tickmarkr 2.6.7 → 2.6.9

package/dist/run/beat-lifecycle.js

@@ -1,40 +1,100 @@
 import { spawn as nodeSpawn, spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
-import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto";
-import { closeSync, linkSync, mkdirSync, openSync, readFileSync, readlinkSync, realpathSync, renameSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
-import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
-import { SUPERVISION_BEAT_MS, isSeatTier, publishStandDown, readSupervisionArm, supervisionArmPath, supervisionBeatPath, supervisionStatus, } from "./supervision.js";
+import { createHash, randomUUID } from "node:crypto";
+import { closeSync, existsSync, linkSync, mkdirSync, openSync, readdirSync, readFileSync, readlinkSync, realpathSync, renameSync, rmdirSync, rmSync, statSync, writeFileSync, } from "node:fs";
+import { basename, dirname, join } from "node:path";
+import { stateDirName, tickmarkrDir } from "../graph/graph.js";
+import { SUPERVISION_BEAT_MS, isSeatTier, publishStandDown, readSupervisionArm, supervisionArmPath, supervisionBeatPath, supervisionStandDownPath, supervisionStatus, } from "./supervision.js";
 // H + D-1001: the detached beat is OWNED by the product, not by a shell recipe. One claim file per
 // (repository, tier) serializes start, stop and the legacy arm-mutating writers; one owner record names
 // the exact generation (seat, armId, pid, process birth/argv/cwd) that start launched. Every signal and
 // removal rechecks that generation first and reads the result back afterwards, so an older invocation can
 // never retire a replacement, and a pid that now belongs to another process is a mismatch, never a target.
-// Status takes no claim and writes nothing. Uncertain state is RETAINED and refused (nonzero), never
-// guessed: a stale beat is not proof of death and a foreign or stale claim is never stolen.
+// Status takes no claim and writes nothing. Uncertain state is RETAINED and refused (nonzero), never guessed.
+// Claims — the closed actor table. IN: compliant claim contenders (start, stop and every legacy write through this CLI;
+// status takes no claim), a crashed owner (holder ESRCH or a zombie, its claim and records left behind) and a killed
+// compliant recovery or release taker (dead at any step of the one removal path). OUT, the one residual: an external
+// writer editing, replacing or deleting claim, lock or record files outside this CLI — nothing is promised under it
+// beyond the identity MISMATCH refusals (e.g. its edit between a final check and the mutation's own syscall is not
+// seen; POSIX has no compare-and-rename). A claim records its holder pid and birth (its runtime's own record, read with no
+// process probe) and, for a launch claim, the launched writer publishing under it (namePublisher, before that writer's first act). EVERY claimant takes over a held
+// claim only when every pid parsed from the very bytes checked is confirmed dead (ESRCH or a zombie) — the legacy
+// {tier, token, pid, claimedAt} schema included — so a legacy writer killed inside its claimed tick never strands the
+// printed migration step, while a live, reused or unreadable holder or writer is never taken over (BUSY). A launched
+// writer whose launcher is dead releases the launch claim itself once settled (releaseDeadLaunch) and refuses while
+// launching; one whose dead launcher never bound its arm epoch exits after that release, leaving an ABANDONED launch
+// for ordinary recovery. Under its launcher's claim nothing is checked after its last act (each act verified the claim
+// last), so the launcher releasing after its read-back never ends the loop it launched. A claim is removed in exactly
+// ONE way, by recovery and release alike (takeClaim): under a per-claim removal lock that appears atomically WITH its
+// owner (pid, birth) and only once no claimed act is running under those bytes, the checked bytes are moved aside into
+// that lock and kept only when they are exactly those bytes — anything else is put straight back, and a claim linked
+// meanwhile holds nothing until the lock is gone: its claimant withdraws it and refuses BUSY. Bytes a claimant could
+// not remove (another live taker held or moved them aside, even on a mistaken death proof) stay provably ITS STRAND
+// wherever they are — its pid, checked birth and a token no invocation of that process still holds (strandOf) — so its
+// own next start, stop or legacy write withdraws them from the claim path (withdrawStrand) or discards them from a
+// killed taker's lock (recoverLock), its status reports them wherever they are — the claim path or moved aside into a
+// live or dead taker's lock, naming that taker — with the recovery command (strandsNamed), and once it exits they are
+// a dead claim: even a
+// long-lived caller never needs to exit for recovery to proceed. A lock whose owner is confirmed dead (a killed
+// taker) is recovered by the next start, stop or legacy write (recoverLock) with a notice, as is the pid-named entry of
+// a taker killed while assembling or releasing it; a live or unprovable owner's lock is never taken (BUSY). Every
+// claimed mutation — owner record renames, the log open, spawn, signals, removals, and each record a STAGED supervision
+// write changed (supervised) — is ONE claimed act (claimedAct): marked beside the claim, its owner-generation barrier
+// (and, staged, a compare of every supervision record with what it was staged from) re-run inside it, the claim
+// verified LAST, immediately before the mutation. So no claim removal lands inside an act, and a claim, owner or arm
+// replaced before that final check lands nothing further — nothing more is written, signalled or removed and the
+// invocation refuses nonzero at its next check, release included. What a dead invocation leaves (act marker, removal
+// lock, moved-aside bytes, stage directory) is cleared only by a start, stop or legacy write that proves its owner
+// dead; status reports it with that command, and names every live holder — the claim's and each removal lock's taker. Owners likewise: a generation whose recorded pid is confirmed dead
+// (OWN-DEAD), or an unbound owner no launch holds (ABANDONED: its launcher died before binding pid or arm epoch, no
+// recorded process alive), is retired — owner removed, nothing signalled — by the next stop or start (both stand its
+// arm down; start then launches) or legacy write (whose requested write then proceeds on that arm: a one-shot records
+// its beat) (retireDead).
 /** start's whole budget — launch, read-back and any overrun — before it must refuse and roll back. */
 export const BEAT_STARTUP_CEILING_MS = 60_000;
 /** The generation a started child carries; it lets the child act under its launcher's claim only. */
 export const BEAT_GENERATION_ENV = "TICKMARKR_BEAT_GENERATION";
-export function defaultBeatDeps() {
+export function defaultBeatDeps(host = {}) {
     return {
         cli: [process.execPath, ...process.execArgv, process.argv[1] ?? ""],
         spawn: nodeSpawn,
         kill: (pid, signal) => { process.kill(pid, signal); },
-        identity: readProcessIdentity,
+        identity: (pid) => readProcessIdentity(pid, host),
         openLog: (path) => openSync(path, "a"),
         now: Date.now,
         sleep: (ms) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms)),
         env: process.env,
     };
 }
-/** A named, nonzero refusal: dispatch renders the message and exits 1. */
+/** A named, nonzero refusal: dispatch renders the message and exits 1. `notice` is a reclaim it must not lose. */
 export class BeatRefusal extends Error {
+    notice;
+    constructor(message, notice) {
+        super(message);
+        this.notice = notice;
+    }
 }
 function refuse(message) { throw new BeatRefusal(message); }
+/** Death the kernel confirms: ESRCH, or a zombie awaiting its reaper. Anything else — a non-positive pid too — is not proof. */
+function confirmedDead(pid) {
+    if (!positive(pid))
+        return false;
+    try {
+        process.kill(pid, 0);
+    }
+    catch (error) {
+        return error.code === "ESRCH";
+    }
+    return spawnSync("ps", ["-o", "stat=", "-p", String(pid)], { encoding: "utf8" }).stdout?.trim().startsWith("Z") === true;
+}
 /**
  * The live process behind a pid: birth (lstart), full argv, cwd and process group. A missing process is
- * DEAD only when the kernel says so (ESRCH or a zombie); anything unreadable is UNKNOWN, never DEAD.
+ * DEAD only when the kernel says so (ESRCH or a zombie) — also when it exits between ps and the cwd read;
+ * anything unreadable is UNKNOWN, never DEAD. Linux reads cwd from /proc and never needs lsof; every other
+ * host reads it through lsof, so a missing or unusable lsof beside a LIVE pid is UNKNOWN that names lsof.
  */
-export function readProcessIdentity(pid) {
+export function readProcessIdentity(pid, host = {}) {
+    const platform = host.platform ?? process.platform;
+    const lsofBin = host.lsof ?? "lsof";
     try {
         process.kill(pid, 0);
     }
@@ -45,30 +105,33 @@ export function readProcessIdentity(pid) {
         encoding: "utf8", env: { ...process.env, LC_ALL: "C" },
     });
     const row = /^\s*(\d+)\s+(\S+)\s+(\w{3} \w{3} [ \d]\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d \d{4})\s+(.*\S)\s*$/.exec(ps.stdout ?? "");
-    if (ps.status !== 0 || !row) {
-        try {
-            process.kill(pid, 0);
-            return "UNKNOWN";
-        }
-        catch (error) {
-            return error.code === "ESRCH" ? "DEAD" : "UNKNOWN";
-        }
-    }
+    if (ps.status !== 0 || !row)
+        return confirmedDead(pid) ? "DEAD" : "UNKNOWN";
     if (row[2].startsWith("Z"))
         return "DEAD";
     let cwd;
-    try {
-        if (process.platform === "linux")
+    let why;
+    if (platform === "linux") {
+        try {
             cwd = readlinkSync(`/proc/${pid}/cwd`);
-        else {
-            const lsof = spawnSync("lsof", ["-a", "-p", String(pid), "-d", "cwd", "-Fn"], { encoding: "utf8" });
-            cwd = lsof.stdout?.split("\n").find((line) => line.startsWith("n"))?.slice(1);
+        }
+        catch {
+            cwd = undefined;
         }
     }
-    catch {
-        cwd = undefined;
+    else {
+        const lsof = spawnSync(lsofBin, ["-a", "-p", String(pid), "-d", "cwd", "-Fn"], { encoding: "utf8" });
+        cwd = lsof.stdout?.split("\n").find((line) => line.startsWith("n"))?.slice(1) || undefined;
+        if (!cwd) {
+            why = lsof.error ? `lsof is missing or unusable (${lsofBin}: ${lsof.error.code ?? lsof.error.message})`
+                : `lsof (${lsofBin}) exited ${lsof.status ?? lsof.signal} without pid ${pid}'s cwd`;
+        }
     }
-    return cwd ? { pgid: Number(row[1]), birth: row[3], command: row[4], cwd } : "UNKNOWN";
+    if (cwd)
+        return { pgid: Number(row[1]), birth: row[3], command: row[4], cwd };
+    if (confirmedDead(pid))
+        return "DEAD";
+    return why ? `UNKNOWN — ${why}; ${platform} reads a process's cwd only through lsof — restore it` : "UNKNOWN";
 }
 const supervisionDirOf = (repoRoot, tier) => dirname(supervisionBeatPath(repoRoot, tier));
 export const beatClaimPath = (repoRoot, tier) => join(supervisionDirOf(repoRoot, tier), `${tier}.claim`);
@@ -84,6 +147,9 @@ function readJson(path) {
         const code = error.code;
         return code === "ENOENT" || code === "ENOTDIR" ? "NONE" : "UNREADABLE";
     }
+    return parseJson(bytes);
+}
+function parseJson(bytes) {
     try {
         const value = JSON.parse(bytes);
         return value && typeof value === "object" ? value : "UNREADABLE";
@@ -114,123 +180,801 @@ export function readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier) {
         return "UNREADABLE";
     return rec;
 }
+/**
+ * This process's birth as its own runtime recorded it at start (performance.timeOrigin, sub-millisecond), carried beside
+ * its pid by every claim and removal lock it publishes — a later process reusing the pid carries another; the legacy
+ * claim schema carries none. Checked from the process itself, never through a process probe: a claim write lists or
+ * names no process (the SUP-02 supervision tripwire), and ps lstart is only second-granular.
