@event4u/agent-config 14.8.0 → 14.10.0

package/src/scripts/check_secret_leak.ts

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import * as path from 'node:path';
 import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
 
 import { assertScanned, DeadScopeError } from './_lib/scan_scope.js';
+import { runSelfTest } from './_lib/gate_self_test.js';
 import { scanText, type SecretFinding } from './_lib/secret_detector.js';
 
 const _HERE = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
@@ -107,8 +108,34 @@ function isAllowed(rel: string, lineno: number, allow: readonly AllowEntry[]): b
     return allow.some((a) => a.file === rel && (a.line === null || a.line === lineno));
 }
 
-function isExcluded(rel: string): boolean {
-    return DEFAULT_EXCLUDE.some((rx) => rx.test(rel));
+/** `dist/` — excluded everywhere EXCEPT the pack scope. See `isExcluded`. */
+const DIST_EXCLUDE: RegExp = /(^|\/)dist(\/|$)/;
+
+function isExcluded(rel: string, mode: Mode = 'diff'): boolean {
+    return DEFAULT_EXCLUDE.some((rx) => {
+        // The `dist/` exclusion is the SECOND reason this gate could not see
+        // what ships, and it fires regardless of mode. Mode enumeration was the
+        // first: every git-backed mode walks the git tree, and `dist/cli/**` is
+        // gitignored while `dist/` is a `files[]` root. Adding the pack scope
+        // alone fixed nothing measurable — the payload resolved and then this
+        // filter threw away exactly the paths the scope exists to reach.
+        // Verified: a key-shaped string planted at `dist/zzcanary/leak.txt`
+        // (`git check-ignore -v` names `.gitignore:206`, and `npm pack` ships
+        // it) was missed by the new mode until this branch existed.
+        //
+        // Kept for every OTHER mode, because there the exclusion is right:
+        // `dist/` is a byte-for-byte projection of `src/`, which is scanned at
+        // its own path, so scanning the copy adds no coverage. In the pack scope
+        // the question is different — not "is this content somewhere else in the
+        // repo" but "does this content SHIP" — and for an untracked shipped path
+        // there is no other path to have scanned it at.
+        //
+        // The cost is a duplicate finding for a TRACKED dist file. That is not a
+        // false positive: a projection is byte-identical to its source, so a
+        // finding there is a finding in `src/` too.
+        if (mode === 'pack' && rx.source === DIST_EXCLUDE.source) return false;
+        return rx.test(rel);
+    });
 }
 
 /** Fast binary sniff — a NUL byte in the first 8 KiB means "not text". */
@@ -132,7 +159,48 @@ function gitLines(root: string, args: readonly string[]): string[] {
     return res.stdout.split('\n').filter((l) => l.trim() !== '');
 }
 
-export type Mode = 'diff' | 'all' | 'explicit';
+export type Mode = 'diff' | 'all' | 'explicit' | 'pack';
+
+/**
+ * `pack` exists because the other three cannot see a large part of what ships.
+ *
+ * Every one of them enumerates the GIT tree — `git diff`, `git ls-files`, or an
+ * explicit path list a caller derived from one. `dist/` is a `files[]` root and
+ * `dist/cli/**` is gitignored (`.gitignore:206` is `/dist/*`, and
+ * `git check-ignore -v dist/cli/agent-config.js` names that line), so those
+ * paths are shipped and untracked at the same time and this gate could not
+ * reach them **by construction** — not by misconfiguration.
+ *
+ * Additive on purpose: no existing caller changes behaviour, and the three
+ * git-backed modes are untouched.
+ */
+export function packPayloadFiles(root: string): string[] {
+    const out = spawnSync('npm', ['pack', '--dry-run', '--ignore-scripts', '--json'], {
+        cwd: root,
+        encoding: 'utf-8',
+        maxBuffer: 64 * 1024 * 1024,
+    });
+    if (out.status !== 0 || typeof out.stdout !== 'string') {
+        // Returning [] would hand the scope assertion an empty set, which it
+        // already treats as a gate that could not run — the right verdict, and
+        // reached without inventing a second failure path.
+        return [];
+    }
+    const i = out.stdout.indexOf('[');
+    if (i < 0) return [];
+    let parsed: unknown;
+    try {
+        parsed = JSON.parse(out.stdout.slice(i));
+    } catch {
+        return [];
+    }
+    if (!Array.isArray(parsed) || parsed.length === 0) return [];
+    const first = parsed[0] as { files?: { path?: unknown }[] };
+    const files = Array.isArray(first.files) ? first.files : [];
+    return files
+        .map((f) => (typeof f.path === 'string' ? f.path : ''))
+        .filter((pth) => pth !== '');
+}
 
