allowed, and `squad cast` now refuses to write through a symbolic link. Your own rules come first and are never touched; Squad records the rules it added in `.claude/.squad-permissions.json`, and rollback removes only those, and `"claudePermissions": "off"` in `.squad/config.json` turns it off. Claude Code applies project allow rules only after the folder is trusted (the trust prompt on your first interactive `claude` run there). `squad init` now says so, and if a cast is still denied the coordinator stops and asks instead of retrying variants or hand-writing the team.
+- **Squad's own tools no longer prompt in Claude Code.** In a demo dry run, a fresh `squad init --client claude` project hit 13 permission prompts while casting the team, and the coordinator ended up hand-writing charters and asking the user to run `squad cast` themselves. `squad init` and `squad upgrade` now add a scoped allowlist to `.claude/settings.json`: the `squad_state` tools the coordinator uses, by name (never the experimental backend's approval tools), and `squad cast`, `squad client sync`, `squad lockout reject` and `squad lockout status` (the steps that release a lockout, `assign`, `submit`, `approve` and `override`, still ask), as `squad …` and, when `.mcp.json` runs Squad's own launcher, as `node .squad/squad.mjs …`. Nothing else is allowed, and `squad cast` now refuses to write through a symbolic link. Your own rules come first and are never touched; Squad records the rules it added in `.claude/.squad-permissions.json`, and rollback removes only those, and `"claudePermissions": "off"` in `.squad/config.json` turns it off. Claude Code applies project allow rules only after the folder is trusted (the trust prompt on your first interactive `claude` run there). `squad init` now says so, and if a cast is still denied the coordinator stops and asks instead of retrying variants or hand-writing the team.
+- **`squad_decide` says where a git-branch backend stored the decision.** In a live run on the `orphan` backend, the coordinator told the user the decision was in `.squad/decisions/inbox/…`, but it was only on the `squad-state` branch. The tool result now says the path is a key on that branch, so the coordinator reports it correctly.
 - **The reviewer gate runs on its own and means it.** In the same dry run, the coordinator declared a bug fix done without the lead's review even though `routing.md` named the lead as the approval gate; when asked, the lead listed six known gaps against the issue and still approved; and a reviewer's own fix went unreviewed. The non-Copilot coordinators now send every code or test change to the reviewer before calling it done, unasked; the reviewer is never an author, judges against the issue and the team's recorded decisions (a known gap against either is a REJECT, not an advisory), and code a reviewer writes needs a different reviewer. The coordinator also names a recorded decision when it shapes the work ("Per the team decision of <date>: …").
 - **Coordinators wait for a human's sign-off.** When `team.md` or `routing.md` says a human must sign off on work (a release, tag, publish, merge or deploy), the Claude, Kiro, OpenCode, Cursor, Codex and Antigravity coordinators no longer treat the request itself as the sign-off. They name the rule and the human, ask whether you are that human or have their sign-off, go ahead only on an explicit yes, and record it in the decisions inbox. In a non-interactive run they stop at the gate. Seen in a live test: asked to "cut the 1.0.0 release", the Claude coordinator used to bump, tag and run `npm publish` itself.
 - `squad_state` works when the team folder is reached through a symlink, such as macOS `/tmp` (really `/private/tmp`) or a linked team root. Squad stores the folder's resolved path but was given paths in the original spelling, so it refused reads and writes there with "Path traversal blocked". Paths that really leave the team folder, including through a symlink inside it, are still refused.
diff --git a/packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts b/packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts
index 463a2b477..aa5fe8971 100644
--- a/packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts
+++ b/packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts
@@ -392,6 +392,16 @@ export class ToolRegistry {
   private fanOutDepsGetter?: () => FanOutDependencies | undefined;
   private memoryStore: LocalMemoryStore;
   private backendName: string;
+  /**
+   * Where a write landed, for tool results: with a git-branch backend the path is a key on the
+   * `squad-state` branch, not a file in the working tree, and a coordinator reporting the path to
+   * the user said otherwise (live scenario, 2026-11-13).
+   */
+  private storedWhere(): string {
+    return this.backendName === 'orphan' || this.backendName === 'two-layer'
+      ? ` That path is a key on the \`squad-state\` git branch (${this.backendName} backend): it is stored only there, and there is no file in the working tree.`
+      : '';
+  }
   private runtimeVersion: string;
   private cliVersion: string;
   private launchMode: string;
@@ -654,7 +664,7 @@ export class ToolRegistry {
           this.storage.writeSync(filename, content);
 
           return {
-            textResultForLlm: `Decision written: ${inboxRel}/${authorSlug}-${slug}.md (ID: ${decisionId})`,
+            textResultForLlm: `Decision written: ${inboxRel}/${authorSlug}-${slug}.md (ID: ${decisionId})${this.storedWhere()}`,
             resultType: 'success',
             toolTelemetry: { decisionId, filename, slug, inbox: inboxRel },
           };
diff --git a/test/tools.test.ts b/test/tools.test.ts
index 6d87d7058..7213c7a0d 100644
--- a/test/tools.test.ts
+++ b/test/tools.test.ts
@@ -577,6 +577,25 @@ describe('squad_decide handler', () => {
 
 // #1256: on-behalf-of authors with spaces/parens/etc must be accepted;
 //        filename must be slugified; author > 200 chars must be rejected.
+describe('squad_decide says where a git-branch backend stored the decision (live scenario, 2026-11-13)', () => {
+  const testRoot = path.join('.', '.test-squad-decide-where-' + randomUUID());
+  afterEach(() => fs.rmSync(testRoot, { recursive: true, force: true }));
+  const decide = (registry: ToolRegistry) =>
+    registry.getTool('squad_decide')!.handler(
+      { author: 'fenster', summary: 'Use ESM', body: 'Named exports only.' } as DecisionRecord,
+      { sessionId: 's', toolCallId: 't', toolName: 'squad_decide', arguments: {} },
+    );
+
+  it('names the squad-state branch for orphan and two-layer, and adds nothing for local', async () => {
+    for (const backendName of ['orphan', 'two-layer']) {
+      const r = await decide(new ToolRegistry(testRoot, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, { backendName }));
+      expect(r.textResultForLlm).toContain(`That path is a key on the \`squad-state\` git branch (${backendName} backend): it is stored only there, and there is no file in the working tree.`);
+    }
+    const local = await decide(new ToolRegistry(testRoot));
+    expect(local.textResultForLlm).not.toMatch(/squad-state/);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('squad_decide author validation (Issue #1256)', () => {
   let registry: ToolRegistry;
   let testRoot: string;