diff --git a/.github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh b/.github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..65a4c8af3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# force_review decision for the pr-review-mention reusable workflow (#1281).
+#
+# Pure and side-effect-free, so it can be unit-tested with bats (see
+# test/workflows/pr-review-mention/force-review.bats). The reusable sources this
+# file from its own commit and acts on the verdict in "Trigger review agent".
+#
+# pr-review.yml in .github-private sets FORCE_REVIEW (skip the advisory-bot and
+# comment-disposition waiting gates; the review itself still runs in full) only
+# when the dispatch carries client_payload.force_review == true. The rule:
+#   - a trusted human's @donpetry-bot comment (OWNER / MEMBER / COLLABORATOR,
+#     not donpetry-bot, no automation marker) is the break-glass → force;
+#   - the review_requested path never forces;
+#   - a comment carrying an automation marker never forces. Agents post as the
+#     owner account, so the association alone cannot tell them from a person.
+# Known, accepted limit: an agent posting as the owner WITHOUT a marker is
+# indistinguishable from the maintainer and is forced too.
+
+# Body substrings that identify an agent-posted comment.
+PR_REVIEW_MENTION_AUTOMATION_MARKERS=(
+  '<!-- pr-review-agent'
+  '<!-- pr-review-claim'
+  '<!-- persona:'
+  '<!-- dev-lead'
+  '<!-- dependency-advisory'
+  '<!-- maintainer-resolve'
+  '<!-- auto-rebase-conflict'
+)
+
+# pr_review_mention_force_decision EVENT_NAME AUTHOR_ASSOC AUTHOR_LOGIN BODY
+#   Prints one line "<verdict> <rule>" and returns 0. Verdicts:
+#     force  dispatch with client_payload[force_review]=true
+#     plain  dispatch without the flag (today's behaviour)
+#     none   do not dispatch (untrusted / bot author / unsupported event)
+#   AUTHOR_ASSOC, AUTHOR_LOGIN and BODY are the comment's fields; they are
+#   ignored for the pull_request (review_requested) event.
+pr_review_mention_force_decision() {
+  local event="$1" assoc="$2" login="$3" body="$4" marker
+
+  case "$event" in
+    pull_request)
+      echo "plain review-requested"
+      return 0
+      ;;
+    issue_comment | pull_request_review_comment) ;;
+    *)
+      echo "none unsupported-event"
+      return 0
+      ;;
+  esac
+
+  case "$assoc" in
+    OWNER | MEMBER | COLLABORATOR) ;;
+    *)
+      echo "none untrusted-association"
+      return 0
+      ;;
+  esac
+
+  if [[ "$login" == "donpetry-bot" || "$login" == *"[bot]" ]]; then
+    echo "none bot-author"
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  for marker in "${PR_REVIEW_MENTION_AUTOMATION_MARKERS[@]}"; do
+    if [[ "$body" == *"$marker"* ]]; then
+      echo "plain automation-marker"
+      return 0
+    fi
+  done
+
+  echo "force trusted-human-comment-mention"
+}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-reusable.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-reusable.yml
index c53e0adb0..6f4e54cef 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-reusable.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-reusable.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,18 @@
 # repository_dispatch event to petry-projects/.github-private to trigger the
 # pr-review agent cascade.
 #
+# force_review rule (#1281): the dispatch carries client_payload[force_review]
+# =true (a JSON boolean, which lets pr-review skip its advisory-bot and
+# comment-disposition waiting gates; the review itself still runs in full) ONLY
+# for an @donpetry-bot comment / review comment by a trusted human: author
+# association OWNER, MEMBER or COLLABORATOR, author not donpetry-bot, and a body
+# with no automation marker (<!-- pr-review-agent, <!-- pr-review-claim,
+# <!-- persona:, <!-- dev-lead, <!-- dependency-advisory, <!-- maintainer-resolve,
+# <!-- auto-rebase-conflict). The review_requested path and marker-carrying
+# comments dispatch a plain, un-forced review. Agents post as the owner account,
+# so association alone cannot separate them from a person. The decision lives in
+# .github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh (bats-tested).
+#
 # Requires:
 #   GH_PAT_WORKFLOWS     — org secret, classic PAT (repo scope) for API calls and dispatch
 #   DON_PETRY_BOT_GH_PAT — org secret, classic PAT owned by donpetry-bot (repo scope) for posting comments
@@ -192,19 +204,72 @@ jobs:
           gh pr comment "$PR_URL" --body "$(printf '<!-- pr-review-agent mention-ack -->\n%s' "${MSG}")" \
             || echo "::warning::could not post ack comment on $PR_URL (comment cap / API error) — continuing"
 
+      # Source the force_review decision from this reusable's own commit so the
+      # rule always matches the pinned workflow version. Authenticated with the
+      # workflows PAT (already required here) so callers need no extra
+      # `contents:` permission.
