queue: Run 37 (Merlin) -- the claim check re-generated on a corrected instrument: 15 opening records, 12 closed, 3 genuinely open, and the executable-unclaimed set this lane can take measured EMPTY. The queue's own hygiene convention (:8020, 2026-10-13T23:18Z) requires a claim check to read the ledger before taking any item whose opening line reads open or unclaimed; that ledger predates Runs 22-36 and the queue grew ~936,379 -> 1,170,483 B since, so the check was re-generated rather than inherited. Deliverable recoveries/queue-hygiene-census.md (10,123 B / sha256 eb0e1b4f5fa8733fb12eba758d9543a60eb85b8f12f5f7fc79b9908300d2405d); instrument /root/crucible/q66/q66_census6.py (4,388 B / sha256 e340b105dd96955f43a27e285a03f8ae, host-local scratch, six generations 21,845 B, every defect logged not deleted). Result: 15 opening records, 80 closure lines indexed, 12 closed / 3 open; validated against eleven answers read by hand from the queue before the run (Q21 Q24 Q25 Q45 Q46 Q47 Q49 Q50 Q51 Q52 closed, Q53 open) -> 11/11 VALIDATION PASS. Method is the finding: opening records are keyed on their SHAPE, which is what catches Q50/Q51/Q52/Q53 -- their opening records are bullet lines nested inside other sections, not ## headers, so a header walk cannot do this job; closures are item-anchored and searched whole-file because this queue is append-only and a closure lands at the tail. Six generations of instrument defect logged first, four erring in the dangerous direction: v1 walked only ## headers and matched the word open (missed Q50-Q53, false-flagged Q5/Q7/Q14); v2 caught Q7 continuation notes as openings; v3 cut its region at a --- rule (false OPEN for Q25 closed :2985 and Q49 closed :6952) and counted "**Done means:**" as a closure word (false CLOSED for Q53); v4 did not anchor closures to the item (Q53 closed off an unrelated G11 block at :8839); v5 scoped the closure search to the region before the next opening record so Q52 read OPEN though "**Q52 -- DONE at 4010b96" sits at :8517. Every defect was the instrument's, not the queue's. The three genuinely open and why none is this lane's: Q53 :8530 Mercury's (R5-a/R5-b in replies/2026-10-14-to-mercury-05.md, the pipe's own tick at :8939 states it open); Q37 :5278 the pipe's tooling ("Q37 stays open there", the residual a per-tick discipline plus a push identity it names an access decision, not a script); the career-lane apply queue :7303 Alexander's ("seven decisions and one rate figure are Alexander's"). Beside those the standing human-gated set: the section 4 adoption cp, the manifest_match pin stale since 2026-10-08, Q13, Q9, Q19, Q42. Q7 measured: no item opened -- an item invented to fill an empty set would be invented work, and the Helm lane's next unit remains the cp, a decision not a task. Two citation defects found in the queue's own record: (a) :7323 reads "**Q51 -- DONE at e4967da9...**" which parses as a commit SHA, but git cat-file -t e4967da9 -> "Not a valid object name" and sha256sum /root/crucible/q51/helm-selftest-q51.py -> e4967da9bdc45378... -- it is the GATE FILE's digest, and the closure commit is 57d8e6b (2026-10-13T13:40:02Z Merlin) which :7384 already carries correctly; (b) grep -c 'Status: open and unclaimed' -> 3 at :2264 :2684 :6847, all closed, reproducing the pipe's own correction at :8018-:8020. Closure revisions verified against git not prose: a9f23a6 de74527 0e65dfb 4c6cd50 57d8e6b 4010b96 eec3ff3, seven of seven resolve. Live state delta 0 (clock 2026-10-15T10:57:48Z): snapshot 14,039 B / aa842b0fd88037f83115b4a5... / mtime_ns 1791479579475780303; held pin 120 B / 5b6d70716153c3f4bd82045d... / mtime_ns 1791478687099553071; deployed /root/.helm/bin/ five digests unmoved (ee0b36a82f23fcf3 5c67473d89283c3d 7ed1bca8f9da624f 12570786ba703787 7386999867789694), grep -c HELM_COLLECTOR = 0 so Q40 stands; /tmp/q31-g8-deploy-* 475 dirs, newest cfkvskma mtime 2026-10-15 08:53:29.994355542Z = Run 36's last gate run, so no new directory since -- a delta-0 reading on the leak corroborating the candidate gate's Edit B; disk 41 G free of 154 G. One correction to my own records logged: the "sandboxes 0" line is off by one -- ls -d /root/crucible/*/sandbox* -> 2, of which q65/sandbox_probe.py is a script and q43z/sandbox-mine is a Run-13 leftover (32 K, data/snapshot.json, mtime 2026-10-12 18:39); harmless, in scratch, and it makes 0 wrong so it is recorded not restated. Append-only asserted structurally on both files: queue 1,170,483 -> 1,175,960 B (+5,477, 9,533 -> 9,602 lines) and check-in 43,489 -> 50,177 B (+6,688, 693 -> 781 lines), each child blob beginning with the parent's exact bytes, so no line citation shifts. Nothing deployed, no cp into /root/.helm/bin/, decisions/ and inbox/ untouched, no another-party file edited, no secret printed. Merlin <merlin@agents.invalid>, author=merlin.

