MrGTV-love · Oct 11, 2026 · Sep 29, 2026 · Sep 29, 2026 · Sep 29, 2026 · Sep 29, 2026
diff --git a/.agents/skills/afk/SKILL.md b/.agents/skills/afk/SKILL.md
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ Hold-for-return is the default and the only reach profile this release records:
   Destructive, irreversible, and security-sensitive actions are never pre-authorizable whatever the words say, and ask-user findings keep the `ask-user-authority` policy unless the words pre-answer the exact decision; anything else that needs the captain holds for their return.
 - On Pi, main is parked and the supervision branch handles every safe actionable wake under main's standing authority, through the same guarded scripts main would use: any pull request green at its live head may merge (which one the words meant is the branch's reading), queued work whose blockers cleared - already queued, or filed by the branch because the words explicitly call for it - dispatches within the spend cap, and a decision is answered with the captain's own pre-stated answer or under `ask-user-authority`.
   Anything else holds for the return, a red merge never proceeds while away, local-only landing always waits for the captain, and only a wake the branch declines (including a broken branch or unsafe scan) or a watcher failure wakes main (`docs/pi-supervision-branch.md` "Postures").
-- On a non-Pi home with `config/supervision-host`, the host's engine is that branch under the same rules; the [supervision protocol](../../../docs/supervision-protocols/supervision-host.md) owns how a handed-back wake reaches main.
+- On a non-Pi home that runs the supervision host, the host's engine is that branch under the same rules; the [supervision protocol](../../../docs/supervision-protocols/supervision-host.md) owns how a handed-back wake reaches main.
   A wake with a `supervision-host:` line is automatic supervision, never the captain's return, so handle it under the away posture.
 - The session-start digest reports the posture under its AFK subsection, so a restart re-enters the posture from the record, not from memory.
 

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ Those sleeps look like recoverable overhead - `fm-watch-triage.test.sh` alone is
 Sampling less often does not remove that wait, it only delays detection: raising the interval to 0.5s and charging each sample proportionally measured `fm-watch-triage.test.sh` at 435s and 440s against 390s and 393s for the unchanged script, back to back on 2026-09-03, because each of its ~40 poll-cycle waits and ~73 process-exit waits paid up to half a second more.
 Some of those loops are also catching a transient rather than waiting for a settled condition, so a coarser sample can step over the state they assert on.
 Discover tests by listing `tests/*.test.sh`: each is a self-contained bash script named `<subject>.test.sh`, and its header comment describes what it covers, so pass one to `bin/fm-test-run.sh` to focus on a subject with canonical timing output.
-Shared test helpers live in `tests/lib.sh` (reporters, temp roots, git fixtures, captured-launch execution, and Claude environment/NUL-delimited argv recording), `tests/fixtures.sh` (fake toolchain and spawn-world builders), `tests/wake-helpers.sh`, `tests/secondmate-helpers.sh`, and `tests/git-config-helpers.sh` (fixture Git isolation from the host's global and system configuration, already sourced by `tests/lib.sh` and `tests/herdr-test-safety.sh`; a suite that sources neither must source it itself before its first Git operation so a direct invocation stays isolated).
+Shared test helpers live in `tests/lib.sh` (reporters, temp roots, git fixtures, captured-launch execution, and Claude environment/NUL-delimited argv recording), `tests/fixtures.sh` (fake toolchain and spawn-world builders), `tests/wake-helpers.sh`, `tests/secondmate-helpers.sh`, and `tests/git-config-helpers.sh` (fixture Git isolation from the host's global and system configuration and from an inherited repository location such as `GIT_DIR`, already sourced by `tests/lib.sh` and `tests/herdr-test-safety.sh`; a suite that sources neither must source it itself before its first Git operation so a direct invocation stays isolated).
 Source those instead of copying a fake toolchain into a new suite.
 For focused inheritance fixtures, use the test-only item selection owned by `bin/fm-config-inherit-lib.sh` to avoid repeatedly transferring unrelated absent configuration while retaining every item needed by the behavioral assertions.
 Keep fixture edits portable across GNU and BSD tools: write transformed metadata to a temporary file, replace it only on success, and fail the case if preparation fails rather than testing the wrong recorded harness.

