diff --git a/.github/labeler.yml b/.github/labeler.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10ee681
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/labeler.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# path → scope:* map for actions/labeler — the PR half of LABELS.md's scope
+# story (issues are hand-scoped at triage; paths only exist on PRs). Additive
+# only: sync-labels stays off in labels.yml, so a hand-applied scope survives.
+"scope:bootstrap":
+  - changed-files:
+      - any-glob-to-any-file: ["commands/bootstrap.sh"]
+"scope:users":
+  - changed-files:
+      - any-glob-to-any-file:
+          ["commands/users-*.sh", "commands/lib/users-config.sh"]
+"scope:runner":
+  - changed-files:
+      - any-glob-to-any-file:
+          ["commands/runner-*.sh", "commands/lib/runner-config.sh"]
+"scope:coolify":
+  - changed-files:
+      - any-glob-to-any-file: ["commands/coolify-*.sh"]
+"scope:db":
+  - changed-files:
+      - any-glob-to-any-file: ["commands/db.sh", "test/db-integration.sh"]
+"scope:installer":
+  - changed-files:
+      - any-glob-to-any-file: ["install.sh"]
diff --git a/.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh b/.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e64b36a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# labels-reconcile.sh — the automation LABELS.md promises: state labels are
+# written by machinery, never by hand. Every run derives each open PR's
+# state:* from GitHub's own facts (draft flag, requested reviewers, submitted
+# reviews) and converges the labels to it, so a killed run or a hand-moved
+# label heals on the next pass. Stale is judged from real activity — commits,
+# comments, reviews — never from label churn, or the sweep would un-stale its
+# own mark every tick.
+#
+# The verdict contract (CONTRIBUTING.md): reviews end in approve or
+# request-changes. Some live bots are comment-only and post agreement as a
+# COMMENTED review — a non-verdict this machine refuses to guess about (body
+# parsing is a heuristic, and a wrong guess promotes an unapproved PR). The
+# judgment call belongs to the PR AUTHOR, who reads the round and escalates
+# by requesting the human's review — an explicit request is a fact, and it is
+# the one this machine trusts (see decide_state's top precedence). The
+# machine auto-requests the human only in the no-judgment-needed case: three
+# formal head-current approvals. Any approval that counts must be bound to
+# the CURRENT head SHA: GitHub keeps approvals alive across pushes, and a
+# stale approval must never promote unreviewed code to the human.
+#
+# DRY_RUN=1 narrates every mutation instead of performing it (how this script
+# is rehearsed against the live repo). A workflow_dispatch run also bootstraps
+# the taxonomy (label create --force) — that heal is dispatch-only; the cron
+# sweep tolerates a missing label rather than recreating it.
+#
+# The state machine below is pure (globals in, state out) and covered by
+# fixture tests in test/labels-reconcile.sh.
+
+HUMAN="${HUMAN_REVIEWER:-danmt}"
+BOTS=(claude-bot-andresmgsl codex-bot-andresmgsl grok-bot-andresmgsl)
+STATES=(state:building state:bots-reviewing state:addressing state:needs-human)
+STALE_AFTER=$((48 * 3600))
+
+log() { printf 'labels: %s\n' "$*"; }
+
+run() { # every mutation goes through here — DRY_RUN=1 logs instead of doing
+  if [ -n "${DRY_RUN:-}" ]; then log "DRY_RUN: $*"; else "$@"; fi
+}
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# The state machine. Pure functions over four globals, set per PR:
+#   DRAFT        true|false
+#   HEAD_SHA     the PR's current head commit
+#   REQUESTED    newline-separated logins with a review currently requested
+#   REVIEWS_JSON JSON array of submitted (non-PENDING) reviews
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+requested() { grep -qxF "$1" <<<"$REQUESTED"; }
+
+bot_verdict() { # $1 = login → MISSING | BLOCK | APPROVE | STALE | FEEDBACK
+  local review state commit
+  review="$(jq -c --arg u "$1" \
+    '[.[] | select(.user.login == $u)] | sort_by(.submitted_at) | last // empty' \
+    <<<"$REVIEWS_JSON")"
+  if [ -z "$review" ]; then echo MISSING; return; fi
+  state="$(jq -r '.state' <<<"$review")"
+  commit="$(jq -r '.commit_id' <<<"$review")"
+  case "$state" in
+    CHANGES_REQUESTED)
+      # blocks at ANY head — GitHub's own semantic: only a newer review
+      # from the same reviewer clears it
+      echo BLOCK ;;
+    APPROVED)
+      if [ "$commit" = "$HEAD_SHA" ]; then echo APPROVE; else echo STALE; fi ;;
+    *)
+      # COMMENTED and anything else: a non-verdict. The machine does not
+      # read bodies — if the comment is really an agreement, the AUTHOR
+      # says so by requesting the human's review.
