diff --git a/server/src/services/pipelines.test.ts b/server/src/services/pipelines.test.ts
index 81a5624ccd6..f94382cd681 100644
--- a/server/src/services/pipelines.test.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/pipelines.test.ts
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ describe("pipeline service helpers", () => {
         pipelineId: "pipeline-1",
         config: {
           variables: [
-            { key: "customer", label: "Customer", type: "text", required: true, options: [], showInAddForm: false },
-            { key: "urgency", label: "Urgency", type: "select", options: ["low", "high"], required: false, showInAddForm: false },
+            { key: "customer", label: "Customer", type: "text", required: true, options: [], showInAddForm: true },
+            { key: "urgency", label: "Urgency", type: "select", options: ["low", "high"], required: false, showInAddForm: true },
+            { key: "internal_notes", label: "Internal notes", type: "multiline", required: true, options: [], showInAddForm: false },
           ],
         },
       },
@@ -49,8 +50,9 @@ describe("pipeline service helpers", () => {
 
   it("validates required intake fields for pipeline stage variables", () => {
     const variables = [
-      { key: "customer", label: "Customer", type: "text" as const, required: true, options: [], showInAddForm: false },
-      { key: "notes", label: "Notes", type: "multiline" as const, required: false, options: [], showInAddForm: false },
+      { key: "customer", label: "Customer", type: "text" as const, required: true, options: [], showInAddForm: true },
+      { key: "notes", label: "Notes", type: "multiline" as const, required: false, options: [], showInAddForm: true },
+      { key: "internal_code", label: "Internal code", type: "text" as const, required: true, options: [], showInAddForm: false },
     ];
     expect(() =>
       validateStageRequiredFields({ customer: "Acme" }, variables),
diff --git a/server/src/services/pipelines.ts b/server/src/services/pipelines.ts
index 3f8800b9098..07e030959c7 100644
--- a/server/src/services/pipelines.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/pipelines.ts
@@ -101,13 +101,15 @@ export function extractPipelineIntakeFormFields(stages: PipelineStageRow[]): Pip
   const first = stages[0];
   if (!first) return [];
   const stageConfig = normalizeStageConfig(first.config);
-  return stageConfig.variables.map((variable) => ({
-    key: variable.key,
-    label: variable.label,
-    type: variable.type,
-    required: variable.required,
-    options: variable.options,
-  }));
+  return stageConfig.variables
+    .filter((variable) => variable.showInAddForm)
+    .map((variable) => ({
+      key: variable.key,
+      label: variable.label,
+      type: variable.type,
+      required: variable.required,
+      options: variable.options,
+    }));
 }
 
 export function validateStageRequiredFields(
@@ -115,6 +117,7 @@ export function validateStageRequiredFields(
   stageVariables: PipelineStageVariable[],
 ) {
   const missing = stageVariables
+    .filter((variable) => variable.showInAddForm)
     .filter((variable) => variable.required)
     .filter((variable) => {
       const value = fields[variable.key];
@@ -246,7 +249,9 @@ async function resolvePipelineIntakeStage(db: PipelineDb, pipelineId: string, st
 
 function validateStageRequiredFieldsForIngest(stage: PipelineStageRow, fields: Record<string, unknown>) {
   const config = normalizeStageConfig(stage.config);
-  const requiredVariables = Array.isArray(config.variables) ? config.variables : [];
+  const requiredVariables = Array.isArray(config.variables)
+    ? config.variables.filter((variable) => variable.showInAddForm)
+    : [];
   validateStageRequiredFields(fields, requiredVariables);
 }