A row the merge bug minted is visible, fixable, and repairable in bulk (#938)

#920 made a merged ticket read-only on the server and shipped NO data change,
deliberately: its guard reads `status === 'merged'` and not
`merged_into_id !== null`, so the rows the bug had already produced — the
pointer set, the status back to `open` — stayed EDITABLE and could be corrected
in the product instead of in SQL. What it left behind was rows that are
simultaneously live in the All Open queue and merged into another ticket, with
nothing on any screen saying so and nothing offering to fix them.

Both halves of the card ship, because option A is a BEHAVIOUR RULE and a
behaviour rule is a setting:

  B — the office fixes them one at a time. `merged_inconsistent` rides on the
      model (Ticket::$appends), so the list row, the index detail pane and the
      Show header all draw the same amber badge — "merged_into set but status
      open — fix?" — off one predicate rather than three copies of an
      expression. The badge IS the button: it opens a modal that says what will
      change and what will not, and posts to a new `mark-merged` verb that
      writes `status` and nothing else. A new "Merged" view lists every ticket
      folded into another one BY THE POINTER, so the consistent and the broken
      appear side by side; a status filter would show one or the other and
      never the pair worth comparing.

  A — the migration re-marks all of them at once, and it is INERT unless
      `ticketing.auto_repair_merged_on_deploy` is on. It defaults OFF, which is
      also what a box that has never heard of the setting does, so this can
      ship ahead of the operator's decision and change nothing unasked. The
      toggle is on the Automation tab with the live count beside it, because
      nobody should arm a bulk data change without seeing how many rows it
      touches.

`MergedTicketRepair` is one implementation with three callers for one reason:
"which rows are broken" and "what fixing one means" must not drift, or the
badge offers a fix on a row the migration skips.

THE PROD COUNT THE CARD ASKS FOR IS NOT IN HERE, and it could not be: this
worker box holds no ssh private key, so central-prod is unreachable from it and
there is no prod container locally. `php artisan ticketing:repair-merged
--dry-run` is the read-only answer for whoever does have access — it prints the
card's own SELECT COUNT and lists the rows, and `--force` (not the bare form)
is the only spelling that writes.

Repairing NEVER reverts. Messages, participants, assignee and title edits made
to a row while it was wrongly editable are somebody's work and the only copy of
it; there is no record of what the fields held before the bad save, so
"reverting" would invent a previous state rather than restore one.

Proved by tests/Feature/Ticketing/MergedTicketInconsistentRowsTest.php (22
tests) in dashboard-shell, over the fixture the card names — one inconsistent
row beside a genuinely merged one, both produced by the real merge endpoint.
The NEGCTRL half is what keeps it honest: the consistent row and an ordinary
open ticket must come out of every path untouched, and a repaired row must keep
the reply and the rename it was given after the merge.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

database/migrations/2026_08_27_000001_add_ticket_number_sequence_to_ticketing_groups.php

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+<?php
+
+use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
+use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
+
+/**
+ * A ticket reference must never be issued twice.
+ *
+ * `TicketingGroup::nextTicketNumber()` derived the next reference from the MAX
+ * suffix over the group's **live** tickets. Tickets are hard-deleted (no
+ * SoftDeletes on the model), so deleting the newest ticket in a group put the
+ * number back in the pool and the next ticket was issued the same reference —
+ * two different tickets both carrying `QAX-0004`.
+ *
+ * That matters well outside Ticketing, because the reference is the correlation
+ * key that leaves the app: it is the `[QAX-0004]` token in outbound mail subject
+ * lines, so a reply can thread onto the wrong ticket; the shell Notification Log
+ * is an audit trail keyed on that subject; and `TicketController::merge()` looks
+ * a ticket up by `number` and takes `->first()`, so a duplicate makes it merge
+ * into an arbitrary one of the two.
+ *
+ * This column is that pool: a per-group high-water mark that only ever goes up,
+ * independent of whether the ticket it was issued to still exists.
+ *
+ * **The backfill is the load-bearing half of this migration.** Left at 0, the
+ * first ticket created after deploy would be issued `-0001` on a group that has
+ * been running for months — turning a bug that reused one number into one that
+ * reuses every number. So each group is seeded with the same MAX the old code
+ * would have read, scoped to its CURRENT prefix exactly as the old query was.
+ * The next reference issued after this migration is therefore identical to the
+ * one the old code would have issued; all that changes is that it can no longer
+ * go backwards afterwards.
+ *
+ * Expand-only: one column added with a default, nothing dropped or renamed, and
+ * existing rows keep their meaning. Note there is deliberately NO unique index
+ * on `tickets.number` — production already contains duplicates created by this
+ * bug (the report evidences at least `QAX-0001`–`QAX-0004`), so adding one here
+ * would fail the deploy. De-duplicating the existing rows is its own decision,
+ * with its own migration, and is not made silently here.
+ */
+return new class extends Migration
+{
+    public function up(): void
+    {
+        if (! Schema::hasColumn('ticketing_groups', 'last_ticket_number')) {
+            Schema::table('ticketing_groups', function (Blueprint $table) {
+                $table->unsignedInteger('last_ticket_number')->default(0)->after('prefix');
+            });
+        }
+
+        // Seed the high-water mark from the numbers already issued. Same shape as
+        // the query this replaces: the group's own tickets, restricted to its
+        // current prefix, suffix cast to an integer.
+        foreach (DB::table('ticketing_groups')->select('id', 'prefix')->get() as $group) {
+            $prefix = $group->prefix.'-';
+
+            $max = (int) DB::table('tickets')
+                ->where('group_id', $group->id)
+                ->where('number', 'like', $prefix.'%')
+                ->max(DB::raw('CAST(SUBSTRING(number, '.(strlen($prefix) + 1).') AS UNSIGNED)'));
+
+            // Never lower a counter that already holds a larger value — this
+            // migration must be safe to re-run and must never hand back a number.
+            DB::table('ticketing_groups')
+                ->where('id', $group->id)
+                ->where('last_ticket_number', '<', $max)
+                ->update(['last_ticket_number' => $max]);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function down(): void
+    {
+        // Deliberate NO-OP, matching the archived_at precedent above it:
+        // DashboardDoctor greps the whole migration file for drop/rename patterns,
+        // so a dropColumn even in down() raises "pending destructive migration" on
+        // every host where this is still pending. An integer column with a default
+        // costs nothing to leave behind — and dropping it would silently restore
+        // the reference-reuse bug.
+    }
+};

database/migrations/2026_08_29_000001_a_system_note_is_a_ticket_message_source.php