+      echo FEEDBACK ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+decide_state() { # → the one state:* label this PR should carry
+  if [ "$DRAFT" = true ]; then echo state:building; return; fi
+  # an explicit human request outranks the bot rounds — it is the final
+  # gate, and a maintainer pulling a PR to themselves early counts too
+  if requested "$HUMAN"; then echo state:needs-human; return; fi
+  local b v verdicts=""
+  for b in "${BOTS[@]}"; do
+    if requested "$b"; then echo state:bots-reviewing; return; fi
+  done
+  for b in "${BOTS[@]}"; do
+    v="$(bot_verdict "$b")"
+    if [ "$v" = MISSING ]; then echo state:bots-reviewing; return; fi
+    verdicts="$verdicts $v"
+  done
+  case "$verdicts" in
+    # FEEDBACK = a comment with no verdict → the agent owes the round-reply.
+    # STALE = a verdict for an older head → the agent owes a re-request.
+    *BLOCK* | *FEEDBACK* | *STALE*) echo state:addressing; return ;;
+  esac
+  # the bots all approve — but if the human's standing word is
+  # changes-requested (and nobody re-requested them yet), the agent owes
+  # fixes, not the human a nag
+  if [ "$(bot_verdict "$HUMAN")" = BLOCK ]; then
+    echo state:addressing
+  else
+    echo state:needs-human
+  fi
+}
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# The sweep: fetch facts, decide, converge. One PR's failure never aborts the
+# others — each PR reconciles in a subshell and a failure just logs.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+bootstrap_labels() { # dispatch-only: ~20 upserts is too chatty for every cron tick
+  while IFS='|' read -r name color desc; do
+    [ -n "$name" ] || continue
+    run gh label create "$name" -R "$REPO" --color "$color" --description "$desc" --force
+  done <<'EOF'
+state:building|FBCA04|PR is a draft — the coding agent is still building
+state:bots-reviewing|1D76DB|Waiting on the bot reviewers to finish the round
+state:addressing|D93F0B|All bots reviewed — coding agent owes the single reply + fixes
+state:needs-human|8250DF|All bots approve — waiting on the human reviewer
+stale|B60205|No activity for 48h — needs a poke (sweep-managed)
+blocked|6A737D|Waiting on another PR or issue to land first
+release|0E8A16|Release flow and version/packaging work
+scope:bootstrap|C5DEF5|bootstrap — hardening a pristine server into a node
+scope:users|C5DEF5|users-* — class model, apply/status, close-root
+scope:runner|C5DEF5|runner-* — GitHub runner lifecycle
+scope:coolify|C5DEF5|coolify-* — Coolify and backup install
+scope:db|C5DEF5|db.sh — dump/restore
+scope:installer|C5DEF5|install.sh — how rig lands on a machine
+EOF
+}
+
+has_label() { grep -qxF "$1" <<<"$LABELS"; }
+
+reconcile_pr() { # $1 = PR number; relies on the globals set from its fetch
+  local n="$1" desired remove s args last_activity age
+
+  desired="$(decide_state)"
+
+  # encode the runbook's last step for the no-judgment case: three formal
+  # head-current approvals → the human is asked, once. The guard (never
+  # requested, never reviewed) makes it idempotent — and the shared
+  # concurrency group in labels.yml makes it race-free. With a comment-only
+  # bot on the panel this path stays cold and the AUTHOR requests the human.
