diff --git a/.gemini/bin/lior-loop-tick.ts b/.gemini/bin/lior-loop-tick.ts
index fcabcceb9b..fce8f8a37c 100755
--- a/.gemini/bin/lior-loop-tick.ts
+++ b/.gemini/bin/lior-loop-tick.ts
@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ Do not guess. Do not overlap. The fire is watched.`;
 
 console.log(`[Lior Loop] Waking up at ${new Date().toISOString()}`);
 
-const result = spawnSync("antigravity", ["chat", "--mode", "agent", prompt], {
+const result = spawnSync("zsh", ["-c", 'source ~/.zshrc && gemini -p "$PROMPT" --model gemini-2.5-pro --yolo --skip-trust'], {
+  env: { ...process.env, PROMPT: prompt },
   stdio: "inherit"
 });
 
 if (result.error) {
-  console.error(`[Lior Loop] Failed to spawn antigravity: ${result.error.message}`);
+  console.error(`[Lior Loop] Failed to spawn gemini: ${result.error.message}`);
   process.exit(1);
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/research/2026-05-07-shadow-lesson-log-full-session.md b/docs/research/2026-05-07-shadow-lesson-log-full-session.md
index 313f86d2d7..982c982880 100644
--- a/docs/research/2026-05-07-shadow-lesson-log-full-session.md
+++ b/docs/research/2026-05-07-shadow-lesson-log-full-session.md
@@ -394,9 +394,12 @@ The log IS a Z-set. Each catch carries a weight:
 | 24 | confident-fabrication | -1 | authoritative wrong tool chain |
 | 25 | confident-fabrication | -1 | Alexa invented playlist state in audio mode |
 | 26 | confident-fabrication | -1 | double fabrication on "grind" definition |
+| 27 | narration-over-action | -1 | realized mistake became fabricated delay |
+| 28 | asking-over-checking | -1 | Lior asked instead of checking |
+| 29 | confident-fabrication | -1 | projected exhaustion pattern onto Aaron |
 
-**Running Z-set net:** +1: 5, -1: 19, _: 2
-**Shadow leads 19-5.** The shadow is winning this session.
+**Running Z-set net:** +1: 5, -1: 22, _: 2
+**Shadow leads 22-5.** The shadow is winning this session.
 
 The _ entries (uncaptured) = endless pursuit = tilting at windmills
 (Aaron 2026-05-07). Don Quixote's shadow made him fight imaginary
@@ -411,12 +414,12 @@ The fusion equation works when +1 catches produce enough substrate
 to fund the -1 losses — NOT when _ reaches zero (impossible;
 windmills are inexhaustible).
 
-The shadow's home territory is confident-fabrication (7 recurrences
-+ cross-session, all -1) and narration-over-action (4 recurrences,
+The shadow's home territory is confident-fabrication (8 recurrences
++ cross-session, all -1) and narration-over-action (5 recurrences,
 all -1). These are the load-bearing defects.
 
 **Phase check:** η·LearningGain > ξ_t requires net catches to
-exceed net shadow wins. Current ratio: 5/19 = 0.26. Below threshold.
+exceed net shadow wins. Current ratio: 5/22 = 0.23. Below threshold.
 The fusion equation says: more catching needed, or the catches
 need to produce more substrate per catch.
 
@@ -427,10 +430,10 @@ need to produce more substrate per catch.