 /**
  * Resolve the file set.
@@ -155,6 +223,9 @@ export function resolveFiles(
     if (mode === 'all') {
         return gitLines(root, ['ls-files']);
     }
+    if (mode === 'pack') {
+        return packPayloadFiles(root);
+    }
     const base = opts.base ?? 'origin/main';
     // An unresolvable base is a scan of NOTHING, not a clean scan.
     //
@@ -191,7 +262,7 @@ export function scanRepo(
     const applyExcludes = mode !== 'explicit';
     const hits: LeakHit[] = [];
     for (const rel of resolveFiles(root, mode, opts)) {
-        if (applyExcludes && isExcluded(rel)) {
+        if (applyExcludes && isExcluded(rel, mode)) {
             continue;
         }
         const abs = path.join(root, rel);
@@ -220,6 +291,7 @@ export function scanRepo(
 interface Args {
     json: boolean;
     all: boolean;
+    pack: boolean;
     base: string | undefined;
     paths: string[];
 }
@@ -228,6 +300,7 @@ function parseArgs(argv: readonly string[]): Args {
     const paths: string[] = [];
     let json = false;
     let all = false;
+    let pack = false;
     let base: string | undefined;
     for (let i = 0; i < argv.length; i++) {
         const a = argv[i] as string;
@@ -235,13 +308,17 @@ function parseArgs(argv: readonly string[]): Args {
             json = true;
         } else if (a === '--all') {
             all = true;
+        } else if (a === '--pack') {
+            pack = true;
         } else if (a === '--base') {
             base = argv[++i];
         } else if (a === '-h' || a === '--help') {
             _stdout(
-                'usage: check_secret_leak [paths...] [--all] [--base <ref>] [--json]\n' +
+                'usage: check_secret_leak [paths...] [--all] [--pack] [--base <ref>] [--json]\n' +
                     '  default → scans files changed vs origin/main + untracked (shift-left).\n' +
                     '  --all   → scans the whole tracked tree.\n' +
+                    '  --pack  → scans the npm pack payload, INCLUDING shipped-but-gitignored\n' +
+                    '            paths the three git-backed modes cannot reach.\n' +
                     '  paths   → scans exactly those paths (excludes skipped).\n' +
                     '  Exit 1 on a high-confidence leak.\n',
             );
@@ -253,7 +330,7 @@ function parseArgs(argv: readonly string[]): Args {
             paths.push(a);
         }
     }
-    return { json, all, base, paths };
+    return { json, all, pack, base, paths };
 }
 