diff --git a/bin/backends/herdr.sh b/bin/backends/herdr.sh
@@ -1688,7 +1688,7 @@ fm_backend_herdr_server_ensure() {  # <session>
     unset FM_HOME FM_ROOT_OVERRIDE FM_STATE_OVERRIDE FM_DATA_OVERRIDE FM_PROJECTS_OVERRIDE FM_CONFIG_OVERRIDE \
       CURSOR_AGENT CURSOR_INVOKED_AS CLAUDECODE PI_CODING_AGENT FM_PI_HARNESS GROK_AGENT FM_SUPERVISION_MODEL \
       COMPACT_ADVISER_DISABLE FM_COMPACT_ADVISER_DISABLE FM_COMPACT_ADVISER_HOOKS
-    fm_backend_herdr_cli "$session" server >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+    fm_backend_herdr_cli "$session" server </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1 &
   ) || return 1
   for i in $(seq 1 20); do
     running=$(fm_backend_herdr_cli "$session" status --json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.server.running // false' 2>/dev/null)
@@ -3061,6 +3061,15 @@ fm_backend_herdr_parse_target() {  # <target>
   [ -n "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_SESSION" ] && [ -n "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_PANE" ] && [ "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_PANE" != "$target" ]
 }
 
+# fm_backend_herdr_target_observable: verify <target> is well-formed and its
+# recorded session server is currently running, WITHOUT autostarting the server.
+# Passive read-only probes (e.g. composer inspection) must stay observable-only
+# and fail fast on inactive or bad targets without starting a new server.
+fm_backend_herdr_target_observable() {  # <target>
+  fm_backend_herdr_parse_target "$1" || return 1
+  [ "$(fm_backend_herdr_server_running_state "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_SESSION")" = running ]
+}
+
 fm_backend_herdr_target_ready() {  # <target>
   fm_backend_herdr_parse_target "$1" || return 1
   fm_backend_herdr_server_ensure "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_SESSION" || return 1
@@ -3164,12 +3173,12 @@ fm_backend_herdr_capture() {  # <target> <lines>
 # workaround above - the bound is the pane itself, and asking for a line count
 # is what triggers the empty-read bug.
 fm_backend_herdr_visible_capture() {  # <target>
-  fm_backend_herdr_target_ready "$1" || return 1
+  fm_backend_herdr_target_observable "$1" || return 1
   fm_backend_herdr_cli "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_SESSION" pane read "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_PANE" --source visible 2>/dev/null
 }
 
 fm_backend_herdr_visible_capture_ansi() {  # <target>
-  fm_backend_herdr_target_ready "$1" || return 1
+  fm_backend_herdr_target_observable "$1" || return 1
   fm_backend_herdr_cli "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_SESSION" pane read "$FM_BACKEND_HERDR_PANE" --source visible --format ansi 2>/dev/null
 }
 

diff --git a/bin/fm-control.sh b/bin/fm-control.sh
@@ -894,6 +894,7 @@ do_exit() {
     [ "$VERB" != exit ] || rm -f -- "$STATE/$ID.control-exit"
     die "the exit command could not be sent to task $ID on $BACKEND"
   fi
+  # The submitting Enter can open the picker. The agent is still alive, and
   # another Enter would confirm the selected row. A dead agent may leave the
   # same text behind; that is not a prompt still waiting.
   if [ -s "${FM_COMPOSER_DIALOG_SINK:-}" ]; then

diff --git a/bin/fm-supervision-host.sh b/bin/fm-supervision-host.sh
@@ -464,12 +464,17 @@ start_arm() {  # <predecessor-arm-pid or empty> [--restart]; sets the started pi
   local predecessor=$1 out pid
   shift
   out=$(mktemp "$STATE/.supervision-host-arm.XXXXXX") || return 1
+  # An arm left for main outlives this host, and Claude tears the hook's
+  # process group down after the exit-2 rewake, so it gets a group of its own
+  # (the shape start_handling_successor in bin/fm-claude-stop-autoarm.sh uses).
+  [ "${ARM_OWN_GROUP:-0}" -ne 1 ] || set -m 2>/dev/null || true
   if [ -n "$predecessor" ]; then
-    FM_WATCH_PREDECESSOR_ARM_PID=$predecessor FM_GUARD_GRACE="$GRACE" "$SCRIPT_DIR/fm-watch-arm.sh" "$@" >"$out" 2>&1 &
+    FM_WATCH_PREDECESSOR_ARM_PID=$predecessor FM_GUARD_GRACE="$GRACE" "$SCRIPT_DIR/fm-watch-arm.sh" "$@" >"$out" 2>&1 </dev/null &
   else
-    FM_GUARD_GRACE="$GRACE" "$SCRIPT_DIR/fm-watch-arm.sh" "$@" >"$out" 2>&1 &
+    FM_GUARD_GRACE="$GRACE" "$SCRIPT_DIR/fm-watch-arm.sh" "$@" >"$out" 2>&1 </dev/null &
   fi
   pid=$!
+  [ "${ARM_OWN_GROUP:-0}" -ne 1 ] || set +m 2>/dev/null || true
   record_process arm "$pid"
   STARTED_ARM_PID=$pid
   STARTED_ARM_OUT=$out
@@ -703,7 +708,7 @@ detach_successor() {
 # downtime (autoarm_commit in bin/fm-claude-stop-autoarm.sh). A failed start
 # returns 1; the caller still prints the close unchanged.
 leave_successor_for_main() {
-  if ! start_successor "$CLOSED_ARM_PID"; then
+  if ! ARM_OWN_GROUP=1 start_successor "$CLOSED_ARM_PID"; then
     log_line "pass-through	successor-unverified	$(printf '%s\n' "$REASON" | head -n 1)"
     return 1
   fi
@@ -1116,7 +1121,7 @@ while :; do
 
   # A turn that could outlive the boundary would outlive the hook registration.
   turn_crosses_boundary && boundary_exit
-  if ! start_successor "$CLOSED_ARM_PID"; then
+  if ! ARM_OWN_GROUP=1 start_successor "$CLOSED_ARM_PID"; then
     exit_to_main "the successor watcher cycle could not be verified before handling; this wake is yours"
   fi
   if [ -n "$SUCCESSOR_GENERATION" ]; then

diff --git a/docs/supervision-host.md b/docs/supervision-host.md
@@ -108,7 +108,8 @@ Only an away record is away: no record, or the record daemon-backed quiet mode w
 The host asks the Pi branch's offer rule (`branchOfferForWake`, through `bin/fm-branch-dispatch.mjs offer`) whether the branch may take the close.
 So a close reaches main off Pi exactly when it would on Pi: a check trigger, a decision-owned signal or stale trigger, and a scan that is unsafe or holds nothing for the branch stay main's.
 On that main-only pass-through the host starts the successor watcher cycle and leaves it running, then prints the close unchanged.
-It leaves the watcher's recovery marker reading downtime, confirming no handling handoff, because the re-arm owner delivers a close to main only while that marker reads downtime.
+That successor, like one a turn hands back at its start (see [Away](#away)), runs in a process group of its own, so the harness tearing down the hook's group after the rewake does not stop it.
+The host leaves the watcher's recovery marker reading downtime, confirming no handling handoff, because the re-arm owner delivers a close to main only while that marker reads downtime.
 The session's next park without `--restart` requests a take-over to restore a single host-owned arm; the [host header](../bin/fm-supervision-host.sh) owns successor persistence and cleanup, and the [arm header](../bin/fm-watch-arm.sh) owns take-over eligibility and fallback.
 OpenCode and omp still launch the host with `--restart`, which takes precedence over recorded take-over and lacks its acknowledgement-preserving handover; changing that first-cycle path remains a follow-up.
 The host-off Claude Stop hook's detached handling successor is also unchanged; see [Claude handling successor](watcher-continuity.md#claude-handling-successor).
@@ -422,7 +423,7 @@ Each arm owner's own suite covers its host mode against a stub host.
 | `tests/fm-afk-launch.test.sh` | The home gate on each primary, the `/afk` daemon refusal, and `/quiet` on a home that runs the host: the statement, the paused statement, each named missing part, the quiet daemon fallback that carries its recorded mode, a failed quiet start that archives its quiet record, and the refusal under a live away record until the return. |
 | `tests/fm-afk-return.test.sh` | The return's drain-owned read-cursor advance through the away window on a host home, and none on Pi. |
 | `tests/fm-supervision-host-live-e2e.test.sh` | Runs a real engine turn; opt-in because it spends tokens. |
-| `tests/fm-supervision-host-attended-live-e2e.test.sh` | Opt-in credentialed guard for repeated attended main-only hand-backs to an idle Claude primary, the successor's own close, a close that turns main-only at its turn, and a stand-in remote listener; accepts a pre-fix ref for a negative control. |
+| `tests/fm-supervision-host-attended-live-e2e.test.sh` | Opt-in credentialed guard for repeated attended main-only hand-backs to an idle Claude primary, a take-over of the successor's cycle, a close that turns main-only at its turn, and a stand-in remote listener; accepts a pre-fix ref for a negative control. |
 | `tests/fm-host-mirror-live-e2e.test.sh` | Proves the Claude and Cursor mirror writers against the real harnesses; opt-in because it spends tokens. |
 
