diff --git a/audit/internal/webui/api.go b/audit/internal/webui/api.go
index 8497294..129cdca 100644
--- a/audit/internal/webui/api.go
+++ b/audit/internal/webui/api.go
@@ -36,6 +36,16 @@ var apiListNvidiaGPUStatuses = func(a *app.App) ([]platform.NvidiaGPUStatus, err
 	return a.ListNvidiaGPUStatuses()
 }
 
+const (
+	taskPriorityBenchmark      = 10
+	taskPriorityBurn           = 20
+	taskPriorityValidateStress = 30
+	taskPriorityValidate       = 40
+	taskPriorityAudit          = 50
+	taskPriorityInstallToRAM   = 60
+	taskPriorityInstall        = 70
+)
+
 // ── Job ID counter ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 var jobCounter atomic.Uint64
@@ -109,6 +119,30 @@ func shouldSplitHomogeneousNvidiaTarget(target string) bool {
 	}
 }
 
+func defaultTaskPriority(target string, params taskParams) int {
+	switch strings.TrimSpace(target) {
+	case "install":
+		return taskPriorityInstall
+	case "install-to-ram":
+		return taskPriorityInstallToRAM
+	case "audit":
+		return taskPriorityAudit
+	case "nvidia-benchmark":
+		return taskPriorityBenchmark
+	case "nvidia-stress", "amd-stress", "memory-stress", "sat-stress", "platform-stress", "nvidia-compute":
+		return taskPriorityBurn
+	case "nvidia", "nvidia-targeted-stress", "nvidia-targeted-power", "nvidia-pulse",
+		"nvidia-interconnect", "nvidia-bandwidth", "memory", "storage", "cpu",
+		"amd", "amd-mem", "amd-bandwidth":
+		if params.StressMode {
+			return taskPriorityValidateStress
+		}
+		return taskPriorityValidate
+	default:
+		return 0
+	}
+}
+
 func expandHomogeneousNvidiaSelections(gpus []platform.NvidiaGPU, include, exclude []int) ([]nvidiaTaskSelection, error) {
 	if len(gpus) == 0 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no NVIDIA GPUs detected")
@@ -458,6 +492,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleAPIAuditRun(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
 		ID:        newJobID("audit"),
 		Name:      "Audit",
 		Target:    "audit",
+		Priority:  defaultTaskPriority("audit", taskParams{}),
 		Status:    TaskPending,
 		CreatedAt: time.Now(),
 	}
@@ -526,7 +561,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleAPISATRun(target string) http.HandlerFunc {
 			DisplayName:        body.DisplayName,
 			PlatformComponents: body.PlatformComponents,
 		}
-		tasks, err := buildNvidiaTaskSet(target, 0, time.Now(), params, name, h.opts.App, "sat-"+target)
+		tasks, err := buildNvidiaTaskSet(target, defaultTaskPriority(target, params), time.Now(), params, name, h.opts.App, "sat-"+target)
 		if err != nil {
 			writeError(w, http.StatusBadRequest, err.Error())
 			return
@@ -613,7 +648,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleAPIBenchmarkNvidiaRun(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Req
 					ID:        newJobID("benchmark-nvidia"),
 					Name:      stepName,
 					Target:    "nvidia-benchmark",
-					Priority:  15,
+					Priority:  defaultTaskPriority("nvidia-benchmark", taskParams{}),
 					Status:    TaskPending,
 					CreatedAt: now,
 					params: taskParams{
@@ -645,7 +680,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleAPIBenchmarkNvidiaRun(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Req
 		name = fmt.Sprintf("%s · sequential", name)
 	}
 
