diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/review/lib/transcripts.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/review/lib/transcripts.test.ts
index c42ed2322e7..eba2659b264 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/review/lib/transcripts.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/review/lib/transcripts.test.ts
@@ -244,7 +244,11 @@ describe('readTranscripts — defensive parsing', () => {
     // and two look-alikes — a `.bak` sibling and a shell command that only
     // NAMES the diff — refused.
     const b = { agentId: 'a1', agentName: 'general-purpose', sessionId: 'S1' };
-    const call = (name: string, args: object): object[] => [
+    const call = (
+      name: string,
+      args: object,
+      response: object = { output: 'ok' },
+    ): object[] => [
       {
         ...b,
         type: 'assistant',
@@ -255,32 +259,53 @@ describe('readTranscripts — defensive parsing', () => {
         type: 'tool_result',
         message: {
           role: 'user',
-          parts: [{ functionResponse: { name, response: { output: 'ok' } } }],
+          parts: [{ functionResponse: { name, response } }],
         },
       },
     ];
     file(
       'agent-a1.jsonl',
       [
-        JSON.stringify({
+        // A plain object literal like its siblings — pre-stringifying it here
+        // would let the trailing `.map` encode it twice, so `parseTranscript`
+        // parses a bare string and silently drops the launch line.
+        {
           ...b,
           type: 'user',
           message: { role: 'user', parts: [{ text: 'chunk 1 of 1' }] },
-        }),
+        },
         ...call('read_file', { file_path: '/d.txt', offset: 0, limit: 40 }),
         ...call('read_file', { file_path: '/d.txt.bak' }),
         ...call('run_shell_command', { command: 'rm /d.txt' }),
+        // A FAILED read of the diff: names it, but the response is an error.
+        // Hoisting the `diffToolCalls++` / `diffReads.push` out of the
+        // `!isErrorPart` branch would count this as a diff read.
+        ...call(
+          'read_file',
+          { file_path: '/d.txt', offset: 40, limit: 40 },
+          { error: 'denied' },
+        ),
       ]
         .map((r) => JSON.stringify(r))
         .join('\n') + '\n',
     );
     const [rec] = readTranscripts(undefined, ENV, '/d.txt');
+    // The launch line survived — proof the fixture is single-encoded.
+    expect(rec.launchPrompt).toBe('chunk 1 of 1');
+    // Only the ONE successful, exact-path read counts: not the `.bak`
+    // sibling, not the shell mention, not the denied read.
     expect(rec.diffToolCalls).toBe(1);
     // The RANGE too, not only the count: `range` is wired through the same
     // `namedTheDiff` decision, so dropping that wiring leaves the count
     // right and every chunk-coverage ruling — which reads the lines, not
-    // the tally — with nothing to rule on.
+    // the tally — with nothing to rule on. The denied read's [41, 80] is
+    // absent, pinning the success gate on `diffReads` as well.
     expect(rec.diffReads).toEqual([[1, 40]]);
+    // The same gate guards the evidence lists the certification atoms read
+    // (`openedBrief`, `readBrief`, `readFindingsPointer`): the denied read
+    // must stay out of them too, not only out of the diff fields.
+    expect(rec.successfulCallArgs).toHaveLength(3);
+    expect(rec.successfulReadFileArgs).toHaveLength(2);
     // And with no diffPath the field stays 0, whatever was read.
     expect(readTranscripts(undefined, ENV)[0].diffToolCalls).toBe(0);
   });