diff --git a/scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs b/scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index 821aa6628..e5990edc9
--- a/scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs
+++ b/scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs
@@ -29,18 +29,50 @@ function bound(value, limit = MAX_REPORT_DETAIL_CHARS) {
   return text.length <= limit ? text : `${text.slice(0, limit)}…`;
 }
 
+export function redactSensitiveValue(value, sensitiveValues = []) {
+  let redacted = String(value ?? "");
+  for (const sensitiveValue of Array.isArray(sensitiveValues) ? sensitiveValues : []) {
+    if (typeof sensitiveValue !== "string" || sensitiveValue.length === 0) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    redacted = redacted.split(sensitiveValue).join("[REDACTED]");
+  }
+  return redacted;
+}
+
+export function createGhSubprocessEnvironment(sourceEnvironment) {
+  const childEnvironment = {
+    GH_HOST: "github.com",
+    NO_COLOR: "1",
+  };
+  if (typeof sourceEnvironment.PATH === "string" && sourceEnvironment.PATH.length > 0) {
+    childEnvironment.PATH = sourceEnvironment.PATH;
+  }
+  if (typeof sourceEnvironment.GH_TOKEN === "string" && sourceEnvironment.GH_TOKEN.length > 0) {
+    childEnvironment.GH_TOKEN = sourceEnvironment.GH_TOKEN;
+  }
+  return childEnvironment;
+}
+
 function runGh(args, { input } = {}) {
+  const childEnvironment = createGhSubprocessEnvironment({
+    PATH: process.env.PATH,
+    GH_TOKEN: process.env.GH_TOKEN,
+  });
   const completed = spawnSync("gh", args, {
     encoding: "utf8",
+    env: childEnvironment,
     input,
     maxBuffer: MAX_GH_OUTPUT_BYTES,
     shell: false,
   });
   if (completed.error) {
-    throw new Error(`GitHub CLI could not start: ${bound(completed.error.message, MAX_ERROR_CHARS)}`);
+    const detail = redactSensitiveValue(completed.error.message, [childEnvironment.GH_TOKEN]);
+    throw new Error(`GitHub CLI could not start: ${bound(detail, MAX_ERROR_CHARS)}`);
   }
   if (completed.status !== 0) {
-    const detail = completed.stderr || completed.stdout || `exit ${completed.status}`;
+    const rawDetail = completed.stderr || completed.stdout || `exit ${completed.status}`;
+    const detail = redactSensitiveValue(rawDetail, [childEnvironment.GH_TOKEN]);
     throw new Error(`GitHub CLI failed: ${bound(detail, MAX_ERROR_CHARS)}`);
   }
   return completed.stdout.trim();
diff --git a/test/hourly-commercial-readiness-credential-ingress.test.ts b/test/hourly-commercial-readiness-credential-ingress.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4703f523b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hourly-commercial-readiness-credential-ingress.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+describe("hourly commercial-readiness credential ingress", () => {
+  it("requires explicit parent credential transport before building the gh child environment", () => {
+    const script = readFileSync("scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs", "utf8");
+    const helperStart = script.indexOf("export function createGhSubprocessEnvironment");
+    const helperEnd = script.indexOf("\nfunction runGh(", helperStart);
+
+    expect(helperStart).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+    expect(helperEnd).toBeGreaterThan(helperStart);
+    expect(script.slice(helperStart, helperEnd)).not.toContain("process.env");
+    expect(script).not.toContain("createGhSubprocessEnvironment();");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/hourly-commercial-readiness-script.test.ts b/test/hourly-commercial-readiness-script.test.ts
index 6da89078d..9602dda19 100644
--- a/test/hourly-commercial-readiness-script.test.ts
+++ b/test/hourly-commercial-readiness-script.test.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
+  createGhSubprocessEnvironment,
   flattenArrayPages,
   hasActiveNoemaReviewRun,
   latestCheckRunsBySuite,
   latestReviewStates,
   parseNoemaReviewDecision,
+  redactSensitiveValue,
 } from "../scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs";
 