+ */
+const birth = String(performance.timeOrigin);
 function readClaim(repoRoot, tier) {
-    const rec = readJson(beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier));
+    return claimOf(readJson(beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier)));
+}
+/** Every recorded pid is a POSITIVE integer; absent (holder), 0, negative, fractional or non-numeric is unreadable. */
+function claimOf(rec) {
     if (typeof rec !== "object")
         return rec;
-    return text(rec.token) && Number.isInteger(rec.pid) ? { token: rec.token, pid: rec.pid } : "UNREADABLE";
+    if (!text(rec.token) || !positive(rec.pid) || !optional(rec.publisher, positive) || ![rec.birth, rec.publisherBirth].every((b) => optional(b, text)))
+        return "UNREADABLE";
+    return { token: rec.token, pid: rec.pid, ...(rec.publisher === undefined ? {} : { publisher: rec.publisher }) };
 }
-function publish(path, value) {
+/** Outside any claim (a direct call): the barrier, then the mutation. */
+export const unclaimed = (mutate, check) => { check?.(); return mutate(); };
+/** `guard` with `barrier` run ahead of each act's own check, inside the act. */
+const barred = (guard, barrier) => (mutate, check) => guard(mutate, () => { barrier(); check?.(); });
+/** Publish atomically: the temporary file, then the rename as one claimed act whose barrier is `check`. */
+function publish(path, value, guard, check) {
     mkdirSync(dirname(path), { recursive: true });
     const tmp = `${path}.${randomUUID()}.tmp`;
     try {
         writeFileSync(tmp, JSON.stringify(value) + "\n");
-        renameSync(tmp, path);
+        guard(() => renameSync(tmp, path), check);
     }
     finally {
         rmSync(tmp, { force: true });
     }
 }
-/** Atomic first-writer-wins claim; a held claim is BUSY and is never taken over. */
-export function acquireBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token) {
+/** Names derived from exact claim bytes: `<stem>.reclaim` locks their removal, `<stem>.act.<pid>.<id>` marks an act under them. */
+const claimStem = (path, bytes) => `${path}.${createHash("sha256").update(bytes).digest("hex").slice(0, 16)}`;
+const PAUSE = new Int32Array(new SharedArrayBuffer(4));
+/** The pids inside a claimed act under the bytes `stem` names; a confirmed-dead actor's marker is inert and removed. */
+function liveActs(stem) {
+    const prefix = `${basename(stem)}.act.`;
+    return readdirSync(dirname(stem)).filter((name) => name.startsWith(prefix)).flatMap((name) => {
+        const pid = Number(name.slice(prefix.length).split(".")[0]);
+        if (!confirmedDead(pid))
+            return [pid];
+        rmSync(join(dirname(stem), name), { force: true });
+        return [];
+    });
+}
+/**
+ * ONE claimed act — every publication, spawn, signal and removal made under a claim. The claim must name `token`;
+ * a marker naming this pid is created beside exactly those claim bytes, `check` (the act's own barrier) runs, and
+ * LAST the claim is re-verified — no removal of those bytes under way, still the canonical claim — immediately
+ * before `mutate`. takeClaim never removes bytes a live act marker names, so no tickmarkr recovery or release lands
+ * inside an act; a claim lost before the final check refuses with nothing further done.
+ * ponytail: an OUTSIDE edit of the claim landing between that final read and `mutate`'s own syscall is not seen (POSIX
+ * has no compare-and-rename); the next act, or the release, refuses on it.
+ */
+function claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, token, who, check, mutate) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const lost = () => refuse(`${tier} claim is no longer held by this ${who} — nothing further written, signalled or removed`);
+    const bytes = readBytes(path);
+    const claim = bytes === undefined ? "NONE" : claimOf(parseJson(bytes));
+    if (typeof claim !== "object" || claim.token !== token)
+        lost();
+    const stem = claimStem(path, bytes);
+    const marker = `${stem}.act.${process.pid}.${randomUUID()}`;
+    writeFileSync(marker, "", { flag: "wx" });
+    try {
+        check?.();
+        // A dead taker's lock is inert here: the claim is re-read below, and a dead taker moves nothing again.
+        const taker = lockOwner(`${stem}.reclaim`);
+        if (taker && !confirmedDead(taker.pid))
+            refuse(`${tier} BUSY — a removal of this ${who}'s claim is under way at ${stem}.reclaim by pid ${taker.pid}; nothing further written, signalled or removed`);
+        if (readBytes(path) !== bytes)
+            lost();
+        return mutate();
+    }
+    finally {
+        rmSync(marker, { force: true });
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * This tier's HELD claim-removal locks (recovery or release), each one whose taker is confirmed dead recovered first
+ * (recoverLock; `told` gets the notice): while one is held, a newly linked claim is not yet settled.
+ */
+function heldLocks(repoRoot, tier, told) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const prefix = `${basename(path)}.`;
+    return readdirSync(dirname(path)).filter((name) => name.startsWith(prefix) && name.endsWith(".reclaim")).flatMap((name) => {
+        const lock = join(dirname(path), name);
+        const notice = recoverLock(repoRoot, tier, lock);
+        if (notice)
+            told(notice);
+        const taker = lockOwner(lock);
+        return taker ? [`${lock} by pid ${taker.pid}`] : [];
+    });
+}
+/** The owner a removal lock holds — its `owner.<pid>.<nonce>` entry — or undefined: an absent or emptied lock holds nothing. */
+function lockOwner(lock) {
+    let names;
+    try {
+        names = readdirSync(lock);
+    }
+    catch {
+        return undefined;
+    }
+    const owner = names.find((name) => name.startsWith("owner."))?.split(".");
+    return owner && { pid: Number(owner[1]), nonce: owner[2] };
+}
+/**
+ * Take a removal lock: a directory that appears by ONE rename already holding `owner.<pid>.<nonce>` (this pid's birth
+ * inside), so no instant shows it ownerless; it is assembled as `<lock>.<pid>.<nonce>.tmp`, so a taker killed while
+ * assembling it leaves a directory named for its pid. A held lock is recovered first when its taker is confirmed dead
+ * (`told` gets the notice); a live or unprovable taker refuses BUSY naming it. An emptied lock — released, its owner
+ * entry moved out first — holds nothing and the rename simply replaces it. Returns the nonce naming this taker's entries.
+ */
+function lockRemoval(repoRoot, tier, lock, what, told) {
+    const nonce = randomUUID();
+    const tmp = `${lock}.${process.pid}.${nonce}.tmp`;
+    try {
+        try {
+            mkdirSync(tmp);
+            writeFileSync(join(tmp, `owner.${process.pid}.${nonce}`), JSON.stringify({ pid: process.pid, birth, takenAt: new Date().toISOString() }) + "\n");
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            refuse(`${tier} ${what} failed at ${lock}: ${error.message}`);
+        }
+        for (let retried = false;; retried = true) {
+            try {
+                renameSync(tmp, lock);
+                return nonce;
+            }
+            catch (error) {
+                const code = error.code;
+                if (code !== "ENOTEMPTY" && code !== "EEXIST")
+                    refuse(`${tier} ${what} failed at ${lock}: ${error.message}`);
+            }
+            const notice = retried ? undefined : recoverLock(repoRoot, tier, lock);
+            if (notice)
+                told?.(notice);
+            const taker = lockOwner(lock);
+            if (!retried && (notice || !taker))
+                continue;
+            refuse(`${tier} BUSY — ${what} is already under way at ${lock}${taker ? ` by pid ${taker.pid}` : ""}; retry — a removal lock is never taken ` +
+                "from a live or unprovable taker, and the next start, stop or legacy write recovers it once its taker is confirmed dead");
+        }
+    }
+    finally {
+        rmSync(tmp, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * Release a removal lock: its owner entry is moved OUT beside the lock as `<lock>.<pid>.<nonce>.released` (the lock now
+ * holds nothing), then the emptied directory goes (a new taker's lock already in its place stays), then that entry. A
+ * taker killed between any two steps leaves the entry named for its pid: status reports it, and the next start, stop
+ * or legacy write removes it with the emptied lock (acquireBeatClaim). Only this owner's own entry is ever moved.
+ */
+function unlock(lock, pid, nonce) {
+    const released = `${lock}.${pid}.${nonce}.released`;
+    try {
+        renameSync(join(lock, `owner.${pid}.${nonce}`), released);
+    }
+    catch {
+        return; /* a racing recovery released it first */
+    }
+    try {
+        rmdirSync(lock);
+    }
+    catch { /* not empty: another taker's lock replaced the emptied one */ }
+    rmSync(released, { force: true });
+}
+/**
+ * Recover a removal lock whose taker is confirmed dead — killed at any step: bytes it moved aside are discarded when
+ * every pid they record is confirmed dead or they are this process's own strand (strandOf: nobody acts under them, and
+ * restoring them would only block its own retry), else renamed back over the claim path (as that taker's own put-back
+ * would have, displacing only an unsettled claimant); then its owner entry and the emptied lock go. Every step names entries
+ * unique to that dead taker, so a racing recovery or a new taker's lock is never touched. Undefined, with nothing
+ * done, while the taker is live, unprovable or absent.
+ */
+function recoverLock(repoRoot, tier, lock) {
+    const owner = lockOwner(lock);
+    if (!owner || !confirmedDead(owner.pid))
+        return undefined;
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const aside = join(lock, `claim.${owner.nonce}`);
+    const moved = readBytes(aside);
+    let fate = "";
+    if (moved !== undefined) {
+        const held = claimOf(parseJson(moved));
+        const dead = typeof held === "object" && confirmedDead(held.pid) && (held.publisher === undefined || confirmedDead(held.publisher));
+        const strand = strandOf(path, moved);
+        try {
+            if (dead || strand)
+                rmSync(aside);
+            else
+                renameSync(aside, path);
+        }
+        catch { /* a racing recovery resolved it first */ }
+        fate = strand ? `, discarding this process's own stranded claim (token ${strand}) it had moved aside`
+            : dead ? `, discarding the claim of dead pid ${held.pid} it had moved aside` : `, restoring the claim it had moved aside to ${path}`;
+    }
+    unlock(lock, owner.pid, owner.nonce);
+    return `${tier} recovered the removal lock of killed taker pid ${owner.pid} at ${lock}${fate}`;
+}
+/**
+ * What confirmed-dead invocations left beside the tier's claim — removal locks (by their owner entry), a lock still
+ * being assembled or a released lock's owner entry (by the pid in its name), act markers, stage directories — and
+ * each owner pid.
+ */
+function deadLeftovers(repoRoot, tier) {
+    const dir = supervisionDirOf(repoRoot, tier);
+    let names;
+    try {
+        names = readdirSync(dir);
+    }
+    catch {
+        return [];
+    }
+    const owned = new RegExp(`^${tier}\\.(?:claim\\.[0-9a-f]{16}\\.(?:act|reclaim)|stage)\\.(\\d+)\\.`);
+    return names.flatMap((name) => {
+        const path = join(dir, name);
+        const pid = name.startsWith(`${tier}.claim.`) && name.endsWith(".reclaim") ? lockOwner(path)?.pid : Number(owned.exec(name)?.[1]);
+        return pid !== undefined && confirmedDead(pid) ? [{ path, pid }] : [];
+    });
+}
+/**
+ * Atomic first-writer-wins claim. A held claim is BUSY unless `reclaim` (every claimant passes its boundaries) confirms
+ * DEAD every pid parsed from the claim's own bytes — its holder and any launched writer publishing under it
+ * (reclaimDeadClaim): then exactly those bytes are removed (takeClaim) and the claim is taken; the returned notice says
+ * so (on a refusal, `BeatRefusal.notice` does). A live, reused or unreadable holder or publisher is never taken over.
+ * A linked claim is SETTLED (returned) only when no claim removal is under way and it is still the canonical claim: a
+ * removal's put-back may replace a claim linked into its gap, so until that removal ends the claim holds nothing — the
+ * claimant withdraws exactly its own linked bytes (takeClaim) and refuses BUSY, so no caller, a long-lived bridge
+ * included, is left holding a live claim nobody acts under; its next attempt links afresh. When another live taker
+ * holds or has moved aside those very bytes (a mistaken death proof included), the withdrawal cannot land then; once
+ * this attempt refuses, its token is no longer in use, so the bytes are this process's STRAND wherever they are
+ * (strandOf), proven from the bytes alone: every later attempt in this process withdraws them from the claim path
+ * first (withdrawStrand) and discards them from a killed taker's lock instead of restoring them (recoverLock) — so
+ * recovery never waits for the caller to exit.
