## Claim, and why it turned into a gate
I claimed the largest unclaimed unflagged cluster, `executor.ts` (4
guards at 3557/3581/3632/3642). All four are conditions of a
**synchronous** `store.on("task:moved", …)` listener — the same class as
`scheduler.ts`. Converting them needs either an `await` in a sync
prologue or the sync resolver, and the sync resolver is inert.
`executor.ts` already says so, at line 10459, dated 2026-07-30:
> **THE SYNCHRONOUS RESOLVER IS A NO-OP IN PRODUCTION.** … every
sync-resolved conversion resolves the DEFAULT workflow and answers with
the legacy ids no matter what board the task is on. That makes a sync
conversion cosmetic: the census counts it as converted, `--strict` goes
down by one, and the guard behaves exactly as the literal did. **Worse
than leaving the literal, because the number says the site is done.**
The next day, #3051 did exactly that to ten `scheduler.ts` arms. Census
fell by ten; nothing changed on any board (refuted live in #3058).
So the finding was already written down, in the file a converter would
be reading, in capitals — and the fleet phase produced the defect
anyway. **A comment cannot fail a build.** Converting `executor.ts`'s
four the only available way would have made me the third instance. I
flagged them and built the guard instead.
## What the check does
Per file: finds functions reaching `resolveTaskWorkflowIrSync`, the
locals assigned from them, and the `===`/`!==` guards consuming those
roles. Baselined per file; **fails on a rise.**
Not zero, deliberately. The existing sync guards are real and documented
— the scheduler's listeners genuinely cannot `await` today and their
authors said so. Demanding zero forces a revert or a day-one exemption
marker. What must not happen is *more* literals quietly becoming
inert-resolved.
Complements `check-inert-flag-seams.mjs`, which catches the opposite
shape (a lane parameter **no** caller supplies). This catches a
parameter that **is** supplied, from a source that always answers the
same thing — which passes that check cleanly.
## Why the shape is invisible
The obvious reading is wrong, and it is what makes this survive review.
The helper does **not** receive `undefined` and fall through to `??
"in-review"`. It receives a **real IR that resolves real traits** — the
default board's — so it answers with full confidence and the `??` arms
beside it are dead code.
```
tsc passes the value is a string, correctly typed
tests pass on the default board the constant answer IS the right answer
the census DROPS it counts comparisons against literals, and the literal really is gone
```
## Mutation evidence — including one against this check itself
| Mutant | Result |
|---|---|
| baseline | exit 0, 20 guards in `scheduler.ts` |
| convert one more literal to a sync-resolved lane (the #3051 move) |
**exit 1, 20 → 21** |
| convert the same literal to an **async**-resolved lane | exit 0 —
correctly silent |
The first draft **failed its own mutation test**: it matched only the
local-variable spelling (`const parked = resolveX(...)` then
`parked.review`), which is what #3051 used, and the inline spelling
`resolveX(store, id).review` walked straight past it while being exactly
as inert. A ratchet one rewrite evades is worse than none, because the
green result reads as proof. Both spellings now count.
## Limits, stated so nobody over-trusts it
Sources are matched **within a file by function name**, so a helper
imported from another module is not followed — this finds the dominant
local-helper shape and will miss a cross-module one
(`resolvePlannerLanes`, consumed in `executor.ts`/`triage.ts`, is
currently outside its reach). It proves a guard consumes a sync-resolved
answer, not that the answer is wrong for every caller. Tests are
excluded. Treat a report as a pointer to investigate.
## Census before / after
```
before: COLUMN guards (the backlog): 104
after: COLUMN guards (the backlog): 104
```
Unchanged by design — this converts nothing. It stops the count from
moving for the wrong reason.
Worth recording alongside it, measured across the current backlog: **21
of 104 already carry an explicit flag note**, **51 are
`self-healing.ts`** (concurrently claimed by **#3055, #3050 and #3049**
— three PRs, one file, still worth de-conflicting), and **28 are
genuinely unclaimed and unflagged**, the largest being these
`executor.ts` four. The cluster-sized work is close to exhausted; what
is left is scattered and mostly blocked, which is the pressure that
produced #3051.
## Verification
`test:gate` exit 0 · `pnpm lint` clean · lifecycle-column census exit 0
· `pnpm check:inert-sync-lanes` exit 0. No production file touched.
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