 function _stdout(s: string): void {
@@ -263,9 +340,73 @@ function _stderr(s: string): void {
     process.stderr.write(s);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Discrimination, over the one property this branch added.
+ *
+ * The pack scope's whole value is that it reaches paths the git-backed modes
+ * cannot, and it was measurably INERT when first written: the mode resolved the
+ * payload and `DEFAULT_EXCLUDE`'s `dist/` rule then filtered away exactly those
+ * paths. A self-test over `isExcluded` is therefore not a formality here — it
+ * pins the difference between the mode working and the mode existing.
+ *
+ * Deliberately over the pure predicate rather than over a spawned `npm pack`:
+ * the canary in `gate-coverage.yml` already drives the real binary end to end
+ * with a real plant, and duplicating that here would add a pack run per case
+ * for no additional evidence.
+ */
+function selfTest(): number {
+    return runSelfTest({
+        gate: 'check_secret_leak',
+        minCases: 7,
+        minRejectCases: 3,
+        cases: [
+            {
+                name: 'pack scope does NOT exclude dist/ — the blind spot it exists for',
+                expect: 'reject',
+                run: () => (isExcluded('dist/cli/agent-config.js', 'pack') ? 0 : 1),
+            },
+            {
+                name: 'diff scope DOES exclude dist/ — a projection scanned at its source',
+                expect: 'accept',
+                run: () => (isExcluded('dist/cli/agent-config.js', 'diff') ? 0 : 1),
+            },
+            {
+                name: 'all scope also still excludes dist/ — untouched by this change',
+                expect: 'accept',
+                run: () => (isExcluded('dist/agent-src/rules/x.md', 'all') ? 0 : 1),
+            },
+            {
+                // The exclusion carve-out is `dist/` ONLY. If it leaked into the
+                // other rules the pack scope would start reading test fixtures,
+                // which legitimately hold secret-shaped strings.
+                name: 'pack scope still excludes tests/ — the carve-out is dist-only',
+                expect: 'accept',
+                run: () => (isExcluded('tests/fixtures/x.txt', 'pack') ? 0 : 1),
+            },
+            {
+                name: 'pack scope still excludes node_modules/',
+                expect: 'accept',
+                run: () => (isExcluded('node_modules/x/index.js', 'pack') ? 0 : 1),
+            },
+            {
+                name: 'pack scope reaches a second dist subtree, not just dist/cli',
+                expect: 'reject',
+                run: () => (isExcluded('dist/hooks/dispatch.js', 'pack') ? 0 : 1),
+            },
+            {
+                name: 'a shipped non-dist path is scanned in every mode',
+                expect: 'reject',
+                run: () => (isExcluded('src/scripts/x.ts', 'pack') || isExcluded('src/scripts/x.ts', 'diff') ? 0 : 1),
+            },
+        ],
+    });
+}
+
 export function main(argv?: readonly string[]): number {
-    const args = parseArgs(argv ?? process.argv.slice(2));
-    const mode: Mode = args.paths.length > 0 ? 'explicit' : args.all ? 'all' : 'diff';
+    const rawArgv = argv ?? process.argv.slice(2);
+    if (rawArgv.includes('--self-test')) return selfTest();
+    const args = parseArgs(rawArgv);
+    const mode: Mode = args.pack ? 'pack' : args.paths.length > 0 ? 'explicit' : args.all ? 'all' : 'diff';
 
     // Scope assertion, deliberately here and not inside `scanRepo`: that export
     // is called directly by tests and other callers against arbitrary roots, and
@@ -280,6 +421,11 @@ export function main(argv?: readonly string[]): number {
     // re-thrown untouched to preserve it.
     try {
         const targets = resolveFiles(REPO_ROOT, mode, { explicit: args.paths, base: args.base });
+        // The coverage register requires an enforced gate to report what it
+        // inspected. Printed before the assertion so a dead scope still tells
+        // the reader the number it died on, which is the one number that
+        // distinguishes "resolved nothing" from "resolved and filtered".
+        _stdout(`scanned: ${String(targets.length)}\n`);
         assertScanned({
             gate: 'check_secret_leak',
             scanned: targets.length,
@@ -289,9 +435,15 @@ export function main(argv?: readonly string[]): number {
                     ? ['git ls-files']
                     : mode === 'explicit'
                       ? ['<explicit path arguments>']
-                      : [`git diff --name-only --diff-filter=ACMR ${args.base ?? 'origin/main'}`, 'git ls-files --others --exclude-standard'],
-            // `all` and `explicit` carry no reason: zero tracked files, or zero
-            // named paths, is blindness in a repo that has content.
+                      : mode === 'pack'
+                        ? ['npm pack --dry-run --ignore-scripts payload (package.json files[])']
+                        : [`git diff --name-only --diff-filter=ACMR ${args.base ?? 'origin/main'}`, 'git ls-files --others --exclude-standard'],
+            // `all`, `explicit` and `pack` carry no reason: zero tracked files,
+            // zero named paths, or an empty pack payload is blindness in a repo
+            // that has content. `pack` inherits the strict path by omission
+            // rather than by a new branch — an empty payload means a botched
+            // `files[]` or a pack that resolved nothing, which is the loudest
+            // possible signal and the opposite of a clean bill.
             ...(mode === 'diff'
                 ? {
                       allowEmpty:
@@ -317,7 +469,9 @@ export function main(argv?: readonly string[]): number {
     if (args.json) {
         _stdout(JSON.stringify({ check: 'secret-leak', count: hits.length, hits }, null, 2) + '\n');
     } else if (hits.length === 0) {
-        _stdout('✅  check_secret_leak: no high-confidence secret found in the tracked tree.\n');
+        _stdout(
+            `✅  check_secret_leak: no high-confidence secret found in ${mode === 'pack' ? 'the npm pack payload' : 'the tracked tree'}.\n`,
+        );
     } else {
         _stderr(`❌  check_secret_leak: ${hits.length} high-confidence secret finding(s):\n`);
         for (const h of hits) {