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+<?php
+
+use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
+
+/**
+ * MERGE AND SPLIT WROTE A `source` THE COLUMN DID NOT ACCEPT.  [central-ticketing] #415
+ *
+ * Both actions write an audit note into `ticket_messages` with `source = 'system'`,
+ * and the column was created as `enum('web','email')`. Under strict mode the insert
+ * throws `Data truncated for column 'source'` INSIDE the transaction, so nothing
+ * commits: no merge, no split, no partial state, and a generic 500 page. Every
+ * guard around them worked — a missing reference, a self-merge and an absent
+ * `source_number` were all handled correctly — so only the happy path was broken,
+ * which is why it survived.
+ *
+ * ── THE WHOLE DOMAIN, NOT THE ONE IN THE TRACE ──────────────────────────────
+ *
+ * The trace named `'system'`. Widening to accept only that would be a guess about
+ * how many more there are, so every value written to this column anywhere in the
+ * platform was enumerated first:
+ *
+ *   'web'     TicketMessageController::store(), the demo seeder
+ *   'email'   the demo seeder (no inbound-mail ingester exists yet)
+ *   'system'  TicketController::merge() and ::split(), the three notes
+ *
+ * `split()` also copies `$msg->source` verbatim when duplicating a thread, which
+ * introduces no fourth value. So the set is closed at three and this runs once.
+ *
+ * ── WHY AN ENUM AND NOT A VARCHAR ───────────────────────────────────────────
+ *
+ * `tickets.status` went the other way — `2026_04_17_000002` deliberately widened it
+ * from an enum to `varchar(50)` — and the difference is the test worth writing down:
+ * statuses became OPERATOR-DEFINABLE rows in `ticketing_statuses`, so no enum could
+ * ever hold them. `source` is the opposite: all three values are set by code, an
+ * operator has no way to add a fourth, and the enum is what makes a typo'd source a
+ * loud failure rather than a silently unfilterable row.
+ *
+ * The write side is bounded too — `TicketMessage::system()` is now the only place a
+ * system note is created, so the three scattered `'source' => 'system'` literals that
+ * caused this cannot reappear one at a time.
+ */
+return new class extends Migration
+{
+    public function up(): void
+    {
+        DB::statement(
+            "ALTER TABLE ticket_messages
+             MODIFY COLUMN source ENUM('web','email','system') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'web'"
+        );
+    }
+
+    public function down(): void
+    {
+        // Rewrite the rows first: narrowing an enum that still holds 'system' turns
+        // those rows into the empty string rather than failing, which would leave the
+        // merge and split notes present but unattributable. 'web' is the honest
+        // fallback — they were written by a person pressing a button in the app.
+        DB::table('ticket_messages')->where('source', 'system')->update(['source' => 'web']);
+
+        DB::statement(
+            "ALTER TABLE ticket_messages
+             MODIFY COLUMN source ENUM('web','email') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'web'"
+        );
+    }
+};

database/migrations/2026_09_04_000001_repair_inconsistent_merged_tickets.php

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+<?php
+
+use Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\MergedTicketRepair;
+use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;
+
+/**
+ * OPTION A OF [central-ticketing] #938 — the repair, behind a setting that is OFF.
+ *
+ * The rows the merge bug minted (`merged_into_id` set, `status` back to `open`)
+ * are data, not code, and #920 deliberately shipped no data change. This
+ * migration is the one that would: it re-marks every such row `merged`, which
+ * makes it read-only under #920's guard, and it leaves every message,
+ * participant and field edit made after the merge exactly where it is.
+ *
+ * IT DOES NOT RUN UNLESS THE OPERATOR HAS ASKED. `MergedTicketRepair::SETTING`
+ * — "auto-repair inconsistent merged tickets on deploy" — defaults off, and a
+ * box that has never heard of it therefore deploys this migration and changes
+ * nothing at all. That is what lets the code ship ahead of the decision: the
+ * office gets the badge and the one-click fix now (option B), and turning this
+ * on is the operator's separate, later, reversible act (option C).
+ *
+ * WHAT IT ALWAYS DOES, EITHER WAY, IS COUNT AND SAY SO. The dry-run count goes
+ * to the log on every deploy whether the repair is armed or not, because the
+ * number is the thing #938 was blocked on and a deploy is the one moment
+ * something is definitely looking at prod's database.
+ */
+return new class extends Migration
+{
+    public function up(): void
+    {
+        // The dry run, first and unconditionally.
+        $count = MergedTicketRepair::count();
+
+        Log::info(sprintf(
+            '[ticketing] #938 dry run: %d ticket(s) have merged_into_id set with a status other than "merged".',
+            $count,
+        ));
+
+        if ($count === 0) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (! MergedTicketRepair::enabledOnDeploy()) {
+            Log::info(sprintf(
+                '[ticketing] #938: leaving those %d row(s) editable — "%s" is off. '
+                .'Turn it on in Ticketing → Settings → Automation, or fix them one at a '
+                .'time with the "Mark merged" button on each ticket.',
+                $count,
+                MergedTicketRepair::SETTING,
+            ));
+
+            return;
+        }
+
+        MergedTicketRepair::repairAll('migration 2026_09_04_000001');
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * There is no down migration, and that is a decision rather than an omission.
+     *
+     * Reverting would mean putting each row's status back to what it was before
+     * the bad save, and nothing anywhere records what that was — the bug
+     * overwrote it. Setting them all back to `open` would not be a rollback; it
+     * would be re-creating the corrupt shape on rows that may have been merged
+     * legitimately years ago. A row repaired in error is corrected the same way
+     * any other status is: an agent edits the ticket.
+     */
+    public function down(): void
+    {
+        // Intentionally empty — see the note above.
+    }
+};

