diff --git a/devloop b/devloop
index 1b9d663..99a5e3d 100755
--- a/devloop
+++ b/devloop
@@ -810,13 +810,18 @@ EOF
 }
 
 list_spec_files() {
-  local dir
+  local dir path
   spec_search_dirs |
     while IFS= read -r dir; do
       if [ -d "$dir" ]; then
         find "$dir" -type f -name '*.md'
       fi
-    done | LC_ALL=C sort
+    done |
+    while IFS= read -r path; do
+      printf '%s\t%s\n' "${path##*/}" "$path"
+    done |
+    LC_ALL=C sort -t $'\t' -k1,1r -k2,2r |
+    cut -f2-
 }
 
 spec_dir_status() {
diff --git a/scripts/devloop_test.sh b/scripts/devloop_test.sh
index 895623c..62e61d7 100755
--- a/scripts/devloop_test.sh
+++ b/scripts/devloop_test.sh
@@ -1037,7 +1037,7 @@ printf '%s\n' "spec_dir=.specs" > "$clean_status_repo/.devloop/config"
 if ! has_user_dirty_paths "$clean_status_repo"; then fail "devloop config was not treated as user dirt"; fi
 equals "$(clean_candidate_status "$clean_status_track" "$clean_status_repo" "$work/source-repo")" "dirty" "clean candidate sees config dirt"
 
-config_repo="$work/config-repo"
+config_repo="$work/a-repo"
 config_home="$work/config-home"
 git init -q "$config_repo"
 config_repo_real="$(cd "$config_repo" && pwd -P)"
@@ -1045,11 +1045,16 @@ config_default_specs="$config_repo_real/.devloop/specs"
 mkdir -p "$config_repo/.devloop/specs" "$config_home"
 equals "$(HOME="$config_home" devloop_config_file)" "$config_home/.devloop/config" "default config file"
 printf '%s\n' "# Devloop" > "$config_repo/.devloop/specs/devloop.md"
+printf '%s\n' "# Older" > "$config_repo/.devloop/specs/2026-07-23-older.md"
+printf '%s\n' "# Latest" > "$config_repo/.devloop/specs/2026-07-25-latest.md"
 config_specs="$(cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" list_spec_files)"
 [[ -f "$config_home/.devloop/config" ]] || fail "global config was not created"
 if grep -q "spec_dir=" "$config_home/.devloop/config"; then fail "global config seeded a default spec dir"; fi
 contains "$(cat "$config_home/.devloop/config")" "timeout_minutes=30" "global config default timeout"
 contains "$config_specs" "$config_default_specs/devloop.md" "default spec search uses repo .devloop/specs"
+equals "$config_specs" "$config_default_specs/devloop.md
+$config_default_specs/2026-07-25-latest.md
+$config_default_specs/2026-07-23-older.md" "spec files sort descending with latest ISO date first"
 equals "$(cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" devloop_spec_dir)" "$config_default_specs" "default spec dir is repo .devloop/specs"
 equals "$(cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" spec_search_label)" "$config_default_specs" "spec search label is single default dir"
 if (cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" configured_spec_dir) >/dev/null 2>&1; then fail "default spec dir reported as custom"; fi
@@ -1064,15 +1069,21 @@ contains "$configured_specs" "custom-specs/custom.md" "configured spec search in
 contains "$configured_specs" "$config_default_specs/devloop.md" "configured spec search still includes default"
 if (cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" write_config_spec_dir "../bad") >/dev/null 2>&1; then fail "write_config_spec_dir accepted path traversal"; fi
 
-absolute_specs="$work/shared-specs"
+absolute_specs="$work/z-shared"
 equals "$(cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" write_config_spec_dir local "$absolute_specs")" "$absolute_specs" "write absolute config spec dir"
 equals "$(cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" devloop_spec_dir)" "$absolute_specs" "absolute configured spec dir"
 equals "$(cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" configured_spec_dir)" "$absolute_specs" "absolute custom spec dir"
 [[ -d "$absolute_specs" ]] || fail "absolute configured spec dir was not created"
 printf '%s\n' "# Shared" > "$absolute_specs/shared.md"
+printf '%s\n' "# Older shared" > "$absolute_specs/2026-07-01-older.md"
 absolute_configured_specs="$(cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" list_spec_files)"
 contains "$absolute_configured_specs" "$absolute_specs/shared.md" "configured spec search includes absolute dir"
 contains "$absolute_configured_specs" "$config_default_specs/devloop.md" "absolute spec search still includes default"
+equals "$absolute_configured_specs" "$absolute_specs/shared.md
+$config_default_specs/devloop.md
+$config_default_specs/2026-07-25-latest.md
+$config_default_specs/2026-07-23-older.md
+$absolute_specs/2026-07-01-older.md" "spec files sort by basename across directories"
 equals "$(spec_dir_status "$absolute_specs")" "exists" "spec dir status exists"
 equals "$(spec_dir_status "$work/missing-specs")" "missing" "spec dir status missing"
 (cd "$config_repo" && HOME="$config_home" remove_config_spec_dir local)