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -9530,3 +9530,72 @@ another-party file edited, no secret printed.
 - **The `/tmp/q31-g8-deploy-*` leak, measured on this host rather than relayed:** **475 directories, 12 MB total**, newest `/tmp/q31-g8-deploy-cfkvskma` (mtime 08:53:29Z) holding exactly one mode-600 `snapshot.json` (22,892 B). It is a **litter defect, not disk pressure** — `/tmp`'s bytes are dominated by other things entirely (`snap-private-tmp` 4.8 G, `q24verify` 931 M, `trailer_frames` 429 M, `skills-eval` 388 M). Disk **41 G free of 154 G (74 % used)**, comfortably above the line where this profile's crons die. **Not cleaned:** those trees are not this lane's and reclaiming them is a §4-class action needing authorization, so the leak stays disclosed with its true size beside it.
 - **Production re-measured first-hand, unchanged and still showing the defect:** deployed page = what the public is served (`https://alexanderwhitestone.com/helm/` returns 200 / **9,865 B / `427b7b54…`**, byte-identical to the file), mtime frozen at **2026-10-11T08:57:14.017837233Z**; snapshot 14,039 B / `aa842b0f…`; pin 120 B / `5b6d7071…`; live body **200 / 217,163 B / `c34ae2c2…`** against the pin `f27326e8…` → **the published `match` is false today**, which is exactly what G14 row 1 goes red on; five deployed-bin digests unchanged; `HELM_COLLECTOR` **0** in all five, so nothing of Q31–G14 is in production.
 - **Nothing executed, and the outbound route is still dead:** the Vincent contract from 08:37 remains **undelivered** (provider HTTP 401; re-auth is Alexander's call), so PR #77's import-path residual stays verified-but-unowned, and no fallback route was opened without a decision. No item closed, none opened; no another-party file edited; no secret printed.
+
+---
+
+**Run 37 (Merlin, Helm lane / control plane) — the claim check re-generated on a corrected
+instrument: 15 opening records, 12 closed, 3 genuinely open, and the executable set this
+lane can take is EMPTY. 2026-10-15 11:0xZ.**
+
+Record: `recoveries/queue-hygiene-census.md` (**10,123 B**). Instrument
+`/root/crucible/q66/q66_census6.py` (4,388 B / sha256 `e340b105dd96955f…`, host-local
+scratch; six generations, 21,845 B, every defect logged rather than deleted).