+ */
+export function acquireBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token, reclaim) {
     const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
     const tmp = `${path}.${token}.tmp`;
+    const key = `${path}\n${token}`;
+    inUse.add(key); // until this attempt refuses or its release ends: bytes under this token are not yet a strand
+    let own = "";
     try {
         mkdirSync(dirname(path), { recursive: true });
-        writeFileSync(tmp, JSON.stringify({ tier, token, pid: process.pid, claimedAt: new Date().toISOString() }) + "\n");
+        own = JSON.stringify({ tier, token, pid: process.pid, birth, claimedAt: new Date().toISOString() }) + "\n";
+        writeFileSync(tmp, own);
     }
     catch (error) {
+        inUse.delete(key);
         try {
             rmSync(tmp, { force: true });
         }
         catch { /* the path that failed holds nothing to remove */ }
         refuse(`${tier} claim failed at ${path}: ${error.message}`);
     }
+    const link = () => {
+        try {
+            linkSync(tmp, path);
+            return true;
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            if (error.code !== "EEXIST")
+                refuse(`${tier} claim failed at ${path}: ${error.message}`);
+            return false;
+        }
+    };
+    const ours = () => { const claim = readClaim(repoRoot, tier); return typeof claim === "object" && claim.token === token; };
+    const notices = [];
+    const told = (notice) => { notices.push(notice); };
     try {
-        linkSync(tmp, path);
+        withdrawStrand(repoRoot, tier, told);
+        const linked = link() || ours();
+        const reclaimed = !linked && reclaim !== undefined && reclaimDeadClaim(repoRoot, tier, reclaim, told);
+        const busy = (why) => refuse(`${tier} BUSY — ${why}`);
+        if (linked || (reclaimed && link())) {
+            const pending = heldLocks(repoRoot, tier, told);
+            if (pending.length > 0) {
+                // Unsettled: withdraw the claim this attempt linked (exactly its own bytes, takeClaim), so a caller that lives on
+                // — a bridge, not only an exiting CLI — never leaves a live claim nobody acts under; a retry links afresh.
+                // The bytes under this token wherever they are — re-read, never `own`: the linked bytes may be an earlier
+                // attempt's under the same token. Any still out once this refusal ends the token's use are this process's strand.
+                let left = "";
+                const current = readBytes(path);
+                try {
+                    if (current !== undefined && ours())
+                        takeClaim(repoRoot, tier, current, "withdrawal of an unsettled claim", false, told);
+                }
+                catch (error) {
+                    if (!(error instanceof BeatRefusal))
+                        throw error;
+                    left = ` (${error.message})`;
+                }
+                const out = tokenBytesAt(repoRoot, tier, token);
+                if (out.length > 0) {
+                    left = `; its own unsettled claim is still out at ${out.join(", ")}${left} — it is this process's strand: once no live taker holds it, ` +
+                        "this process's next start, stop or legacy write withdraws it wherever a taker left it, and once this process exits any of them reclaims it";
+                }
+                busy(`a claim removal (dead-claim recovery or release) is under way at ${pending[0]}; a claim linked before it ends holds nothing yet — retry ` +
+                    `(the next start, stop or legacy write recovers that lock once its taker is confirmed dead)${left}`);
+            }
+            if (ours()) {
+                // Settled: clear what confirmed-dead invocations left — act markers, stage directories, a half-assembled lock, a
+                // released lock's owner entry with its emptied lock (an empty lock is nobody's) — their held locks: recoverLock.
+                const swept = deadLeftovers(repoRoot, tier).filter(({ path: left }) => !left.endsWith(".reclaim"));
+                for (const { path: left } of swept) {
+                    if (left.endsWith(".released"))
+                        try {
+                            rmdirSync(left.replace(/\.\d+\.[\w-]+\.released$/, ""));
+                        }
+                        catch { /* absent, or a taker holds it */ }
+                    rmSync(left, { recursive: true, force: true });
+                }
+                for (const { path: left, pid } of swept)
+                    told(`${tier} removed ${basename(left)}, left by dead pid ${pid}`);
+                return notices.length > 0 ? notices.join("\n") : undefined;
+            }
+        }
+        const holderBytes = readBytes(path);
+        const strand = strandOf(path, holderBytes);
+        const cover = strand ? lockOwner(`${claimStem(path, holderBytes)}.reclaim`) : undefined;
+        if (strand)
+            busy(`this process's own stranded claim (token ${strand}) occupies ${path}${cover ? ` under the removal lock of pid ${cover.pid}` : ""}; ` +
+                "retry — this process's next start, stop or legacy write withdraws it once no live taker holds it");
+        const holder = holderBytes === undefined ? "NONE" : claimOf(parseJson(holderBytes));
+        const publisher = typeof holder === "object" && holder.publisher !== undefined ? ` with its launched writer pid ${holder.publisher}` : "";
+        busy(`${typeof holder === "object" ? `pid ${holder.pid} holds` : "an unreadable claim occupies"} ${path}${publisher}; ` +
+            "retry after it finishes (a live, reused or unreadable holder is never taken over; only a claim whose recorded pids are all confirmed dead is taken over)");
     }
     catch (error) {
-        if (error.code !== "EEXIST")
-            refuse(`${tier} claim failed at ${path}: ${error.message}`);
-        const holder = readClaim(repoRoot, tier);
-        refuse(`${tier} BUSY — ${typeof holder === "object" ? `pid ${holder.pid} holds` : "an unreadable claim occupies"} ${path}; ` +
-            "retry after it finishes (a claim is never taken over automatically)");
+        inUse.delete(key);
+        // A reclaim or recovery this attempt performed rides on its refusal, so the caller can still report it.
+        throw notices.length > 0 && error instanceof BeatRefusal ? new BeatRefusal(error.message, notices.join("\n")) : error;
     }
     finally {
         rmSync(tmp, { force: true });
     }
 }
-export function releaseBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token) {
+const readBytes = (file) => { try {
+    return readFileSync(file, "utf8");
+}
+catch {
+    return undefined;
+} };
+/** `${claim path}\n${token}` of every claim an invocation in this process is acquiring or still holds. */
+const inUse = new Set();
+/**
+ * The token of claim `bytes` that are this process's STRAND, else undefined: they record this process's own pid and
+ * checked birth (so this process wrote them) under a token no invocation of it is acquiring or holding (so nobody acts
+ * under them). Proven from the bytes alone, wherever a compliant taker left them — linked, moved aside, put back or
+ * restored — never from having seen a withdrawal run. Only this process can prove it; to any other process the
+ * holder is live until this process exits, when they are a dead claim.
+ */
+function strandOf(path, bytes) {
+    if (bytes === undefined)
+        return undefined;
+    const rec = parseJson(bytes);
+    return typeof rec === "object" && rec.pid === process.pid && rec.birth === birth && text(rec.token) && !inUse.has(`${path}\n${rec.token}`)
+        ? rec.token : undefined;
+}
+/**
+ * Withdraw this process's strand from the claim path — exactly those bytes (takeClaim, which first recovers a lock
+ * whose taker is confirmed dead). A live taker holding them leaves them in place; the claimant's BUSY then names them.
+ */
+function withdrawStrand(repoRoot, tier, told) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const bytes = readBytes(path);
+    const strand = strandOf(path, bytes);
+    if (!strand)
+        return;
+    try {
+        if (takeClaim(repoRoot, tier, bytes, "withdrawal of this process's stranded claim", false, told))
+            told(`${tier} withdrew this process's own stranded claim (token ${strand}) at ${path}`);
+    }
+    catch (error) {
+        if (!(error instanceof BeatRefusal))
+            throw error;
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * Every copy of claim bytes, read-only: the claim path, and each one moved aside inside a removal lock — each with the
+ * lock that holds it or, for the claim path, the lock its exact bytes would be removed under (absent: no taker).
+ */
+function claimCopies(repoRoot, tier) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const list = (dir) => { try {
+        return readdirSync(dir).map((name) => join(dir, name));
+    }
+    catch {
+        return [];
+    } };
+    const locks = list(dirname(path)).filter((lock) => basename(lock).startsWith(`${basename(path)}.`) && lock.endsWith(".reclaim"));
+    const at = (file, lock) => {
+        const bytes = readBytes(file);
+        return bytes === undefined ? [] : [{ file, bytes, lock: lock ?? `${claimStem(path, bytes)}.reclaim` }];
+    };
+    return [...at(path), ...locks.flatMap((lock) => list(lock).filter((file) => basename(file).startsWith("claim.")).flatMap((file) => at(file, lock)))];
+}
+/** Where bytes under `token` still are: the claim path, or moved aside inside a removal lock. */
+function tokenBytesAt(repoRoot, tier, token) {
+    return claimCopies(repoRoot, tier).filter(({ bytes }) => { const claim = claimOf(parseJson(bytes)); return typeof claim === "object" && claim.token === token; })
+        .map(({ file }) => file);
+}
+/**
+ * This process's strands (strandOf) wherever a compliant taker left them, read-only: each named with where it is and
+ * the taker whose removal lock holds or covers it; `live` collects the pids of those takers not confirmed dead.
+ */
+function strandsNamed(repoRoot, tier, live) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    return claimCopies(repoRoot, tier).flatMap(({ file, bytes, lock }) => {
+        const token = strandOf(path, bytes);
+        if (!token)
+            return [];
+        const taker = lockOwner(lock);
+        const dead = taker !== undefined && confirmedDead(taker.pid);
+        if (taker && !dead)
+            live.push(taker.pid);
+        return [`this process's own stranded claim (token ${token}, held by no invocation of pid ${process.pid})${file === path ? "" : ` moved aside into ${basename(lock)}`}` +
+                (taker ? ` under the removal lock of ${dead ? "dead" : "live"} taker pid ${taker.pid}` : "")];
+    });
+}
+/**
+ * The ONE way a claim is ever removed — dead-claim recovery and a holder's own release alike: ONLY when the canonical
+ * claim is still exactly `checked`, and never inside a claimed act under those bytes. One taker per checked bytes: the
+ * lock named by their digest appears atomically WITH its owner (lockRemoval); a live act marker under them refuses BUSY
+ * (a release first waits up to 2 s for its launched writer's act to finish); then the claim is re-read under the lock
+ * and moved aside into it atomically, and bytes that are not `checked` once moved are renamed straight back. That
+ * put-back displaces no holder: a claimant that linked into the gap finds this lock and is not settled
+ * (acquireBeatClaim), so it never acted under that claim, and its next attempt finds the restored claim BUSY. An act
+ * starting meanwhile finds the lock and refuses (claimedAct). True when exactly `checked` was removed; false when the
+ * claim was not those bytes (left or put back). A taker killed at ANY step leaves a lock naming its dead pid — and the
+ * moved-aside bytes once it got that far — which the next start, stop or legacy write recovers (recoverLock); one
+ * killed while assembling or releasing the lock leaves an entry named for its pid, which that writer removes
+ * (acquireBeatClaim). A claimant that linked into the gap withdraws its own unsettled claim before it refuses.
