Bt6 Merge Train

BT6 Merge Train

Use only after bt6-queue-audit. Apply bt6-maintainer-guardrails.

Authorization preflight

Confirm the current operator explicitly authorized merging in the resolved repository. Record:

• canonical repository/tracker and expected actor;
• candidate PR numbers and audited head SHAs;
• base branch and permitted merge method;
• whether this is dry-run or live;
• current queue-audit reference and expiration conditions.

Approval to inspect, plan, review, fix, or prepare is not merge authorization.

Never merge

• requested-changes, draft, conflict/dirty, or ambiguous PR state;
• missing/failing required checks;
• head SHA different from the audited SHA;
• policy-disallowed merge method or unexpected base branch;
• unresolved security, privacy, citation, provenance, corpus, schema, data-loss, compatibility, or research-integrity finding;
• missing profile-required risk-surface verification;
• missing PR-tier core checks, applicable 50% changed-line coverage, or relevant tests for changed behavior;
• missing, stale, incomplete, or non-merge-ready external-provider assessment;
• a PR whose target repository/tracker/actor cannot be proven.

Candidate ordering

Respect dependencies and gate-critical fixes first. For otherwise independent work, prefer narrowly scoped docs/config, small verified defects, integrity and compatibility fixes, then larger features. Recompute ordering after each merge.

Per-PR procedure

1. Re-fetch PR metadata, exact head SHA, base, mergeability, reviews, required checks, linked issues, dependencies, and new human feedback.
2. Compare the head with the queue audit and PR-audit evidence.
3. Confirm hostile-input and all matched risk-surface checks are current.
4. Run any PR-tier quick or risk-surface validation invalidated by base-branch movement. Do not require tagged-release full validation for an ordinary merge candidate.
5. For external-provider changes, confirm the provider assessment matches the exact head and its integration-complete and merge-ready verdicts are yes.
6. Verify the merge method is allowed and dry-run is false.
7. Merge exactly one PR through the canonical tracker.
8. Verify the resulting canonical-branch commit and post-merge CI.
9. Reconcile linked issues by observed state. Comment/close only when separately authorized; do not assume closing keywords worked.
10. Refresh base branch, open queue, reviews, checks, dependencies, and candidate ordering before considering another PR.

Stop conditions

Stop on any merge conflict, check failure, unexpected commit, issue mismatch, new feedback, stale audit, changed profile/policy, or ambiguous external state. Do not skip a failed candidate and continue unless the operator's authorization explicitly covers that behavior and remaining candidates are independent.

Use templates/bt6-merge-train-report.md. Record every attempted/merged PR, exact SHA, method, checks, authorization, linked-issue outcome, and stop reason.