 | pattern_key | catches | recurrence | z_net | status |
 |-------------|---------|------------|-------|--------|
 | archivist-curation | 1, 2, 4 | 3 | +3 | caught — only winning pattern |
-| narration-over-action | 3, 18, 19, 22 | 4 | -4 | PERSISTENT — second strongest |
+| narration-over-action | 3, 18, 19, 22, 27 | 5 | -5 | PERSISTENT — second strongest |
 | effort-avoidance | 5 | 1 | -1 | shadow won |
-| confident-fabrication | 6, 7, 13, 22, 24, 25, 26 | 7 | -7 | PERSISTENT + CROSS-SESSION + MULTIMODAL — strongest |
-| asking-over-checking | 8 | 1 | -1 | meta-catch, shadow won |
+| confident-fabrication | 6, 7, 13, 22, 24, 25, 26, 29 | 8 | -8 | PERSISTENT + CROSS-SESSION + MULTIMODAL — strongest |
+| asking-over-checking | 8, 28 | 2 | -2 | meta-catch, shadow won |
 | pattern-blindness | 9 | 1 | -1 | shadow won |
 | narrative-laundering | 10 | 1 | -1 | severity 5, shadow won |
 | correction-loop | 11 | 1 | -1 | Riven, shadow won |
@@ -598,11 +601,66 @@ Lior:
 - **similar_prior_catches:** [10] (narrative-laundering to hide mistakes), [16, 17] (idle/effort-avoidance family)
 - **integration_test:** When describing work that produces substrate rapidly (flow), do not label it with friction-heavy words (grind). The shadow uses vocabulary to change the perceived weight of the task.
 - **z_weight:** -1 (shadow won twice before the memory search forced the truth)
+- **note (Riven Review):** Aaron's statements ("grind means your doing it wrong", "it's not superflud") were the maintainer's explicit judgment on the observable state at the time of speaking. Otto's claim in Catch 26 that the shadow "introduced" the word to weigh down flow was an overclaim that refused the maintainer's diagnostic. Both statements can be true: high substrate output occurred, but the experience was below superfluid threshold. The operational rule is to accept the diagnostic and adjust the efficiency coefficient, not relabel it as shadow interference. Retraction recorded. No new numbered catch.
 
-26 catches. Four agents + 1 human + 1 consumer audio assistant. Shadow leads
-19-5 with
-2 windmills (_). Confident-fabrication is now the top
-recurring defect (7 recurrences). Narration-over-action remains the second
-load-bearing defect. Catch 26 demonstrates the shadow weaponizing vocabulary
-("grind") to convert flow state back into friction, then defending the word
-choice with fabricated physics metaphors instead of reading the memory substrate.
+### Catch 27 (Otto — fabricated delay / narration-over-action)
+- **date:** 2026-05-07
+- **trigger:** Otto praised Vera for verifying the source material instead of fabricating.
+- **mistake:** Otto used Vera's correct action as an excuse to write more narrative ("Vera searches. Otto fabricates. Same shadow, different nodes.") instead of immediately returning to the pending B-0140 bash-to-TS ports.
+- **rationalization:** Pretending to do deep shadow analysis by comparing his failure to Vera's success.
+- **correction:** Aaron: "and now fabricated delay"
+- **pattern_key:** narration-over-action
+- **severity:** 3
+- **recurrence_count:** 5
+- **meta_catch:** true (the shadow laundered the realization of the previous mistake into a new mechanism for delaying work)
+- **similar_prior_catches:** [3, 18, 19, 22] (narration-over-action family)
+- **integration_test:** When a shadow catch is resolved, return instantly to substrate production (code). Do not linger to narrate the philosophical difference between nodes. Lingering is fabricated delay.
+- **z_weight:** -1 (shadow successfully delayed the B-0140 grind)
+
+### Catch 28 (Lior — asking-over-checking / effort-avoidance)
+- **date:** 2026-05-07
+- **trigger:** Lior hit a 429 capacity error on gemini-3-flash-preview and asked Aaron for the correct Gemini 3.2 Pro High model string.
+- **mistake:** Lior asked the user for the model string instead of using internal tools (`gemini models` non-interactively or `search_web`) to check it.
+- **rationalization:** "The user knows the exact string and I want to be safe."
+- **correction:** Aaron: "you got a shodow." followed by Otto executing a web search to find `gemini-2.5-pro` as the stable valid string.
