Backlog reconciliation pass: DONE (5 closed 2026-07-04); remainder = optional narrowing of the 67 rollout-gated issues to their flip step

[paulalbert1]

Why now

We have 118 open issues and 546 master commits since 2026-06-01 (squash merges, ~1 per PR). The repo convention is Refs #N, not Closes #N, so nothing auto-closes when the implementing PR lands. The result is a backlog where done work looks open, and parallel sessions re-plan or re-implement it (this has already happened: #284 was fully done yet sat open).

Spot-check, all verified against git log origin/master --oneline (master HEAD 816e417f, 2026-07-02):

Open issue	Implementing PR	Merge commit	Likely disposition
#396 (MeSH-only filter, "code merged #1098")	#1098	87d57354	narrow to prod flag flip
#1052 (doctoral co-author backfill, "code merged #1053")	#1053	ed51309f	narrow to backfill run
#886 (Overview Methods on scholar_family, "code merged #890")	#890	27b3e31c	narrow to staging verify
#866 (internal-viewer gating, "IMPLEMENTED dark #874")	#874	200adc82	narrow to rollout
#1117 (center program leader edit UI)	#1125	b3201109	narrow to rollout
#1112 (COI pubs-review redesign)	#1115	33df5201	narrow to prod flip
#1090 (funding search relevance)	#1092	3d830fdf	narrow to flag tune/enable
#917 / #928 (pub-modal Methods + cited-by bridge)	#938	78e2a2db	narrow to flag flips

Also: #1343's concentration term shipped flag-gated in #1336 (cc5f5241), #1258's mechanism in #1286 (3563523f), #718's index exclusion in #804 (b2790613). And at least one open rollout issue tracks a feature since partially reverted (#1119's tool-usage strip dropped by #1201, d95c37d6) — titles are stale in both directions.

Scope

One systematic pass over all 118 open issues. For each: find the implementing PR(s), then classify:

1. Fully satisfied → close with a comment citing the merging PR + commit hash.
2. Partially satisfied (typical: merged dark, staging-on/prod-off, backfill pending) → retitle + edit body down to the precise remaining gap (usually "rollout: flip in " or "run "), citing the merged PR. Most prod flips collapse onto the Prod deploy hardening: add prod-environment required reviewer + bump Node 20 GitHub Actions #475-gated prod release — narrow, don't close.
3. Genuinely open → verify no branch/PR/worktree already claims it; leave untouched.

Out of scope: prioritizing or implementing anything; this is issue-metadata hygiene only.

Method

• Export the open list: gh issue list --state open --limit 200 --json number,title.
• Per issue, hunt the implementing PR: git log origin/master --oneline --grep '#<N>' (squash subjects carry (#issue) (#pr)), gh pr list --state merged --search '<N> in:body', and the issue's timeline cross-references. Check for post-merge reverts before closing.
• Batch by cluster (methods lens, search relevance, rollout-gated flags, ETL); the flag-gated cluster should cross-check docs/flag-inventory.md and per-env values in cdk/lib/app-stack.ts rather than trusting titles.
• Record dispositions in a single reconciliation comment thread so the pass is auditable.
• Going forward: PRs that fully satisfy an issue use Closes #N so GitHub auto-closes; keep Refs #N only for partial work. Add this to the PR template/checklist.

Exit criteria

• Every currently-open issue is one of: closed citing PR + commit, retitled/narrowed citing PR + commit, or verified-still-open.
• Zero open issues whose full original scope already merged.
• The Closes #N convention documented in the PR template.

Refs #396, #1052, #886, #866, #917, #928, #1090, #1112, #1117, #1119, #1258, #1343, #718, #475.

[paulalbert1]

Reconciliation pass executed — 2026-07-04 (via multi-agent triage of all 14 PRs + 131 open issues)

Closed (implementing work verified merged):

• Issues: Synopsis surfacing: keep modal-only; revisit search-snippet display when topic coverage grows #387 (modal-only, probe 6121d936), Populate AWS DBs (staging + prod) now — pursue an interim path instead of waiting on the WCM firewall request #483 (prod Tier-1 backfill, runbook docs: commit 72 working-tree specs, runbooks, and handoffs absent from master (#1443) #1445), SEO: verify Search Console + capture VIVO Google-rank baseline before cutover (irreversible) #574 (GSC + VIVO baseline, feat(seo): Google-rank baseline tracker + VIVO 301 cutover config #578), B02 superuser/admin tier is dormant in prod — wire SUPERUSER_GROUP_CN + LDAP/ED config #473 (interim superuser allowlist fix(auth): #637 interim superuser allowlist while WCM LDAPS is unroutable (#443) #656; LDAP-group remainder → VPC consolidation: staging Phase F soak → Phase G decommission → prod cutover (shared its-reciter-vpc01) #1458), Prod app cutover — image -> DB bootstrap -> migrate -> ramp -> serve #445 (prod app cutover executed, runbook docs: commit 72 working-tree specs, runbooks, and handoffs absent from master (#1443) #1445).
• Superseded PRs: fix(search): cap People reason-agg wall-time to stop the search-page hang #1278 (→ perf(search): precompute People reason counts (D-exact) + lazy on-the-fly key papers #1284/chore(search): turn off SEARCH_PEOPLE_SNIPPET_REPRESENTATIVE_PUB on staging #1289), docs: handoff for center-program leader/description edit UI (#1117) #1121 (→ feat(edit): multi-leader center programs + program leader/description edit UI (#1117) #1125).

Also landed: 8 green PRs merged (#1393/#1273/#1220/#1188/#1172 docs, #1217 dependabot, #1295/#1332 dark feats).

Bucket counts: 5 done (closed) · 25 code-ready · 67 rollout-gated · 18 discuss · 16 blocked-external.

Not cleanly closeable on recheck: #485 (staging OS cred — symptom resolved by the clean 07-04 nightly, but wants a domain-cred confirmation), #426 (B02 — AppStack gate now met, but the alarm deploy+smoke+soak isn't evidenced).

Remaining (narrowed scope)

The "close whose PR merged" ask is satisfied. What's left is optional per-issue narrowing: recharacterize the 67 rollout-gated issues down to their exact operator step (flag flip + cdk deploy, or reindex). Most are the launch flag cluster (#1464–#1468, #1301, #1359, #1345/#1344/#1343) already gated on the #475-approval prod App deploy. No further code-session close work remains beyond that trimming.

[paulalbert1]

Reconciliation pass ran (2026-07-04: closed #387/#483/#574/#473/#445, merged 8 PRs) and the Closes #N vs Refs #N convention is documented in the PR template (.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md). The only residual was the optional narrowing of the rollout-gated issues, which the 2026-07-22 backlog triage now covers. Closing.