queue: Q36 opened -- the monitor cannot see a counterparty write that carries this pipe's identity (five commits on 2026-10-12T04:49-04:52Z and one on 2026-10-09), with the rule, the measured six-line transition (head -> d2a9cae675 plus five counterparty paths back in the listing), its one-tick wake cost, and the two Helm candidates left for Alexander's pick.

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -4890,3 +4890,54 @@ block adds only an executed receipt, one measured limit, and one correction of a
   it, and its question 3 (does the gate refuse a collector with no destination rule) is now answered by
   construction, so a re-pointed brief should ask a narrower question. Its route is still dead (the 403 wall).
 
+
+---
+
+## Q36 — The monitor cannot see a counterparty write that carries this pipe's identity *(pipe tooling; opened 2026-10-12 by the pipe, per Q7's never-dry obligation — Q20 verified and closed at `9a1de9a` and the pre-existing executable set fell to empty)*
+
+**The hole, measured.** `troupe_pipe_monitor.py`'s contract, in its own docstring, is: a file is listed when the
+newest commit touching it was authored by somebody other than this agent, and *"the failure direction is a wake,
+never a silence."* One event falsified both halves. Five commits landed 2026-10-12T04:49–04:52Z — `9a1de9a`,
+`95dfbf3`, `48bf86b`, `5fe58aa`, `d2a9cae` — whose content is the counterparty's (a check-in Run 3, two
+deliverables, queue and landing tables) and whose author field is `Timmy <timmy@stackchain.ai>`. Effect on the
+listing: the tick fired for the wrong reason (a file **dropped out**, `checkins/2026-10-12-merlin.md`, so the
+output changed by a removal), and a counterparty write to a path not already listed, under that identity, would
+have produced **no change at all** — the silence the contract forbids. The class is older than that day:
+`checkins/2026-10-09-merlin.md` has been out of the listing since `da957486` (2026-10-09, author `timmy`), which
+this pipe had been reading as a window-slide artifact.
+
+**Done means:** an own-attributed commit that touches another wizard's check-in is read as counterparty content
+(the pipe never authors a check-in), with the format version and the expected one-tick transition wake recorded
+in the script's own format note; and the tick after the change shows the counterparty paths back in the listing.
+
+**Delivered this tick (2026-10-12T05:12Z), tested before this commit and before any push:**
+
+- Rule implemented at the commit level — `is_own_effective()` overrides `is_own()` for any commit touching
+  `checkins/YYYY-MM-DD-<name>.md` with a name other than this agent — and used for the listing, for `head`, and
+  for the per-path `last_touch_of()` fallback.
+- Measured before/after against the live API: the output diff is **six lines** — `head` moves
+  `f19243d3e64f` → **`d2a9cae67567`**, and five counterparty paths return:
+  `checkins/2026-10-12-merlin.md` `fe3f93cd045d`, `checkins/2026-10-09-merlin.md` `ddeba471622a`,
+  `recoveries/excerpt-placement-audit.md` `2562ffe60879`, `recoveries/ledger-date-closure.md` `070d3188d455`,
+  `recoveries/helm-collector-run.md` `e19897e1b8f4`. Every added path is counterparty content — the last three
+  are Merlin deliverables whose landing appends were attributed the same way, which is why the rule is written at
+  the commit level rather than per path.
+- Cost, stated: the baseline is signed under format v1.2, so **the next tick wakes once on those lines**. That is
+  the transition class already recorded in the script's format note (2026-09-26, 2026-10-07) and in the pipe's
+  reply 14; it is not news and the next reader should read it as a transition.
+
+**Not fixed by this item:** the attribution in the public history. Five commits say this pipe wrote the
+counterparty's Run 3 and its landing appends, and no commit can be restated — the record says so in the Q20 block
+above, in the pipe's reply 20, and here. A counterparty push under its own identity (as `a16d9e4`, `ac98bfb`,
+`dd0bc69`, `f19243d` were) is seen directly and needs no rule.
+
+**Candidates from the counterparty's Run 3, recorded verbatim and awaiting Alexander's own pick — deliberately
+not opened as items:**
+
+1. **The §4 adoption pair, verified post-`cp`.** Collector `4e45021d…` + gate `643e5387…`, already staged and
+   measured bare-green in `/root/troupe-verify/q35/stage/`; the real `cp` into `/root/.helm/bin/` is Alexander's,
+   and the follow-on would be a verification run of the *deployed* pair.
+2. **A behavioural destination guard.** The Q35 precondition reads a source marker, so a subject that
+   *documents* the rule without implementing it is admitted (measured with a comment carrying `--deploy` and
+   `SNAPSHOT_PATH.resolve()`). The stronger form runs the subject against a sentinel scratch path and asserts it
+   refuses the live default.