## What
The planned-spec release-leg fixture defect has now been diagnosed
**three times independently** — #2634 (`workflow-lifecycle`), #2643
(`workflow-merged-board`), and again in `workflow-planning-lane`. Each
time it cost real time, because it presents as a *scheduler* bug rather
than a fixture bug.
The mechanism: `createTaskWithReservedId` leaves a bootstrap seed (`#
<id>\n\n<description>`), `isUnplannedForExecution` (`hold-release.ts`)
refuses to move an unplanned card out of any intake- or hold-trait
column, and the sweep reports `held: [{ reason:
"move-rejected-or-no-slot" }]` while releasing nothing. That is **the
gate working.**
This extracts the write into `seedPlannedSpec`
(`_planned-spec-fixture.ts`) which **self-checks against the real
predicate the gate uses** (`isUnplannedSeedPrompt`, imported — not
restated) and throws naming the fixture as the cause. Three call sites
converted; their ~12-line comments collapse to a pointer, so the
diagnosis and both dead-end hypotheses live once, at the seam that
causes them.
## Measured (real PostgreSQL, not estimated)
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| 3 converted families + new ratchet | **41 pass / 41** |
| Guard neutered (`if (false)`) | **4 of 5** ratchet tests fail |
| Original defect reproduced faithfully | **3 of 7** planning-lane tests
fail |
| `pnpm lint`, engine `tsc --noEmit` | clean |
**The ratchet fails on the original defect.** It drives the two real
seed shapes through the production builders (`buildBootstrapPrompt`,
`buildRefinementSeedPrompt`) rather than local imitations, so it cannot
keep passing if the seed shape drifts — which is exactly the drift the
fixture absorbs. The one test that survives the neutered guard is the
happy path, which should not move.
**The fixture is load-bearing, not decorative.** Proven by reproducing
the defect end-to-end: production `buildBootstrapPrompt` on the created
row with the guard bypassed → 3 planning-lane tests fail, including its
own control case.
A false mutation is worth recording, because it nearly produced a wrong
"not load-bearing" verdict: a *hand-written* seed passed 7/7.
`isUnplannedSeedPrompt` is **byte-equality** against a prompt built from
the task's own title/description, so only a byte-exact seed reproduces
it. A *missing* prompt does not either — `isUnplannedForExecution`
catches the read error and returns `false`.
## Deliberately not converted
`workflow-rebound-family`'s `PROMPT.md` write. It is a
content-preservation artifact asserted byte-identical across a re-home,
not a release-gate fixture; the helper would overwrite the very bytes
under assertion.
## Reversible decisions taken (per standing authority)
- **`opts.content` seam.** Exists so the ratchet can drive a known seed
and prove the throw fires. Without it the guard could only ever be
observed passing — the "guard that reports success without checking
anything" failure mode. Documented as test-only.
- **`title`/`description` optional.** The check is shape-based: both
recognised seed forms are `<heading>\n\n<description>` with no section
headings, so the written spec cannot match either for *any* description.
Omitting them cannot mask a positive, and a test asserts that directly.
- **`merged-board`'s spec text lengthened** to match the other two (both
were already non-seed, so behaviour is unchanged; verified by the
41-pass run).
## Method correction worth propagating
My collision scan was wrong and I nearly acted on it. `git diff
origin/main origin/<branch> -- <file>` reports a difference when a
branch is merely **stale** (the file did not exist at its base), so it
flagged dashboard and CLI PRs as touching engine E2E files. Diffing
against each branch's **merge base** is correct. Re-run under the fixed
method: all five files here are uncontested, and
`feature/code-organization-wave17` genuinely does touch
`packages/engine/src/triage.ts` (so that one stays hands-off).
## Lane
`.pg.test.ts` under engine-default, `pgDescribe`-skipped without
PostgreSQL — the merge gate is unaffected. Throwaway per-file database,
never port 4040, no temp-root walk.
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