src/Console/Commands/RepairMergedTickets.php

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Dashboard\Ticketing\Console\Commands;
+
+use Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\MergedTicketRepair;
+use Illuminate\Console\Command;
+
+/**
+ * THE DRY-RUN COUNT, AND THE REPAIR — [central-ticketing] #938.
+ *
+ * The first question #938 asks is a number: how many rows on prod carry
+ * `merged_into_id` with a status other than `merged`. That number decides
+ * whether the office corrects them one at a time from the badge or whether a
+ * deploy re-marks them all, and there was no way to ask for it that did not
+ * involve typing a raw UPDATE-shaped statement into tinker on the production
+ * box. So `--dry-run` is the default and is the point of this command:
+ *
+ *     php artisan ticketing:repair-merged --dry-run    # count + list, writes NOTHING
+ *     php artisan ticketing:repair-merged --force      # re-mark them all
+ *
+ * `--force` is required to write, rather than `--dry-run` being required not
+ * to. A repair command whose bare form repairs is one fat-finger away from
+ * being the incident it was written to clean up after.
+ */
+class RepairMergedTickets extends Command
+{
+    protected $signature = 'ticketing:repair-merged
+                            {--dry-run : Count and list the inconsistent rows; write nothing (the default).}
+                            {--force : Actually re-mark every inconsistent row as merged.}';
+
+    protected $description = 'Report — or, with --force, repair — tickets whose merged_into_id is set while their status is not "merged" (#938).';
+
+    public function handle(): int
+    {
+        $rows = MergedTicketRepair::rows();
+
+        $this->line(sprintf(
+            'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tickets WHERE merged_into_id IS NOT NULL AND status <> \'merged\' => %d',
+            $rows->count(),
+        ));
+
+        if ($rows->isEmpty()) {
+            $this->info('Nothing is inconsistent. No repair to make.');
+
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        $this->table(
+            ['id', 'number', 'status', 'merged_into_id', 'updated_at'],
+            $rows->map(fn ($t) => [
+                $t->id, $t->number, $t->status, $t->merged_into_id, (string) $t->updated_at,
+            ])->all(),
+        );
+
+        if (! $this->option('force')) {
+            $this->comment('Dry run — nothing was written. Re-run with --force to re-mark these as merged.');
+
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        $changed = MergedTicketRepair::repairAll('artisan ticketing:repair-merged');
+
+        $this->info("Re-marked {$changed} ticket(s) as merged. Their messages and participants are untouched.");
+
+        return 0;
+    }
+}

src/Http/Controllers/TicketAttachmentController.php

@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ class TicketAttachmentController extends Controller
             abort(403);
         }
 
+        // Same read-only rule as a reply — see TicketMessageController::store(). #920
+        if ($ticket->isMerged()) {
+            return back()->withErrors(['ticket' => Ticket::READ_ONLY_REASON]);
+        }
+
         $request->validate([
             'file' => 'required|file|max:' . (self::MAX_SIZE_MB * 1024),
             // Bug #5: message_id must belong to THIS ticket, not any arbitrary message

src/Http/Controllers/TicketController.php

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketMessage;
 use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketParticipant;
 use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketStatus;
 use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketView;
+use Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\MergedTicketRepair;
 use Illuminate\Http\Request;
 use Illuminate\Routing\Controller;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
@@ -47,6 +48,40 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             ->exists();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * REFUSE A WRITE TO A MERGED TICKET — [central-ticketing] #920.
+     *
+     * The Show page has always announced "This ticket has been merged and is
+     * read-only." and hidden the reply composer and the Merge button. Nothing
+     * enforced it: the Edit form was still linked, still rendered (with its Status
+     * select blank, because `merged` is not one of its options), and `update()`
+     * happily wrote `status = open` while leaving `merged_into_id` pointing at the
+     * target. That produced a ticket that was live and assignable in the All Open
+     * queue and simultaneously merged into another one, with none of its own
+     * messages — an empty duplicate of the ticket it had been folded into.
+     *
+     * So the check lives HERE, on the server, once, and every write path that the
+     * page presents as unavailable calls it. Returning a refusal rather than
+     * `abort(403)` on purpose: the realistic way to arrive here is a page that was
+     * already open when somebody else merged the ticket, and that operator is
+     * better served by the reason on the ticket than by an error screen.
+     * `FormErrors` renders any key it is handed, so the sentence shows up.
+     *
+     * @return \Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse|null  null when the write may proceed
+     */
+    private function refuseIfMerged(Ticket $ticket, bool $stayPut = false)
+    {
+        if (! $ticket->isMerged()) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        $errors = ['ticket' => Ticket::READ_ONLY_REASON];
+
+        return $stayPut
+            ? back()->withErrors($errors)
+            : redirect()->route('ticketing.show', $ticket)->withErrors($errors);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Filter messages for submitters — strip internal notes.
      */
@@ -113,6 +148,11 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
                 'unassigned' => (clone $baseQuery)->whereNull('assigned_to')->whereNotIn('status', $closedSlugs)->count(),
                 'pending' => (clone $baseQuery)->where('status', 'pending')->count(),
                 'resolved' => (clone $baseQuery)->whereIn('status', $closedSlugs)->count(),
+                // #938: the pointer, not the status — this view exists to show the
+                // rows where the two disagree, so filtering by `status = merged`
+                // would hide exactly the ones worth looking at.
+                'merged' => (clone $baseQuery)->whereNotNull('merged_into_id')->count(),
+                'merged_inconsistent' => (clone $baseQuery)->inconsistentlyMerged()->count(),
             ]
             : [
                 'all' => (clone $baseQuery)->count(),
@@ -120,6 +160,8 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
                 'unassigned' => 0,
                 'pending' => (clone $baseQuery)->where('status', 'pending')->count(),
                 'resolved' => (clone $baseQuery)->whereIn('status', $closedSlugs)->count(),
+                'merged' => 0,
+                'merged_inconsistent' => 0,
             ];
 
         $query = Ticket::with(['group', 'priority', 'project']);
@@ -147,6 +189,12 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
                 $query->where('status', 'pending');
             } elseif ($request->filter === 'resolved') {
                 $query->whereIn('status', $closedSlugs);
+            } elseif ($request->filter === 'merged') {
+                // Every ticket that has been folded into another one, whatever its
+                // status says — which is what makes this the place the office
+                // finds the rows #938 is about. `merged` is a closed slug, so the
+                // whereNotIn below would drop the consistent half of the list.
+                $query->whereNotNull('merged_into_id');
             } elseif (!$request->filled('status')) {
                 $query->whereNotIn('status', $closedSlugs);
             }
@@ -417,12 +465,17 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
         ]);
     }
 
-    public function edit(Ticket $ticket): Response
+    /** @return Response|\Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse — merged tickets are sent back to Show. */
+    public function edit(Ticket $ticket)
     {
         if (!$this->isAgent($ticket->group_id)) {
             abort(403);
         }
 
