diff --git a/src/api/routes.ts b/src/api/routes.ts
index 8db71ad86c..19a9e5f04f 100644
--- a/src/api/routes.ts
+++ b/src/api/routes.ts
@@ -2030,7 +2030,7 @@ export function createApp() {
     const fullName = `${c.req.param("owner")}/${c.req.param("repo")}`;
     const decision = c.req.param("decision");
     if (decision !== "accept" && decision !== "reject") return c.json({ error: "invalid_decision", detail: "decision must be 'accept' or 'reject'" }, 400);
-    const gate = await requireRepoMaintainer(c, fullName);
+    const gate = await requireRepoWriteAccess(c, fullName);
     /* v8 ignore next -- unauthorized requests are rejected by the auth middleware before reaching the handler. */
     if (gate instanceof Response) return gate;
     const pending = await getPendingAgentAction(c.env, c.req.param("id"));
diff --git a/src/mcp/server.ts b/src/mcp/server.ts
index ec60cea129..8b3bf69ec0 100644
--- a/src/mcp/server.ts
+++ b/src/mcp/server.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import {
 } from "../db/repositories";
 import { buildNotificationFeed } from "../notifications/service";
 import { contributorRepoStatsFromGittensor, fetchGittensorContributorSnapshot } from "../gittensor/api";
+import { getRepositoryCollaboratorPermission } from "../github/app";
 import { fetchPublicContributorProfile } from "../github/public";
 import { listLatestRegistrySnapshots } from "../registry/sync";
 import { getOrCreateScoringModelSnapshot, isTimeDecayEnabled } from "../scoring/model";
@@ -336,6 +337,11 @@ const proposeActionShape = {
   mergeMethod: z.enum(["merge", "squash", "rebase"]).optional(),
   closeComment: z.string().max(60000).optional(),
 };
+
+// GitHub permissions that imply real write access to a repo. Cached PR author_association can report
+// MEMBER/COLLABORATOR for users without push permission, so write-capable MCP surfaces must verify live.
+const REPO_WRITE_PERMISSIONS = new Set(["admin", "maintain", "write"]);
+
 const proposeActionOutputSchema = {
   created: z.boolean().optional(),
   action: z
@@ -1520,8 +1526,20 @@ export class GittensoryMcp {
   private async requireRepoManageAccess(repoFullName: string): Promise<void> {
     if (this.identity.kind !== "session") return;
     const scope = await this.loadSessionAccessScope();
-    if (scope.operator || scope.repositoryFullNames.includes(repoFullName)) return;
-    throw new Error("Forbidden: maintainer access is required to propose an action on this repository.");
+    if (scope.operator) return;
+
+    const repo = await getRepository(this.env, repoFullName);
+    const installationId = repo?.installationId ?? null;
+    let permission: string | null = null;
+    if (installationId !== null) {
+      try {
+        permission = await getRepositoryCollaboratorPermission(this.env, installationId, repoFullName, this.identity.actor);
+      } catch {
+        permission = null;
+      }
+    }
+    if (permission && REPO_WRITE_PERMISSIONS.has(permission)) return;
+    throw new Error("Forbidden: write access is required to propose an action on this repository.");
   }
 
   // Issue-watch gate (#699 path B). Sessions may only watch repos they can SEE: any gittensory-tracked PUBLIC
diff --git a/test/unit/mcp-automation-state.test.ts b/test/unit/mcp-automation-state.test.ts
index 359dbf4837..e039e342c4 100644
--- a/test/unit/mcp-automation-state.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/mcp-automation-state.test.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,23 @@
 import { Client } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client/index.js";
 import { InMemoryTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/inMemory.js";
-import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { GittensoryMcp } from "../../src/mcp/server";
-import { createPendingAgentActionIfAbsent, listPendingAgentActions, upsertInstallation, upsertRepositoryFromGitHub, upsertRepositorySettings } from "../../src/db/repositories";
+import { getRepositoryCollaboratorPermission } from "../../src/github/app";
+import { createPendingAgentActionIfAbsent, listPendingAgentActions, upsertInstallation, upsertPullRequestFromGitHub, upsertRepositoryFromGitHub, upsertRepositorySettings } from "../../src/db/repositories";
 import type { AuthIdentity } from "../../src/auth/security";
 import { createTestEnv } from "../helpers/d1";
 
+vi.mock("../../src/github/app", async (importOriginal) => ({
+  ...(await importOriginal<typeof import("../../src/github/app")>()),
+  getRepositoryCollaboratorPermission: vi.fn(),
+}));
+const mockedPermission = vi.mocked(getRepositoryCollaboratorPermission);
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  mockedPermission.mockReset();
+  mockedPermission.mockResolvedValue("write");
+});
+
 async function connect(env: Env, identity?: AuthIdentity) {
   const server = (identity ? new GittensoryMcp(env, identity) : new GittensoryMcp(env)).createServer();
   const [clientTransport, serverTransport] = InMemoryTransport.createLinkedPair();
@@ -118,13 +130,33 @@ describe("MCP gittensory_propose_action (#784)", () => {
     expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch(/not installed/i);
   });
 
-  it("forbids a session without maintainer access to the repo", async () => {
+  it("forbids a session without live GitHub write access to the repo", async () => {
     const env = createTestEnv();
     await upsertRepositoryFromGitHub(env, { name: "repo", full_name: "owner/repo", private: false, owner: { login: "owner" } }, 5);
+    mockedPermission.mockResolvedValue("read");
     const client = await connect(env, { kind: "session", actor: "rando" } as AuthIdentity);
     const result = await client.callTool({ name: "gittensory_propose_action", arguments: { owner: "owner", repo: "repo", pullNumber: 7, actionClass: "merge" } });
     expect(result.isError).toBe(true);
-    expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch(/maintainer access/i);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch(/write access/i);
+    expect(await listPendingAgentActions(env, { repoFullName: "owner/repo" })).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it("does not trust cached collaborator association without live write permission", async () => {
+    const env = createTestEnv();
+    await upsertInstallation(env, {
+      installation: { id: 5, account: { login: "owner", id: 1, type: "User" }, repository_selection: "selected", permissions: { metadata: "read", pull_requests: "write" }, events: ["pull_request"] },
+      repositories: [{ name: "repo", full_name: "owner/repo", private: false, owner: { login: "owner" } }],
+    });
+    await upsertRepositoryFromGitHub(env, { name: "repo", full_name: "owner/repo", private: false, owner: { login: "owner" } }, 5);
+    await upsertPullRequestFromGitHub(env, "owner/repo", { number: 7, title: "x", state: "open", user: { login: "reader" }, author_association: "COLLABORATOR", head: { sha: "sha" } });
+    mockedPermission.mockResolvedValue("read");
+
+    const client = await connect(env, { kind: "session", actor: "reader" } as AuthIdentity);
+    const result = await client.callTool({ name: "gittensory_propose_action", arguments: { owner: "owner", repo: "repo", pullNumber: 7, actionClass: "merge" } });
+
+    expect(result.isError).toBe(true);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch(/write access/i);
+    expect(mockedPermission).toHaveBeenCalledWith(env, 5, "owner/repo", "reader");
     expect(await listPendingAgentActions(env, { repoFullName: "owner/repo" })).toHaveLength(0);
   });
 });