fix: improve issue-lifecycle skill resumption and close-out guidance

.claude/skills/issue-lifecycle/SKILL.md

@@ -108,14 +108,46 @@ swamp model output search issue-<N> --json
 
 ## Resuming a Session
 
-If the human comes back to an in-progress issue, check the current state:
+If the human comes back to an in-progress issue, check the current phase:
 
 ```
-swamp model get issue-<N> --json
+swamp data get issue-<N> state-main --json
 ```
 
-Then read the reference file for whatever phase the state shows and pick up from
-there.
+Read the `phase` field from the response. **Do NOT call `start` to resume** —
+`start` unconditionally resets the phase to `triaging`, destroying progress.
+
+Use this table to determine what to do next:
+
+| Phase            | Action                                                                    |
+| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `triaging`       | Read [references/triage.md](references/triage.md)                         |
+| `classified`     | Read [references/planning.md](references/planning.md)                     |
+| `plan_generated` | Read [references/adversarial-review.md](references/adversarial-review.md) |
+| `approved`       | Read [references/implementation.md](references/implementation.md)         |
+| `implementing`   | Check PR status or call `complete`                                        |
+| `pr_open`        | Check PR status or call `complete`                                        |
+| `done`           | Nothing to do — lifecycle is complete                                     |
+
+The canonical phase list lives in the `TRANSITIONS` constant in
+`extensions/models/_lib/schemas.ts`.
+
+## Closing Out a Shipped Issue
+
+When a PR has already merged and the lifecycle just needs to be marked done:
+
+1. Check the current phase:
+   ```
+   swamp data get issue-<N> state-main --json
+   ```
+2. If the phase is `implementing` and you have a PR URL, link it first:
+   ```
+   swamp model method run issue-<N> link_pr --input url=<PR URL>
+   ```
+3. Call `complete` (accepts both `implementing` and `pr_open` as source phases):
+   ```
+   swamp model method run issue-<N> complete
+   ```
 
 ## Key Rules
 

.claude/skills/issue-lifecycle/references/triage.md

@@ -3,6 +3,21 @@
 Steps 1–5 of the issue lifecycle. Read this when starting a new triage or
 resuming an issue in the `triaging` phase.
 
+## Before You Start
+
+Check whether the model instance already exists and is past triage:
+
+```
+swamp data get issue-<N> state-main --json
+```
+
+- If this **returns data** and the `phase` is anything other than `created` or
+  `triaging`, the issue is already in flight. **Do NOT call `start`** — go to
+  the "Resuming a Session" section in SKILL.md and use the phase-to-action table
+  to pick up where the issue left off.
+- If the command **fails** (no data found), the model instance hasn't been
+  created yet — proceed with step 1 below.
+
 ## 1. Create the Model Instance
 
 The swamp-club issue must already exist — create it in the swamp-club UI first,
@@ -25,6 +40,10 @@ commands in this skill also need `--repo-dir`.
 swamp model method run issue-<N> start
 ```
 
+> **Warning:** `start` unconditionally resets the phase to `triaging`. Only call
+> it once when beginning a new lifecycle. Never use it to resume an in-progress
+> issue — it will destroy all progress (classification, plan, approvals).
+
 This fetches the issue from swamp-club via `GET /api/v1/lab/issues/<N>` and
 writes the title, body, type, status, and comments to the `context` resource. If
 the issue doesn't exist in swamp-club, `start` fails loudly — create the issue