diff --git a/.github/workflows/labels.yml b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
index 31f859e..925ff2f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/labels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
@@ -134,13 +134,25 @@ jobs:
           # below; #205 owns the REST port that removes both.
           CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT: gh
         run: |
-          # Never `command not found`. On a runner without gh the wake is
-          # genuinely lost, and that is worth a warning rather than a failed
-          # job: this trigger is the misconfiguration alarm for a CONSUMER's
-          # missing sweep caller, and reddening every sweep on a forge whose
-          # runner has no gh would drown that signal in a known gap (#205).
+          # Two questions, not one. @codex-reviewer-andresmgsl: a guard that
+          # only asks `command -v gh` passes the moment a Forgejo runner image
+          # happens to ship gh — and then runs a GitHub dispatch against a
+          # forge that cannot serve it, which is the client/forge mismatch
+          # forge_preflight exists to prevent. So the FORGE is decided first,
+          # mirroring forge_detect positively (only github.com is accepted;
+          # anything else, known or not, is refused — "Never 'probably
+          # github'"), and the binary is checked second.
+          #
+          # A warning, not a failure: this trigger is the misconfiguration
+          # alarm for a CONSUMER's missing sweep caller, and reddening every
+          # sweep on a forge for a gap #205 already owns would drown that
+          # signal. #205 ports the dispatch to REST and removes all of this.
+          if [ "${GITHUB_SERVER_URL:-}" != "https://github.com" ]; then
+            echo "::warning::labels: the sweep was NOT woken from this trigger — it dispatches with \`gh\` against GitHub, and this is not a GitHub forge (GITHUB_SERVER_URL=${GITHUB_SERVER_URL:-unset}). #205 ports it to REST. The hourly SCHEDULED sweep still runs; every event-driven wake through this caller — issue events included — is unavailable until then."
+            exit 0
+          fi
           if ! command -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            echo "::warning::labels: the sweep was NOT woken from this trigger — it dispatches with \`gh\`, which this runner does not carry. #205 ports it to REST. Scheduled and issue-event sweeps are unaffected; only this caller's event-driven wake is lost."
+            echo "::warning::labels: the sweep was NOT woken from this trigger — this runner does not carry \`gh\`. #205 ports the dispatch to REST. The hourly SCHEDULED sweep still runs; every event-driven wake through this caller is unavailable until then."
             exit 0
           fi
           gh workflow run "$SWEEP_WORKFLOW" -R "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" -f bootstrap=no
diff --git a/.github/workflows/refs-guard.yml b/.github/workflows/refs-guard.yml
index ef4964e..5b6abbe 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/refs-guard.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/refs-guard.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,18 @@ permissions:
 
 jobs:
   refs-not-closing:
+    # The action is gh-only until #199: its whole gather is a GraphQL query,
+    # and Forgejo serves no GraphQL at all. The ACTION refuses by name on a
+    # backend it cannot speak (that is its contract, and its contract test);
+    # scheduling it where it can only refuse is this workflow's decision, and
+    # a permanently red required check would block every merge on this forge
+    # for a gap #199 already owns. So the job does not run there — a skipped
+    # check is a green head, an invented verdict is not.
+    #
+    # The condition mirrors lib/forge.sh's forge_detect positively: only
+    # github.com is accepted, and anything else — Forgejo, or a host this
+    # file has not met — is not run. "Never 'probably github'."
+    if: ${{ github.server_url == 'https://github.com' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2
diff --git a/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh b/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh
index d3325c5..d0dbbf4 100755
--- a/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh
+++ b/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh
@@ -22,26 +22,14 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # shellcheck source=lib/forge.sh
 . "$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)/../../lib/forge.sh"
 export CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT=gh
-# The refusal and the SCHEDULING are two different questions, and #198's first
-# head conflated them: preflight refused correctly on this forge and turned
-# every PR's `Refs guard` red, which blocks the board rather than protecting
-# it. A guard that cannot run here must not claim a verdict — but it also must
-# not stand permanently red for a port that has its own issue.
-#
-# So: not-runnable-here is reported and skipped, loudly and by name, and only
-# a preflight failure for any OTHER reason is fatal. The distinction is the
-# forge, not the exit code — on a forge this action CAN speak, a preflight
-# failure is still a hard refusal, which is the case the tests drive.
-preflight_err="$(mktemp)"
-trap 'rm -f "$preflight_err"' EXIT
-if ! forge_preflight 2>"$preflight_err"; then
-  cat "$preflight_err" >&2
-  if [ "$(forge_detect 2>/dev/null)" != github ]; then
-    printf '::notice::refs-not-closing: not run — this action is still gh-only (its gather is GraphQL, which this forge does not serve) and #199 ports it. No verdict was produced.\n'
-    exit 0
-  fi
-  exit 1
-fi
+# Fail CLOSED, at the action boundary. An earlier head here exited 0 with a
+# notice so the PR check would not be red; @codex-reviewer-andresmgsl was
+# right that this conflates two different questions. "This action cannot
+# produce a verdict" is the ACTION's contract and must stay a refusal; "this
+# check should not block the board" is the CALLER's decision, and it belongs
+# in .github/workflows/refs-guard.yml, which skips on a backend this action
+# cannot speak until #199 ports it.
+forge_preflight || exit 1
 