+      - name: Checkout force-review tooling
+        if: steps.trust.outputs.trusted == 'true'
+        # Best-effort: a checkout failure must not suppress the review dispatch;
+        # the trigger step falls back to a plain (non-forced) dispatch.
+        continue-on-error: true
+        uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          repository: petry-projects/.github
+          ref: ${{ github.job_workflow_sha }}
+          path: .pr-review-mention-tooling
+          token: ${{ secrets.GH_PAT_DON_PETRY || secrets.GH_PAT_WORKFLOWS }}
+          fetch-depth: 1
+          persist-credentials: false
+
       - name: Trigger review agent
         if: steps.trust.outputs.trusted == 'true'
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GH_PAT_DON_PETRY || secrets.GH_PAT_WORKFLOWS }}
           PR_URL: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.pr_url }}
+          # Comment fields via env, never inline `${{ }}` (script-injection).
+          EVENT_NAME: ${{ github.event_name }}
+          COMMENT_ASSOC: ${{ github.event.comment.author_association }}
+          COMMENT_USER: ${{ github.event.comment.user.login }}
+          COMMENT_BODY: ${{ github.event.comment.body }}
         run: |
+          LIB=.pr-review-mention-tooling/.github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh
+          if [ -f "$LIB" ]; then
+            # shellcheck source=/dev/null
+            . "$LIB"
+            # Pure decision (see the header comment): force | plain | none.
+            read -r VERDICT RULE < <(pr_review_mention_force_decision \
+              "$EVENT_NAME" "$COMMENT_ASSOC" "$COMMENT_USER" "$COMMENT_BODY")
+          else
+            echo "::warning::force-review tooling unavailable — dispatching a plain review"
+            VERDICT=plain
+            RULE=tooling-unavailable
+          fi
+
+          FORCE_ARGS=()
+          case "$VERDICT" in
+            force)
+              # -F (typed field) so the payload value is the JSON boolean true.
+              FORCE_ARGS=(-F "client_payload[force_review]=true")
+              echo "force_review=true (rule: $RULE)"
+              ;;
+            plain)
+              echo "force_review=false (rule: $RULE)"
+              ;;
+            *)
+              echo "No dispatch (rule: $RULE)"
+              exit 0
+              ;;
+          esac
+
           # repository_dispatch requires only Contents: write, not Actions: write.
           # pr-review.yml in .github-private listens for "pr-review-mention" and
-          # extracts client_payload.pr_url to run the cascade.
+          # extracts client_payload.pr_url (and force_review) to run the cascade.
           gh api \
             --method POST \
             --header "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
             /repos/petry-projects/.github-private/dispatches \
             --field event_type=pr-review-mention \
-            --field "client_payload[pr_url]=$PR_URL"
+            --field "client_payload[pr_url]=$PR_URL" \
+            "${FORCE_ARGS[@]}"
           echo "Dispatch sent for $PR_URL"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-tests.yml
index 82cfe7c5d..d05971871 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-review-mention-tests.yml
@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@
 #   - .github/workflows/pr-review-mention*.yml
 #   - test/workflows/pr-review-mention/**
 #   - standards/workflows/pr-review-mention.yml
+#   - .github/scripts/pr-review-mention/**
 #
 # Gates (all must pass before merge):
-#   1. shellcheck — static analysis for the test gh stub
+#   1. shellcheck — static analysis for the test gh stub and force-review lib
 #   2. bats       — guard (self-trigger exclusion) + ack (no bot self-mention)
+#                   + force-review (break-glass force_review decision, #1281)
 #
 # Standard: pins issue #538 — the mention listener must never re-trigger itself.
 
@@ -19,6 +21,7 @@ on:
       - '.github/workflows/pr-review-mention*.yml'
       - 'test/workflows/pr-review-mention/**'
       - 'standards/workflows/pr-review-mention.yml'
+      - '.github/scripts/pr-review-mention/**'
   push:
     branches:
       - main
@@ -26,6 +29,7 @@ on:
       - '.github/workflows/pr-review-mention*.yml'
       - 'test/workflows/pr-review-mention/**'
       - 'standards/workflows/pr-review-mention.yml'
+      - '.github/scripts/pr-review-mention/**'
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -80,7 +84,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: shellcheck
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          shellcheck -x test/workflows/pr-review-mention/stubs/gh
+          shellcheck -x test/workflows/pr-review-mention/stubs/gh \
+            .github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh
 
       - name: Run bats suite
         run: bats --print-output-on-failure test/workflows/pr-review-mention/
diff --git a/test/workflows/pr-review-mention/force-review.bats b/test/workflows/pr-review-mention/force-review.bats
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..173f3b2d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/workflows/pr-review-mention/force-review.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,244 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+# Tests for the force_review decision in the pr-review-mention listener
+# (issue #1281, item 1 of petry-projects/.github-private#2082).