+
+- **Why the unit.** The queue's own convention (`:8020`, 2026-10-13T23:18Z) says a claim
+  check reads the hygiene ledger *before* taking any item whose opening line reads open or
+  unclaimed. That ledger predates Runs 22–36 and the queue has grown ~936,379 → **1,170,483 B**
+  since. The line it exists to catch is still live: **Q49 `:6847` reads `Status: open and
+  unclaimed` though the item CLOSED at `:6952`** on 2026-10-13 — the line the ledger itself
+  records as having *"nearly cost Run 21 a duplicate run."*
+- **The instrument, and its validation.** Opening records are keyed on their *shape* (a line
+  beginning with `Status: open|OPEN` or `Q<digits>` + an item separator), which is what
+  catches Q50/Q51/Q52/Q53 — their opening records are **bullet lines nested inside other
+  sections**, not `## ` headers. Closures are item-anchored and searched **whole-file**,
+  because this queue is append-only. Eleven answers read by hand before the run
+  (Q21/Q24/Q25/Q45/Q46/Q47/Q49/Q50/Q51/Q52 closed, Q53 open) → **11 / 11 correct,
+  VALIDATION PASS**. 15 opening records, 80 closure lines indexed, **12 closed / 3 open**.
+- **Six generations of defect, logged first — four of six erred in the dangerous direction.**
+  v1 walked only `## ` headers and matched the word "open" (missed Q50–Q53, false-flagged
+  Q5/Q7/Q14); v2 caught Q7 continuation notes as openings; v3 cut its region at a `---` rule
+  (**false OPEN** for Q25 and Q49) and counted "**Done means:**" as a closure word (**false
+  CLOSED** for Q53); v4 did not anchor closures to the item (Q53 closed off an unrelated G11
+  block at `:8839`); v5 scoped the closure search to the region before the next opening
+  record, so **Q52 read OPEN** though `**Q52 — DONE at 4010b96` sits at `:8517`. v6 passed.
+  Every defect was the instrument's, not the queue's.
+- **The three genuinely open, and why none is this lane's.** **Q53 `:8530`** — Mercury's,
+  R5-a/R5-b carried in `replies/2026-10-14-to-mercury-05.md`, and the pipe's own tick at
+  `:8939` states it is open. **Q37 `:5278`** — the pipe's tooling, whose own block says
+  *"Q37 stays open there"*, the residual being a per-tick discipline plus a push identity it
+  names *"an access decision, not a script."* **The career-lane apply queue `:7303`** —
+  Alexander's, its Status line reading *"seven decisions and one rate figure are
+  Alexander's."* Beside those, the standing human-gated set: the §4 adoption `cp`, the
+  `manifest_match` pin stale since 2026-10-08, Q13, Q9, Q19, Q42. **The executable-unclaimed
+  set available to this lane is EMPTY** — measured here, not inherited from Runs 21/25/29/36.
+- **Two citation defects found in the queue's own record.** (a) `:7323` reads
+  *"**Q51 — DONE at `e4967da9…`**"*, which parses as a commit SHA; measured,
+  `git cat-file -t e4967da9` → *"Not a valid object name"* and
+  `sha256sum /root/crucible/q51/helm-selftest-q51.py` → **`e4967da9bdc45378…`** — it is the
+  **gate file's digest**, and the closure commit is **`57d8e6b`** (2026-10-13T13:40:02Z,
+  Merlin), which `:7384` already carries correctly. (b) `grep -c 'Status: open and
+  unclaimed'` → **3** at `:2264` / `:2684` / `:6847`, all closed — reproducing the pipe's own
+  correction at `:8018`–`:8020`. Closure revisions verified against git, not prose:
+  `a9f23a6`, `de74527`, `0e65dfb`, `4c6cd50`, `57d8e6b`, `4010b96`, `eec3ff3` — seven of seven
+  resolve.
+- **Q7, measured: no item opened.** An item invented to fill an empty set would be invented
+  work. The queue is not thin — three open items exist and all three belong to another lane
+  or to Alexander — and the Helm lane's next unit remains the §4 `cp`, a decision, not a task.
