diff --git a/src/reverse_api/auto_engineer.py b/src/reverse_api/auto_engineer.py
index 35fed9f..30ad314 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/auto_engineer.py
+++ b/src/reverse_api/auto_engineer.py
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ class AutoPromptEngineer(Protocol):
     agent_provider: str
     mcp_run_id: str
     headless: bool
+    start_url: str | None
     prompt: str
     scripts_dir: Path
     har_path: Path
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ def __init__(
         # `headless` is auto-engineer specific: for MCP providers it configures the MCP
         # server's browser launch; for `agent-browser` it only adjusts prompt wording.
         headless = kwargs.pop("headless", False)
+        start_url = kwargs.pop("start_url", None)
         har_dir = get_har_dir(run_id, output_dir)
         har_path = har_dir / "recording.har"
 
@@ -105,6 +107,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.mcp_run_id = run_id
         self.agent_provider = agent_provider
         self.headless = headless
+        self.start_url = start_url
 
     def _build_auto_prompts(self: AutoPromptEngineer) -> tuple[str, str]:
         """Build (system_prompt, user_message) for auto mode.
@@ -145,6 +148,7 @@ def _build_auto_prompts(self: AutoPromptEngineer) -> tuple[str, str]:
         template_kwargs = {
             "prompt": self.prompt,
             "scripts_dir": str(self.scripts_dir),
+            "start_url_block": "\n" + load("auto/start_url", start_url=self.start_url) if self.start_url else "",
         }
         if self.agent_provider != "chrome-mcp":
             template_kwargs["har_path"] = str(self.har_path)
@@ -367,6 +371,7 @@ class OpenCodeAutoEngineer(OpenCodeEngineer):
     def __init__(self, run_id: str, prompt: str, output_dir: str | None = None, agent_provider: str = "auto", **kwargs: Any) -> None:
         """Initialize OpenCode-backed agent engineer."""
         headless = kwargs.pop("headless", False)
+        start_url = kwargs.pop("start_url", None)
         har_dir = get_har_dir(run_id, output_dir)
         har_path = har_dir / "recording.har"
 
@@ -381,6 +386,7 @@ def __init__(self, run_id: str, prompt: str, output_dir: str | None = None, agen
         self.agent_provider = agent_provider
         self.mcp_name: str | None = None
         self.headless = headless
+        self.start_url = start_url
 
     def _get_active_prompts(self) -> tuple[str, str]:
         return ClaudeAutoEngineer._build_auto_prompts(self)
@@ -618,6 +624,7 @@ def __init__(
         from .copilot_engineer import CopilotEngineer
 
         headless = kwargs.pop("headless", False)
+        start_url = kwargs.pop("start_url", None)
         har_dir = get_har_dir(run_id, output_dir)
         har_path = har_dir / "recording.har"
 
@@ -632,6 +639,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.mcp_run_id = run_id
         self.agent_provider = agent_provider
         self.headless = headless
+        self.start_url = start_url
 
     def start_sync(self) -> None:
         self._engineer.start_sync()
@@ -658,6 +666,7 @@ async def analyze_and_generate(self) -> dict[str, Any] | None:
         eng.agent_provider = self.agent_provider
         eng.mcp_run_id = self.mcp_run_id
         eng.headless = self.headless
+        eng.start_url = self.start_url
 
         if self.agent_provider == "agent-browser":
             ab_setup = ensure_agent_browser_runtime()
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/browser.py b/src/reverse_api/browser.py
index 7df1d8e..1249c06 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/browser.py
+++ b/src/reverse_api/browser.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from rich.console import Console
 from rich.status import Status
 
-from .utils import get_har_dir, get_timestamp
+from .utils import get_har_dir, get_timestamp, normalize_url
 
 console = Console()
 
@@ -233,15 +233,6 @@ def _inject_stealth(self, page: Page) -> None:
         """Inject stealth scripts into page before any other scripts run."""
         page.add_init_script(STEALTH_JS)
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def _normalize_url(url: str) -> str:
-        """Prepend https:// when the user typed a bare host (e.g.
-        ``jobs.example.com/x``); Playwright's goto rejects scheme-less URLs."""
-        url = url.strip()
-        if url and "://" not in url:
-            return "https://" + url
-        return url
-
     def _abort_playwright(self) -> None:
         """Quietly tear down the browser/Playwright after a failed start.
 