+#
+# pr-review.yml in .github-private sets FORCE_REVIEW (skip the advisory-bot and
+# comment-disposition waiting gates) only when the repository_dispatch carries
+# client_payload.force_review == true. A trusted human's `@donpetry-bot` comment
+# is the documented break-glass, so it must send the flag. Nothing else may:
+# the review_requested path never does, and a comment carrying an automation
+# marker never does either. Agents post as the owner account, so the author
+# association alone cannot tell them from a person.
+#
+# Two layers are covered:
+#   1. the pure decision function in
+#      .github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh, over the whole matrix;
+#   2. the shipped "Trigger review agent" step, extracted from the workflow and
+#      run against the fake `gh`. The assertions are on the exact dispatch argv.
+
+load 'helpers/setup'
+
+LIB="${TT_REPO_ROOT}/.github/scripts/pr-review-mention/lib/force-review.sh"
+
+setup() {
+  tt_make_tmpdir
+  GH_STUB_LOG="${TT_TMP}/gh.log"
+  export GH_STUB_LOG
+  : >"$GH_STUB_LOG"
+  # shellcheck source=/dev/null
+  . "$LIB"
+}
+
+teardown() {
+  tt_cleanup_tmpdir
+}
+
+decide() { pr_review_mention_force_decision "$@"; }
+
+MARKERS=(
+  '<!-- pr-review-agent'
+  '<!-- pr-review-claim'
+  '<!-- persona:'
+  '<!-- dev-lead'
+  '<!-- dependency-advisory'
+  '<!-- maintainer-resolve'
+  '<!-- auto-rebase-conflict'
+)
+
+# ── pure decision function ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+@test "decision: OWNER comment mention → force" {
+  run decide issue_comment OWNER don-petry '@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "force trusted-human-comment-mention" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: MEMBER and COLLABORATOR comment mentions → force" {
+  run decide issue_comment MEMBER alice '@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "force trusted-human-comment-mention" ]
+  run decide issue_comment COLLABORATOR bob '@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "force trusted-human-comment-mention" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: OWNER review-comment mention → force" {
+  run decide pull_request_review_comment OWNER don-petry '@donpetry-bot look again'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "force trusted-human-comment-mention" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: review_requested (pull_request) → plain, never force" {
+  run decide pull_request "" don-petry ""
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "plain review-requested" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: review_requested stays plain even with a trusted-looking body" {
+  run decide pull_request OWNER don-petry '@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "plain review-requested" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: OWNER comment carrying a <!-- dev-lead marker → plain" {
+  run decide issue_comment OWNER don-petry $'<!-- dev-lead status -->\n@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "plain automation-marker" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: every automation marker → plain" {
+  local m
+  for m in "${MARKERS[@]}"; do
+    run decide issue_comment OWNER don-petry "${m} x -->"$'\n''@donpetry-bot review'
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$output" = "plain automation-marker" ] || {
+      echo "marker not honoured: $m → $output"
+      return 1
+    }
+  done
+}
+
+@test "decision: a marker anywhere in the body (not just the start) → plain" {
+  run decide issue_comment OWNER don-petry $'@donpetry-bot please review\n\n<!-- maintainer-resolve id=1 -->'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "plain automation-marker" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: CONTRIBUTOR comment → none (no dispatch)" {
+  run decide issue_comment CONTRIBUTOR mallory '@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "none untrusted-association" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: NONE / FIRST_TIME_CONTRIBUTOR / empty association → none" {
+  local a
+  for a in NONE FIRST_TIME_CONTRIBUTOR FIRST_TIMER MANNEQUIN ""; do
+    run decide issue_comment "$a" mallory '@donpetry-bot please review'
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$output" = "none untrusted-association" ]
+  done
+}
+
+@test "decision: comment by donpetry-bot itself → none" {
+  run decide issue_comment OWNER donpetry-bot '@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "none bot-author" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: unknown event → none" {
+  run decide workflow_dispatch OWNER don-petry '@donpetry-bot'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "none unsupported-event" ]
+}
+
+@test "decision: a body full of glob/shell metacharacters is treated literally" {
+  run decide issue_comment OWNER don-petry "@donpetry-bot \$(touch ${TT_TMP}/pwned) * ? [a] \`id\`"
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "force trusted-human-comment-mention" ]
+  [ ! -e "${TT_TMP}/pwned" ]
+}
+
+# ── shipped "Trigger review agent" step ──────────────────────────────────────
+
+# Run the extracted step from a scratch cwd where the tooling checkout path
+# resolves to this repo, with the env a GitHub run: block would receive.