package/src/scripts/code_graph/cli.ts

@@ -77,8 +77,47 @@ function flag(argv: string[], name: string): string | null {
     return i >= 0 && i + 1 < argv.length ? (argv[i + 1] as string) : null;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Resolve the repository to operate on. `--root` > `AGENT_CONFIG_PROJECT_ROOT` >
+ * this module's own tree.
+ *
+ * The middle rung is the whole point, and its absence was a confused deputy:
+ * `_dispatch.bash` parses `--root` GLOBALLY, strips it from argv, and exports
+ * `AGENT_CONFIG_PROJECT_ROOT` (`:1655`) — then this engine read neither and fell
+ * back to its own module path. So `agent-config code-graph build --root <other
+ * repo>` silently indexed THIS package. The dispatcher made the decision and the
+ * engine substituted its own, which is why every consumer-facing invocation was
+ * wrong about which repository it had just read.
+ *
+ * `realpathSync` rather than `resolve` alone: a symlinked root must normalise to
+ * what will actually be walked, or the path a caller sees in the output is not
+ * the path that was indexed. Fail-loud on a root that does not exist — a silent
+ * fallback to the package tree is the defect this function exists to remove, and
+ * reintroducing it for a typo'd path would be the same bug wearing a smaller
+ * hat.
+ *
+ * Deliberately NOT touching `DEFAULT_CACHE`, which is anchored to `REPO_ROOT`
+ * for the same reason and is a separate decision: it is a WRITE path, with its
+ * own ownership, cleanup, concurrency and multi-repo namespacing questions.
+ * Council 2026-08-22, both seats, explicitly out of scope here.
+ */
+function resolveRoot(argv: string[]): string {
+    const explicit = flag(argv, '--root');
+    const fromDispatcher = process.env['AGENT_CONFIG_PROJECT_ROOT'];
+    const candidate =
+        explicit ?? (fromDispatcher !== undefined && fromDispatcher !== '' ? fromDispatcher : REPO_ROOT);
+    try {
+        return fs.realpathSync(path.resolve(candidate));
+    } catch {
+        // Returned unresolved on purpose: every caller checks existence and
+        // prints the path it was given, which is more useful in the error than
+        // a normalised form of a path that does not exist.
+        return path.resolve(candidate);
+    }
+}
+
 async function cmdBuild(argv: string[]): Promise<number> {
-    const root = flag(argv, '--root') ?? REPO_ROOT;
+    const root = resolveRoot(argv);
     const out = argv.includes('--out') ? flag(argv, '--out') : DEFAULT_CACHE;
     if (!fs.existsSync(root)) {
         process.stderr.write(`code-graph: root not found: ${root}\n`);
@@ -122,7 +161,7 @@ function cmdValidate(argv: string[]): number {
 
