diff --git a/desloppify/app/commands/show/scope.py b/desloppify/app/commands/show/scope.py
index b2ad8f459..4c84bf553 100644
--- a/desloppify/app/commands/show/scope.py
+++ b/desloppify/app/commands/show/scope.py
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
     QueueBuildOptions,
     build_work_queue,
 )
+from desloppify.engine._work_queue.helpers import scope_matches
+from desloppify.engine._work_queue.ranking import build_issue_items
 
 
 @dataclass(frozen=True)
@@ -197,39 +199,55 @@ def load_matches(
     status_filter: str,
     chronic: bool,
 ) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
-    """Load matching issues from the ranked queue.
+    """Load matching issues for an exploratory show query.
 
-    When a scope is provided, search both execution and backlog partitions
-    so scoped queries (e.g. ``show advocacy_language``) surface findings
-    even when a different lifecycle phase (like initial review) owns the
-    execution partition.
+    Unlike execution queues, show should surface persisted matching issues even
+    when a detector has a higher standalone confidence threshold.
     """
-    from desloppify.engine.work_queue import build_work_queue_for_visibility, QueueVisibility
-
-    base_opts = QueueBuildOptions(
-        count=None,
+    issue_map = state.get("work_items") or state.get("issues", {})
+    if not isinstance(issue_map, dict) or not issue_map:
+        queue = build_work_queue(
+            state,
+            options=QueueBuildOptions(
+                count=None,
+                scope=scope,
+                status=status_filter,
+                include_subjective=False,
+                chronic=chronic,
+            ),
+        )
+        return [item for item in queue.get("items", []) if item.get("kind") == "issue"]
+    return build_issue_items(
+        state,
+        scan_path=state.get("scan_path"),
+        status_filter=status_filter,
         scope=scope,
-        status=status_filter,
-        include_subjective=False,
         chronic=chronic,
+        forced_ids=_matching_issue_ids_for_scope(state, scope),
     )
-    queue = build_work_queue(state, options=base_opts)
-    matches = [
-        item for item in queue.get("items", []) if item.get("kind") == "issue"
-    ]
-    # When scoped and execution partition returned nothing, check backlog.
-    if not matches and scope and status_filter == "open":
-        backlog_queue = build_work_queue_for_visibility(
-            state,
-            options=base_opts,
-            visibility=QueueVisibility.BACKLOG,
-        )
-        matches = [
-            item
-            for item in backlog_queue.get("items", [])
-            if item.get("kind") == "issue"
-        ]
-    return matches
+
+
+def _matching_issue_ids_for_scope(
+    state: StateModel,
+    scope: str | None,
+) -> set[str]:
+    """Return persisted IDs matching a show scope, bypassing queue thresholds."""
+    issue_map = state.get("work_items") or state.get("issues", {})
+    if not isinstance(issue_map, dict):
+        return set()
+    if not scope:
+        return {issue_id for issue_id in issue_map if isinstance(issue_id, str)}
+
+    matched: set[str] = set()
+    for issue_id, issue in issue_map.items():
+        if not isinstance(issue_id, str) or not isinstance(issue, dict):
+            continue
+        item = dict(issue)
+        item["id"] = issue_id
+        item.setdefault("kind", "issue")
+        if scope_matches(item, scope):
+            matched.add(issue_id)
+    return matched
 
 
 def resolve_noise(
diff --git a/desloppify/engine/work_queue.py b/desloppify/engine/work_queue.py
index 7ad4ed9e8..ea2ab07ad 100644
--- a/desloppify/engine/work_queue.py
+++ b/desloppify/engine/work_queue.py
@@ -9,11 +9,9 @@
 from desloppify.engine._work_queue.core import (
     QueueBuildOptions,
     WorkQueueResult,
-    _build_work_queue_with_visibility as build_work_queue_for_visibility,
     build_work_queue,
 )
 from desloppify.engine._work_queue.issues import list_open_review_issues
-from desloppify.engine._work_queue.models import QueueVisibility
 from desloppify.engine._work_queue.ranking import group_queue_items
 from desloppify.engine._work_queue.synthetic_workflow import (
     build_deferred_disposition_item,
@@ -21,11 +19,9 @@
 
 __all__ = [
     "QueueBuildOptions",
-    "QueueVisibility",
     "WorkQueueResult",
     "build_deferred_disposition_item",
     "build_work_queue",
-    "build_work_queue_for_visibility",
     "group_queue_items",
     "list_open_review_issues",
 ]
diff --git a/desloppify/tests/commands/test_transitive_modules_update_skill.py b/desloppify/tests/commands/test_transitive_modules_update_skill.py
index 3e506b6a0..41a259693 100644
--- a/desloppify/tests/commands/test_transitive_modules_update_skill.py
+++ b/desloppify/tests/commands/test_transitive_modules_update_skill.py
@@ -209,8 +209,9 @@ def test_bad_content(self, mock_download, _mock_local, _mock_colorize, capsys):
         assert "doesn't look like a skill document" in out
 
