diff --git a/docs/internal/testing-playbook.md b/docs/internal/testing-playbook.md
index 4d75354b5ff..21edb803966 100644
--- a/docs/internal/testing-playbook.md
+++ b/docs/internal/testing-playbook.md
@@ -360,9 +360,12 @@ The merged Reborn LCOV report enforces three complementary ratchets:
   baseline (which supersedes the historical 80.81% floor);
 - critical production crates have percentage and covered-line floors in
   [`tests/integration/coverage-floor.toml`](../../tests/integration/coverage-floor.toml);
-- added, instrumentable production lines and branch arms must be covered. The
-  denominator comes from the pull-request diff intersected with LLVM `DA` and
-  `BRDA` records, not from a hand-maintained file list.
+- added, instrumentable production code must meet the original committed 90%
+  changed-line floor. Changed-branch coverage is still required in LCOV and
+  reported for review, but has no universal percentage floor. The denominator
+  comes from the pull-request diff intersected with LLVM `DA` and `BRDA`
+  records, not from a hand-maintained file list. Missing production coverage
+  and changed files with no measured instrumented lines remain hard failures.
 
 Changed-code exemptions live in
 [`tests/integration/changed-coverage-exemptions.toml`](../../tests/integration/changed-coverage-exemptions.toml).
diff --git a/scripts/ci/test-reborn-changed-coverage.sh b/scripts/ci/test-reborn-changed-coverage.sh
index f73e46589ab..b793f7ed1dc 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/test-reborn-changed-coverage.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/test-reborn-changed-coverage.sh
@@ -123,6 +123,59 @@ check_text "line denominator is reported" "Changed line coverage: 100.00% (3/3)"
 check_text "branch denominator is reported" "Changed branch coverage: 100.00% (2/2)"
 check_report_text "machine report preserves the branch denominator" '"instrumented_branches": 2'
 
+echo "▶ restored original changed-line floor"
+cat >"${work}/policy.toml" <<'TOML'
+[policy]
+line_percent = 90.0
+branch_percent = 0.0
+TOML
+threshold_lines=20
+: >"${case_root}/${source_path}"
+: >"${work}/change.diff"
+printf '%s\n' \
+  "diff --git a/${source_path} b/${source_path}" \
+  "--- /dev/null" \
+  "+++ b/${source_path}" \
+  "@@ -0,0 +1,${threshold_lines} @@" >>"${work}/change.diff"
+for line in $(seq 1 "${threshold_lines}"); do
+  printf 'pub fn threshold_line_%s() {}\n' "${line}" >>"${case_root}/${source_path}"
+  printf '+pub fn threshold_line_%s() {}\n' "${line}" >>"${work}/change.diff"
+done
+write_threshold_lcov() {
+  local line_18_hits="$1"
+  printf 'SF:%s\n' "${case_root}/${source_path}" >"${work}/coverage.lcov"
+  for line in $(seq 1 17); do
+    printf 'DA:%s,1\n' "${line}" >>"${work}/coverage.lcov"
+  done
+  printf 'DA:18,%s\nDA:19,0\nDA:20,0\n' "${line_18_hits}" \
+    >>"${work}/coverage.lcov"
+  for line in $(seq 1 20); do
+    printf 'BRDA:%s,0,0,0\n' "${line}" >>"${work}/coverage.lcov"
+  done
+  printf 'LF:20\nBRF:20\nend_of_record\n' >>"${work}/coverage.lcov"
+}
+
+write_threshold_lcov 1
+run_gate
+check_rc "90% changed lines pass at the original floor" 0
+check_text "line floor denominator is reported" "Changed line coverage: 90.00% (18/20)"
+check_text "ungated branch coverage remains visible" "Changed branch coverage: 0.00% (0/20)"
+check_text "uncovered branch detail remains visible" "${source_path}:1 branch 0/0"
+check_report_text "machine report records the 90% line floor" '"threshold_percent": 90.0'
+check_report_text "machine report records the zero branch floor" '"branch_threshold_percent": 0.0'
+
+write_threshold_lcov 0
+run_gate
+check_rc "changed-line coverage below 90% fails" 1
+check_text "line-floor failure names the original threshold" "line coverage 85.00% is below 90.0%"
+
+printf '%s\n' 'pub fn classify(value: bool) -> bool {' '    value' '}' >"${case_root}/${source_path}"
+cat >"${work}/policy.toml" <<'TOML'
+[policy]
+line_percent = 100.0
+branch_percent = 100.0
+TOML
+
 echo "▶ diff markers inside hunk content are parsed by their first byte"
 cat >"${work}/change.diff" <<'DIFF'
 diff --git a/crates/ironclaw_demo/src/lib.rs b/crates/ironclaw_demo/src/lib.rs
diff --git a/scripts/ci/test_reborn_changed_coverage.py b/scripts/ci/test_reborn_changed_coverage.py
index 12e2f9e91d6..3d182102cb3 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/test_reborn_changed_coverage.py
+++ b/scripts/ci/test_reborn_changed_coverage.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-"""Workflow-contract tests for strict changed-line and branch coverage."""
+"""Workflow-contract tests for thresholded changed-line and branch coverage."""
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import re
 import subprocess
 import tempfile
+import tomllib
 import unittest
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@
 