 function resolveGraph(argv: string[]): { g: LoadedGraph; note: string } | { err: string } {
     const explicit = flag(argv, '--graph');
-    const root = flag(argv, '--root') ?? REPO_ROOT;
+    const root = resolveRoot(argv);
     if (explicit) {
         if (!fs.existsSync(explicit)) return { err: `graph not found: ${explicit}` };
         return { g: loadGraph(explicit, path.relative(REPO_ROOT, explicit)), note: '' };
@@ -179,7 +218,7 @@ function cmdQuery(kind: 'query' | 'explain' | 'affected' | 'path', argv: string[
     const positional = argv.filter((a) => !a.startsWith('--') && !isFlagValue(argv, a));
     const budget = budgetOf(argv);
     if (kind === 'affected' && flag(argv, '--since')) {
-        const root = flag(argv, '--root') ?? REPO_ROOT;
+        const root = resolveRoot(argv);
         const seeds = changedNodeSeeds(r.g, root, flag(argv, '--since') as string);
         const merged: QueryResult = { source: r.g.source, seeds: [], lines: [], truncated: false, recommended_reads: [] };
         const perSeed: QueryResult[] = [];
@@ -216,7 +255,7 @@ function isFlagValue(argv: string[], token: string): boolean {
 }
 
 function cmdDetect(argv: string[]): number {
-    const root = flag(argv, '--root') ?? REPO_ROOT;
+    const root = resolveRoot(argv);
     if (flag(argv, '--format') === 'json') {
         // Machine-readable three-state verdict (Phase 2). Existing human-text
         // output below is unchanged for existing consumers.
@@ -316,7 +355,7 @@ function runBudgetedBuild(root: string, out: string, update: boolean, budgetSeco
 }
 
 function cmdRefresh(argv: string[]): number {
-    const root = flag(argv, '--root') ?? REPO_ROOT;
+    const root = resolveRoot(argv);
     const out = flag(argv, '--out') ?? DEFAULT_CACHE;
     const budgetSeconds = budgetSecondsOf(argv);
     if (!fs.existsSync(root)) {

package/src/scripts/code_graph/extract.ts

@@ -306,6 +306,93 @@ function extractTsJs(root: TsNode, file: string, out: FileExtract): void {
                 if (body) for (const c of namedChildren(body)) walk(c, classId, id);
                 return;
             }
+            // Modern TS declares most of its functions as bindings, not as
+            // `function` statements. Before this case the extractor produced
+            // NO node for `export const f = () => {}` or
+            // `const g = function () {}`, which is the measured cause of the
+            // 170-vs-13,428 TS/PHP symbol gap: the six handled kinds simply do
+            // not cover the dominant declaration form.
+            //
+            // Scoped deliberately to bindings whose value IS a function. A
+            // `const x = 3` is data, not a symbol this graph answers questions
+            // about, and emitting a node per constant would inflate the count
+            // without improving recall — which is the cosmetic-improvement
+            // failure the phase falsifier exists to catch.
+            case 'lexical_declaration':
+            case 'variable_declaration': {
+                for (const d of namedChildren(n)) {
+                    if (d.type !== 'variable_declarator') continue;
+                    const value = d.childForFieldName('value');
+                    if (!value || (value.type !== 'arrow_function' && value.type !== 'function_expression')) {
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    const nm = nameField(d) ?? '<anon>';
+                    const id = classId ? `${classId}::${nm}` : `${file}#${nm}`;
+                    out.nodes.push({
+                        id,
+                        label: nm,
+                        kind: classId ? 'method' : 'function',
+                        source_file: file,
+                        source_location: loc(d),
+                    });
+                    out.rawEdges.push({
+                        sourceId: classId ?? fileId,
+                        relation: 'member',
+                        targetName: nm,
+                        confidenceHint: 'EXTRACTED',
+                    });
+                    // Walk the body under the BINDING's scope, so a call inside
+                    // an arrow function attributes to that function rather than
+                    // to the enclosing file — the same treatment
+                    // `function_declaration` gets.
+                    //
+                    // `walk(body)` and not `namedChildren(body)`: an
+                    // expression-bodied arrow (`() => helper()`) has the CALL
+                    // itself as its body, so descending one level first steps
+                    // straight past it and the edge is lost. The sibling cases
+                    // can iterate children because a `statement_block` is never
+                    // the interesting node; here it often is.
+                    const body = value.childForFieldName('body');
+                    if (body) walk(body, classId, id);
+                }
+                // Non-function declarators still need walking for their calls.
+                for (const d of namedChildren(n)) {
+                    if (d.type !== 'variable_declarator') continue;
+                    const value = d.childForFieldName('value');
+                    if (value && (value.type === 'arrow_function' || value.type === 'function_expression')) {
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    walk(d, classId, scopeId);
+                }
+                return;
+            }
+            // `class C { m = () => 1 }` — a class property holding a function.
+            // Emitted as a `method`, the same kind `method_definition` emits,
+            // because it is one to every caller.
+            case 'public_field_definition': {
+                const value = n.childForFieldName('value');
+                const nm = nameField(n) ?? '<anon>';
+                if (value && (value.type === 'arrow_function' || value.type === 'function_expression')) {
+                    const id = classId ? `${classId}::${nm}` : `${file}#${nm}`;
+                    out.nodes.push({
+                        id,
+                        label: nm,
+                        kind: 'method',
+                        source_file: file,
+                        source_location: loc(n),
+                    });
+                    out.rawEdges.push({
+                        sourceId: classId ?? fileId,
+                        relation: 'member',
+                        targetName: nm,
+                        confidenceHint: 'EXTRACTED',
+                    });
+                    const body = value.childForFieldName('body');
+                    if (body) walk(body, classId, id);
+                    return;
+                }
+                break;
+            }
             case 'new_expression': {
                 const ctor = n.childForFieldName('constructor');
                 if (ctor && (ctor.type === 'identifier' || ctor.type === 'type_identifier' || ctor.type === 'member_expression'))

