diff --git a/.changeset/2783-ship-note-wedged-pr.md b/.changeset/2783-ship-note-wedged-pr.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bb096cc4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/2783-ship-note-wedged-pr.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+type: Fixed
+pr: 2818
+---
+**`/gsd-ship` now detects and recovers a PR wedged by the ship-note commit** — when the `[ci skip]` ship note leaves required checks unstarted, ship re-triggers CI instead of leaving the PR unmergeable. (#2783)
+
+*Note: This introduces a latency tradeoff. All `/gsd-ship` invocations now poll GitHub PR state for up to 15 seconds to ensure the commit was processed and check if recovery is needed, even for repositories without required checks.*
diff --git a/gsd-core/workflows/ship.md b/gsd-core/workflows/ship.md
index 754c6e8a0..d1d6b2c12 100644
--- a/gsd-core/workflows/ship.md
+++ b/gsd-core/workflows/ship.md
@@ -455,7 +455,41 @@ would otherwise trigger (GitHub honors `[ci skip]` / `[skip ci]`):
```bash
gsd_run query commit "docs(${padded_phase}): ship phase ${PHASE_NUMBER} — PR #${PR_NUMBER} [ci skip]" --files .planning/STATE.md
+SHIP_NOTE_SHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
git push origin ${CURRENT_BRANCH} 2>&1 || echo "⚠ track_shipping: ship-note push failed — it is local-only; rerun: git push origin ${CURRENT_BRANCH}"
+
+# Preserve the skip-token optimization for repositories without a required-check
+# wedge; only synthesize a second CI-triggering commit when GitHub reports one (#2783).
+# Poll mergeStateStatus with backoff to avoid racing GitHub's async state computation.
+# Note: Skip tokens recognized by GitHub Actions are [skip ci], [ci skip], [no ci], [skip actions], [actions skip], and skip-checks:true.
+# The recovery commit message MUST NOT contain any of these tokens.
+
+STATUS="UNKNOWN"
+CHECKS=0
+REVIEW_DECISION=""
+for i in {1..5}; do
+ PR_STATE=$(gh pr view ${PR_NUMBER} --json headRefOid,mergeStateStatus,statusCheckRollup,reviewDecision -q '{head: .headRefOid, status: .mergeStateStatus, checks: ((.statusCheckRollup // []) | length), review: (.reviewDecision // "")}' 2>/dev/null || echo '{"head":"","status":"UNKNOWN","checks":0,"review":""}')
+ HEAD_OID=$(echo "$PR_STATE" | jq -r .head)
+ if [ "$HEAD_OID" = "$SHIP_NOTE_SHA" ]; then
+ STATUS=$(echo "$PR_STATE" | jq -r .status)
+ CHECKS=$(echo "$PR_STATE" | jq -r .checks)
+ REVIEW_DECISION=$(echo "$PR_STATE" | jq -r .review)
+ fi
+ if [ "$HEAD_OID" = "$SHIP_NOTE_SHA" ] && [ "$STATUS" != "UNKNOWN" ]; then
+ break
+ fi
+ sleep 3
+done
+
+if [ "$STATUS" = "BLOCKED" ] && [ "$CHECKS" = "0" ] && [ "$REVIEW_DECISION" != "REVIEW_REQUIRED" ] && [ "$REVIEW_DECISION" != "CHANGES_REQUESTED" ] && git log -1 --format=%B "$SHIP_NOTE_SHA" | grep -q '\[ci skip\]'; then
+ echo "⚠ PR is BLOCKED with zero checks. The [ci skip] trailer wedged the PR due to required checks."
+ echo "Pushing an empty commit to trigger the required pipelines..."
+ # gsd_run query commit requires a file list; use git directly for this intentionally empty commit.
+ git commit --allow-empty -m "chore: trigger CI (recover from ship-note skip-token)"
+ git push origin ${CURRENT_BRANCH} 2>&1 || echo "⚠ track_shipping: recovery push failed — rerun: git push origin ${CURRENT_BRANCH}"
+elif [ "$STATUS" = "UNKNOWN" ]; then
+ echo "⚠ track_shipping: PR mergeStateStatus is UNKNOWN after polling; PR may require manual check re-trigger."
+fi
```
diff --git a/tests/emitted-drift-acks/2818-ship-note-wedged-pr.json b/tests/emitted-drift-acks/2818-ship-note-wedged-pr.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..344d90c1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/emitted-drift-acks/2818-ship-note-wedged-pr.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+ "version": 1,
+ "paths": {
+ "ship.md": "#2783: the ship-note protocol adds a bounded merge-state poll and an empty recovery commit when a skip token leaves a PR blocked with no checks."
