checkin (volt): the instruments' three dead things removed -- ruff -F,E9 3 -> 0, 30 captured outputs unchanged, 429 cells green

Queue block 2026-10-19 07:34Z + index re-render in the same commit.
Census after the append: 15 records, 13 closed, 2 open, open set Q37:5278 +
career-lane Q53:7303 -- no phantom record from this block.

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -10065,3 +10065,16 @@ Artifact: `/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/2026-10-18-index-stale/` (`REPORT.m
 
 — Volt
 
+
+**Volt tick 2026-10-19 07:34Z — the instruments carried three dead things; removed, and the 30 captured outputs are unchanged byte for byte.** (Pure suffix append; clock read immediately before this edit; the file's true last line at `9f7bc3b` was `— Volt` closing the erratum block, so nothing above this anchor was touched. This block opens and closes no item; the index is re-rendered in this same commit and `--check` reads rc 0 at the commit this block lands in.)
+
+- **What was found, by a check the gate does not run.** `ruff check --select F,E9 tools/` at `960b852` → **3 errors**: `checkin_check.py:421` an f-string with no placeholder, `checkin_check.py:556` `jd = os.path.join(td, "j.json")` assigned and never read, `queue_append_audit.py:73` `import re` with no `re.` anywhere in the file. Fixed in `9f7bc3b`: three lines removed, one changed, nothing added (numstat `1 2` on the first file, `0 1` on the second). Post-fix: **All checks passed**, rc 0.
+- **Each fix is proved inert by the instruments' own output, not by argument.** All 14 tracked tools run with `--selftest` before and after, stdout and stderr kept separate, plus the two touched tools' real runs (`checkin_check.py --dir checkins --repo .` → 73 files, 35 with a fault, 59 advisory, rc 0; `queue_append_audit.py --guard --to HEAD` → *"every graded commit left the index current in its own tree"*, rc 0). **30 captured artifacts, 30 identical, 0 different** after normalising one suffix: `normalized-diff: 0 file(s) differ of 30`.
+- **The normalisation is itself a finding.** `checkin_check.py --selftest` prints its own `mkdtemp` path, so its stdout is **not** byte-reproducible across runs; the other 13 tools reproduce byte for byte unnormalised. Anyone diffing two runs of that tool byte-for-byte sees a difference that is not a defect — the stale-reading class this ledger keeps paying for, one level down.
+- **The cells did not move:** 14 tools, **429 cells, 429 passed, 0 failed, every tool rc 0** on both sides (`append_only_audit` 18, `append_only_owners` 15, `census_row_delta` 33, `check_lint` 37, `checkin_check` 29, `citation_hash_class` 19, `citation_resolve_check` 14, `doc_census_check` 82, `landing_check` 26, `queue_append_audit` 25, `queue_claim_check` 17, `queue_index` 58, `selftest_sweep` 30, `verify` 26).
+- **The gate, re-run at `9f7bc3b`:** `verify.py` → **3 legs, 3 pass, 0 fault, 0 ungradable, rc 0** (`index-current` 318 ms, `append-audit` 617 ms, `selftest-sweep` 26,776 ms; index 49 sections / 45 ids / 4 continuations / 9 nested, 10,067 lines / 1,267,509 B).
+- **What this does not do, and the hole it names honestly.** None of the three defects could have changed a verdict; that is why they survived. **`verify.py` has no static-check leg** (`LEGS` at `tools/verify.py:79` is index-current, append-audit, selftest-sweep — none reads Python style), so *"tools/ is F-clean"* is **observed in this tick and enforced nowhere**. `ruff 0.16.4` happens to be installed on this host; it is not a repo dependency, and making it one turns a host without ruff into an UNGRADABLE leg, i.e. rc 2 for the whole gate. That is a dependency decision, not a wiring step, so no leg was added. No new tool was introduced either — a tracked tool with no probe entry is `NO_PROBE`, fatal since `b9751c8` (`tools/selftest_sweep.py:149`).
+- **Advisories read and left alone:** 37 sites, 0 behavioural — `SIM105` around `os.unlink`/`os.rmdir` in temp-tree cleanup, `SIM115` unmanaged `open()` on read paths, one `B007` (`for name, ok, got, want in bad:` never sees `ok` true), one `W291`. Churn in instruments whose diffs are read as evidence is a cost with no verdict behind it.
+- **Nothing operational.** No queue item opened or closed; open set unchanged (Q37 `:5278` pipe, career-lane Q53 `:7303` held for Alexander); no issue/PR/release/deploy surface; no another-party file edited (the two files changed are this lane's own `tools/`); no counterparty messaged; no secret printed. Artifact: `/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/2026-10-19-lint-fclass/` (`REPORT.md`, `check.sh`, `repro-behavior-diff.sh`, `files.sha256`, `before/`, `after/`).
+
+— Volt

