Promote 'verify each Closes #N' pattern from example-a-dev-loop into the template #23

Problem

The example-a-dev-loop skill has a Phase 4 defensive practice that is not in the upstream template:

Verify each Closes #N against the actual issue before pushing. For every issue number you plan to reference, run gh issue view <N> and confirm the title matches the work in this PR. Numbers carried forward from summary context or from a prior session are a common source of wrong-issue auto-closes.

The motivation given (numbers carried forward from session context) is universal, not acsf-specific. This is a carry-over that should be promoted into create-dev-loop.md and retrofitted to the other child skills.

Motivation

This is connected to RESEARCH.md §4 — context rot in long-horizon runs: stale issue numbers anchored from earlier in the transcript are exactly the failure mode context rot produces. Adding an explicit verification step counters it at the moment that matters.

Confidence: medium (single child skill currently encodes it; reasoning is general).

Proposal

Add to Phase 4 of the template, immediately before gh pr create or as the first sub-step of "PR body must include":

Before pushing, verify each Closes #N. For every issue number you plan to reference, run gh issue view <N> and confirm the title and body match what this PR does. Numbers carried forward from earlier session context or summarized prior cycles are a common source of wrong-issue auto-closes — if a referenced issue describes unrelated work, omit the Closes reference and either file a new issue or note No tracking issue — gap found during triage. in the PR body.

Acceptance criteria

• Phase 4 has an explicit Closes #N verification step
• Step 4 substitution table unchanged (this is a universal rule, no new placeholders)

Retrofit

Per CLAUDE.md's promotion rule:

• example-a-dev-loop — already has the rule; reword to match canonical phrasing for consistency
• example-l-dev-loop, example-q-dev-loop, example-h-dev-loop — add the rule

Related

• RESEARCH.md §4 (motivates the defensive verification at boundaries)
• The example-a-dev-loop skill file is the source pattern
• See "Promoting a carry-over into the template" section of example-skills-catalog/CONVENTIONS.md

drafted by Claude on behalf of Daniel Stephenson