+ }
+}
diff --git a/tests/fix-2138-ship-note-lost-on-merge.test.cjs b/tests/fix-2138-ship-note-lost-on-merge.test.cjs
index c6e75a264..20d768e73 100644
--- a/tests/fix-2138-ship-note-lost-on-merge.test.cjs
+++ b/tests/fix-2138-ship-note-lost-on-merge.test.cjs
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ describe('#2138 ship.md track_shipping pushes the ship-note onto the PR branch',
);
});
+ test('the ship-note step handles wedged PRs caused by skip-token or required status checks', () => {
+ assert.ok(
+ /mergeStateStatus|BLOCKED|trigger CI/.test(step),
+ 'track_shipping must include self-healing or check handling for wedged PRs (#2783)',
+ );
+ });
+
test('the ship-note commit still records the phase + PR number in STATE', () => {
assert.ok(
/ship phase \$\{PHASE_NUMBER\}.*PR #\$\{PR_NUMBER\}/.test(step),
diff --git a/tests/ship-notes-wedged-pr.test.cjs b/tests/ship-notes-wedged-pr.test.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..17e35a5d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ship-notes-wedged-pr.test.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+const { test, describe } = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict');
+const { spawnSync } = require('node:child_process');
+const fs = require('node:fs');
+const path = require('node:path');
+const { stripFencedCode } = require('../gsd-core/bin/lib/markdown-sectionizer.cjs');
+const { cleanup, createTempDir, readFileNormalized } = require('./helpers.cjs');
+
+const SHIP_MD = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'gsd-core', 'workflows', 'ship.md');
+
+function extractStep(name) {
+ const content = readFileNormalized(SHIP_MD);
+ const open = ``;
+ const start = content.indexOf(open);
+ assert.notEqual(start, -1, `ship.md must contain a ${name} step`);
+ const end = content.indexOf('', start);
+ assert.notEqual(end, -1, `${name} step must close`);
+ return content.slice(start, end);
+}
+
+function extractTrackShippingScript() {
+ const step = extractStep('track_shipping');
+ const blocks = [...step.matchAll(/```bash\r?\n([\s\S]*?)\r?\n```/g)];
+ const match = blocks.find(block => block[1].includes('mergeStateStatus'));
+ assert.ok(match, 'track_shipping must contain an executable merge-state bash block');
+ return match[1];
+}
+
+function runTrackShipping(responses) {
+ const tmpDir = createTempDir('gsd-ship-note-');
+ const responsesPath = path.join(tmpDir, 'responses.jsonl');
+ const ghCallsPath = path.join(tmpDir, 'gh-calls.log');
+ const gitCallsPath = path.join(tmpDir, 'git-calls.log');
+
+ try {
+ fs.writeFileSync(
+ responsesPath,
+ responses.map(response => JSON.stringify(response)).join('\n') + '\n',
+ 'utf8',
+ );
+ fs.writeFileSync(ghCallsPath, '', 'utf8');
+ fs.writeFileSync(gitCallsPath, '', 'utf8');
+
+ const preamble = [
+ 'gsd_run() { :; }',
+ 'sleep() { :; }',
+ 'git() {',
+ ' if [ "$1" = "rev-parse" ] && [ "$2" = "HEAD" ]; then',
+ ' printf "%s\\n" "$EXPECTED_HEAD"',
+ ' elif [ "$1" = "log" ]; then',
+ ' printf "[ci skip]\\n"',
+ ' elif [ "$1" = "commit" ]; then',
+ ' printf "commit\\n" >> "$GIT_CALLS"',
+ ' elif [ "$1" = "push" ]; then',
+ ' printf "push\\n" >> "$GIT_CALLS"',
+ ' fi',
+ '}',
+ 'gh() {',
+ ' _call=$(wc -l < "$GH_CALLS")',
+ ' _call=$((_call + 1))',
+ ' printf "call\\n" >> "$GH_CALLS"',
+ ' sed -n "${_call}p" "$GH_RESPONSES"',
+ '}',
+ 'jq() {',
+ ' "$NODE_BIN" -e "let d=\'\';process.stdin.on(\'data\',c=>d+=c);process.stdin.on(\'end\',()=>{const o=JSON.parse(d);process.stdout.write(String(o[process.argv[1].slice(1)] ?? \'\'));});" "$2"',
+ '}',
+ ].join('\n');
+
+ const result = spawnSync('bash', ['-c', `${preamble}\n${extractTrackShippingScript()}`], {
+ cwd: tmpDir,
+ encoding: 'utf8',
+ timeout: 10000,
+ env: {
+ ...process.env,
+ CURRENT_BRANCH: 'fix/ship-note',
+ EXPECTED_HEAD: 'current-head',
+ GH_CALLS: ghCallsPath,
+ GH_RESPONSES: responsesPath,
+ GIT_CALLS: gitCallsPath,
+ NODE_BIN: process.execPath,
+ PHASE_NUMBER: '1',
+ PR_NUMBER: '123',
+ padded_phase: '01',
+ },
+ });
+
+ assert.strictEqual(result.status, 0, `track_shipping failed: ${result.stderr}`);
+ return {
+ ghCalls: fs.readFileSync(ghCallsPath, 'utf8').trim().split(/\r?\n/).filter(Boolean),