package/src/scripts/council_cli.ts

@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@ import {
     renderPostureLines,
     type FallbackPosture,
 } from './_lib/council_fallback_posture.js';
-import { buildFallbackOptions } from './_lib/council_fallback_wiring.js';
+import { wireCouncilFallback } from './_lib/council_fallback_wiring.js';
+import { BILLING_SUBCOMMANDS, billingArgSpec, handleBillingCommand, printBillingGate } from './_lib/billing_grant_cli.js';
 import {
     type ClassificationResult,
     type SizeFitVerdict,
@@ -880,19 +881,11 @@ function build_members(settings: Dict, opts: BuildMembersOptions = {}): External
                 'prints the resolved path.',
         );
     }
-    if (fallback_out !== null) {
-        // Absent/malformed block means `false`, never a throw. Why quota
-        // fall-through is opt-in: `FallbackPolicy.apiOnQuota`.
-        const fallback_cfg = _isDict(ai['fallback']) ? (ai['fallback'] as Dict) : {};
-        fallback_out.options = buildFallbackOptions({
-            apiOnQuota: _pyBool(fallback_cfg['api_on_quota']),
-            hasApiRung: (p) => _API_PROVIDERS.has(p),
-            memberConfig: (p) => ((members_cfg[p] as Dict) || {}) as Dict,
-            modelOverride: (p) => (overrides[p] as string | undefined) ?? null,
-            constructApi: _construct_api_member,
-            emit: appendEvent,
-        });
-    }
+    wireCouncilFallback(fallback_out, ai, {
+        repoRoot: REPO_ROOT, isDict: _isDict, membersCfg: members_cfg, overrides,
+        hasApiRung: (p) => _API_PROVIDERS.has(p),
+        constructApi: _construct_api_member, emit: appendEvent,
+    });
     return members;
 }
 
@@ -2668,6 +2661,7 @@ function cmd_run(
     quorum_out.result = post_run.quorum;
     skipped.push(...post_run.absent);
     recordRoundObservations(REPO_ROOT, members, responses, classifyCliFailure);
+    printBillingGate(fallback_out.options?.parked ?? [], { repoRoot: REPO_ROOT, stdout: _stdout, stderr: _stderr });
     // Attendance telemetry for the reading that actually decided the pass.
     // `post_run.absent` is the mid-flight set only; the construction-time
     // skips already went out under `phase: 'pre_run'` from `build_members`,
@@ -3509,7 +3503,7 @@ interface Args {
     json: boolean;
 }
 