@@ -440,7 +431,7 @@ def start(self, start_url: str | None = None) -> Path:
         console.print()
 
         if start_url:
-            start_url = self._normalize_url(start_url)
+            start_url = normalize_url(start_url)
 
         self._playwright = sync_playwright().start()
 
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/cli.py b/src/reverse_api/cli.py
index 575318a..174098c 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/cli.py
+++ b/src/reverse_api/cli.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
     get_history_path,
     get_messages_path,
     get_timestamp,
+    normalize_url,
     resolve_run,
 )
 
@@ -1222,6 +1223,9 @@ def agent(
 
     Agent mode runs an integrated capture + reverse-engineering pipeline.
     """
+    if url:
+        url = normalize_url(url)
+
     if dry_run:
         # --dry-run is fundamentally about emitting machine-parseable validation
         # results, so it implies --json (and therefore --no-interactive).
@@ -1539,6 +1543,9 @@ def run_auto_capture(
     if not prompt:
         raise click.UsageError("a prompt is required")
 
+    if url:
+        url = normalize_url(url)
+
     if agent_provider == "chrome-mcp" and not headless:
         from .chrome_mcp import check_auto_connect
 
@@ -1636,6 +1643,7 @@ def run_auto_capture(
                 output_language=output_language,
                 interactive=interactive,
                 headless=headless,
+                start_url=url,
             )
         elif sdk == "copilot":
             from .auto_engineer import CopilotAutoEngineer
@@ -1651,6 +1659,7 @@ def run_auto_capture(
                 output_language=output_language,
                 interactive=interactive,
                 headless=headless,
+                start_url=url,
             )
         elif sdk == "cursor":
             from .cursor_engineer import CursorAutoEngineer
@@ -1667,6 +1676,7 @@ def run_auto_capture(
                 output_language=output_language,
                 interactive=interactive,
                 headless=headless,
+                start_url=url,
                 cursor_model=model or config_manager.get("cursor_model", "composer-2.5"),
                 cursor_web_search=bool(config_manager.get("cursor_web_search", True)),
                 cursor_setting_sources=_cursor_src,
@@ -1685,6 +1695,7 @@ def run_auto_capture(
                 output_language=output_language,
                 interactive=interactive,
                 headless=headless,
+                start_url=url,
             )
 
         # CopilotAutoEngineer wraps the CopilotEngineer that owns the session.
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/copilot_engineer.py b/src/reverse_api/copilot_engineer.py
index 7ba5f40..7f10a57 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/copilot_engineer.py
+++ b/src/reverse_api/copilot_engineer.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class CopilotEngineer(BaseEngineer):
     agent_provider: str
     mcp_run_id: str
     headless: bool
+    start_url: str | None
 
     def __init__(
         self,
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/cursor_engineer.py b/src/reverse_api/cursor_engineer.py
index 6ea6fbf..a6829d5 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/cursor_engineer.py
+++ b/src/reverse_api/cursor_engineer.py
@@ -497,6 +497,7 @@ def __init__(
         **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> None:
         headless = kwargs.pop("headless", False)
+        start_url = kwargs.pop("start_url", None)
         from .utils import get_har_dir
 
         har_dir = get_har_dir(run_id, output_dir)
@@ -512,6 +513,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.mcp_run_id = run_id
         self.agent_provider = agent_provider
         self.headless = headless
+        self.start_url = start_url
 
