diff --git a/auditor/claim_parser.ts b/auditor/claim_parser.ts
index 8f05fa5..b17efbd 100644
--- a/auditor/claim_parser.ts
+++ b/auditor/claim_parser.ts
@@ -78,8 +78,11 @@ const EMPIRICAL_PATTERNS: RegExp[] = [
 
   // ─── History / proof references ───
   // "verified on PR #8", "verified end-to-end on PR 8", "tested against PR #4"
-  /\bverified\s+(?:end[- ]to[- ]end\s+)?(?:on|against|in)\s+(?:PR|commit|prior|the\s+\w+\s+audit)\s*#?\w*/i,
-  /\btested\s+(?:against|in|on)\s+(?:PR|commit|prior)\s*#?\w*/i,
+  // Require PR#N / commit-hash / "prior <word>" to avoid matching
+  // "verified ... in production" (PR without \b-ish anchor previously
+  // consumed "pr" of "production").
+  /\bverified\s+(?:end[- ]to[- ]end\s+)?(?:on|against|in)\s+(?:PR\s*#?\d+|commit\s+[0-9a-f]{6,}|prior\s+\w+|the\s+\w+\s+audit)\b/i,
+  /\btested\s+(?:against|in|on)\s+(?:PR\s*#?\d+|commit\s+[0-9a-f]{6,}|prior\s+\w+)\b/i,
   // Direct PR/commit references: "PR #8", "on PR 9", "from commit abc123"
   /\b(?:on|from|in|via|per)\s+PR\s*#?\d+\b/i,
   /\b(?:from|in|per|against)\s+commit\s+[0-9a-f]{6,}/i,
@@ -131,7 +134,7 @@ function scanText(text: string, location_prefix: string, commit_sha: string, out
     // classify it as empirical so the inference check doesn't ask
     // the cloud to prove "58 cloud calls" from the diff. Order:
     // empirical → strong → moderate → weak.
-    const empirical = firstMatch(line, EMPIRICAL_PATTERNS);
+    const empirical = firstUnquotedMatch(line, EMPIRICAL_PATTERNS);
     if (empirical) {
       out.push({
         text: line.trim().slice(0, 200),
@@ -141,7 +144,7 @@ function scanText(text: string, location_prefix: string, commit_sha: string, out
       });
       continue;
     }
-    const strong = firstMatch(line, STRONG_PATTERNS);
+    const strong = firstUnquotedMatch(line, STRONG_PATTERNS);
     if (strong) {
       out.push({
         text: line.trim().slice(0, 200),
@@ -151,7 +154,7 @@ function scanText(text: string, location_prefix: string, commit_sha: string, out
       });
       continue;
     }
-    const moderate = firstMatch(line, MODERATE_PATTERNS);
+    const moderate = firstUnquotedMatch(line, MODERATE_PATTERNS);
     if (moderate) {
       out.push({
         text: line.trim().slice(0, 200),
@@ -161,7 +164,7 @@ function scanText(text: string, location_prefix: string, commit_sha: string, out
       });
       continue;
     }
-    const weak = firstMatch(line, WEAK_PATTERNS);
+    const weak = firstUnquotedMatch(line, WEAK_PATTERNS);
     if (weak) {
       out.push({
         text: line.trim().slice(0, 200),
@@ -173,9 +176,35 @@ function scanText(text: string, location_prefix: string, commit_sha: string, out
   }
 }
 
-function firstMatch(text: string, patterns: RegExp[]): RegExp | null {
+// Match a pattern only when its match position is NOT inside a quoted
+// string on the line. Mirrors the same guard in auditor/checks/static.ts
+// — the two files have the same false-positive class: PR authors
+// quote pattern examples in commit message bodies (e.g. `"Phase 45
+// shipped"` as a test example) and without this guard those quoted
+// references get flagged as fresh ship-claims. Only skips when the
+// match itself falls inside quotes; real (unquoted) uses of the same
+// vocabulary still classify correctly.
+function firstUnquotedMatch(text: string, patterns: RegExp[]): RegExp | null {
   for (const p of patterns) {
-    if (p.test(text)) return p;
+    const m = text.match(p);
+    if (!m || typeof m.index !== "number") continue;
+    if (isInsideQuotedString(text, m.index)) continue;
+    return p;
   }
   return null;
 }
+
+// Walks left→right toggling in-quote state on each unescaped quote.
+// Good enough for single-line claims; multi-line strings aren't parsed.
+function isInsideQuotedString(line: string, pos: number): boolean {
+  let inDouble = false, inSingle = false, inBacktick = false;
+  for (let i = 0; i < pos; i++) {
+    const c = line[i];
+    const esc = i > 0 && line[i - 1] === "\\";
+    if (esc) continue;
+    if (c === '"' && !inSingle && !inBacktick) inDouble = !inDouble;
+    else if (c === "'" && !inDouble && !inBacktick) inSingle = !inSingle;
+    else if (c === "`" && !inDouble && !inSingle) inBacktick = !inBacktick;
+  }
+  return inDouble || inSingle || inBacktick;
+}