diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 52f21aec0..c728770d2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Respect `maxSteps` in Markdown agent definitions.
+
 ## 0.147.2
 
 - Add agent `spawnableBy` configuration to restrict subagent discovery and spawning to specific primary agents.
diff --git a/src/eca/features/agents.clj b/src/eca/features/agents.clj
index 1a964feb0..ddb396fcb 100644
--- a/src/eca/features/agents.clj
+++ b/src/eca/features/agents.clj
@@ -105,8 +105,9 @@
             nil)))
 
 (defn ^:private md->agent-config
-  [{:keys [description mode model steps tools body inherit spawnableBy disabledTools]}]
-  (let [tools-map (normalize-tools tools)
+  [{:keys [description mode model maxSteps steps tools body inherit spawnableBy disabledTools]}]
+  (let [max-steps (or maxSteps steps)
+        tools-map (normalize-tools tools)
         spawnable-by (normalize-spawnable-by spawnableBy)
         disabled-tools (normalize-disabled-tools disabledTools)]
     (cond-> {}
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@
                           (mapv str mode)
                           (str mode)))
       model (assoc :defaultModel (str model))
-      steps (assoc :maxSteps (long steps))
+      max-steps (assoc :maxSteps (long max-steps))
       (seq body) (assoc :systemPrompt body)
       tools-map (assoc :toolCall
                        (cond-> {:approval {}}
diff --git a/test/eca/features/agents_test.clj b/test/eca/features/agents_test.clj
index 9ceaf1f22..1851197ad 100644
--- a/test/eca/features/agents_test.clj
+++ b/test/eca/features/agents_test.clj
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
                   "description: You sleep one second when asked\n"
                   "mode: subagent\n"
                   "model: my-org-anthropic/sonnet-4.5\n"
-                  "steps: 5\n"
+                  "maxSteps: 5\n"
                   "tools:\n"
                   "  byDefault: ask\n"
                   "  deny:\n"
@@ -84,6 +84,11 @@
                                          :deny {"foo" {}}}}}
                   config))))
 
+  (testing "maxSteps takes precedence over the legacy steps alias"
+    (is (= 7
+           (:maxSteps (#'agents/md->agent-config {:maxSteps 7
+                                                  :steps 3})))))
+
   (testing "tool entries with regex patterns"
     (let [parsed {:tools {"byDefault" "ask"
                           "allow" ["eca__shell_command(npm run .*)"