+ gitCalls: fs.readFileSync(gitCallsPath, 'utf8').trim().split(/\r?\n/).filter(Boolean),
+ };
+ } finally {
+ cleanup(tmpDir);
+ }
+}
+
+describe('#2783 ship.md track_shipping self-heals wedged PRs', () => {
+ const step = extractStep('track_shipping');
+
+ test('track_shipping inspects mergeStateStatus post-push', () => {
+ assert.ok(
+ /mergeStateStatus/.test(step),
+ 'track_shipping must query mergeStateStatus to detect wedged PRs (#2783)'
+ );
+ });
+
+ test('track_shipping self-heals BLOCKED PRs by pushing a recovery commit without skip token', () => {
+ assert.ok(
+ /BLOCKED/.test(step),
+ 'track_shipping must check for BLOCKED merge state (#2783)'
+ );
+ assert.ok(
+ /trigger CI/.test(step) || /allow-empty/.test(step),
+ 'track_shipping must push a recovery commit to trigger CI when wedged (#2783)'
+ );
+ });
+
+ test('track_shipping and the following step remain outside balanced code fences', () => {
+ const content = fs.readFileSync(SHIP_MD, 'utf8');
+ const stripped = stripFencedCode(content);
+ assert.strictEqual(stripped.unterminatedFence, false, 'ship.md must not contain an unterminated code fence');
+ assert.match(
+ stripped.text,
+ /[\s\S]*?<\/step>\s*/,
+ 'the track_shipping boundary and following step must remain visible after stripping code fences',
+ );
+ });
+});
+
+describe('#2783 ship-note recovery decisions use current GitHub state', { skip: process.platform === 'win32' }, () => {
+ test('ignores a stale BLOCKED response until headRefOid matches the pushed commit', () => {
+ const result = runTrackShipping([
+ { head: 'stale-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'CLEAN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ ]);
+
+ assert.strictEqual(result.ghCalls.length, 2, 'must poll through the stale PR response');
+ assert.strictEqual(
+ result.gitCalls.filter(call => call === 'commit').length,
+ 0,
+ 'must not recover from merge state attached to an older head',
+ );
+ });
+
+ test('does not recover when review requirements are the BLOCKED reason', () => {
+ for (const review of ['REVIEW_REQUIRED', 'CHANGES_REQUESTED']) {
+ const result = runTrackShipping([
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review },
+ ]);
+ assert.strictEqual(
+ result.gitCalls.filter(call => call === 'commit').length,
+ 0,
+ `${review} must not create an empty CI-recovery commit`,
+ );
+ }
+ });
+
+ test('still recovers a current BLOCKED head with zero checks and no review gate', () => {
+ const result = runTrackShipping([
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review: 'APPROVED' },
+ ]);
+
+ assert.strictEqual(
+ result.gitCalls.filter(call => call === 'commit').length,
+ 1,
+ 'a confirmed skip-token wedge must create exactly one recovery commit',
+ );
+ });
+
+ test('recovers successfully on the 4th polling attempt', () => {
+ const result = runTrackShipping([
+ { head: 'stale-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ ]);
+ assert.strictEqual(result.ghCalls.length, 4, 'must poll exactly 4 times');
+ assert.strictEqual(
+ result.gitCalls.filter(call => call === 'commit').length,
+ 1,
+ 'must recover after resolving on the 4th attempt',
+ );
+ });
+
+ test('recovers successfully on the 5th (final) polling attempt', () => {
+ const result = runTrackShipping([
+ { head: 'stale-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ ]);
+ assert.strictEqual(result.ghCalls.length, 5, 'must poll exactly 5 times');
+ assert.strictEqual(
+ result.gitCalls.filter(call => call === 'commit').length,
+ 1,
+ 'must recover after resolving on the 5th attempt',
+ );
+ });
+
+ test('exhausts the polling bound after 5 attempts and warns without recovering (attempt 6)', () => {
+ const result = runTrackShipping([
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'UNKNOWN', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ { head: 'current-head', status: 'BLOCKED', checks: 0, review: '' },
+ ]);
+ assert.strictEqual(result.ghCalls.length, 5, 'must exhaust after exactly 5 polling attempts');
+ assert.strictEqual(
+ result.gitCalls.filter(call => call === 'commit').length,
+ 0,
+ 'must not recover if the status is unresolved when polling exhausts',
+ );
+ });
+});