+        if ($refusal = $this->refuseIfMerged($ticket)) {
+            return $refusal;
+        }
+
         $ticket->load(['group', 'priority', 'project']);
         $priorities = PriorityLevel::orderBy('sort_order')->get();
         $agentIds = TicketingAgentAccess::where('group_id', $ticket->group_id)->pluck('user_id');
@@ -434,6 +487,16 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             'priorities' => $priorities,
             'agents' => $agents,
             'projects' => $projects,
+            /*
+             * The form's Status select used to hard-code five slugs, so any ticket
+             * whose status was not one of them — `merged`, or any status added on
+             * the Statuses settings tab — rendered with nothing selected and the
+             * first save silently rewrote the status to whatever the operator
+             * happened to leave showing. Same defect as #920, one layer up: drive
+             * the options from the same table `update()` validates against.
+             */
+            'ticketStatuses' => TicketStatus::where('slug', '!=', Ticket::STATUS_MERGED)
+                ->orderBy('sort_order')->get(),
         ]);
     }
 
@@ -443,6 +506,10 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             abort(403);
         }
 
+        if ($refusal = $this->refuseIfMerged($ticket)) {
+            return $refusal;
+        }
+
         // Determine effective group (may be changing via a transfer)
         $targetGroupId = $request->filled('group_id')
             ? (int) $request->input('group_id')
@@ -454,7 +521,7 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             ->toArray();
 
         // Build valid status list from DB (exclude 'merged' — set only by the merge operation)
-        $validStatusSlugs = TicketStatus::where('slug', '!=', 'merged')->pluck('slug')->implode(',');
+        $validStatusSlugs = TicketStatus::where('slug', '!=', Ticket::STATUS_MERGED)->pluck('slug')->implode(',');
 
         $rules = [
             'title'       => 'sometimes|required|string|max:255',
@@ -515,12 +582,13 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
 
         if ($handedOver) {
             $agent = \App\Models\User::find($newAssignee);
-            $email = trim((string) ($agent?->email ?? ''));
 
-            if ($email !== '') {
+            // The agent, not their address — see TicketingNotifier::deliver().
+            // A bare string loses to_user_id and to_name and skips the opt-out.
+            if ($agent) {
                 \Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\TicketingNotifier::deliver(
                     \Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\TicketingNotifier::ASSIGNED,
-                    $email,
+                    $agent,
                     "[{$ticket->number}] Assigned to you: {$ticket->title}",
                     '<p>'.e(Auth::user()?->name ?? 'Somebody').' assigned this ticket to you.</p>'
                         .'<p><a href="'.e(route('ticketing.show', $ticket->id)).'">View the ticket</a></p>',
@@ -562,7 +630,7 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
     {
         $validated = $request->validate([
             'view_mode' => 'sometimes|in:list,kanban',
-            'filter'    => 'sometimes|in:all,mine,unassigned,pending,resolved',
+            'filter'    => 'sometimes|in:all,mine,unassigned,pending,resolved,merged',
         ]);
 
         if (empty($validated)) {
@@ -608,7 +676,7 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
         if ($source->id === $ticket->id) {
             return back()->withErrors(['source_number' => 'Cannot merge a ticket into itself.']);
         }
-        if ($source->status === 'merged') {
+        if ($source->isMerged()) {
             return back()->withErrors(['source_number' => 'That ticket has already been merged.']);
         }
         if (! $this->isAgent($source->group_id)) {
@@ -625,13 +693,7 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
                 ->update(['ticket_id' => $ticket->id]);
 
             // Add a system note marking the merge
-            TicketMessage::create([
-                'ticket_id'   => $ticket->id,
-                'user_id'     => Auth::id(),
-                'body'        => "Merged from ticket {$source->number}.",
-                'is_internal' => true,
-                'source'      => 'system',
-            ]);
+            TicketMessage::system($ticket, "Merged from ticket {$source->number}.");
 
             // Add source's submitter as a participant (if not already the submitter of target)
             if ($source->submitter_id !== $ticket->submitter_id) {
@@ -643,7 +705,7 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
 
             // Mark source as merged
             $source->update([
-                'status'         => 'merged',
+                'status'         => Ticket::STATUS_MERGED,
                 'merged_into_id' => $ticket->id,
             ]);
         });
@@ -652,6 +714,42 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             ->with('success', "Ticket {$source->number} merged in.");
     }
 
+    /**
+     * MARK ONE INCONSISTENT ROW AS MERGED — option B of [central-ticketing] #938.
+     *
+     * The rows the merge bug minted carry `merged_into_id` while their status
+     * says `open`. #920 left them editable ON PURPOSE, so that they could be
+     * corrected in the product; this is the correction, and until it existed the
+     * only way to make one was to type the right status into the Edit form and
+     * know that `merged` was not in the list.
+     *
+     * Note what it is NOT: it is not `update()` with a status of `merged`, which
+     * `refuseIfMerged()` would have to be weakened to allow, and it does not
+     * touch messages, participants or any field somebody edited after the merge.
+     * It writes one column, on a row that is provably in the broken shape, and
+     * it is a no-op on anything else — so a double-click, a stale page and a row
+     * a colleague fixed thirty seconds ago all land somewhere harmless.
+     */
+    public function markMerged(Ticket $ticket)
+    {
+        if (! $this->isAgent($ticket->group_id)) {
+            abort(403);
+        }
+
+        if (! $ticket->isInconsistentlyMerged()) {
+            // Deliberately not an error: the button is only rendered on a row in
+            // the broken shape, so arriving here means somebody else has already
+            // fixed it, and being told so is the right answer.
+            return redirect()->route('ticketing.show', $ticket)
+                ->with('success', 'That ticket is already consistent — nothing to fix.');
+        }
+
+        MergedTicketRepair::repair($ticket, 'user '.Auth::id());
+
+        return redirect()->route('ticketing.show', $ticket)
+            ->with('success', "Ticket {$ticket->number} is marked merged and is read-only again.");
+    }
+
     /**
      * Split this ticket — create a copy with a new number, same metadata, duplicated messages.
      */
@@ -661,6 +759,10 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             abort(403);
         }
 
+        if ($refusal = $this->refuseIfMerged($ticket)) {
+            return $refusal;
+        }
+
         $newTicket = DB::transaction(function () use ($ticket) {
             $group  = TicketingGroup::findOrFail($ticket->group_id);
             $number = $group->nextTicketNumber();
@@ -671,16 +773,31 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
                 'submitter_id' => $ticket->submitter_id,
                 'assigned_to' => $ticket->assigned_to,
                 'project_id'  => $ticket->project_id,
-                'title'       => $ticket->title . ' (split)',
+                'title'       => static::splitTitle($ticket->title),
                 'description' => $ticket->description,
                 'status'      => 'open',
                 'priority_id' => $ticket->priority_id,
                 'due_date'    => $ticket->due_date,
             ]);
 
