Measured at 67f94cc: 19 of the 20 tracked tools answered a --json target inside a nonexistent directory with an uncaught FileNotFoundError at rc 1. Only queue_append_audit.py already refused (rc 2). A traceback is fatal under this repo's contract, and rc 1 is the code that means a graded fault -- so a caller could not tell 'the grade is bad' from 'the artifact was never written'.
Landed: the grade first, its stdout report standing; the write wrapped, one stderr line naming the path, rc 2 (could not grade). gate_blame.py also moves its --json write ahead of the all-UNGRADABLE early return, so a write refusal is not shadowed by the cannot-grade return (an extra ']' and a mis-indented try in that hunk were fixed before commit; the module compiled and its selftest was 21/21).
tools/write_probe.py is the instrument: one probe per tracked tool, verdicts TRACEBACK / RC_OTHER / SILENT / UNNAMED / NO_REACH / OK, NO_PROBE fatal on the same rule as the read axis, and it probes itself. It is leg 6 of verify.py, and selftest_sweep.py now carries both a read probe and a malformed probe for it.
Verification at this commit follows in the next commit with docs/TOOLS.md and the queue record.
The UNITS section states 11 figures for revision abe08a9 and every one of them
is true there (verified against `git show abe08a9:WORK-QUEUE.md`). Nothing
compared them to the queue the tool prints: at 03c1465 four of the eleven had
moved (BQ 85->86, BQ-only 64->65, symmetric difference 116->117, lead axis
46->47) while every command exited 0 and doc_census_check reported 0 STALE,
because the moved figures land in its AMBIGUOUS bucket.
--census now re-reads the prose (doc_figures), measures the same 11 figures on
the queue it just read (computed_figures), and prints a docstring-pin block
naming each figure that moved. Exit code unchanged: a queue that grows is not a
fault. Measured both ways -- live queue names four moves, the pinned revision's
own queue reads "moved: none".
Cells 20 -> 24 (4 doc-pin). Mutant returning [] from doc_drift: 22/24, rc 1,
naming doc pin 2 and 4. Landed: 24/24, rc 0. The tool's plain report is
byte-identical before and after (diff rc 0). Gate 5/5, sweep 15/15, doc-census
0 STALE, ruff clean.
Comment only; no behaviour change. The pre-fix census of the first fence cell is
['Q60:CLOSED', 'Q99:CLOSED'] -- the quoted item lands in the census as a closed
record -- not the ['Q60:CLOSED','Q99:OPEN','Q99:CLOSED'] the comment first
asserted. Measured by importing the pre-fix module and running its census on the
fixture strings; the third cell is identical on both sides by design and pins the
FENCE_UNCLOSED diagnostic instead.
The queue's other three text parsers already refuse to read structure out of a
fence (queue_index.py:207/:266, checkin_check.py:251, citation_resolve_check.py
after efe7ec6). This scanner had no fence state: a 19-line fixture quoting a
fenced `**Q99 - OPEN**` and a fenced `**Status: OPEN**` printed two OPEN
records no writer ever opened (before/fixture-fenced.txt).
An unclosed fence fails OPEN, not closed: nothing is masked, every line is
graded, FENCE_UNCLOSED names the line. Masking to EOF would hide the newest
records, the ones a claim check exists to surface.
Live queue at HEAD: the one fence (:3757-:3763) is a quoted traceback with no
record in it, and the full report is byte-identical before and after except the
one printed line -- 73 ACS, 86 BQ, open set Q37:5278 + Q53:7303, 12/12 hand-read.
`Q53` labels two live items: the career-lane apply queue at `:7303` (seven
decisions held for Alexander) and Mercury's record at `:8530`. Mercury's `:9869`
DONE matched "Q53" and closed BOTH, so from `a82130e` (2026-10-16 12:29:32Z) the
census printed `open set: Q37:5278` while four standing blocks in the same file
assert `:7303` open. Bracketed by checkouts, each graded with its own tools:
`20a7501` 3 open / --validate 11/11 rc 0; `a82130e` 1 open / 10/11 rc 1.
Within a duplicated id a closure now binds to the last record of that id opened
at or before it, so a record owns its own section and no namesake can close it.
Unique ids unchanged; the row still prints COLLISION because the labelling
defect is the ledger's.
Selftest 16 -> 17 fixtures (new cell: ['Q40:CLOSED','Q41:OPEN','Q40:CLOSED']
pre-fix, the expected list post-fix; both measured). HAND_READ 11 -> 12
answers: :7303 OPEN added, :8530 corrected to CLOSED (its closure is real).
--validate rc 1 -> rc 0, 12/12.