 owner="${GITHUB_REPOSITORY%%/*}"
 name="${GITHUB_REPOSITORY#*/}"
diff --git a/changelog.d/198.md b/changelog.d/198.md
index e9f5f22..4fa510f 100644
--- a/changelog.d/198.md
+++ b/changelog.d/198.md
@@ -37,8 +37,13 @@
   the forge zero times, so no verdict is produced either way (#198).
 
 - `.github/workflows/labels.yml`'s sweep dispatch declares the client it
-  speaks and refuses by name on a runner without it, instead of dying with
-  `command not found` on every sweep. #205 ports it to REST (#198).
+  speaks and decides the FORGE before the binary, so a Forgejo runner that
+  happens to ship `gh` cannot dispatch against a forge that cannot serve it.
+  #205 ports it to REST (#198).
+
+- `actions/refs-not-closing` fails closed on a forge it cannot speak, and
+  `.github/workflows/refs-guard.yml` carries the scheduling decision — the
+  action never reports a success it did not earn (#198).
 
 - `issue_payload_valid` refuses an empty payload on jq 1.6 as well as 1.7.
   `jq -e` exits 4 on empty input under 1.7 and **0** under 1.6, and this
diff --git a/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh b/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
index 703efb0..7ef6b59 100755
--- a/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
+++ b/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
@@ -48,19 +48,34 @@ ALLOWED_FILE='lib/forge-github.sh'
 # would ride in free, and it lets a declaration exist without a refusal.
 declares_gh_client() { grep -qE '^[[:space:]]*(export[[:space:]]+)?CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT[=:][[:space:]]*gh[[:space:]]*$' "$1"; }
 
-# Declaring is half of it. #197's bar is "declared AND refuses loudly", so a
-# declaring file must also carry the refusal — forge_preflight for a script,
-# an inline availability check for a workflow that has no shell to call it
-# from. A declaration without one is a permission slip for `command not found`.
-# Comments stripped first, for the same reason gh_calls strips them and with
-# the same lesson learned the hard way: the first version of this predicate
-# was satisfied by the word `forge_preflight` inside labels.yml's own comment
-# EXPLAINING that it has no forge_preflight to call. A guard that reads prose
-# as evidence is the blind sweep again, and it passed its own mutation test
-# because of it.
+# Declaring is half of it. #197's bar is "declared AND refuses loudly", and the
+# refusal has TWO halves that a single check conflates
+# (@codex-reviewer-andresmgsl, #198):
+#
+#   * the FORGE — a gh dispatch is wrong on a forge that cannot serve it, and
+#     asking only "is gh installed?" passes the moment a Forgejo runner image
+#     happens to ship gh, which is the client/forge mismatch forge_preflight
+#     exists to prevent;
+#   * the BINARY — present or not on this runner.
+#
+# forge_preflight answers both, so a script that calls it satisfies both. A
+# workflow has no shell to call it from and must do both inline.
+#
+# Comments are stripped first, for the same reason gh_calls strips them and
+# with the same lesson learned the hard way: the first version of this
+# predicate was satisfied by the word `forge_preflight` inside labels.yml's own
+# comment EXPLAINING that it has no forge_preflight to call. A guard that reads
+# prose as evidence is the blind sweep again, and it passed its own mutation
+# test because of it.
+strip_comments() { sed 's/[[:space:]]#.*$//; s/^[[:space:]]*#.*$//' "$1"; }
+refuses_wrong_forge() {
+  strip_comments "$1" | grep -qE 'forge_preflight|GITHUB_SERVER_URL.*github\.com'
+}
+refuses_missing_binary() {
+  strip_comments "$1" | grep -qE 'forge_preflight|command -v gh'
+}
 refuses_when_unavailable() {
-  sed 's/[[:space:]]#.*$//; s/^[[:space:]]*#.*$//' "$1" \
-    | grep -qE 'forge_preflight|command -v gh'
+  refuses_wrong_forge "$1" && refuses_missing_binary "$1"
 }
 
