**The ratchet was advisory.** `scripts/lifecycle-column-census.mjs`
existed only as `pnpm census:lifecycle-columns` — without `--strict` —
and **no workflow invoked it**. Nothing has ever compared the tree to
the baseline. Every "the baseline ratchet holds them" assumption in this
program rested on a check that does not run.
That explains both classes of hole:
**1. Three PRs lowered counts without re-recording,** leaving allowances
the deleted guards could return through while every check stayed green.
I've tightened them across #2593 and earlier PRs, but nothing stops the
next one.
**2. #2621 GREW the count while its own title claimed "count 0 → 0".**
It added `column === "triage"` and `column === "todo"` at
`register-task-workflow-routes.ts:2681`, taking that file to **23
against an allowance of 22**. It landed unchallenged. This is the
failure mode the ratchet exists to prevent, and it happened *inside this
program*, in a PR that asserted the opposite.
## The change
Adds `check:lifecycle-columns` (the census with `--strict`) to the
`pr-checks.yml` lint job, next to `check:changesets` and
`check:routes-modular` — the established pattern. **~1.8s over ~1950
files**, so this is not a slow-test addition.
## Proven to fail, in both directions
A guard that reports success without checking anything is worse than no
guard, so:
| injected defect | result |
|---|---|
| `const __probe = (c: string) => c === "triage"` added to `moves.ts` |
`count ROSE — moves.ts: 39 -> 40`, exit 1 |
| run against main's current baseline | exit 1 on
`mission-feature-sync.ts: allows 5, tree has 0` |
Both reverted; exit 0 restored. Note the second row: **this check is RED
on main right now**, which is the point.
## Merge order
**Stacked on #2593**, which carries the `DELIBERATE-LITERAL` marker for
the #2621 site (a v1 IR declares no roles, so no trait can answer that
question) plus the baseline re-record. Standalone on main this PR is red
— correctly. **Merge #2593 first**, then this.
I stacked rather than duplicating those two edits because I already
caused one conflict today by appending related content from two
branches, and #2651 merged a correction ahead of the section it
corrected. Same-content edits in two PRs is the same mistake.
## Census
Unchanged by this PR: **776 total, triage 5, reviewed 16** — it adds no
guards and converts none. It only makes the numbers enforceable.
## For the fleet
This should land before the 776-guard fleet launches. The brief says
"the baseline ratchet must shrink by exactly the converted count" —
until now nothing verified that claim, so a batch worker could report a
shrink that did not happen, or grow the count while converting, and CI
would agree.
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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