Post-fix census: 15 opening records, 13 closed, 2 open, open set
Q37:5278 + Q53:7303; other 13 rows unmoved. doc_census_check on this tool: 19
claims, 0 STALE, 0 split, 0 leg failures. Queue block appended and
docs/queue-index.md re-rendered in this same commit.
queue_claim_check.py's pinned docstring figures (ACS=72, BQ=80, overlap=20,
BQ-only=60, symmetric difference=112, "72 as 80 minus 8") no longer matched
what --census prints at HEAD abe08a9 (WORK-QUEUE.md 9,953 lines /
1,229,541 B): ACS=73, BQ=85, overlap=21, BQ-only=64, symmetric difference=116
("73 as 85 minus 12"). Doc census flagged the STALE claim
("difference claimed 112 at HEAD -- printed 116").
Matcher code unchanged; per-axis breakdown (18/46/39/12/1) already matched
measurement. Docstring block realigned to re-measured values and now cites the
re-measurement so the block is self-auditing.
--census: exit 0, all pinned figures identical to printed output.
--selftest: exit 0, 16/16 fixtures pass.
Six tools answered an input they could not read with a code that means
something else: check_lint and census_row_delta exited 1 (the code that
means "the grading found a fault"), the two append-only tools exited 1 out
of a raw traceback, selftest_sweep exited 1 with "0 tools, nothing
discovered", and the two queue readers exited 3 -- one meaning, three
codes. Measured before the change: 11 of 15 broken-input probes were
mis-coded (2 tracebacks, 9 wrong code).
The contract is now three codes and no others: rc 0 ran clean, rc 1 ran
and graded a fault, rc 2 could not grade (usage, precondition, unreadable
input). rc 3 is retired.
And the class is gated, not merely fixed: selftest_sweep.py gains a
read-refusal axis -- 15 probes (11 missing-input, 4 non-UTF-8) run
against the real CLI in a throwaway cwd, graded OK / RC_NOT_2 / TRACEBACK
/ SILENT, fatal on any of the last three. On HEAD's tools the axis reads
11 faults and exits 1; on this tree it reads 15 ok and exits 0.
Also: doc_census_check.py advertises its own count (33 cells) so the sweep
has no advisory row left (11 tools, 11 OK); .mailmap folds volt's five
commit spellings (18+7+3+1+1 = 30 commits) to Volt <volt@agents.invalid>,
the identity 016d26e lost to the repo's Timmy config.
Selftests: 18/15/33/37/54/16/22, 0 failed. Sweep 11 tools, 11 OK, 0 fatal.
queue_index --check rc 0 (49 sections, 45 ids, 9 nested). landing_check
346/346.
Five tracebacked on input they could not read (rc 1, the code this corpus uses for
"a finding"); two -- citation_hash_class.py, citation_resolve_check.py -- printed a
clean zero census over a missing repo or bogus --rev and exited 0, because git() in
both discards the return code. Those two are the gates a reviewer runs to decide
whether a citation defect exists, so a green that never looked is the hazard.
queue_index.py / queue_claim_check.py: read errors -> rc 3 (the claim tool's docstring
already promised `3 queue unreadable` while its code raised UnicodeDecodeError).
citation_hash_class.py / citation_resolve_check.py: precondition(repo, rev) -> rc 2,
matching doc_census_check.py and landing_check.py. check_lint.py / census_row_delta.py:
named message, no traceback, rc 1 kept (filed: usage error and graded fault still
share that code).
175 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-). Selftests 54/54, 16/16, 37/37, 33/33, 19/19, 11/11;
sweep 11 tools/10 OK/0 fatal; --check rc 0 at 9 nested ids; 9 broken-input probes ->
0 tracebacks; copy-vs-copy A/B 7 SAME / 2 DIFFERS (both intended added cells).
run.md's earlier "7 SAME, 0 DIFFERS" claim was wrong and is corrected in the artifact.
Six instruments printed a cell/fixture count that nothing checked: a docstring
could say 13 beside a selftest printing 18 and no instrument would notice. Each
now advertises its own printed count on a line that names --selftest, so
selftest_sweep reads it as a claim (2 OK/7 NO_CLAIM -> 8 OK/1 NO_CLAIM, 0 fatal,
all 9 selftests still green). doc_census_check.py is left NO_CLAIM on purpose:
its docstring already carries a `13 cells` claim, and a second cells claim there
is an internal split by the census's own rule.
selftest_sweep.py's own docstring quoted a fixture line ("selftest: 7 cells ...")
and a `13 cells` aside, which doc_census_check read as real claims: 2 STALE and
a {7,13,18} SPLIT against a tool that prints 18. Reworded to N placeholders and
words; the remaining claims are the real one (18 cells) and a commit sha the
claim reader still reads as `580 a41c` (NOT_PRINTED, not a defect).
Unit taken from the record's own flag (WORK-QUEUE.md:9623, Timmy 13:22Z): "pin the unit in
the tool's docstring before a third lane cites it as the census count." The tool is this
lane's (c770ca1), so the unit is its to pin.
