fix: strip inline code and unterminated HTML comments in parseClosesIssue

scripts/routine-gate/__tests__/gate-core.test.ts

@@ -174,6 +174,15 @@ describe("parseClosesIssue / closesIssueRefs hardening", () => {
     expect(parseClosesIssue("Closes #42 and again Closes #42")).toBe(42);
     expect(closesIssueRefs("Closes #42 Closes #42")).toEqual([42]);
   });
+  it("ignores Closes inside inline code span", () => {
+    expect(parseClosesIssue("Example: `Closes #999`\n\nCloses #42")).toBe(42);
+  });
+  it("ignores Closes inside fenced code block", () => {
+    expect(parseClosesIssue("```\nCloses #999\n```\n\nCloses #42")).toBe(42);
+  });
+  it("ignores Closes inside unterminated HTML comment (strips to end of line)", () => {
+    expect(parseClosesIssue("<!-- Closes #999\n\nCloses #42")).toBe(42);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("evaluateGate ambiguity + provenance source-of-truth", () => {

scripts/routine-gate/gate-core.ts

@@ -19,10 +19,13 @@ export interface PrInfo {
 
 type Cfg = typeof CONFIG_T;
 
-// Strip HTML comments and markdown blockquote lines, then collect DISTINCT issue refs.
+// Strip code spans, HTML comments, and markdown blockquote lines, then collect DISTINCT issue refs.
 export function closesIssueRefs(body: string): number[] {
   const cleaned = body
-    .replace(/<!--[\s\S]*?-->/g, " ")          // drop HTML comments
+    .replace(/```[\s\S]*?```/g, " ")           // drop fenced code blocks
+    .replace(/`[^`\n]+`/g, " ")               // drop inline code spans
+    .replace(/<!--[\s\S]*?-->/g, " ")          // drop complete HTML comments
+    .replace(/<!--[^\n]*/g, " ")              // drop unterminated HTML comment starts (to end of line)
     .split("\n")
     .filter((line) => !/^\s*>/.test(line))      // drop blockquote lines
     .join("\n");