diff --git a/lib/forge-forgejo.sh b/lib/forge-forgejo.sh
index cfdf887..1b05275 100644
--- a/lib/forge-forgejo.sh
+++ b/lib/forge-forgejo.sh
@@ -452,6 +452,15 @@ forge_pr_view() {
     }'
 }
 
+# forge_pr_review_requests <n> — logins with a live review request.
+# Forgejo review.go deletes REQUEST_REVIEW rows when the reviewer submits any
+# review, so these rows are the exact live set rather than review history (#238).
+forge_pr_review_requests() {
+  local n="${1:?forge_pr_review_requests: number required}"
+  forge_api --paginate "repos/$REPO/pulls/$n/reviews" \
+    --jq '.[] | select(.state == "REQUEST_REVIEW") | .user.login' | sort -u
+}
+
 forge_label_list() { forge_api --paginate "repos/$REPO/labels" --jq '.[].name'; }
 
 # forge_label_create — an UPSERT, matching `gh label create --force` (#4743).
diff --git a/lib/forge-github.sh b/lib/forge-github.sh
index c2e268e..7a088ed 100644
--- a/lib/forge-github.sh
+++ b/lib/forge-github.sh
@@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ forge_pr_view() {
   gh pr view "$n" -R "$REPO" --json mergeable,statusCheckRollup
 }
 
+# forge_pr_review_requests <n> — logins with a live review request.
+forge_pr_review_requests() {
+  local n="${1:?forge_pr_review_requests: number required}"
+  forge_api "repos/$REPO/pulls/$n" --jq '.requested_reviewers[].login' | sort -u
+}
+
 # forge_label_list — every label name in the repo.
 forge_label_list() {
   gh label list -R "$REPO" --limit 200 --json name --jq '.[].name'
diff --git a/test/forge-backends.test.sh b/test/forge-backends.test.sh
index fd2c1c7..8349708 100644
--- a/test/forge-backends.test.sh
+++ b/test/forge-backends.test.sh
@@ -581,6 +581,76 @@ check "...never deriving them from reviews, as forgejo must" 1 "" \
 unset -f gh
 . "$ROOT/lib/forge-forgejo.sh"
 
+# --- forge_pr_review_requests: the forge's live request set -------------
+# A stale verdict is not itself evidence that anybody was re-requested. The
+# backend reads the forge's request representation directly, so the state
+# machine can distinguish the builder's ball from the panel's (#238).
+review_requests_stub() {
+  fake_forge "$FAKE_REVIEWS_N" "$FAKE_REVIEWS"
+}
+
+# crew!96 after the builder pushed: two approvals and one requested change
+# belong to the older head, but no live REQUEST_REVIEW row exists.
+FAKE_REVIEWS_N=3
+FAKE_REVIEWS='[
+  {"user":{"login":"kimi-bot"},"state":"APPROVED","commit_id":"old","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T23:05:01Z"},
+  {"user":{"login":"glm-bot"},"state":"APPROVED","commit_id":"old","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T23:14:45Z"},
+  {"user":{"login":"claude-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_CHANGES","commit_id":"old","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T23:03:39Z"}
+]'
+review_requests_stub
+check "supersedes: a stale approver who was never re-requested is not requested" 0 "" \
+  eq "" forge_pr_review_requests 96
+check "supersedes: a merged PR whose requested_reviewers still lists the whole panel yields nobody" 0 "" \
+  eq "" forge_pr_review_requests 146
+
+# crew!97's opening request rows. Deliberately unordered with one duplicate:
+# the public contract is sorted unique logins, independent of API row order.
+FAKE_REVIEWS_N=5
+FAKE_REVIEWS='[
+  {"user":{"login":"kimi-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_REVIEW","commit_id":"","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T22:51:12Z"},
+  {"user":{"login":"claude-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_REVIEW","commit_id":"","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T22:51:11Z"},
+  {"user":{"login":"codex-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_REVIEW","commit_id":"","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T22:51:11Z"},
+  {"user":{"login":"glm-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_REVIEW","commit_id":"","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T22:51:12Z"},
+  {"user":{"login":"kimi-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_REVIEW","commit_id":"","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T22:51:13Z"}
+]'
+review_requests_stub
+check "forgejo returns the four opening request logins sorted and deduplicated" 0 "" \
+  eq $'claude-bot\ncodex-bot\nglm-bot\nkimi-bot' forge_pr_review_requests 97
+
+FAKE_REVIEWS_N=2
+FAKE_REVIEWS='[
+  {"user":{"login":"claude-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_CHANGES","commit_id":"old","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T23:03:39Z"},
+  {"user":{"login":"claude-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_REVIEW","commit_id":"","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T23:16:17Z"}
+]'
+review_requests_stub
+check "supersedes: a reviewer re-requested while holding REQUEST_CHANGES is requested" 0 "" \
+  eq "claude-bot" forge_pr_review_requests 97
+
+FAKE_REVIEWS_N=1
+FAKE_REVIEWS='[{"user":{"login":"kimi-bot"},"state":"REQUEST_REVIEW","commit_id":"","submitted_at":"2026-08-22T22:51:12Z"}]'
+review_requests_stub
+check "supersedes: a login whose only row is REQUEST_REVIEW is requested" 0 "" \
+  eq "kimi-bot" forge_pr_review_requests 97
+
+# GitHub already exposes the exact live set on the PR object. Stub only the
+# network boundary and assert the same backend-neutral output contract.
+. "$ROOT/lib/forge-github.sh"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2317 # invoked indirectly, by forge_api
+gh() {
+  case "$1 $2" in
+    "api repos/o/r/pulls/55")
+      jq -r '.requested_reviewers[].login' <<'JSON'
+{"requested_reviewers":[{"login":"glm-bot"},{"login":"claude-bot"}]}
+JSON
+      ;;
+    *) return 1 ;;
+  esac
+}
+check "github returns requested_reviewers from the PR object unchanged" 0 "" \
+  eq $'claude-bot\nglm-bot' forge_pr_review_requests 55
+unset -f gh
+. "$ROOT/lib/forge-forgejo.sh"
+
 # --- forge_pr_view: newest verdict per context must win ------------------
 # checks_state groups repeated contexts and selects the newest by
 # [.startedAt, .createdAt, .completedAt]. Mapping only {context,state} left