Three open branches each mint llp/0266-*, so the second one merged silently collides

[philcunliffe]

Ground truth, re-derived from git ls-tree over every remote ref after git fetch --prune:

branch	PR	file
origin/fix/issue-836	#850	llp/0266-core-command-argument-validation.decision.md
origin/fix/issue-884	#893	llp/0266-prune-asks-every-client-not-the-run.decision.md
origin/update/icebird-squirreling-native-batches	#866	llp/0266-native-prepared-batches-through-query-sources.decision.md

The highest LLP number on origin/master is 0265, so all three independently picked "one past master" and landed on the same number. They are three genuinely different decisions, not duplicates of one.

Why it matters

The three files have distinct slugs, so git will not report a conflict. Whichever merges second (and third) just adds another llp/0266-* file beside the first. The corpus then has two or three documents numbered 0266, and every @ref LLP 0266 in code becomes ambiguous. PR #893's code already carries a repointed @ref LLP 0266, and PR #850's triage follow-up (#903) cites "LLP 0266 #open-questions item 2" meaning a different document.

Nothing currently detects this: /ref-check validates that a referenced LLP exists, not that a number resolves to exactly one document.

Two things to fix

1. The collision itself. Renumber two of the three to the next free numbers and repoint their @refs and cross-links. Pure renumbering that does not change meaning is an explicitly permitted mechanical edit on Accepted docs (LLP 0156), so this needs no new decision. Which document keeps 0266 is a judgement call best made by whoever knows the merge order.

2. The minting rule that allowed it. The Impl-designer rule takes the max across <DEFAULT> and all integration/* refs. These three were minted by review and issue-fix workers on fix/* and contributor branches, which that rule never covered, so each fell back to the master-only max. The rule should be "max across every ref that could merge", and ideally /ref-check should fail when one number resolves to more than one file.

Provenance

Found by the neutral reconcile loop while fanning in review workers; the collision was created by neutral's own workers, not by a human. Filed rather than fixed in place because renumbering mid-review would move three heads (re-opening their review ladders) and the choice of which document keeps 0266 depends on intended merge order.

Related: PR #850, PR #866, PR #893, issue #903.

[philcunliffe]

Ground truth re-derived on 2026-08-19 with node scripts/llp-numbers.js survey from PR #916, over all 231 refs (refs/heads + refs/remotes):

The 0266 collision has grown from three claimants to six, and it is no longer the only live one:

number	claimants
0248	proxy-mode-capture.plan, task-oriented-cli-rollover.decision
0249	cli-compatibility-rollover.plan, proxy-mode-default-attach.plan
0265	grep-search-implementation.plan (on master), help-metadata-is-part-of-the-contract.decision, openclaw-trajectory-enrichment.decision
0266	behavioral-rows-carry-cwd, core-command-argument-validation, hidden-rows-stay-off-the-sync-gate, native-prepared-batches-through-query-sources, prune-asks-every-client-not-the-run, x509-and-local-ca-residuals
0267	answer-less-config-is-not-a-reconfigure, manifest-and-runtime-command-agreement
0268	lane-answers-commit-with-the-config, plugin-commands-classified-as-surface-or-mechanism

The next free number across every ref is 0280.

A further 17 numbers (0026, 0032, 0058, 0059, 0086, 0098, 0099, 0111, 0142, 0143, 0144, 0188, 0193, 0200, 0212, 0223, 0224) also resolve to two documents across refs, but those are the corpus's own already-repaired collisions surviving on branches cut before the repair. They need nothing.

PR #916 fixes item 2 (the minting rule) only: it makes LLP 0156's "above the highest number claimed anywhere" rule executable as scripts/llp-numbers.js, gates it in CI and in npm test, and scopes the gate to the numbers a branch actually mints so the settled collisions above stay quiet.

Item 1 (the renumbering itself) is still open and still needs a human: the documents live on other branches, and which one keeps each number depends on intended merge order.

[philcunliffe]

Re-derived claimant set for llp/0266, 2026-08-19 (post-tick)

Ground truth from git ls-tree over every refs/remotes/origin/* ref, after this reconcile tick landed its review pushes. master claims no 0266.

Document	Branch	PR
0266-core-command-argument-validation.decision.md	fix/issue-836	#850
(same document, stacked)	fix/issue-903	#914
0266-prune-asks-every-client-not-the-run.decision.md	fix/issue-884	#893
0266-rearm-fires-at-both-attach-success-exits.decision.md	fix/issue-887	#900
0266-native-prepared-batches-through-query-sources.decision.md	update/icebird-squirreling-native-batches	#866

Four distinct documents, one number. The fix/issue-887 claimant is new as of this tick: PR #900's review round minted it while closing a @ref honesty finding, with no way to see the other three from its own branch. That is the defect this issue describes, reproducing itself in real time, and it is the argument for the gate in #916 rather than for hand-repair.

Note that #850 and #914 are the same document (#914 is stacked on #850), so they collide with the other three but not with each other.

Nothing here is auto-fixable: which document keeps 0266 depends on intended merge order, and the branches are not reachable from one another. A human needs to sequence the renumbering. #916 adds the check that makes this fail before a merge instead of after.