diff --git a/src/queue/ci-resolution.ts b/src/queue/ci-resolution.ts
index a4ee9d765..4eaf03837 100644
--- a/src/queue/ci-resolution.ts
+++ b/src/queue/ci-resolution.ts
@@ -339,6 +339,43 @@ export function cachedLiveMergeState(
   return next;
 }
 
+// #merge-race (observed live: metagraphed#8037 and others -- an approved, gate-passing, fully-autonomous-merge
+// PR sat unmerged for ~6 minutes, its own merge window, long enough for an overlapping sibling PR to land first
+// and base-conflict it out from under it): fetchLivePullRequestMergeState's own doc comment already documents
+// that GitHub computes mergeable_state ASYNCHRONOUSLY and can return "unknown" (still computing) even on a
+// forced live re-fetch taken moments after posting the approving review -- previously the disposition simply
+// accepted that single read and deferred to the next scheduled regate sweep (several minutes later) to catch
+// the now-resolved state. Retry a short, bounded number of times SPECIFICALLY on "unknown" (the one transient
+// value -- "dirty"/"blocked"/"behind" are real, stable, non-computing states that must never be retried) before
+// falling through to the same defer-to-sweep behavior as before. Mirrors the identical "GitHub hasn't finished
+// computing X yet" pattern already used for the diff/files lag (backfill.ts's
+// fetchAndStorePullRequestFilesForReview / REVIEW_FILES_EMPTY_RETRY_DELAY_MS).
+const MERGE_STATE_UNKNOWN_MAX_RETRIES = 2;
+let mergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsOverride: number | null = null;
+/** Test-only override (#test-hotspots convention) -- production default (2s) is untouched; a test that wants
+ *  to exercise the retry loop's own logic sets this near-zero via test/helpers/vitest-setup.ts. */
+export function setMergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsForTest(value: number | null): void {
+  mergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsOverride = value;
+}
+function mergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMs(): number {
+  return mergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsOverride ?? 2_000;
+}
+const sleepForMergeStateRetry = (ms: number): Promise<void> => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
+
+async function fetchLivePullRequestMergeStateWithUnknownRetry(
+  env: Env,
+  repoFullName: string,
+  prNumber: number,
+  token: string | undefined,
+  admissionKey?: GitHubRateLimitAdmissionKey,
+): Promise<string | undefined> {
+  for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt += 1) {
+    const state = await fetchLivePullRequestMergeState(env, repoFullName, prNumber, token, admissionKey);
+    if (state !== "unknown" || attempt >= MERGE_STATE_UNKNOWN_MAX_RETRIES) return state;
+    await sleepForMergeStateRetry(mergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMs());
+  }
+}
+
 // #4220 contradiction: the stored pr.mergeableState lags GitHub's async recompute, so a base-conflicting PR could
 // read clean here (safe to merge) while the disposition reads the live dirty and auto-CLOSES it. This ALWAYS
 // force-refetches live from GitHub and MUST NEVER be routed through the durable pull_request_detail_sync_state
@@ -356,7 +393,7 @@ export function refreshLiveMergeState(
   const next = evictLiveFactOnReject(
     facts.mergeStates,
     key,
-    fetchLivePullRequestMergeState(env, repoFullName, prNumber, token, admissionKey),
+    fetchLivePullRequestMergeStateWithUnknownRetry(env, repoFullName, prNumber, token, admissionKey),
   );
   facts.mergeStates.set(key, next);
   facts.forcedMergeStateKeys.add(key);
diff --git a/test/helpers/vitest-setup.ts b/test/helpers/vitest-setup.ts
index 766732677..1223a0989 100644
--- a/test/helpers/vitest-setup.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/vitest-setup.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 // behavior (attempt count, precedence) still exercises the identical code path, just without the sleep.
 import { setReviewFilesEmptyRetryDelayMsForTest } from "../../src/github/backfill";
 import { setGithubRateLimitRetrySleepCapMsForTest } from "../../src/github/client";
+import { setMergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsForTest } from "../../src/queue/ci-resolution";
 
 setReviewFilesEmptyRetryDelayMsForTest(0);
 setGithubRateLimitRetrySleepCapMsForTest(0);
+setMergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsForTest(0);
diff --git a/test/unit/ci-resolution.test.ts b/test/unit/ci-resolution.test.ts
index 27231f6a1..9dece4218 100644
--- a/test/unit/ci-resolution.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/ci-resolution.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ import {
   cachedLiveCiAggregate,
   cachedRequiredStatusContexts,
   observeRequiredContextsLookup,
+  refreshLiveMergeState,
   REQUIRED_CONTEXTS_UNRESOLVED_METRIC,
+  setMergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsForTest,
 } from "../../src/queue/ci-resolution";
 import type { LiveGithubFacts } from "../../src/queue/processors";
 import { counterValue, resetMetrics } from "../../src/selfhost/metrics";
@@ -20,6 +22,53 @@ function emptyFacts(): LiveGithubFacts {
   };
 }
 
+describe("refreshLiveMergeState retries a transient \"unknown\" read (#merge-race)", () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+    setMergeStateUnknownRetryDelayMsForTest(0);
+  });
+
+  it("REGRESSION: retries once and resolves to \"clean\" within the SAME pass when GitHub's first read is still computing", async () => {
+    // metagraphed#8037 (live incident): an approved, gate-passing PR sat unmerged for ~6 minutes because the
+    // one live mergeable_state read taken right after posting the review came back "unknown" (GitHub still
+    // computing) and the disposition deferred to the next scheduled sweep. This proves the retry converts that
+    // into an immediate same-pass resolution instead.
+    const fetchSpy = vi
+      .spyOn(backfillModule, "fetchLivePullRequestMergeState")
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce("unknown")
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce("clean");
+    const facts = emptyFacts();
+    const result = await refreshLiveMergeState(createTestEnv(), "owner/repo", facts, 7, "tok");
+    expect(result).toBe("clean");
+    expect(fetchSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
+  it("gives up after the retry cap and still returns \"unknown\" (falls through to the next scheduled sweep, unchanged prior behavior)", async () => {
+    const fetchSpy = vi.spyOn(backfillModule, "fetchLivePullRequestMergeState").mockResolvedValue("unknown");
+    const facts = emptyFacts();
+    const result = await refreshLiveMergeState(createTestEnv(), "owner/repo", facts, 7, "tok");
+    expect(result).toBe("unknown");
+    // 1 original + MAX_RETRIES(2) = 3 total attempts, never unbounded.
+    expect(fetchSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+  });
+
+  it("does not retry a real, stable non-clean state (dirty) — only the transient 'still computing' value", async () => {
+    const fetchSpy = vi.spyOn(backfillModule, "fetchLivePullRequestMergeState").mockResolvedValueOnce("dirty");
+    const facts = emptyFacts();
+    const result = await refreshLiveMergeState(createTestEnv(), "owner/repo", facts, 7, "tok");
+    expect(result).toBe("dirty");
+    expect(fetchSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("does not retry an outright fetch failure (undefined) — best-effort, same as a stable state", async () => {
+    const fetchSpy = vi.spyOn(backfillModule, "fetchLivePullRequestMergeState").mockResolvedValueOnce(undefined);
+    const facts = emptyFacts();
+    const result = await refreshLiveMergeState(createTestEnv(), "owner/repo", facts, 7, "tok");
+    expect(result).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(fetchSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("cachedLiveCiAggregate request-scoped memoization (#4498)", () => {
   afterEach(() => {
     vi.restoreAllMocks();