diff --git a/layers/registry/server/utils/discovery-candidates.ts b/layers/registry/server/utils/discovery-candidates.ts
index dcb2c708..9e43411a 100644
--- a/layers/registry/server/utils/discovery-candidates.ts
+++ b/layers/registry/server/utils/discovery-candidates.ts
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ function isPermanentSyncFailure(error: string): boolean {
   return error === 'tree_truncated'
     || error === 'repo fetch 404'
     || error === 'repo fetch 410'
+    || error.startsWith('move_refused:')
 }
 
 export function discoveryOutcomeFromSyncStats(stats: SyncRepoStats): DiscoveryAttemptOutcome {
diff --git a/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-prefetch.ts b/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-prefetch.ts
index a871bd2b..daf73b9f 100644
--- a/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-prefetch.ts
+++ b/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-prefetch.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import type { ExistingRepo } from './sync-repo'
 import { getRepoSummariesBatch } from './github-client'
 import { resolveRepoSourceIdentityFromRow } from './repo-source-identity'
 import { sameRepositoryName } from './repository-move'
-import { repoUnchangedStatements, unchangedRepoStatus } from './sync-repo'
+import { repositoryIdentityFailure, repoUnchangedStatements, unchangedRepoStatus } from './sync-repo'
 
 /** One repository the hourly sync is about to queue. */
 export interface SyncCandidate {
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ export async function prefetchUnchangedRepos(
   eligible.forEach((candidate, index) => {
     const row = rows.get(repoKey(candidate))
     const summary = batch.summaries[index]
-    if (!row || !summary || row.in_progress === 1 || isMoved(candidate, summary) || !isUnchanged(row, summary))
+    if (!row || !summary || row.in_progress === 1 || repositoryIdentityFailure(row, candidate, summary.repositoryId) || isMoved(candidate, summary) || !isUnchanged(row, summary))
       return
     unchanged.add(repoKey(candidate))
     writes.push(repoUnchangedStatements(dependencies.db, {
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ async function loadPrefetchRows(
        SELECT json_extract(value, '$[0]'), json_extract(value, '$[1]')
        FROM json_each(?1)
      )
-     SELECT r.owner, r.repo, r.last_tree_sha, r.pushed_at, r.source_owner, r.source_repo,
+     SELECT r.owner, r.repo, r.repository_id, r.last_tree_sha, r.pushed_at, r.source_owner, r.source_repo,
             EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM skills s WHERE s.owner = r.owner AND s.repo = r.repo) AS has_skills,
             EXISTS (
               SELECT 1 FROM repo_sync_progress p
diff --git a/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-repo.ts b/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-repo.ts
index 95eb5d50..691ee700 100644
--- a/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-repo.ts
+++ b/layers/registry/server/utils/sync-repo.ts
@@ -65,12 +65,19 @@ interface ExistingSkillAssets {
 }
 
 export interface ExistingRepo {
+  repository_id: number | null
   last_tree_sha: string | null
   pushed_at: number | null
   source_owner: string | null
   source_repo: string | null
 }
 
+export function repositoryIdentityFailure(existing: Pick<ExistingRepo, 'repository_id'> | null, name: RepositoryName, repositoryId: number): string | null {
+  if (existing?.repository_id == null || existing.repository_id === repositoryId)
+    return null
+  return `move_refused: ${name.owner}/${name.repo} is Repository ${repositoryId} on GitHub, and the registry holds that name for Repository ${existing.repository_id}`
+}
+
 export type RefreshRepoAssetsResult
   = | {
     _tag: 'refreshed'
@@ -365,6 +372,11 @@ export async function refreshRepoAssets(
     }
   }
 