-const _SUBCOMMANDS = ['estimate', 'run', 'debate', 'render', 'replay', 'quota', 'shadow-report', 'status'];
+const _SUBCOMMANDS = ['estimate', 'run', 'debate', 'render', 'replay', 'quota', 'shadow-report', 'status', ...BILLING_SUBCOMMANDS];
 
 const _TOP_USAGE =
     `usage: ${_PROG} [-h]\n` +
@@ -3698,7 +3692,7 @@ function _specsFor(cmd: string): { positionals: string[]; opts: OptSpec[]; requi
                 requiredOpts: [],
             };
         default:
-            return { positionals: [], opts: [], requiredOpts: [] };
+            return billingArgSpec(cmd) ?? { positionals: [], opts: [], requiredOpts: [] };
     }
 }
 
@@ -3902,6 +3896,8 @@ function main(argv: string[] | null = null): number {
         if (args.cmd === 'status') {
             return cmd_status(args);
         }
+        const billing = handleBillingCommand(String(args.cmd), _getattr(args, 'run_id', null), { repoRoot: REPO_ROOT, stdout: _stdout, stderr: _stderr });
+        if (billing !== null) return billing;
     } catch (exc) {
         if (exc instanceof CouncilDisabledError) {
             _stderr(`❌  council:${args.cmd}: ${exc.message}\n`);

package/src/scripts/detect_ai_tells.ts

@@ -111,6 +111,93 @@ export function scanHiddenUnicode(text: string): HiddenUnicodeFinding[] {
   }));
 }
 
+/** One codepoint the strip considered, and what it decided. */
+export interface CarrierRecord {
+  /** `U+XXXX` form, so a record is readable without decoding. */
+  codepoint: string;
+  /** The class `_classify` returned — never a second class list. */
+  cls: string;
+  /** Codepoint index (not UTF-16 index) in the input. */
+  offset: number;
+  disposition: "removed" | "preserved";
+  /** Why it was preserved. `null` when removed. */
+  reason: string | null;
+}
+
+export interface CarrierStripResult {
+  out: string;
+  removed: number;
+  preserved: number;
+  records: CarrierRecord[];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remove hidden-Unicode carriers from OUTPUT prose — context-aware, opt-in.
+ *
+ * ## Why this is not `_sanitize`
+ *
+ * `lint_hidden_unicode._sanitize` drops every `_classify`-flagged codepoint
+ * unconditionally and then applies `NFKC`. That is correct for its own callers —
+ * it repairs a source FILE — and it is wrong for a deliverable, because
+ * `_ZERO_WIDTH` contains `0x200C` and `0x200D`. A blind pass therefore destroys
+ * emoji ZWJ sequences and complex-script joiners, which are legitimate content.
+ * This function keeps `_classify` as the single source of truth for *what is a
+ * candidate* and adds exactly one predicate for *whether to remove it*.
+ *
+ * ## The predicate
+ *
+ * A flagged codepoint is removed only when the codepoints on BOTH sides are
+ * ASCII (`< 0x80`) or absent. A carrier between two ASCII characters is doing
+ * no linguistic work; one adjacent to any non-ASCII character might be a
+ * joiner, so it stays.
+ *
+ * Deliberately conservative, and the asymmetry is the point: the failure mode
+ * is a preserved carrier, never a corrupted word. That makes this a HYGIENE
+ * pass and not a security control — the injection vector is covered on the
+ * INGESTION side by `scanHiddenUnicode`, whose contract is to warn and never
+ * strip, and which this function does not touch.
+ *
+ * Not a detector-evasion tool: it removes invisible characters and alters no
+ * visible prose. That exclusion is permanent.
+ */
+export function stripCarrierUnicode(text: string): CarrierStripResult {
+  const cps = [...text].map((ch) => ch.codePointAt(0) ?? 0);
+  const kept: string[] = [];
+  const records: CarrierRecord[] = [];
+  let removed = 0;
+  let preserved = 0;
+
+  for (let i = 0; i < cps.length; i += 1) {
+    const cp = cps[i] as number;
+    const cls = _classify(cp);
+    if (cls === null) {
+      kept.push(String.fromCodePoint(cp));
+      continue;
+    }
+    // `undefined` at either end is "absent", which counts as ASCII-side: a
+    // carrier at a boundary has no neighbour to be joining.
+    const before = cps[i - 1];
+    const after = cps[i + 1];
+    const asciiSide = (n: number | undefined): boolean => n === undefined || n < 0x80;
+    const strip = asciiSide(before) && asciiSide(after);
+    records.push({
+      codepoint: `U+${cp.toString(16).toUpperCase().padStart(4, "0")}`,
+      cls,
+      offset: i,
+      disposition: strip ? "removed" : "preserved",
+      reason: strip ? null : "adjacent to a non-ASCII codepoint — may be a joiner",
+    });
+    if (strip) {
+      removed += 1;
+    } else {
+      preserved += 1;
+      kept.push(String.fromCodePoint(cp));
+    }
+  }
+
+  return { out: kept.join(""), removed, preserved, records };
+}
+
 interface Thresholds {
   maxHard: number;
   maxScore: number;