-	tasks, err := buildNvidiaTaskSet("nvidia-benchmark", 15, time.Now(), taskParams{
+	params := taskParams{
 		GPUIndices:        body.GPUIndices,
 		ExcludeGPUIndices: body.ExcludeGPUIndices,
 		SizeMB:            body.SizeMB,
@@ -653,7 +688,8 @@ func (h *handler) handleAPIBenchmarkNvidiaRun(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Req
 		RunNCCL:           runNCCL,
 		ParallelGPUs:      parallelGPUs,
 		DisplayName:       body.DisplayName,
-	}, name, h.opts.App, "benchmark-nvidia")
+	}
+	tasks, err := buildNvidiaTaskSet("nvidia-benchmark", defaultTaskPriority("nvidia-benchmark", params), time.Now(), params, name, h.opts.App, "benchmark-nvidia")
 	if err != nil {
 		writeError(w, http.StatusBadRequest, err.Error())
 		return
@@ -1054,7 +1090,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleAPIInstallToRAM(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request)
 		ID:        newJobID("install-to-ram"),
 		Name:      "Install to RAM",
 		Target:    "install-to-ram",
-		Priority:  10,
+		Priority:  defaultTaskPriority("install-to-ram", taskParams{}),
 		Status:    TaskPending,
 		CreatedAt: time.Now(),
 	}
@@ -1169,7 +1205,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleAPIInstallRun(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		ID:        newJobID("install"),
 		Name:      "Install to Disk",
 		Target:    "install",
-		Priority:  20,
+		Priority:  defaultTaskPriority("install", taskParams{}),
 		Status:    TaskPending,
 		CreatedAt: time.Now(),
 		params: taskParams{
@@ -1461,4 +1497,3 @@ func (h *handler) rollbackPendingNetworkChange() error {
 	}
 	return nil
 }
-
diff --git a/audit/internal/webui/api_test.go b/audit/internal/webui/api_test.go
index 124090f..5a78970 100644
--- a/audit/internal/webui/api_test.go
+++ b/audit/internal/webui/api_test.go
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ func TestHandleAPISATRunDecodesBodyWithoutContentLength(t *testing.T) {
 	if got := globalQueue.tasks[0].params.BurnProfile; got != "smoke" {
 		t.Fatalf("burn profile=%q want smoke", got)
 	}
+	if got := globalQueue.tasks[0].Priority; got != taskPriorityValidate {
+		t.Fatalf("priority=%d want %d", got, taskPriorityValidate)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestHandleAPIBenchmarkNvidiaRunQueuesSelectedGPUs(t *testing.T) {
@@ -84,6 +87,9 @@ func TestHandleAPIBenchmarkNvidiaRunQueuesSelectedGPUs(t *testing.T) {
 	if task.params.RunNCCL {
 		t.Fatal("RunNCCL should reflect explicit false from request")
 	}
+	if task.Priority != taskPriorityBenchmark {
+		t.Fatalf("priority=%d want %d", task.Priority, taskPriorityBenchmark)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestHandleAPIBenchmarkNvidiaRunSplitsMixedGPUModels(t *testing.T) {
@@ -133,6 +139,12 @@ func TestHandleAPIBenchmarkNvidiaRunSplitsMixedGPUModels(t *testing.T) {
 	if got := globalQueue.tasks[1].params.GPUIndices; len(got) != 1 || got[0] != 2 {
 		t.Fatalf("task[1] gpu indices=%v want [2]", got)
 	}
+	if got := globalQueue.tasks[0].Priority; got != taskPriorityBenchmark {
+		t.Fatalf("task[0] priority=%d want %d", got, taskPriorityBenchmark)
+	}
+	if got := globalQueue.tasks[1].Priority; got != taskPriorityBenchmark {
+		t.Fatalf("task[1] priority=%d want %d", got, taskPriorityBenchmark)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestHandleAPISATRunSplitsMixedNvidiaTaskSet(t *testing.T) {
@@ -175,6 +187,39 @@ func TestHandleAPISATRunSplitsMixedNvidiaTaskSet(t *testing.T) {
 	if got := globalQueue.tasks[1].params.GPUIndices; len(got) != 1 || got[0] != 2 {
 		t.Fatalf("task[1] gpu indices=%v want [2]", got)
 	}
+	if got := globalQueue.tasks[0].Priority; got != taskPriorityValidate {
+		t.Fatalf("task[0] priority=%d want %d", got, taskPriorityValidate)
+	}
+	if got := globalQueue.tasks[1].Priority; got != taskPriorityValidate {
+		t.Fatalf("task[1] priority=%d want %d", got, taskPriorityValidate)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDefaultTaskPriorityOrder(t *testing.T) {
+	got := []int{
+		defaultTaskPriority("install-to-ram", taskParams{}),
+		defaultTaskPriority("audit", taskParams{}),
+		defaultTaskPriority("cpu", taskParams{}),
+		defaultTaskPriority("cpu", taskParams{StressMode: true}),
+		defaultTaskPriority("nvidia-stress", taskParams{}),
+		defaultTaskPriority("nvidia-benchmark", taskParams{}),
+	}
+	want := []int{
+		taskPriorityInstallToRAM,
+		taskPriorityAudit,
+		taskPriorityValidate,
+		taskPriorityValidateStress,
+		taskPriorityBurn,
+		taskPriorityBenchmark,
+	}
+	for i := range want {
+		if got[i] != want[i] {
+			t.Fatalf("priority[%d]=%d want %d", i, got[i], want[i])
+		}
+	}
+	if !(got[0] > got[1] && got[1] > got[2] && got[2] > got[3] && got[3] > got[4] && got[4] > got[5]) {
+		t.Fatalf("priority order=%v", got)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestPushFanRingsTracksByNameAndCarriesForwardMissingSamples(t *testing.T) {