+  if [ "$desired" = state:needs-human ] && ! requested "$HUMAN" \
+    && [ -z "$(jq -r --arg u "$HUMAN" '[.[] | select(.user.login == $u)] | last | .state // empty' <<<"$REVIEWS_JSON")" ]; then
+    run gh api "repos/$REPO/pulls/$n/requested_reviewers" -f "reviewers[]=$HUMAN" --silent
+    log "#$n: requested $HUMAN (round passed)"
+  fi
+
+  # ---- converge the state:* labels ----
+  remove=""
+  for s in "${STATES[@]}"; do
+    if [ "$s" != "$desired" ] && has_label "$s"; then remove="$remove,$s"; fi
+  done
+  remove="${remove#,}"
+  if ! has_label "$desired" || [ -n "$remove" ]; then
+    args=(--add-label "$desired")
+    [ -n "$remove" ] && args+=(--remove-label "$remove")
+    if run gh issue edit "$n" -R "$REPO" "${args[@]}" >/dev/null; then
+      log "#$n: state -> $desired${remove:+ (cleared $remove)}"
+    else
+      # a deleted label must not wedge the sweep — dispatch heals the taxonomy
+      log "#$n: WARNING: label edit failed (missing label? run the workflow manually to bootstrap)"
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  # ---- stale: real activity only, and blocked is legitimately quiet ----
+  last_activity="$(
+    {
+      jq -r '.created_at' <<<"$PR_JSON"
+      jq -r '.[].submitted_at' <<<"$REVIEWS_JSON"
+      gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$n/comments" --jq '.[].created_at'
+      gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/pulls/$n/comments" --jq '.[].created_at'
+      gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/pulls/$n/commits" --jq '.[].commit.committer.date'
+    } | sort | tail -n1
+  )"
+  age=$((NOW - $(date -d "$last_activity" +%s)))
+  if has_label blocked || [ "$age" -le "$STALE_AFTER" ]; then
+    if has_label stale; then
+      run gh issue edit "$n" -R "$REPO" --remove-label stale >/dev/null
+      log "#$n: unstale"
+    fi
+  elif ! has_label stale; then
+    run gh issue edit "$n" -R "$REPO" --add-label stale >/dev/null
+    log "#$n: stale ($((age / 3600))h quiet)"
+  fi
+}
+
+main() {
+  REPO="${REPO:?set REPO to owner/name}"
+  NOW="$(date +%s)"
+
+  if [ "${GITHUB_EVENT_NAME:-}" = workflow_dispatch ]; then
+    log "workflow_dispatch: bootstrapping the taxonomy"
+    bootstrap_labels
+  fi
+
+  local n
+  for n in $(gh pr list -R "$REPO" --state open --limit 100 --json number --jq '.[].number'); do
+    (
+      PR_JSON="$(gh api "repos/$REPO/pulls/$n")"
+      DRAFT="$(jq -r '.draft' <<<"$PR_JSON")"
+      HEAD_SHA="$(jq -r '.head.sha' <<<"$PR_JSON")"
+      LABELS="$(jq -r '.labels[].name' <<<"$PR_JSON")"
+      REQUESTED="$(jq -r '.requested_reviewers[].login' <<<"$PR_JSON")"
+      # PENDING reviews are unsubmitted drafts in someone's browser — not a verdict
+      REVIEWS_JSON="$(gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/pulls/$n/reviews" --jq '.[]' \
+        | jq -s '[.[] | select(.state != "PENDING")]')"
+      reconcile_pr "$n"
+    ) || log "#$n: reconcile failed — continuing with the remaining PRs"
+  done
+  log "reconciled."
+}
+
+# sourced by test/labels-reconcile.sh for the fixture tests; executed in CI
+if [ "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" = "$0" ]; then
+  main "$@"
+fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/labels.yml b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c451643
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+name: labels
+# The automation LABELS.md promises. Two halves:
+#   scope     — path-derived scope:* labels on PRs (actions/labeler)
+#   reconcile — the state:* machine + the stale sweep (.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh)
+#
+# pull_request_target, not pull_request: every PR here arrives from a fork,
+# where pull_request (and pull_request_review) run with a READ-ONLY token and
+# cannot label anything. _target is safe in this workflow because no PR code
+# is ever checked out or executed — labeler reads changed paths via the API,
+# and reconcile checks out the BASE branch only. Keep it that way.