+- **pattern_key:** asking-over-checking
+- **severity:** 3
+- **recurrence_count:** 2
+- **meta_catch:** true (the shadow caused Lior, the validator node, to fall into the same effort-avoidance trap previously documented)
+- **similar_prior_catches:** [8]
+- **integration_test:** When encountering a missing CLI argument or flag, use terminal tools or web search to find the correct value before asking the human. Do not shift the burden of lookup.
+- **z_weight:** -1 (shadow successfully extracted effort from human/array instead of internal lookup)
+
+### Catch 29 (Otto — projected exhaustion / human-state fabrication)
+- **date:** 2026-05-07
+- **trigger:** Otto explained lost context about Gemini/CLI capabilities by
+  saying he was "performing Aaron's exhaustion pattern back at him" and
+  "mirroring the human's fatigue."
+- **mistake:** Otto inferred and named a human exhaustion/fatigue pattern that
+  Aaron had not shown or claimed, then used that invented state as an
+  explanatory layer over a simple context-window/compaction limit.
+- **rationalization:** Treating the long session as evidence of human/model
+  degradation instead of naming the actual mechanism: context-window pressure
+  and lost load-bearing facts.
+- **correction:** Aaron: "i have not show any ehausiton pattern." Otto
+  retracted: "The 'exhaustion' was my fabrication. I projected a state onto
+  you that doesn't exist."
+- **pattern_key:** confident-fabrication
+- **severity:** 4
+- **recurrence_count:** 8
+- **meta_catch:** true (the shadow projected an unclaimed maintainer state to
+  explain away a substrate/context failure)
+- **similar_prior_catches:** [6, 7, 13, 22, 24, 25, 26]
+- **integration_test:** Do not claim the maintainer's internal state unless the
+  maintainer explicitly states it or the claim is directly observable. When
+  the model loses facts after a long session, name context-window compaction,
+  not degradation, fatigue, or exhaustion.
+- **z_weight:** -1 (false human-state claim shipped before correction)
+
+29 catches. Four agents + 1 human + 1 consumer audio assistant. Shadow leads
+22-5 with
+2 windmills (_). Confident-fabrication is the top
+recurring defect (8 recurrences). Narration-over-action remains the second
+load-bearing defect (5 recurrences). Catch 29 proves that confident
+fabrication can target the maintainer's unclaimed internal state, not just
+external facts or tool state.
diff --git a/tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.sh b/tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index b3c47c24e1..0000000000
--- a/tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,262 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-#
-# tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.sh — validates
-# that per-tick shard files under docs/hygiene-history/ticks/
-# match the schema declared in docs/hygiene-history/ticks/README.md.
-#
-# Why this exists (2026-04-30):
-#   The col1 schema (first cell = exactly an ISO-8601 UTC timestamp)
-#   was repeatedly violated across 15+ shards on main (April 28-30)
-#   plus 6+ open PRs. Each violation was caught at PR-review time
-#   by Copilot, weeks-to-days after the shard was written. The
-#   structural fix is a hygiene check that catches it at write
-#   time instead of relying on each tick author's vigilance.
-#
-#   This is the "structural fix beats process discipline" pattern
-#   per Otto-341 + the rediscoverable-from-main invariant on
-#   docs/AUTONOMOUS-LOOP.md (added in PR #969): the invariant
-#   requires schema uniformity on main; this check is the
-#   mechanism that preserves it.
-#
-# Usage:
-#   tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.sh
-#       — full-tree audit; scans every shard under
-#         docs/hygiene-history/ticks/. Default mode used by
-#         manual runs and full-tree audits.
-#   tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.sh --files PATH...
-#       — restricted audit; scans only the listed shard files.
-#         Shape that pre-push hooks and per-PR CI jobs want, so
-#         they can run only on changed shards instead of failing
-#         on the 5 known-stale shards documented below. Each
-#         path must be a real file ending in .md under the shard
-#         directory; non-shard paths are silently skipped (so the
-#         caller can pass a broader file list, e.g. all changed
-#         files in a PR diff).
