diff --git a/src/queue/processors.ts b/src/queue/processors.ts
index fe1908f2dd..7e4a7ce5b9 100644
--- a/src/queue/processors.ts
+++ b/src/queue/processors.ts
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ import { commandAuthorizationAllowedRoles, commandAuthorizationNeedsMinerDetecti
 import { isAgentConfigured } from "../settings/autonomy";
 import { isGlobalAgentPause, resolveAgentActionMode } from "../settings/agent-execution";
 import { selectRegateCandidates } from "../settings/agent-sweep";
-import { planAgentMaintenanceActions } from "../settings/agent-actions";
+import { isProtectedAutomationAuthor, planAgentMaintenanceActions } from "../settings/agent-actions";
 import { executeAgentMaintenanceActions } from "../services/agent-action-executor";
 import { processSubmitDraft } from "../services/draft";
 import { loadIssueQualityReportMap } from "../services/issue-quality";
@@ -493,6 +493,7 @@ async function maybeRunAgentMaintenance(
   const repoOwner = repoFullName.includes("/") ? repoFullName.slice(0, repoFullName.indexOf("/")) : "";
   const authorLogin = pr.authorLogin ?? "";
   const authorIsOwner = authorLogin.length > 0 && authorLogin.toLowerCase() === repoOwner.toLowerCase();
+  const authorIsAutomationBot = isProtectedAutomationAuthor(pr.authorLogin);
 
   const planned = planAgentMaintenanceActions({
     conclusion: gate.conclusion,
@@ -503,6 +504,7 @@ async function maybeRunAgentMaintenance(
     changedPaths,
     hardGuardrailGlobs,
     authorIsOwner,
+    authorIsAutomationBot,
     pr: {
       mergeableState: pr.mergeableState,
       reviewDecision: pr.reviewDecision,
diff --git a/src/settings/agent-actions.ts b/src/settings/agent-actions.ts
index 232e309c78..e3530ac21b 100644
--- a/src/settings/agent-actions.ts
+++ b/src/settings/agent-actions.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@ const DEFAULT_SLOP_GATE_MIN_SCORE = 60;
 export const AGENT_LABEL_READY = "gittensory:ready-to-merge";
 export const AGENT_LABEL_CHANGES = "gittensory:changes-requested";
 
+// Maintainer-managed automation accounts whose PRs are never auto-closed. A recurring accumulator (e.g.
+// github-actions[bot] opening automation/readme-refresh) or a dependency PR must not be killed by a duplicate
+// or slop heuristic — the maintainer owns its lifecycle. (reviewbot wrongly auto-closed such an accumulator,
+// awesome-claude #4192.) Still eligible for auto-merge when clean + passing.
+const PROTECTED_AUTOCLOSE_AUTHORS = new Set(["github-actions[bot]", "dependabot[bot]", "renovate[bot]"]);
+export function isProtectedAutomationAuthor(login: string | null | undefined): boolean {
+  return login != null && PROTECTED_AUTOCLOSE_AUTHORS.has(login.toLowerCase());
+}
+
 export type PlannedAgentAction = {
   actionClass: AgentActionClass;
   // auto_with_approval → the action is staged for a human approval (the #779 queue) instead of executing now.
@@ -44,6 +53,10 @@ export type AgentActionPlanInput = {
   // True when the PR author is the repo owner (e.g. JSONbored). Standing rule: owner PRs are NEVER
   // auto-closed. They may still auto-merge when clean + passing.
   authorIsOwner: boolean;
+  // True when the PR author is a maintainer-managed automation account (e.g. github-actions[bot] opening an
+  // accumulator like automation/readme-refresh, or dependabot/renovate). These are NEVER auto-closed — a noise
+  // heuristic (duplicate/slop) must not kill a recurring maintainer-managed PR. They may still auto-merge.
+  authorIsAutomationBot: boolean;
   pr: {
     mergeableState?: string | null | undefined;
     reviewDecision?: string | null | undefined;
@@ -125,7 +138,7 @@ export function planAgentMaintenanceActions(input: AgentActionPlanInput): Planne
       reason: `gate passed, mergeable, ${autoMaintain.requireApprovals} approval(s) satisfied`,
       mergeMethod: autoMaintain.mergeMethod,
     });
-  } else if (acting("close") && !passing && !guardrailHit && !input.authorIsOwner) {
+  } else if (acting("close") && !passing && !guardrailHit && !input.authorIsOwner && !input.authorIsAutomationBot) {
     const noiseReasons: string[] = [];
     if (input.pr.slopRisk != null && input.pr.slopRisk >= slopGateMinScore) noiseReasons.push(`slop score ${input.pr.slopRisk} ≥ ${slopGateMinScore}`);
     if ((input.pr.linkedDuplicateCount ?? 0) > 0) noiseReasons.push("duplicate of another open PR");
diff --git a/test/unit/agent-actions.test.ts b/test/unit/agent-actions.test.ts
index 4391c37adf..22bb626323 100644
--- a/test/unit/agent-actions.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/agent-actions.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
-import { AGENT_LABEL_CHANGES, AGENT_LABEL_READY, planAgentMaintenanceActions, type AgentActionPlanInput } from "../../src/settings/agent-actions";
+import { AGENT_LABEL_CHANGES, AGENT_LABEL_READY, isProtectedAutomationAuthor, planAgentMaintenanceActions, type AgentActionPlanInput } from "../../src/settings/agent-actions";
 import type { GateCheckConclusion } from "../../src/rules/advisory";
 