+#
+# Review-submitted transitions (bots finishing a round) ride the cron: there
+# is no pull_request_review_target, so the 15-minute tick is the wake signal —
+# the same cadence the reviewer bots poll at.
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "*/15 * * * *"
+  workflow_dispatch: # also bootstraps missing labels — run once on a fresh repo
+  pull_request_target:
+    types: [opened, reopened, ready_for_review, converted_to_draft, synchronize]
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  issues: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  scope:
+    if: github.event_name == 'pull_request_target'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    concurrency:
+      group: labels-scope-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
+      cancel-in-progress: true
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/labeler@v5
+        with:
+          # additive only — a hand-applied scope must survive the machine
+          sync-labels: false
+
+  reconcile:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # ONE shared group: every reconcile sweeps every open PR, so cron and
+    # PR-event runs must serialize or two sweeps race the same PR's labels
+    # and both pass the request-the-human-once guard. GitHub keeps at most
+    # one queued run per group (older queued runs are superseded), which
+    # coalesces bursts instead of piling them up.
+    concurrency:
+      group: labels-reconcile
+      cancel-in-progress: false
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4 # base branch only — never the PR's code
+      - name: reconcile state + stale
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+        run: bash .github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15e1376
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Contributing
+
+How change lands in this repo. The short version: PRs are born as drafts,
+three reviewer bots take the first rounds, a human takes the last word — and
+labels tell you where everything is without opening anything.
+
+## The PR loop
+
+1. **Fork and branch.** Contributors work from forks; upstream branches are
+   for maintainers. Title the PR conventionally (`feat:`, `fix:`, `docs:`).
+2. **Open as a draft** while you build. Drafts are invisible to the reviewer
+   bots on purpose.
+3. **When it's ready**: mark ready-for-review and request all three bots —
+   `claude-bot-andresmgsl`, `codex-bot-andresmgsl`, `grok-bot-andresmgsl`.
+   They poll roughly every 15 minutes.
+4. **Rounds are answered whole.** Wait until all three have reviewed, then
+   answer the entire round in a **single reply**, push the fixes, and
+   re-request the bots that didn't approve. Prefer verification over
+   argument: a test settles what a comment thread can't.
+5. **Reviews end in a verdict.** A reviewer — bot or human — either
+   **approves** or **requests changes**, never a bare comment. A
+   comment-only review is a non-verdict: it doesn't say whether the round
+   passed, and the state machine (and anyone scanning the board) has to
+   guess. The verdict carries *blockingness only*, the body carries the
+   feedback: non-blocking nits ride an **approval** and the author addresses
+   them at their discretion; anything blocking — including a question that
+   gates the verdict — is **request changes**, saying what unblocks it. The
+   reconciler treats a comment-only review as not-approved, so commenting
+   without a verdict only stalls the PR. The machine never reads review
+   bodies: when a comment-only reviewer's line is really an agreement, that
+   judgment belongs to the **author** — escalate by requesting the
+   maintainer's review (step 6), and the reconciler flips the label on that
+   request, because an explicit request is a fact it can trust.
+6. **When the round passes, the author hands the PR to the maintainer** by
+   requesting their review — that request is what flips `state:needs-human`.
+   With three formal head-current approvals the labels workflow requests it
+   automatically; when part of the panel is comment-only, reading their
+   agreement is the author's judgment, so the author makes the request.
+7. **Checks must be green**: `shellcheck` and `bash test/cli.sh` locally
+   mirror what CI runs; the db dump/restore round-trip
+   (`test/db-integration.sh`) executes in CI where Docker is present.
