diff --git a/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md b/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md
index b4121d972..a6079237d 100644
--- a/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md
+++ b/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md
@@ -1620,6 +1620,19 @@ Identify candidates: a worktree is stale if (a) it is checked out on the base br
 - If any candidate has uncommitted work: list the files, tell the user, and STOP worktree cleanup without removing anything.
 - Do NOT use `--force`. Do NOT remove the user's primary working tree.
 
+Remote-branch reconciliation — the failed `gh pr merge` carried `--delete-branch`, and this recovery path must not silently drop that half. The success path above says "The branch has been cleaned up"; this path states the branch outcome explicitly instead of staying silent:
+
+```bash
+BRANCH=$(gh pr view --json headRefName -q .headRefName)
+git ls-remote --heads origin "$BRANCH"
+```
+
+Three outcomes — never read a failed check as a clean branch:
+
+- **Exit 0, empty output** — the remote branch is already gone (GitHub's post-merge deletion or a concurrent actor got there). Tell the user: "The remote branch has already been cleaned up." This makes re-runs of the recovery idempotent.
+- **Exit 0, one ref line** — the branch survived: the failed merge command never reached its `--delete-branch` half. OFFER deletion, confirm-first (matching the worktree-cleanup posture above): "The remote branch `<BRANCH>` still exists — the failed merge never ran its --delete-branch half. Delete it?" Only on confirmation: `git push origin --delete "$BRANCH"`. If a local branch of the same name exists, offer `git branch -d "$BRANCH"` alongside (`-d`, never `-D` — a non-fast-forwarded local branch is the user's call).
+- **Non-zero exit** — the check ITSELF failed (network, auth). Tell the user: "Couldn't verify remote branch state — leaving it alone." and skip the deletion offer entirely; a failed check is unknown state, not a clean branch.
+
 Record `MERGE_PATH=direct`, then continue to §4a (CI auto-deploy detection).
 
 **If `state == "OPEN"`:**
diff --git a/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md.tmpl b/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md.tmpl
index 4a4551038..b43fbf39d 100644
--- a/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md.tmpl
+++ b/land-and-deploy/SKILL.md.tmpl
@@ -700,6 +700,19 @@ Identify candidates: a worktree is stale if (a) it is checked out on the base br
 - If any candidate has uncommitted work: list the files, tell the user, and STOP worktree cleanup without removing anything.
 - Do NOT use `--force`. Do NOT remove the user's primary working tree.
 
+Remote-branch reconciliation — the failed `gh pr merge` carried `--delete-branch`, and this recovery path must not silently drop that half. The success path above says "The branch has been cleaned up"; this path states the branch outcome explicitly instead of staying silent:
+
+```bash
+BRANCH=$(gh pr view --json headRefName -q .headRefName)
+git ls-remote --heads origin "$BRANCH"
+```
+
+Three outcomes — never read a failed check as a clean branch:
+
+- **Exit 0, empty output** — the remote branch is already gone (GitHub's post-merge deletion or a concurrent actor got there). Tell the user: "The remote branch has already been cleaned up." This makes re-runs of the recovery idempotent.
+- **Exit 0, one ref line** — the branch survived: the failed merge command never reached its `--delete-branch` half. OFFER deletion, confirm-first (matching the worktree-cleanup posture above): "The remote branch `<BRANCH>` still exists — the failed merge never ran its --delete-branch half. Delete it?" Only on confirmation: `git push origin --delete "$BRANCH"`. If a local branch of the same name exists, offer `git branch -d "$BRANCH"` alongside (`-d`, never `-D` — a non-fast-forwarded local branch is the user's call).
+- **Non-zero exit** — the check ITSELF failed (network, auth). Tell the user: "Couldn't verify remote branch state — leaving it alone." and skip the deletion offer entirely; a failed check is unknown state, not a clean branch.
+
 Record `MERGE_PATH=direct`, then continue to §4a (CI auto-deploy detection).
 
 **If `state == "OPEN"`:**
diff --git a/test/land-and-deploy-postfail.test.ts b/test/land-and-deploy-postfail.test.ts
index f89d77518..d4ea73aaf 100644
--- a/test/land-and-deploy-postfail.test.ts
+++ b/test/land-and-deploy-postfail.test.ts
@@ -87,6 +87,26 @@ describe("PR #1620 §4a-postfail in land-and-deploy template", () => {
     expect(body).toMatch(/continue to §4a/);
   });
 
+  // #2656: the failed merge carried --delete-branch; the recovery path must
+  // reconcile the remote branch instead of silently dropping that half.
+  test("MERGED branch reconciles the remote branch (ls-remote, confirm-first delete)", () => {
+    const body = readTmpl();
+    expect(body).toMatch(/git ls-remote --heads origin "\$BRANCH"/);
+    expect(body).toMatch(/gh pr view --json headRefName -q \.headRefName/);
+    expect(body).toMatch(/git push origin --delete "\$BRANCH"/);
+    // Confirm-first: deletion is offered, never unilateral.
+    expect(body).toMatch(/Delete it\?/);
+  });
+
+  test("MERGED branch reconciliation distinguishes branch-absent from check-failed", () => {
+    const body = readTmpl();
+    // exit 0 + empty output = already clean (idempotent re-runs)...
+    expect(body).toMatch(/already been cleaned up/);
+    // ...non-zero exit = unknown state, never read as a clean branch.
+    expect(body).toMatch(/Couldn't verify remote branch state/);
+    expect(body).toMatch(/never read a failed check as a clean branch/);
+  });
+
   test("OPEN branch checks autoMergeRequest before treating as failure", () => {
     const body = readTmpl();
     expect(body).toMatch(/gh pr view --json autoMergeRequest/);