[BUG] Duplicate detection closes issues without verifying the original is resolved

Bug Report: Issue Triage Process Closes Valid Reports Without Resolution

The Problem

The automated duplicate detection system closes issues even when the referenced "original" issues are themselves closed — without the underlying problem ever being fixed. This creates a loop where valid bug reports are silently dismissed and never reach the team.

Real Example

The actual bug: There is no way to remove individual projects from the recent projects list in Claude Code desktop app. Deleted folders remain in the list indefinitely with no way to clean them up.

What happened:

1. I opened issue #40836 reporting this bug
2. The bot flagged it as a duplicate of #35187, #34115, and #30605
3. All three of those issues are already closed — not because the bug was fixed, but because they were also marked as duplicates of each other
4. The bug still exists today on macOS 15.3

The result: A real, reproducible bug has been reported multiple times by multiple users, and each time it gets dismissed as a duplicate — with no fix ever shipped.

Why This Matters

• Valid bug reports are being lost in a duplicate loop
• Users have no way to escalate when their issue is incorrectly closed
• The engineering team may never see bugs that have been repeatedly reported

Suggested Fix

Before closing an issue as duplicate, the bot (or a human reviewer) should verify that the referenced issue was closed as resolved, not closed as another duplicate. If the chain leads to an unresolved or duplicate-closed issue, the new report should remain open.

Related Issues

• #40836 — the specific bug that triggered this report (still open)
• #35187 — closed as duplicate (unresolved)
• #34115 — closed as duplicate (unresolved)
• #30605 — closed as duplicate (unresolved)