diff --git a/.github/workflows/qodo-gate.yml b/.github/workflows/qodo-gate.yml
index aa9f05f..2085a35 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/qodo-gate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/qodo-gate.yml
@@ -20,11 +20,20 @@
 # Event-driven: re-evaluates when the PR updates, when a review is submitted,
 # and when someone replies in a review thread. GitHub's workflow parser
 # rejects the documented `pull_request_review_thread` trigger ("Unexpected
-# value"), so plain thread resolution does not auto-retrigger — after
-# resolving the last thread, either leave a reply (retriggers) or Re-run the
-# failed qodo-gate check from the PR's Checks tab; the check reads the live
-# resolution state each run. Escape hatch for a Qodo outage: the
-# `skip-qodo-gate` label passes the check (label changes re-trigger it).
+# value" — re-verified empirically, zero-job "workflow file issue" run), so
+# plain thread resolution does not auto-retrigger — after resolving the last
+# thread, leave a reply (retriggers); the check reads the live resolution
+# state each run. Escape hatch for a Qodo outage: the `skip-qodo-gate` label
+# passes the check (label changes re-trigger it).
+#
+# A passing run also re-runs this workflow's earlier FAILED runs on the same
+# head commit. Each trigger event creates its own workflow run, and branch
+# protection's rollup counts every run of a required check on the commit — a
+# fresh green run sits beside the stale red ones rather than superseding
+# them, so the PR stays BLOCKED until each red run is re-run by hand (four
+# clicks on PR #396). Only a passing run re-runs others and a re-run that
+# passes finds nothing red left, so it converges; if threads are genuinely
+# unresolved the re-runs go red again and the gate still holds.
 name: qodo-gate
 on:
   pull_request:
@@ -37,6 +46,7 @@ on:
 permissions:
   contents: read
   pull-requests: read
+  actions: write
 
 jobs:
   qodo-gate:
@@ -133,9 +143,36 @@ jobs:
             echo "FAIL: $unresolved unresolved Qodo review thread(s) — address"
             echo "or explicitly dismiss each finding in its thread, then mark"
             echo "it resolved. Plain resolution does not auto-retrigger this"
-            echo "check: leave a reply in a thread (retriggers) or Re-run the"
-            echo "check from the PR's Checks tab after resolving."
+            echo "check: leave a reply in a thread (retriggers) — the passing"
+            echo "run then sweeps this red run off the commit itself."
             exit 1
           fi
 
           echo "PASS: Qodo review present, all its threads resolved"
+
+      # Sweep stale red runs of this gate off the head commit, so the pass
+      # above is the one the branch-protection rollup sees. Best-effort: a
+      # failed re-run request must not turn a PASS into a FAIL.
+      - name: Re-run this gate's earlier failed runs on this commit
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+          HEAD_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
+          THIS_RUN: ${{ github.run_id }}
+        run: |
+          set -u
+          # The listing is guarded too, not just the reruns: with an unguarded
+          # pipeline a transient list failure would be the step's exit code —
+          # exactly the PASS-into-FAIL this step promises not to produce.
+          if ! ids=$(gh run list --repo "$REPO" --workflow qodo-gate \
+              --commit "$HEAD_SHA" --json databaseId,conclusion \
+              --jq '.[] | select(.conclusion == "failure") | .databaseId'); then
+            echo "sweep skipped: could not list this workflow's runs"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+          for id in $ids; do
+            [ "$id" = "$THIS_RUN" ] && continue
+            echo "re-running failed qodo-gate run $id"
+            gh run rerun "$id" --repo "$REPO" --failed || true
+          done
+          exit 0