-            // Duplicate messages (exclude system notes)
+            /*
+             * Duplicate messages, EXCLUDING system notes.
+             *
+             * This comment has always said "exclude" and the code never did. It cost
+             * nothing while the enum rejected 'system', because no system row could
+             * exist to copy — #415 makes them writable, so without this a split of a
+             * previously-merged ticket would carry "Merged from ticket QAX-0005." into
+             * a brand-new ticket that was never merged with anything.
+             *
+             * A system note is an audit record of something that happened to THIS
+             * ticket. The copy gets its own, written below.
+             */
             $ticket->load('messages');
             foreach ($ticket->messages as $msg) {
+                if ($msg->isSystem()) {
+                    continue;
+                }
+
                 TicketMessage::create([
                     'ticket_id'        => $newTicket->id,
                     'user_id'          => $msg->user_id,
@@ -692,20 +809,8 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             }
 
             // Cross-reference notes on both tickets
-            TicketMessage::create([
-                'ticket_id'   => $ticket->id,
-                'user_id'     => Auth::id(),
-                'body'        => "Split: new ticket {$newTicket->number} created from this ticket.",
-                'is_internal' => true,
-                'source'      => 'system',
-            ]);
-            TicketMessage::create([
-                'ticket_id'   => $newTicket->id,
-                'user_id'     => Auth::id(),
-                'body'        => "Split from ticket {$ticket->number}.",
-                'is_internal' => true,
-                'source'      => 'system',
-            ]);
+            TicketMessage::system($ticket, "Split: new ticket {$newTicket->number} created from this ticket.");
+            TicketMessage::system($newTicket, "Split from ticket {$ticket->number}.");
 
             return $newTicket;
         });
@@ -714,6 +819,39 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             ->with('success', "Ticket {$newTicket->number} created from split.");
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The split ticket's title: the original plus a suffix, guaranteed to fit.
+     *
+     * `tickets.title` is varchar(255) and both store() and update() validate the
+     * title at `max:255`. Appending " (split)" to a title already at the limit
+     * produced 263 characters and the same hard 500 as #415 — a second, unreported
+     * instance of it on the very action being fixed, needing only a long enough
+     * title to trigger.
+     *
+     * ── WHY THIS IS BOUNDED AND NOT WIDENED ─────────────────────────────────
+     *
+     * The sibling defect in central-radius (#410) was fixed the other way: a
+     * 510-character skip reason was widened into the column rather than shortened,
+     * because the reason was the point and the column was simply too small.
+     *
+     * The rule that separates them is what the limit MEANS. 255 here is not an
+     * incidental column width — it is the product's own declared, user-facing title
+     * limit, enforced by two validation rules. Widening the column to fit 263 would
+     * mint rows the edit form then refuses to save, so the ticket could never be
+     * corrected by anyone: a row the product will not let you fix is worse than a
+     * truncated title. So: widen when the data is right and the column is wrong;
+     * bound when the column expresses a real product rule.
+     *
+     * Multibyte-safe by character, because varchar(255) counts characters.
+     */
+    private static function splitTitle(string $title): string
+    {
+        $suffix = ' (split)';
+        $room   = 255 - mb_strlen($suffix);
+
+        return (mb_strlen($title) > $room ? mb_substr($title, 0, $room) : $title).$suffix;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Add a participant to a ticket.
      */
@@ -723,6 +861,10 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             abort(403);
         }
 
+        if ($refusal = $this->refuseIfMerged($ticket, stayPut: true)) {
+            return $refusal;
+        }
+
         $validated = $request->validate([
             'user_id' => 'required|integer|exists:users,id',
         ]);
@@ -744,6 +886,10 @@ class TicketController extends Controller
             abort(403);
         }
 
+        if ($refusal = $this->refuseIfMerged($ticket, stayPut: true)) {
+            return $refusal;
+        }
+
         TicketParticipant::where('ticket_id', $ticket->id)
             ->where('user_id', $userId)
             ->delete();

src/Http/Controllers/TicketMessageController.php

@@ -29,6 +29,19 @@ class TicketMessageController extends Controller
             abort(403);
         }
 
+        /*
+         * A merged ticket takes no new messages — [central-ticketing] #920.
+         *
+         * Show.vue replaces the composer with "This ticket has been merged and is
+         * read-only.", and that was the whole of the guard: a POST straight to this
+         * route (or from a page that was already open when the merge happened) still
+         * wrote a message onto a ticket whose thread has moved to the merge target,
+         * where nobody working the ticket would ever see it.
+         */
+        if ($ticket->isMerged()) {
+            return back()->withErrors(['ticket' => Ticket::READ_ONLY_REASON]);
+        }
+
         $validated = $request->validate([
             'body' => 'required|string',
             'is_internal' => 'boolean',
@@ -73,18 +86,21 @@ class TicketMessageController extends Controller
     private function notifySubmitter(Ticket $ticket, TicketMessage $message): void
     {
         $submitter = \App\Models\User::find($ticket->submitter_id);
-        $email = trim((string) ($submitter?->email ?? ''));
 
-        if ($email === '') {
-            return;     // a ticket raised on behalf of somebody with no address
+        if (! $submitter) {
+            return;     // a ticket raised on behalf of somebody with no account
         }
 
         $url = route('ticketing.show', $ticket->id);
         $author = $message->user_id ? (\App\Models\User::find($message->user_id)?->name ?? 'An agent') : 'An agent';
 
+        // The submitter, not their address. Handing Notify a string dropped
+        // to_user_id and to_name (so the Log printed the message type where the
+        // name goes) and skipped the preference check entirely, so the opt-out for
+        // this category did nothing. Notify resolves the address itself.
         \Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\TicketingNotifier::deliver(
             \Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\TicketingNotifier::REPLIED,
-            $email,
+            $submitter,
             "[{$ticket->number}] {$ticket->title}",
             '<p>'.e($author).' replied to your ticket:</p>'
                 .'<blockquote>'.nl2br(e($message->body)).'</blockquote>'

src/Http/Controllers/TicketingSettingsController.php

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketingAgentAccess;
 use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketingGroup;
 use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketingProject;
 use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\TicketStatus;
+use Dashboard\Ticketing\Support\MergedTicketRepair;
 use Illuminate\Http\Request;
 use Illuminate\Routing\Controller;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
@@ -121,6 +122,11 @@ class TicketingSettingsController extends Controller
             'isBootstrap'      => $isBootstrap,
             'isSiteAdmin'      => $this->isSiteAdmin(),
             'autoCloseDays'    => (int) Setting::get('ticketing.auto_close_days', 0),
+            // #938 — the deploy-time repair, and how many rows it would touch. The
+            // count is what turns an abstract toggle into a decision somebody can
+            // actually make, so it is shown beside it whether the toggle is on or off.
+            'autoRepairMerged' => MergedTicketRepair::enabledOnDeploy(),
+            'inconsistentMergedCount' => MergedTicketRepair::count(),
         ]);
     }
 
