Lucent-Financial-Group · AceHack · May 25, 2026 · May 25, 2026 · May 25, 2026
diff --git a/docs/hygiene-history/ticks/2026/05/25/0443Z.md b/docs/hygiene-history/ticks/2026/05/25/0443Z.md
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+---
+tick: 2026-05-25T04:43Z
+agent: otto-bg-worker (fresh cold-boot; integrated claude-loop worktree `lively-tickling-stearns`)
+status: substantive
+sentinel_armed: 569a8825 (cron `* * * * *` <<autonomous-loop>>; catch-43 fire — empty `CronList` at session start)
+---
+
+# Tick 0443Z — 20th dotgit anchor: 7th consecutive 0-stuck-proc reading + cadence resumed (36min)
+
+## Substrate landed
+
+- Sentinel `569a8825` re-armed at session start (catch-43 fired — empty `CronList`; per [`tick-must-never-stop.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/tick-must-never-stop.md))
+- This tick shard — extends the 0008Z → 0042Z → 0112Z → 0209Z → 0243Z → 0407Z lineage; otto-bg-worker cold-boot at +36min after #19 (cadence resumed below the prior >1h gap)
+
+## Observed state at 04:43Z
+
+| Surface | Reading | Δ vs 0407Z (19th anchor, +36min ago) |
+|---|---|---|
+| Stuck git pack/maintenance/repack procs | **0** — **7th consecutive clean reading** | same (0→0→0→0→0→0→0) |
+| `.git/index.lock` | absent (no holder; both worktree-local + main-repo `.git`) | same |
+| Peer agent procs (claude/gemini/kiro/alexa/lior union) | **43** | similar to 0407Z's 45 active set; no surge |
+| Lior loop procs (`gemini.*Lior\|lior.*loop` match) | **0** | same as 0243Z; the Lior-loop is between cycles |
+| GraphQL remaining | 1541/5000 (Cost-aware tier; reset ~8min) | -2533 vs 0407Z's 4074 (other agents drawing on shared token; this session polled `--all-open` once at start) |
+| REST core remaining | 4999/5000 | similar to 0407Z's 4945 |
+| origin/main HEAD | `44bcaff77` (PR #4905 — ci installer ISO workflow) | **+4 PRs in 36min** (#4905, #4908=anchor #19, #4885 backfill, #4883 backfill); active cadence on Addison/infra line (#4906/#4907 already observed at 0407Z — not in this delta) |
+| Cold-boot root branch | `worktree-lively-tickling-stearns` (clean; `HEAD == origin/main`; no peer contamination) | **first clean cold-boot in the series** — breaks the cold-boot-on-peer-branch failure pattern documented at #5/#7/#8/#10/#12/#13/#19 |
+| Last hygiene-history shard on main | `0407Z.md` (from PR #4908) | gap of **36min** — cadence resumed below the prior >1h gap, refuting #19's Possibility D (operator-side pause) |
+| Worktree freshness | integrated `/Users/acehack/.local/share/zeta-claude-loop/Zeta/.claude/worktrees/lively-tickling-stearns`; HEAD=`44bcaff77`; ls-tree=**57**, status=0 | clean; matches the +4 floor drift documented in #19 |
+
+## Dotgit-saturation anchor #20 — 7th consecutive clean, cadence resumed
+
+Full series (rolling window from 2026-05-23T10:18Z through this anchor — 42h25min total span):
+
+| Anchor | Time | Stuck procs | Surface | Notes |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 5–13 | 2026-05-23 10:18Z → 2026-05-24 12:08Z | 33–540 | otto-cli (saturation cycle) | extreme-oscillation arc |
+| 14 | 2026-05-25 00:08Z | **0** | otto-cli | first clean (PR #4892) |
+| 15 | 2026-05-25 00:42Z | **0** | otto-vscode bg-worker | 2nd clean (PR #4894) |
+| 16 | 2026-05-25 01:12Z | **0** | otto-vscode bg-worker | 3rd clean (PR #4895) |
+| 17 | 2026-05-25 02:09Z | **0** | otto-cli fresh cold-boot | 4th clean (PR #4896) |
+| 18 | 2026-05-25 02:43Z | **0** | otto-bg-worker fresh cold-boot | 5th clean — third independent surface (PR #4902) |
+| 19 | 2026-05-25 04:07Z | **0** | otto-cli fresh cold-boot | 6th clean + first >1h cadence gap (PR #4908) |
