diff --git a/src/tools/hashline-edit/autocorrect-replacement-lines.ts b/src/tools/hashline-edit/autocorrect-replacement-lines.ts
index 66754531..8239f4bc 100644
--- a/src/tools/hashline-edit/autocorrect-replacement-lines.ts
+++ b/src/tools/hashline-edit/autocorrect-replacement-lines.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,21 @@ export function maybeExpandSingleLineMerge(
   let offset = 0
   let orderedMatch = true
   for (const part of parts) {
-    const idx = merged.indexOf(part, offset)
+    let idx = merged.indexOf(part, offset)
+    if (idx === -1) {
+      const stripped = stripTrailingContinuationTokens(part)
+      if (stripped !== part) {
+        idx = merged.indexOf(stripped, offset)
+      }
+    }
+    if (idx === -1) {
+      const mergeStripped = stripMergeOperatorChars(merged.slice(offset))
+      const partStripped = stripMergeOperatorChars(part)
+      const fuzzyIdx = mergeStripped.indexOf(partStripped)
+      if (fuzzyIdx !== -1) {
+        idx = offset + fuzzyIdx
+      }
+    }
     if (idx === -1) {
       orderedMatch = false
       break
diff --git a/src/tools/hashline-edit/tool-description.ts b/src/tools/hashline-edit/tool-description.ts
index edd29777..d255ea8c 100644
--- a/src/tools/hashline-edit/tool-description.ts
+++ b/src/tools/hashline-edit/tool-description.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ VALIDATION:
  Payload shape: { "filePath": string, "edits": [...], "delete"?: boolean, "rename"?: string }
  Each edit must be one of: set_line, replace_lines, insert_after, insert_before, insert_between, replace, append, prepend
  text/new_text must contain plain replacement text only (no LINE#ID prefixes, no diff + markers)
- CRITICAL: all operations validate against the same pre-edit file snapshot and apply bottom-up.
+ CRITICAL: all operations validate against the same pre-edit file snapshot and apply bottom-up. Refs/tags are interpreted against the last-read version of the file.
 
 LINE#ID FORMAT (CRITICAL):
  Each line reference must be in "LINE#ID" format where:
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ RULES (CRITICAL):
  5. Touch only requested code: avoid incidental edits.
  6. Use exact current tokens: NEVER rewrite approximately.
  7. For swaps/moves: prefer one range operation over multiple single-line operations.
+ 8. Output tool calls only; no prose or commentary between them.
 
 TAG CHOICE (ALWAYS):
  - Copy tags exactly from read output or >>> mismatch output.