## Every entry on the pick-work list was already decided
`--triage` prints a list headed *"unexamined, by file — this is the list
to pick work from"*. On `main` it held 2 sites. **Both carry a full
deferral note:**
| site | what its note says |
|---|---|
| `triage.ts:793` | *"the arm goes back to the literal, which is
**honest about being one**"* — restored by #3126 after #3114 converted
it inertly |
| `scheduler.ts:1323` | *"the second of the two **honest literals** …
converting it here **would be inert**"* |
Neither phrasing was in the marker set. So the pick-list was **100%
false positives**.
## Why this direction of error is the expensive one
Under-reporting a deferral sends a worker at a site whose owner already
wrote down why it must not move. That is not a hypothetical failure — it
is the sequence that cost three PRs: **#3108** flagged a site with both
blockers named and a test behind it, **#3114** converted it anyway hours
later, **#3126** reverted it. A pick-list that nominates decided sites
reproduces exactly that.
Over-reporting has the opposite failure — it hides real work — so the
added phrases are specific to *declining a conversion* (`honest
literal`, `would be inert`), not generic words that appear in ordinary
notes.
## Verified in both directions
Not asserted. I resolved **each of the 12** remaining guards to its
individual marker:
```
1. scheduler.ts:1238 FLAGGED
2. scheduler.ts:1323 honest literal
3. audit-ops.ts:231 Not converted
4. lifecycle-ops.ts:667 do not convert
5. merge-queue-ops-2.ts:53 FLAGGED
6. moves.ts:346 STAYS INLINE
7. task-id-integrity.ts:445 Left counted
8. ResearchTaskActionModal:66 SIZED, NOT
9. TaskCard.tsx:406 FLAGGED
10. notification-service:1245 FLAGGED
11. self-healing.ts:6054 FLAGGED
12. triage.ts:793 honest about being one
```
**Unexamined is 0.** That is a meaningful state, not just a small
number: the conversion backlog is fully *triaged*, every remaining
literal has a recorded reason, and the next person to touch one is
reading an argument rather than guessing.
## Census before / after
```
before: COLUMN guards (the backlog): 12
after: COLUMN guards (the backlog): 12
```
Unchanged, as required — `--triage` is opt-in and moves no count and no
exit code. `--json` and `--strict` verified unaffected.
## Verification
`test:gate` exit 0 · `--strict` exit 0 · `--json` exit 0 · plus
`fnxc-future-dates`, `lifecycle-columns`, `inert-sync-lanes`,
`quarantine-ledger`, `inert-flag-seams`, `lane-wiring`,
`sql-column-literals` — all exit 0. One script; no production file
touched.
*Process note: my first draft of this PR carried a future-dated FNXC
stamp — the third time I have done that. I have switched to taking the
stamp from `date -u` per #3174 rather than typing it, and my pre-push
run of the full `pr-checks` ratchet set (not `test:gate` alone) caught
it before it left the branch, which is what that habit is for.*
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