     def _cursor_mcp_servers(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         if self.agent_provider == "agent-browser":
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/start_url.md b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/start_url.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a3c1c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/start_url.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<start_url>
+{start_url}
+</start_url>
+
+Start the mission by opening this URL.
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_agent_browser.md b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_agent_browser.md
index dec2b9a..4139594 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_agent_browser.md
+++ b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_agent_browser.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <mission>
 {prompt}
 </mission>
-
+{start_url_block}
 <output_directory>
 {scripts_dir}
 </output_directory>
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ Start HAR recording **before** navigation and confirm it succeeded (abort if thi
 export AGENT_BROWSER_SESSION="{agent_browser_session}"
 {agent_browser_shell} network har start
 # verify exit code 0; if non-zero, diagnose with `{agent_browser_shell} doctor` and stop
-{agent_browser_shell} open https://example.com
+{agent_browser_shell} open "<target-url>"  # the start URL, or the site the mission names
 {agent_browser_shell} snapshot -i --json
 # … iterate …
 ```
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_chrome_mcp.md b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_chrome_mcp.md
index d32bc54..c2024eb 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_chrome_mcp.md
+++ b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_chrome_mcp.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <mission>
 {prompt}
 </mission>
-
+{start_url_block}
 <output_directory>
 {scripts_dir}
 </output_directory>
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_playwright.md b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_playwright.md
index f9c9a22..d341331 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_playwright.md
+++ b/src/reverse_api/prompts/auto/user_playwright.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <mission>
 {prompt}
 </mission>
-
+{start_url_block}
 <output_directory>
 {scripts_dir}
 </output_directory>
diff --git a/src/reverse_api/utils.py b/src/reverse_api/utils.py
index 3915208..142cf7d 100644
--- a/src/reverse_api/utils.py
+++ b/src/reverse_api/utils.py
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@
 )
 
 
+def normalize_url(url: str) -> str:
+    """Prepend https:// when the user typed a bare host (e.g.
+    ``jobs.example.com/x``); Playwright's goto rejects scheme-less URLs."""
+    url = url.strip()
+    if url and "://" not in url:
+        return "https://" + url
+    return url
+
+
 def build_sdk_env() -> dict[str, str]:
     """Environment overrides for Claude Agent SDK subprocesses.
 
diff --git a/tests/test_auto_engineer.py b/tests/test_auto_engineer.py
index d2ef7db..c5ac131 100644
--- a/tests/test_auto_engineer.py
+++ b/tests/test_auto_engineer.py
@@ -314,6 +314,55 @@ def test_opencode_delegates_prompts(self, tmp_path):
                             assert "npx" in user_p
 
 
+class TestStartUrlPrompt:
+    """The agent --url value reaches the user message."""
+
+    URL = "https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai"
+
+    def _user_prompt(self, tmp_path, agent_provider, **kwargs):
+        with patch("reverse_api.auto_engineer.get_har_dir", return_value=tmp_path / "har"):
+            with patch("reverse_api.base_engineer.get_scripts_dir", return_value=tmp_path / "scripts"):
+                with patch("reverse_api.base_engineer.MessageStore"):
+                    with patch("reverse_api.agent_browser.agent_browser_npx_package", return_value="agent-browser@test"):
+                        eng = ClaudeAutoEngineer(
+                            run_id="test123",
+                            prompt="fetch all open job postings",
+                            model="claude-sonnet-4-6",
+                            output_dir=str(tmp_path),
+                            agent_provider=agent_provider,
+                            **kwargs,
+                        )
