diff --git a/test/labels-triggers.test.sh b/test/labels-triggers.test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9367bb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/labels-triggers.test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -u
+
+# The labels TRIGGER SURFACE is a cost lever (#199): a full-board sweep is
+# billed a 1-minute minimum every time a trigger fires, so how OFTEN it fires
+# is what exhausted the fleet's shared Actions allotment. These assertions
+# pin the reductions #199 made and the guard it must not trade away — none of
+# them touch the reconciler's LOGIC, which its own fixtures cover.
+
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
+# shellcheck source=test/harness.sh
+source "$ROOT/test/harness.sh"
+
+REUSABLE="$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
+SELF="$ROOT/.github/workflows/self-labels.yml"
+STUB="$ROOT/docs/CONSUMERS.md" # the published caller stub, a fenced yaml block
+
+# The `cancel-in-progress:` value of a named top-level job, read from the first
+# such line inside that job's block. Job keys sit at two-space indent.
+job_cancel_in_progress() { # $1 = file, $2 = job name
+  awk -v job="^  $2:\$" '
+    $0 ~ job { f = 1; next }
+    f && /^  [a-z]/ { exit }             # next job — stop before leaking into it
+    f && /cancel-in-progress:/ { sub(/.*cancel-in-progress:[[:space:]]*/, ""); print; exit }
+  ' "$1"
+}
+
+# The `types:` list of a trigger key (issues:, pull_request_target:), read from
+# the first `types:` line after the bare key. The key is bare (nothing after
+# the colon) so it never collides with `issues: write` in the permissions block.
+trigger_types() { # $1 = file, $2 = trigger key
+  awk -v key="^  $2:\$" '
+    $0 ~ key { f = 1; next }
+    f && /^    types:/ { sub(/^    types:[[:space:]]*/, ""); print; exit }
+    f && /^  [a-z]/ { exit }
+  ' "$1"
+}
+
+# ---- the guard the cost fix must never trade away (#199 test plan must-fail) --
+# cancel-in-progress: true on reconcile kills a sweep mid-board, the exact race
+# the shared concurrency group exists to prevent. It WOULD cut run count — by
+# trading correctness for minutes — so it stays false, forever.
+check "reconcile serializes, never cancels mid-board" 0 "false" \
+  job_cancel_in_progress "$REUSABLE" reconcile
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # the awk program runs in the nested bash, not here
+check "reconcile is never cancel-in-progress: true" 1 "" \
+  bash -c 'job_cancel_in_progress() {
+    awk -v job="^  reconcile:\$" "\$0 ~ job{f=1;next} f&&/^  [a-z]/{exit} f&&/cancel-in-progress:/{sub(/.*cancel-in-progress:[[:space:]]*/,\"\");print;exit}" "$1"
+  }; [ "$(job_cancel_in_progress "$1")" = true ]' _ "$REUSABLE"
+# scope MAY cancel — it is per-PR and additive, so a superseded run is waste,
+# not a lost sweep. This asserts the must-fail above is scoped to reconcile.
+check "scope stays cancel-in-progress: true (per-PR, additive)" 0 "true" \
+  job_cancel_in_progress "$REUSABLE" scope
+
+# ---- the cron is a backstop, relaxed to hourly (#199 candidate 1) -----------
+# Scope the */15 assertion to the cron LINE — the prose comments cite */15 by
+# name to explain the change, and must not re-red their own documentation.
+check "self caller cron is hourly" 0 '0 * * * *' grep -F 'cron:' "$SELF"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # $1 expands in the nested bash, not here
+check "self caller cron line no longer fires */15" 1 "" \
+  bash -c 'grep -F "cron:" "$1" | grep -qF "*/15"' _ "$SELF"
+check "stub cron is hourly" 0 '0 * * * *' grep -F 'cron:' "$STUB"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # $1 expands in the nested bash, not here
+check "stub cron line no longer fires */15" 1 "" \
+  bash -c 'grep -F "cron:" "$1" | grep -qF "*/15"' _ "$STUB"
+
+# ---- issues: is narrowed to the two promptness-critical actions (#199) -------
+# opened → mint→needs-triage; closed → blocker-closes→ready self-heal. The
+# churn actions must not reappear on the issues surface without a fresh why.
+# (labels.test.sh owns the exact-list and caller<->stub parity assertions; here
+# we name each dropped action so its return produces a #199-specific failure.)
+for churn in labeled unlabeled assigned unassigned edited reopened; do
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2016 # the awk program runs in the nested bash, not here
+  check "self caller issues surface drops '$churn'" 1 "" \
+    bash -c 'trigger_types() {
+      awk -v key="^  issues:\$" "\$0 ~ key{f=1;next} f&&/^    types:/{sub(/^    types:[[:space:]]*/,\"\");print;exit} f&&/^  [a-z]/{exit}" "$1"
+    }; trigger_types "$1" | grep -qw "$2"' _ "$SELF" "$churn"
+done
+
+# ---- the PR handoff wake is NOT collateral of the issues narrowing ----------
+# The handoff (state:needs-human, confirmed by the caller's labeled event) rides
+# pull_request_target, not issues. A future edit that strips it there re-reds.
