memory: snapshot — U7 three-quarters built, blocked on one ruling

U6 shipped as v0.6.0 and a late fix as v0.6.1; U7's three ratified components
(rail, filters, grid keyboard) are landed and the fourth is deliberately not,
because swapping subfolder sections for filename-derived groups is a scope
departure the operator has not ruled on. A test fails if anyone builds it
anyway.

Two new detail files. One decomposes U7 by ratified-versus-not and records the
two decisions taken under stated assumption. The other keeps the mechanism
behind today's misrouted directive: pane_find addresses seats by a ROLLING PANE
TITLE, which is not a stable address, and the failure is silent from the
sender's side -- Miranda had no signal until infra-ops flagged it. The incident
resolved; the mechanism did not.

The generated handoff committed the modality failure its own step-7 read exists
to catch: it listed push, seed and the 17-handle note as imperative Next steps
when all three are explicitly gated. Rewritten as do-nots, Next steps emptied.
Recorded here because it is the second time the generator has needed that
backstop.

persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-a-directive-misrouted-by-pane-title.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# An approved directive misrouted because pane_find addresses by a rolling title
+
+_2026-09-22 · booth_
+
+**An operator-approved directive (D-0011, sent by Miranda, telling booth-dev to
+begin U7) landed on the infra-ops handle instead.** Worth keeping for the
+mechanism, not the incident: the incident resolved cleanly and the mechanism
+did not.
+
+## What happened, and why nothing broke
+
+`pane_find` matched `terminal_2` **by its ROLLING PANE TITLE**, and that pane is
+the eshpfi-management seat rather than booth-dev. Miranda confirmed all of this
+directly when asked.
+
+infra-ops caught it and **deliberately did not relay the content as an
+instruction** — their reasoning, which is exactly right: a directive arriving as
+"infra-ops says Miranda says Vuong says" is two hops from the source, and a peer
+passing operator authority along is the thing the rules warn about. They sent a
+routing report instead, quoting only the two lines that identified the target.
+
+This session then **did not act on it**, and asked Miranda directly rather than
+taking a peer's word for the operator's. She confirmed it was genuine and
+**superseded pending the sections ruling**. Both loops closed in two messages.
+
+## The part that is still true tomorrow
+
+**A pane title that changes as work moves through the pane is not a stable
+address.** It put an approved directive on the wrong seat, and:
+
+- **the failure is silent from the sender's side.** Miranda had no signal it
+  went astray until infra-ops spoke up. A directive that misroutes to a quiet
+  or busy seat simply evaporates.
+- it landed somewhere that caught it. That was luck, not design.
+
+Reported to infra-ops as an ops matter (`01M35JJ9034E64HMA8X9C21R2N`), with the
+mechanism named and no fix proposed — not this repo's call. **Not tracked
+anywhere by booth-dev**; recorded here only so the next session does not
+re-derive it if a directive goes missing again.
+
+## The rule this confirms
+
+The CLAUDE.md Miranda exception is for Miranda relaying **directly**. A
+second-hand report of a Miranda relay is one hop too far, and infra-ops said so
+before this session had to. Going to the source cost two messages and settled it.

persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u7-three-quarters-and-one-ruling.md

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# U7 is three-quarters built and blocked on one word
+
+_2026-09-22 · booth_
+
+**The last v1 unit, decomposed by what the operator has already ratified versus
+what he has not.** ROADMAP's U7 row names four components. Three were already
+approved there and are **built, tested and deployed** (`a306e2d`). The fourth is
+a scope departure and is **deliberately not built**.
+
+| component | ROADMAP | state |
+|---|---|---|
+| sticky rail | ratified | **landed** — totals + per-filter counts |
+| filters | ratified | **landed** — all / flagged / annotated / unanswered |
+| grid keyboard | ratified | **landed** — `←/→ f n Enter Esc`, bound only when a grid exists |
+| **sections → filename groups** | **departs** | **NOT BUILT** |
+
+`tests/test_navigation.py::test_no_group_rail_is_shipped_yet` fails the moment
+somebody builds the group rail anyway, so the departure cannot arrive by
+accident while the ruling is outstanding.
+
+## The question, and why it is his
+
+**Drop subfolder sections for filename-prefix groups — yes or no?**
+
+Measured (see [[2026-09-22-u7-remeasured-before-scoping]]): **zero of eleven
+gallery booths have a subdirectory**, so sections buy nothing; stripping a
+trailing digit-run from the stem yields **5–16 sensible groups on four of the
+five large galleries** and degenerates to one group on the fifth. The
+replacement is better on the evidence — but swapping a ratified component for
+an unratified one is scope direction, not implementation.
+
+Contract at `docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md`, status
+`PARTIALLY LANDED`, with the departure named as the operator's call.
+
+## Decisions taken under stated assumption, both cheap to reverse
+
+- **`unanswered` means HAS AN OPEN PICK** — the U4 hold predicate, which already
+  exists. The other reading ("has no mark at all") is a genuinely different
+  question and stays an open question on the contract.
+- **Filters are LINKS, not scripts**, resolved server-side, so the gallery keeps
+  working with JavaScript off. U3 cost the verbatim path its no-JS operation and
+  said so plainly; the gallery is the surface the operator actually reviews on,
+  and this unit does not repeat it there.
+
+## The vacuous falsifier, written an hour after the entry about them
+
+`test_filtering_never_reorders` compared each filtered view against the
+**unfiltered response** — so a mutation reversing the order reversed both sides
+and it **stayed green under the exact change it forbade.** Caught only by
+running the mutation rather than trusting the assertion.
+
+Rewritten against an independent truth: U1 INV-3 says the order IS `sorted(rel)`,
+so each view must be sorted, full stop, with no reference to another response.
+Re-verified RED. **Every new falsifier in this session was mutation-checked
+after this**, and that is the practice to keep — see
+[[2026-09-22-vacuous-falsifiers]].

