ci(ratchet): let the corpus ratchet print its verdict instead of a bare exit code (Closes #2314)

[gHashTag]

Closes #2314

The check is red, and the log is empty by construction

corpus-ratchet has failed on every master run since #82 (e7ef72bfb,
2026-08-19T21:43:12Z). Job 96381621406 at master head 9068cf49d, lines 6947 and
6948, consecutive, with nothing between them:

##[endgroup]
##[error]Process completed with exit code 1.

Explain a failure then annotates Corpus ratchet failed :: See the Ratchet section above. -- a section that has never once been printed.

Why

The step on master:

run: |
  set -o pipefail
  ./target/release/t27c suite --repo-root . --ratchet --corpus-only \
    --json suite_summary.json > ratchet.log 2>&1
  rc=$?
  sed -n '/--- Ratchet (W628) ---/,$p' ratchet.log
  exit $rc

A run: block with no shell: key executes under bash -e. The failing t27c
aborts the step where it stands, so rc=$?, the sed and the exit $rc execute
only when the ratchet passes -- only when there is nothing to read. On the single
path they were written for, they are dead code.

Verified off CI, both directions

The run: block was pulled out of the YAML by the parser and handed a stub
target/release/t27c. Master's block, against a stub that prints a Ratchet section
and exits 1:

=== MASTER's step, same failing t27c
stdout: ''
stderr: ''
exit: 1

Zero bytes on both streams, exit 1 -- the job log, reproduced. That is the negative
control: the defect is demonstrated, not inferred.

This PR's block, same harness, three stubs:

stub t27c	printed	step exit
verdict, exits 1	the Ratchet section through Error: RATCHET FAILED	1 (want 1)
verdict, exits 0	the Ratchet section	0 (want 0)
panics before the verdict, exits 101	"no Ratchet section", then tail -40	101 (want 101)

The exit code is carried through unchanged on all three paths, so this changes what
the job says and never what it concludes.

|| rc=$? was chosen over set +e or a shell: override because it moves exactly
one command off the -e abort path and leaves the rest of the step strict.

This does not make the check green, and must not

The ratchet is red for a real reason. Until now it lived only in ratchet.log inside
the corpus-ratchet-log artifact -- 287,391 bytes, 14-day retention:

--- Ratchet (W628) ---
  ledger:              221 / 221 cap
  observed (primary):  220
  UNEXPECTED FAILURES: 2
    + specs/fpga/power_analysis.t27 [parse-no-discard]
    + specs/fpga/vcd_conformance_compare.t27 [parse-no-discard]
  UNEXPECTED PASSES  : 3
    - specs/fpga/power_analysis.t27 [parse] (fixed -- remove from the ledger)
    - specs/fpga/vcd_conformance_compare.t27 [parse] (fixed -- remove from the ledger)
    - specs/tri/collections/array.t27 [parse] (fixed -- remove from the ledger)
  EXPIRED ENTRIES    : 0
RATCHET: FAIL

e7ef72bfb made two specs parse, which un-blocked the phases behind parse:

FAIL parse-no-discard (specs/fpga/power_analysis.t27): DISCARDED 3 top-level token(s)
FAIL parse-no-discard (specs/fpga/vcd_conformance_compare.t27): DISCARDED 120 top-level token(s)
FAIL no-vacuous-invariant (specs/fpga/power_analysis.t27): 1 invariant(s) declared but not lowered
FAIL no-vacuous-invariant (specs/fpga/vcd_conformance_compare.t27): 9 invariant(s) declared but not lowered

The mechanical route exists and needs no cap raise -- drop the 3 fixed rows, add the
2 new ones, land at 220 under the 221 cap, then lower max_entries. It is not
taken here, because it would bless a spec that declares ten invariants and checks
none of them. Bless-versus-fix is a maintainer's decision, left open on #2314.

corpus-ratchet is not a required context, so this PR can merge while its own
ratchet job is red -- which is the point. Its job on this PR runs the new step
(pull_request workflows execute from the PR head), so this PR's own red ratchet run
is the live demonstration: it will print the verdict above instead of nothing.

Diff

file	change
.github/workflows/corpus-ratchet.yml	+22 / -3 -- the step, plus a comment recording the trap
docs/NOW.md	+110 / -0 -- new top entry, pure prepend

No threshold moved, no assertion deleted, no baseline widened, no skip added.

[github-actions]

📓 NotebookLM Notebook linked to this PR

• Notebook ID: b83263109fb055dc
• URL: https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/b83263109fb055dc

This notebook contains session context, decisions, and artifacts for this work.

