diff --git a/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh b/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh
index cbd568491..a62df2d91 100755
--- a/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh
+++ b/.agents/scripts/pulse-wrapper.sh
@@ -125,6 +125,8 @@ _sanitize_log_field() {
 
 PIDFILE="${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse.pid"
 LOGFILE="${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse.log"
+SESSION_FLAG="${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse-session.flag"
+STOP_FLAG="${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse-session.stop"
 OPENCODE_BIN="${OPENCODE_BIN:-/opt/homebrew/bin/opencode}"
 PULSE_DIR="${PULSE_DIR:-${HOME}/Git/aidevops}"
 PULSE_MODEL="${PULSE_MODEL:-anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6}"
@@ -1151,7 +1153,7 @@ ${state_content}
 
 		local kill_reason=""
 		# Check 0: Stop flag — user ran `aidevops pulse stop` during this cycle (t2943)
-		if [[ -f "${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse-session.stop" ]]; then
+		if [[ -f "$STOP_FLAG" ]]; then
 			kill_reason="Stop flag detected during active pulse — user requested stop"
 		# Check 1: Wall-clock stale threshold (hard ceiling)
 		elif [[ "$elapsed" -gt "$PULSE_STALE_THRESHOLD" ]]; then
@@ -2422,17 +2424,14 @@ _Auto-generated by pulse-wrapper.sh daily quality sweep. The supervisor will rev
 # Returns: 0 if pulse should run, 1 if not
 #######################################
 check_session_gate() {
-	local session_flag="${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse-session.flag"
-	local stop_flag="${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse-session.stop"
-
 	# Stop flag takes priority — user explicitly paused
-	if [[ -f "$stop_flag" ]]; then
+	if [[ -f "$STOP_FLAG" ]]; then
 		echo "[pulse-wrapper] Pulse paused (stop flag present) — resume with: aidevops pulse start" >>"$LOGFILE"
 		return 1
 	fi
 
 	# Session start flag — explicit user action, always allowed
-	if [[ -f "$session_flag" ]]; then
+	if [[ -f "$SESSION_FLAG" ]]; then
 		return 0
 	fi
 
@@ -2469,8 +2468,7 @@ main() {
 
 	# Re-check stop flag immediately before run_pulse() — a stop may have
 	# been issued during the prefetch/cleanup phase above (t2943)
-	local stop_flag_recheck="${HOME}/.aidevops/logs/pulse-session.stop"
-	if [[ -f "$stop_flag_recheck" ]]; then
+	if [[ -f "$STOP_FLAG" ]]; then
 		echo "[pulse-wrapper] Stop flag appeared during setup — aborting before run_pulse()" >>"$LOGFILE"
 		return 0
 	fi