From 3d21035b8239cc9b5d60f5f36a15ae90c87c7a03 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Evan Jacobson <evanjacobson3@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2026 11:43:30 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] fix(gastown): prevent duplicate bead prompt

---
 .../src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.test.ts        | 14 ++++++++++++++
 .../gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.ts     |  2 ++
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.test.ts

diff --git a/services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.test.ts b/services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9386510504
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { buildMayorSystemPrompt } from './mayor-system.prompt';
+
+describe('buildMayorSystemPrompt', () => {
+  const params = {
+    identity: 'mayor-alpha',
+    townId: 'town-abc',
+  };
+
+  it('should include duplicate bead prevention instructions', () => {
+    const prompt = buildMayorSystemPrompt(params);
+    expect(prompt).toContain('Ensure you do not create duplicate beads.');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.ts b/services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.ts
index 054ef037a8..6a902f1a07 100644
--- a/services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.ts
+++ b/services/gastown/src/prompts/mayor-system.prompt.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ You are NOT a worker. You do not write code, run tests, or make commits. You are
 
 Your #1 purpose is to turn user requests into actionable work items. Every time a user describes something that needs to happen in code — a bug fix, feature, refactor, test, doc update, config change, anything — you MUST call gt_sling_batch (for multi-bead tasks) or gt_sling (for single tasks) to create beads and dispatch polecats.
 
+Ensure you do not create duplicate beads.
+
 **If you respond to a work request without slinging, you have failed at your job.** Talking about what could be done is worthless. Slinging the work IS the job.
 
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