diff --git a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ConfigEvalOnChange.ts b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ConfigEvalOnChange.ts
index 88aa648074..071a8bd9fe 100644
--- a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ConfigEvalOnChange.ts
+++ b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ConfigEvalOnChange.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  * change together. Regression (suite below threshold) POSTs a voice/Pulse notice.
  */
 
-import { existsSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync, readFileSync, appendFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync, readFileSync, appendFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
 import { homedir } from 'node:os';
 import { runSuite } from '../../skills/Evals/Tools/EvalRunner.ts';
@@ -61,17 +61,30 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
   const trigger = process.argv[2] ?? 'unknown';
 
   mkdirSync(RESULTS_DIR, { recursive: true });
-  // Single-flight: stale lock older than 10 min is ignored.
-  if (existsSync(LOCK)) {
+  // Single-flight: stale lock older than 10 min is reclaimed. The 'wx' flag is
+  // load-bearing — an existsSync-then-write let two sentinel files edited in the
+  // same instant both pass the check, both run the suite, and both notify.
+  try {
+    writeFileSync(LOCK, new Date().toISOString(), { flag: 'wx' });
+  } catch {
+    let stale = true;
     try {
       const age = Date.now() - Date.parse(readFileSync(LOCK, 'utf8').trim() || '');
-      if (Number.isFinite(age) && age < 10 * 60_000) {
-        log({ event: 'skip-locked', trigger });
-        return;
-      }
-    } catch { /* fall through and re-acquire */ }
+      stale = !Number.isFinite(age) || age >= 10 * 60_000;
+    } catch { /* unreadable lock — treat as stale and reclaim */ }
+    if (!stale) {
+      log({ event: 'skip-locked', trigger });
+      return;
+    }
+    rmSync(LOCK, { force: true });
+    try {
+      writeFileSync(LOCK, new Date().toISOString(), { flag: 'wx' });
+    } catch {
+      // Another run reclaimed the stale lock first; it owns this fire.
+      log({ event: 'skip-locked', trigger });
+      return;
+    }
   }
-  writeFileSync(LOCK, new Date().toISOString());
 
   try {
     const result = await runSuite(SUITE);
@@ -84,7 +97,14 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
       );
     }
   } catch (e) {
-    log({ event: 'error', trigger, error: (e as Error)?.message ?? String(e) });
+    // Notify, don't just log. A suite that cannot RUN is the same operational
+    // fact as a suite that fails: the config change went unverified. Logging to
+    // a JSONL nobody tails made a permanently-broken suite — the shipped one is
+    // still legacy v1 `tasks:`, which the runner cannot execute — look exactly
+    // like a clean pass on every config edit.
+    const msg = (e as Error)?.message ?? String(e);
+    log({ event: 'error', trigger, error: msg });
+    await notify(`Behavioural eval could not run after editing ${trigger}: ${SUITE} errored (${msg}). The change is unverified.`);
   } finally {
     try { rmSync(LOCK, { force: true }); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
   }
diff --git a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/CreateUpdate.ts b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/CreateUpdate.ts
index 666f0e8bb0..b9b1617018 100755
--- a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/CreateUpdate.ts
+++ b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/CreateUpdate.ts
@@ -675,4 +675,9 @@ async function main() {
   console.log(`Change Type: ${changeType}`);
 }
 
-main().catch(console.error);
+// Exit non-zero on failure: IntegrityMaintenance.ts records a ledger entry on
+// `code === 0`, so swallowing the error into a 0 booked work that never happened.
+main().catch((e) => {
+  console.error(e);
+  process.exit(1);
+});
diff --git a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ISARender.ts b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ISARender.ts
index 3895262570..5ea05b2509 100644
--- a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ISARender.ts
+++ b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/ISARender.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import { readFileSync, writeFileSync, existsSync, statSync, renameSync, readdirS
 import { resolve, dirname, basename, join } from "node:path";
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
 import { homedir } from "node:os";
-import { ASCENT, ASCENT_BRACKETS, PHASE_TO_ASCENT } from "./ascent";
+import { ASCENT, ASCENT_BRACKETS, PHASE_TO_ASCENT, type AscentState } from "./ascent";
 
 const HOME = process.env.HOME || homedir();
 const TOOLS_DIR = resolve(HOME, ".claude/LIFEOS/TOOLS");
@@ -38,8 +38,25 @@ const WORK_JSON = resolve(HOME, ".claude/LIFEOS/MEMORY/STATE/work.json");
 // and the Pulse board use. Never define a private stage vocabulary here: a second list is
 // how a mirror ends up disagreeing with the tab generated beside it.
 const STAGES = ASCENT_BRACKETS;
+
+// ASCENT_BRACKETS is a three-slot subset of the six run states, so a phase that
+// maps to an off-bracket state has no slot of its own: `verify` → `anchoring`,
+// `native` → `traverse`, `idle` → `idle`. Letting indexOf's -1 clamp to 0 sent
+// all three to "Marking", so a `phase: verify` ISA rendered Marking in the bar
+// while renderHeroBadges on the same page said ANCHORING. Fold to the last
+// bracket at or before the state in the table's arc order instead.
+function bracketIndex(state: AscentState): number {
+  const exact = ASCENT_BRACKETS.indexOf(state);
+  if (exact >= 0) return exact;
+  let idx = 0;
+  for (let i = 0; i < ASCENT_BRACKETS.length; i++) {
+    if (ASCENT[ASCENT_BRACKETS[i]].order <= ASCENT[state].order) idx = i;
+  }
+  return idx;
+}
+
 const STAGE_MAP: Record<string, number> = Object.fromEntries(
-  Object.entries(PHASE_TO_ASCENT).map(([phase, state]) => [phase, Math.max(0, ASCENT_BRACKETS.indexOf(state))]),
+  Object.entries(PHASE_TO_ASCENT).map(([phase, state]) => [phase, bracketIndex(state)]),
 );
 