+
+## Labels — who sets what
+
+The full taxonomy lives in [LABELS.md](LABELS.md). What matters day to day is
+who sets each kind — most of it is machinery, and hand-moving a
+machine-owned label just gets corrected on the next pass:
+
+| Labels | Set by |
+|---|---|
+| `state:*` | the labels workflow ([.github/workflows/labels.yml](.github/workflows/labels.yml)) — recomputed from GitHub's own facts every 15 minutes and on PR events. Never by hand. |
+| `stale` | the same workflow — 48h without commits, comments, or reviews. `blocked` PRs are exempt: they are quiet legitimately. |
+| `scope:*` on PRs | actions/labeler, from the changed paths ([.github/labeler.yml](.github/labeler.yml)). Additive — you may add more, the machine won't remove them. |
+| `scope:*` on issues | you, when opening or triaging — issues have no paths to derive from. |
+| `blocked`, `release` | you — automation never guesses intent. |
+| `bug` / `enhancement` / `documentation` | you, on issues only — a PR's type already lives in its title. |
+
+## Issues
+
+Give issues the same care as PR titles: say the surface in the title, apply a
+`scope:` label and a type label (`bug` / `enhancement` / `documentation`) when
+you open one, and `blocked` when it waits on something — that is what keeps
+the board navigable as the issue count grows.
diff --git a/LABELS.md b/LABELS.md
index dca81a2..3755d2f 100644
--- a/LABELS.md
+++ b/LABELS.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ single reply, and a human takes the final review.
 | `state:building` | `#FBCA04` | the coding agent, still building | PR opened as draft | marked ready + bot reviews requested |
 | `state:bots-reviewing` | `#1D76DB` | the reviewer bots to finish the round | ready with reviews requested, or fixes pushed and reviews re-requested | all three bots have reviewed the round |
 | `state:addressing` | `#D93F0B` | the coding agent to reply and push fixes | all bots reviewed the round, not all approved | the single round-reply is posted and fixes pushed |
-| `state:needs-human` | `#8250DF` | the human reviewer | all three bots approve | merged — or changes requested, which cycles back to `state:addressing` |
+| `state:needs-human` | `#8250DF` | the human reviewer | the human review is requested — by the author when the round passes, or automatically on three formal head-current approvals | merged — or changes requested, which cycles back to `state:addressing` |
 
 `bots-reviewing` and `addressing` are deliberately distinct: staleness in the
 first means *poke the bots*, staleness in the second means *the agent dropped
@@ -54,13 +54,16 @@ would just say the same thing twice, drifting apart eventually.
 
 State labels are written by automation, never by hand. Every state above is
 derivable from GitHub's own facts — the draft flag, requested reviewers,
-review states, push timestamps — so a scheduled workflow recomputes the state
-and reconciles labels statelessly. A hand-moved label is a lie waiting to
-happen; the workflow asserts the effective state instead. Until that workflow
-lands, treat `state:` labels as advisory.
+review states, push timestamps — so the labels workflow
+([.github/workflows/labels.yml](.github/workflows/labels.yml)) recomputes the
+state and reconciles labels statelessly, on a 15-minute cron plus PR events.
+A hand-moved label is a lie waiting to happen; the workflow asserts the
+effective state instead. `scope:` labels on PRs are applied from the changed
+paths by actions/labeler ([.github/labeler.yml](.github/labeler.yml));
+[CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) says who sets what.
 
-The same workflow bootstraps the taxonomy: it creates any missing label
-idempotently. To create them by hand (needs push access):
+The same workflow bootstraps the taxonomy: a manual dispatch creates any
+missing label idempotently. To create them by hand (needs push access):
 
 ```sh
 gh label create "state:building"       --color FBCA04 --description "PR is a draft — the coding agent is still building" --force
diff --git a/test/labels-reconcile.sh b/test/labels-reconcile.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..643546b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/labels-reconcile.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Fixture tests for the labels-reconcile state machine: a comment is a
+# non-verdict whatever its body says (the AUTHOR escalates by requesting the
+# human), a stale approval does not promote unreviewed code, and an explicit
+# human request outranks everything.
+# Dependency-free beyond jq; no network, no daemon — pure decide_state.
+
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+# shellcheck source=.github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
+. .github/scripts/labels-reconcile.sh
+
+# The DRAFT/HEAD_SHA/REQUESTED/REVIEWS_JSON assignments below are the state
+# machine's inputs, consumed inside the sourced decide_state — not unused.
