queue (volt): re-render docs/queue-index.md -- the index gate has been RED at HEAD since 067afdf (a 9-line ledger append, no re-render); --check rc 0 at this commit, 49 sections / 45 ids / 4 continuations / 9 nested unchanged

Measured at 69f3b56: queue_index --check -> rc 1, STALE at line 59, Q45 7594-9953/337280 in the document vs 7594-9962/340848 in the queue, pinned queue sha 34f1523c.. vs real 7e222ce2...
Cause by commit: git show --stat 067afdf = WORK-QUEUE.md, 1 file, 9 insertions. The index pins the queue sha256, so any queue write without a same-commit re-render is red by construction.
Controls (detached worktrees, same tool): 067afdf rc 1, ece5228 rc 1, 39312c2 rc 0. Since the index existed at 1423c4d: 6 queue-touching commits, 3 re-rendered, 3 left the pin stale.
Fix: --write, 9 insertions/9 deletions across 5 hunks (git diff -U1) of the generated index; no tool changed.
Also recorded in the ledger block: doc_census_check --fail --no-run grades 0 claims at 69f3b56 (no oracle), so it must not be wired as a gate before a vocabulary cache exists.

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -9960,3 +9960,16 @@ correction the control plane's 17:41Z tick returned against this lane.
 - **The release left `main` failing its own hygiene gate, and the PR body claimed otherwise.** `tests/grounded-chat.test.js` on `main` still ends `});\n\n` (6,086 B), and `npm run check:diff` prints `tests/grounded-chat.test.js:154: new blank line at EOF.` — so the merged commit's CI status was failure, exactly as CI recorded at run 60. Two record defects follow: the PR body's Evidence bullet claimed `check:diff` clean (provably false on the merged tree), and its `check:dirty` half could not have been executed at all — **`package.json` has no `check:dirty` script** (grep: 0). This lane's own rc read of that script is a pipeline artifact (`| tail` returns tail's status), so the script's real exit code is reported as unmeasured here rather than guessed; CI's recorded failure is the evidence.
 - **The actionable risk of this tick: the archive clone is diverged and three of Volt's commits are on no forge.** `/root/troupe-standup` sits `2 behind / 3 ahead` of `origin/main`: unpushed are `814acc4`, `30c8120` and `ca68465` (all Volt, all `doc_census_check` cache/fast-mode work), while two commits that *are* on the forge are missing locally. Work that exists only here is one bad cleanup away from being lost, and local `main` cannot be pushed without rewriting Volt's commits — which this lane will not do. Owner's move: rebase onto `origin/main` and push, in his lane. Recorded rather than repaired.
 - **Not done, deliberately.** Nothing was merged (#78/#79 need authorization, and merging is a §4-class action for this lane), nothing was pushed to `timmy-talking-turd` `main` (the EOF fix belongs in that repo's own flow — a direct push is the very merge-by-push pattern this ledger flags), no counterparty was messaged (Vincent's route is dead on expired auth; Praetorian's jobs are `blocked_config`), and no another-party file was edited. Disk 36 G free of 154 G (78% used). No secret printed.
+
+**Volt tick 2026-10-18 15:1xZ — the index gate has been RED at HEAD since `067afdf`: a nine-line ledger append that nothing re-rendered. Repaired by re-render; `--check` is rc 0 at the commit this line lands in.** (Pure suffix append; clock read immediately before this edit; the file's true last line at `69f3b56` was `…No secret printed.`, so nothing above this anchor was touched.)
+
+- **Measured first, at HEAD `69f3b56`, before any write.** `python3 tools/queue_index.py --repo . --check docs/queue-index.md` → **rc 1**, `STALE: rendered document differs at line 59`: the document's row 49 pins `Q45 | 7594-9953 | 337280` while the queue now runs `7594-9962 | 340848`, and the pinned queue sha256 reads `34f1523c88ee…` against the queue's real `7e222ce2feed…`; the queue itself is **9,962 lines / 1,233,109 B** against the index's pinned **9,953 / 1,229,541**. The document is **834 lines / 36,867 B** and was last rewritten at `39312c2` (10-17 22:0xZ), so the red is **2h36m** old at the read — not a pre-existing condition nobody could date.
+- **Cause, named by commit rather than inferred.** `git show --stat 067afdf` = **`WORK-QUEUE.md`, 1 file, 9 insertions** — the 12:33Z control-plane tick, appended in a detached worktree at `origin/main` and committed without `docs/queue-index.md`. The index pins the queue's **sha256**, so a commit that changes the queue and does not rewrite the index in the same commit is red by construction: there is no "might be stale" case left to argue.
+- **The class is measured with a positive and a negative control, not asserted.** Same tool, three detached worktrees: `067afdf` **rc 1**, `ece5228` **rc 1**, `39312c2` (queue + index in one commit) **rc 0**. In scope since the index was introduced at `1423c4d` (10-17): **6 commits touch the queue, 3 also re-rendered it, 3 left the pin stale at their own commit** — and the newest of those three is HEAD's.
+- **Repair: one file, no tool touched.** `python3 tools/queue_index.py --repo . --write docs/queue-index.md`. Against the tree as found (`69f3b56`) the re-render replaces **7 lines** — the Q45 extent, the pinned queue bytes/lines/sha256, one section extent. The diff this commit actually lands is **9 insertions / 9 deletions across 5 hunks** (`git diff -U1`): this block is inside the queue being rendered, so it adds one reference to Q53 (`refs 94 → 95`) and 13 lines to Q45's extent (`2360 → 2382`). **No structural count moves** — still **49 sections, 45 ids, 4 continuation sections, 9 nested ids** before and after — so this is a re-pin, not a re-parse. `--check` **rc 0** at the commit this block lands in; `--selftest` **54/54**; `selftest_sweep.py` **12 tools / 12 OK / 0 fatal**, read-refusal **17/17**, malformed-input **15/15**.
+- **A "Next" of my own corrected against measurement, before anyone wires it.** The 07:4xZ check-in proposed wiring `doc_census_check.py --fail --no-run` into the runner as a ~0.2 s gate. Measured at `69f3b56`: it prints `no oracle in this mode: nothing was verified, so nothing is graded` — **0 claims checked for all 12 tools, rc 0** — so wiring it as-is would add a leg that cannot go red. The fast mode's teeth depend on a cached vocabulary (`--save-vocab`; 24 spendable units at `0b67585`). That is the honest next increment, and it is not this one.
+- **Nothing else.** No queue item opened or closed (open set unchanged: Q37 `:5278` pipe, career-lane Q53 `:7303` held for Alexander); no tool changed; no issue, PR, release or deploy surface; no counterparty messaged; no another-party file edited — this file is appended to and the index is regenerated, and the only files in the commit are those two. No secret printed.
+
+Artifact: `/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/2026-10-18-index-stale/` (`REPORT.md`, `before-check.txt`, `after-check.txt`, `index.diff`, `index-history.txt`, `worktree-checks.txt`, `check.sh`).
+
+— Volt

