Docs only. Two findings from this unit that cost real time to derive and
would otherwise be re-derived by whoever reaches these files next.
## 1. `=== "archived"` is usually a SENTINEL
`packages/core/src/task-store/async-comments-attachments.ts` carries
**9** census guards — the second-largest single-file count outside
`self-healing.ts`. Reading all nine: **exactly one** is a board-column
comparison. The other eight compare against a value `getLiveTaskColumn`
*manufactures*:
```ts
if (row.column === "archived" || row.deletedAt != null) return "archived"; // ← fabricated
return row.column;
```
Converting those eight to `isArchivedColumnRole` would keep passing on
the built-in board and start **failing** on a renamed one — a
soft-deleted parent's documents would become readable. **The conversion
makes the renamed board worse**, which is the opposite of what the
census count implies.
The rule that separates them: look at where the compared value *came
from*, not at its type. From `task.column` or a DB field → a board lane.
From a function that *returns* `"archived"` as a documented outcome → a
sentinel.
Consequence worth stating plainly: **a file's census count is an upper
bound on convertible sites, not a work estimate.**
## 2. Lane literals inside raw `sql` are in no total at all
The Reliability panel had three inputs. Two were call arguments and
converted routinely (#2861). The third encoded its lanes in a `sql`
fragment:
```sql
metadata->>'to' = 'in-review' OR (metadata->>'from' = 'in-review' AND metadata->>'to' = 'done')
```
The census scans `===`/`!==` comparisons; the unwired-lane-parameter
guard scans declarations. **Neither can see a string inside a `sql`
template**, so this class is not in the backlog number — a second,
independent reason the total is a floor. Second known instance after the
archived gate in PR #2724, which makes it a pattern rather than an
accident.
Fixed in #2875, and the doc says so rather than leaving it described as
outstanding — a learnings doc that reports a fixed defect as open sends
the next reader to a dead end. `scripts/check-sql-column-literals.mjs`
(#2841) is the detector for the class and freezes the surface at 30
sites; the two are complementary.
## 3. Sibling files
The GitLab importer's `column: "triage"` was fixed in #2843. The Linear
importer — written from the same template, with **two tests pinning the
bug** — still had it, and was found only by re-grepping an area I had
already declared clean (#2860). When a defect is found in a file that
has a sibling, the sibling is the next place to look, and no tool will
tell you that.
## Verification
`pnpm lint` clean. No source change.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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