+check "pull_request_target keeps the labeled handoff wake" 0 "labeled" \
+  trigger_types "$SELF" pull_request_target
+
+summary
diff --git a/test/labels.test.sh b/test/labels.test.sh
index 79f53fa..9abd180 100755
--- a/test/labels.test.sh
+++ b/test/labels.test.sh
@@ -69,15 +69,15 @@ check "LABELS.md enumerates no repo's scope labels" 1 "0" \
 # same lists. review_requested/review_request_removed are the wake that
 # clears blocker:unrequested — the label sat false for as long as a quiet
 # repo stayed quiet because the one event that falsifies it was never
-# listed (#137). edited/reopened are the wakes for the two events that
-# falsify issue labels silently — an edited body rewrites the `Blocked by
-# #N` declaration the reconcile sweep parses, and a reopened issue
-# re-enters the queue wearing labels derived at close; PR #32 widened the
-# caller by both and the stub never followed (#144). The stub is prose, so
-# nothing but these rows keeps the lists from drifting: a type in one file
-# only is a wake that fires at home and nowhere in the fleet, or the
-# reverse. The NF guard keeps `issues: write` under permissions: from
-# matching the issues: trigger key.
+# listed (#137). The issues list narrowed to [opened, closed] (#199): those
+# two carry reconcile behavior the hourly cron cannot wait one cadence for —
+# opened drives mint→needs-triage, closed drives the blocker-closes→ready
+# self-heal — while the churn actions (labeled/unlabeled/assigned/unassigned/
+# edited/reopened) came off. The stub is prose, so nothing but these rows
+# keeps the lists from drifting: a type in one file only is a wake that fires
+# at home and nowhere in the fleet, or the reverse — the drift #144 caught.
+# The NF guard keeps `issues: write` under permissions: from matching the
+# issues: trigger key.
 event_types() { # $1 = file, $2 = trigger key → that trigger's types line, unindented
   awk -v key="$2:" '$1 == key && NF == 1 {f=1; next} f && /types: /{sub(/^ */,""); print; exit}' "$1"
 }
@@ -88,17 +88,20 @@ types_in_sync() { # $1 = trigger key, $2 = caller, $3 = stub → 0 when both lis
 }
 CALLER="$ROOT/.github/workflows/self-labels.yml"
 STUB="$ROOT/docs/CONSUMERS.md"
+# event_types anchors on the bare trigger key (NF == 1), so it reads the real
+# types line even though the #199 comments name pull_request_target: and
+# issues: in prose above the keys — an inline /pull_request_target:/ scan would
+# latch onto the first mention and read the wrong list.
+pr_has_both_review_wakes() {
+  event_types "$CALLER" pull_request_target | grep -F review_requested | grep -qF review_request_removed
+}
 check "caller and stub pull_request_target lists are identical" 0 "" \
   types_in_sync pull_request_target "$CALLER" "$STUB"
-# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # expansion belongs to the nested bash
-check "the caller lists both review-request wakes" 0 "" bash -c \
-  'awk "/pull_request_target:/{f=1; next} f && /types: /{print; exit}" "$1" |
-     grep -F review_requested | grep -qF review_request_removed' _ "$CALLER"
+check "the caller lists both review-request wakes" 0 "" pr_has_both_review_wakes
 check "caller and stub issues lists are identical" 0 "" \
   types_in_sync issues "$CALLER" "$STUB"
-check "the caller still lists all eight issue types" 0 \
-  "types: [opened, edited, assigned, unassigned, labeled, unlabeled, closed, reopened]" \
-  event_types "$CALLER" issues
+check "the caller lists exactly the two promptness-critical issue types" 0 \
+  "types: [opened, closed]" event_types "$CALLER" issues
 # the failing cases: drop a type from either file, or reorder one list only,
 # and the identity rows above go red — exercised here on mutated copies
 mut_caller="$TMP/mut-caller.yml" mut_stub="$TMP/mut-stub.md"
@@ -112,13 +115,13 @@ sed 's/review_requested, review_request_removed/review_request_removed, review_r
   "$STUB" >"$mut_stub"
 check "a reorder in one list only goes red" 1 "" \
   types_in_sync pull_request_target "$CALLER" "$mut_stub"
-sed 's/, edited//' "$CALLER" >"$mut_caller"
+sed 's/, closed//' "$CALLER" >"$mut_caller"
 check "an issue type dropped from the caller goes red" 1 "" \
   types_in_sync issues "$mut_caller" "$STUB"
-sed 's/, edited//' "$STUB" >"$mut_stub"
+sed 's/, closed//' "$STUB" >"$mut_stub"
 check "an issue type dropped from the stub goes red" 1 "" \
   types_in_sync issues "$CALLER" "$mut_stub"
-sed 's/closed, reopened/reopened, closed/' "$STUB" >"$mut_stub"
+sed 's/opened, closed/closed, opened/' "$STUB" >"$mut_stub"
 check "an issue-list reorder in one file only goes red" 1 "" \
   types_in_sync issues "$CALLER" "$mut_stub"