 function input(overrides: Partial<AgentActionPlanInput> & { conclusion: GateCheckConclusion }): AgentActionPlanInput {
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ function input(overrides: Partial<AgentActionPlanInput> & { conclusion: GateChec
     changedPaths: [],
     hardGuardrailGlobs: [],
     authorIsOwner: false,
+    authorIsAutomationBot: false,
     pr: { labels: [] },
     ...overrides,
   };
@@ -76,11 +77,11 @@ describe("planAgentMaintenanceActions (#778)", () => {
 
   it("applies conservative defaults when autoMaintain / slopGateMinScore are omitted", () => {
     // no autoMaintain → requireApprovals defaults to 1 → a clean passing PR without APPROVED does NOT merge
-    expect(classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions({ conclusion: "success", blockerTitles: [], autonomy: { merge: "auto" }, changedPaths: [], hardGuardrailGlobs: [], authorIsOwner: false, pr: { labels: [], mergeableState: "clean" } }))).not.toContain("merge");
+    expect(classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions({ conclusion: "success", blockerTitles: [], autonomy: { merge: "auto" }, changedPaths: [], hardGuardrailGlobs: [], authorIsOwner: false, authorIsAutomationBot: false, pr: { labels: [], mergeableState: "clean" } }))).not.toContain("merge");
     // no slopGateMinScore → defaults to 60 → slopRisk 70 counts as noise and closes
-    expect(classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions({ conclusion: "failure", blockerTitles: ["x"], autonomy: { close: "auto" }, changedPaths: [], hardGuardrailGlobs: [], authorIsOwner: false, pr: { labels: [], slopRisk: 70 } }))).toContain("close");
+    expect(classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions({ conclusion: "failure", blockerTitles: ["x"], autonomy: { close: "auto" }, changedPaths: [], hardGuardrailGlobs: [], authorIsOwner: false, authorIsAutomationBot: false, pr: { labels: [], slopRisk: 70 } }))).toContain("close");
     // ...and slopRisk 50 is below the default → no close
-    expect(classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions({ conclusion: "failure", blockerTitles: ["x"], autonomy: { close: "auto" }, changedPaths: [], hardGuardrailGlobs: [], authorIsOwner: false, pr: { labels: [], slopRisk: 50 } }))).not.toContain("close");
+    expect(classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions({ conclusion: "failure", blockerTitles: ["x"], autonomy: { close: "auto" }, changedPaths: [], hardGuardrailGlobs: [], authorIsOwner: false, authorIsAutomationBot: false, pr: { labels: [], slopRisk: 50 } }))).not.toContain("close");
   });
 
   it("closes clear noise (high slop or duplicate) on a non-passing verdict, and never closes a passing PR", () => {
@@ -153,7 +154,7 @@ describe("planAgentMaintenanceActions (#778)", () => {
     });
 
     it("DOES auto-close the same noisy PR when the author is not the owner", () => {
-      const plan = classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions(input({ conclusion: "failure", autonomy: { close: "auto" }, blockerTitles: ["x"], authorIsOwner: false, pr: { labels: [], slopRisk: 95 } })));
+      const plan = classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions(input({ conclusion: "failure", autonomy: { close: "auto" }, blockerTitles: ["x"], authorIsOwner: false, authorIsAutomationBot: false, pr: { labels: [], slopRisk: 95 } })));
       expect(plan).toContain("close");
     });
 
@@ -162,4 +163,32 @@ describe("planAgentMaintenanceActions (#778)", () => {
       expect(plan).toContain("merge");
     });
   });
+
+  describe("automation-bot guard: never auto-close maintainer-managed accumulator/dependency PRs", () => {
+    it("does NOT auto-close a noisy failing PR authored by an automation bot (e.g. the readme-refresh accumulator)", () => {
+      const plan = classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions(input({ conclusion: "failure", autonomy: { close: "auto" }, blockerTitles: ["x"], authorIsAutomationBot: true, pr: { labels: [], slopRisk: 95, linkedDuplicateCount: 3 } })));
+      expect(plan).not.toContain("close");
+    });
+
+    it("still auto-merges a clean+approved automation-bot PR (the guard blocks only close, never merge)", () => {
+      const plan = classes(planAgentMaintenanceActions(input({ conclusion: "success", autonomy: { merge: "auto" }, authorIsAutomationBot: true, pr: { labels: [], mergeableState: "clean", reviewDecision: "APPROVED" } })));
+      expect(plan).toContain("merge");
+    });
+  });
+});
+
+describe("isProtectedAutomationAuthor", () => {
+  it("matches the maintainer-managed automation accounts (case-insensitive)", () => {
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor("github-actions[bot]")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor("GitHub-Actions[bot]")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor("dependabot[bot]")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor("renovate[bot]")).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("does not match human authors or null", () => {
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor("JSONbored")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor("some-contributor")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor(null)).toBe(false);
+    expect(isProtectedAutomationAuthor(undefined)).toBe(false);
+  });
 });