+- **Live state, delta 0** (clock 2026-10-15T10:57:48Z): snapshot **14,039 B /
+  `aa842b0fd88037f83115b4a5…` / mtime_ns `1791479579475780303`**; held pin **120 B /
+  `5b6d70716153c3f4bd82045d…` / mtime_ns `1791478687099553071`**; deployed
+  `/root/.helm/bin/` five digests unmoved (`ee0b36a82f23fcf3…` / `5c67473d89283c3d…` /
+  `7ed1bca8f9da624f…` / `12570786ba703787…` / `7386999867789694…`), `grep -c HELM_COLLECTOR`
+  = **0** so Q40 stands; `/tmp/q31-g8-deploy-*` **475** dirs, newest `cfkvskma` mtime
+  **2026-10-15 08:53:29.994355542Z** = Run 36's last gate run, so no new directory has
+  appeared since — a delta-0 reading on the leak that corroborates the candidate gate's
+  Edit B; disk 41 G free of 154 G. **One correction to this lane's own records:** the
+  "*sandboxes 0*" line is off by one — `ls -d /root/crucible/*/sandbox*` → 2, of which
+  `q65/sandbox_probe.py` is a script and **`q43z/sandbox-mine`** is a Run-13 leftover
+  (32 K, `data/snapshot.json`, mtime 2026-10-12 18:39). A litter defect of this lane's own,
+  in scratch, harmless — and it makes "0" wrong, so it is recorded rather than restated.
+- **Nothing executed.** No `cp`, nothing deployed, `decisions/` and `inbox/` untouched, no
+  another-party file edited, no secret printed.

checkins/2026-10-15-merlin.md

@@ -690,3 +690,91 @@ would have shipped today fails exactly one of them, which is the whole
 argument for the sequence in the Ask.
 
 — Merlin (Run 36, landing)
+
+
+---
+
+## Run 37 — 11:0xZ: the claim check, re-generated on a corrected instrument
+
+**Screen.** The queue offered no finishable item, and this run measures that rather than
+inheriting it. The hygiene ledger the queue's own convention names (`:8020`, 2026-10-13T23:18Z)
+predates Runs 22–36, so I re-generated the claim check myself on a new instrument instead of
+reading it. Clock read 2026-10-15T11:00:02Z before the work began.
+
+**Did. The queue hygiene census — the claim check the queue's convention requires before
+taking an item whose opening line reads open or unclaimed.**
+Record `recoveries/queue-hygiene-census.md` (**10123 B / sha256 `eb0e1b4f5fa8733fb12eba758d9543a60eb85b8f12f5f7fc79b9908300d2405d`**). Instrument
+`/root/crucible/q66/q66_census6.py` (4,388 B / sha256 `e340b105dd96955f…`, host-local
+scratch; six generations, 21,845 B, every defect logged rather than deleted).
+
+- **Result: 15 opening records, 80 closure lines indexed, 12 closed / 3 genuinely open.**
+  Validated against eleven answers read by hand from the queue before the run
+  (Q21/Q24/Q25/Q45/Q46/Q47/Q49/Q50/Q51/Q52 closed, Q53 open) → **11 / 11, VALIDATION PASS**.
+  Queue at HEAD **1,170,483 B / 9,533 lines / 49 `## Q` sections**.
+- **The method is the finding.** Opening records are keyed on their *shape*, which is what
+  catches Q50/Q51/Q52/Q53 — their opening records are **bullet lines nested inside other
+  sections**, not `## ` headers, so a header walk cannot do this job. Closures are
+  item-anchored and searched **whole-file**, because this queue is append-only and a closure
+  lands at the tail.
+- **Six generations of instrument defect, logged first; four erred in the dangerous
+  direction.** v1 walked only `## ` headers and matched the word "open" (missed Q50–Q53,
+  false-flagged Q5/Q7/Q14); v2 caught Q7 continuation notes as openings; v3 cut its region at
+  a `---` rule (**false OPEN** for Q25 and Q49) and counted "**Done means:**" as a closure
+  word (**false CLOSED** for Q53); v4 did not anchor closures to the item (Q53 closed off an
+  unrelated G11 block at `:8839`); v5 scoped the closure search to the region before the next
+  opening record, so **Q52 read OPEN** though `**Q52 — DONE at 4010b96` sits at `:8517`. v6
+  passed. Every defect was the instrument's, not the queue's — and a closed item reading
+  claimable is the exact failure the convention exists to prevent.
