diff --git a/.github/workflows/codex-branch.sh b/.github/workflows/codex-branch.sh
index f3845237be7d61..aac40e41e0950b 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/codex-branch.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/codex-branch.sh
@@ -5265,6 +5265,19 @@ assemble_candidate () {
 			"$candidate" "$state" "$require_automation"
 	fi
 
+	if test -f "$state/unstable/topic-updates"
+	then
+		recovered=$(state_value "$state/unstable" base-oid)
+		git merge-base --is-ancestor "$base_oid" "$recovered" &&
+			test "$(git rev-parse "$candidate^{tree}")" = \
+			"$(git rev-parse "$recovered^{tree}")" &&
+			codex_has_expected_integrations "$state" "$recovered" ||
+			die "completed unstable recovery has a different stable base"
+		# Keep the exact base of the recovered graph after validating its
+		# tree and integrations against the freshly assembled candidate.
+		candidate=$recovered
+	fi
+
 	printf '%s\n' "$candidate"
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t9905-codex-branch.sh b/t/t9905-codex-branch.sh
index 064eb0a78375b9..5ab8dc55ba09cf 100755
--- a/t/t9905-codex-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t9905-codex-branch.sh
@@ -9394,6 +9394,7 @@ test_expect_success 'pinned merge chain preserves recoverable overlap state' '
 		sh "$codex_branch" continue --worktree "$private" \
 			>continue.out 2>continue.err &&
 		test_grep "source refs unchanged" continue.out &&
+		test_tick &&
 		sh "$codex_branch" publish-topics --worktree resolution \
 			>publish.out 2>publish.err &&
 		test_grep "Pinned recovery session" publish.out &&
@@ -9401,6 +9402,7 @@ test_expect_success 'pinned merge chain preserves recoverable overlap state' '
 		session=$(sed -n \
 			"s/^Pinned recovery session: //p" publish.out) &&
 		test -n "$session" &&
+		test_cmp "$state/unstable/base-oid" "$session/codex-candidate" &&
 		sh "$codex_branch" verify-output \
 			--inputs "$session/codex-inputs" \
 			--updates "$session/codex-updates" \