memory: the SVOS concept round is with the operator, and a latent CSS defect it surfaced

Three rulings open on booth-svos-retheme (ship / voice / emblem). The branch is
an inert ref; merge is gated on the rulings. Verified independently: nothing
checked out, main clean, merge-tree clean, merged tree 649 green.

The fixup hold is now partial — booth.html is released because design-dev does
not touch it, so bug-hunt findings there land immediately.

And a real one he caught on our side: base.html reads four CSS custom properties
and defines none of them, 15 uses without a fallback. An undefined var makes the
whole declaration invalid at computed-value time, so those buttons have had no
border at all and a transparent background — not merely default colours. The U7
rail reads the same names with fallbacks, which is why the rail looked
deliberate and the buttons under it never did. Assigned to his rewrite; fixing
it on main would collide with the one file he is rewriting.

persistent-memory.md

@@ -43,12 +43,25 @@ _As of 2026-09-22:_
   until now — `scripts/booth` executes it before every one of the documented
   three. Now covered by `test_stdlib_only`. Same detail file carries why
   `importlib.metadata` is the WRONG version source in this repo.
-- 🔶 **SVOS design-system retrofit ACCEPTED by `design-dev`** (althing thread
-  `01M369321KNBPZ7FYDQGZG7AXP`). We own the IA; he owns the visual and
-  interaction system. He declined a `/vor-ui` brief — the IA doc plus the seven
-  constraints already are one. He works on `svos-retheme` in his own clone
-  against a COPY of `~/booth-data`; **we merge and restart**, he never touches
-  `:8090`. A concept round goes to the OPERATOR before any fixup.
+- 🔶 **SVOS CONCEPT ROUND IS UP AND THREE RULINGS ARE WITH THE OPERATOR**
+  (booth `booth-svos-retheme`, ask id `svos`: ship / voice / emblem, all three
+  with design-dev's recommendation attached). **Nothing from us gates it and
+  the branch must NOT be merged until he pings after the rulings.**
+  Branch `refs/heads/design-dev/svos-retheme` @ `878ed86` is fetched into this
+  repo as an **inert ref** — verified: nothing checked out, `main` clean,
+  `git merge-tree` against `33e7149` clean, merged tree 649 green.
+- 🔶 **THE FIXUP HOLD IS PARTIAL, NOT BLANKET.** `booth/templates/booth.html`
+  is **RELEASED** — design-dev does not touch it, so bug-hunt findings there
+  land immediately. **HELD** while his branch is out: `base.html`, `view.html`,
+  `doc.html`, `embed.js`, and `app.py`'s `FAVICON_HREF`.
+- ⚠ **A REAL LATENT CSS DEFECT, FOUND BY design-dev, ASSIGNED TO HIS REWRITE.**
+  `base.html` reads `--line` / `--bg` / `--fg` / `--muted` and **defines none of
+  them**; 15 of those uses carry no fallback (lines 281-314). `border:1px solid
+  var(--line)` with the var undefined is invalid at computed-value time, so the
+  WHOLE border declaration drops — the keep/blur/reveal buttons have had no
+  border and a transparent background. The U7 rail above them reads the same
+  names WITH fallbacks, which is why the rail looks deliberate and the buttons
+  never did. **Do not fix on `main`** — it is the one file he is rewriting.
 - ⚠ **A `postbox send` note is a point-in-time snapshot, NOT a durable fact.**
   The send said `design-dev: pull-only`; `postbox handles` says `push
   reachable`, and he replied in-session. Read the mode from `postbox handles`.