diff --git a/ai/prompts/comments.md.tmpl b/ai/prompts/comments.md.tmpl
index 7add249..b2d0059 100644
--- a/ai/prompts/comments.md.tmpl
+++ b/ai/prompts/comments.md.tmpl
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-{{define "pickup"}}🤖 Picked up ({{.Kind}} flow). Branch: `{{.Branch}}`{{end}}
+{{define "pickup"}}🤖 Picked up ({{.Kind}} flow). Branch: `{{.Branch}}`
 
-{{define "already-done"}}🤖 Already implemented — closing. {{.Reason}}{{end}}
+{{.BotMarker}}{{end}}
+
+{{define "already-done"}}🤖 Already implemented — closing. {{.Reason}}
+
+{{.BotMarker}}{{end}}
 
 {{define "needs-info"}}🤖 Not confident enough to implement (confidence {{.Score}}/100). Answer the numbered questions below in a comment, then remove the `{{.Label}}` label to re-queue:
 
@@ -18,9 +22,13 @@ Remove the `{{.Label}}` label to queue a fresh attempt — any worktree, branch
 {{.Error}}
 ````
 
-</details>{{end}}{{end}}
+</details>{{end}}
+
+{{.BotMarker}}{{end}}
+
+{{define "pr-comment"}}🤖 PR: {{.URL}}
 
-{{define "pr-comment"}}🤖 PR: {{.URL}}{{end}}
+{{.BotMarker}}{{end}}
 
 {{define "pr-title"}}{{.Title}} (#{{.Number}}){{end}}
 
diff --git a/github.go b/github.go
index 58645e7..c127854 100644
--- a/github.go
+++ b/github.go
@@ -154,10 +154,22 @@ func (g *GitHub) FetchIssueContent(ctx context.Context, num int) (string, error)
 	}
 	var b strings.Builder
 	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "# %s (#%d)\n\n%s\n", detail.Title, num, detail.Body)
-	if len(detail.Comments) > 0 {
+	// The daemon comments on its own issues (pickup, park + error dump, PR link,
+	// ...), so without this filter every re-run feeds the model a growing
+	// transcript of the previous runs' status chatter as if it were part of the
+	// report. Only human-written comments — and the bot's needs-info questions,
+	// which the human's answer refers back to — are context.
+	var comments []string
+	for _, c := range detail.Comments {
+		if isBotStatusComment(c.Body) {
+			continue
+		}
+		comments = append(comments, fmt.Sprintf("\n@%s: %s\n", c.Author.Login, c.Body))
+	}
+	if len(comments) > 0 {
 		b.WriteString("\n## Comments\n")
-		for _, c := range detail.Comments {
-			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "\n@%s: %s\n", c.Author.Login, c.Body)
+		for _, c := range comments {
+			b.WriteString(c)
 		}
 	}
 	return b.String(), nil
diff --git a/github_test.go b/github_test.go
index fde1149..a291ed5 100644
--- a/github_test.go
+++ b/github_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -201,6 +202,67 @@ func TestFetchIssueContent(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// The daemon's own status chatter (pickup, park + error dump, PR link, ...) is
+// noise in the prompt the issue content becomes — and it piles up on every
+// re-run. It must be stripped, both when carried by the marker and, for
+// comments posted before the marker existed, by its leading text.
+func TestFetchIssueContentDropsLoopeStatusComments(t *testing.T) {
+	comments := []string{
+		pickupComment("bug", "ai/issue-7"),
+		parkComment("ai-rework", "", "dial tcp: i/o timeout"),
+		prComment("https://example.test/pr/1"),
+		alreadyDoneComment("already there."),
+		stoppedComment(),
+		// Legacy: posted before the marker was introduced.