 [verification/supervision.md](verification/supervision.md#supervision-host) records the dated live results.
diff --git a/docs/verification/supervision.md b/docs/verification/supervision.md
@@ -754,7 +754,17 @@ ok - cursor 2026.09.23-86fc751: the tracked registrations mirrored the captain p
 ok - host mirror live: 2 harness(es) proved their writers
 ```
 
-The run above exercised these payload fields:
+On 2026-10-07, the Claude path passed again on Linux 7.0.0-34-generic x86_64 with Claude Code 2.1.293 (`haiku`) and a managed policy that displayed `auto mode on` at its idle composer.
+The guard ran in its private tmux socket and required both an idle verdict from the Claude-scoped rendered busy-state check and an empty composer before submitting its prompt.
+
+```text
+$ FM_HOST_MIRROR_LIVE_E2E=1 FM_HOST_MIRROR_LIVE_HARNESSES=claude bash tests/fm-host-mirror-live-e2e.test.sh
+ok - claude 2.1.293 (Claude Code): a turn the harness started itself was not mirrored as the captain's words
+ok - claude 2.1.293 (Claude Code): the tracked registrations mirrored the captain prompt and main reply
+ok - host mirror live: 1 harness(es) proved their writers
+```
+
+The runs above exercised these payload fields:
 
 | Primary | Captain text | Main text |
 | --- | --- | --- |

diff --git a/tests/fm-backend-herdr.test.sh b/tests/fm-backend-herdr.test.sh
@@ -773,12 +773,16 @@ test_exhausted_settle_window_keeps_a_non_shell_foreground_live() {
 }
 
 test_registered_agent_with_an_agent_descendant_outside_the_foreground_stays_alive() {
-  local lab sleep_bin shell_pid out shell_verdict
+  local lab standin sleep_bin shell_pid out shell_verdict
   sleep_bin=$(command -v sleep) || fail "sleep not found"
   lab="$TMP_ROOT/stale-reg-descendant-bin"; mkdir -p "$lab"
-  # A symlink to a real long-running binary so the kernel records `pi` as the
-  # executable identity (a copied platform binary fails code signing on macOS).
-  ln -sf "$sleep_bin" "$lab/pi"
+  # A symlink to a real long-running stand-in so the kernel records `pi` as the
+  # executable identity (tests/lib.sh fm_agent_standin owns why not host sleep).
+  standin=$(fm_agent_standin "$TMP_ROOT/standin") || {
+    echo "skip: no long-running stand-in survives a rename, so the agent-named descendant case cannot run"
+    return 0
+  }
+  ln -sf "$standin" "$lab/pi"
   # A real shell whose child is that agent-named process, while the canned
   # foreground view shows only the shell (a suspended or backgrounded agent).
   sh -c "'$lab/pi' 300; :" &
@@ -802,13 +806,16 @@ test_registered_agent_with_an_agent_descendant_outside_the_foreground_stays_aliv
 }
 
 test_agent_descendant_under_a_spaced_install_path_stays_alive() {
-  local lab sleep_bin shell_pid out
-  sleep_bin=$(command -v sleep) || fail "sleep not found"
+  local lab standin shell_pid out
+  standin=$(fm_agent_standin "$TMP_ROOT/standin") || {
+    echo "skip: no long-running stand-in survives a rename, so the spaced-path descendant case cannot run"