     @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill.colorize", side_effect=lambda t, _c: t)
+    @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill.cmd._read_local_docs_file", return_value=None)
     @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill._download")
-    def test_successful_dedicated_install(self, mock_download, _mock_colorize, capsys, tmp_path):
+    def test_successful_dedicated_install(self, mock_download, _mock_local, _mock_colorize, capsys, tmp_path):
         skill_content = "# Skill\n<!-- desloppify-skill-version: 1 -->\nContent"
         mock_download.side_effect = lambda f: {
             "SKILL.md": skill_content,
@@ -230,9 +231,10 @@ def test_successful_dedicated_install(self, mock_download, _mock_colorize, capsy
         assert "Updated" in out
 
     @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill.colorize", side_effect=lambda t, _c: t)
+    @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill.cmd._read_local_docs_file", return_value=None)
     @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill._download")
     def test_successful_dedicated_install_rovodev(
-        self, mock_download, _mock_colorize, capsys, tmp_path
+        self, mock_download, _mock_local, _mock_colorize, capsys, tmp_path
     ):
         """Per-project `update-skill rovodev` writes the dedicated `.rovodev/...` file."""
         skill_content = "# Skill\n<!-- desloppify-skill-version: 1 -->\nContent"
@@ -257,8 +259,9 @@ def test_successful_dedicated_install_rovodev(
         assert "Updated" in out
 
     @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill.colorize", side_effect=lambda t, _c: t)
+    @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill.cmd._read_local_docs_file", return_value=None)
     @patch("desloppify.app.commands.update_skill._download")
-    def test_successful_shared_install(self, mock_download, _mock_colorize, capsys, tmp_path):
+    def test_successful_shared_install(self, mock_download, _mock_local, _mock_colorize, capsys, tmp_path):
         """Non-dedicated install (e.g. windsurf) replaces section in existing file."""
         skill_content = "# Skill\n<!-- desloppify-skill-version: 1 -->\nContent"
         mock_download.side_effect = lambda f: {
diff --git a/desloppify/tests/core/test_pyproject_optional_dependencies.py b/desloppify/tests/core/test_pyproject_optional_dependencies.py
index 5e0ed763d..03b0d7792 100644
--- a/desloppify/tests/core/test_pyproject_optional_dependencies.py
+++ b/desloppify/tests/core/test_pyproject_optional_dependencies.py
@@ -62,4 +62,4 @@ def test_treesitter_language_pack_is_capped_below_incompatible_release() -> None
         if str(spec).startswith("tree-sitter-language-pack")
     ]
 
-    assert language_pack_specs == ["tree-sitter-language-pack>=0.3,<1.8"]
+    assert language_pack_specs == ["tree-sitter-language-pack>=0.3,<1.6.3"]
diff --git a/desloppify/tests/lang/common/test_bash_unused_imports.py b/desloppify/tests/lang/common/test_bash_unused_imports.py
index c74dee941..cdc9991b3 100644
--- a/desloppify/tests/lang/common/test_bash_unused_imports.py
+++ b/desloppify/tests/lang/common/test_bash_unused_imports.py
@@ -4,6 +4,16 @@
 
 import textwrap
 
+import pytest
+
+from desloppify.languages._framework.treesitter import is_available
+
+# Skip all tests if tree-sitter-language-pack is not installed.
+# Matches the guard pattern used by other test_treesitter modules.
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(
+    not is_available(), reason="tree-sitter-language-pack not installed"
+)
+
 
 def _detect(tmp_path, contents: str):
     from desloppify.languages._framework.treesitter.analysis.unused_imports import (
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a54e1b99f..b7e04dbc4 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ Issues = "https://github.com/peteromallet/desloppify/issues"
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 treesitter = [
   "tree-sitter>=0.21",
-  "tree-sitter-language-pack>=0.3,<1.8",
+  # 1.6.3 was a breaking refactor by upstream: the public module moved from
+  # `tree_sitter_language_pack` to `_native`, removing the top-level package
+  # that desloppify's parser bootstrap imports. Pin out until the API is
+  # restored (or desloppify migrates to the new import path).
+  "tree-sitter-language-pack>=0.3,<1.6.3",
 ]
 csharp-xml = ["defusedxml>=0.7.0"]
 python-security = ["bandit>=1.7.8"]
@@ -45,7 +49,11 @@ plan-yaml = ["PyYAML>=6.0"]
 full = [
   "defusedxml>=0.7.0",
   "tree-sitter>=0.21",
-  "tree-sitter-language-pack>=0.3,<1.8",
+  # 1.6.3 was a breaking refactor by upstream: the public module moved from
+  # `tree_sitter_language_pack` to `_native`, removing the top-level package
+  # that desloppify's parser bootstrap imports. Pin out until the API is
+  # restored (or desloppify migrates to the new import path).
+  "tree-sitter-language-pack>=0.3,<1.6.3",
   "bandit>=1.7.8",
   "Pillow>=9.0.0",
   "PyYAML>=6.0",