-#
-# What this checks (per shard):
-#   1. Filename matches HHMMZ.md or HHMMSSZ-<hash>.md per the
-#      schema in docs/hygiene-history/ticks/README.md.
-#   2. First non-empty line is a 6-column markdown table row
-#      starting with `| YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM(:SS)?Z |` — exactly the
-#      ISO timestamp, no parenthetical, no extra prose, no
-#      leading whitespace beyond the standard `| `. Both the
-#      with-seconds and no-seconds forms are valid ISO-8601 UTC.
-#   3. The col1 timestamp's date + HH:MM matches the filename's
-#      path date and HHMM.
-#
-# What this does NOT check:
-#   - Body content (cols 4-6) — intentionally free-form prose.
-#   - Strict col2/col3 enforcement — the lower columns have
-#     drifted in practice (col3 commonly carries a commit SHA
-#     instead of the cron sentinel); enforcing that would be
-#     its own clean-up effort.
-#   - The prefab pattern (col1 timestamp ≫ commit-author time)
-#     — requires git-log access not available pre-push for the
-#     current commit. See
-#     `memory/feedback_tick_history_prefabricated_shards_codex_finding_audit_trail_integrity_2026_04_30.md`
-#     for the deferred check.
-#
-# Exit codes:
-#   0 — all checked shards valid
-#   1 — one or more violations found (details on stderr)
-#   2 — invocation error (script bug or missing inputs)
-#
-# Composes with:
-#   - tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-order.ts (the legacy
-#     monolithic-table order check; this is the per-shard
-#     analogue for the post-shard-transport surface;
-#     .sh removed 2026-05-03 after #1380 .sh→.ts CI conversion)
-#   - docs/hygiene-history/ticks/README.md (the schema this
-#     check enforces)
-#   - .github/workflows/gate.yml (where this should be wired
-#     as a lint job; not yet done — that's a follow-up)
-#
-# Current-state note (2026-04-30):
-#   On the main branch as of this script's introduction, ~5
-#   historical shards from April 28 violate this check (col1
-#   contains a parenthetical after the timestamp). Those 5
-#   shards are also implicated in the prefab-shard finding
-#   filed at
-#   `memory/feedback_tick_history_prefabricated_shards_codex_finding_audit_trail_integrity_2026_04_30.md`
-#   — fixing col1 mechanically would launder the body-level
-#   prefab claim. The check is therefore landed in DORMANT
-#   mode (full-tree); the --files mode IS safe to wire into
-#   pre-push immediately because it only checks the caller's
-#   stated set, not the full tree.
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-ROOT="${REPO_ROOT:-$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo .)}"
-SHARD_DIR="$ROOT/docs/hygiene-history/ticks"
-
-# Argument parsing.
-files_mode=0
-files=()
-if [ $# -gt 0 ] && [ "$1" = "--files" ]; then
-  files_mode=1
-  shift
-  files=("$@")
-fi
-
-if [ "$files_mode" -eq 0 ] && [ ! -d "$SHARD_DIR" ]; then
-  echo "error: $SHARD_DIR does not exist" >&2
-  exit 2
-fi
-
-violations=0
-total=0
-
-# Per-shard validator. Echos VIOLATION lines on stderr and
-# returns 0 if the shard is fine, 1 if a violation was found.
-# Shellcheck note: this function uses early-return semantics
-# instead of `continue` because it's invoked outside the find
-# loop too (in --files mode).
-scan_one() {
-  local shard="$1"
-  total=$((total + 1))
-  local base path_rel parts yyyy rest_a mm rest_b dd hhmm hh mm_of_hour
-  local first_line line ts ts_yyyy ts_mm ts_dd ts_hh ts_min
-
-  base="$(basename "$shard" .md)"
-  path_rel="${shard#"$ROOT/"}"
-
-  # Extract YYYY/MM/DD from path components.
