diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a55a12d0..b3cc494a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ breaking changes may land in a minor release.
 
 ### Changed
 
+- Warn when `scm.max_parallel > 1` is configured; keep the value clamped to 1
+  until parallel fan-out is built (#229).
 - Register hooks through the installed `bmad-loop relay <Event>` command. Upgrading
   invalidates Codex hook trust: Codex re-prompts at the next launch, and hooks silently
   do not fire until the new commands are accepted. Re-run `bmad-loop init` to migrate
diff --git a/src/bmad_loop/policy.py b/src/bmad_loop/policy.py
index 319af246..e38d982a 100644
--- a/src/bmad_loop/policy.py
+++ b/src/bmad_loop/policy.py
@@ -1125,6 +1125,14 @@ def loads(text: str, plugin_schemas: dict[str, Any] | None = None) -> Policy:
     requested_parallel = _typed_int(scm_d, "scm", "max_parallel", ScmPolicy.max_parallel)
     if requested_parallel < 1:
         raise PolicyError(f"scm.max_parallel must be >= 1: got {requested_parallel}")
+    if requested_parallel > 1:
+        warnings.warn(
+            f"scm.max_parallel = {requested_parallel} is configured, but parallel "
+            "fan-out (Phase 5) is not built yet: the value is clamped to 1 and has "
+            "no effect (see #229).",
+            UserWarning,
+            stacklevel=3,
+        )
     # This one was strict before its sibling int knobs were (a TOML `true`, with
     # int(True) == 1, or a `1.9` coercing through int() would silently shrink a
     # safety-net budget); `_typed_int` is that same guard, message included.
diff --git a/tests/test_policy.py b/tests/test_policy.py
index 1cadd597..342e87ef 100644
--- a/tests/test_policy.py
+++ b/tests/test_policy.py
@@ -1277,6 +1277,24 @@ def test_scm_max_parallel_clamped_to_one(tmp_path):
         policy.load(p)
 
 
+def test_scm_max_parallel_above_one_warns():
+    """Phase 5 parallel fan-out (#229) is unbuilt, so a configured value > 1 is
+    still silently inert without this warning -- an operator setting
+    ``max_parallel = 4`` would otherwise get no signal that it has no effect.
+
+    Ablation: delete the ``requested_parallel > 1`` warning block in ``loads()``;
+    this test fails because no warning fires while the clamp still applies."""
+    with pytest.warns(UserWarning, match=r"scm\.max_parallel"):
+        loaded = policy.loads("[scm]\nmax_parallel = 4\n")
+    assert loaded.scm.max_parallel == 1
+
+
+def test_scm_max_parallel_equal_to_one_does_not_warn(recwarn):
+    loaded = policy.loads("[scm]\nmax_parallel = 1\n")
+    assert loaded.scm.max_parallel == 1
+    assert len(recwarn) == 0
+
+
 def test_scm_preserve_keep_settings(tmp_path):
     p = tmp_path / "policy.toml"
     p.write_text("[scm]\npreserve_keep = 5\n")