diff --git a/scripts/README.md b/scripts/README.md
index eeae0d7a2..6b54bfeb2 100644
--- a/scripts/README.md
+++ b/scripts/README.md
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ uv run --no-project --script scripts/pr_review.py cleanup 452 --repo ptr727/Proj
 
 | Code | Command | Meaning |
 | --- | --- | --- |
-| `0` | `status`, `wait` | No Copilot review covers the head yet (`status`), or the review covering it states no partial coverage and its verdict counts what it flags. On a held head, an attested local pass whose checks no longer hold the poll, short of `45`. |
+| `0` | `status`, `wait` | No Copilot review covers the head yet (`status`), or the review covering it states no partial coverage and its verdict counts what it flags. On a held head, an attested local pass whose checks no longer hold the poll, short of `45`. Exit `0` on that review does not poll the checks, so it does not prove the required checks ran. |
 | `30` | `wait` | Still pending at the timeout, which is pending rather than failed. On a held head, `status=CHECKS_PENDING`. A round past `--min-rounds` not yet landed. |
 | `40` | `wait` | No Copilot review covers the head: the reviewer answered outside a formal review, the request returned success and recorded nothing, or the reviewer writes under a login no query filters on. |
 | `41` | `wait` | The newest round is a refusal or a quota state, its kind printed in the status line, and in `refusal=` for a refusal on this pull request. |
diff --git a/scripts/pr_review.py b/scripts/pr_review.py
index 5a47703ac..d37e2249c 100755
--- a/scripts/pr_review.py
+++ b/scripts/pr_review.py
@@ -114,8 +114,9 @@
            carries any Copilot activity. The loop runs in-process, so a 45-minute wait costs one
            agent turn, not 90.
            Exit 0 = review present, or on a held head an attested local pass whose checks no longer
-           hold the poll. On an open pull request whose head commit the payload carries, every
-           workflow run the read reaches on that head has then completed. The read reaches the
+           hold the poll. Exit 0 on a review present does not poll the checks, so it does not prove
+           the required checks ran. On an open attested held head whose commit the payload carries,
+           every workflow run the read reaches on that head has then completed. The read reaches the
            head's last 50 check suites and those of its first CHECKS_WINDOW rollup contexts. A
            CLEAN, UNSTABLE, or HAS_HOOKS merge owes no required check. Under any other merge, an
            open attested held head nothing holds exits 45 where its rollup was unreadable or, under