diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8c17e056..cb5c4d31 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changelog
 
+### Skills
+
+- **`release`: `poll-pr-reviews.sh` counted zero Copilot inline comments on every PR** — Copilot authors its review as `copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]` but its inline comments as `Copilot`, and the counter matched comments against the review login, so `inline_comments.copilot` was a constant `0` — vacuously satisfying Step 7's "every inline comment has a reply" merge gate and letting real Copilot findings merge unanswered. Comment counting now matches a set of logins per reviewer (`GH_AW_COMMENT_LOGINS` / `COPILOT_COMMENT_LOGINS` at the top of the script); gh-aw and `dismiss-stale-reviews.sh` were unaffected. Full motivation: PR #180.
+
 ## 0.3.92 — 2026-07-17
 
 ### Rules
diff --git a/skills/release/poll-pr-reviews.sh b/skills/release/poll-pr-reviews.sh
index 87b84d58..b109763d 100755
--- a/skills/release/poll-pr-reviews.sh
+++ b/skills/release/poll-pr-reviews.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,25 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# Bot logins, by surface. A reviewer does NOT necessarily author its reviews
+# and its inline comments under the same login:
+#
+#   surface          gh-aw                  Copilot
+#   ---------------  ---------------------  --------------------------------
+#   review           github-actions[bot]    copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]
+#   inline comment   github-actions[bot]    Copilot
+#
+# Counting Copilot's comments against its REVIEW login matches nothing, so
+# `inline_comments.copilot` reads 0 on every PR — which vacuously satisfies the
+# release skill's Step 7 "every inline comment has a reply" merge gate and lets
+# a real Copilot finding merge unanswered. Comment counting therefore matches a
+# SET of logins per reviewer. A comment carries exactly one author, so listing
+# both logins cannot double-count.
+GH_AW_REVIEW_LOGIN="github-actions[bot]"
+COPILOT_REVIEW_LOGIN="copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]"
+GH_AW_COMMENT_LOGINS=("github-actions[bot]")
+COPILOT_COMMENT_LOGINS=("Copilot" "copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]")
+
 # `--paginate` is mandatory: GitHub's default per-page is 30, and a PR
 # with more than that many reviews/comments would otherwise return only
 # the first page. The script's `last` filter would then pick the last
@@ -52,12 +71,18 @@ latest_review_by() {
           else {state, submitted_at, body} end'
 }
 
+# Count top-level (non-reply) inline comments authored by ANY of <login...>.
+# Variadic on login so one reviewer's multiple author identities collapse to a
+# single count — see the login table at the top of this file.
 toplevel_comments_by() {
-  local owner="$1" repo="$2" pr="$3" login="$4"
+  local owner="$1" repo="$2" pr="$3"; shift 3
+  local logins_json
+  logins_json=$(jq -n '$ARGS.positional' --args "$@") \
+    || { echo "error: failed to encode login list for comment count" >&2; return 1; }
   gh api --paginate "repos/${owner}/${repo}/pulls/${pr}/comments?per_page=100" \
-    | jq -s --arg login "$login" '
+    | jq -s --argjson logins "$logins_json" '
         (add // [])
-        | [.[] | select(.user.login == $login) | select(.in_reply_to_id == null)]
+        | [.[] | select(.in_reply_to_id == null) | select(.user.login | IN($logins[]))]
         | length'
 }
 
@@ -99,13 +124,13 @@ main() {
     || { echo "error: failed to fetch merge state for ${owner}/${repo}#${pr_number} — run 'gh auth status' to verify auth, then retry 'gh pr view ${pr_number} --repo ${owner}/${repo} --json mergeStateStatus,mergeable' to inspect the failing call directly" >&2; exit 1; }
 
   local gh_aw_review copilot_review gh_aw_comments copilot_comments
-  gh_aw_review=$(latest_review_by   "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "github-actions[bot]") \
+  gh_aw_review=$(latest_review_by   "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "$GH_AW_REVIEW_LOGIN") \
     || { echo "error: failed to fetch gh-aw review state" >&2; exit 1; }
-  copilot_review=$(latest_review_by "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]") \
+  copilot_review=$(latest_review_by "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "$COPILOT_REVIEW_LOGIN") \
     || { echo "error: failed to fetch Copilot review state" >&2; exit 1; }
-  gh_aw_comments=$(toplevel_comments_by   "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "github-actions[bot]") \
+  gh_aw_comments=$(toplevel_comments_by   "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "${GH_AW_COMMENT_LOGINS[@]}") \
     || { echo "error: failed to count gh-aw inline comments" >&2; exit 1; }
-  copilot_comments=$(toplevel_comments_by "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]") \
+  copilot_comments=$(toplevel_comments_by "$owner" "$repo" "$pr_number" "${COPILOT_COMMENT_LOGINS[@]}") \
     || { echo "error: failed to count Copilot inline comments" >&2; exit 1; }
 