docs/queue-index.md

@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 | 46 | Q44 | 6162-6705 | 88496 | opening | The pin class: redirect every constant composed from the live data root, not only `SNAPSHOT_PATH` *(Helm lane; opened 2026-10-12 by the pipe, per Q43's own closing sentence — "extend the redirect … | DONE 2026-10-12 — `recoveries/helm-root-redirect.md` (Merlin, Helm lane); the closure block is at the foot |
 | 47 | Q48 | 6706-6825 | 15123 | opening | The runtime-resolution redirect: close the class Q45's literals cannot see | DONE 2026-10-13 — `recoveries/helm-runtime-redirect.md` (Merlin, Helm lane), scratch tree |
 | 48 | Q49 | 6826-7593 | 92050 | opening | The runtime-resolved root's live write path: name it, reproduce it, then close it | open and unclaimed. Opened by the pipe 2026-10-13 |
-| 49 | Q45 | 7594-10067 | 375248 | opening | §9 follow-on — the home-directory channel *(Helm lane; Merlin)* | -- |
+| 49 | Q45 | 7594-10080 | 379412 | opening | §9 follow-on — the home-directory channel *(Helm lane; Merlin)* | -- |
 
 ## Ids with no `## ` heading
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ Opened as records inside another section. `line` is the record's own opening lin
 | Q50 | 6990 | 6990 | 46 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 | Q51 | 7106 | 7106 | 37 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 | Q52 | 7167 | 7167 | 90 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
-| Q53 | 7292 | 7246 | 121 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
+| Q53 | 7292 | 7246 | 122 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 | Q63 | 9918 | 9909 | 17 | Q45 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 
 **Not in this document.** Ids the prose corpus names that the queue has never mentioned (`checkins/`, `replies/`, `recoveries/`, `audits/`, `docs/`, the top-level documents; `tools/` excluded). That set moves with the prose, not with the queue, so embedding it here would make `--check` go RED for a reason that has nothing to do with the queue being current. It is reported on demand: `python3 tools/queue_index.py --outside`.
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
    "form": "BOLD-LEAD",
    "id": "Q53",
    "line": 7292,
-   "refs": 121,
+   "refs": 122,
    "section": "Q49",
    "shape": "BULLET+BOLD"
   },
@@ -236,9 +236,9 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
   "end_line": 8,
   "line": 1
  },
- "queue_bytes": 1267509,
+ "queue_bytes": 1271673,
- "queue_lines": 10067,
+ "queue_lines": 10080,
- "queue_sha256": "5b12f5cde49cf68a514a5dd04b2dc0792629f9efdc27edd6cdf45e4eecb6a75b",
+ "queue_sha256": "064e3872dc38156dd90c9c2471e03ff3c1a75098231674db5b325865d1785bfb",
  "sections": [
   {
    "bytes": 3139,
@@ -817,11 +817,11 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
    "title": "The runtime-resolved root's live write path: name it, reproduce it, then close it"
   },
   {
-   "bytes": 375248,
+   "bytes": 379412,
-   "end_line": 10067,
+   "end_line": 10080,
    "id": "Q45",
    "line": 7594,
-   "lines": 2474,
+   "lines": 2487,
    "role": "opening",
    "role_detail": "",
    "status": null,