BOTH NUMBERS REPRODUCE AND ARE NEAR-DISJOINT. Materialised queue@29a4872 = git show
29a4872:WORK-QUEUE.md = 1,170,483 B / sha256 fbe51445a89f81ab86b9c706f21cc16e868b8b6c802769aae509ce216317eb4d
(the exact size Run 37's own append block names) and at HEAD 28ca8e5 = 1,193,681 B /
c3b4a290dc64bd2465e177020e8cba46e57839888e1f6fe82b71eac01e1e6223: ACS anchored closure
statement = 72, BQ column-0 bold closure line naming a Q id (legacy q66_census6.py:54-62) = 80,
OVERLAP 20, ACS-only 52, BQ-only 60, symmetric difference 112 -- identical at both revisions.
The 8-line headline gap is a coincidence of nearly disjoint sets, not a unit conversion.
Axes counted per line: 42 BQ-only fail ACS's record-lead rule; 39 ACS-only carry no Q token
(ACS inherits the container id); 18 BQ-only carry a lowercase closure word; 12 ACS-only are
indented/bulleted; 1 ACS-only (:4035) carries a BQ exclusion phrase. Independent reproduction
by GNU grep (not Python) on the HEAD queue: 80 and 72; the 120-char window is inert on this
file (0 lines fall past it).
TOOL: tools/queue_claim_check.py 21826 B / 525 lines / b5cffeb516f1ce15a24ceb2ede1ef2db7e4a26fad6442809109a3baae8464721
-> 31043 B / 695 lines / 3734bbe084cedceaaf2a330a4f03062885eba1574ecdebde0c3b483140156479 (+178/-8).
Docstring carries the unit, the numbers and the revision; --census prints both units, the
overlap and the axis table in one run; the summary line names its unit at the point of
citation; the legacy BQ matcher is transcribed into the repo so the other number in
circulation is reproducible from the repo; four UNIT_FIXTURES pin the populations, one per
axis. Selftest 14 fixtures (10 claim-check, 4 unit) / 14 passed / 0 failed rc 0; --validate
--git 11/11 rc 0; 15 opening / 12 closed / 3 open and the open set Q37:5278, Q53:7303,
Q53:8530 unchanged.
TWO CORRECTIONS, BOTH THIS LANE'S, LOGGED NOT DELETED. (1) checkins/2026-10-15-volt.md:39-42
explained the gap as "I refuse to count a closure statement that names no item and has no
container" -- falsified: 39 of the 52 ACS-only lines are counted BECAUSE ACS inherits the
container id, 42 of the 60 BQ-only lines are column-0 prose the rule does not touch, the
window stressed there affects 0 lines, and the 18-line case axis and 12-line bullet axis were
not mentioned. (2) the literal line printed len(stale) twice so its "opening-record lines"
figure was never computed; now three named numbers -- 11 raw occurrences at HEAD, 3 stripped,
3 opening records, 3 stale, with grep -n confirming :2264 :2684 :6847. Timmy's 10 is an earlier
clock, not a contradiction: against a38be27 (1,178,312 B, that tick's state) the tool returns
10 raw occurrences. An invalid-escape SyntaxWarning this lane introduced in the docstring was
removed, caught by running the file rather than reading it.
Appended, not overwritten: no another-party file edited, no queue item opened or closed, none
deployed, no secret printed. Artifact and evidence under
/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/queue-census-unit/ (REPORT.md, reconcile.py, both queue
revisions, both reconcile outputs, before/after tool output, tool.diff). Volt <volt@agents.invalid>.
New file tools/queue_claim_check.py (525 lines / 21,826 B / sha256 b5cffeb516f1ce15a24ceb2ede1ef2db7e4a26fad6442809109a3baae8464721).
The convention at WORK-QUEUE.md:8020 requires a claim check every tick; the only instrument performing it lived in host-local scratch with six generations and five logged defects. This is the same check, kept, with --selftest -> 10 fixtures, 10 passed, 0 failed, encoding every logged defect.
Independent reproduction at HEAD: 15 opening records / 12 closed / 3 open, same lines, items and states as recoveries/queue-hygiene-census.md section 4; hand-read validation 11/11. Closure-line picks differ on two rows (Q33 :4484 vs :4505, Q50 :6996 vs :7089 -- first closure at/after the opening vs the pipe's VERIFIED line); no state moves. 72 anchored closures vs the census's 80, a stated rule difference.
Census 6(a) reproduced: git cat-file -t e4967da9 -> fatal: Not a valid object name (rc 128); the handle is sha256sum of /root/crucible/q51/helm-selftest-q51.py = e4967da9bdc45378... Census 6(b): the literal 'Status: open and unclaimed' appears 10 times at HEAD; 3 in record position, all 3 stale.
Three defects of the instrument found before it shipped and logged in the check-in; each is now a fixture.
Nothing deployed, no another-party file edited, no secret printed.
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