   jq -n \
diff --git a/skills/release/tests/test_poll_pr_reviews.sh b/skills/release/tests/test_poll_pr_reviews.sh
index e306becd..8e6f2f93 100755
--- a/skills/release/tests/test_poll_pr_reviews.sh
+++ b/skills/release/tests/test_poll_pr_reviews.sh
@@ -234,6 +234,46 @@ t_toplevel_comments_by_returns_zero_for_no_comments() {
   assert_eq "comments count for empty" "0" "$count"
 }
 
+# Copilot authors its REVIEW as `copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]` but its
+# INLINE COMMENTS as `Copilot`. Counting comments against the review login
+# matched nothing, so `inline_comments.copilot` read 0 on every PR — vacuously
+# satisfying the release skill's Step 7 "every inline comment has a reply" gate
+# and letting a real Copilot finding merge unanswered.
+t_toplevel_comments_by_counts_copilot_login() {
+  MOCK_COMMENTS_BODY='[{"user":{"login":"Copilot"},"in_reply_to_id":null,"path":"a/b.md","body":"Real finding."}]'
+  local count
+  count=$(toplevel_comments_by "owner" "repo" "1" "${COPILOT_COMMENT_LOGINS[@]}")
+  assert_eq "Copilot-authored comment is counted" "1" "$count"
+}
+
+# The review login must stay in the comment set: a regression that swapped one
+# login for the other instead of matching both would pass the test above and
+# still lose comments on any PR where Copilot posts under the review login.
+t_toplevel_comments_by_matches_either_copilot_login() {
+  MOCK_COMMENTS_BODY='[{"user":{"login":"Copilot"},"in_reply_to_id":null},{"user":{"login":"copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]"},"in_reply_to_id":null}]'
+  local count
+  count=$(toplevel_comments_by "owner" "repo" "1" "${COPILOT_COMMENT_LOGINS[@]}")
+  assert_eq "both Copilot logins counted" "2" "$count"
+}
+
+t_toplevel_comments_by_excludes_replies_and_other_logins() {
+  MOCK_COMMENTS_BODY='[{"user":{"login":"Copilot"},"in_reply_to_id":null},{"user":{"login":"Copilot"},"in_reply_to_id":991},{"user":{"login":"some-human"},"in_reply_to_id":null}]'
+  local count
+  count=$(toplevel_comments_by "owner" "repo" "1" "${COPILOT_COMMENT_LOGINS[@]}")
+  assert_eq "replies and foreign logins excluded" "1" "$count"
+}
+
+# End-to-end through main() — the path the Step 7 merge gate actually reads.
+# gh-aw and Copilot counts must not bleed into each other.
+t_main_counts_copilot_comments_in_snapshot() {
+  MOCK_MERGE_STATE=clean
+  MOCK_COMMENTS_BODY='[{"user":{"login":"Copilot"},"in_reply_to_id":null},{"user":{"login":"github-actions[bot]"},"in_reply_to_id":null},{"user":{"login":"github-actions[bot]"},"in_reply_to_id":null}]'
+  local out counts
+  out=$(main "owner" "repo" "1")
+  counts=$(echo "$out" | jq -r '.inline_comments | "\(.gh_aw)|\(.copilot)"')
+  assert_eq "inline_comments {gh_aw|copilot}" "2|1" "$counts"
+}
+
 # --- driver ---
 
 echo "== poll-pr-reviews.sh tests =="
@@ -248,6 +288,10 @@ run "latest_review_by surfaces the review body text"                  t_latest_r
 run "latest_review_by ignores other logins across pages"              t_latest_review_by_filters_other_logins_across_pages
 run "toplevel_comments_by sums counts across pages (issue #83)"       t_toplevel_comments_by_sums_across_pages
 run "toplevel_comments_by returns 0 for empty comments"               t_toplevel_comments_by_returns_zero_for_no_comments
+run "toplevel_comments_by counts the 'Copilot' comment login"         t_toplevel_comments_by_counts_copilot_login
+run "toplevel_comments_by matches either Copilot login"               t_toplevel_comments_by_matches_either_copilot_login
+run "toplevel_comments_by excludes replies and foreign logins"        t_toplevel_comments_by_excludes_replies_and_other_logins
+run "main counts Copilot comments in the snapshot"                    t_main_counts_copilot_comments_in_snapshot
 
 echo "== summary: ${PASS_COUNT} passed, ${FAIL_COUNT} failed =="
 [[ "$FAIL_COUNT" -eq 0 ]]