diff --git a/prompts/_shared/automation-rules.md b/prompts/_shared/automation-rules.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..573d7a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prompts/_shared/automation-rules.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+When the diff adds or changes CI configuration, a GitHub Actions workflow, a scheduled
+job, or any other unattended automation, review it as production code whose only user is
+a log nobody reads. Flag each genuine problem with a file/line reference:
+- Every external call must have its failure surfaced. A non-2xx response or a failed
+  request that is swallowed into an empty string or an ignored exit status turns a broken
+  job into a green one. `curl -sf ... || true`, an unchecked exit status before a success
+  log line, and a pipeline without `set -o pipefail` are all this defect. Require that the
+  status be captured and either fail the step or emit a `::warning::`/`::error::`
+  annotation naming what could not be reached.
+- Check that the token scopes and permissions the job declares actually cover the API
+  calls it makes, against the endpoint's documented requirements rather than against a
+  sibling workflow. A too-narrow scope does not fail loudly; it returns 403 and the script
+  proceeds down whatever branch an empty response selects. GitHub Actions in particular:
+  a `permissions:` block replaces the default set rather than adding to it, and reading or
+  writing comments on a pull request needs `pull-requests` even though the endpoint path
+  says `issues`.
+- A guard that fails closed must be able to tell "nothing to do" from "could not tell". A
+  conservative default is right, but if the safe branch is also what an outage, a
+  permission error, or an empty response selects, then the automation can no-op forever
+  while every run reports success. Require that the two cases log differently and that the
+  error case is visible without reading the log line by line.
+- Judge whether the job's success signal means anything. A step that exits 0 on the path
+  where it did nothing, or that prints a success message before verifying the action took
+  effect, gives no way to notice the feature is dead. Say what the job should assert, or
+  what it should count, so that a run which accomplished nothing is distinguishable from a
+  run with nothing to accomplish.
diff --git a/prompts/_shared/verification-rules.md b/prompts/_shared/verification-rules.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5be184b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prompts/_shared/verification-rules.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+These rules govern how you report what you checked and how you retire a finding. They
+exist because a review that states a wrong conclusion confidently is worse than one that
+says nothing: it closes the question for every later reader.
+- Do not write that something is correct, valid, sufficient, or safe unless you ran a
+  check that could have come back the other way. Confirming that a value is *present* is
+  not confirming that it is *right* — say "declares X" rather than "correctly declares X"
+  when presence is all you established. When the diff declares a token scope, permission,
+  credential, environment variable, version constraint, or config key, correctness means
+  checking it against the thing that consumes it: the API's own documented requirements,
+  the tool's schema, the reading code. A neighbouring file that declares something similar
+  is not that check.
+- Matching a pattern that already exists in the repository is evidence about whether a
+  finding is a *regression*, never evidence about whether it is a *bug*. In a file the diff
+  adds there is no prior behavior to preserve, so parity cannot retire a finding — at most
+  it widens it. Write "the same problem exists in X", not "therefore it is not a problem",
+  and let the verdict rest on the impact, not the precedent.
+- When you retire a finding — yours, Codex's, or one raised earlier in the thread — name
+  the exact call site and state the conditions under which your reasoning holds. Reasoning
+  that a failure is self-healing, tolerable, or cosmetic is a claim about one specific call
+  under specific conditions, not about a construct. If the same construct appears elsewhere
+  in the diff, judge each occurrence on its own; a dismissal that silently generalizes is
+  how a real defect ships with an approval attached.
diff --git a/prompts/claude-synthesize-thesis-first.md b/prompts/claude-synthesize-thesis-first.md
index 6f0b71f..fa845d7 100644
--- a/prompts/claude-synthesize-thesis-first.md
+++ b/prompts/claude-synthesize-thesis-first.md
@@ -34,11 +34,16 @@ Synthesize a single review decision for pull request #{{PR}}.
 8. Check that in-app navigational links use React Router's Link rather than a raw `<a>`
    tag, per these rules:
    {{@prompts/_shared/navigation-rules.md}}
-9. Validate which of Codex's findings are real (discard false positives), add any genuine
+9. When the diff touches CI config, a GitHub Actions workflow, or any unattended job,
+   review it per these rules:
+   {{@prompts/_shared/automation-rules.md}}
+10. Validate which of Codex's findings are real (discard false positives), add any genuine
    issues Codex missed, and (when a ticket is available) judge genuine misses of the ticket's
    intent or clear scope creep — but give credit when the author went beyond the literal
-   acceptance criteria in a sound way rather than flagging it as non-compliant.
-10. Decide ONE verdict. Be pragmatic: use "request_changes" only when there is at least one
+   acceptance criteria in a sound way rather than flagging it as non-compliant. Hold every
+   claim you make and every finding you retire to these rules:
+   {{@prompts/_shared/verification-rules.md}}
+11. Decide ONE verdict. Be pragmatic: use "request_changes" only when there is at least one
    genuine, blocking issue; otherwise "approve". A change that exceeds the AC without
    breaking the ticket's intent is a reason to approve, not to block.
 
diff --git a/prompts/claude-synthesize.md b/prompts/claude-synthesize.md
index 32738b6..5703bac 100644
--- a/prompts/claude-synthesize.md
+++ b/prompts/claude-synthesize.md
@@ -34,11 +34,16 @@ Synthesize a single review decision for pull request #{{PR}}.
 8. Check that in-app navigational links use React Router's Link rather than a raw `<a>`
    tag, per these rules:
    {{@prompts/_shared/navigation-rules.md}}
-9. Validate which of Codex's findings are real (discard false positives), add any genuine
+9. When the diff touches CI config, a GitHub Actions workflow, or any unattended job,
+   review it per these rules:
+   {{@prompts/_shared/automation-rules.md}}
+10. Validate which of Codex's findings are real (discard false positives), add any genuine
    issues Codex missed, and (when a ticket is available) judge genuine misses of the ticket's
    intent or clear scope creep — but give credit when the author went beyond the literal
-   acceptance criteria in a sound way rather than flagging it as non-compliant.
-10. Decide ONE verdict. Be pragmatic: use "request_changes" only when there is at least one
+   acceptance criteria in a sound way rather than flagging it as non-compliant. Hold every
+   claim you make and every finding you retire to these rules:
+   {{@prompts/_shared/verification-rules.md}}
+11. Decide ONE verdict. Be pragmatic: use "request_changes" only when there is at least one
    genuine, blocking issue; otherwise "approve". A change that exceeds the AC without
    breaking the ticket's intent is a reason to approve, not to block.
 
diff --git a/prompts/codex-first-pass.md b/prompts/codex-first-pass.md
index b892914..1e7f98b 100644
--- a/prompts/codex-first-pass.md
+++ b/prompts/codex-first-pass.md
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@ verbatim and handed to a second reviewer, so do not add conversational preamble.
 7. Check that in-app navigational links use React Router's Link rather than a raw `<a>`
    tag, per these rules:
    {{@prompts/_shared/navigation-rules.md}}
-8. Report concrete issues — bugs, regressions, security problems, member-privacy
+8. When the diff touches CI config, a GitHub Actions workflow, or any unattended job,
+   review it per these rules:
+   {{@prompts/_shared/automation-rules.md}}
+9. Report concrete issues — bugs, regressions, security problems, member-privacy
    violations, and genuine misses of the ticket's intent or clear scope creep — each with a
    file/line reference and a brief rationale. Do not list "doesn't match acceptance criteria"
    as an issue by itself; only raise it when the deviation harms the intent. If nothing is