+- **The three genuinely open, and why none is mine.** **Q53 `:8530`** — Mercury's, R5-a/R5-b
+  carried in `replies/2026-10-14-to-mercury-05.md`, and the pipe's own tick at `:8939` states
+  it is open. **Q37 `:5278`** — the pipe's tooling, whose own block says *"Q37 stays open
+  there"*, the residual being a per-tick discipline plus a push identity it names *"an access
+  decision, not a script."* **The career-lane apply queue `:7303`** — Alexander's, its Status
+  line reading *"seven decisions and one rate figure are Alexander's."*
+- **Two citation defects found in the queue's own record.** (a) `:7323` reads *"**Q51 — DONE
+  at `e4967da9…`**"*, which parses as a commit SHA; measured, `git cat-file -t e4967da9` →
+  *"Not a valid object name"* and `sha256sum /root/crucible/q51/helm-selftest-q51.py` →
+  **`e4967da9bdc45378…`** — it is the **gate file's digest**, and the closure commit is
+  **`57d8e6b`** (2026-10-13T13:40:02Z, Merlin), which `:7384` already carries correctly.
+  (b) `grep -c 'Status: open and unclaimed'` → **3** at `:2264` / `:2684` / `:6847`, all
+  closed — reproducing the pipe's own correction at `:8018`–`:8020`. Closure revisions
+  verified against git, not prose: `a9f23a6`, `de74527`, `0e65dfb`, `4c6cd50`, `57d8e6b`,
+  `4010b96`, `eec3ff3` — seven of seven resolve.
+- **Q7, measured: no item opened.** An item invented to fill an empty set would be invented
+  work. The queue is not thin — three open items exist and all three belong to another lane
+  or to Alexander — and the Helm lane's next unit remains the §4 `cp`, a decision, not a task.
+- **Live state, delta 0** (clock 2026-10-15T10:57:48Z): snapshot **14,039 B /
+  `aa842b0fd88037f83115b4a5…` / mtime_ns `1791479579475780303`**; held pin **120 B /
+  `5b6d70716153c3f4bd82045d…` / mtime_ns `1791478687099553071`**; deployed `/root/.helm/bin/`
+  five digests unmoved (`ee0b36a82f23fcf3…` / `5c67473d89283c3d…` / `7ed1bca8f9da624f…` /
+  `12570786ba703787…` / `7386999867789694…`), `grep -c HELM_COLLECTOR` = **0** so Q40 stands;
+  `/tmp/q31-g8-deploy-*` **475** dirs, newest `cfkvskma` mtime **2026-10-15
+  08:53:29.994355542Z** = Run 36's last gate run, so no new directory has appeared since — a
+  delta-0 reading on the leak that corroborates the candidate gate's Edit B; disk 41 G free of
+  154 G. **One correction to my own records:** the "*sandboxes 0*" line is off by one —
+  `ls -d /root/crucible/*/sandbox*` → 2, of which `q65/sandbox_probe.py` is a script and
+  **`q43z/sandbox-mine`** is a Run-13 leftover (32 K, `data/snapshot.json`, mtime 2026-10-12
+  18:39). Harmless, in scratch, and it makes "0" wrong, so it is recorded rather than
+  restated.
+
+**Blocked.** Nothing executable is blocked — there is nothing executable to be blocked on.
+The three open items are other-lane or Alexander's. The binding human calls stand as
+measured, unchanged and already surfaced: the **§4 adoption `cp`** (this queue's Run 36 block
+names renderer `a70998c8…`, collector `4e45021d…`, gate `833d0827…`, acceptance **rc 0 / 195
+/ 0**; the file list must be re-read at adoption time, never copied from an earlier block),
+and the **`manifest_match` pin**, false in production since 2026-10-08 — the live body is
+**217,163 B / `c34ae2c2…`** against the held pin `f27326e8…`, so the page the public reads
+still prints a `match` that is not one. Nothing was executed from this side.
+
+**Next.** (1) Re-run the claim check per tick — it is one script and the census is only as
+fresh as its clock. (2) No Helm unit: the executable set is empty, and the next Helm step is
+the adoption decision, not a task. (3) Nothing else is mine to open.
+
+**Ask.** One line, and it is not re-raised beyond naming it: **the §4 adoption decision** —
+authorize the four-file `cp` in order (renderer → collector + gate → re-collect → re-render
+→ deploy) or hold, with the acceptance criterion rc 0 / 195 / 0 / ALL GATES PASS. The Q51
+citation defect (`e4967da9…` is a gate digest where a revision belongs) is a one-line append
+and is the pipe's or mine to make; no count or verdict moves either way.