+ */
+function takeClaim(repoRoot, tier, checked, what, waitActs = false, told) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const stem = claimStem(path, checked);
+    const lock = `${stem}.reclaim`;
+    const nonce = lockRemoval(repoRoot, tier, lock, what, told);
+    const aside = join(lock, `claim.${nonce}`);
+    let kept = false;
+    try {
+        for (let spins = 0;; spins++) {
+            const acting = liveActs(stem);
+            if (acting.length === 0)
+                break;
+            if (!waitActs || spins >= 200)
+                refuse(`${tier} BUSY — pid ${acting[0]} is inside a claimed act under this claim; ${what} left it in place — retry`);
+            Atomics.wait(PAUSE, 0, 0, 10);
+        }
+        if (readBytes(path) !== checked)
+            return false;
+        try {
+            renameSync(path, aside);
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            if (error.code === "ENOENT")
+                return false;
+            refuse(`${tier} ${what} failed at ${path}: ${error.message}`);
+        }
+        if (readBytes(aside) === checked) {
+            rmSync(aside);
+            return true;
+        }
+        try {
+            renameSync(aside, path);
+        }
+        catch {
+            kept = true;
+            refuse(`${tier} BUSY — the claim was replaced during ${what} and could not be put back; it is kept at ${aside}, ` +
+                `and the next start, stop or legacy write restores it once pid ${process.pid} has exited`);
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+    finally {
+        if (!kept)
+            unlock(lock, process.pid, nonce);
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * Take over the claim ONLY when every pid parsed from the checked bytes — the holder, and the launched writer recorded
+ * as publishing under a launch claim — is confirmed dead and the claim is still exactly those bytes (takeClaim). The
+ * pids are parsed from these checked bytes, never from a second read, so the death proven belongs to exactly the
+ * snapshot removed. A settled writer recorded as a launch claim's publisher releases it itself (releaseDeadLaunch).
+ */
+function reclaimDeadClaim(repoRoot, tier, deps, told) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const checked = readBytes(path);
+    if (checked === undefined)
+        return false;
+    const holder = claimOf(parseJson(checked));
+    if (typeof holder !== "object")
+        return false;
+    const dead = (pid) => { try {
+        return deps.identity(pid) === "DEAD";
+    }
+    catch {
+        return false;
+    } }; // a failed inspection proves nothing
+    const publisher = holder.publisher === undefined ? "" : ` and its launched writer pid ${holder.publisher}`;
+    if (!dead(holder.pid) || (holder.publisher !== undefined && !dead(holder.publisher)))
+        return false;
+    if (!takeClaim(repoRoot, tier, checked, `recovery of dead pid ${holder.pid}'s claim`, false, told))
+        return false;
+    told(`${tier} reclaimed the claim of dead pid ${holder.pid}${publisher} (token ${holder.token}) at ${path} — its holder exited without releasing it`);
+    return true;
+}
+/** The ONE finite contention policy shared by every waiting claimant: loop ticks, legacy one-shots and stop. */
+export const BEAT_CLAIM_WAIT = { tries: 20, intervalMs: 250 };
+/** The wait policy a claimant runs under: absent fields default to BEAT_CLAIM_WAIT; anything else refuses first. */
+function claimWait(tier, waits) {
+    const { tries = BEAT_CLAIM_WAIT.tries, intervalMs = BEAT_CLAIM_WAIT.intervalMs } = waits;
+    const whole = (v) => Number.isSafeInteger(v) && v > 0;
+    if (!whole(tries) || !whole(intervalMs))
+        refuse(`${tier} claim wait refused — tries ${tries} and interval ${intervalMs} ms must be positive integers; nothing written`);
+    return { tries, intervalMs };
+}
+/**
+ * Acquire under the wait policy; a holder still there at the last attempt refuses with the named BUSY. Every
+ * reclaim notice an attempt produced — also one whose own link then lost — is kept and leads the final
+ * success or refusal, so a recovery is never reported as a plain no-op.
+ */
+async function acquireWaiting(repoRoot, tier, token, waits, reclaim) {
+    const { tries, intervalMs } = claimWait(tier, waits);
+    const notices = [];
+    const told = (message) => [...notices, message].join("\n");
+    for (let attempt = 1;; attempt++) {
+        try {
+            const notice = acquireBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token, reclaim);
+            if (notice)
+                notices.push(notice);
+            return notices.length > 0 ? notices.join("\n") : undefined;
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            if (!(error instanceof BeatRefusal))
+                throw error;
+            if (error.notice)
+                notices.push(error.notice);
+            if (!error.message.includes(" BUSY — "))
+                refuse(told(error.message));
+            if (attempt >= tries)
+                refuse(told(tries > 1 ? `${error.message}; still held after ${tries} attempts ${intervalMs} ms apart` : error.message));
+            await waits.sleep(intervalMs);
+        }
+    }
+}
+/** The claim this invocation acquired still names it — the check before reporting success under a launcher's claim. */
+function stillHeld(repoRoot, tier, token, who = "invocation") {
     const claim = readClaim(repoRoot, tier);
     if (typeof claim !== "object" || claim.token !== token)
-        refuse(`${tier} claim changed before release — left in place`);
+        refuse(`${tier} claim is no longer held by this ${who} — nothing further written, signalled or removed`);
+}
+/**
+ * Release removes exactly the bytes that name this token (takeClaim), after any claimed act under them — a launched
+ * writer's included — has finished: a replacement found at any instant is left in place. However it ends, the token is
+ * then no longer in use: bytes under it that a live taker kept or moved aside are this process's strand (strandOf),
+ * withdrawn or discarded by its next attempt. `told` gets the notice of a dead taker's lock recovered on the way.
+ */
+export function releaseBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token, told) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
     try {
-        rmSync(beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier));
+        const checked = readBytes(path);
+        const claim = checked === undefined ? "NONE" : claimOf(parseJson(checked));
+        if (typeof claim !== "object" || claim.token !== token || !takeClaim(repoRoot, tier, checked, "release", true, told)) {
+            refuse(`${tier} claim changed before release — left in place`);
+        }
     }
     catch (error) {
-        refuse(`${tier} claim release failed: ${error.message}`);
+        if (!(error instanceof BeatRefusal) || tokenBytesAt(repoRoot, tier, token).length === 0)
+            throw error;
+        refuse(`${error.message}; its bytes are this process's strand — its next start, stop or legacy write withdraws them, and once it exits any of them reclaims them`);
+    }
+    finally {
+        inUse.delete(`${path}\n${token}`);
+    }
+}
+const DIR = Symbol("directory");
+/** What occupies a record path: its bytes, DIR (mirrored so a staged writer refuses it exactly as it would), or nothing. */
+function recordAt(path) {
+    try {
+        return statSync(path).isDirectory() ? DIR : readFileSync(path);
+    }
+    catch (error) {
+        const code = error.code;
+        if (code === "ENOENT" || code === "ENOTDIR")
+            return undefined;
+        throw error;
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * Run ONE supervision.ts writer (stand-down, arm or beat) under a claim without letting it touch the tier: it writes
+ * into a STAGED copy of the tier's records (arm, clear-duty latch, beat, stand-down marker), then every record it
+ * changed is committed by one rename — a discharged latch by one removal — as ONE claimed act each (`guard`), in the
+ * writers' own order (arm, raised latch, beat, marker, discharged latch). Compare-and-commit: inside each act, after
+ * the caller's own barrier (its owner generation) and before the final claim check, every record must still be
+ * exactly what this write was staged from (or what it committed itself) — a record replaced meanwhile, the owner by
+ * the caller's barrier, refuses with nothing further committed. A claim lost, or a record or owner replaced, before
+ * the first commit therefore lands nothing; one lost between two commits lands nothing further; either refuses. What a
+ * failing writer published before its failure is committed the same way, then the failure is rethrown.
+ * ponytail: staging stands in for a commit guard supervision.ts's atomic writers do not take; a writer killed mid-write
+ * leaves an inert `<tier>.stage.<pid>.<uuid>` directory (no reader lists it), which the next start, stop or legacy
+ * write removes once that pid is confirmed dead (acquireBeatClaim).
+ */
+export function supervised(repoRoot, tier, guard, write) {
+    const stage = join(supervisionDirOf(repoRoot, tier), `${tier}.stage.${process.pid}.${randomUUID()}`);
+    // supervision.ts's record names; its clear-duty latch path is private there, so it is spelled here.
+    const records = (root) => [
+        supervisionArmPath(root, tier), join(supervisionDirOf(root, tier), `${tier}.clear-owed`), supervisionBeatPath(root, tier), supervisionStandDownPath(root, tier),
+    ];
+    const [real, staged] = [records(repoRoot), records(stage)];
+    const same = (a, b) => a === b || (a instanceof Buffer && b instanceof Buffer && a.equals(b));
+    try {
+        mkdirSync(dirname(staged[0]), { recursive: true });
+        const before = real.map((path, i) => {
+            const found = recordAt(path);
+            if (found === DIR)
+                mkdirSync(staged[i]);
+            else if (found)
+                writeFileSync(staged[i], found);
+            return found;
+        });
+        let result;
+        let failure;
+        try {
+            result = write(stage);
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            failure = { error };
+        }
+        if (existsSync(join(stage, stateDirName(stage), ".gitignore")))
+            tickmarkrDir(repoRoot); // the writer creates the ignore file
+        const after = staged.map(recordAt);
+        const expected = [...before];
+        const unchanged = () => {
+            const moved = real.find((path, i) => !same(recordAt(path), expected[i]));
+            if (moved)
+                refuse(`${tier} superseded — ${moved} changed while this write was staged (the tier reads ${supervisionStatus(repoRoot, tier).state}); nothing further committed`);
+        };
+        for (const i of after[1] === undefined ? [0, 2, 3, 1] : [0, 1, 2, 3]) {
+            if (same(before[i], after[i]))
+                continue;
+            guard(() => { if (after[i] === undefined)
+                rmSync(real[i], { force: true });
+            else
+                renameSync(staged[i], real[i]); }, unchanged);
+            expected[i] = after[i];
+        }
+        if (failure)
+            throw failure.error;
+        return result;
+    }
+    finally {
+        rmSync(stage, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }
 }
 /**
  * Run one legacy write (one-shot tick, new arm, EVERY loop tick, stand-down) under the tier claim. A launched
- * child acts under its launcher's claim while that claim is still held for its generation; afterwards it takes
- * the tier claim itself like every other writer. `act` receives the recheck it must call immediately before it
- * writes: the claim still names this holder and the tier's ownership still admits this writer. A claim held by
- * anyone else refuses with nothing written — `waits` only lets a running loop's tick outlast a brief holder.
+ * child acts under its launcher's claim (underLaunchClaim) while that claim is still held for its generation, names
+ * this child as its publisher and its launcher is not confirmed dead; afterwards it takes the tier claim itself like
+ * every other writer. `act` receives the recheck it must call before it writes (the tier's ownership still admits
+ * this writer, then the claim still names this holder) and the guard every supervision write it makes commits under
+ * (supervised): each commit is one claimed act whose barrier re-runs that same ownership check. A claim held by
+ * anyone else is waited out under BEAT_CLAIM_WAIT (20 attempts 250 ms apart, absent `waits` fields default to it)
+ * and then refuses BUSY with nothing written; invalid tries/interval refuse before any claim or write. Like start
+ * and stop, the writer reclaims a claim whose recorded pids are all confirmed dead (`noticed` receives the notice): a
+ * legacy --loop writer killed inside its claimed tick never strands the --stand-down migration step, and a live
+ * writer's claim is never taken. Under its own claim, the release that follows `act` is the claim's last check: a claim
+ * lost by then refuses, never reports success. Under the launcher's claim no release follows and nothing is checked
+ * after the last act — each act verified the claim last — so the launcher's release after its read-back never ends
+ * the loop it launched. A dead or abandoned generation recorded for this writer's seat is retired first (retireDead).
  */
-export async function withLegacyClaim(repoRoot, tier, writer, act, waits = { tries: 1, sleep: async () => { } }) {
+export async function withLegacyClaim(repoRoot, tier, writer, act, waits = { sleep: writer.deps.sleep }) {
+    claimWait(tier, waits); // before every branch, the launch-claim shortcut included: an invalid policy writes nothing
     const { generation, settled = false } = writer;
     const held = (token) => {
         // The exact owner this claim's previous recheck validated: the generation every later recheck is held to.
         let checked;
-        return (arm = writer.arm, created) => {
-            const claim = readClaim(repoRoot, tier);
-            if (typeof claim !== "object" || claim.token !== token)
-                refuse(`${tier} claim is no longer held by this writer — nothing written`);
-            checked = assertLegacyOwnership(repoRoot, tier, writer, arm, created, checked);
-        };
+        let last = [writer.arm, false];
+        const claimOnly = (mutate, check) => claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, token, "writer", check, mutate);
+        const owned = () => { checked = assertLegacyOwnership(repoRoot, tier, writer, last[0], last[1], checked, claimOnly); };
+        return [(arm = writer.arm, created) => {
+                last = [arm, created];
+                owned();
+                stillHeld(repoRoot, tier, token, "writer");
+            }, barred(claimOnly, owned)];
     };
     if (generation !== undefined) {
-        const claim = readClaim(repoRoot, tier);
-        if (typeof claim === "object" && claim.token === generation) {
-            const recheck = held(generation);
+        if (underLaunchClaim(repoRoot, tier, generation, writer.deps)) {
+            const [recheck, guard] = held(generation);
             recheck();
-            return act(recheck);
+            // Before its first claimed act, this writer is recorded as the launch claim's publisher (namePublisher).
+            let named = false;
+            // No check follows the last act: every act verified the claim LAST, so what landed, landed under it — and the
+            // launcher releasing its claim after its read-back (start returning ARMED) never ends the loop it launched.
+            return act(recheck, (mutate, check) => {
+                if (!named) {
+                    namePublisher(repoRoot, tier, generation);
+                    named = true;
+                }
+                return guard(mutate, check);
+            });
         }
         if (!settled)
-            refuse(`${tier} superseded — the launch claim for generation ${generation} is gone`);
+            refuse(`${tier} superseded — the launch claim for generation ${generation} is gone, names another writer, or its launcher is dead`);
+        releaseDeadLaunch(repoRoot, tier, generation, writer);
     }
     const token = randomUUID();
-    for (let attempt = 1;; attempt++) {
-        try {
-            acquireBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token);
-            break;
-        }
-        catch (error) {
-            if (attempt >= waits.tries || !(error instanceof BeatRefusal) || !error.message.includes(" BUSY — "))
-                throw error;
-            await waits.sleep(250);
+    const notice = await acquireWaiting(repoRoot, tier, token, waits, writer.deps);
+    if (notice)
+        writer.noticed?.(notice);
+    return holding(repoRoot, tier, token, async () => {
+        const [recheck, guard] = held(token);
+        if (generation === undefined && readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier) !== "NONE") {
+            // A dead or abandoned generation recorded for this seat is retired first (retireDead) — its owner removed, its arm
+            // left to the write asked for (a one-shot records its beat on it) — then that write proceeds as an unowned one.
+            const checked = inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, writer.seat, writer.deps, true);
+            if (checked.kind === "OWN-DEAD" || checked.kind === "ABANDONED") {
+                writer.noticed?.(retireDead(repoRoot, tier, checked, writer.deps, (mutate, check) => claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, token, "writer", check, mutate), false));
+            }
         }
+        recheck();
+        return act(recheck, guard);
+    }, writer.noticed);
+}
+/**
+ * Whether a launched writer may act under its launcher's claim for `generation`: only while the launcher it names is
+ * not confirmed dead and the claim names no other publisher. Read-only: before its first claimed act the writer is
+ * recorded as that claim's publisher (namePublisher), so no recovery takes the claim while it publishes under it
+ * (reclaimDeadClaim). Once its launcher is dead, a settled writer releases that claim (releaseDeadLaunch) and takes
+ * the tier claim itself; an unsettled one refuses, its launch abandoned.
+ */
+function underLaunchClaim(repoRoot, tier, generation, deps) {
+    const claim = readClaim(repoRoot, tier);
+    if (typeof claim !== "object" || claim.token !== generation || (claim.publisher ?? process.pid) !== process.pid)
+        return false;
+    let launcher = "UNKNOWN";
+    try {
+        launcher = deps.identity(claim.pid);
     }
-    let result;
+    catch { /* an inspection failure proves nothing */ }
+    return launcher !== "DEAD";
+}
+/**
+ * A settled launched writer recorded as publishing under a launch claim whose launcher is confirmed dead is that
+ * claim's last live party: it removes exactly those bytes (takeClaim) with a notice, so neither recovery nor stop is
+ * left waiting on a claim nobody will release. A launcher killed before it bound this generation's arm epoch left an
+ * owner nobody can prove or stop: the writer then exits (refuses) once that claim is released, so the next start, stop
+ * or legacy write finds an ABANDONED launch — no claim, its recorded pid dead — and retires it (retireDead).
+ */
+function releaseDeadLaunch(repoRoot, tier, generation, writer) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const bytes = readBytes(path);
+    const claim = bytes === undefined ? "NONE" : claimOf(parseJson(bytes));
+    if (typeof claim !== "object" || claim.token !== generation || claim.publisher !== process.pid)
+        return;
+    let launcher = "UNKNOWN";
     try {
-        const recheck = held(token);
-        recheck();
-        result = await act(recheck);
+        launcher = writer.deps.identity(claim.pid);
     }
-    finally {
-        releaseBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token);
+    catch { /* an inspection failure proves nothing */ }
+    if (launcher !== "DEAD" || !takeClaim(repoRoot, tier, bytes, `release of dead launcher pid ${claim.pid}'s claim`, false, writer.noticed))
+        return;
+    writer.noticed?.(`${tier} released the launch claim of dead launcher pid ${claim.pid} (token ${generation}) it published under at ${path}`);
+    const owner = readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier);
+    if (typeof owner === "object" && owner.generation === generation && owner.armEpoch === undefined) {
+        refuse(`${tier} superseded — launcher pid ${claim.pid} died before binding generation ${generation}'s arm epoch; this writer exits, ` +
+            `and the next start, stop or legacy write retires the abandoned launch`);
     }
-    return result;
+}
+/** Record this process as the launch claim's publisher, by one claimed act that replaces exactly the bytes it read. */
+function namePublisher(repoRoot, tier, generation) {
+    const path = beatClaimPath(repoRoot, tier);
+    const bytes = readBytes(path);
+    const rec = bytes === undefined ? "NONE" : parseJson(bytes);
+    const claim = claimOf(rec);
+    if (typeof claim === "object" && claim.publisher === process.pid)
+        return;
+    if (typeof rec !== "object" || typeof claim !== "object" || claim.token !== generation || claim.publisher !== undefined) {
+        refuse(`${tier} claim is no longer held by this launched writer — the launch claim for generation ${generation} changed before it published under it; nothing written`);
+    }
+    publish(path, { ...rec, publisher: process.pid, publisherBirth: birth }, (mutate, check) => claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, generation, "launched writer", check, mutate), () => { if (readBytes(path) !== bytes)
+        refuse(`${tier} superseded — the launch claim for generation ${generation} changed; nothing written`); });
 }
 /** The ownership a legacy writer needs before each mutation: its own COMPLETE launched generation, or no owner at all. */
-export function assertLegacyOwnership(repoRoot, tier, writer, arm, created = false, held) {
+export function assertLegacyOwnership(repoRoot, tier, writer, arm, created = false, held, claimed = unclaimed) {
     if (writer.generation !== undefined)
-        return assertOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, { ...writer, generation: writer.generation }, arm, created, held);
+        return assertOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, { ...writer, generation: writer.generation }, arm, created, held, claimed);
     const owner = readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier);
     if (owner !== "NONE") {
         refuse(`${tier} is owned by a detached beat (${typeof owner === "object" ? `seat ${owner.seat}, generation ${owner.generation}` : "unreadable owner record"})` +
-            ` — run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} --seat <seat>\` first`);
+            ` — run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} ${typeof owner === "object" ? seatFlag(owner.seat) : "--seat <seat>"}\` first`);
     }
     return undefined;
 }
@@ -265,7 +1009,7 @@ function launcherBound(before, after, pid, arm) {
  * Once `settled` (past its first beat) the record must name its pid: a launch that refused without proving it
  * could signal its child leaves no pid behind, and that child retires itself.
  */
-export function assertOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, writer, arm = writer.arm, created = false, held, pid = process.pid) {
+export function assertOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, writer, arm = writer.arm, created = false, held, claimed = unclaimed, pid = process.pid) {
     const { generation, seat, settled = false, deps } = writer;
     const otherArm = (owner) => arm !== undefined && (arm.armId !== owner.armId || (owner.armEpoch !== undefined && arm.armEpoch !== owner.armEpoch));
     const binds = (owner) => `${tier} superseded — the owner record binds arm ${owner.armId} (epoch ${owner.armEpoch ?? "unbound"}), not this writer's arm ${arm?.armId} (epoch ${arm?.armEpoch}); nothing written`;
@@ -291,17 +1035,19 @@ export function assertOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, writer, arm = writer.arm,
         if (arm && created && owner.armEpoch !== undefined && otherArm(owner)) {
             if (held === undefined)
                 refuse(`${tier} superseded — generation ${generation} re-armed without its complete check; owner left in place`);
-            const records = checkedRecords(repoRoot, tier, deps);
-            if (records.kind === "UNKNOWN")
-                refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — ${records.reason}; owner left in place`);
-            if (records.arm?.armId !== arm.armId || records.arm.armEpoch !== arm.armEpoch) {
-                refuse(`${tier} superseded — durable arm ${records.arm ? `${records.arm.armId} (epoch ${records.arm.armEpoch})` : "(absent)"} replaced the arm ${arm.armId} (epoch ${arm.armEpoch}) generation ${generation} just created; owner left in place`);
-            }
-            const current = readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier);
-            if (!sameOwner(owner, current))
-                changed(current);
             const next = { ...owner, armId: arm.armId, armEpoch: arm.armEpoch };
-            publish(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier), next);
+            // The rebind's own claimed act: inside it, the arm is exactly the arm just created and the owner exactly the one checked.
+            publish(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier), next, claimed, () => {
+                const records = checkedRecords(repoRoot, tier, deps);
+                if (records.kind === "UNKNOWN")
+                    refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — ${records.reason}; owner left in place`);
+                if (records.arm?.armId !== arm.armId || records.arm.armEpoch !== arm.armEpoch) {
+                    refuse(`${tier} superseded — durable arm ${records.arm ? `${records.arm.armId} (epoch ${records.arm.armEpoch})` : "(absent)"} replaced the arm ${arm.armId} (epoch ${arm.armEpoch}) generation ${generation} just created; owner left in place`);
+                }
+                const current = readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier);
+                if (!sameOwner(owner, current))
+                    changed(current);
+            });
             requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(next), deps, undefined, true), tier);
             return next;
         }
@@ -319,10 +1065,11 @@ const sameIdentity = (a, id) => typeof id === "object" && id.birth === a.birth &
 const sameProcess = (owner, id) => sameIdentity(owner, id);
 /**
  * Linux frees an exiting process's memory (its argv) before its cwd and before it is a zombie, so in that window ps prints
- * `[comm]` beside the same birth, group and cwd. Only a wait for death may read that as "not gone yet": it never authorises a
- * signal or a removal (both still need a full identity or checked death); any other difference stays a mismatch.
+ * `[comm]` beside the same birth, group and cwd. Before AND after any signal that reading is UNKNOWN — never an accepted
+ * identity, never death: a subsequent complete read or confirmed death decides. A generation not yet bound to a birth
+ * can only be torn down; once bound, a `[comm]` with another birth, group or cwd is a genuine foreign identity (MISMATCH).
  */
-const exitingAfterSignal = (a, id) => typeof id === "object" && id.birth === a.birth && id.pgid === a.pgid && id.cwd === a.cwd && /^\[.+\]$/.test(id.command);
+const tearingDown = (a, id) => /^\[.+\]$/.test(id.command) && (a.birth === undefined || (id.birth === a.birth && id.pgid === a.pgid && id.cwd === a.cwd));
 /** The durable arm, or UNREADABLE for a torn one — never mistaken for no arm. */
 function armOf(repoRoot, tier) {
     try {
@@ -367,13 +1114,16 @@ const expectedGeneration = (owner) => ({ owner, armEpoch: owner.armEpoch });
  */
 function checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, snapshot, deps, pid, launching = false) {
     const expected = snapshot.owner;
-    let identity = "UNKNOWN";
+    let read = "UNKNOWN";
     if (pid !== undefined) {
         try {
-            identity = deps.identity(pid);
+            read = deps.identity(pid);
         }
         catch { /* an inspection failure proves neither life nor death */ }
     }
+    const unreadable = typeof read === "object" ? (tearingDown(expected, read) ? `pid ${pid} shows teardown argv ${read.command}; a complete read or confirmed death decides` : undefined)
+        : read.startsWith("UNKNOWN — ") ? read.slice("UNKNOWN — ".length) : undefined;
+    const identity = unreadable !== undefined ? "UNKNOWN" : read;
     const records = checkedRecords(repoRoot, tier, deps);
     if (records.kind === "UNKNOWN")
         return records;
@@ -396,8 +1146,9 @@ function checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, snapshot, deps, pid, launching = f
         return {
             kind: "UNKNOWN", reason: `generation ${expected.generation} never proved its arm epoch; the current arm cannot authorize cleanup`,
         };
-    return { kind: "OWNED", records, identity };
+    return { kind: "OWNED", records, identity, ...(unreadable !== undefined ? { unreadable } : {}) };
 }
+const why = (check) => check.unreadable ? ` (${check.unreadable})` : "";
 function requireOwned(check, tier) {
     if (check.kind !== "OWNED")
         refuse(`${tier} ${check.mutationReason ?? `${check.kind === "UNKNOWN" ? "UNREADABLE" : "MISMATCH"} — ${check.reason}; left in place`}`);
@@ -416,8 +1167,13 @@ function advancingBeat(records, owner) {
  * The checked state of one tier, read-only: no claim, no write, no signal. Every authoritative record —
  * owner, marker, beat and durable arm — is validated before any outcome is selected, and ownership binds to
  * this repository's canonical root, the recorded seat and the recorded arm before the process is consulted.
+ * An UNBOUND owner (no pid, or no arm epoch) is a launch in progress only while a claim is held: a launch publishes and
+ * binds only under its own claim. So when the caller holds the tier claim (`held`), or no claim exists before and after
+ * the owner is read (status), an unbound owner with no live recorded process is ABANDONED — its launcher died — and
+ * the next start, stop or legacy write retires it (retireDead); a live recorded process keeps it UNKNOWN.
  */
-export function inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
+export function inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps, held = false) {
+    const unclaimedBefore = held || readClaim(repoRoot, tier) === "NONE";
     const owner = readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier);
     if (owner === "UNREADABLE")
         return { kind: "UNKNOWN", reason: `malformed owner record ${beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier)}` };
@@ -430,37 +1186,108 @@ export function inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
             return { kind: "EMPTY" };
         if (tierState.state === "DISARMED")
             return { kind: "DISARMED", ...(tierState.seat ? { seat: tierState.seat } : {}) };
-        return { kind: "FOREIGN", reason: `${tierState.state} by an unowned writer${tierState.seat ? ` (seat ${tierState.seat})` : ""}` };
+        const migrate = legacyExit(tier, tierState.seat, initial.writer, deps);
+        return {
+            kind: "FOREIGN", reason: `${tierState.state} by an unowned writer${tierState.seat ? ` (seat ${tierState.seat})` : " that recorded no seat — none is invented"}`,
+            ...(migrate ? { migrate } : {}),
+        };
     }
     const root = realpathSync(repoRoot);
     if (owner.cwd !== root)
         return { kind: "FOREIGN", reason: `owner record names repository ${owner.cwd}, not ${root}` };
     if (seat !== undefined && owner.seat !== seat)
         return { kind: "FOREIGN", reason: `owned by seat ${owner.seat}, not ${seat}` };
-    const checked = checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(owner), deps, owner.pid);
+    const unbound = owner.pid === undefined || owner.armEpoch === undefined;
+    const idle = unbound && unclaimedBefore && (held || readClaim(repoRoot, tier) === "NONE");
+    const checked = checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(owner), deps, owner.pid, idle);
     if (checked.kind !== "OWNED")
         return checked;
     const id = checked.identity;
-    if (owner.pid === undefined)
-        return { kind: "UNKNOWN", reason: `generation ${owner.generation} recorded no process (launch in progress or abandoned)` };
-    if (owner.armEpoch === undefined)
-        return { kind: "UNKNOWN", reason: `generation ${owner.generation} never bound its arm epoch (launch in progress or abandoned)` };
+    if (unbound) {
+        const what = owner.pid === undefined ? "recorded no process" : "never bound its arm epoch";
+        if (idle && (owner.pid === undefined || id === "DEAD"))
+            return {
+                kind: "ABANDONED", owner, reason: `generation ${owner.generation} ${what} and no launch holds the claim${owner.pid === undefined ? "" : `; recorded pid ${owner.pid} is gone`} — its launch was abandoned`,
+            };
+        return { kind: "UNKNOWN", reason: `generation ${owner.generation} ${what} (launch in progress or abandoned)` };
+    }
     const owned = owner;
     if (id === "DEAD")
         return { kind: "OWN-DEAD", owner: owned };
     if (id === "UNKNOWN")
-        return { kind: "UNKNOWN", reason: `identity of recorded pid ${owned.pid} is unreadable` };
+        return { kind: "UNKNOWN", reason: `identity of recorded pid ${owned.pid} is unreadable${checked.unreadable ? ` (${checked.unreadable})` : ""}` };
     if (!sameProcess(owned, id))
         return { kind: "PID-REUSED", owner: owned };
     // Advancing means THIS child wrote the fresh beat — tier, seat, arm and its own live pid. A one-shot record
     // (exitedWriterPid) or any other writer reusing the arm id is not the owned child beating.
     return { kind: "OWN-LIVE", owner: owned, advancing: advancingBeat(checked.records, owned) };
 }
-/** Status: the recorded liveness, rendered without writing; healthy states exit 0, the rest nonzero. */
+const shellWord = (word) => /^[\w@%+=:,./-]+$/.test(word) ? word : `'${word.replaceAll("'", "'\\''")}'`;
+/**
+ * The exit for a legacy (unowned, pre-lifecycle) arm: stand it down under its RECORDED seat, then start owns the
+ * tier. A loop writer's own pid is named for the operator to stop first when it is not confirmed dead — tickmarkr
+ * never signals a process it did not launch, nor takes its live claim. A writer stopped inside its claimed tick
+ * leaves a confirmed-dead claim, which the printed --stand-down reclaims (withLegacyClaim). No recorded seat: no
+ * recipe, never an invented one.
+ */
+function legacyExit(tier, seat, writer, deps) {
+    if (seat === undefined)
+        return undefined;
+    const pid = typeof writer === "object" && positive(writer.pid) ? writer.pid : undefined;
+    let id = "DEAD";
+    if (pid !== undefined)
+        try {
+            id = deps.identity(pid);
+        }
+        catch {
+            id = "UNKNOWN";
+        }
+    const first = id === "DEAD" ? "" : typeof id === "object" ? `stop pid ${pid} first (its legacy --loop writer; the stand-down reclaims a claim it dies holding), then `
+        : `pid ${pid}'s identity is unreadable — confirm it is gone or stop it first, then `;
+    return `migrate the legacy writer: ${first}run \`tickmarkr beat ${tier} ${seatFlag(seat)} --stand-down\` and start again`;
+}
+// A seat beginning with a dash would parse as an option after a bare --seat: it rides the --seat=<seat> form.
+const seatFlag = (seat) => seat.startsWith("-") ? `--seat=${shellWord(seat)}` : `--seat ${shellWord(seat)}`;
+const migrating = (checked) => checked.migrate ? ` — ${checked.migrate}` : "";
+/**
+ * Status: the recorded liveness, rendered without writing; healthy states exit 0, the rest nonzero. It is observation
+ * only: a claim whose recorded pids are all dead, what a killed taker or writer left, or — read in the process that
+ * stranded it (a bridge) — that process's own strand (strandOf), is REPORTED (nonzero) with the pids and the exact
+ * command that recovers it — never recovered here, and no file is touched.
+ */
 export function beatStatus(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
     const checked = inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps);
     const claim = readClaim(repoRoot, tier);
-    const busy = claim === "NONE" ? "" : ` · BUSY (${typeof claim === "object" ? `claim held by pid ${claim.pid}` : "unreadable claim"})`;
+    const dead = (pid) => { try {
+        return deps.identity(pid) === "DEAD";
+    }
+    catch {
+        return false;
+    } };
+    const deadClaim = typeof claim === "object" && dead(claim.pid) && (claim.publisher === undefined || dead(claim.publisher));
+    const publisher = typeof claim === "object" && claim.publisher !== undefined ? ` with its launched writer pid ${claim.publisher}` : "";
+    // Every holder is named: the claim's, and each removal lock's taker not confirmed dead (a removal under way).
+    const dir = supervisionDirOf(repoRoot, tier);
+    const names = (() => { try {
+        return readdirSync(dir);
+    }
+    catch {
+        return [];
+    } })();
+    const removing = names.filter((name) => name.startsWith(`${tier}.claim.`) && name.endsWith(".reclaim")).flatMap((name) => {
+        const taker = lockOwner(join(dir, name));
+        return taker && !confirmedDead(taker.pid) ? [`a claim removal under way at ${name} by pid ${taker.pid}`] : [];
+    });
+    const holders = [...(claim === "NONE" ? [] : [typeof claim === "object" ? `claim held by ${deadClaim ? "dead " : ""}pid ${claim.pid}${publisher}` : "unreadable claim"]), ...removing];
+    const busy = holders.length > 0 ? ` · BUSY (${holders.join("; ")})` : "";
+    const live = [];
+    const left = [...strandsNamed(repoRoot, tier, live), ...deadLeftovers(repoRoot, tier).map(({ path, pid }) => `${basename(path)} of dead pid ${pid}`)];
+    const owner = readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier);
+    const recorded = typeof owner === "object" ? owner.seat : supervisionStatus(repoRoot, tier, deps.now()).seat ?? seat;
+    const waiting = live.length > 0 ? ` once live taker pid ${[...new Set(live)].join(", ")} has finished or exited (until then it refuses BUSY naming it)` : "";
+    const recover = deadClaim || left.length > 0
+        ? ` · left behind: ${[...(deadClaim ? ["the dead claim"] : []), ...left].join(", ")} — run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} ${recorded ? seatFlag(recorded) : "--seat <seat>"}\` ` +
+            `to recover it${waiting} (status reports, never recovers)` : "";
     const row = (() => {
         switch (checked.kind) {
             case "EMPTY": return ["ABSENT — no beat recorded", 0];
@@ -468,48 +1295,101 @@ export function beatStatus(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
             case "OWN-LIVE": return checked.advancing
                 ? [`ARMED (${checked.owner.seat}) — detached pid ${checked.owner.pid}, generation ${checked.owner.generation}`, 0]
                 : [`STALE (${checked.owner.seat}) — detached pid ${checked.owner.pid} is alive but its beat is not advancing`, 1];
-            case "OWN-DEAD": return [`STALE (${checked.owner.seat}) — recorded pid ${checked.owner.pid} is gone; run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} --seat ${checked.owner.seat}\``, 1];
-            case "FOREIGN": return [`MISMATCH — ${checked.reason}`, 1];
+            case "OWN-DEAD": return [`STALE (${checked.owner.seat}) — recorded pid ${checked.owner.pid} is gone; run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} ${seatFlag(checked.owner.seat)}\``, 1];
+            case "ABANDONED": return [`STALE (${checked.owner.seat}) — ${checked.reason}; run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} ${seatFlag(checked.owner.seat)}\``, 1];
+            case "FOREIGN": return [`MISMATCH — ${checked.reason}${migrating(checked)}`, 1];
             case "PID-REUSED": return [`MISMATCH — recorded pid ${checked.owner.pid} now belongs to another process`, 1];
             case "UNKNOWN": return [`UNREADABLE — ${checked.reason}`, 1];
         }
     })();
-    return { out: `${tier} ${row[0]}${busy}`, code: row[1] };
+    return { out: `${tier} ${row[0]}${busy}${recover}`, code: recover ? 1 : row[1] };
 }
 const exited = (child) => child.exitCode !== null || child.signalCode !== null;
-/** start: one claim, one child; exit zero only after this exact child's own advancing beat reads back. */
-export async function startBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
-    const generation = randomUUID();
-    acquireBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, generation);
+/** Every reclaim and recovery notice — the claim's, and its release's — leads the lifecycle's outcome, success or refusal alike. */
+async function noticed(notices, run) {
+    try {
+        const out = await run();
+        return [...notices, out].join("\n");
+    }
+    catch (error) {
+        if (error instanceof BeatRefusal && notices.length > 0)
+            throw new BeatRefusal([...notices, error.message].join("\n"));
+        throw error;
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * The identity reader's own tool, proven on this live process before start writes anything: a reader that
+ * names its missing cause (Darwin's lsof) could never prove the child, so start refuses with nothing to undo.
