diff --git a/wizard-work/forge/verify_reply_check_dry_refactor.py b/wizard-work/forge/verify_reply_check_dry_refactor.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c94ebf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wizard-work/forge/verify_reply_check_dry_refactor.py
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Verify the report() DRY refactor in tools/reply_check.py is behavior-preserving.
+
+Smell: report() built a `counts` tally with a manual `counts.get(c,0)+1` loop and
+then, for EACH of the 12 classes in FAULTS+ADVISORIES, re-scanned ALL rows to find
+the files carrying that class (1 tally + 12 per-class scans = 13 scans of `rows`).
+
+Refactor: a single pass over `rows` builds both a `Counter` (the tally) and a
+`defaultdict(list)` grouping rows by class. The per-class print sweep now reads
+the pre-grouped list instead of re-scanning. Row order within each class is
+filename order (scan() produces rows sorted by name), so rendered output and the
+JSON `counts` are byte-identical to the per-class `for row in rows` sweep.
+
+This verifier runs the original (HEAD) and the refactored (working tree) against
+the SAME live repo and compares:
+  [1] selftest: original  rc 0
+  [2] selftest: refactored rc 0
+  [3] selftest: stdout byte-identical
+  [4] live scan --json: rc identical
+  [5] live scan --json: stdout byte-identical
+  [6] live scan --json: JSON byte-identical (sha256)
+  [7] emit-baseline: rc identical
+  [8] emit-baseline: stdout byte-identical
+
+Exit 0 iff all pass, else 1. The command's own exit code is the verdict.
+"""
+import hashlib
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import tempfile
+
+REPO = "/root/troupe-standup"
+TOOL = "tools/reply_check.py"
+
+
+def orig_source():
+    """Materialize the pre-refactor module from git HEAD into a temp file."""
+    out = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=".py", delete=False, mode="wb")
+    try:
+        subprocess.run(["git", "-C", REPO, "show", f"HEAD:{TOOL}"],
+                       check=True, stdout=out, timeout=30)
+    finally:
+        out.close()
+    return out.name
+
+
+def run(path, args, timeout=300):
+    p = subprocess.run([sys.executable, path, *args],
+                       capture_output=True, text=True, cwd=REPO, timeout=timeout)
+    return p.returncode, p.stdout, p.stderr
+
+
+def main():
+    cells, failed = [], 0
+
+    def check(label, ok, detail=""):
+        cells.append((label, ok))
+        nonlocal failed
+        if not ok:
+            failed += 1
+        print("  [%s] %s%s" % ("ok  " if ok else "FAIL", label,
+                               ("  [%s]" % detail) if detail and not ok else ""))
+
+    orig_path = orig_source()
+    ref_path = os.path.join(REPO, TOOL)
+    tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="reply_verify_")
+    try:
+        # --- [1-3] selftest parity ---
+        rc_o, so, _ = run(orig_path, ["--selftest"])
+        rc_r, sr, _ = run(ref_path, ["--selftest"])
+        check("selftest: original rc 0", rc_o == 0, f"rc={rc_o}")
+        check("selftest: refactored rc 0", rc_r == 0, f"rc={rc_r}")
+        check("selftest: identical stdout (byte-for-byte)", so == sr)
+
+        # --- [4-6] live scan --json equivalence ---
+        # NOTE: --json prints `json: <out_path>` to stdout, and the two runs write
+        # to different temp dirs, so that line is env-specific -- not a behavior
+        # signal. We compare the JSON FILE by sha256 (the real census) and the
+        # report stdout with the `json:` line stripped.
+        oj_path = os.path.join(tmpdir, "orig.json")
+        rj_path = os.path.join(tmpdir, "ref.json")
+        rc_o, so_o, _ = run(orig_path, ["--repo", ".", "--json", oj_path])
+        rc_r, sr_r, _ = run(ref_path, ["--repo", ".", "--json", rj_path])
+        check("live scan: rc identical", rc_o == rc_r, f"orig={rc_o} ref={rc_r}")
+
+        def strip_json_line(s):
+            return "".join(l for l in s.splitlines(keepends=True)
+                           if not l.startswith("json: "))
+        check("live scan: report stdout byte-identical (json path stripped)",
+              strip_json_line(so_o) == strip_json_line(sr_r) and len(so_o) > 0,
+              f"orig={len(so_o)} ref={len(sr_r)}")
+
+        ok_o = os.path.exists(oj_path) and os.path.getsize(oj_path) > 0
+        ok_r = os.path.exists(rj_path) and os.path.getsize(rj_path) > 0
+        sha_o = (hashlib.sha256(open(oj_path, "rb").read()).hexdigest()
+                 if ok_o else "NOFILE")
+        sha_r = (hashlib.sha256(open(rj_path, "rb").read()).hexdigest()
+                 if ok_r else "NOFILE")
+        check("live scan: JSON byte-identical (sha256)",
+              ok_o and ok_r and sha_o == sha_r, f"orig={sha_o} ref={sha_r}")
+
+        # --- [7-8] emit-baseline equivalence ---
+        rc_o, so_o, _ = run(orig_path, ["--emit-baseline"])
+        rc_r, sr_r, _ = run(ref_path, ["--emit-baseline"])
+        check("emit-baseline: rc identical", rc_o == rc_r, f"orig={rc_o} ref={rc_r}")
+        check("emit-baseline: stdout byte-identical",
+              so_o == sr_r and len(so_o) > 0, f"bytes={len(so_o)} vs {len(sr_r)}")
+    finally:
+        if os.path.exists(orig_path):
+            os.unlink(orig_path)
+        import shutil
+        shutil.rmtree(tmpdir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    total = len(cells)
+    passed = total - failed
+    print("\nverify: %d checks, %d passed, %d failed" % (total, passed, failed))
+    return 1 if failed else 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())