diff --git a/docs/runbooks/althing-deploy.md b/docs/runbooks/althing-deploy.md
index 3c3cb92..1812685 100644
--- a/docs/runbooks/althing-deploy.md
+++ b/docs/runbooks/althing-deploy.md
@@ -337,11 +337,37 @@ way. **Write code that does not depend on the environment being present**, which
 a seat started outside `dev-launch` has no handle in either place. Test with the
 variables stripped regardless, because that is the harder case:
 
-    printf '{"workspace":{"current_dir":"/tmp"}}' \
-      | env -u ALTHING_HANDLE -u ALTHING_POST_OFFICE bash scripts/claude-statusline-command.sh
+    probe() {  # $1 = cwd, $2 = what you expect
+      got=$(printf '{"workspace":{"current_dir":"%s"}}' "$1" \
+            | env -u ALTHING_HANDLE -u ALTHING_POST_OFFICE \
+              bash scripts/claude-statusline-command.sh)
+      printf 'got [%s]  wanted [%s]\n' "$got" "$2"
+    }
+    probe /tmp                                    ''      # no althing identity
+    probe /home/lkraven/development/eshpfi-management '🔔 …'
 
-Want: empty althing segment for a directory with no identity, `🔔` in a seat's
-own directory, `📵` against an unreachable address.
+⚠ **Print what you got beside what you wanted, on the same line.** Expected
+values in trailing comments are what produced the false pass that caught two
+agents inside an hour on 2026-09-02: `/tmp` rendered `🔔` and both of us read it
+as "fine" rather than "that directory has no identity and should be empty." A
+plausible value in the right shape is the hardest kind of wrong to see, and the
+only thing that reliably catches it is the wanted value sitting on the same line
+as the got value.
+
+### ⚠ The outage probe: a refused port does NOT test the timeout
+
+`📵` has two causes and they take different paths. Measured 2026-09-02 on
+nh3-dev:
+
+| address | elapsed | what it proves |
+|---|---|---|
+| `http://10.100.50.40:9999` — refused port on a **live** host | **0.079 s** | the glyph, and nothing about the deadline |
+| `http://10.100.50.199:8390` — **unrouted** host, black-holes | **2.065 s** | the 2 s budget actually fires |
+
+A refused port answers instantly with an RST, so the fast probe returns `📵`
+without ever approaching the timeout. Use **both**, and know which is which —
+letting the fast case imply the slow one is how a status line that hangs the
+prompt ships with a green test beside it.
 
 ## Rollback