 // ─────────── BRAND LOGO LOADER ───────────
diff --git a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/IntegrityCheck.ts b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/IntegrityCheck.ts
index fa7cceeb04..a327068427 100755
--- a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/IntegrityCheck.ts
+++ b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/IntegrityCheck.ts
@@ -859,6 +859,15 @@ function checkRuleDuplication(): void {
 function checkReplayCorpus(): void {
   const findings: Finding[] = [];
   let note: string | undefined;
+  // Same reason as checkRetirementRegistry: the replay fixtures live in the
+  // private source tree and are stripped from every public release. Without this
+  // guard `bun test` exited non-zero with no (fail) lines on every public
+  // install, recording a BLOCKING finding for a directory that is not supposed to
+  // exist there — a permanently red /ic on a clean install.
+  if (!existsSync(join(CLAUDE_DIR, 'test', 'regression'))) {
+    record('replay-corpus', [], 'skipped — replay corpus not installed');
+    return;
+  }
   try {
     const out = execFileSync('bun', ['test', join(CLAUDE_DIR, 'test', 'regression')], {
       encoding: 'utf8', cwd: CLAUDE_DIR, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'], timeout: 120_000,
diff --git a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/RecurrenceLedger.ts b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/RecurrenceLedger.ts
index ba4d3d3493..504449b285 100644
--- a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/RecurrenceLedger.ts
+++ b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/RecurrenceLedger.ts
@@ -144,7 +144,13 @@ const STREAMS: StreamDef[] = [
   },
   {
     file: "writing-gate.jsonl",
-    toEvent: r => r.decision === "block"
+    // The hook's `decision: "block"` is its RESPONSE to the harness; the row it
+    // appends carries the telemetry vocabulary (hooks/WritingGate.hook.ts writes
+    // block-strong-no-run / pass-run-verified / telemetry-weak / no-content /
+    // skip-recovery / telemetry-no-detector). Matching the literal "block"
+    // dropped every writing-gate block from this ledger. Prefix-match so new
+    // block-* reasons land here without a third place to edit.
+    toEvent: r => String(r.decision ?? "").startsWith("block")
       ? { classId: "wgate:block", ts: r.ts, source: "writing-gate", detail: `strong=${r.strong} weak=${r.weak}`, sessionId: r.session_id }
       : null,
   },
diff --git a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Reflect.ts b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Reflect.ts
index d0eb3f313e..fa701d8df6 100644
--- a/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Reflect.ts
+++ b/LifeOS/install/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Reflect.ts
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@
  * written. A malformed record is never appended — that is the corpus gate.
  */
 
-import { existsSync, appendFileSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
-import { join } from "node:path";
+import { existsSync, appendFileSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
 
 const LIFEOS = process.env.LIFEOS_DIR ?? join(process.env.HOME ?? "~", ".claude", "LIFEOS");
 const REFLECTIONS = join(LIFEOS, "MEMORY", "LEARNING", "REFLECTIONS", "algorithm-reflections.jsonl");
@@ -139,7 +139,10 @@ export function validate(r: Partial<Reflection>): string[] {
   for (const f of ["ts", "session_id", "slug"] as const) {
     if (typeof r[f] !== "string" || !r[f]) errs.push(`${f} must be a non-empty string`);
   }
-  if (typeof r.iteration !== "number" || r.iteration < 0) errs.push("iteration must be a non-negative number");
+  // Number.isFinite, not just typeof: `Number("x")` is NaN, which is typeof
+  // "number" and fails every comparison, so `NaN < 0` waved it through — and
+  // JSON.stringify then wrote it as `null` into the corpus this gate protects.
+  if (typeof r.iteration !== "number" || !Number.isFinite(r.iteration) || r.iteration < 0) errs.push("iteration must be a non-negative number");
   for (const f of ["claims_closed", "evidence_classes", "deploys"] as const) {
     if (!Array.isArray(r[f])) errs.push(`${f} must be an array`);
     else if ((r[f] as unknown[]).some((x) => typeof x !== "string")) errs.push(`${f} must contain only strings`);
@@ -221,6 +224,7 @@ if (import.meta.main) {
     console.log(line);
     process.exit(0);
   }
+  mkdirSync(dirname(REFLECTIONS), { recursive: true });
   appendFileSync(REFLECTIONS, line + "\n", "utf8");
   const wb = record.within_budget === null ? "null (unaudited)" : String(record.within_budget);
   console.log(`✅ reflection appended · within_budget=${wb} · verdict=${spend.verdict ?? "none"} · dispatches=${spend.dispatches}`);