+                        return eng._build_auto_prompts()[1]
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("agent_provider", ["auto", "chrome-mcp", "agent-browser"])
+    def test_start_url_follows_mission(self, tmp_path, agent_provider):
+        user_p = self._user_prompt(tmp_path, agent_provider, start_url=self.URL)
+        assert f"<start_url>\n{self.URL}\n</start_url>" in user_p
+        assert user_p.index("</mission>") < user_p.index("<start_url>") < user_p.index("<output_directory>")
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("agent_provider", ["auto", "chrome-mcp", "agent-browser"])
+    def test_no_start_url_block_without_url(self, tmp_path, agent_provider):
+        user_p = self._user_prompt(tmp_path, agent_provider)
+        assert "<start_url>" not in user_p
+        assert "</mission>\n\n<output_directory>" in user_p
+
+    def test_opencode_renders_start_url(self, tmp_path):
+        with patch("reverse_api.auto_engineer.get_har_dir", return_value=tmp_path / "har"):
+            with patch("reverse_api.base_engineer.get_scripts_dir", return_value=tmp_path / "scripts"):
+                with patch("reverse_api.base_engineer.MessageStore"):
+                    with patch("reverse_api.opencode_engineer.OpenCodeUI"):
+                        eng = OpenCodeAutoEngineer(
+                            run_id="test123",
+                            prompt="fetch all open job postings",
+                            output_dir=str(tmp_path),
+                            opencode_provider="anthropic",
+                            opencode_model="claude-opus-4-6",
+                            start_url=self.URL,
+                        )
+                        _sys_p, user_p = eng._get_active_prompts()
+                        assert f"<start_url>\n{self.URL}\n</start_url>" in user_p
+
+
 class TestChromeMcpConfig:
     """Test MCP configuration selection."""
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli_agent_json.py b/tests/test_cli_agent_json.py
index 12c797d..44ae1fd 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli_agent_json.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli_agent_json.py
@@ -699,3 +699,55 @@ def test_direct_interrupt_after_claude_result_keeps_partial_run(tmp_path, output
         payload = json.loads(result.stdout.strip().splitlines()[-1])
         assert payload["error"] == "interrupted"
         assert payload["script_path"] == "completed.py"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "sdk,engine_path",
+    [
+        ("claude", "reverse_api.auto_engineer.ClaudeAutoEngineer"),
+        ("opencode", "reverse_api.auto_engineer.OpenCodeAutoEngineer"),
+        ("copilot", "reverse_api.auto_engineer.CopilotAutoEngineer"),
+        ("cursor", "reverse_api.cursor_engineer.CursorAutoEngineer"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_agent_url_reaches_engine(tmp_path, sdk, engine_path):
+    from unittest.mock import AsyncMock
+
+    from reverse_api.config import ConfigManager
+
+    config = ConfigManager(tmp_path / "config.json")
+    config.config.update({"sdk": sdk, "agent_provider": "auto", "real_time_sync": False})
+    engine = MagicMock()
+    engine.analyze_and_generate = AsyncMock(return_value=None)
+    with (
+        patch("reverse_api.cli.config_manager", config),
+        patch("reverse_api.cli.session_manager", SessionManager(tmp_path / "history.json")),
+        patch(engine_path, return_value=engine) as engine_cls,
+    ):
+        CliRunner().invoke(
+            main,
+            ["agent", "-p", "fetch job postings", "-u", "https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai", "--headless", "-o", str(tmp_path), "--json"],
+        )
+    assert engine_cls.call_args.kwargs["start_url"] == "https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai"
+
+
+def test_agent_bare_host_url_gets_https_scheme(tmp_path):
+    from unittest.mock import AsyncMock
+
+    from reverse_api.config import ConfigManager
+
+    config = ConfigManager(tmp_path / "config.json")
+    config.config.update({"sdk": "claude", "agent_provider": "auto", "real_time_sync": False})
+    engine = MagicMock()
+    engine.analyze_and_generate = AsyncMock(return_value=None)
+    with (
+        patch("reverse_api.cli.config_manager", config),
+        patch("reverse_api.cli.session_manager", SessionManager(tmp_path / "history.json")),
