labels: name what the hourly cron uniquely covers (#199 round)

The trigger comments, CONSUMERS stub, changelog, and reusable labels.yml
comment said "events carry every real state change in seconds; the cron
only backstops a forgotten handoff." That is backwards: no subscribed
event wakes this sweep for a review verdict landing (no pull_request_review
trigger), blocker:ci-red set/cleared, blocker:conflict when another PR
merges, or the time-based stale/48h-reclaim. The hourly cron is the sole
discovery path for those four classes, not a forgotten-handoff net —
so the comments now name them and warn against deleting the cron (AC5).

codex-2 / kimi-2 (both blocking, round 2 @0a812c4b).

.github/workflows/labels.yml

@@ -10,12 +10,14 @@ name: labels
 # and reconcile checks out the BASE branch only. Keep it that way.
 #
 # There is no pull_request_review_target, so a review landing cannot wake this
-# workflow directly — and the caller's cron is a backstop, not the wake (#199
-# relaxed it from */15 to hourly): GitHub deprioritises short intervals anyway,
-# so a quiet repo goes a while between ticks. The handoff wakes the sweep
-# itself: the author sets state:needs-human, and the caller's `labeled` event
-# confirms or corrects that optimistic write within seconds. The cron stays as
-# the last resort for a forgotten handoff.
+# workflow directly — which is why the caller's cron is load-bearing, not a
+# safety net (#199 relaxed it from */15 to hourly, but did NOT drop it). The
+# cron is the sweep's only discovery path for every transition no subscribed
+# event carries: a verdict landing, blocker:ci-red set/cleared, a
+# blocker:conflict when another PR merges under this one, and the time-based
+# stale / 48h claim-reclaim. Where an event IS subscribed the wake is direct —
+# the handoff sets state:needs-human and the caller's `labeled` event confirms
+# or corrects that optimistic write within seconds.
 #
 # This cannot loop: reconciler writes use GITHUB_TOKEN, and GitHub does not
 # create workflow runs from GITHUB_TOKEN-triggered events. Agent writes use a

.github/workflows/self-labels.yml

@@ -5,11 +5,15 @@ name: labels
 # unpinned — correct only for the repo that IS the source). Consumers write:
 #   uses: heavy-duty/ceremony/.github/workflows/labels.yml@<pinned-tag>
 on:
-  # Hourly, not */15 (#199): the cron is a BACKSTOP, not the wake. Events below
-  # carry every real state change in seconds; the cron only catches a FORGOTTEN
-  # handoff, so a quiet repo loses at most the forgotten case, and only by ≤1h —
-  # while */15 fired a full-board sweep four times an hour at GitHub's 1-minute
-  # billing floor, 52% of one private consumer's runs for near-zero real work.
+  # Hourly, not */15 (#199): the cron is the sweep's ONLY wake for the four
+  # transition classes no subscribed event carries — a review verdict landing
+  # (there is no pull_request_review trigger here), blocker:ci-red set or cleared
+  # (no check_suite/check_run/workflow_run), a blocker:conflict when ANOTHER PR
+  # merges under this one, and the time-based stale / 48h claim-reclaim. The
+  # events below carry the rest in seconds. So hourly trades ≤1h of latency on
+  # those four for dropping */15's four full-board sweeps an hour at GitHub's
+  # 1-minute billing floor — 52% of one private consumer's runs. Do NOT delete
+  # this cron — it is the discovery path for those four, not a forgotten-handoff net.
   schedule: [{cron: "0 * * * *"}]
   workflow_dispatch:                 # bootstraps missing labels on a fresh repo
   # Narrowed (#199) to the actions that carry a queue-state change the hourly

changelog.d/199.md

@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 ### Changed
 
-- `labels` — the advisory reconcile cron relaxes from `*/15` to hourly (#199).
-  Events still carry every state change in seconds; the cron only backstops a
-  forgotten handoff, so a full-board sweep is billed far less often without
-  delaying any real transition past one cadence.
+- `labels` — the reconcile cron relaxes from `*/15` to hourly (#199), cutting a
+  private consumer's schedule-triggered full-board sweeps ~4× at GitHub's
+  1-minute billing floor.
+- `labels` — the hourly cron is the sweep's only wake for transitions no
+  subscribed event carries — a verdict landing, blocker:ci-red, a
+  blocker:conflict when another PR merges, the time-based stale/reclaim — so it
+  bounds their latency to ≤1h, delaying no event-carried transition (#199).
 - `labels` — the caller's `issues:` trigger narrows to
   `[opened, closed, edited, reopened]` (#199), the actions that carry a
   queue-state change the cron cannot wait a cadence for. The churn/validation

docs/CONSUMERS.md

@@ -296,10 +296,13 @@ The complete caller is:
 ```yaml
 name: labels
 on:
-  # Hourly, not */15 (#199): the cron is a BACKSTOP. Events below carry every
-  # real state change in seconds; the cron only catches a forgotten handoff, so
-  # a quiet repo loses at most that case, and by ≤1h. */15 billed a full-board
-  # sweep four times an hour at GitHub's 1-minute floor for near-zero work.
+  # Hourly, not */15 (#199): the cron is the sweep's only wake for the
+  # transitions no subscribed event carries — a review verdict landing (no
+  # pull_request_review trigger), blocker:ci-red set/cleared, a blocker:conflict
+  # when another PR merges under this one, and the time-based stale / 48h
+  # claim-reclaim. Events below carry the rest in seconds. Hourly trades ≤1h of
+  # latency on those four for dropping */15's four sweeps an hour at GitHub's
+  # 1-minute floor. Keep the cron — it is the discovery path, not a safety net.
   schedule: [{cron: "0 * * * *"}]
   workflow_dispatch:                 # bootstraps missing labels on a fresh repo
   pull_request_target: