From 8697702d515cb0e35eff4cb4e10e5fe42f92257d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Keith Jackson <keithallenjackson@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2026 21:53:56 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] docs(decisions-log): record the gate result -- rc 3, and why
 CI's green is not rc 0

The handoff entry asserted conclusions but did not carry its own gate numbers.
Adds them, per CLAUDE.md section 7:

  lint / l0 / render-golden / l1 / spec-immutability : green
  gitea-settings  : SKIPPED (SETTINGS_API_TOKEN unset)
  conformance L2/L3: SKIPPED (CLUSTER_AVAILABLE != true)
  => exit 3, UNDETERMINED. Not a PASS.

Also records two things future sessions will otherwise re-learn the hard way:

1. spec-immutability skipped SPURIOUSLY from the worktree -- dev.sh looks for the
   spec repo at $REPO_ROOT/../home-network-k3s, which from a worktree is the wrong
   directory; it exists beside the MAIN checkout. Mounting it RO through the ENGINE
   shim turned the one tolerated skip into a real green, so R-TEST-06 is genuinely
   verified. The CLAUDE.md section 3 shim should mount two paths, not one.

2. CI's green tick does NOT mean rc 0. gate/conformance is `if: false` and reports
   success with "Has been skipped"; gate/gate runs
   `./ci/gate.sh || [ "$?" -eq 3 ]`, so CI tolerates exit 3 by declared design and
   would report the same green for the rc 3 above.

Branch protection and the runner were measured against the API, not assumed:
protected=true, user_can_push=false, required_approvals=1, context
'gate / gate (pull_request)', runner incluster-dind online. PR #23 left unmerged.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 DECISIONS-LOG.md | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 40 insertions(+)

diff --git a/DECISIONS-LOG.md b/DECISIONS-LOG.md
index 314fb8a..f362955 100644
--- a/DECISIONS-LOG.md
+++ b/DECISIONS-LOG.md
@@ -5442,6 +5442,46 @@ conclusion rather than a cautious one.
   pings from the toolbox.
 - **`fix/crafty-oauth2-proxy-signin` is still unmerged**, so the pod still runs the pre-that-PR spec.
 
+### Gate and CI — rc 3, and why CI's green does not contradict that
+
+Local, pinned toolbox, from the worktree (`ENGINE` shim + `DEV_KUBECONFIG=/dev/null`), diff base
+`origin/main @ 20ea70d` → `HEAD @ d29a73c`:
+
+| Stage | Result |
+|---|---|
+| `lint` | green |
+| `l0` | green — 19 cases, 0 failures, 0 skips |
+| `render-golden` | green — all 10 onboarded goldens reproduce |
+| `l1` | green — 3 cases, 0 failures, 0 skips |
+| `spec-immutability` | **green** (see below) |
+| `gitea-settings` | **SKIPPED** — `SETTINGS_API_TOKEN` unset |
+| `conformance` (L2/L3) | **SKIPPED** — `CLUSTER_AVAILABLE != true` |
+
+**Exit code 3 — UNDETERMINED, not a PASS.** Nothing failed; nothing outside the green rows is
+certified. Touched requirements `R-DNS-01 R-NET-01 R-PLAT-02 R-STATE-01` remain L2/L3 UNVERIFIED.
+
+`spec-immutability` — normally *the* tolerated skip — was closed rather than accepted. It had skipped
+**spuriously**: `dev.sh` resolves the spec repo at `$REPO_ROOT/../home-network-k3s`, which from a
+*worktree* is the wrong directory; the repo exists beside the **main** checkout. Mounting it read-only
+through the `ENGINE` shim turned the skip into a real green, so R-TEST-06 is genuinely verified here.
+Worth folding into the CLAUDE.md §3 worktree workarounds: the documented shim should mount **two**
+paths, the main `.git` *and* the sibling spec repo.
+
+CI on `d29a73c`, statuses read by description and not by tick:
+
+    context='gate / gate (pull_request)'        status='success'  description='Successful in 1m35s'
+    context='gate / conformance (pull_request)' status='success'  description='Has been skipped'
+
+**Neither green means rc 0.** `gate / conformance` is `if: false` in `.gitea/workflows/gate.yml` — it
+never runs and reports `success` with "Has been skipped", the exact trap CLAUDE.md §2 names. And
+`gate / gate`, the single required context, runs `./ci/gate.sh || [ "$?" -eq 3 ]` (line 134): **CI
+tolerates exit 3 by declared design**, so its green means "exited 0 *or* 3". It would report this
+identical green for the rc 3 above. Enforcement itself was measured directly rather than assumed
+(§2b): `branches/main` → `protected: true`, `user_can_push: false`, `required_approvals: 1`,
+`enable_status_check: true`, `status_check_contexts: ['gate / gate (pull_request)']`;
+`admin/actions/runners` → 1 runner, `incluster-dind`, `online`. **PR #23 is open, unmerged, and I did
+not merge it.**
+
 ### Operator actions required
 
 1. **Nothing to do about the transport.** `transport=raknet` is correct, live, and answering. **Do not