+        patch("reverse_api.auto_engineer.ClaudeAutoEngineer", return_value=engine) as engine_cls,
+    ):
+        result = CliRunner().invoke(
+            main,
+            ["agent", "-p", "fetch job postings", "-u", "jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai", "--headless", "-o", str(tmp_path), "--json"],
+        )
+    assert engine_cls.call_args.kwargs["start_url"] == "https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai"
+    assert json.loads(result.stdout.strip().splitlines()[-1])["url"] == "https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai"
diff --git a/tests/test_cli_followups.py b/tests/test_cli_followups.py
index e3ebaa2..79e32d6 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli_followups.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli_followups.py
@@ -434,6 +434,23 @@ def test_dry_run_bad_url_is_misuse(self, tmp_path):
         assert payload["error_kind"] == "misuse"
         assert any(c["name"] == "url" and c["status"] == "error" for c in payload["checks"])
 
+    def test_dry_run_bare_host_gets_https_scheme(self, tmp_path):
+        """A bare host passes the url check, as it does on a real run."""
+        from reverse_api.cli import agent as agent_cmd
+
+        runner = CliRunner()
+        with patch("reverse_api.cli.config_manager") as cm:
+            cm.get.side_effect = lambda key, default=None: {
+                "agent_provider": "auto",
+                "sdk": "claude",
+                "output_dir": str(tmp_path),
+            }.get(key, default)
+            result = runner.invoke(agent_cmd, ["--dry-run", "-p", "x", "-u", "jobs.example.com/x"])
+
+        payload = json.loads(result.stdout.strip())
+        assert payload["url"] == "https://jobs.example.com/x"
+        assert any(c["name"] == "url" and c["status"] == "ok" for c in payload["checks"])
+
     def test_dry_run_unwritable_output_dir_is_config_invalid(self, tmp_path):
         """Unwritable output_dir → error_kind=config_invalid, not misuse."""
         from reverse_api.cli import agent as agent_cmd
diff --git a/tests/test_manual_browser_startup_failure.py b/tests/test_manual_browser_startup_failure.py
index be267d5..48c5fe1 100644
--- a/tests/test_manual_browser_startup_failure.py
+++ b/tests/test_manual_browser_startup_failure.py
@@ -34,8 +34,3 @@ def test_playwright_stopped_when_start_raises(self, tmp_path):
 
         fake_pw.stop.assert_called_once()
         assert browser._playwright is None
-
-    def test_scheme_added_to_bare_host(self):
-        assert ManualBrowser._normalize_url("jobs.example.com/x") == "https://jobs.example.com/x"
-        assert ManualBrowser._normalize_url("http://a.com") == "http://a.com"
-        assert ManualBrowser._normalize_url("  https://b.com  ") == "https://b.com"
diff --git a/tests/test_prompts.py b/tests/test_prompts.py
index e01f3a5..25d913e 100644
--- a/tests/test_prompts.py
+++ b/tests/test_prompts.py
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ def test_auto_user_playwright_loads(self):
             prompt="browse example.com",
             scripts_dir="/tmp/scripts",
             har_path="/tmp/recording.har",
+            start_url_block="",
         )
         assert "browse example.com" in text
         assert "browser_navigate" in text
@@ -229,6 +230,7 @@ def test_auto_user_chrome_mcp_loads(self):
             "auto/user_chrome_mcp",
             prompt="browse example.com",
             scripts_dir="/tmp/scripts",
+            start_url_block="",
         )
         assert "browse example.com" in text
         assert "navigate_page" in text
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 316696f..57558cf 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -870,6 +870,15 @@ def test_unrelated_error(self):
         assert not is_context_overflow_error("rate limit exceeded")
 
 
+class TestNormalizeUrl:
+    def test_scheme_added_to_bare_host(self):
+        from reverse_api.utils import normalize_url
+
+        assert normalize_url("jobs.example.com/x") == "https://jobs.example.com/x"
+        assert normalize_url("http://a.com") == "http://a.com"
+        assert normalize_url("  https://b.com  ") == "https://b.com"
+
+
 class TestBuildSdkSettings:
     """Claude SDK sessions are isolated from the user's Claude Code setup by default."""