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.

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