 # A runtime invocation, not the word. `gh` must be at a command position and
@@ -175,13 +190,28 @@ printf '%s\n' 'jobs:' '  t:' '    steps:' '      - env:' \
   '        run: |' \
   '          command -v gh >/dev/null || { echo "::warning::not woken"; exit 0; }' \
   '          gh workflow run x' >"$TMP/declared-refusing.yml"
-check "...and a declaration WITH one is" 0 "" \
+# Binary presence ALONE is not a refusal: a Forgejo runner that ships gh would
+# sail past it and dispatch against a forge that cannot serve the call.
+check "...and a declaration guarded only by binary presence still is not" 1 "" \
   refuses_when_unavailable "$TMP/declared-refusing.yml"
+check "...though it does satisfy the binary half on its own" 0 "" \
+  refuses_missing_binary "$TMP/declared-refusing.yml"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # fixture CONTENT: the literal text a scanned file would hold
+printf '%s\n' 'jobs:' '  t:' '    steps:' '      - env:' \
+  '          CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT: gh' \
+  '        run: |' \
+  '          [ "$GITHUB_SERVER_URL" = "https://github.com" ] || exit 0' \
+  '          command -v gh >/dev/null || exit 0' \
+  '          gh workflow run x' >"$TMP/declared-both.yml"
+check "...and a declaration guarding BOTH forge and binary is" 0 "" \
+  refuses_when_unavailable "$TMP/declared-both.yml"
 # The shipped workflow is the real customer for that pair.
 check "labels.yml declares the client it speaks" 0 "" \
   declares_gh_client "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
-check "...and refuses by name rather than dying on command not found" 0 "" \
-  refuses_when_unavailable "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
+check "...decides the forge before dispatching" 0 "" \
+  refuses_wrong_forge "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
+check "...and checks the binary too, rather than dying on command not found" 0 "" \
+  refuses_missing_binary "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
 check "...and an undeclared one does not" 1 "" declares_gh_client "$TMP/bad.sh"
 # A mention of the variable in prose is not a declaration.
 printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' '# CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT=gh would opt out' \
diff --git a/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh b/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh
index bf24e73..e57305b 100755
--- a/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh
+++ b/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh
@@ -147,17 +147,16 @@ forgejo_boundary() {
     GITHUB_ACTION_PATH="$ROOT/actions/refs-not-closing" \
     bash "$ENTRYPOINT"
 }
-# The contract on a forge this action cannot speak: say so by name, produce
-# NO verdict, and do not stand red. Red would be honest about the port and
-# dishonest about the PR — it blocks every merge on this forge for a gap #199
-# owns, which is a worse failure than the one it reports (#198).
-check "on a forgejo forge the action names the client mismatch" 0 \
+# The contract on a forge this action cannot speak: refuse, by name, non-zero,
+# and read nothing. FAIL CLOSED — an earlier head made this exit 0 so the PR
+# check would not be red, which conflated the ACTION's contract with the
+# CALLER's scheduling decision (@codex-reviewer-andresmgsl, #198). The caller
+# is .github/workflows/refs-guard.yml, which skips on a backend this action
+# cannot speak; the action itself never reports success it did not earn.
+check "on a forgejo forge the action refuses, non-zero" 1 \
   "cannot speak it" forgejo_boundary
-check "...naming the client it declared" 0 "'gh' client" forgejo_boundary
-check "...and the client the forge actually needs" 0 "'rest' client" forgejo_boundary
-check "...says explicitly that it produced no verdict" 0 "No verdict was produced" \
-  forgejo_boundary
-check "...points at the issue that ports it" 0 "#199" forgejo_boundary
+check "...naming the client it declared" 1 "'gh' client" forgejo_boundary
+check "...and the client the forge actually needs" 1 "'rest' client" forgejo_boundary
 # The teeth: it must not have READ anything. The stub counts its own calls, so
 # a gather that ran despite the refusal is visible here.
 forgejo_read_count() {
@@ -166,6 +165,10 @@ forgejo_read_count() {
   wc -l <"$TMP/gh-calls"
 }
 check "...and reached the forge zero times" 0 "0" forgejo_read_count
+# The caller carries the scheduling half, positively: only github.com runs it.
+check "the caller skips the job on any non-github forge" 0 \
+  "github.server_url == 'https://github.com'" \
+  grep -F "if:" "$ROOT/.github/workflows/refs-guard.yml"
 
 check "action boundary fails when GraphQL read fails" 42 \
   "fake GraphQL read failed" action_boundary failure