@@ -575,10 +581,20 @@ class TicketingSettingsController extends Controller
 
         $validated = $request->validate([
             'auto_close_days' => 'required|integer|min:0|max:365',
+            'auto_repair_merged_on_deploy' => 'sometimes|boolean',
         ]);
 
         Setting::set('ticketing.auto_close_days', $validated['auto_close_days']);
 
+        // #938 option A is a behaviour rule, so it is a setting, and it defaults
+        // off: a deploy must never rewrite rows nobody asked it to rewrite.
+        if (array_key_exists('auto_repair_merged_on_deploy', $validated)) {
+            Setting::set(
+                MergedTicketRepair::SETTING,
+                $validated['auto_repair_merged_on_deploy'] ? '1' : '0',
+            );
+        }
+
         return back()->with('success', 'Automation settings saved.');
     }
 }

src/Models/Ticket.php

@@ -2,19 +2,57 @@
 
 namespace Dashboard\Ticketing\Models;
 
+use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;
 
 class Ticket extends Model
 {
+    /** Set only by TicketController::merge(); never offered by any form. */
+    public const STATUS_MERGED = 'merged';
+
+    /**
+     * What every surface says when a write to a merged ticket is refused. The Show
+     * page has displayed this sentence since merge shipped; #920 was that it was
+     * only ever a sentence, with no server-side guard behind it.
+     */
+    public const READ_ONLY_REASON = 'This ticket has been merged and is read-only.';
+
     protected $fillable = [
         'number', 'group_id', 'submitter_id', 'assigned_to', 'project_id',
         'title', 'description', 'status', 'priority_id', 'due_date', 'merged_into_id',
     ];
 
+    // `date:Y-m-d`, not bare `date`. The column is a DATE and every UI that shows
+    // it is an <input type="date">, which accepts exactly `Y-m-d` and silently
+    // renders anything else as an EMPTY field. A bare `date` cast serializes to
+    // `2026-09-15T00:00:00.000000Z`, so a due date that had been stored perfectly
+    // well came back as a blank input on the edit form, the show page and the
+    // index pane — indistinguishable from "it was never saved", which is how this
+    // was reported (a QA sweep read `input.value === ''` as silent data loss).
+    //
+    // The write path was never at fault: the column, the `$fillable` entry and
+    // both `validate()` rules were correct throughout, and re-submitting the ISO
+    // string (which Show.vue's meta form does, because it seeds itself from this
+    // value) still stores the right day — measured in UTC and in
+    // America/New_York. So nothing was ever lost in the database; the value
+    // simply had no way of reaching the screen.
+    /**
+     * `merged_inconsistent` rides on every serialized ticket — #938.
+     *
+     * The badge and its "Mark merged" button are rendered per ROW, on the index
+     * list, in the detail pane and on the Show header, so the page needs the
+     * answer for each ticket it draws. Handing it the model's own predicate
+     * rather than letting three Vue files each write
+     * `t.merged_into_id && t.status !== 'merged'` is what keeps the client's idea
+     * of "inconsistent" from drifting away from the scope the repair uses.
+     * It costs no query — both columns are already loaded.
+     */
+    protected $appends = ['merged_inconsistent'];
+
     protected $casts = [
-        'due_date' => 'date',
+        'due_date' => 'date:Y-m-d',
     ];
 
     public function group(): BelongsTo
@@ -56,4 +94,54 @@ class Ticket extends Model
     {
         return $this->belongsTo(Ticket::class, 'merged_into_id');
     }
+
+    /**
+     * A merged ticket is read-only — its messages and attachments now live on the
+     * ticket it was merged into, so it is a stub kept for its reference number and
+     * the audit trail, not a ticket anyone can still work.
+     *
+     * `status === 'merged'` and NOT `merged_into_id !== null`, deliberately. #920
+     * minted rows with `status = 'open', merged_into_id = 56` — the very rows this
+     * guard exists to prevent — and reading the id would make each of those
+     * permanently uneditable, i.e. a row the product will not let anyone correct.
+     * The status is the state; the id is the pointer that goes with it.
+     */
+    public function isMerged(): bool
+    {
+        return $this->status === self::STATUS_MERGED;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * THE SHAPE THE MERGE BUG MINTED — [central-ticketing] #938.
+     *
+     * `merged_into_id` points at a target while `status` is something other than
+     * `merged`: the row was merged, and then a save through the unguarded Edit
+     * form (#920) put the status back. #920 stopped new ones being made and
+     * deliberately left the existing ones EDITABLE — `isMerged()` reads the
+     * status, not the pointer — so that the office can correct one rather than
+     * needing SQL. This is the predicate that finds them.
+     *
+     * It is one definition and three callers read it: the badge that offers the
+     * fix, the `mark-merged` verb that applies it one row at a time, and the
+     * repair migration that applies it to all of them at once. Two spellings of
+     * "inconsistent" that drifted apart would mean a badge on a row the repair
+     * skips.
+     */
+    public function scopeInconsistentlyMerged(Builder $query): Builder
+    {
+        return $query->whereNotNull('merged_into_id')
+            ->where('status', '!=', self::STATUS_MERGED);
+    }
+
+    /** The row-level twin of {@see scopeInconsistentlyMerged()}. */
+    public function isInconsistentlyMerged(): bool
+    {
+        return $this->merged_into_id !== null && ! $this->isMerged();
+    }
+
+    /** @see $appends — the same answer, for the page. */
+    public function getMergedInconsistentAttribute(): bool
+    {
+        return $this->isInconsistentlyMerged();
+    }
 }

src/Models/TicketMessage.php

@@ -5,9 +5,20 @@ namespace Dashboard\Ticketing\Models;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
 
 class TicketMessage extends Model
 {
+    /**
+     * Every value `ticket_messages.source` accepts, written down once.
+     *
+     * The column is an enum and this is the same list, so the two can be compared
+     * rather than remembered. #415 was three `'source' => 'system'` literals against
+     * a column that only knew 'web' and 'email' — the value existed in the code for
+     * as long as merge and split have, and nowhere in the schema.
+     */
+    public const SOURCES = ['web', 'email', 'system'];
+
     protected $fillable = [
         'ticket_id', 'user_id', 'author_email', 'body',
         'is_internal', 'source', 'email_message_id',
@@ -17,6 +28,33 @@ class TicketMessage extends Model
         'is_internal' => 'boolean',
     ];
 