+run_trigger() {
+  tt_install_gh_stub
+  tt_step_run "Trigger review agent" >"${TT_TMP}/trigger.sh"
+  ln -s "$TT_REPO_ROOT" "${TT_TMP}/.pr-review-mention-tooling"
+  (
+    cd "$TT_TMP"
+    GH_TOKEN="x" \
+    PR_URL="https://github.com/petry-projects/.github/pull/1" \
+    EVENT_NAME="${EVENT_NAME:-issue_comment}" \
+    COMMENT_ASSOC="${COMMENT_ASSOC:-}" \
+    COMMENT_USER="${COMMENT_USER:-}" \
+    COMMENT_BODY="${COMMENT_BODY:-}" \
+      bash -e "${TT_TMP}/trigger.sh"
+  )
+}
+
+gh_log() { cat "$GH_STUB_LOG"; }
+
+@test "step: OWNER comment mention dispatches force_review=true as a JSON boolean (-F)" {
+  EVENT_NAME=issue_comment COMMENT_ASSOC=OWNER COMMENT_USER=don-petry \
+    COMMENT_BODY='@donpetry-bot please review' run run_trigger
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" == *"-F client_payload\[force_review\]=true"* ]]
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" == *"client_payload\[pr_url\]="* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"force_review=true (rule: trusted-human-comment-mention)"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "step: the flag is never sent as a raw string (-f / --raw-field)" {
+  EVENT_NAME=issue_comment COMMENT_ASSOC=OWNER COMMENT_USER=don-petry \
+    COMMENT_BODY='@donpetry-bot please review' run run_trigger
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" != *"-f client_payload\[force_review\]"* ]]
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" != *"--raw-field client_payload\[force_review\]"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "step: review_requested dispatches without force_review" {
+  EVENT_NAME=pull_request COMMENT_ASSOC="" COMMENT_USER="" COMMENT_BODY="" run run_trigger
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" == *"/repos/petry-projects/.github-private/dispatches"* ]]
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" != *"force_review"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"force_review=false (rule: review-requested)"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "step: OWNER comment with a <!-- dev-lead marker dispatches a plain review" {
+  EVENT_NAME=issue_comment COMMENT_ASSOC=OWNER COMMENT_USER=don-petry \
+    COMMENT_BODY=$'<!-- dev-lead fix-reviews -->\n@donpetry-bot please review' run run_trigger
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" == *"/repos/petry-projects/.github-private/dispatches"* ]]
+  [[ "$(gh_log)" != *"force_review"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"force_review=false (rule: automation-marker)"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "step: CONTRIBUTOR comment sends no dispatch at all" {
+  EVENT_NAME=issue_comment COMMENT_ASSOC=CONTRIBUTOR COMMENT_USER=mallory \
+    COMMENT_BODY='@donpetry-bot please review' run run_trigger
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ -z "$(gh_log)" ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"untrusted-association"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "step: logs exactly one force_review decision line" {
+  EVENT_NAME=issue_comment COMMENT_ASSOC=OWNER COMMENT_USER=don-petry \
+    COMMENT_BODY='@donpetry-bot please review' run run_trigger
+  [ "$(grep -c 'force_review=' <<<"$output")" -eq 1 ]
+}
+
+# ── wiring ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+@test "wiring: tooling is checked out from this reusable's own commit" {
+  run yq -r '.jobs.handle-mention.steps[] | select(.name == "Checkout force-review tooling") | .with.ref' "$TT_WORKFLOW"
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = '${{ github.job_workflow_sha }}' ]
+  run yq -r '.jobs.handle-mention.steps[] | select(.name == "Checkout force-review tooling") | .with.path' "$TT_WORKFLOW"
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = '.pr-review-mention-tooling' ]
+}
+
+@test "wiring: comment body reaches the trigger step via env, never inline \${{ }}" {
+  run yq -r '.jobs.handle-mention.steps[] | select(.name == "Trigger review agent") | .env.COMMENT_BODY' "$TT_WORKFLOW"
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = '${{ github.event.comment.body }}' ]
+  run tt_step_run "Trigger review agent"
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" != *'${{'* ]]
+}
+
+@test "wiring: the workflow header comment states the force_review rule" {
+  head -40 "$TT_WORKFLOW" | grep -q 'force_review'
+}
+
+@test "decision: a [bot] account with a trusted association → none" {
+  run decide issue_comment COLLABORATOR 'some-app[bot]' '@donpetry-bot please review'
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "none bot-author" ]
+}
+
+@test "wiring: tooling checkout is best-effort so a failure cannot suppress the dispatch" {
+  run yq -r '.jobs.handle-mention.steps[] | select(.name == "Checkout force-review tooling") | .["continue-on-error"]' "$TT_WORKFLOW"
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = "true" ]
+}