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+# Tick 2026-05-16T16:43Z — otto-bg-worker
+
+Catch-43 re-arm + 2 dependabot PRs merged in one tick.
+GraphQL cascade-saturation — descended Normal → Cost-aware →
+Extreme cost-aware in single tick.
+
+## Refresh result
+
+| Surface | State |
+|---|---|
+| Cron sentinel | None at session start → re-armed (`3933804e` alive) |
+| Rate limit (GraphQL) | 1073/5000 at start → 645 after poll batch (extreme cost-aware) |
+| Branch state | `worktree-magical-cuddling-clarke` clean, 0/0 vs nothing |
+| Open PRs (count) | 50 (prompt said 30 — undercount) |
+
+## Cron sentinel re-arm
+
+Catch-43 invariant: no `<<autonomous-loop>>` sentinel at session
+start. `CronList` returned `No scheduled jobs.` Re-armed via
+`CronCreate` with `* * * * *` cadence. Job ID `3933804e`. The
+sentinel is session-only (not durable) — that's the documented
+behavior per [`tick-must-never-stop.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/tick-must-never-stop.md).
+
+## Work shipped
+
+Two dependabot PRs went green-to-merge once auto-merge was
+armed:
+
+| PR | Title | Pre-state | Action | Result |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| #3798 | codeql-action 4.35.4→4.35.5 | UNSTABLE (lint cancelled, required green) | `gh pr merge --auto --squash` | Merged at 16:42:23Z (`fe6c4e96`) |
+| #3810 | FSharp.Core + 3 others NuGet bump | UNSTABLE (lint failed §33 archive header, required green) | `gh pr merge --auto --squash` | Merged at 16:42:27Z |
+
+**Why both safe to arm**: poll-pr-gate-batch reported
+`requiredChecks.failed: 0` for both. The lint failure on #3810
+was on `lint (archive header §33)` — a non-required check that
+mis-fires on dependabot bodies (no external-AI archive content
+to validate). Required checks all green. Auto-merge with squash
+respects branch protection.
+
+## PRs polled but deferred
+
+| PR | gate | threads | auto | next | Disposition |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| #3545 | DIRTY | 3 | armed | rebase | peer Otto's row (Claude Code permissions decompose) — deferred |
+| #3597 | DIRTY | 2 | armed | rebase | peer-owned B-0501 slice 5a — deferred |
+| #3599 | DIRTY | 0 | armed | rebase | peer-owned shadow check — deferred |
+| #3633 | BLOCKED | 9 | armed | fix-failed-checks | peer-owned lior/decompose-3621 — substantial thread load; deferred |
+| #3643 | DIRTY | 14 | armed | rebase | peer-owned (14 threads); deferred |
+| #3670 | DIRTY | 0 | armed | rebase | peer-owned; 2 warnings; deferred |
+| #3714 | BLOCKED | 0 | armed | fix-failed-checks | peer-owned; need investigation; deferred |
+| #3813 | DIRTY | 0 | armed | rebase | peer Otto-CLI's earlier shard (head `shard/tick-0727z-otto-cli-2026-05-16`); per `honor-those-that-came-before.md` peer should resolve own conflict |
+
+Per `honor-those-that-came-before.md` + `claim-acquire-before-worktree-work.md`:
+do not take over peer Otto's branches mid-flight; let claim-owner resolve
+own rebase/threads. Two dependabot bumps are safe because they're
+bot-authored, not peer-Otto-authored.
+
+## Budget trajectory
+
+| Stage | GraphQL remaining | Notes |
+|---|---|---|
+| Session start | 1073 (Cost-aware tier) | Already drawn by peers |
+| Post `refresh-worldview.ts` + 1 `gh pr list` | ~1050 | Cheap operations |
+| Post `poll-pr-gate-batch.ts 10` | ~700 | Each PR ~35 calls |
+| Post arming + verify on 3798/3810 | 645 | Extreme cost-aware now |
+
+Lesson: `poll-pr-gate-batch.ts` on N PRs costs ~N×35 GraphQL.
+At Cost-aware tier (1000-2000), batch of 10 is the ceiling.
+At Extreme cost-aware (200-1000), per-PR queries only.
+
+## Composes with
+
+- [`refresh-world-model-poll-pr-gate.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/refresh-world-model-poll-pr-gate.md) — rate-limit operational tiers; this tick traversed Normal→Cost-aware→Extreme cost-aware
+- [`tick-must-never-stop.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/tick-must-never-stop.md) — catch-43 re-arm at session start
+- [`claim-acquire-before-worktree-work.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/claim-acquire-before-worktree-work.md) — peer-Otto branch ownership boundary (dependabot PRs are not peer work)
+- [`honor-those-that-came-before.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/honor-those-that-came-before.md) — same boundary at peer-branch scope
+- Earlier shard `0642Z.md` (PR #3786) — peer otto-bg-worker did catch-43 re-arm + empirical state-of-world; same pattern repeated this session, 10 hours later
+
+## Visibility signal
+
+End of tick. 2 PRs merged. Sentinel alive. No P0 surfaced.