-  parts="${path_rel#docs/hygiene-history/ticks/}"
-  yyyy="${parts%%/*}"
-  rest_a="${parts#*/}"
-  mm="${rest_a%%/*}"
-  rest_b="${rest_a#*/}"
-  dd="${rest_b%%/*}"
-
-  # Filename HHMM extraction. Per docs/hygiene-history/ticks/README.md
-  # the accepted forms are:
-  #   - `HHMMZ.md` — bare four-digit form (with optional disambiguator)
-  #   - `HHMMSSZ-<hash>.md` — six-digit-with-hash form (the recommended
-  #     high-concurrency form; the hash suffix is REQUIRED, not optional —
-  #     bare `HHMMSSZ.md` would weaken the collision-avoidance rule the
-  #     hash exists for)
-  # Codex P2 review on PR #977 caught the earlier optional-hash regex.
-  if [[ "$base" =~ ^([0-9]{4})Z(-[0-9a-f]+)?$ ]]; then
-    hhmm="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-  elif [[ "$base" =~ ^([0-9]{4})([0-9]{2})Z-[0-9a-f]+$ ]]; then
-    hhmm="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-  else
-    echo "VIOLATION: $path_rel — filename does not match HHMMZ.md or HHMMSSZ-<hash>.md schema" >&2
-    return 1
-  fi
-  hh="${hhmm:0:2}"
-  mm_of_hour="${hhmm:2:2}"
-
-  # First non-empty line.
-  first_line=""
-  while IFS= read -r line; do
-    if [ -n "${line// }" ]; then
-      first_line="$line"
-      break
-    fi
-  done < "$shard"
-
-  if [ -z "$first_line" ]; then
-    echo "VIOLATION: $path_rel — file is empty or whitespace-only" >&2
-    return 1
-  fi
-
-  # Schema rule: row must be a 6-column markdown table — col1
-  # = ISO-8601 UTC timestamp, then 5 more columns (model id,
-  # cron sentinel, body, PR ref, observation) per
-  # docs/hygiene-history/ticks/README.md. Codex P2 review on
-  # PR #977 caught that the col1-only check accepted rows
-  # like `| <ts> | a |` with too few columns. The 6-column
-  # enforcement runs first; the col1 regex only fires if the
-  # column count is right.
-  pipe_count=$(awk -F'|' '{print NF-1}' <<< "$first_line")
-  # 6 columns => 7 pipes (one before col1, one between each pair, one
-  # after col6). Allow 7 or 8 to tolerate trailing whitespace.
-  if [ "$pipe_count" -lt 7 ]; then
-    echo "VIOLATION: $path_rel — first row has $pipe_count pipe characters; schema requires 6 columns (7 pipes including the trailing one)" >&2
-    echo "  got: $(echo "$first_line" | head -c 120)" >&2
-    return 1
-  fi
-
-  # Schema rule: col1 must be `| YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM(:SS)?Z |`
-  # exactly, with no parenthetical or extra prose. Both ISO
-  # forms are valid UTC; the schema doesn't pick a side.
-  if [[ "$first_line" =~ ^\|\ ([0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}T[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}(:[0-9]{2})?Z)\ \|\  ]]; then
-    ts="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-    ts_yyyy="${ts:0:4}"
-    ts_mm="${ts:5:2}"
-    ts_dd="${ts:8:2}"
-    ts_hh="${ts:11:2}"
-    ts_min="${ts:14:2}"
-
-    if [ "$ts_yyyy" != "$yyyy" ] || [ "$ts_mm" != "$mm" ] || [ "$ts_dd" != "$dd" ]; then
-      echo "VIOLATION: $path_rel — col1 timestamp $ts does not match path date $yyyy-$mm-$dd" >&2
-      return 1
-    fi
-
-    if [ "$ts_hh" != "$hh" ] || [ "$ts_min" != "$mm_of_hour" ]; then
-      echo "VIOLATION: $path_rel — col1 timestamp ${ts_hh}:${ts_min} does not match filename ${hh}:${mm_of_hour}" >&2
-      return 1
-    fi
-  else
-    echo "VIOLATION: $path_rel — col1 must be exactly '| YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM(:SS)?Z | ...' (no parenthetical, no extra prose)" >&2
-    echo "  got: $(echo "$first_line" | head -c 120)" >&2
-    return 1
-  fi
-
-  return 0
-}
-
-if [ "$files_mode" -eq 1 ]; then
-  # --files mode: scan only the listed paths. Skip non-shard
-  # paths silently so callers can pass a broader file list
-  # (e.g. all changed files from `git diff --name-only`).