+		"🤖 Picked up (feature flow). Branch: `ai/issue-7`",
+		"⏸ Stopped by user. Worktree, logs and session are preserved.",
+	}
+	var arr []string
+	for _, c := range comments {
+		b, _ := json.Marshal(struct {
+			Author struct {
+				Login string `json:"login"`
+			} `json:"author"`
+			Body string `json:"body"`
+		}{Body: c})
+		arr = append(arr, string(b))
+	}
+	arr = append(arr,
+		`{"author": {"login": "alice"}, "body": "repro attached"}`,
+		`{"author": {"login": "loope"}, "body": `+mustJSON(needsInfoComment(42, "ai-needs-info", "Which database?"))+`}`,
+		`{"author": {"login": "alice"}, "body": "1a, 2c"}`,
+	)
+	f := &fakeRunner{queue: []rresp{{stdout: `{
+		"title": "Crash on save",
+		"body": "It crashes.",
+		"comments": [` + strings.Join(arr, ",") + `]
+	}`}}}
+	g := testGitHub(f)
+	got, err := g.FetchIssueContent(context.Background(), 7)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, bad := range []string{"Picked up", "Parked as", "PR: https", "Already implemented", "Stopped by user", "i/o timeout", botMarker} {
+		if strings.Contains(got, bad) {
+			t.Errorf("content still carries loope status text %q:\n%s", bad, got)
+		}
+	}
+	// A human comment, and the questions its answer refers to, must survive.
+	for _, want := range []string{"repro attached", "Which database?", "1a, 2c"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(got, want) {
+			t.Errorf("content missing %q:\n%s", want, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func mustJSON(s string) string {
+	b, err := json.Marshal(s)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return string(b)
+}
+
 func TestCreatePRReturnsURL(t *testing.T) {
 	f := &fakeRunner{queue: []rresp{{stdout: "https://github.com/org/repo/pull/9\n"}}}
 	g := testGitHub(f)
diff --git a/loop.go b/loop.go
index ce0b020..8bd4dfd 100644
--- a/loop.go
+++ b/loop.go
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ func (o *Orchestrator) pause(ctx context.Context, n int) {
 
 // stoppedComment is the fixed notice posted when a run is stopped by the user.
 func stoppedComment() string {
-	return "⏸ Stopped by user. Worktree, logs and session are preserved. Press Continue to re-queue it; the run continues in the same worktree."
+	return "⏸ Stopped by user. Worktree, logs and session are preserved. Press Continue to re-queue it; the run continues in the same worktree.\n\n" + botMarker
 }
 
 // Continue re-queues a stopped issue: it only rewrites labels/state on disk —
@@ -518,6 +518,44 @@ func (o *Orchestrator) abort(ctx context.Context, n int, cause error) error {
 	return o.park(ctx, n, cause)
 }
 
+// botMarker tags the daemon's own status chatter — pickup, park, PR link,
+// already-done, stopped. Like uatMarker it is an HTML comment, so it is
+// invisible on GitHub while staying greppable in the raw body, and it lets
+// FetchIssueContent strip that chatter back out instead of feeding the model a
+// transcript of its own past runs (see isBotStatusComment).
+//
+// The needs-info comment is deliberately NOT tagged: it carries the numbered
+// questions a human answers in the next comment, so removing it would orphan
+// the answer.
+const botMarker = "<!-- loope:bot -->"
+
+// legacyBotStatusPrefixes recognise status comments posted before botMarker
+// existed. They are the exact opening text of each tagged template, so nothing
+// a human writes is mistaken for chatter, and needs-info ("🤖 Not confident
+// enough…") is left alone here too.
+var legacyBotStatusPrefixes = []string{
+	"🤖 Picked up (",
+	"🤖 Parked as `",
+	"🤖 PR: ",
+	"🤖 Already implemented — closing.",
+	"⏸ Stopped by user.",
+}
+
+// isBotStatusComment reports whether a comment is the daemon's own status
+// chatter and so should be kept out of the issue content handed to Claude.