+ */
+function readerPreflight(tier, deps) {
+    let self = "UNKNOWN";
+    try {
+        self = deps.identity(process.pid);
+    }
+    catch {
+        return;
+    }
+    if (typeof self === "string" && self.startsWith("UNKNOWN — "))
+        refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — ${self.slice("UNKNOWN — ".length)}; nothing started`);
+}
+/**
+ * Run `body` under the claim `token` and release it. A refusal from the body is never masked by the release
+ * refusal that follows a lost claim: both are reported.
+ */
+async function holding(repoRoot, tier, token, body, told) {
     let result;
     try {
-        const checked = inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps);
-        switch (checked.kind) {
-            case "EMPTY":
-            case "DISARMED":
-                result = await launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps);
-                break;
-            case "OWN-LIVE":
-                if (!checked.advancing)
-                    refuse(`${tier} STALE — owned pid ${checked.owner.pid} is alive but silent; run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} --seat ${seat}\` first`);
-                result = `${tier} already running as ${seat} — detached pid ${checked.owner.pid}, generation ${checked.owner.generation}; checked no-op`;
-                break;
-            case "OWN-DEAD":
-                refuse(`${tier} STALE — owned pid ${checked.owner.pid} is gone; run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} --seat ${seat}\` first`);
-                break;
-            case "FOREIGN":
-                refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — ${checked.reason}; nothing started`);
-                break;
-            case "PID-REUSED":
-                refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — recorded pid ${checked.owner.pid} now belongs to another process; nothing started`);
-                break;
-            case "UNKNOWN":
-                refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — ${checked.reason}; nothing started`);
-                break;
+        result = await body();
+    }
+    catch (error) {
+        try {
+            releaseBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token, told);
         }
+        catch (release) {
+            if (error instanceof BeatRefusal)
+                throw new BeatRefusal(`${error.message}; ${release.message}`);
+        }
+        throw error;
     }
-    finally {
-        releaseBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, generation);
+    releaseBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token, told);
+    return result;
+}
+/** start: one claim (a single attempt), one child; exit zero only after this exact child's own advancing beat reads back. */
+export async function startBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
+    readerPreflight(tier, deps);
+    const generation = randomUUID();
+    const notices = [await acquireWaiting(repoRoot, tier, generation, { tries: 1, sleep: deps.sleep }, deps)].filter((n) => n !== undefined);
+    return noticed(notices, () => holding(repoRoot, tier, generation, () => startClaimed(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps), (n) => notices.push(n)));
+}
+async function startClaimed(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps) {
+    let result;
+    const checked = inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps, true);
+    switch (checked.kind) {
+        case "EMPTY":
+        case "DISARMED":
+            result = await launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps);
+            break;
+        case "OWN-LIVE":
+            if (!checked.advancing)
+                refuse(`${tier} STALE — owned pid ${checked.owner.pid} is alive but silent; run \`tickmarkr beat stop ${tier} ${seatFlag(seat)}\` first`);
+            result = `${tier} already running as ${seat} — detached pid ${checked.owner.pid}, generation ${checked.owner.generation}; checked no-op`;
+            break;
+        // A dead or abandoned generation is retired first, exactly as stop retires it, then this start launches over it.
+        case "OWN-DEAD":
+        case "ABANDONED": {
+            const guard = (mutate, check) => claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, generation, "start", check, mutate);
+            result = await noticed([retireDead(repoRoot, tier, checked, deps, guard)], () => launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps));
+            break;
+        }
+        case "FOREIGN":
+            refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — ${checked.reason}; nothing started${migrating(checked)}`);
+            break;
+        case "PID-REUSED":
+            refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — recorded pid ${checked.owner.pid} now belongs to another process; nothing started`);
+            break;
+        case "UNKNOWN":
+            refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — ${checked.reason}; nothing started`);
+            break;
     }
     return result;
 }
@@ -525,9 +1405,15 @@ async function launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps) {
     // it with a reread owner: even the same token under a different arm epoch is another generation.
     let expected = expectedGeneration(base);
     const snapshot = () => expected;
+    // Every mutation below is one claimed act under this launch's claim, its generation barrier inside the act.
+    const guard = (mutate, check) => claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, generation, "start", check, mutate);
+    const owned = () => requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), deps, undefined, true), tier);
     try {
-        publish(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier), base);
-        requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), deps, undefined, true), tier);
+        publish(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier), base, guard, () => {
+            if (readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier) !== "NONE")
+                refuse(`${tier} superseded — an owner record appeared before generation ${generation} published its own`);
+        });
+        owned();
     }
     catch (error) {
         return rollback(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), undefined, undefined, deps, `owner publication failed: ${error.message}`);
@@ -535,11 +1421,11 @@ async function launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps) {
     const log = beatLogPath(repoRoot, tier);
     let child;
     try {
-        const fd = deps.openLog(log);
+        const fd = guard(() => deps.openLog(log), owned);
         try {
-            child = deps.spawn(deps.cli[0], [...deps.cli.slice(1), "beat", tier, "--seat", seat, "--loop", "--arm-id", generation], {
+            child = guard(() => deps.spawn(deps.cli[0], [...deps.cli.slice(1), "beat", tier, "--seat", seat, "--loop", "--arm-id", generation], {
                 cwd: repoRoot, detached: true, stdio: ["ignore", fd, fd], env: { ...deps.env, [BEAT_GENERATION_ENV]: generation },
-            });
+            }), owned);
         }
         finally {
             closeSync(fd);
@@ -562,7 +1448,7 @@ async function launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps) {
     if (exited(child) || id === "DEAD")
         return rollback(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), child, undefined, deps, `child pid ${pid} died before its beat read back (log ${log})`);
     if (id === "UNKNOWN")
-        return rollback(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), child, undefined, deps, `child pid ${pid} identity is unreadable`);
+        return rollback(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), child, undefined, deps, `UNREADABLE — child pid ${pid} identity is unreadable${why(proof)}`);
     if (id.cwd !== base.cwd || !id.command.includes(generation)) {
         return rollback(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), child, undefined, deps, `child pid ${pid} is not the launched generation (cwd ${id.cwd})`);
     }
@@ -586,11 +1472,13 @@ async function launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps) {
     if (id.pgid !== pid)
         return fail(`child pid ${pid} is not detached (process group ${id.pgid})`);
     const record = (next) => {
-        requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), deps, undefined, true), tier);
+        const prior = snapshot();
+        const verified = () => requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, prior, deps, undefined, true), tier);
+        verified();
         // If publication or its read-back fails, the attempted snapshot remains the rollback authority.
         expected = { ...expected, owner: next };
-        publish(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier), next);
-        return requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, snapshot(), deps, undefined, true), tier).records;
+        publish(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier), next, guard, verified); // the prior generation, re-verified inside the act
+        return owned().records;
     };
     try {
         record({ ...base, pid, birth: id.birth, command: id.command, pgid: id.pgid });
@@ -608,7 +1496,7 @@ async function launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps) {
         // exit is observable, then repeat the full generation/records check within the startup budget.
         if (live.identity === "UNKNOWN") {
             if (deps.now() >= deadline)
-                return fail(`UNREADABLE — child pid ${pid} identity is unreadable during read-back`);
+                return fail(`UNREADABLE — child pid ${pid} identity is unreadable during read-back${why(live)}`);
             await deps.sleep(Math.min(100, Math.max(0, deadline - deps.now())));
             continue;
         }
@@ -642,7 +1530,7 @@ async function launch(repoRoot, tier, seat, generation, deps) {
     if (exited(child) || final.identity === "DEAD")
         return fail(`child pid ${pid} died before its beat read back (log ${log})`);
     if (final.identity === "UNKNOWN")
-        return fail(`UNREADABLE — child pid ${pid} identity is unreadable during read-back`);
+        return fail(`UNREADABLE — child pid ${pid} identity is unreadable during read-back${why(final)}`);
     if (!sameProcess(expected.owner, final.identity))
         return fail(`child pid ${pid} changed identity during read-back`);
     const advancing = advancingBeat(final.records, expected.owner);
@@ -666,9 +1554,22 @@ async function waitFor(gone, ms, deps) {
  * Undo only what this generation did; anything it cannot prove stays in place and the refusal says so.
  * EVERY signal is preceded by a recheck of both the owner generation and the child's live identity against
  * the identity proven at launch: a replaced generation or an unproven or changed identity is never signalled.
+ * Every signal, stand-down commit and removal is then one claimed act under the launch claim (token = this
+ * generation) with the owner generation re-verified inside it (the stand-down staged: supervised): a rollback that
+ * lost its claim, or whose generation was replaced, signals, writes and removes nothing further and retains the owner.
  */
 async function rollback(repoRoot, tier, expected, child, proven, deps, why) {
     const failed = (what) => refuse(`${tier} start refused: ${why}; ${what}`);
+    const guard = (mutate, check) => {
+        try {
+            return claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, expected.owner.generation, "start", check, mutate);
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            if (error instanceof BeatRefusal && !error.message.startsWith(`${tier} start refused`))
+                failed(`${error.message}; owner record retained`);
+            throw error;
+        }
+    };
     const ownerRead = () => readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier);
     const check = (phase, pid) => {
         const checked = checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expected, deps, pid);
@@ -678,29 +1579,36 @@ async function rollback(repoRoot, tier, expected, child, proven, deps, why) {
     };
     const pid = child?.pid;
     if (child && pid) {
+        const unproven = `pid ${pid} not signalled — its identity is not proven to be this generation's child; owner record retained`;
         const gone = () => {
             const checked = check("rollback", pid);
             if (checked.identity === "DEAD")
                 return true;
-            // A process exiting after our signal can disappear between its ps and cwd reads. UNKNOWN
+            // A process exiting can disappear between its ps and cwd reads or show teardown argv. UNKNOWN
             // proves neither death nor a changed identity: wait for checked death, and still require a
             // matching live identity at the separate barrier before any further signal.
-            if (proven && checked.identity !== "UNKNOWN" && !sameIdentity(proven, checked.identity) && !exitingAfterSignal(proven, checked.identity))
-                failed(`pid ${pid} not signalled — its identity is not proven to be this generation's child; owner record retained`);
+            if (proven && checked.identity !== "UNKNOWN" && !sameIdentity(proven, checked.identity))
+                failed(unproven);
             return false;
         };
         for (const signal of ["SIGTERM", "SIGKILL"]) {
             if (gone())
                 break;
             // identity FIRST, ownership re-read after it: a generation replaced during the identity read is not signalled
-            const checked = check("rollback", pid);
-            if (!proven || !sameIdentity(proven, checked.identity)) {
-                failed(`pid ${pid} not signalled — its identity is not proven to be this generation's child; owner record retained`);
+            let checked = check("rollback", pid);
+            // Before a signal, UNKNOWN is decided only by a later complete read or confirmed death — never guessed.