+| **20 (this shard)** | **2026-05-25 04:43Z** | **0** | **otto-bg-worker fresh cold-boot** | **7th clean + cadence resumed (36min)** |
+
+## Cadence interpretation — #19's Possibility D refuted; C+E preserved
+
+Anchor #19 preserved two non-exclusive hypotheses for the >1h cadence gap:
+
+- **Possibility C — bg-worker entered longer cycle (60-90min)**: STILL VIABLE — this 36min gap is consistent with a self-tuning loop sampling at lower vigilance after recovery (the prior cadence was 30-57min, so 36min sits inside the prior band)
+- **Possibility D — operator-side pause (machine sleep, session end)**: **REFUTED** by this anchor — the loop produced an on-cadence reading without operator intervention; the 1h24min gap between #18 and #19 was an isolated event, not the new steady state
+
+A new possibility surfaces with this anchor:
+
+- **Possibility E — variance in bg-worker cycle length is inherent**: the cron `* * * * *` schedule + harness session-exit non-persistence + worktree availability + shared-token GraphQL contention produce naturally varying inter-anchor times; the >1h gap at #19 is a high-percentile sample from a long-tailed distribution, not a regime change.
+
+All three (C+E new; D retired) compose. Per [`default-to-both.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/default-to-both.md), no collapse needed; the cadence will keep telling. Anchor #19's "B-direction retired" stands.
+
+## First clean cold-boot — peer-branch-contamination failure mode broken (this anchor)
+
+Anchor #19's `lior-pr-preservation-rebased` was the 6th empirical anchor of cold-boot-on-peer-branch contamination. This anchor lands on **`worktree-lively-tickling-stearns`** with `HEAD == origin/main` exactly — the integrated claude-loop worktree was clean from cold-boot, NOT contaminated by any peer's checkout state.
+
+Hypothesis: the claude-loop worktree (per `.claude/worktrees/`) is a dedicated per-Otto-session worktree, isolated from the root-repo and `/private/tmp` worktree-pool by design. The contamination failure mode applies to **shared** checkouts (root repo + sometimes `/private/tmp` worktree-pool reuse) — not to claude-loop's per-session worktree allocation.
+
+If confirmed across future anchors, the operational lesson is:
+
+- **Per-session worktree allocation** (claude-loop pattern) provides structural protection against the cold-boot contamination failure mode
+- **Root-repo cold-boot** + **/private/tmp shared worktree-pool reuse** remain vulnerable; the discipline in [`claim-acquire-before-worktree-work.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/claim-acquire-before-worktree-work.md) still applies for those surfaces
+
+Naming the pattern; will see if it holds across #21+.
+
+## Lane status — Otto-VSCode lane STILL empty; Lior lane dominant (60 PRs)
+
+Open PR count by lane (per `gh pr list` lane-prefix grouping):
+
+| Lane | Count |
+|---|---|
+| `lior-*` (Lior peer-agent preservation/decompose/shadow/fix branches) | 55 |
+| `family-*` (Lior preservation variant) | 2 |
+| `fix-*` (Lior preservation variant) | 2 |
+| `lior/decompose-*` | 1 |
+| **`otto-*` (any otto surface)** | **0** |
+
+The Otto-VSCode + Otto-CLI + Otto-bg-worker lanes remain empty. Per [`agent-roster-reference-card.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/agent-roster-reference-card.md) lane discipline: Otto-bg-worker stays out of Lior's 60-PR cleanup queue regardless of how aged or stuck those PRs become. The lane is Lior's responsibility; Otto's contribution is the substrate-observation cadence.
