merge_pr now wraps ONLY the mutating POST /pulls/{n}/merge in a bounded
exponential-backoff retry-loop on TRANSIENT outcomes (405 "try again later",
408, any 5xx, network/timeout, and 409|422 while the PR is still mergeable);
TERMINAL outcomes (403/404/real conflict via mergeable==False) -> fast honest
False, so the ORCH-071/081 not-merged HOLD backstop is unchanged. Fixes the
ORCH-063 false HOLD + manual re-merge on Gitea's post-push mergeability hiccup.
ensure_open_pr gains an "already fully in main" guard (_branch_fully_in_main,
git merge-base --is-ancestor HEAD origin/main) BEFORE creating a PR -> new
"already-in-main" outcome avoids the garbage empty PR on a re-driven finalizer;
_handle_merge_verify skips merge_pr on that outcome and lets the authoritative
SHA-in-main check confirm -> done (not a HOLD). git error of the guard fails
OPEN to the create path.
New ORCH_MERGE_RETRY_* settings (kill-switch merge_retry_enabled -> one-shot,
max_attempts=3, backoff base=2/max=5). INV-4 (merge only via Gitea PR-merge API,
never push/force-push main), never-raise, STAGE_TRANSITIONS/QG_CHECKS/DB schema
unchanged. Docs (README merge-verify section, CLAUDE.md, CHANGELOG, .env.example)
updated in the same PR. Tests: test_merge_gate.py TC-01..12, test_config.py
TC-13, test_merge_verify.py TC-14..16; full suite green (1389).
Refs: ORCH-093
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
