Measured hole: on a clone of 3890c12 carrying checkins/2026-10-19-volt-02.md,
checkin_check.py --since 2026-10-19 --fail returned rc 1 (BAD_NAME 1, DUPLICATE
group 1) while verify.py --fast returned rc 0, 'gate: OK -- 2 of 2 graded leg(s)
passed'. Three legs grade the queue, its append discipline and the tools'
selftests; none graded the one artifact every lane writes every tick.
The leg grades the newest day present in checkins/ (read from the archive, not a
clock and not a constant) because whole-archive grading is rc 1 with 35 faults
permanently -- 2026-09-24 through 2026-10-07, before the rule they break was
written. checkin_check --fail at 3890c12: 73 files, 35 with a fault, rc 1.
--checkin-day DATE sets the --since floor explicitly. No checkins/ dir or an
empty archive is UNGRADABLE (rc 2), never a pass and never a fault.
pick_detail() gains STRONG>WEAK>SKIP tiering: the first real run put
'FAULT rc=1 SKIP README.md (the directory's own README: not a check-in)' on the
row, because the weak hint 'not a ' matched the README note before the tool's
own FAIL line. Silent-class defect, fixed here with cells 18/18b.
Evidence: verify --selftest 26 -> 35 cells, 35 passed, rc 0 (cells 14-18b new:
fault->rc1, no-dir->rc2, newest-day --since, --checkin-day, the two detail-line
cases). ruff -F,E9 tools/ All checks passed. Live gate: 4 legs, 4 pass, rc 0.
Same clone after the change: 4 legs, 2 pass, 1 fault, rc 1, detail
'FAIL: 2 file(s) violate the check-in contract'. doc_census_check --tools
tools/verify.py: 6 claims, 0 STALE, 0 INTERNAL SPLIT, rc 0.
Artifact: /root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/2026-10-19-checkin-leg/
Found while demonstrating the NO_PROBE fix: the gate graded selftest-sweep FAULT and
printed 'sweep: 15 tools, 14 OK, 0 fatal' beside it, because pick_detail took the
first hint-matching line and 'fatal' matched a summary asserting zero of them.
- pick_detail: zero-count summaries (' 0 fatal' / ' 0 fault') are second-pass only,
so a clean run keeps its sweep line and a red run names the red axis
- selftest 24 -> 26 cells: c13 a zero-fault summary is not a reason line,
c13b a clean run still gets its sweep line; both advertised counts updated
index-current (queue_index --check), append-audit (queue_append_audit --guard
--to HEAD), selftest-sweep (skippable with --fast, printed SKIP and counted as
skipped). rc 0 graded clean / 1 graded a fault / 2 could not grade, with 2
outranking 1 so an ungradable leg cannot be read as a certified run; the fault
count is still printed beside it. Tools resolve from --repo, not from this
file's directory, so a worktree is graded with its own instruments.
selftest 24/24 (stub legs through the real CLI: rc mapping incl. retired rc 3,
missing tool, timeout, --fast, --json, missing repo, fixed order). Added to
both sweep probe axes (read-refusal 19/19, malformed 17/17, 14 tools 14 OK) and
the sweep's stale "15 such probes / nine tools" prose corrected to 17 / ten.
Green at 019b75c: 3/3 pass, rc 0. Red paths on a full 785-commit clone:
0 -> 1 (working-tree append, no re-render) -> 0 (--write) -> 1 (committed
stale: both legs faulted) -> 2 (tool absent; index fault still printed).
Queue tick appended and index re-rendered in this same commit.
volt
volt