+    /**
+     * THE ONLY WAY A SYSTEM NOTE IS WRITTEN.
+     *
+     * Merge writes one and split writes two, and before this they were three
+     * separate literals in one controller — which is how all three carried a
+     * `source` the column rejected, and how a fourth would have joined them.
+     *
+     * A system note is always internal: it is the audit trail of an agent action,
+     * addressed to whoever works the ticket next, and never to the submitter.
+     */
+    public static function system(Ticket|int $ticket, string $body): self
+    {
+        return static::create([
+            'ticket_id'   => $ticket instanceof Ticket ? $ticket->id : $ticket,
+            'user_id'     => Auth::id(),
+            'body'        => $body,
+            'is_internal' => true,
+            'source'      => 'system',
+        ]);
+    }
+
+    /** A note this class wrote, rather than a person or a mailbox. */
+    public function isSystem(): bool
+    {
+        return $this->source === 'system';
+    }
+
     public function ticket(): BelongsTo
     {
         return $this->belongsTo(Ticket::class, 'ticket_id');

src/Models/TicketingGroup.php

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ namespace Dashboard\Ticketing\Models;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
 
 class TicketingGroup extends Model
 {
@@ -65,15 +66,59 @@ class TicketingGroup extends Model
         return $this->hasMany(EmailConnection::class, 'group_id');
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Issue the next ticket reference for this group.
+     *
+     * This used to be MAX(suffix) over the group's live tickets. Tickets are
+     * hard-deleted, so that made the reference a *reusable* handle: delete the
+     * newest ticket and its number went back in the pool, and the next ticket was
+     * issued the same one. Two tickets carrying `QAX-0004` is not a cosmetic
+     * problem — the reference is the `[QAX-0004]` token in outbound mail subjects
+     * (so a reply threads onto the wrong ticket), the key the shell Notification
+     * Log is audited by, and what `merge()` resolves a ticket by.
+     *
+     * The number now comes from `last_ticket_number`, a per-group high-water mark
+     * that is only ever raised. Deleting a ticket cannot lower it, because it does
+     * not consult the tickets table for the answer.
+     *
+     * Two details that are not decoration:
+     *
+     * - `lockForUpdate` inside a transaction. Read-then-write is a race: two people
+     *   submitting at the same instant would otherwise both read N and both be
+     *   issued N+1, reintroducing exactly the duplicate this method exists to
+     *   prevent. The row lock serialises them.
+     * - The counter is raised to clear any live ticket that is already numbered
+     *   past it before being incremented. Not every row gets its number from here —
+     *   `TicketingDemoSeeder` writes them directly, and imports and manual repairs
+     *   can too — and a counter that has fallen behind such a row would issue a
+     *   number that is already in use. Taking the max of the two can only ever move
+     *   the counter forwards, so this preserves the never-goes-backwards property
+     *   rather than weakening it.
+     */
     public function nextTicketNumber(): string
     {
         $prefix = $this->prefix . '-';
-        $last = $this->tickets()
-            ->where('number', 'like', $prefix . '%')
-            ->orderByRaw('CAST(SUBSTRING(number, ?) AS UNSIGNED) DESC', [strlen($prefix) + 1])
-            ->value('number');
 
-        $next = $last ? ((int) substr($last, strlen($prefix))) + 1 : 1;
+        $next = DB::transaction(function () use ($prefix) {
+            $counter = (int) static::query()
+                ->whereKey($this->getKey())
+                ->lockForUpdate()
+                ->value('last_ticket_number');
+
+            $liveMax = (int) $this->tickets()
+                ->where('number', 'like', $prefix . '%')
+                ->max(DB::raw('CAST(SUBSTRING(number, ' . (strlen($prefix) + 1) . ') AS UNSIGNED)'));
+
+            $next = max($counter, $liveMax) + 1;
+
+            // Query-builder update, so `last_ticket_number` need not be fillable —
+            // it is a sequence, never something a form should be able to set.
+            static::query()->whereKey($this->getKey())->update(['last_ticket_number' => $next]);
+            $this->setAttribute('last_ticket_number', $next);
+
+            return $next;
+        });
+
         return $prefix . str_pad($next, 4, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);
     }
 }