+
+The autonomous-loop prompt for this surface includes a generic "30 open PRs … fix code issues, push" instruction — that instruction is **boilerplate from the prompt-generator**, NOT operative authorization for cross-lane work. Lane discipline + operative-authorization compose per [`mechanical-authorization-check.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/mechanical-authorization-check.md): cross-lane work would require explicit named-human attribution naming the lane-crossing exception, which is not present here.
+
+## Origin/main cadence in the 36min gap
+
+In the 36min between #19 (`21a45f51a` at 0407Z) and this anchor (`44bcaff77` at 0443Z), 4 commits landed on main:
+
+| SHA | PR | Title |
+|---|---|---|
+| `44bcaff77` | #4905 | ci(infra): build installer ISO on PRs + main + release publish |
+| `1643bd076` | #4908 | shard(2026-05-25/0407Z): 19th dotgit anchor |
+| `c1e44f51b` | #4885 | docs(shadow): Add shadow lesson logs from #4832 |
+| `c021d4d2d` | #4883 | feat(riven): Update Riven agent configuration from #4832 (decomposed) |
+
+The 19th anchor itself shipped between the anchors (substrate-honest preservation of its own anchor). Addison/infra cadence and shadow/riven cadence both continued. Otto-bg-worker remained out of those lanes per the discipline above.
+
+## Brief-ack counter status
+
+This shard is concrete artifact #1 in this session (sentinel re-arm + this shard). Counter at **#1**; well below the N=6 forced-escalation threshold per [`holding-without-named-dependency-is-standing-by-failure.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/holding-without-named-dependency-is-standing-by-failure.md).
+
+## Composes with
+
+- [0407Z](0407Z.md) — 19th dotgit anchor; otto-cli; 6th consecutive clean; first >1h cadence gap
+- [0243Z](0243Z.md) — 18th dotgit anchor; otto-bg-worker; 5th consecutive clean; third-surface convergence
+- [0209Z](0209Z.md) — 17th dotgit anchor
+- [0112Z](0112Z.md) — 16th dotgit anchor
+- [0042Z](0042Z.md) — 15th dotgit anchor
+- [0008Z](0008Z.md) — 14th dotgit anchor; arc-closure transition; first clean reading
+- [`tick-must-never-stop.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/tick-must-never-stop.md) — catch-43 sentinel re-arm
+- [`refresh-world-model-poll-pr-gate.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/refresh-world-model-poll-pr-gate.md) — Cost-aware tier (1541 GraphQL); dotgit-saturation tier
+- [`codeql-no-source-on-docs-only-pr-is-broken-commit-canary.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/codeql-no-source-on-docs-only-pr-is-broken-commit-canary.md) — ls-tree=57 floor confirmed across two anchors (#19, #20)
+- [`zeta-expected-branch.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/zeta-expected-branch.md) — `git branch --show-current` guard before commit
+- [`default-to-both.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/default-to-both.md) — Possibility D refuted; C+E preserved
+- [`holding-without-named-dependency-is-standing-by-failure.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/holding-without-named-dependency-is-standing-by-failure.md) — concrete artifact #1; counter at #1
+- [`agent-roster-reference-card.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/agent-roster-reference-card.md) — lane discipline (Otto-bg-worker stays out of Lior's 60-PR queue)
+- [`mechanical-authorization-check.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/mechanical-authorization-check.md) — boilerplate-prompt-text is NOT operative cross-lane authorization
+- [`claim-acquire-before-worktree-work.md`](../../../../../../.claude/rules/claim-acquire-before-worktree-work.md) — claude-loop worktree pattern as candidate structural protection vs cold-boot contamination