## A repair script that wrote a column the board does not have
Under `--apply`, against an operator's live database:
```js
await tx.execute(sql`UPDATE project."tasks" SET "column" = 'archived' WHERE id = ${row.id}`);
```
On a board that does not declare `archived`, that is not a mislabel — it
parks the row in a column the workflow does not have, **manufacturing
exactly the undeclared-column state this migration keeps repairing
elsewhere**.
The selection was wrong in the same direction, which made the write far
worse. "Leaked" meant `column !== "archived"`, so on a renamed board
**every** soft-deleted row looked leaked — including the ones resting
correctly in that board's own archived lane. The repair then rewrote
them. The tool's fix *was* the damage.
## Three changes, because fixing one would have left the others deciding
**The SQL pre-filter carried the same literal** (`AND "column" !=
'archived'`), so the query and the planner each imposed the legacy
vocabulary independently. Dropped it — soft-deleted rows are a small
set, so selecting them all and filtering in the pure planner costs
nothing and leaves **one** place that decides what "archived" means.
**The filter takes the set**; a row resting in *any* of the board's
archived lanes is not leaked.
**The write resolves per task**, because the destination must be that
card's own lane, not a board-wide pick. A row whose archived lane cannot
be resolved is **skipped and reported**, never written with a guessed
id. A recovery script that declines to act on rows it does not
understand is recoverable; one that writes a plausible wrong value is
not.
Verified rather than assumed — a store that answers nothing resolves to
the default lifecycle:
```
lifecycle from unanswering store: {"intake":"todo",…,"archived":"archived"}
```
so a legacy board repairs exactly as before.
## Correcting myself
On #2994 I wrote that this follow-up "needs the same `importCore` seam".
It doesn't: `openBackend` already returns `{ core, store, … }` and this
script already destructures `core`. No new plumbing was required. I
posted that correction on #2994 too, since acting on it would have
wasted someone's time.
## Revert proof
```
✖ a soft-deleted row already in the board's RENAMED archived lane is not leaked
✖ a board with several archived lanes treats all of them as resting places
ℹ pass 5 ℹ fail 2
```
The other two new cases pass both ways by design — they guard the legacy
meaning and the still-catches-a-real-leak direction — so I am not
counting them as coverage of the defect.
## Verification (measured)
- `node --test` across all three script suites — **17 passed / 0
failed**
- `node --check`, `eslint` — clean
- `check-sql-column-literals`, `lifecycle-column-census --strict`,
`check-lane-wiring`, `check-fnxc-future-dates` — green
No changeset: root `scripts/` is repo tooling, not part of the published
package.
## Gate blind spot found while verifying this, NOT fixed here
I removed a raw-SQL lane literal and expected
`check-sql-column-literals` to drop from 22 — its own header says *"a
LOWER count fails too so the baseline is ratcheted down"*. It stayed at
**22 and green**, because it walks `PACKAGES` only and **never scans
`scripts/`**.
That is the same shape as the lane-wiring gap #2978 closed (it scanned
neither `plugins` nor `dashboard/app`).
`scripts/audit-branch-cross-contamination.mjs:185` still holds `WHERE …
"column" IN ('triage','todo','in-progress','in-review')`, invisible to
the gate. Left as a separate follow-up rather than bundled into a
product fix.
5adf0d955a