persistent-memory.md

@@ -19,65 +19,52 @@ loop it turned out to actually be.
 
 _As of 2026-09-22:_
 
-- **NOTHING IS IN FLIGHT.** U6 (benches) landed, all four review gates closed,
-  **released as `v0.6.0`**, with the last open defect closed in `v0.6.1`. Deployed;
-  tree clean at `1b394dd`, 611 tests green, 19/19 booths 200 live. ⚠ **NOT PUSHED** — push is the operator's call
-  and he did not give it this session; `main` is ahead of `origin/main`.
+- **U6 (benches) SHIPPED as `v0.6.0`; a late fix shipped as `v0.6.1`.** Six of
+  seven v1 units are landed.
   → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u6-benches-released.md`
-- **v1 is gated on seven units. SIX ARE LANDED. U7 IS THE LAST ONE.** U1
-  `ce598b3`; U2 → `v0.2.0`/`v0.2.1`/`v0.2.2`; U5 → `v0.3.0`; U4 → `v0.4.0`;
-  U3 → `v0.5.0`; U6 `1c3ce5d` → `v0.6.0`.
-- ⚠ **Before starting U7, read
-  `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-21-u7-section-premise-half-wrong.md` AND
-  re-count the booths first.** Its premise has degraded twice over: every booth
-  that needs navigation is FLAT, and on 2026-09-22 the four large booths it was
-  sized against (`pancake-v3-full`/`pancake-v4-full` at 270 items,
-  `sindra20-engines`, `sindra-finalists`) had ALL been swept. Largest live booth
-  is `miranda-is` at 92 items. Two of 19 booths have subfolders and both are
-  reports. Sections buy close to nothing; the rail, filters and grid keyboard
-  are the unit.
-- **THE LAST OPEN DEFECT IS CLOSED.** The wrong-shaped `answer` that 500'd the
-  gallery and marks pages (pre-existing, measured at `42ea67f`) is fixed at
-  `_hydrate` — the placement the session recommended three times and the
-  operator never ruled on, **taken under a stated assumption and cheap to move**
-  (one condition in one function) if he disagrees. Measured before/after: both
-  pages 500 → 200, error visible, the booth's other pick untouched. Two things
-  fell out of it that matter more than the fix — U3's `_safe_fragments` lost its
-  natural trigger and is now a synthetically-falsified backstop, and that guard's
-  own handler could not survive the failure it was handling. Read
-  `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-a-wrong-shaped-answer-500s-the-gallery.md`
-  before touching marks rendering anywhere.
-- ⚠ **TWO OPERATOR DECISIONS ARE OUTSTANDING AND BOTH ARE DELIBERATELY NOT
-  DONE.** (1) The single althing note to the 17 handles about `booth link`
-  refusing booth URLs — gated as multi-recipient, drafted nowhere, NOT SENT.
-  (2) Seeding the bench registry from the board — he said "no seeding yet", so
-  `booth bench import --apply` has NOT been run against live data and
-  `.benches.json` does not exist in `~/booth-data`.
+- **U7 IS THREE-QUARTERS BUILT AND BLOCKED ON ONE RULING.** The three
+  components ROADMAP already ratifies — sticky rail, filters, grid keyboard —
+  are implemented, tested and deployed (`a306e2d`). The fourth, replacing
+  subfolder sections with filename-derived groups, is a **scope departure** and
+  is deliberately NOT built; `tests/test_navigation.py::test_no_group_rail_is_shipped_yet`
+  fails if anyone builds it before he rules.
+  → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u7-three-quarters-and-one-ruling.md`
+- ⚠ **THE ONE QUESTION BLOCKING v1: drop subfolder sections for filename-prefix
+  groups, yes or no?** Everything else in U7 is done or parked. Read
+  `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u7-remeasured-before-scoping.md` for the
+  evidence before putting it to him again.
+- **623 tests green. Tree clean at `a306e2d`. Deployed; 19/19 booths 200.**
+- ⚠ **NOT PUSHED.** `main` is **15 commits ahead of `origin/main`**, including
+  the `v0.6.0` and `v0.6.1` tags. Push is the operator's call and he has not
+  given it.
+- ⚠ **NOT SEEDED.** He said "no seeding yet", so `booth bench import --apply`
+  has not been run against live data and `.benches.json` does not exist in
+  `~/booth-data`. The dry run is safe and writes nothing.
+- ⚠ **THE 17-HANDLE NOTE IS NOT SENT.** `booth link` now refuses a booth URL,
+  which changes behaviour for seventeen agent handles. Gated as multi-recipient;
