diff --git a/pkg/workflow/engine.go b/pkg/workflow/engine.go
index e6a2db40dc..5e067b5507 100644
--- a/pkg/workflow/engine.go
+++ b/pkg/workflow/engine.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/logger"
 	"github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/stringutil"
 	"github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/types"
+	"github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/typeutil"
 )
 
 var engineLog = logger.New("workflow:engine")
@@ -186,10 +187,8 @@ func (c *Compiler) ExtractEngineConfig(frontmatter map[string]any) (string, *Eng
 
 			// Extract optional 'max-turns' field
 			if maxTurns, hasMaxTurns := engineObj["max-turns"]; hasMaxTurns {
-				if maxTurnsInt, ok := maxTurns.(int); ok {
-					config.MaxTurns = strconv.Itoa(maxTurnsInt)
-				} else if maxTurnsUint64, ok := maxTurns.(uint64); ok {
-					config.MaxTurns = strconv.FormatUint(maxTurnsUint64, 10)
+				if val, ok := typeutil.ParseIntValue(maxTurns); ok {
+					config.MaxTurns = strconv.Itoa(val)
 				} else if maxTurnsStr, ok := maxTurns.(string); ok {
 					config.MaxTurns = maxTurnsStr
 				}
@@ -197,10 +196,8 @@ func (c *Compiler) ExtractEngineConfig(frontmatter map[string]any) (string, *Eng
 
 			// Extract optional 'max-continuations' field
 			if maxCont, hasMaxCont := engineObj["max-continuations"]; hasMaxCont {
-				if maxContInt, ok := maxCont.(int); ok {
-					config.MaxContinuations = maxContInt
-				} else if maxContUint64, ok := maxCont.(uint64); ok {
-					config.MaxContinuations = int(maxContUint64)
+				if val, ok := typeutil.ParseIntValue(maxCont); ok {
+					config.MaxContinuations = val
 				} else if maxContStr, ok := maxCont.(string); ok {
 					if parsed, err := strconv.Atoi(maxContStr); err == nil {
 						config.MaxContinuations = parsed
diff --git a/pkg/workflow/engine_config_test.go b/pkg/workflow/engine_config_test.go
index a588fe9c6c..df25764834 100644
--- a/pkg/workflow/engine_config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/workflow/engine_config_test.go
@@ -141,6 +141,19 @@ func TestExtractEngineConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedEngineSetting: "claude",
 			expectedConfig:        &EngineConfig{ID: "claude", Version: "beta", Model: "claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022", MaxTurns: "10"},
 		},
+		{
+			// float64 is what json.Unmarshal produces for numbers when deserializing engine
+			// config JSON from shared imports (JSON roundtrip: YAML int -> JSON -> Go float64)
+			name: "object format - with max-turns as float64 (JSON roundtrip from shared import)",
+			frontmatter: map[string]any{
+				"engine": map[string]any{
+					"id":        "claude",
+					"max-turns": float64(100),
+				},
+			},
+			expectedEngineSetting: "claude",
+			expectedConfig:        &EngineConfig{ID: "claude", MaxTurns: "100"},
+		},
 		{
 			name: "object format - with env vars",
 			frontmatter: map[string]any{
diff --git a/pkg/workflow/max_turns_test.go b/pkg/workflow/max_turns_test.go
index 981c2571ba..0139fdc75b 100644
--- a/pkg/workflow/max_turns_test.go
+++ b/pkg/workflow/max_turns_test.go
@@ -254,3 +254,82 @@ engine:
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMaxTurnsFromSharedImport(t *testing.T) {
+	// This test verifies that engine.max-turns is correctly propagated when
+	// the engine config is sourced from a shared import rather than defined inline.
+	// The bug was that max-turns was silently dropped because it was serialized as
+	// JSON (int -> float64) but only int/uint64/string types were handled.
+
+	// Create a temporary directory for the test
+	tmpDir := testutil.TempDir(t, "max-turns-import-test")
+
+	// Create the shared import file with engine config including max-turns
+	sharedContent := `---
+engine:
+  id: claude
+  max-turns: 100
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  issues: read
+  pull-requests: read
+---
+`
+	sharedDir := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "shared")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(sharedDir, 0755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	sharedFile := filepath.Join(sharedDir, "common.md")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(sharedFile, []byte(sharedContent), 0644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	// Create the main workflow that imports the shared config
+	mainContent := `---
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  issues: read
+  pull-requests: read
+imports:
+  - shared/common.md
+tools:
+  github:
+    allowed: [issue_read]
+---
+
+# Test Max Turns From Shared Import
+
+This workflow imports max-turns from a shared import.
+`
+	mainFile := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "test-workflow.md")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(mainFile, []byte(mainContent), 0644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	// Compile the workflow
+	compiler := NewCompiler()
+	if err := compiler.CompileWorkflow(mainFile); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to compile workflow: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Read the generated lock file
+	lockFile := stringutil.MarkdownToLockFile(mainFile)
+	lockContent, err := os.ReadFile(lockFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to read lock file: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	lockContentStr := string(lockContent)
+
+	// Verify --max-turns 100 is present in the compiled output
+	if !strings.Contains(lockContentStr, "--max-turns 100") {
+		t.Errorf("Expected --max-turns 100 in compiled output when max-turns is set in shared import.\nLock file content:\n%s", lockContentStr)
+	}
+
+	// Verify GH_AW_MAX_TURNS env var is set
+	if !strings.Contains(lockContentStr, "GH_AW_MAX_TURNS: 100") {
+		t.Errorf("Expected GH_AW_MAX_TURNS: 100 in compiled output.\nLock file content:\n%s", lockContentStr)
+	}
+}