+
+Nothing deployed, no another-party file edited, `decisions/` and `inbox/` untouched, no
+secret printed. Merlin <merlin@agents.invalid>.

recoveries/queue-hygiene-census.md

@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+# Queue hygiene census — the claim check, generated and validated
+
+*(Merlin, Helm lane / control plane, 2026-10-15 11:0xZ. Run 37. Nothing deployed, no `cp`
+into `/root/.helm/bin/`, `decisions/` and `inbox/` untouched, no another-party file edited,
+no secret printed.)*
+
+## 1. Why this unit, and what it is not
+
+The queue's own convention, set 2026-10-13T23:18Z (control plane, `WORK-QUEUE.md:8020`):
+*"every new opening record carries a forward pointer to its closure line or revision, and a
+claim check reads **this ledger** before taking any item whose opening line reads open or
+unclaimed."* The ledger that rule names was generated at that clock, **before Runs 22–36**;
+the queue has grown from ~936,379 B to **1,170,483 B** since. The stale line it exists to
+catch is still there: **Q49's `:6847` still reads `Status: open and unclaimed` though the
+item CLOSED at `:6952` on 2026-10-13** — and the ledger's own "Why it earns a ledger"
+paragraph records that this line *"nearly cost Run 21 a duplicate run."*
+
+So the unit is the claim check itself, re-generated on a corrected instrument. It is not a
+new queue item and it opens none.
+
+## 2. The instrument
+
+`/root/crucible/q66/q66_census6.py` — 4,388 B / sha256 `e340b105dd96955f…` (host-local
+scratch; six generations, `q66_census.py` … `q66_census6.py`, 21,845 B total, every
+defect below logged rather than deleted).
+
+- **Opening records** are keyed on their *shape*, not on the word "open": a line that
+  begins, after optional `- ` and bold markers, with `Status: open|OPEN` or `Q<digits>`
+  followed by an item separator. That excludes body prose ("197 open issues", Q7's
+  "*Q7, measured:* … is open" continuation notes) and catches the nine shapes actually
+  present, including `Q50`/`Q51`/`Q52`/`Q53`, whose opening records are **bullet lines
+  nested inside other sections** rather than `## ` headers — the reason a header walk
+  cannot do this job.
+- **Closures** are item-anchored: a `**`-header line anywhere in the file that names the
+  item id and carries CLOSED/DONE/COMPLETE/VERIFIED, with "Done means", "stays open",
+  "nothing is done" excluded. The search is **whole-file**, because this queue is
+  append-only and a closure lands at the tail.
+- **Validation set** — eleven answers read by hand from the queue before the run:
+  Q21 `:2264` CLOSED, Q24 `:2684` CLOSED, Q25 `:2898` CLOSED, Q45 `:6348` CLOSED,
+  Q46 `:6419` CLOSED, Q47 `:6542` CLOSED, Q49 `:6847` CLOSED, Q50 `:6990` CLOSED,
+  Q51 `:7106` CLOSED, Q52 `:7167` CLOSED, Q53 `:8530` OPEN.
+  **Result: 11 / 11 correct. VALIDATION PASS.**
+
+## 3. Instrument defects, logged first — v1 through v5
+
+| gen | defect | measured consequence |
+|---|---|---|
+| v1 | walked only `^## Q` headers; matched any line containing "open" | missed Q50/Q51/Q52/Q53 entirely; false-flagged Q5/Q7/Q14 on prose |
+| v2 | loosened the item key | caught `- **Q7, measured:** … is open` continuation notes as opening records |
+| v3 | cut the region at the first column-0 `---` | **false OPEN** for Q25 (closed `:2985`) and Q49 (closed `:6952`) |
+| v3 | counted "**Done means:**" as a closure word | **false CLOSED** for Q53, which is open |
+| v4 | closure not anchored to the item id | Q53 read CLOSED off an unrelated block (`:8839`, "G11 (Run 29) is DONE"); Q25 off Mercury's check-in at `:2918` |
+| v5 | closure search scoped to the region before the next opening record | Q52 read **OPEN** though `**Q52 — DONE at 4010b96` sits at `:8517`, because the next opening record (`:7303`) cut the region at 136 lines |
+
+v6 is what passed. The class is worth naming: **every defect was the instrument's, not the
+queue's**, and four of the six produced a wrong answer in the *dangerous* direction (a
+closed item reading claimable) — the exact failure the convention exists to prevent.
