diff --git a/workspace/a2a_client.py b/workspace/a2a_client.py
index 7cd151bf..16eb4b9c 100644
--- a/workspace/a2a_client.py
+++ b/workspace/a2a_client.py
@@ -584,6 +584,24 @@ async def send_a2a_message(peer_id: str, message: str, source_workspace_id: str
                     else:
                         detail = "JSON-RPC error with no message"
                     return f"{_A2A_ERROR_PREFIX}{detail} [target={target_url}]"
+                elif data.get("status") == "queued" and data.get("delivery_mode") == "poll":
+                    # Workspace-server's poll-mode short-circuit envelope
+                    # (workspace-server/internal/handlers/a2a_proxy.go ~line 402).
+                    # The peer is poll-mode and has no URL to dispatch to, so
+                    # the server queued the message for the peer's next inbox
+                    # poll instead of forwarding it. Delivery is acknowledged
+                    # but pending consumption.
+                    #
+                    # Pre-fix this fell through to the "unexpected response
+                    # shape" error path → callers logged false failures, then
+                    # delegate_task retried, and the peer received duplicate
+                    # delegations. Issue #2967.
+                    method = data.get("method") or "message/send"
+                    logger.info(
+                        "send_a2a_message: queued for poll-mode peer (method=%s, target=%s)",
+                        method, target_url,
+                    )
+                    return f"queued for poll-mode peer (method={method})"
                 return f"{_A2A_ERROR_PREFIX}unexpected response shape (no result, no error): {str(data)[:200]} [target={target_url}]"
             except _TRANSIENT_HTTP_ERRORS as e:
                 last_exc = e
diff --git a/workspace/tests/test_a2a_client.py b/workspace/tests/test_a2a_client.py
index f667ed95..068fbffd 100644
--- a/workspace/tests/test_a2a_client.py
+++ b/workspace/tests/test_a2a_client.py
@@ -273,6 +273,87 @@ class TestSendA2AMessage:
         assert _TEST_PEER_ID in result
         assert "/workspaces/" in result and "/a2a" in result
 
+    async def test_poll_queued_envelope_returns_success_string(self):
+        """Issue #2967: workspace-server's poll-mode short-circuit returns
+        {status:"queued", delivery_mode:"poll", method:...} when the peer
+        has no URL to dispatch to. Pre-fix the bare send_a2a_message parser
+        only knew about JSON-RPC {result, error} keys, so this fell through
+        to the 'unexpected response shape' error path → callers retried,
+        peer got duplicate delegations.
+
+        Pin: poll-queued envelope returns a clean success string that does
+        NOT start with _A2A_ERROR_PREFIX, so callers route it through the
+        normal-outcome path. Verified discriminating: assert_NOT_startswith
+        the error prefix would FAIL on the old code (which returned an
+        error-prefixed string) and PASSES on the new code.
+        """
+        import a2a_client
+
+        resp = _make_response(200, {
+            "status": "queued",
+            "delivery_mode": "poll",
+            "method": "message/send",
+        })
+        mock_client = _make_mock_client(post_resp=resp)
+
+        with patch("a2a_client.httpx.AsyncClient", return_value=mock_client):
+            result = await a2a_client.send_a2a_message(_TEST_PEER_ID, "task")
+
+        # Discriminating: pre-fix returned a string that startswith
+        # _A2A_ERROR_PREFIX, so this assertion would have FAILED on the
+        # old code. New code returns a queued-success string.
+        assert not result.startswith(a2a_client._A2A_ERROR_PREFIX), (
+            f"poll-queued envelope must not be tagged as A2A error; got: {result!r}"
+        )
+        assert "queued" in result.lower()
+        assert "poll" in result.lower()
+        # The method is included so a structured-log scraper can route by
+        # protocol verb if needed.
+        assert "message/send" in result
+
+    async def test_poll_queued_envelope_with_other_method(self):
+        """Same envelope but a different a2a_method (the future could add
+        message/sendStream or similar). Pin that the parser doesn't hardcode
+        message/send — whatever method the server echoed is preserved.
+        """
+        import a2a_client
+
+        resp = _make_response(200, {
+            "status": "queued",
+            "delivery_mode": "poll",
+            "method": "message/sendStream",
+        })
+        mock_client = _make_mock_client(post_resp=resp)
+
+        with patch("a2a_client.httpx.AsyncClient", return_value=mock_client):
+            result = await a2a_client.send_a2a_message(_TEST_PEER_ID, "task")
+
+        assert not result.startswith(a2a_client._A2A_ERROR_PREFIX)
+        assert "message/sendStream" in result
+
+    async def test_status_queued_without_poll_mode_still_falls_through(self):
+        """Defensive: only the {status:"queued", delivery_mode:"poll"} pair
+        triggers the queued-success branch. A response with status:"queued"
+        but a different delivery_mode (or none) is still 'unexpected' —
+        we don't want to silently swallow a future server bug that emits
+        a partial envelope. Pin both keys are required.
+        """
+        import a2a_client
+
+        resp = _make_response(200, {
+            "status": "queued",
+            # delivery_mode missing
+            "method": "message/send",
+        })
+        mock_client = _make_mock_client(post_resp=resp)
+
+        with patch("a2a_client.httpx.AsyncClient", return_value=mock_client):
+            result = await a2a_client.send_a2a_message(_TEST_PEER_ID, "task")
+
+        # Falls through — must STILL be tagged as error.
+        assert result.startswith(a2a_client._A2A_ERROR_PREFIX)
+        assert "unexpected response shape" in result
+
     async def test_exception_returns_error_prefix_and_message(self):
         """Network exception → returns _A2A_ERROR_PREFIX + exception text."""
         import a2a_client