Field Notes from a Merge That Should Have Been a Review Step

Some merges fail because they were treated as automatic convergence when they really required a review step and a human-owned judgment.

The workflow merged two branches exactly as designed. The issue was that the design assumed both branches were comparable when they were not.

That merge needed

• A review checkpoint.
• Evidence about branch authority.
• A human-owned decision for the final path.

Use the security docs, audit schema, and architecture guide to identify merges that need arbitration instead of automation.