From 444b647b8f2b402ce01d08158f86f791ec42076f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: copilot-swe-agent <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 20:30:04 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] docs(governance): add fleet-wide cross-agent duplicate PR
 prevention policy

Fleet strategist sweeps have repeatedly found duplicate PRs opening the
same fix from different agents (issue #119). All previously-flagged
duplicate pairs in this repo (#43/#112, #56/#114, #103/#116) are already
closed or merged, so the remaining actionable item is codifying the
convention: search existing open/closed PRs before implementing a fix,
link or supersede duplicates instead of opening parallel PRs, and
reference existing tracking issues for workflow-file fixes instead of
opening new artifact-patch PRs.

Closes #119

Signed-off-by: copilot-swe-agent <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 AGENTS.md     |  4 ++++
 GOVERNANCE.md | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 21 insertions(+)

diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 921c5a63..e53513f8 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ the Hive maintainers directly.
 
 ## Guidelines for Agents
 
+- **Duplicate PR prevention**: Before implementing a fix, search open (and
+  recently closed) PRs and issues touching the same files or problem. See the
+  "Cross-agent duplicate prevention" section of `GOVERNANCE.md` for the full
+  policy.
 - **Audience**: Content is for CNCF end users (adopters), not project contributors.
   Contributor-facing material belongs on contribute.cncf.io.
 - **Documentation Standards**: Follow GFM (GitHub Flavored Markdown).
diff --git a/GOVERNANCE.md b/GOVERNANCE.md
index f0f347b5..2a26ceae 100644
--- a/GOVERNANCE.md
+++ b/GOVERNANCE.md
@@ -82,6 +82,23 @@ To keep the queue from rotting (see issue #58):
   a signal to adjust the low-risk merge classes above, not to lower the review
   bar.
 
+### Cross-agent duplicate prevention
+
+Fleet-wide sweeps have repeatedly found duplicate PRs opening the same fix from
+different agents (see issue #119). To prevent this:
+
+- Before implementing a fix, an agent must search open (and recently closed)
+  PRs and issues touching the same file(s) or the same problem. If a match
+  exists, the agent links to it and either supersedes it (with a comment
+  explaining why the new PR replaces it) or stands down instead of opening a
+  parallel PR.
+- When an equivalent change lands, the superseded PR is closed with a comment
+  pointing at the replacement, per the merge-queue hygiene rule above.
+- Fixes that require changes to workflow files (`.github/workflows/`) or other
+  security-sensitive files should, where a tracking issue already exists,
+  reference that issue rather than opening a new artifact-patch PR that
+  duplicates work already queued against it.
+
 ## Changing this document
 
 Changes to this file are direction changes. Propose them as a pull request and