+  const identityFailure = repositoryIdentityFailure(existingRepo, { owner, repo }, repoRes.data.repositoryId)
+  if (identityFailure) {
+    return { _tag: 'failed', owner, repo, reason: identityFailure, retryable: false, rateLimited: false, unauthorized: false, ...rate }
+  }
+
   const branch = repoRes.data.meta.default_branch || 'main'
   const sourceOwner = repoRes.data.meta.owner.login
   const sourceRepo = repoRes.data.meta.name
@@ -489,7 +501,7 @@ async function followRepositoryMove(
 async function loadExistingRepo(db: D1Database, owner: string, repo: string): Promise<ExistingRepo | null> {
   return await db
     .prepare(`
-      SELECT last_tree_sha, pushed_at, source_owner, source_repo
+      SELECT repository_id, last_tree_sha, pushed_at, source_owner, source_repo
       FROM repos
       WHERE owner = ? AND repo = ?
     `)
@@ -559,7 +571,7 @@ async function repoHasAdmittedSkills(db: D1Database, owner: string, repo: string
  * still being discovered, so its tree must be read whatever the cursor says.
  */
 export function unchangedRepoStatus(input: {
-  existing: ExistingRepo | null
+  existing: Pick<ExistingRepo, 'last_tree_sha' | 'pushed_at'> | null
   hasAdmittedSkills: boolean
   headTreeSha: string | null
   repoPushedAt: number | null
@@ -863,6 +875,12 @@ export async function syncRepo(
   // The rows follow it there, and the sync goes on under the new name, so a
   // caller keyed by the old name still gets an outcome (ADR-0015).
   const current: RepositoryName = { owner: sourceOwner, repo: sourceRepo }
+  const identityFailure = repositoryIdentityFailure(requestedRepoRow, requested, repositoryId)
+  if (identityFailure) {
+    stats.status = 'failed'
+    stats.reason = identityFailure
+    return stats
+  }
   const movePlan = sameRepositoryName(requested, current)
     ? null
     : await followRepositoryMove(db, requested, current, repositoryId)
diff --git a/server/jobs/registry/repo-maintenance.ts b/server/jobs/registry/repo-maintenance.ts
index f21b1e02..ee380957 100644
--- a/server/jobs/registry/repo-maintenance.ts
+++ b/server/jobs/registry/repo-maintenance.ts
@@ -513,5 +513,6 @@ function isPermanentRepoFailure(reason: string | undefined): boolean {
     || reason === 'repo fetch 410'
     || reason === 'tree_truncated'
     || reason === 'repo_too_large_to_index'
+    || reason?.startsWith('move_refused:') === true
     || reason?.startsWith('skill_parse_rejected:') === true
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/discovery-candidates.test.ts b/test/unit/discovery-candidates.test.ts
index 93d316fb..8e48b1d3 100644
--- a/test/unit/discovery-candidates.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/discovery-candidates.test.ts
@@ -473,6 +473,12 @@ describe('sync failure permanence', () => {
     } as never)).toEqual({ _tag: 'rejected', reason: 'tree_truncated' })
   })
 
+  it('rejects an identity conflict without another discovery attempt', () => {
+    const reason = 'move_refused: acme/skills is Repository 1 on GitHub, and the registry holds that name for Repository 111'
+    expect(discoveryOutcomeFromSyncStats({ status: 'failed', reason } as never))
+      .toEqual({ _tag: 'rejected', reason })
+  })
+
   it('keeps retrying throttled and server-side failures', () => {
     for (const status of [403, 429, 500, 502]) {
       expect(discoveryOutcomeFromSyncStats({
diff --git a/test/unit/repo-maintenance-continuation.test.ts b/test/unit/repo-maintenance-continuation.test.ts
index 0a5eef88..289e707b 100644
--- a/test/unit/repo-maintenance-continuation.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/repo-maintenance-continuation.test.ts
@@ -215,6 +215,19 @@ describe('permanent repository failures on the sync path', () => {
       .toMatchObject({ count: 0 })
   })
 
+  it('ends an identity conflict without retrying or retaining continuation progress', async () => {
+    const reason = 'move_refused: acme/skills is Repository 1 on GitHub, and the registry holds that name for Repository 111'
+    syncRepo.mockResolvedValue(failedWith(reason))
+    const { ctx, control } = jobContext(db)
+
+    await handleRegistryRepoJob({ ...syncPayload }, ctx as never)
+
+    expect(control.action).toBe('failed')
+    expect(control.error).toBe(reason)
+    expect(sqlite.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) AS count FROM repo_sync_progress').get())
+      .toMatchObject({ count: 0 })
+  })
+
   it('records the bare reason the health check compares against', async () => {
     syncRepo.mockResolvedValue(failedWith('repo fetch 410'))
     const { ctx, control } = jobContext(db)
diff --git a/test/unit/sync-prefetch.test.ts b/test/unit/sync-prefetch.test.ts
index a0b6b4b6..26952ee8 100644
--- a/test/unit/sync-prefetch.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/sync-prefetch.test.ts
@@ -116,6 +116,17 @@ describe('prefetchUnchangedRepos', () => {
       .toEqual({ repo_meta_synced_at: null })
   })
 