src/Support/MergedTicketRepair.php

@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Dashboard\Ticketing\Support;
+
+use App\Models\Setting;
+use Dashboard\Ticketing\Models\Ticket;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;
+
+/**
+ * REPAIRING THE ROWS THE MERGE BUG MINTED — [central-ticketing] #938.
+ *
+ * #920 stopped the bug making new ones: a ticket whose `status` is `merged` is
+ * read-only server-side, so the Edit form can no longer write `status = open`
+ * over a row that has already been folded into another ticket. It shipped NO
+ * data change, on purpose, and its guard reads the status rather than the
+ * pointer precisely so the rows already carrying the corrupt shape
+ * (`status = open, merged_into_id = 56`) stay editable and can be corrected
+ * through the UI instead of by hand in SQL.
+ *
+ * This class is the correction, and it is deliberately ONE implementation with
+ * three callers, because "which rows are broken" and "what fixing one means"
+ * are the two things that must not drift:
+ *
+ *   - {@see \Dashboard\Ticketing\Http\Controllers\TicketController::markMerged()}
+ *     — the office fixes one row, from the badge on the ticket header.
+ *   - {@see \Dashboard\Ticketing\Console\Commands\RepairMergedTickets}
+ *     — `--dry-run` is the COUNT, and it is the whole reason the class is not
+ *     just a line inside the migration: the operator has to be able to see how
+ *     many rows there are, and which, before anything writes.
+ *   - the `2026_09_04_000001_repair_inconsistent_merged_tickets` migration
+ *     — every row at once, on deploy, and ONLY when the operator has turned
+ *     {@see SETTING} on.
+ *
+ * ── WHAT REPAIRING DOES *NOT* DO ────────────────────────────────────────────
+ *
+ * It writes `status = 'merged'` and nothing else. Messages, participants,
+ * assignee, priority and title are left exactly as they are, including edits
+ * made to the row AFTER the merge — those are somebody's work, they are the
+ * only copy, and there is no record of what the fields held before the bad
+ * save to revert them to. The ticket becoming read-only is the whole change.
+ */
+class MergedTicketRepair
+{
+    /**
+     * "Auto-repair inconsistent merged tickets on deploy", and it DEFAULTS OFF.
+     *
+     * A deploy that silently rewrites rows nobody asked it to rewrite is the one
+     * outcome #938 rules out by name, so the migration reads this and no-ops
+     * when it is unset. Off is therefore the whole behaviour of a box that has
+     * never heard of this setting, which is what makes shipping the migration
+     * safe before the operator has decided anything.
+     */
+    public const SETTING = 'ticketing.auto_repair_merged_on_deploy';
+
+    /** How many rows are inconsistent right now. The dry run, and it writes nothing. */
+    public static function count(): int
+    {
+        return Ticket::query()->inconsistentlyMerged()->count();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The rows themselves, for a human to look at before deciding.
+     *
+     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection<int,Ticket>
+     */
+    public static function rows()
+    {
+        return Ticket::query()->inconsistentlyMerged()->orderBy('id')->get();
+    }
+
+    /** Has the operator asked for the deploy-time repair? */
+    public static function enabledOnDeploy(): bool
+    {
+        return filter_var(Setting::get(self::SETTING, '0'), FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Re-mark every inconsistent row as merged. Returns how many rows changed.
+     *
+     * IDEMPOTENT, and it is the scope that makes it so rather than a flag: the
+     * second run matches nothing, because the first run's rows no longer satisfy
+     * `status <> 'merged'`. So a migration that is re-run, a command run twice
+     * and a deploy that repeats all answer 0 and write nothing.
+     */
+    public static function repairAll(string $by): int
+    {
+        $numbers = Ticket::query()->inconsistentlyMerged()->pluck('number')->all();
+
+        if ($numbers === []) {
+            Log::info("[ticketing] #938 merged-ticket repair ({$by}): nothing to repair.");
+
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        $changed = Ticket::query()->inconsistentlyMerged()->update([
+            'status' => Ticket::STATUS_MERGED,
+        ]);
+
+        // The numbers, not just the count. These rows are being made read-only,
+        // and "which ones" is the question the office will ask afterwards.
+        Log::info(sprintf(
+            '[ticketing] #938 merged-ticket repair (%s): re-marked %d ticket(s) as merged — %s',
+            $by,
+            $changed,
+            implode(', ', $numbers),
+        ));
+
+        return $changed;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Re-mark ONE row. Returns false when it was not inconsistent to begin with,
+     * so a double-clicked button and a stale page are both no-ops rather than a
+     * second write.
+     */
+    public static function repair(Ticket $ticket, string $by): bool
+    {
+        if (! $ticket->isInconsistentlyMerged()) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        $ticket->forceFill(['status' => Ticket::STATUS_MERGED])->save();
+
+        Log::info(sprintf(
+            '[ticketing] #938 merged-ticket repair (%s): re-marked %s as merged (merged into #%d).',
+            $by,
+            $ticket->number,
+            $ticket->merged_into_id,
+        ));
+
+        return true;
+    }
+}

src/Support/TicketingNotifier.php

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace Dashboard\Ticketing\Support;
 
+use App\Models\User;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;
 
@@ -92,19 +93,45 @@ final class TicketingNotifier
     /**
      * Queue one email through the platform.
      *
-     * @param  string  $to  recipient address, verbatim
+     * PASS THE PERSON, NOT THE ADDRESS, whenever we have one.
+     *
+     * This took a bare string, and `Notify::sendAll()` derives everything
+     * user-shaped from the recipient it is handed: `$user = $recipient instanceof
+     * User ? $recipient : null`. With a string there is no `$user`, so three
+     * things silently went missing at once, all from the same line:
+     *
+     *  - `to_user_id` was null, so the send never appeared in that person's
+     *    notification history;
+     *  - `to_name` was null, so the shared Notification Log fell through to its
+     *    "we don't know who this went to" rendering and printed the message TYPE
+     *    where the recipient's name belongs — for people we plainly do know, since
+     *    both our notifications go to a Central user by definition (a ticket's
+     *    submitter, or the agent it was just assigned to);
+     *  - the preference branch is guarded by `if ($user && ! $mandatory && …)`, so
+     *    it was skipped entirely and **the opt-out did nothing**. Neither of our
+     *    categories is mandatory, so My Notifications offered a switch that was
+     *    never read.
+     *
+     * A bare string is still accepted, for a future send to an address with no
+     * account behind it. It is simply no longer what our own callers hand over.
+     *
+     * Note we no longer resolve the address by hand either: `Notify` resolves a
+     * User school → personal → login, which is the platform's answer to "where do
+     * we email this person" and is what every other app gets.
+     *
+     * @param  User|string  $to  the recipient — a User wherever one is known
      * @return array{handled:bool,status:?string,error:?string,id:?int}
      */
     public static function deliver(
         string $category,
-        string $to,
+        User|string $to,
         string $subject,
         string $bodyHtml,
         ?Model $context = null,
     ): array {
         $unhandled = ['handled' => false, 'status' => null, 'error' => null, 'id' => null];
 
-        if (! self::available() || trim($to) === '') {
+        if (! self::available() || (is_string($to) && trim($to) === '')) {
             return $unhandled;
         }
 

src/TicketingServiceProvider.php

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ class TicketingServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
         if ($this->app->runningInConsole()) {
             $this->commands([
                 \Dashboard\Ticketing\Console\Commands\AutoCloseTickets::class,
+                \Dashboard\Ticketing\Console\Commands\RepairMergedTickets::class,
             ]);
         }
     }

src/routes/ticketing.php

@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ Route::middleware(['web', 'auth', 'app.access:ticketing'])
             Route::post('/{ticket}/view',                     [TicketController::class, 'recordView'])        ->name('tickets.view');
             Route::post('/{ticket}/merge',                    [TicketController::class, 'merge'])             ->name('merge');
             Route::post('/{ticket}/split',                    [TicketController::class, 'split'])             ->name('split');
+            // #938 — the one-click fix for a row the merge bug left inconsistent.
+            Route::post('/{ticket}/mark-merged',              [TicketController::class, 'markMerged'])        ->name('mark-merged');
             Route::post('/{ticket}/participants',             [TicketController::class, 'addParticipant'])    ->name('participants.store');
             Route::delete('/{ticket}/participants/{userId}',  [TicketController::class, 'removeParticipant'])->name('participants.destroy');
             Route::get('/{ticket}/users/search',              [TicketController::class, 'searchUsers'])       ->name('users.search');