diff --git a/skills/implementing/references/spike-worker-protocol.md b/skills/implementing/references/spike-worker-protocol.md
index 1bbbe3207f..1f719dd572 100644
--- a/skills/implementing/references/spike-worker-protocol.md
+++ b/skills/implementing/references/spike-worker-protocol.md
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ with your best guess at what was meant.
 Scope check: the exploration must fit one session. A question too big forks
 the same way implement decompose does — register narrower spikes
 ({{BOARD_SCRIPTS}}/board-register.sh "<title>" spike <P0..P3>
---parent {{ISSUE_NUMBER}}, honest notes) and end your turn — the
+--parent {{ISSUE_NUMBER}}, honest notes; the ticket contract's
+pre-registration seam search runs before EVERY registration, this
+decomposition path included) and end your turn — the
 registered children, not a half-answer, are this turn's deliverable.
 
 VERDICT IS YOUR FIRST BOARD WRITE. Dispatch wrote nothing.
diff --git a/skills/issue-tracker/SKILL.md b/skills/issue-tracker/SKILL.md
index c246508f05..873f7cf464 100644
--- a/skills/issue-tracker/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/issue-tracker/SKILL.md
@@ -329,22 +329,34 @@ SEAM: the identifiers your ticket touches (file paths, function/RPC
 names, table names). Title-keyword search may not be enough — different
 authors word the same work differently. GitHub issue search hits
 bodies, so query each seam identifier
-(`gh issue list --state open --search "<function-or-file-name>"`).
-Then triage the hits:
+(`gh issue list --state open --limit 200 --search "<function-or-file-name>"`
+— the explicit `--limit` matters: the default caps at 30 and truncates
+silently). This search is a gh-binding route; an API-bound repo has no
+client search verb yet — rely on the server's registration-time dedupe
+until one lands (the arkho#7 route family). Then triage the hits:
 
 - **Same defect or scope** → comment your evidence on the existing
   ticket instead of registering a duplicate — parallel workers hit the
   same base regressions blind.
 - **Same seam, different defect** → register, but in the same breath
-  `board-relate.sh` your new ticket to every open ticket on that seam.
-- **Cluster tripwire**: if your registration would put a THIRD open
-  non-park ticket onto the same function or contract body, that seam
-  has outgrown patch-wise work — parallel rewrites of one body revert
-  each other silently (different files, zero git conflicts).
-  Register your finding, then raise consolidation: a
-  ticket born `ready-for-architect` that names every member and owns
-  the unified contract, with the members related (and, where they are
-  still undispatched, `--blocked-by` the consolidation ticket).
+  `board-relate.sh` your new ticket to every open ticket on that seam
+  (gh binding — board-relate.sh has no API route; there, name the
+  seam-mates in your ticket body instead and move on).
+- **Cluster tripwire**: if your registration would put a THIRD
+  non-terminal ticket onto the same function or contract body, that
+  seam has outgrown patch-wise work — parallel rewrites of one body
+  revert each other silently (different files, zero git conflicts).
+  Parks COUNT: a needs-human/needs-info rewrite resumes into its lane
+  without re-running this search; only `deferred` and closed tickets
+  are out of the race. Register your finding, then raise consolidation:
+  a ticket born `ready-for-architect` that names every member and owns
+  the unified contract, with the members related. Member disposition
+  belongs to the consolidation ticket itself — each member is re-cut as
+  a slice of the unified contract or closed with a reason. Do not reach
+  for `--blocked-by` on the existing members: re-cutting other tickets'
+  edges is not a worker's write, and a block merely defers the
+  collision — the moment the consolidation lands, the unblock sweep
+  frees the stale rewrites to overwrite it.
 
 Whoever registers a ticket authors
 its body AT REGISTER TIME — write the sections to a temp file and pass
diff --git a/skills/reviewing-prs/SKILL.md b/skills/reviewing-prs/SKILL.md
index 72aebd1002..1322623934 100644
--- a/skills/reviewing-prs/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/reviewing-prs/SKILL.md
@@ -324,8 +324,13 @@ substance and route.
   Birth classification applies: the default is `ready-for-implementer`;
   a finding that is missing DESIGN (not just missing work) passes
   `--state ready-for-architect`.
+  A seam-search hit that says the finding IS an existing open ticket:
+  comment your evidence on that ticket instead of registering — the one
+  sanctioned cross-ticket write in this protocol (an explicit exception
+  to "board writes target the primary ticket").
   NEVER wave it. On a ticketless PR, post a structured PR comment
-  describing the scope fork instead — board writes are skipped.
+  describing the scope fork instead — board writes are skipped, the
+  cross-ticket exception included.
 - LOG — valid non-blocker: append a
   structured comment to the standing tech-debt issue
   ({{BOARD_SCRIPTS}}/board-comment.sh {{TECH_DEBT_ISSUE}}) — finding,