[github-actions]

PR Dashboard

Generated at: 2026-08-20 10:09:00 UTC

• ci(ratchet): let the corpus ratchet print its verdict instead of a bare exit code (Closes #2314) #2315 ci(ratchet): let the corpus ratchet print its verdict instead of a bare exit code (Closes #2314) | Created: 2026-08-20 | Updated: 2026-08-20 | 12 failing / 22 total
• feat(tri): ci baseline — which PR gates have never run on the branch they gate (Closes #2309) #2312 feat(tri): ci baseline — which PR gates have never run on the branch they gate (Closes #2309) | Created: 2026-08-20 | Updated: 2026-08-20 | 6 failing / 29 total
• fix(ci): one NOW entry per file, and retire merge=union #2298 fix(ci): one NOW entry per file, and retire merge=union | Created: 2026-08-20 | Updated: 2026-08-20 | 6 failing / 34 total
• ci: eleven merge-critical gates were silent on stacked PRs #2169 ci: eleven merge-critical gates were silent on stacked PRs | Created: 2026-08-14 | Updated: 2026-08-14 | 5 failing / 30 total
• corpus: freeze the damage, patch one class at a time, and say where one rule stops #2161 corpus: freeze the damage, patch one class at a time, and say where one rule stops | Created: 2026-08-14 | Updated: 2026-08-20 | 0 failing / 9 total
• tri triage: five ordered classes, and blocked is tested before actionable (#2156) #2157 tri triage: five ordered classes, and blocked is tested before actionable (#2156) | Created: 2026-08-14 | Updated: 2026-08-14 | 0 failing / 17 total
• parser: nesting decides the separator, never the terminator (#2127) #2151 parser: nesting decides the separator, never the terminator (#2127) | Created: 2026-08-14 | Updated: 2026-08-14 | 2 failing / 26 total
• Unbreak FPGA CI and correct two unbacked hardware claims #2081 Unbreak FPGA CI and correct two unbacked hardware claims | Created: 2026-08-11 | Updated: 2026-08-20 | 5 failing / 27 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 898 — module-scope [615][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1900 feat(igla): Wave Loop 898 — module-scope [615][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 1 failing / 3 total
• chore: civilian mesh positioning — drop drone wording (bpsk.t27) #1874 chore: civilian mesh positioning — drop drone wording (bpsk.t27) | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 2 failing / 25 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 897 — module-scope [613][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1858 feat(igla): Wave Loop 897 — module-scope [613][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 1 failing / 3 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 896 — module-scope [611][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1856 feat(igla): Wave Loop 896 — module-scope [611][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 1 failing / 3 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 895 — module-scope [609][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1854 feat(igla): Wave Loop 895 — module-scope [609][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 1 failing / 3 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 894 — module-scope [607][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1852 feat(igla): Wave Loop 894 — module-scope [607][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 1 failing / 3 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 893 — module-scope [605][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1850 feat(igla): Wave Loop 893 — module-scope [605][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 1 failing / 3 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 892 — module-scope [603][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1847 feat(igla): Wave Loop 892 — module-scope [603][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 1 failing / 3 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 891 — module-scope [601][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1844 feat(igla): Wave Loop 891 — module-scope [601][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 0 failing / 4 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 890 — module-scope [599][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1842 feat(igla): Wave Loop 890 — module-scope [599][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-07 | Updated: 2026-08-07 | 0 failing / 4 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 883 — module-scope [585][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1815 feat(igla): Wave Loop 883 — module-scope [585][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-06 | Updated: 2026-08-06 | 0 failing / 1 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 882 — module-scope [583][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1813 feat(igla): Wave Loop 882 — module-scope [583][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-06 | Updated: 2026-08-06 | 0 failing / 12 total
• feat(igla): Wave Loop 881 — module-scope [581][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes #1810 feat(igla): Wave Loop 881 — module-scope [581][2]^6 Pt non-power-of-two outer-dimension array-of-struct variable from call with indexed signed writes | Created: 2026-08-06 | Updated: 2026-08-06 | 0 failing / 12 total

Summary

Status	Count
Total Open PRs	21
PRs with Failing Checks	6
PRs with All Checks Green	15
READY	7
FAILING	6
PENDING	0

Seal Status

• ⚠️ STALE -- sha256(compiler.rs)=cbbfac87dff3 != manifest seal=87e5cbd3ad94.
  The committed NMSE numbers were certified against an older compiler.rs.
  Run scripts/reseal-check.sh locally for the two-step reseal command (advisory; not a merge gate).