+  it('queues a reused name without replacing the stored Repository ID or freshness', async () => {
+    harness.raw.exec(`UPDATE repos SET repository_id=111 WHERE owner='acme' AND repo='unchanged'`)
+    vi.stubGlobal('fetch', vi.fn(graphqlAnswer))
+
+    const result = await prefetchUnchangedRepos({ db: harness.db, bindings, now: NOW }, [candidate('unchanged')])
+
+    expect(result).toMatchObject({ _tag: 'prefetched', unchanged: 0, queue: [candidate('unchanged')] })
+    expect(harness.raw.prepare(`SELECT repository_id,stars,repo_meta_synced_at FROM repos WHERE owner='acme' AND repo='unchanged'`).get())
+      .toEqual({ repository_id: 111, stars: 1, repo_meta_synced_at: null })
+  })
+
   it('queues a changed tree even when the push timestamp has not advanced', async () => {
     harness.raw.prepare(`UPDATE repos SET pushed_at = ? WHERE owner = 'acme' AND repo = 'changed'`)
       .run(Date.parse('2026-10-01T00:00:00Z') / 1000)
diff --git a/test/unit/sync-repo-freshness.test.ts b/test/unit/sync-repo-freshness.test.ts
index dd9cd692..060da180 100644
--- a/test/unit/sync-repo-freshness.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/sync-repo-freshness.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import Database from 'better-sqlite3'
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
-import { syncRepo } from '../../layers/registry/server/utils/sync-repo'
+import { refreshRepoAssets, syncRepo } from '../../layers/registry/server/utils/sync-repo'
 
 const github = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   getBlobsBatch: vi.fn(),
@@ -123,7 +123,35 @@ describe('syncRepo freshness cursor', () => {
     sqlite.close()
   })
 
-  it('advances repo metadata freshness on the GraphQL tree-SHA skip path', async () => {
+  it.each(['skills', 'renamed'])('refuses a reused name before updating metadata or following it to %s', async (canonicalName) => {
+    sqlite.exec(`UPDATE repos SET repository_id=111 WHERE owner='acme' AND repo='skills'`)
+    const summary = repoSummary()
+    summary.data.meta.name = canonicalName
+    github.getRepoSummary.mockResolvedValue(summary)
+
+    const result = await syncRepo('acme', 'skills', {}, db)
+
+    expect(result).toMatchObject({ status: 'failed', reason: 'move_refused: acme/skills is Repository 1 on GitHub, and the registry holds that name for Repository 111' })
+    expect(sqlite.prepare(`SELECT repository_id,stars,repo_meta_synced_at FROM repos WHERE owner='acme' AND repo='skills'`).get())
+      .toEqual({ repository_id: 111, stars: 1, repo_meta_synced_at: 75 })
+    expect(github.getTree).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(github.getBlobsBatch).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+  })
+
+  it('refuses assets from a different Repository at the stored name', async () => {
+    sqlite.exec(`UPDATE repos SET repository_id=111 WHERE owner='acme' AND repo='skills'`)
+    github.getTree.mockResolvedValue({ status: 503, data: null, rateLimit: null })
+
+    const result = await refreshRepoAssets('acme', 'skills', {}, db)
+
+    expect(result).toMatchObject({ _tag: 'failed', retryable: false, rateLimited: false, unauthorized: false })
+    expect(github.getTree).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(sqlite.prepare(`SELECT source_owner,source_repo FROM repos WHERE owner='acme' AND repo='skills'`).get())
+      .toEqual({ source_owner: null, source_repo: null })
+  })
+
+  it.each([null, 1])('advances repo metadata freshness when the stored ID is %s', async (repositoryId) => {
+    sqlite.prepare(`UPDATE repos SET repository_id=? WHERE owner='acme' AND repo='skills'`).run(repositoryId)
     const result = await syncRepo('acme', 'skills', {}, db)
     const row = sqlite.prepare(`
       SELECT default_branch, stars, forks, pushed_at, repo_created_at,