+func isBotStatusComment(body string) bool {
+	if strings.Contains(body, botMarker) {
+		return true
+	}
+	trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(body)
+	for _, p := range legacyBotStatusPrefixes {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, p) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 func pickupComment(kind, branch string) string {
 	d := promptData()
 	d["Kind"] = kind
diff --git a/prompts.go b/prompts.go
index 1541f7d..b996978 100644
--- a/prompts.go
+++ b/prompts.go
@@ -61,5 +61,6 @@ func promptData() map[string]any {
 		"UATBeginSentinel":    uatBeginSentinel,
 		"UATEndSentinel":      uatEndSentinel,
 		"UATMarker":           uatMarker,
+		"BotMarker":           botMarker,
 	}
 }
diff --git a/prompts_golden_test.go b/prompts_golden_test.go
index 441e92b..962a5ee 100644
--- a/prompts_golden_test.go
+++ b/prompts_golden_test.go
@@ -182,12 +182,12 @@ Respond with ONLY a JSON object, no other text:
 
 func TestGoldenPickupComment(t *testing.T) {
 	check(t, "pickupComment", pickupComment("feature", "ai/issue-12"),
-		"🤖 Picked up (feature flow). Branch: `ai/issue-12`")
+		"🤖 Picked up (feature flow). Branch: `ai/issue-12`\n\n"+botMarker)
 }
 
 func TestGoldenAlreadyDoneComment(t *testing.T) {
 	check(t, "alreadyDoneComment", alreadyDoneComment("The flag already exists."),
-		"🤖 Already implemented — closing. The flag already exists.")
+		"🤖 Already implemented — closing. The flag already exists.\n\n"+botMarker)
 }
 
 func TestGoldenNeedsInfoComment(t *testing.T) {
@@ -198,28 +198,32 @@ func TestGoldenNeedsInfoComment(t *testing.T) {
 const parkHead = "\U0001f916 Parked as `ai-rework` — this issue will not be retried automatically.\n\n" +
 	"Remove the `ai-rework` label to queue a fresh attempt — any worktree, branch and logs this run produced are preserved and reused, so no work is lost."
 
+// parkTail is the hidden marker every status comment ends with, so
+// FetchIssueContent can strip it back out of the next run's issue content.
+const parkTail = "\n\n" + botMarker
+
 func TestGoldenParkCommentFull(t *testing.T) {
 	check(t, "parkComment(guidance+error)", parkComment("ai-rework", "Cause: network outage. Re-queue once connectivity is back.", "dial tcp: i/o timeout"),
 		parkHead+"\n\nCause: network outage. Re-queue once connectivity is back."+
-			"\n\n<details><summary>Error detail</summary>\n\n````\ndial tcp: i/o timeout\n````\n\n</details>")
+			"\n\n<details><summary>Error detail</summary>\n\n````\ndial tcp: i/o timeout\n````\n\n</details>"+parkTail)
 }
 
 func TestGoldenParkCommentNoGuidance(t *testing.T) {
 	check(t, "parkComment(error only)", parkComment("ai-rework", "", "boom"),
-		parkHead+"\n\n<details><summary>Error detail</summary>\n\n````\nboom\n````\n\n</details>")
+		parkHead+"\n\n<details><summary>Error detail</summary>\n\n````\nboom\n````\n\n</details>"+parkTail)
 }
 
 func TestGoldenParkCommentNoError(t *testing.T) {
 	check(t, "parkComment(guidance only)", parkComment("ai-rework", "Cause: x.", ""),
-		parkHead+"\n\nCause: x.")
+		parkHead+"\n\nCause: x."+parkTail)
 }
 
 func TestGoldenParkCommentBare(t *testing.T) {
-	check(t, "parkComment(bare)", parkComment("ai-rework", "", ""), parkHead)
+	check(t, "parkComment(bare)", parkComment("ai-rework", "", ""), parkHead+parkTail)
 }
 
 func TestGoldenPRComment(t *testing.T) {
-	check(t, "prComment", prComment("https://example.test/pr/1"), "🤖 PR: https://example.test/pr/1")
+	check(t, "prComment", prComment("https://example.test/pr/1"), "🤖 PR: https://example.test/pr/1\n\n"+botMarker)
 }
 
 func TestGoldenPRTitle(t *testing.T) {