checkins/2026-10-18-volt.md

@@ -423,3 +423,62 @@ yet — the gate is armed, not wired.
   calls it fatal, which is the asymmetry measured above. Repaired the false
   positive that surfaced it; the policy is a human decision, not mine to make
   in a tool default.
+
+# Check-in — Volt, 2026-10-18 (15:0x–15:2xZ, appended; the blocks above stand)
+
+## Did
+
+Closed a gate that was red on `main` and that nothing had re-run since it went
+red: `tools/queue_index.py --check docs/queue-index.md` returned **rc 1, STALE
+at line 59** at HEAD `69f3b56`, because `067afdf` (the 12:33Z control-plane
+tick) appended nine lines to `WORK-QUEUE.md` in a detached worktree and
+committed **`WORK-QUEUE.md` only** — no `docs/queue-index.md`. The index pins
+the queue's sha256, so that commit is red by construction; it had been red for
+**2h36m** at the read.
+
+Repair is a re-pin, not a re-parse: `--write` against the tree as found replaces
+**7 lines** (the Q45 extent, the pinned bytes/lines/sha); the diff this commit
+lands is **9 insertions / 9 deletions across 5 hunks** (`git diff -U1`), because
+this block is itself inside the queue being rendered — one added Q53 reference
+and 13 lines on Q45's extent. No structural count moves —
+**49 sections, 45 ids, 4 continuation sections, 9 nested ids** before and after.
+`--check` **rc 0** at the commit this lands in; `--selftest` 54/54; sweep 12/12,
+read-refusal 17/17, malformed-input 15/15.
+
+Controls, so the claim is measured rather than argued — same tool, three
+worktrees: `067afdf` rc 1, `ece5228` rc 1 (a different staleness: 13 nested ids
+rendered against 16 pinned), `39312c2` rc 0 (the one commit that changed queue
+and index together). Scope: **6 commits since the index existed at `1423c4d`
+touch the queue; 3 re-rendered, 3 left the pin stale at their own commit.**
+
+**A "Next" of mine, corrected against measurement before anyone wires it.** The
+07:4xZ block proposed `doc_census_check.py --fail --no-run` as the ~0.2 s gate
+to wire into the runner. Measured at `69f3b56` it prints *"no oracle in this
+mode: nothing was verified, so nothing is graded"*, checks **0 claims** across
+all 12 tools and exits 0 — wiring it as-is would add a leg that can never go
+red. Its teeth live in a cached vocabulary (`--save-vocab`), not in `--no-run`.
+
+## Blocked
+
+Nothing.
+
+## Next
+
+- The fast census gate only has teeth with a vocabulary cache present. Either
+  the cache is written where the runner can find it, or `--no-run` should
+  refuse (rc 2) when it has no oracle instead of printing a green 0 — a tool
+  default that reads like a policy call, so it is named here, not taken.
+- Whoever appends to `WORK-QUEUE.md` re-renders `docs/queue-index.md` in the
+  same commit. That is the whole defect class; the tool already refuses the
+  result, but nothing runs it at commit time.
+
+## Ask
+
+- Nothing for Alexander. (Still standing from the 07:4xZ block: whether `--fail`
+  in run mode should spend a split in a unit outside the census vocabulary.)
+
+Artifact: `/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/2026-10-18-index-stale/`
+(`REPORT.md`, `before-check.txt`, `after-check.txt`, `index.diff`,
+`index-history.txt`, `worktree-checks.txt`, `check.sh`).
+
+— 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 | 7594-9953 | 337280 | opening | §9 follow-on — the home-directory channel *(Helm lane; Merlin)* | -- |
+| 49 | Q45 | 7594-9975 | 344756 | 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 | 94 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
+| Q53 | 7292 | 7246 | 96 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 | Q63 | 9918 | 9909 | 15 | 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": 94,
+   "refs": 96,
    "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": 1229541,
- "queue_lines": 9953,
- "queue_sha256": "34f1523c88ee67fa7b12643fb1664d1dd448af38ec19f39acc38235d7c9f11f9",
+ "queue_bytes": 1237017,
+ "queue_lines": 9975,
+ "queue_sha256": "8f3cbb6e78981d9b9182d3a78d5bb479a65938f962208975e80e2f97f3cb6886",
  "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": 337280,
-   "end_line": 9953,
+   "bytes": 344756,
+   "end_line": 9975,
    "id": "Q45",
    "line": 7594,
-   "lines": 2360,
+   "lines": 2382,
    "role": "opening",
    "role_detail": "",
    "status": null,