diff --git a/scripts/wake-digest.py b/scripts/wake-digest.py
index 3fb9e88..490fa40 100755
--- a/scripts/wake-digest.py
+++ b/scripts/wake-digest.py
@@ -132,17 +132,44 @@ def sec_pause():
     return newest, span
 
 
+def ruled_pendings(reviewed_text):
+    """
+    The set of PENDING ids that rulings actually DISPOSE OF.
+
+    Resolved by the PENDING each ruling NAMES in its header, never by the REVIEWED
+    number. Those numbering sequences have drifted apart: REVIEWED-84 rules on
+    PENDING-87. Matching on the number alone suppressed PENDING-84 from the wake
+    digest on the very morning the steward's pulling thread pointed at it, and
+    closing that item later produced no visible change because it had never been
+    counted. Measured at the time: 9 suppressed, 8 correctly, 1 falsely.
+
+    A ruling whose header names no PENDING (REVIEWED-78, -81, -82 …) suppresses
+    nothing.
+
+    The correction runs in BOTH directions, and an earlier draft of this docstring
+    claimed otherwise — that it could only ever surface more, never fewer. That was
+    an overclaim, caught by the change proof rather than by reading. Measured against
+    the live files at the time of the fix: 3 items surfaced that had been falsely
+    hidden (PENDING-78, -81, -82 — like-numbered rulings exist, concerning other
+    matters), and 2 stopped being shown that were genuinely ruled (PENDING-87 by
+    REVIEWED-84, PENDING-88 by REVIEWED-85 — no REVIEWED-87 or -88 exists, so the
+    number-match had never suppressed them). Net 18 → 19 visible. Number-matching
+    was wrong in both directions; only subject-matching is right in either.
+    """
+    return set(re.findall(r"^## REVIEWED-\S+\s*—\s*PENDING-(\S+?)\s*—", reviewed_text, re.M))
+
+
 def sec_pending():
     t = read(PENDING)
     if t is None:
         warn.append("PENDING.md unreadable")
         return []
     rt = read(REVIEWED) or ""
-    rev = {m for m in re.findall(r"^## REVIEWED-(\S+)", rt, re.M)}
+    ruled = ruled_pendings(rt)
     items = []
     for h, ln in open_items(t):
         m = re.match(r"PENDING-(\S+?)\s*—", h)
-        if m and m.group(1) in rev:
+        if m and m.group(1) in ruled:
             continue
         items.append((h, ln, tag_of(t, h)))
     if not items:
@@ -452,6 +479,16 @@ def selftest():
     chk("tag_of reads a tag",
         tag_of("## PENDING-9 — t\n**Date:** d\n**Tag:** [ESCALATE]\n", "PENDING-9 — t") == "[ESCALATE]")
     chk("tag_of returns '' when absent", tag_of("## PENDING-9 — t\n", "PENDING-9 — t") == "")
+    chk("ruled_pendings resolves by the NAMED pending, not the REVIEWED number",
+        ruled_pendings("## REVIEWED-84 — PENDING-87 — Order attestation") == {"87"})
+    chk("ruled_pendings does NOT suppress the like-numbered item  [the 2026-08-01 bug]",
+        "84" not in ruled_pendings("## REVIEWED-84 — PENDING-87 — Order attestation"))
+    chk("ruled_pendings ignores a ruling that names no PENDING",
+        ruled_pendings("## REVIEWED-82 — Read-only MCP server: eyes on the substrate") == set())
+    chk("ruled_pendings handles non-numeric families",
+        ruled_pendings("## REVIEWED-9 — PENDING-S2 — hook-aware deposit") == {"S2"})
+    chk("ruled_pendings returns empty on empty input  [positive control]",
+        ruled_pendings("") == set())
     chk("extract_anchor pulls verbatim",
         extract_anchor("noise\n**PULLING THREAD:** do the thing.\n\nmore", "PULLING THREAD")
         == "do the thing.")