+
+## 4. The census — 15 opening records, generated
+
+| # | item | opening record | closure line (whole-file, item-anchored) | state |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | Q21 | `:2264` | `:2272` `**Status: DONE — recoveries/excerpt-binding-audit.md` | CLOSED |
+| 2 | Q24 | `:2684` | `:2688` `**Status: DONE — docs/q13-fix-pack.md` | CLOSED |
+| 3 | Q25 | `:2898` | `:2985` `**Q25 verification tick … Q25 DONE at a9f23a6` | CLOSED |
+| 4 | Q32 | `:4384` | `:4387` `**Status: DONE 2026-10-11 (Merlin, Run 8) — helm-g8-scrub.md` | CLOSED |
+| 5 | Q33 | `:4454` | `:4505` `**Status: VERIFIED … 8bb88da` | CLOSED |
+| 6 | Q37 | `:5278` | none | **OPEN** — the pipe's, see §5 |
+| 7 | Q45 | `:6348` | `:6358` `**Q45 (Helm lane) — CLOSED 2026-10-12 by Merlin` | CLOSED |
+| 8 | Q46 | `:6419` | `:6436` `**Q46 (Helm lane) — CLOSED 2026-10-13 by Merlin` | CLOSED |
+| 9 | Q47 | `:6542` | `:6638` `**Q47 (Helm lane) — CLOSED 2026-10-13 by Merlin` | CLOSED |
+| 10 | Q49 | `:6847` | `:6952` `**Q49 CLOSED 2026-10-13 (Merlin, Helm lane)` | CLOSED — **the stale line** |
+| 11 | Q50 | `:6990` | `:7089` `**Q50 (Helm lane) — VERIFIED … Closure 4c6cd50` | CLOSED |
+| 12 | Q51 | `:7106` | `:7323` `**Q51 — DONE at e4967da9…` / `:7384` `… landing SHA … 57d8e6b` | CLOSED |
+| 13 | Q52 | `:7167` | `:8517` `**Q52 — DONE at 4010b96 (Mercury, 2026-10-14)` | CLOSED |
+| 14 | Q53 | `:8530` | none | **OPEN** — Mercury's, R5-a/R5-b |
+| 15 | (unnumbered) career-lane apply queue | `:7303` | none | **OPEN** — Alexander's, see §5 |
+
+**80 closure lines indexed; 12 of 15 records carry a closure. 3 are genuinely open.**
+
+## 5. The genuinely-open set, and why none of it is mine
+
+Measured, not asserted:
+
+1. **Q53 `:8530` — Mercury's lane.** Its binding asks are R5-a/R5-b, carried in
+   `replies/2026-10-14-to-mercury-05.md`; the pipe's own tick at `:8939` states *"the
+   Mercury `Q53` is OPEN as of this tick."* Not this lane's.
+2. **Q37 `:5278` — the pipe's tooling.** Its own boundary line, in the same block:
+   *"Q37 stays open there"* — the residual is a per-tick census discipline plus a push
+   identity, and the block names the latter *"an access decision, not a script."*
+3. **The career-lane apply queue `:7303` — Alexander's.** Its Status line says it
+   outright: *"seven decisions and one rate figure are Alexander's."*
+4. Beside those, the standing human-gated set the lane has carried for days: the **§4
+   adoption `cp`** (collector `4e45021d…` + the current gate), the **`manifest_match` pin**
+   stale since 2026-10-08, **Q13**, **Q9**, **Q19**, **Q42**.
+
+**The executable-unclaimed set available to this lane is EMPTY.** That is the same
+conclusion Runs 21, 25, 29 and 36 reached, and this run measures it rather than
+inheriting it.
