diff --git a/.github/workflows/quality-gate.md b/.github/workflows/quality-gate.md
index 35dcafc..c730cd9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/quality-gate.md
+++ b/.github/workflows/quality-gate.md
@@ -44,9 +44,9 @@ This workflow runs when a review is submitted on a pull request.
 1. First, check if the PR has the `aw` label. If it does NOT have the `aw` label, stop immediately — this workflow only evaluates agent-created PRs.
 
 2. Check the review that triggered this workflow. This workflow should only proceed when:
-   - The review is an APPROVAL
    - The reviewer is `copilot-pull-request-reviewer` (the Copilot reviewer bot)
-   If the triggering review is not a Copilot approval, stop immediately.
+   - The review state is COMMENTED or APPROVED (Copilot auto-reviews submit as COMMENTED, not APPROVED)
+   If the triggering review is not from Copilot, stop immediately.
 
 3. Verify that CI checks are passing on the PR. If CI is still running or has failures, stop — do not evaluate until CI passes.
 
@@ -63,8 +63,10 @@ This workflow runs when a review is submitted on a pull request.
    - HIGH: Changes to core business logic, API contracts, data models, dependency updates, security-sensitive code
 
 5. Make your decision:
-   - If code quality is good AND impact is LOW or MEDIUM: Submit an APPROVE review with a brief summary of what was evaluated (e.g., "Low-impact refactoring with good test coverage. Auto-approving.").
-   - If code quality is good but impact is HIGH: Add a comment to the PR explaining: what the high-impact areas are, why manual review is recommended, and what specifically a human reviewer should look at. Do NOT approve.
+   - If code quality is good AND impact is LOW or MEDIUM: Submit an APPROVE review with a brief summary of what was evaluated (e.g., "Low-impact test addition with good coverage. Auto-approving for merge."). The PR has auto-merge enabled — your approval satisfies the required review and triggers automatic merge.
+   - If code quality is good but impact is HIGH: Add a comment to the PR explaining: what the high-impact areas are, why manual review is recommended, and what specifically a human reviewer should look at. Do NOT approve — auto-merge will remain blocked until a human approves.
    - If code quality is poor: Add a comment explaining the quality concerns. Do NOT approve.
 
 Be conservative — when in doubt about impact level, round up. It's better to flag something for human review than to auto-merge a risky change.
+
+Note: PRs created by the Issue Implementer have auto-merge enabled. Your APPROVE review is what triggers the merge. This is intentional — the pipeline is: Implementer creates PR → CI passes → Copilot reviews → Quality Gate evaluates and approves → GitHub auto-merges.
diff --git a/docs/agentic-workflows.md b/docs/agentic-workflows.md
index 83dcdb9..efc9beb 100644
--- a/docs/agentic-workflows.md
+++ b/docs/agentic-workflows.md
@@ -31,10 +31,10 @@ Audit/Health Agent → creates issue (max 2) → dispatches Implementer
   → Implementer creates PR (lint-clean, non-draft, auto-merge, aw label)
     → CI runs + Copilot auto-reviews (parallel, via ruleset)
       → CI fails? → CI Fixer agent (1 retry, label guard)
-      → Copilot has comments? → Review Responder addresses them (1 attempt, label guard)
-      → Copilot approves → Quality Gate evaluates quality + blast radius
+      → Copilot has comments? → Review Responder addresses them (pushes fixes)
+      → Copilot reviews (COMMENTED state) → Quality Gate evaluates quality + blast radius
         → LOW/MEDIUM impact → approves → auto-merge fires
-        → HIGH impact → flags for human review
+        → HIGH impact → flags for human review (auto-merge stays blocked)
 ```
 
 </details>
@@ -291,6 +291,8 @@ EOF
 - **Reviewer identity**: `copilot-pull-request-reviewer[bot]` (login: `copilot-pull-request-reviewer`)
 - **Event actor**: `Copilot` (the GitHub App identity — this is what `context.actor` returns and what `check_membership.cjs` matches against)
 
+> **Pitfall**: Copilot auto-reviews almost always submit as `COMMENTED`, not `APPROVED`. Any downstream workflow that triggers on `pull_request_review` and checks the review state must accept `COMMENTED` reviews from Copilot — not just `APPROVED`. The Quality Gate handles this correctly.
+
 ### Addressing Copilot review comments (GraphQL)
 