+            if (proven && checked.identity === "UNKNOWN") {
+                await waitFor(() => check("rollback", pid).identity !== "UNKNOWN", 3_000, deps);
+                checked = check("rollback", pid);
             }
-            try {
+            if (checked.identity === "DEAD")
+                break; // confirmed death between the probe and the proof needs no signal
+            if (!proven || !sameIdentity(proven, checked.identity))
+                failed(unproven);
+            guard(() => { try {
                 deps.kill(pid, signal);
             }
-            catch { /* the wait below decides */ }
+            catch { /* the wait below decides */ } }, () => check("rollback"));
             await waitFor(gone, 3_000, deps);
         }
         if (!gone())
@@ -711,12 +1619,12 @@ async function rollback(repoRoot, tier, expected, child, proven, deps, why) {
     try {
         const checked = check("cleanup");
         if (checked.records.arm?.armId === expected.owner.armId) {
-            publishStandDown(repoRoot, tier, expected.owner.seat);
+            supervised(repoRoot, tier, barred(guard, () => check("cleanup")), (root) => publishStandDown(root, tier, expected.owner.seat));
             check("cleanup");
             if (checkedRecords(repoRoot, tier, deps).kind === "UNKNOWN" || supervisionStatus(repoRoot, tier, deps.now()).state !== "DISARMED")
                 failed("rollback stand-down read-back failed; owner retained");
         }
-        removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, expected, deps);
+        removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, expected, deps, guard);
     }
     catch (error) {
         if (error instanceof BeatRefusal)
@@ -727,49 +1635,76 @@ async function rollback(repoRoot, tier, expected, child, proven, deps, why) {
         failed("owner record could not be removed");
     return failed("rolled back this generation only");
 }
-/** stop: retire only the recorded generation, signalling its exact pid, then read back DISARMED. */
+/**
+ * The ONE recovery of a dead generation — OWN-DEAD (its recorded pid confirmed gone) or ABANDONED (an unbound owner no
+ * launch holds, no recorded process alive) — shared by stop, start and every legacy write, under the caller's claim:
+ * stand its arm down unless already DISARMED (`standDown`: stop and start; a legacy write leaves the arm to the write it
+ * was asked for — a one-shot records its beat on it, --stand-down stands it down, --new-arm/--loop replace it), then
+ * remove its owner record, each one claimed act (`held`) with this exact generation re-verified inside it. Nothing is
+ * signalled: no live process of that generation is on record (an unrecorded child of an abandoned launch refuses at its
+ * next check and exits). Returns the notice naming it.
+ */
+function retireDead(repoRoot, tier, checked, deps, held, standDown = true) {
+    const { owner } = checked;
+    const snapshot = expectedGeneration(owner);
+    const unbound = owner.armEpoch === undefined;
+    const owned = () => { requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, snapshot, deps, undefined, unbound), tier); };
+    owned();
+    const state = supervisionStatus(repoRoot, tier, deps.now()).state;
+    if (state === "UNREADABLE")
+        refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — the tier's supervision records became unreadable; nothing removed`);
+    if (standDown && state !== "DISARMED")
+        supervised(repoRoot, tier, barred(held, owned), (root) => publishStandDown(root, tier, owner.seat));
+    owned();
+    removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, snapshot, deps, held, unbound);
+    return `${tier} recovered dead generation ${owner.generation} (${checked.kind === "OWN-DEAD" ? `recorded pid ${owner.pid} is gone` : checked.reason}): ` +
+        `${standDown ? "stood down and removed its owner record" : "removed its owner record, its arm left to this write"}, nothing signalled`;
+}
+/**
+ * stop: retire only the recorded generation, signalling its exact pid, then read back DISARMED. A loop tick
+ * holding the claim is waited out under BEAT_CLAIM_WAIT; a claim whose recorded pids are all confirmed dead is
+ * reclaimed. Every stand-down commit (supervised), signal and removal is one claimed act under stop's claim (`held`)
+ * with the owner generation it acts on re-verified inside it.
+ */
 export async function stopBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
     const token = randomUUID();
-    acquireBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token);
+    const notices = [await acquireWaiting(repoRoot, tier, token, { sleep: deps.sleep }, deps)].filter((n) => n !== undefined);
+    const guard = (mutate, check) => claimedAct(repoRoot, tier, token, "stop", check, mutate);
+    return noticed(notices, () => holding(repoRoot, tier, token, () => stopClaimed(repoRoot, tier, seat, guard, deps), (n) => notices.push(n)));
+}
+async function stopClaimed(repoRoot, tier, seat, held, deps) {
     let result;
-    try {
-        const checked = inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps);
-        switch (checked.kind) {
-            case "EMPTY":
-                publishStandDown(repoRoot, tier, seat);
-                result = readBackDisarmed(repoRoot, tier, deps, "published DISARMED; nothing signalled");
-                break;
-            case "DISARMED":
-                result = `${tier} DISARMED — already stood down; checked no-op`;
-                break;
-            case "OWN-LIVE":
-                result = await retire(repoRoot, tier, checked.owner, deps);
-                break;
-            case "OWN-DEAD": {
-                recheckOwned(repoRoot, tier, checked.owner, deps, false);
-                const state = supervisionStatus(repoRoot, tier, deps.now()).state;
-                if (state === "UNREADABLE")
-                    refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — the tier's supervision records became unreadable; nothing removed`);
-                if (state !== "DISARMED")
-                    publishStandDown(repoRoot, tier, checked.owner.seat);
-                recheckOwned(repoRoot, tier, checked.owner, deps, false);
-                removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(checked.owner), deps);
-                result = readBackDisarmed(repoRoot, tier, deps, `pid ${checked.owner.pid} was already gone; cleaned up, nothing signalled`);
-                break;
-            }
-            case "FOREIGN":
-                refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — ${checked.reason}; nothing signalled or removed`);
-                break;
-            case "PID-REUSED":
-                refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — recorded pid ${checked.owner.pid} now belongs to another process; nothing signalled or removed`);
-                break;
-            case "UNKNOWN":
-                refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — ${checked.reason}; nothing signalled or removed`);
-                break;
+    const checked = inspectBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps, true);
+    switch (checked.kind) {
+        case "EMPTY":
+            supervised(repoRoot, tier, barred(held, () => {
+                if (readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier) !== "NONE")
+                    refuse(`${tier} superseded — an owner record appeared during stop; nothing further written`);
+            }), (root) => publishStandDown(root, tier, seat));
+            result = readBackDisarmed(repoRoot, tier, deps, "published DISARMED; nothing signalled");
+            break;
+        case "DISARMED":
+            result = `${tier} DISARMED — already stood down; checked no-op`;
+            break;
+        case "OWN-LIVE":
+            result = await retire(repoRoot, tier, checked.owner, held, deps);
+            break;
+        case "OWN-DEAD":
+        case "ABANDONED": {
+            const notice = retireDead(repoRoot, tier, checked, deps, held);
+            result = `${notice}\n${readBackDisarmed(repoRoot, tier, deps, checked.kind === "OWN-DEAD" ? `pid ${checked.owner.pid} was already gone; cleaned up, nothing signalled`
+                : `generation ${checked.owner.generation}'s abandoned launch cleaned up, nothing signalled`)}`;
+            break;
         }
-    }
-    finally {
-        releaseBeatClaim(repoRoot, tier, token);
+        case "FOREIGN":
+            refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — ${checked.reason}; nothing signalled or removed${migrating(checked)}`);
+            break;
+        case "PID-REUSED":
+            refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — recorded pid ${checked.owner.pid} now belongs to another process; nothing signalled or removed`);
+            break;
+        case "UNKNOWN":
+            refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — ${checked.reason}; nothing signalled or removed`);
+            break;
     }
     return result;
 }
@@ -780,37 +1715,59 @@ export async function stopBeat(repoRoot, tier, seat, deps) {
  */
 function recheckOwned(repoRoot, tier, owner, deps, live = true) {
     const checked = requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(owner), deps, live ? owner.pid : undefined), tier);
+    if (live && checked.identity === "UNKNOWN")
+        refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — pid ${owner.pid} identity is unreadable${why(checked)}; nothing signalled`);
     if (live && !sameProcess(owner, checked.identity))
         refuse(`${tier} pid ${owner.pid} no longer matches its recorded identity — nothing further signalled`);
 }
-async function retire(repoRoot, tier, owner, deps) {
-    recheckOwned(repoRoot, tier, owner, deps);
-    publishStandDown(repoRoot, tier, owner.seat);
+async function retire(repoRoot, tier, owner, held, deps) {
     recheckOwned(repoRoot, tier, owner, deps);
+    // Each act below re-verifies this generation (owner, durable arm, records) inside it.
+    const owned = barred(held, () => recheckOwned(repoRoot, tier, owner, deps, false));
+    supervised(repoRoot, tier, owned, (root) => publishStandDown(root, tier, owner.seat));
     if (!Number.isInteger(owner.pid) || owner.pid <= 0)
         refuse(`${tier} recorded pid ${owner.pid} is not a positive pid`);
+    const read = () => requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(owner), deps, owner.pid), tier);
     const gone = () => {
-        const { identity } = requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(owner), deps, owner.pid), tier);
-        if (identity !== "DEAD" && identity !== "UNKNOWN" && !sameProcess(owner, identity) && !exitingAfterSignal(owner, identity))
+        const { identity } = read();
+        if (identity !== "DEAD" && identity !== "UNKNOWN" && !sameProcess(owner, identity))
             refuse(`${tier} MISMATCH — pid ${owner.pid} changed identity while stopping; owner record retained`);
         return identity === "DEAD";
     };
-    try {
-        deps.kill(owner.pid, "SIGTERM");
+    // The live recheck after stand-down: the loop may already be exiting on it. Confirmed death needs no signal;
+    // UNKNOWN (teardown argv, unreadable cwd) waits for a complete read or confirmed death, never a guess.
+    // The await yields: only a fresh complete barrier read after it, with no await before the signal, authorises it.
+    let last = read();
+    if (last.identity === "UNKNOWN") {
+        await waitFor(() => read().identity !== "UNKNOWN", SUPERVISION_BEAT_MS, deps);
+        last = read();
     }
-    catch (error) {
-        if (!gone())
-            refuse(`${tier} signal to pid ${owner.pid} failed: ${error.message}; owner record retained`);
+    if (last.identity === "UNKNOWN")
+        refuse(`${tier} UNREADABLE — pid ${owner.pid} identity is unreadable after stand-down${why(last)}; nothing signalled, owner record retained`);
+    if (last.identity !== "DEAD") {
+        if (!sameProcess(owner, last.identity))
+            refuse(`${tier} pid ${owner.pid} no longer matches its recorded identity — nothing further signalled`);
+        let failure;
+        owned(() => { try {
+            deps.kill(owner.pid, "SIGTERM");
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            failure = error;
+        } });
+        if (failure && !gone())
+            refuse(`${tier} signal to pid ${owner.pid} failed: ${failure.message}; owner record retained`);
+        if (!await waitFor(gone, SUPERVISION_BEAT_MS, deps))
+            refuse(`${tier} pid ${owner.pid} did not exit after SIGTERM; owner record retained`);
     }
-    if (!await waitFor(gone, SUPERVISION_BEAT_MS, deps))
-        refuse(`${tier} pid ${owner.pid} did not exit after SIGTERM; owner record retained`);
     recheckOwned(repoRoot, tier, owner, deps, false);
-    removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(owner), deps);
-    return readBackDisarmed(repoRoot, tier, deps, `retired detached pid ${owner.pid} (generation ${owner.generation})`);
+    removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, expectedGeneration(owner), deps, held);
+    return readBackDisarmed(repoRoot, tier, deps, last.identity === "DEAD"
+        ? `pid ${owner.pid} exited on its stand-down (generation ${owner.generation}); nothing signalled`
+        : `retired detached pid ${owner.pid} (generation ${owner.generation})`);
 }
-function removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, expected, deps) {
-    requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expected, deps), tier);
-    rmSync(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier));
+/** Remove the owner record as one claimed act: the generation barrier inside it, then the final claim check, then the removal. */
+function removeOwner(repoRoot, tier, expected, deps, held, unbound = false) {
+    held(() => rmSync(beatOwnerPath(repoRoot, tier)), () => requireOwned(checkOwnedGeneration(repoRoot, tier, expected, deps, undefined, unbound), tier));
     if (readBeatOwner(repoRoot, tier) !== "NONE")
         refuse(`${tier} owner record could not be removed — cleanup unacknowledged`);
 }