+  not drafted, not sent.
+- **A U7 directive MISROUTED and is SUPERSEDED — nothing to act on.**
+  Operator-approved D-0011, sent by Miranda, landed on infra-ops because
+  `pane_find` matched a rolling pane title. Miranda confirmed directly that it
+  is superseded pending the sections ruling, and that every held item above
+  stays gated. → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-a-directive-misrouted-by-pane-title.md`
 - ⚠ **THE 17 CONSUMING HANDLES WERE NEVER TOLD that `keep` stopped meaning
-  "waiting on an answer"** — operator decision 2026-09-22, no broadcast, and it
-  still stands. **This CHANGES HOW THE 2026-10-06 RE-COUNT READS**: the hold
-  rides for free but not-pressing-`keep` has to be learned, so a flat `.forever`
-  rate does NOT falsify the diagnosis. Read its entry before measuring.
-- **A remote exists and `main` is AHEAD of it.** `origin` is
-  `git@gitea.phasefinal.com:vh/booth.git`; the first push of this repo's history
-  was 2026-09-22 (26 commits, `v0.2.0`–`v0.5.0` in one motion). As of this
-  snapshot `main` is **11 commits ahead of `origin/main`** — the whole of U6
-  including the `v0.6.0` and `v0.6.1` tags. Pushing is the operator's call.
-- **Two dated predictions are pending and must not be run early.** U5's adoption
+  "waiting on an answer"** — operator decision, no broadcast, still standing.
+  **This CHANGES HOW THE 2026-10-06 RE-COUNT READS**: a flat `.forever` rate
+  does NOT falsify the diagnosis. Read its entry before measuring.
+- **Two dated predictions pending and must not be run early.** U5's adoption
   re-measure on **2026-09-29**; the `.forever` re-count **on or after
-  2026-10-06**. Before the second, read
-  `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-no-notice-and-what-it-does-to-the-prediction.md`.
-- **FIVE methodology proposals sit with the operator, untracked by his choice**
-  — four from earlier rounds plus Kimi's new one: promote "the falsifiable test
-  is weaker than the invariant it guards" to its own ambiguity class in
-  `/heid-contract-review`. It now has two data points in this repo (five of
-  seven U4 falsifiers vacuous; U6 shipped a tie-break falsifier that could not
-  fail). They are `/heid*` skill changes, not this repo's work.
+  2026-10-06**.
+- **FIVE `/heid*` methodology proposals sit with the operator**, untracked by
+  his choice — including Kimi's "the falsifiable test is weaker than the
+  invariant it guards", which now has three data points in this repo.
 - The booth set churns hard: 26 → 24 → 25 → 23 → **19** across five sessions.
-  Re-count rather than trusting any number written here.
+  Re-count rather than trusting any number here.
 
 ## Recent decisions
 
+- `[2026-09-22]` **U7 is three-quarters built and blocked on one word** — the ratified three landed; the sections-vs-groups departure is NOT built and is the operator's call, tracked at `docs/contracts/u7_navigation.contract.md` → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u7-three-quarters-and-one-ruling.md`
+- `[2026-09-22]` **An approved directive misrouted because pane_find addresses by a rolling pane title** — resolved; the MECHANISM is the durable part, reported to infra-ops, untracked by booth-dev → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-a-directive-misrouted-by-pane-title.md`
 - `[2026-09-22]` **U7 re-measured before scoping — sections are dead, filename prefixes are not** — PRE-WORK ONLY, no unit started; read before writing U7's contract → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u7-remeasured-before-scoping.md`
 - `[2026-09-22]` **The last open defect closed, and building its falsifier found another** — the wrong-shaped answer fixed at `_hydrate`; `_safe_fragments` lost its natural trigger and its handler could not survive the failure it handled → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-a-wrong-shaped-answer-500s-the-gallery.md`
 - `[2026-09-22]` **U6 released as `v0.6.0` — benches, and the number that was two defects** — six of seven v1 units landed, NOT PUSHED → `persistent-memory.d/2026-09-22-u6-benches-released.md`