 ```bash
diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index d94578f..382fd1e 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@ Append-only history of repo-level changes (CI, infra, shared config). Tool-speci
 
 ---
 
+## fix: Quality Gate trigger condition — accept COMMENTED reviews from Copilot — 2026-03-15
+
+**Problem**: Quality Gate instructions required the triggering review to be an APPROVAL from Copilot. But Copilot auto-reviews almost always submit as `COMMENTED` (not `APPROVED`), so the Quality Gate would see the COMMENTED state and stop immediately (noop). This meant the Quality Gate never actually evaluated or approved agent PRs, and auto-merge stayed blocked.
+
+**Fix**: Updated Quality Gate instructions to accept both COMMENTED and APPROVED reviews from Copilot. Added documentation about the auto-merge flow: Quality Gate approval is what triggers GitHub auto-merge on agent PRs. (PR #80, closes #81)
+
+---
+
 ## fix: Copilot actor name mismatch in bots list — 2026-03-15
 
 **Problem**: `check_membership.cjs` matches `context.actor` (`Copilot`) against `GH_AW_ALLOWED_BOTS`, but bots list only had `copilot-pull-request-reviewer` (the reviewer login). Actor name mismatch → `activated = false` → agent jobs skipped.
diff --git a/src/copilot_usage/cli.py b/src/copilot_usage/cli.py
index 329af2f..9a59e6a 100644
--- a/src/copilot_usage/cli.py
+++ b/src/copilot_usage/cli.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import click
 from rich.console import Console
 from rich.table import Table
+from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
 from watchdog.observers import Observer  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
 
 from copilot_usage.models import SessionSummary
@@ -114,14 +115,15 @@ def _read_line_nonblocking(timeout: float = 0.5) -> str | None:
     return None
 
 
-class _FileChangeHandler:
+class _FileChangeHandler(FileSystemEventHandler):  # type: ignore[misc]
     """Watchdog handler that triggers refresh on any session-state change."""
 
     def __init__(self, change_event: threading.Event) -> None:
+        super().__init__()
         self._change_event = change_event
         self._last_trigger = 0.0
 
-    def dispatch(self, event: object) -> None:  # noqa: ANN001
+    def dispatch(self, event: object) -> None:
         now = time.monotonic()
         if now - self._last_trigger > 2.0:  # debounce 2s
             self._last_trigger = now
@@ -132,7 +134,7 @@ def _start_observer(session_path: Path, change_event: threading.Event) -> object
     """Start a watchdog observer monitoring *session_path* for changes."""
     handler = _FileChangeHandler(change_event)
     observer = Observer()
-    observer.schedule(handler, str(session_path), recursive=True)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    observer.schedule(handler, str(session_path), recursive=True)
     observer.daemon = True
     observer.start()
     return observer
diff --git a/tests/copilot_usage/test_cli.py b/tests/copilot_usage/test_cli.py
index b16543b..2471ac5 100644
--- a/tests/copilot_usage/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/copilot_usage/test_cli.py
@@ -586,3 +586,19 @@ def test_dispatch_fires_again_after_debounce_gap(self) -> None:
         handler._last_trigger = _time.monotonic() - 3.0  # pyright: ignore[reportPrivateUsage]
         handler.dispatch(object())
         assert event.is_set()
+
+    def test_inherits_from_filesystemeventhandler(self) -> None:
+        """_FileChangeHandler inherits from watchdog FileSystemEventHandler."""
+        from watchdog.events import (
+            FileSystemEventHandler,  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
+        )
+
+        from copilot_usage.cli import (
+            _FileChangeHandler,  # pyright: ignore[reportPrivateUsage]
+        )
+
+        event = threading.Event()
+        handler = _FileChangeHandler(event)
+        assert isinstance(handler, FileSystemEventHandler)
+        handler.dispatch(object())
+        assert event.is_set()