diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 6361f3a..3fb757f 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -94,6 +94,12 @@ below are the procedure — run them in order, every task, not only the big ones
 8. **Adjudicate, merge, tear down — yours alone.** Read the diff yourself: fully if it is small,
    targeted at the reported findings and the risky paths if it is large. Reviewer findings direct
    your attention; they never substitute for it. Then merge, then `fleet_stop{paneId}`.
+   **If the forge refuses you the merge** — a protected branch, a token without the grant — the
+   adjudication is still yours. Read the diff, decide, and hand the operator a merge-ready queue
+   with the refusal quoted. Never report a PR as merged, and never call one "ready to merge"
+   without having read the diff yourself. A refusal is exactly when that shortcut is tempting,
+   because no action is left that forces you to look, and taking it turns this step into
+   forwarding a reviewer's verdict — which is delegating the merge by proxy, two lines above.
 
 **Steps 3 and 4 are separate on purpose** — spawning and sending in one loop is how parallel work
 silently becomes serial, and it is the most common way this layer is wasted. For the same reason,