 const repository = "ContextualWisdomLab/noema";
@@ -242,11 +244,59 @@ describe("hourly commercial-readiness GitHub adapter", () => {
     ).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it("passes only explicit GitHub CLI authority into child processes", () => {
+    expect(createGhSubprocessEnvironment({
+      PATH: "/trusted/bin",
+      GH_TOKEN: "read-only-maintainer-token",
+      GH_HOST: "evil.example",
+      NO_COLOR: "0",
+      GITHUB_TOKEN: "ambient-workflow-token",
+      NVIDIA_NIM_API_KEY: "model-secret",
+      NOEMA_MAINTAINER_APP_PRIVATE_KEY: "maintainer-private-key",
+      NOEMA_REVIEWER_APP_PRIVATE_KEY: "reviewer-private-key",
+      NOEMA_REVIEWER_LOGIN: "reviewer[bot]",
+      CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN: "cloudflare-secret",
+      HTTPS_PROXY: "http://proxy.invalid",
+      HTTP_PROXY: "http://proxy.invalid",
+      ALL_PROXY: "socks5://proxy.invalid",
+      HOME: "/credential-bearing-home",
+      NODE_OPTIONS: "--require /tmp/preload.cjs",
+      NOEMA_MAINTENANCE_ENABLED: "true",
+    })).toEqual({
+      GH_HOST: "github.com",
+      NO_COLOR: "1",
+      PATH: "/trusted/bin",
+      GH_TOKEN: "read-only-maintainer-token",
+    });
+
+    expect(createGhSubprocessEnvironment({})).toEqual({
+      GH_HOST: "github.com",
+      NO_COLOR: "1",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("redacts an explicit maintainer token before child diagnostics can reach retained outputs", () => {
+    const token = "read-only-maintainer-token";
+    const detail = `gh failed with ${token}; retry also exposed ${token}`;
+
+    expect(redactSensitiveValue(detail, [token])).toBe(
+      "gh failed with [REDACTED]; retry also exposed [REDACTED]",
+    );
+    expect(redactSensitiveValue(detail, ["", null, undefined, token])).not.toContain(token);
+    expect(redactSensitiveValue("safe diagnostic", [])).toBe("safe diagnostic");
+  });
+
   it("uses shell-free complete pagination and exact-head write contracts", () => {
     const script = readFileSync("scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs", "utf8");
 
     expect(script).toContain('spawnSync("gh"');
     expect(script).toContain("shell: false");
+    expect(script).toContain("env: childEnvironment");
+    expect(script).not.toContain("env: process.env");
+    expect(script).toContain(
+      "redactSensitiveValue(completed.error.message, [childEnvironment.GH_TOKEN])",
+    );
+    expect(script).toContain("redactSensitiveValue(rawDetail, [childEnvironment.GH_TOKEN])");
     expect(script).toContain('"--paginate", "--slurp"');
     expect(script).toContain("pulls?state=open&per_page=100");
     expect(script).toContain("check-runs?filter=all&per_page=100");
@@ -265,7 +315,7 @@ describe("hourly commercial-readiness GitHub adapter", () => {
     expect(script).toContain("live?.head?.repo?.full_name !== repository");
   });
 
-  it("writes a bounded report and post-action queue outputs without exposing tokens", () => {
+  it("writes a bounded report and post-action queue outputs without ambient credential payloads", () => {
     const script = readFileSync("scripts/hourly-commercial-readiness.mjs", "utf8");
 
     expect(script).toContain("open_pull_request_count=");
@@ -273,8 +323,8 @@ describe("hourly commercial-readiness GitHub adapter", () => {
     expect(script).toContain("report_path=");
     expect(script).toContain("remainingOpenPullRequestCount");
     expect(script).toContain("MAX_ERROR_CHARS");
-    expect(script).not.toContain("GH_TOKEN");
     expect(script).not.toContain("GITHUB_TOKEN");
+    expect(script).not.toContain("read-only-maintainer-token");
   });
 
   it("documents the operator contract and buyer-visible governance boundaries", () => {