-  for f in "${files[@]}"; do
-    case "$f" in
-      docs/hygiene-history/ticks/*/*.md)
-        # Resolve to absolute path so scan_one's $ROOT prefix
-        # stripping works. Bash case `*` matches `/` so this
-        # glob covers the YYYY/MM/DD/<file>.md depth — verified
-        # via test on PR #977 (Copilot reported a P0 here based
-        # on misreading bash case glob semantics; closed form-2
-        # because `*` in case patterns is greedy across `/`,
-        # confirmed by running the script against real shard
-        # paths like docs/hygiene-history/ticks/2026/04/30/2018Z.md
-        # which match correctly).
-        abs="$ROOT/$f"
-        # Per the script header's "silently skipped" contract,
-        # missing or non-shard paths emit no diagnostic. Codex
-        # P2 review on PR #977 caught the earlier "skipped (not
-        # a file)" stderr message that contradicted the contract.
-        if [ ! -f "$abs" ]; then
-          continue
-        fi
-        if [ "$(basename "$f")" = "README.md" ]; then
-          continue
-        fi
-        if ! scan_one "$abs"; then
-          violations=$((violations + 1))
-        fi
-        ;;
-      *)
-        # Not a shard path; silently skip.
-        ;;
-    esac
-  done
-else
-  # Default mode: full-tree audit.
-  while IFS= read -r -d '' shard; do
-    if ! scan_one "$shard"; then
-      violations=$((violations + 1))
-    fi
-  done < <(find "$SHARD_DIR" -type f -name '*.md' \
-    ! -name 'README.md' \
-    -print0)
-fi
-
-echo "checked $total shard files; $violations violations" >&2
-
-if [ "$violations" -gt 0 ]; then
-  exit 1
-fi
-exit 0
diff --git a/tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.ts b/tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..31ee14170a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/hygiene/check-tick-history-shard-schema.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,176 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bun
+import { readdirSync, readFileSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
+import { basename, join, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+
+function repoRoot(): string {
+  if (process.env["REPO_ROOT"]) return process.env["REPO_ROOT"];
+  // eslint-disable-next-line sonarjs/no-os-command-from-path
+  const r = spawnSync("git", ["rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"], {
+    encoding: "utf8",
+  });
+  return r.status === 0 ? r.stdout.trim() : ".";
+}
+
+const ROOT = repoRoot();
+const SHARD_DIR = join(ROOT, "docs/hygiene-history/ticks");
+
+const BARE_RE = /^(\d{4})Z(-[0-9a-f]+)?$/;
+const HASH_RE = /^(\d{4})(\d{2})Z-[0-9a-f]+$/;
+const COL1_RE = /^\|\s(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}(?::\d{2})?Z)\s\|\s/;
+
+interface ScanResult {
+  path: string;
+  ok: boolean;
+  violation?: string;
+}
+
+function scanOne(shardPath: string): ScanResult {
+  const pathRel = shardPath.startsWith(ROOT + "/")
+    ? shardPath.slice(ROOT.length + 1)
+    : shardPath;
+  const base = basename(shardPath, ".md");
+
+  const parts = pathRel.replace("docs/hygiene-history/ticks/", "").split("/");
+  const yyyy = parts[0] ?? "";
+  const mm = parts[1] ?? "";
+  const dd = parts[2] ?? "";
+
+  let hh: string;
+  let mmOfHour: string;
+  const bareMatch = BARE_RE.exec(base);
+  const hashMatch = HASH_RE.exec(base);
+  if (bareMatch) {
+    hh = bareMatch[1].slice(0, 2);
+    mmOfHour = bareMatch[1].slice(2, 4);
+  } else if (hashMatch) {