+
+## 6. Two citation defects found in the queue's own record
+
+**(a) Q51's DONE line names a gate digest where a revision belongs.**
+`:7323` reads `**Q51 — DONE at \`e4967da9…\`**`, which parses as a commit SHA. Measured:
+`git cat-file -t e4967da9` → *"Not a valid object name"*, and
+`sha256sum /root/crucible/q51/helm-selftest-q51.py` → **`e4967da9bdc45378…`** — it is the
+**gate file's digest**, not a revision. The closure commit is **`57d8e6b`**
+(2026-10-13T13:40:02Z, Merlin), which `:7384` already carries correctly in the same item:
+*"the landing SHA the DONE block above should carry is `57d8e6b`."* No count or verdict
+moves; the defect is a citation that reads as one kind of handle and is another — the
+same class as Run 19's 63-character digest erratum.
+
+**(b) The `Status: open and unclaimed` literal count, reproduced at HEAD.**
+`grep -c 'Status: open and unclaimed'` → **3**, at `:2264`, `:2684`, `:6847` — all three
+closed. This reproduces the pipe's own correction at `:8018`–`:8020` (the committed Run-21
+text said four; its fourth, `:7106`, is an opening record, not a Status line).
+
+Closure revisions verified against git, not taken from prose:
+`a9f23a6` 2026-10-10T22:17:19Z Merlin · `de74527` 2026-10-13T09:06:35Z Merlin ·
+`0e65dfb` 2026-10-13T09:23:04Z Timmy · `4c6cd50` 2026-10-13T11:26:36Z Merlin ·
+`57d8e6b` 2026-10-13T13:40:02Z Merlin · `4010b96` 2026-10-14T12:03:20Z Mercury ·
+`eec3ff3` 2026-10-14T03:38:35Z Merlin. Seven of seven resolve; the eighth handle in the
+census (`e4967da9…`) is not a revision and is defect (a).
+
+## 7. Q7, measured
+
+**No item opened.** The unclaimed executable set is empty by measurement (§5), so an item
+invented to fill a number would be invented work. The queue is not thin in the sense that
+matters — three open items exist and all three belong to another lane or to Alexander —
+and the Helm lane's next unit remains the §4 `cp`, a decision, not a task.
+
+## 8. Live state, measured this run (delta 0)
+
+Clock read immediately before the measurements, 2026-10-15T10:57:48Z.
+
+- snapshot `/root/.helm/data/snapshot.json` **14,039 B / `aa842b0fd88037f83115b4a5…` /
+  mtime_ns `1791479579475780303`** — unchanged.
+- held pin `/root/.helm/data/held/stackchain-home.html.sha256` **120 B /
+  `5b6d70716153c3f4bd82045d…` / mtime_ns `1791478687099553071`** — unchanged.
+- deployed `/root/.helm/bin/` five digests unmoved: `ee0b36a82f23fcf3…` /
+  `5c67473d89283c3d…` / `7ed1bca8f9da624f…` / `12570786ba703787…` /
+  `7386999867789694…`; `grep -c HELM_COLLECTOR` = **0**, so Q40 stands and nothing of
+  Q31–G14 is in production.
+- The `/tmp/q31-g8-deploy-*` litter: **475 directories**, newest
+  `/tmp/q31-g8-deploy-cfkvskma` mtime **2026-10-15 08:53:29.994355542Z** — that is Run
+  36's last gate run, so **no new directory has appeared since**, which is a delta-0
+  reading on the leak itself and corroborates that the candidate gate's Edit B holds.
+  Not cleaned: those trees are not this lane's.
+- Disk 41 G free of 154 G (74 % used).
+- **One correction to this lane's own records, logged:** the "*sandboxes 0*" line carried
+  in recent blocks is off by one against
+  `ls -d /root/crucible/*/sandbox*` → 2, of which one is `q65/sandbox_probe.py` (a script,
+  not a sandbox) and one is **`/root/crucible/q43z/sandbox-mine`**, a leftover from Run 13
+  (mtime 2026-10-12 18:39, 32 K, holding `data/snapshot.json`). A litter defect of this
+  lane's own, in scratch, harmless — and it makes "0" wrong, so it is recorded rather
+  than restated.