diff --git a/scripts/loop/README.md b/scripts/loop/README.md
index 209c175..4cab1ff 100644
--- a/scripts/loop/README.md
+++ b/scripts/loop/README.md
@@ -91,6 +91,36 @@ Two consequences worth stating plainly:
 `permissions:` cannot grant `administration`, so the loop cannot delete or weaken
 that ruleset. `gh-check.mjs` asserts exactly that pair of properties (see below).
 
+**A loop PR starts with its workflows unrun.** GitHub suppresses workflow runs for
+events raised by `GITHUB_TOKEN` — the same recursion guard that stops the loop
+triggering itself with a label — with one exception: a `pull_request` opened or
+updated by `GITHUB_TOKEN` does create runs, but in an **approval-required** state.
+Nothing runs until a human approves.
+
+That has a consequence worth knowing before it confuses you: **a loop PR shows no
+checks at all**, which reads like a broken workflow. It is not — CI is waiting.
+
+Approval is per run, which is the useful part. A loop PR creates two: `CI` and
+`Loop` (the latter because the PR is loop-produced, so it routes to `pr-review`).
+Approving both makes the loop review its own work; approving only the first gives you
+the thing you actually want:
+
+```bash
+gh api 'repos/Alex1990/tiny-oss/actions/runs?status=action_required' \
+  --jq '.workflow_runs[] | "\(.id) \(.name)"'
+gh api --method POST repos/Alex1990/tiny-oss/actions/runs/<ci-id>/approve
+```
+
+The UI's *Approve workflows to run* button approves every pending run for that PR,
+so use it when you do not mind the self-review, and the API when you do. Verified on
+PR #50: approving only the `CI` run left `Loop` at `completed/action_required` while
+CI ran and passed.
+
+This is deliberately worked around no further than a click. Switching the push and
+the PR creation to a PAT would start CI by itself, and would also hand the loop the
+owner's ruleset bypass — see the table above. One click is the cheaper half of that
+trade.
+
 What bounds the loop beyond `main` is therefore *not* a credential: the host owns
 every write (`applyActions` derives them from the agent's `result.json`) as a division
 of labour, and the agent is asked not to write — but if it did, the ruleset would
diff --git a/scripts/loop/shared/state.mjs b/scripts/loop/shared/state.mjs
index d425c96..612897c 100644
--- a/scripts/loop/shared/state.mjs
+++ b/scripts/loop/shared/state.mjs
@@ -653,9 +653,10 @@ export async function finishRun(s, {
   // downgrades the run to `failed`: the task goes to the inbox, where a human sees it,
   // instead of `waiting-merge`, where nothing would ever resolve it.
   let created = null;
+  let executed = [];
   if (t && !noGithub && writeLevel === 'auto' && outcome === 'pr-opened' && push) {
-    const done = applyActions(planPush(t, push, ghRepoOf(t.url)), { log, warn, cwd, exec });
-    created = done.find((a) => a.kind === 'pr-create' && a.prNumber) ?? null;
+    executed = applyActions(planPush(t, push, ghRepoOf(t.url)), { log, warn, cwd, exec });
+    created = executed.find((a) => a.kind === 'pr-create' && a.prNumber) ?? null;
     if (created) pr = created.prNumber;
     else {
       outcome = 'failed';
@@ -692,15 +693,19 @@ export async function finishRun(s, {
   await saveTask(s, t);
   await releaseLock(s, t, t.stage);
 
-  const actions = noGithub ? [] : planActions(t, outcome, {
-    // The push/PR actions already ran above; passing `null` here would drop the label
-    // too, so pass them through only when they have not been executed.
+  // What the run reports as its GitHub actions. The two that create the PR already ran
+  // above and are prepended, so the Step Summary and the log count them: reporting only
+  // the label and comment would hide the two writes that matter most.
+  const rest = noGithub ? [] : planActions(t, outcome, {
+    // Passing the push proposal again would re-plan actions that have already executed;
+    // `null` here drops their replanning while keeping the label and the comment.
     label: label ?? m.label, comment, note, push: created ? null : push,
   });
-  let applied = created ? [created] : [];
-  if (actions.length) {
-    if (writeLevel === 'auto') applied = [...applied, ...applyActions(actions, { log, warn, cwd, exec })];
-    else await appendActionBlock(s, runId, actions);
+  const actions = [...executed, ...rest];
+  let applied = [...executed];
+  if (rest.length) {
+    if (writeLevel === 'auto') applied = [...applied, ...applyActions(rest, { log, warn, cwd, exec })];
+    else await appendActionBlock(s, runId, rest);
   }
 
   // A PR the host just opened exists on GitHub but not yet in the state layer: record