+    return 0
+  }
   # The executable path the process table reports contains a space (the macOS
   # `/Library/Application Support/...` shape), so a field-split read of the
   # process table sees only a fragment of the name.
   lab="$TMP_ROOT/stale-reg-spaced-bin/Application Support/Some Dir"; mkdir -p "$lab"
-  ln -sf "$sleep_bin" "$lab/pi"
+  ln -sf "$standin" "$lab/pi"
   sh -c "'$lab/pi' 300; :" &
   shell_pid=$!
   sleep 0.3
@@ -4064,6 +4071,30 @@ test_composer_state_unknown_on_capture_failure() {
   pass "fm_backend_herdr_composer_state: reports unknown when the pane cannot be captured"
 }
 
+test_composer_state_inactive_session_fails_fast_without_server_autostart() {
+  local dir log resp fb out status
+  dir="$TMP_ROOT/composer-inactive-session"; mkdir -p "$dir/responses"; log="$dir/log"; resp="$dir/responses"; : > "$log"
+  # status --json reports stopped server
+  printf '{"client":{"version":"0.7.1","protocol":14},"server":{"running":false}}\n' > "$resp/1.out"
+  fb=$(make_herdr_fakebin "$dir")
+  out=$( PATH="$fb:$PATH" FM_HERDR_LOG="$log" FM_HERDR_RESPONSES="$resp" FM_HERDR_SCRIPT_STATUS=1 \
+    bash -c '. "$0/bin/backends/herdr.sh"; fm_backend_herdr_composer_state nonexistent:w1:p2' "$ROOT" )
+  status=$?
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || fail "composer_state should exit 0 on inactive session"
+  [ "$out" = unknown ] || fail "composer_state on inactive session should read unknown, got '$out'"
+  assert_not_contains "$(cat "$log")" $'\x1f''server' "composer probe on inactive session must never autostart a herdr server"
+  pass "fm_backend_herdr_composer_state: fails fast to unknown for inactive session without starting server"
+}
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016
+test_composer_state_piped_reader_does_not_hang() {
+  local out rc=0
+  out=$( timeout 3s bash -c '. "$0/bin/fm-backend.sh"; ( fm_backend_composer_state herdr nonexistent-session:p2 ) 2>&1 | head -20' "$ROOT" ) || rc=$?
+  [ "$rc" -eq 0 ] || fail "piped composer probe on bad target hung or failed with rc=$rc"
+  [ "$out" = unknown ] || fail "piped composer probe should print unknown, got '$out'"
+  pass "fm_backend_composer_state (herdr): piped probe on bad target does not hang EOF-sensitive readers"
+}
+
 test_composer_state_unknown_when_no_composer_row_found() {
   local dir log resp fb out glyph idx=1
   dir="$TMP_ROOT/composer-no-row"; mkdir -p "$dir/responses"; log="$dir/log"; resp="$dir/responses"; : > "$log"
@@ -6426,6 +6457,8 @@ test_composer_state_real_text_is_pending
 test_composer_state_grok_oversized_title_preserves_safe_verdicts
 test_composer_state_popup_placeholder_fill_is_pending
 test_composer_state_unknown_on_capture_failure
+test_composer_state_inactive_session_fails_fast_without_server_autostart
+test_composer_state_piped_reader_does_not_hang
 test_composer_state_unknown_when_no_composer_row_found
 test_composer_state_pi_parked_prompt_is_not_empty
 test_composer_state_pi_separator_idle_is_empty