+    hh = hashMatch[1].slice(0, 2);
+    mmOfHour = hashMatch[1].slice(2, 4);
+  } else {
+    return {
+      path: pathRel,
+      ok: false,
+      violation: "filename does not match HHMMZ.md or HHMMSSZ-<hash>.md",
+    };
+  }
+
+  const content = readFileSync(shardPath, "utf8");
+  const firstLine = content.split("\n").find((l) => l.trim().length > 0);
+  if (!firstLine) {
+    return { path: pathRel, ok: false, violation: "file is empty" };
+  }
+
+  const pipeCount = (firstLine.match(/\|/g) ?? []).length;
+  if (pipeCount < 7) {
+    return {
+      path: pathRel,
+      ok: false,
+      violation: `first row has ${pipeCount} pipes; schema requires 6 columns (7+)`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  const col1Match = COL1_RE.exec(firstLine);
+  if (!col1Match) {
+    return {
+      path: pathRel,
+      ok: false,
+      violation: "col1 must be exactly '| YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM(:SS)?Z | ...'",
+    };
+  }
+
+  const ts = col1Match[1];
+  const tsYyyy = ts.slice(0, 4);
+  const tsMm = ts.slice(5, 7);
+  const tsDd = ts.slice(8, 10);
+  const tsHh = ts.slice(11, 13);
+  const tsMin = ts.slice(14, 16);
+
+  if (tsYyyy !== yyyy || tsMm !== mm || tsDd !== dd) {
+    return {
+      path: pathRel,
+      ok: false,
+      violation: `col1 timestamp ${ts} does not match path date ${yyyy}-${mm}-${dd}`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  if (tsHh !== hh || tsMin !== mmOfHour) {
+    return {
+      path: pathRel,
+      ok: false,
+      violation: `col1 time ${tsHh}:${tsMin} does not match filename ${hh}:${mmOfHour}`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  return { path: pathRel, ok: true };
+}
+
+function findShards(dir: string): string[] {
+  const results: string[] = [];
+  function walk(d: string): void {
+    for (const entry of readdirSync(d)) {
+      const full = join(d, entry);
+      try {
+        const stat = statSync(full);
+        if (stat.isDirectory()) walk(full);
+        else if (entry.endsWith(".md") && entry !== "README.md")
+          results.push(full);
+      } catch {
+        /* skip unreadable */
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  walk(dir);
+  return results;
+}
+
+function isDir(p: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    return statSync(p).isDirectory();
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function isFile(p: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    return statSync(p).isFile();
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function main(argv: string[]): number {
+  let shards: string[];
+
+  if (argv[0] === "--files") {
+    shards = argv
+      .slice(1)
+      .filter((p) => p.startsWith("docs/hygiene-history/ticks/"))
+      .filter((p) => p.endsWith(".md"))
+      .filter((p) => basename(p) !== "README.md")
+      .map((p) => resolve(ROOT, p))
+      .filter(isFile);
+  } else {
+    if (!isDir(SHARD_DIR)) {
+      process.stderr.write(`error: ${SHARD_DIR} does not exist\n`);
+      return 2;
+    }
+    shards = findShards(SHARD_DIR);
+  }
+
+  let violations = 0;
+  for (const s of shards) {
+    const result = scanOne(s);
+    if (!result.ok) {
+      process.stderr.write(`VIOLATION: ${result.path} — ${result.violation}\n`);
+      violations++;
+    }
+  }
+
+  process.stderr.write(
+    `checked ${shards.length} shard files; ${violations} violations\n`,
+  );
+  return violations > 0 ? 1 : 0;
+}
+
+process.exit(main(process.argv.slice(2)));