diff --git a/get-shit-done/workflows/discuss-phase.md b/get-shit-done/workflows/discuss-phase.md
index 2a663bc4a..df4d546db 100644
--- a/get-shit-done/workflows/discuss-phase.md
+++ b/get-shit-done/workflows/discuss-phase.md
@@ -607,42 +607,16 @@ Display banner:
  GSD ► AUTO-ADVANCING TO PLAN
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 
-Context captured. Spawning plan-phase...
+Context captured. Launching plan-phase...
 ```
 
-Spawn plan-phase as Task with direct workflow file reference (do NOT use Skill tool — Skills don't resolve inside Task subagents):
+Launch plan-phase using the Skill tool to avoid nested Task sessions (which cause runtime freezes due to deep agent nesting — see #686):
 ```
-Task(
-  prompt="
-    <objective>
-    You are the plan-phase orchestrator. Create executable plans for Phase ${PHASE}: ${PHASE_NAME}, then auto-advance to execution.
-    </objective>
-
-    <execution_context>
-    @~/.claude/get-shit-done/workflows/plan-phase.md
-    @~/.claude/get-shit-done/references/ui-brand.md
-    @~/.claude/get-shit-done/references/model-profile-resolution.md
-    </execution_context>
-
-    <arguments>
-    PHASE=${PHASE}
-    ARGUMENTS='${PHASE} --auto'
-    </arguments>
-
-    <instructions>
-    1. Read plan-phase.md from execution_context for your complete workflow
-    2. Follow ALL steps: initialize, validate, load context, research, plan, verify, auto-advance
-    3. When spawning agents (gsd-phase-researcher, gsd-planner, gsd-plan-checker), use Task with specified subagent_type and model
-    4. For step 14 (auto-advance to execute): spawn execute-phase as a Task with DIRECT file reference — tell it to read execute-phase.md. Include @file refs to execute-phase.md, checkpoints.md, tdd.md, model-profile-resolution.md. Pass --no-transition flag so execute-phase returns results instead of chaining further.
-    5. Do NOT use the Skill tool or /gsd: commands. Read workflow .md files directly.
-    6. Return: PHASE COMPLETE (full pipeline success), PLANNING COMPLETE (planning done but execute failed/skipped), PLANNING INCONCLUSIVE, or GAPS FOUND
-    </instructions>
-  ",
-  subagent_type="general-purpose",
-  description="Plan Phase ${PHASE}"
-)
+Skill(skill="gsd:plan-phase", args="${PHASE} --auto")
 ```
 
+This keeps the auto-advance chain flat — discuss, plan, and execute all run at the same nesting level rather than spawning increasingly deep Task agents.
+
 **Handle plan-phase return:**
 - **PHASE COMPLETE** → Full chain succeeded. Display:
   ```
diff --git a/get-shit-done/workflows/plan-phase.md b/get-shit-done/workflows/plan-phase.md
index 274a3a8c5..f275afec5 100644
--- a/get-shit-done/workflows/plan-phase.md
+++ b/get-shit-done/workflows/plan-phase.md
@@ -454,44 +454,16 @@ Display banner:
  GSD ► AUTO-ADVANCING TO EXECUTE
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 
-Plans ready. Spawning execute-phase...
+Plans ready. Launching execute-phase...
 ```
 
-Spawn execute-phase as Task with direct workflow file reference (do NOT use Skill tool — Skills don't resolve inside Task subagents):
+Launch execute-phase using the Skill tool to avoid nested Task sessions (which cause runtime freezes due to deep agent nesting):
 ```
-Task(
-  prompt="
-    <objective>
-    You are the execute-phase orchestrator. Execute all plans for Phase ${PHASE}: ${PHASE_NAME}.
-    </objective>
-
-    <execution_context>
-    @~/.claude/get-shit-done/workflows/execute-phase.md
-    @~/.claude/get-shit-done/references/checkpoints.md
-    @~/.claude/get-shit-done/references/tdd.md
-    @~/.claude/get-shit-done/references/model-profile-resolution.md
-    </execution_context>
-
-    <arguments>
-    PHASE=${PHASE}
-    ARGUMENTS='${PHASE} --auto --no-transition'
-    </arguments>
-
-    <instructions>
-    1. Read execute-phase.md from execution_context for your complete workflow
-    2. Follow ALL steps: initialize, handle_branching, validate_phase, discover_and_group_plans, execute_waves, aggregate_results, close_parent_artifacts, verify_phase_goal, update_roadmap
-    3. The --no-transition flag means: after verification + roadmap update, STOP and return status. Do NOT run transition.md.
-    4. When spawning executor agents, use subagent_type='gsd-executor' with the existing @file pattern from the workflow
-    5. When spawning verifier agents, use subagent_type='gsd-verifier'
-    6. Preserve the classifyHandoffIfNeeded workaround (spot-check on that specific error)
-    7. Do NOT use the Skill tool or /gsd: commands
-    </instructions>
-  ",
-  subagent_type="general-purpose",
-  description="Execute Phase ${PHASE}"
-)
+Skill(skill="gsd:execute-phase", args="${PHASE} --auto --no-transition")
 ```
 
+The `--no-transition` flag tells execute-phase to return status after verification instead of chaining further. This keeps the auto-advance chain flat — each phase runs at the same nesting level rather than spawning deeper Task agents.
+
 **Handle execute-phase return:**
 - **PHASE COMPLETE** → Display final summary:
   ```