diff --git a/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry.go b/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry.go
index 3e4bca7d..28ea327e 100644
--- a/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry.go
+++ b/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry.go
@@ -898,10 +898,18 @@ func (h *RegistryHandler) Heartbeat(c *gin.Context) {
 	// flip, independent of evaluateStatus. evaluateStatus still owns the OTHER
 	// recovery transitions (offline/degraded/awaiting_agent/failed→online),
 	// which the inline CASE does not touch.
+	//
+	// IMPORTANT (enum scan): `status` is a NOT-NULL `workspace_status` ENUM.
+	// Do NOT wrap it in COALESCE(status, '') — the '' literal is coerced to
+	// the enum type and Postgres rejects it with `invalid input value for
+	// enum workspace_status: ""`, failing the WHOLE row scan. That left
+	// prevStatus = "" on every heartbeat, so the prevStatus=='provisioning'
+	// reconcile trigger NEVER fired (the #32 regression returned). Select the
+	// column bare; it is never NULL.
 	var prevTask string
 	var prevSpend int64
 	var prevStatus string
-	if err := db.DB.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT COALESCE(current_task, ''), COALESCE(monthly_spend, 0), COALESCE(status, '') FROM workspaces WHERE id = $1`, payload.WorkspaceID).Scan(&prevTask, &prevSpend, &prevStatus); err != nil {
+	if err := db.DB.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT COALESCE(current_task, ''), COALESCE(monthly_spend, 0), status FROM workspaces WHERE id = $1`, payload.WorkspaceID).Scan(&prevTask, &prevSpend, &prevStatus); err != nil {
 		log.Printf("registry heartbeat: prev_task query failed for workspace %s: %v", payload.WorkspaceID, err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry_test.go b/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry_test.go
index 5104d92b..43bbde06 100644
--- a/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry_test.go
+++ b/workspace-server/internal/handlers/registry_test.go
@@ -271,7 +271,14 @@ func TestHeartbeatHandler_ProvisioningToOnline(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// prevTask + prevStatus SELECT — prevStatus='provisioning' is the state a
 	// freshly-created workspace is in before its first heartbeat.
-	mock.ExpectQuery("SELECT COALESCE\\(current_task").
+	//
+	// The matcher pins `status` selected BARE (not COALESCE-wrapped): `status`
+	// is a NOT-NULL workspace_status ENUM, and COALESCE(status, '') coerces ''
+	// to the enum → Postgres `invalid input value for enum workspace_status: ""`
+	// → the whole row scan fails → prevStatus stays "" → this reconcile trigger
+	// NEVER fires (the live #32 regression). Requiring `, status FROM workspaces`
+	// here makes a re-introduced COALESCE(status, ...) fail this unit test.
+	mock.ExpectQuery("SELECT COALESCE\\(current_task, ''\\), COALESCE\\(monthly_spend, 0\\), status FROM workspaces").
 		WithArgs("ws-provisioning").
 		WillReturnRows(sqlmock.NewRows([]string{"current_task", "monthly_spend", "status"}).AddRow("", 0, "provisioning"))