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date: 2026-06-07 tags: [git, pr-workflow, web-env, footgun] status: graduated graduated_to: CLAUDE.md # "Open and babysit the PR by default" bullet — re-check state before follow-up push

A merged PR won't absorb follow-up commits — re-check state before pushing more

Symptom — after PR #338 merged, follow-up commits (two learning files) were pushed to the same branch and a "learnings" section was added to the PR body. None of it reached main; the commits sat stranded on the dead branch.

Root cause — stale-branch assumption: treating the branch as still "live" because work was continuing in-session, without re-checking that the maintainer had already merged the PR from mobile. A squash-merge closes the PR and stops associating new pushes — they go to the branch and nowhere else.

Fix — recovered by resetting the branch to origin/main and cherry-picking only the stranded commit onto a fresh PR (#339).

Guard — CLAUDE.md "Open and babysit the PR by default" bullet now states: re-check PR state before any follow-up push; if it's merged/closed, put follow-up work on a fresh branch + new PR. Heightened risk in the web env, where the maintainer merges from mobile mid-session and webhooks don't deliver the merge event.