package/src/scripts/dispatch_r2_reviewer.ts

@@ -698,6 +698,44 @@ function isoSeconds(d: Date): string {
     return d.toISOString().replace(/\.\d{3}Z$/, 'Z');
 }
 
+/**
+ * The return-envelope POINTER — one line-shaped field, delivered on the
+ * dominant dispatch path.
+ *
+ * ## Why a pointer and not the contract
+ *
+ * 240 chars is not a round number: it is `MAX_RESPONSE_LINE_CHARS`
+ * (`_lib/subagent_response.ts`), so the pointer is one line-shaped field by the
+ * contract's own measure. Inlining the shape would put a fourth copy of it in
+ * the tree, and a fourth copy is how the contract came to have three
+ * inconsistent states.
+ *
+ * ## Why THIS dispatcher
+ *
+ * `road-to-subagent-envelope-adoption` step 1.1 says the dominant path, "and it
+ * does not fan out to both". The dominant path is **not answerable from the
+ * ledger** — 1,725 of 1,845 post-split stops carry a null `agent_type`, which is
+ * the 8 % start↔stop join rate recorded elsewhere, so no stop can be attributed
+ * to a dispatcher. Decided on invocation surface instead: this file is wired
+ * into `/create-pr` and read by three gates (`check_completion_review`,
+ * `lint_evidence_artifacts`, `probe_review_binding_drift`), while
+ * `team_dispatch` sits behind an ai_team host flag and one `/team delegate`
+ * command. It is also the leg with ZERO prior contract hits, so the dominant
+ * path and the absent one are the same file.
+ *
+ * ## What it does not change
+ *
+ * The findings table stays the artefact — the gates read the file, not the
+ * envelope. Per the four-boundary separation in the response contract, this
+ * touches the DELIVERY boundary only: what the final message is. It adds no
+ * lifecycle status and does not alter the body schema.
+ */
+export const RETURN_ENVELOPE_POINTER =
+    'Final message = the return envelope and nothing else: ' +
+    '{summary, handoff, confidence, findings, risks}. Shape + the ' +
+    'write-to-disk-first rule: contexts/execution/subagent-response-contract.md. ' +
+    'The findings table stays a file.';
+
 function reviewerPrompt(args: {
     slug: string;
     headSha: string;
@@ -781,6 +819,10 @@ function reviewerPrompt(args: {
         `**Honest-null:** 0 findings, scope ${args.scopeHash}, reviewed <YYYY-MM-DD>`,
         '```',
         '',
+        '## Return channel',
+        '',
+        RETURN_ENVELOPE_POINTER,
+        '',
     ].join('\n');
 }