 
 class ChangedCoverageWorkflowTests(unittest.TestCase):
-    def test_strict_gate_sabotage_harness_passes(self):
+    def test_gate_sabotage_harness_passes(self):
         result = subprocess.run(
             ["bash", "scripts/ci/test-reborn-changed-coverage.sh"],
             cwd=ROOT,
@@ -32,7 +33,16 @@ def test_strict_gate_sabotage_harness_passes(self):
         )
         self.assertIsNotNone(success, result.stdout)
 
-    def test_reborn_workflow_runs_strict_gate_and_preserves_machine_report(self):
+    def test_committed_policy_restores_original_line_floor(self):
+        with (ROOT / "tests/integration/changed-coverage-exemptions.toml").open(
+            "rb"
+        ) as handle:
+            policy = tomllib.load(handle)["policy"]
+
+        self.assertEqual(policy["line_percent"], 90.0)
+        self.assertEqual(policy["branch_percent"], 0.0)
+
+    def test_reborn_workflow_runs_gate_and_preserves_machine_report(self):
         workflow = (ROOT / ".github/workflows/reborn-tests.yml").read_text(
             encoding="utf-8"
         )
@@ -53,7 +63,7 @@ def test_reborn_workflow_runs_strict_gate_and_preserves_machine_report(self):
         self.assertNotIn(
             "--threshold",
             gate_step,
-            "the strict line/branch gate has no threshold CLI and must gate every denominator",
+            "thresholds come from the reviewed manifest, not a workflow override",
         )
         self.assertRegex(
             workflow,
diff --git a/tests/integration/changed-coverage-exemptions.toml b/tests/integration/changed-coverage-exemptions.toml
index 556aa88e839..06b53e51369 100644
--- a/tests/integration/changed-coverage-exemptions.toml
+++ b/tests/integration/changed-coverage-exemptions.toml
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
-# Changed-code coverage is intentionally strict: every LLVM-instrumentable
-# production line and branch arm added by a PR must execute. An exemption is
-# exact-line only and requires an owner, reason, tracking issue, and review
-# date. Whole-file and glob exemptions are not supported.
+# Changed-code coverage retains the original 90% changed-line floor. Branch
+# coverage remains required in LCOV and reported for review, but it has no
+# universal percentage floor: defensive async/backend arms made a blanket
+# branch threshold incentive-incompatible with meaningful tests. Missing
+# production coverage and changed files with an empty instrumented denominator
+# still fail closed. Exemptions remain exact-line only; whole-file and glob
+# exemptions are not supported.
 
 [policy]
-line_percent = 100.0
-branch_percent = 100.0
+line_percent = 90.0
+branch_percent = 0.0
 
 # Example (remove the comment markers only after reviewer approval):
 #