# Change-shape traps — sub-index

> SPLIT OUT VERBATIM from MEMORY.md 2026-08-22 against the read-limit cliff: the index was
> MEASURED at 25,938 bytes over a 24,436-byte read limit, so its TAIL was already being
> silently dropped before this split (the 'Active work' pointer sits last). Growth is handled
> by SPLITTING a whole section out, never by dropping entries — the compaction nag is still
> refused. 12 entries MOVED, ZERO dropped; byte-identity asserted in the move script, not
> eyeballed. Read this BEFORE shaping any change, fix, or correction.

- [a legacy arm that skips the SEAM skips its GATES](legacy-arm-that-skips-the-seam-skips-its-gates.md) ⭐⭐ #185 filed one face ("drops --surfaces"); the arm called the low-level API direct, so it also bypassed the `--admit-node` acknowledgment AND the grant-nodes policy — flag spelling REFUSED an unacknowledged owner agent, positional wrote the WIDER rule, exit 0. Diff the two spellings' SEAMS, not just the dropped input; declare the widened scope before fixing. ⚠ `SPT_AGENT_ID` alone = LocalUserCli (needs a real perch) — my first bypass arm ran as a node-sovereign user and refuted itself.
- [authored-but-unlanded text lives in the lane INDEX](authored-unlanded-text-lives-in-the-lane-index.md) ⭐⭐ peer "read its diff" ⇒ it is STAGED in the lane worktree; my brief's three candidate sources were all wrong and `git status` on `.worktrees/<lane>` answered it in one command. Commit those bytes, never retype.
- [read source at the MEASURED sha](read-source-at-the-measured-sha-not-the-default-tree.md) ⭐⭐ RCA measured @`bd942f6`; main was −349 lines across the same files and the lane worktree differed again. Fails silently — function exists, grep hits, line numbers land NEAR the brief's. `git diff --stat <sha> HEAD -- <files>` FIRST, then read `git show` blobs. A brief naming a sha is naming the TREE.
- [a bare `cd` silently repoints every later read](a-bare-cd-silently-repoints-every-later-read.md) ⭐⭐ one `cd root && spt send` persisted; later greps read main @80ab77a while my Edits landed on the lane @cc2b09b — I reasoned about the arm from a tree missing T1+T2. Use `-C`/absolute paths; `pwd` after any `cd`.
- [sequenced edit killed by its own fix](sequenced-edit-invalidated-by-its-own-fix.md) ⭐⭐ doyle sequenced a reword to ride AFTER the #199 fix; the fix killed its only READER (harness now passes the gate) and the target sentence was SHARED across 9 seams. Refused with the mechanism, he withdrew his own sequencing — 2nd accepted refusal of a GO'd sub-task, so it is the standard. Re-read a queued edit's target at the POST-change tree; never execute on the strength of when it was queued.
- [narrowing an unconditional call must FAIL OPEN](narrowing-an-unconditional-call-must-fail-open.md) ⭐⭐ gating a call that always ran has TWO unruled faces: its loud arm now fires with an empty subject (false `ENGINE_ROOM_BRIEFING_UNPRESENTED` on every re-attach, found by MEASURING the log), and `unwrap_or(0)` on the predicate makes an unreadable input a SKIP (doyle's #203-era finding on my #177 code). An absent answer is not a zero. Neither face reds.
- [census the ENFORCERS **and** the STATERS](census-enforcers-and-staters-of-an-invariant.md) ⭐⭐ #159: doyle's shape fixed 1 of 2 sites comparing the same floor — the other ran AFTER the swap, so the fix would have left live files new + record old (worse than the bug). Applying the rule to my own list then found a third population his rule missed: the prose that STATES the invariant, incl. another lane's doc-stage evidence. 3 of his shapes refused in one day were this one error.
- [place a correction by asking WHAT falsified it](correction-belongs-where-the-falsifier-is.md) ⭐ a lane's own change ⇒ SAME commit as the change (no false window); a RULING already made ⇒ at the record, NOW, and the replacement names NO lane — repointing the cross-ref reproduces the bug with a fresher dependency.
- [stating a limit does not ROUTE AROUND it](stating-a-limit-does-not-route-around-it.md) ⭐⭐ I reported my instrument's inconclusive side and its deletion blind spot, then in the SAME message handed doyle a verdict resting on both — read the residue for one commit, skipped it for the next because the residue matched what I expected. Tell was IN it: a REQ TITLE, the likeliest thing to be a reword. **An inconclusive verdict is a WORK ITEM, discharged per item, never per batch; write the open one down as OPEN.** Three settled + one open beats four settled + one wrong. Caught by a cherry-pick CONFLICT — a mechanical REFUSAL, the only catch that day not needing someone to choose to re-measure.
- [a per-line skip resumes INSIDE a multi-line token](per-line-suppression-resumes-inside-a-multi-line-token.md) ⭐⭐ the #74 space-run gate: suppression was deciding what gets PARSED, not what gets REPORTED, so a marked multi-line literal left the scan resuming in its own body where an escaped `\"` reads as an opening quote — marking one site MANUFACTURED a second finding out of the literal just exempted. Unreachable until something is actually marked, so a clean census + markers + green would have SHIPPED it. Also: an escape hatch unusable by the population the check exists for (5 of 11 findings could not carry one). **Re-run and diff the finding set after the FIRST marker; a marker does not only subtract.**
- [declare ≠ enforce site](declare-site-is-not-enforce-site.md) · [seat edge erases the grant](grant-erased-by-seat-edge.md) · [key rides the artifact](key-must-ride-the-crossing-artifact.md) · [single-source discriminant](single-source-discriminant-marker.md) · [forward ref squats](forward-ref-squats-positional-key.md) · [redirect folded seeds](redirect-folded-req-seeds.md).
- [one composer two renderers](one-composer-two-renderers.md) · [condition ≠ cadence](surfaced-payload-names-its-cadence.md) · [ladder per machine](refusal-ladder-fires-per-machine.md) · [CRC-swap blindness](crc-swap-metadata-blindness.md) · [cross-wave needs assembled head](cross-wave-claims-need-assembled-head.md) · [lock delta edge diff](lock-delta-needs-edge-diff.md) · [assemble onto the repair tip](assemble-onto-the-repair-tip-not-a-sibling.md) ⭐⭐ assert by BLOB · [lane-diff byte-identity limit](lane-diff-byte-identity-limit.md) upstream delta in shared file moves index/@@ only — compare content-stripped blobs.