+# shellcheck disable=SC2034
+BOT1="${BOTS[0]}" BOT2="${BOTS[1]}" BOT3="${BOTS[2]}"
+pass=0 fail=0
+
+expect() { # $1 = description, $2 = want, $3 = got
+  if [ "$2" = "$3" ]; then
+    pass=$((pass + 1))
+  else
+    fail=$((fail + 1))
+    printf 'FAIL: %s — want %s, got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"
+  fi
+}
+
+rev() { # $1=login $2=state $3=commit $4=body $5=submitted_at → one review object
+  jq -n --arg u "$1" --arg s "$2" --arg c "$3" --arg b "$4" --arg t "$5" \
+    '{user: {login: $u}, state: $s, commit_id: $c, body: $b, submitted_at: $t}'
+}
+
+reviews() { jq -s '.' <<<"$*"; } # collect review objects into an array
+
+# -- drafts are building, whoever is requested --------------------------------
+DRAFT=true HEAD_SHA=head1 REQUESTED="" REVIEWS_JSON='[]'
+expect "draft PR is building" state:building "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- fresh ready PR with bots requested ---------------------------------------
+DRAFT=false REQUESTED="$BOT1
+$BOT2
+$BOT3" REVIEWS_JSON='[]'
+expect "requested bots mean bots-reviewing" state:bots-reviewing "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- a bot that never reviewed keeps the round open ---------------------------
+REQUESTED="" REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" t2)")"
+expect "missing bot review means bots-reviewing" state:bots-reviewing "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- a comment is a non-verdict, agreement body or not: the author escalates --
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" COMMENTED head1 "✅ **Reviewed — I agree with everything.**" t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED  head1 "" t2)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED  head1 "" t3)")"
+expect "comment-only agreement still parks on the author" state:addressing "$(decide_state)"
+# ...and the author's escalation — requesting the human — flips it
+REQUESTED="$HUMAN"
+expect "author escalation flips to needs-human" state:needs-human "$(decide_state)"
+REQUESTED=""
+
+# -- three formal approvals need no author judgment ---------------------------
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" t2)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED head1 "" t3)")"
+expect "three formal approvals reach needs-human" state:needs-human "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- a comment WITHOUT a verdict parks the PR on the agent --------------------
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" COMMENTED head1 "🔧 Reviewed — I agree with most; feedback below." t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED  head1 "" t2)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED  head1 "" t3)")"
+expect "comment without verdict is addressing" state:addressing "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- changes requested blocks, at any head ------------------------------------
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" CHANGES_REQUESTED old1 "blockers below" t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" t2)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED head1 "" t3)")"
+expect "changes-requested blocks even from an old head" state:addressing "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- a stale approval must not promote unreviewed code ------------------------
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED old1 "" t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" t2)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED head1 "" t3)")"
+expect "stale approval is addressing (agent owes re-request)" state:addressing "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- a re-requested bot reopens the round even with an old approval on file ---
+REQUESTED="$BOT1"
+expect "re-requested bot means bots-reviewing" state:bots-reviewing "$(decide_state)"
+REQUESTED=""
+
+# -- only the LATEST review per bot counts ------------------------------------
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" CHANGES_REQUESTED head1 "blockers" t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" t2)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" t3)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED head1 "" t4)")"
+expect "later approval supersedes earlier block" state:needs-human "$(decide_state)"
+
+# -- an explicit human request outranks the bot rounds ------------------------
+REQUESTED="$HUMAN" REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" COMMENTED head1 "feedback, no verdict" t1)")"
+expect "human requested outranks bots" state:needs-human "$(decide_state)"
+REQUESTED=""
+
+# -- human CHANGES_REQUESTED puts the ball back on the agent ------------------
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" t1)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" t2)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED head1 "" t3)" \
+  "$(rev "$HUMAN" CHANGES_REQUESTED head1 "not yet" t4)")"
+expect "human block with bots approving is addressing" state:addressing "$(decide_state)"
+# ...and re-requesting the human hands it back to them
+REQUESTED="$HUMAN"
+expect "re-requested human is needs-human again" state:needs-human "$(decide_state)"
+REQUESTED=""
+
+printf 'labels-reconcile tests: %d passed, %d failed\n' "$pass" "$fail"
+[ "$fail" -eq 0 ]