[BUG] `/ultrareview` fails at Verify stage repeatedly, consumes free quota, drops all findings

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Two consecutive /ultrareview runs on the same branch failed at the Verify stage. Both runs:

• Successfully completed Setup and Find (returning 6 and 9 candidates respectively)
• Crashed/failed at Verify
• Never ran Dedupe
• Returned an empty [] array of findings to the local Claude Code session
• Counted against my free quota (now 2 of 3 used)

Result: two of three free ultrareviews consumed with zero findings delivered, despite the reviewer clearly having identified candidate issues.

Environment

• Platform: CachyOS (Linux 7.0.3-1-cachyos)
• Claude Code: Research preview (Max plan)
• Date: 2026-05-03

Run 1

• Session URL: https://claude.ai/code/session_017Vp61ZHEL6CSkfm5DxLYuQ
• Branch: feat/phase-5-parity → main
• Scope: 54 files changed, 19,637 insertions(+), 1,405 deletions(-)
• Status: Setup ✅ → Find ✅ (6 candidates) → Verify ❌ → Dedupe (skipped)
• Local result: []
• Quota counter at launch: "Free ultrareview 1 of 3"

Run 2

• Session URL: https://claude.ai/code/session_01CDCuShCVpC5BF4ttQ1y57c
• Branch: feat/phase-5-parity → main (same)
• Scope: same
• Status: Setup ✅ → Find ✅ (9 candidates) → Verify ❌ → Dedupe (skipped)
• Local result: []
• Quota counter at launch: "Free ultrareview 2 of 3"

What Should Happen?

Either:

1. Failed runs should not count against the free quota, OR
2. Candidate findings from Find should still be surfaced when Verify fails (with a clear "unverified" tag), OR
3. The pipeline should not silently emit [] to the user when an upstream stage failed.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

• Screenshots of both failed runs in the ultrareview UI showing "Review failed" with candidate lists visible.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.126

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Other Linux

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

<img width="1920" height="1080" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fe0c936a-4371-4f48-bc1d-2150d9d04eed" />

<img width="1920" height="1080" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6e4e538e-0d5b-4596-bc96-8dd2aaed5bfc" />