fix(forgejo-runner): 'active' is not proof the runner is fetching

status reports `systemctl is-active` as the service line, and that is the
strongest health signal it has — the command reads only on-disk config, by
contract. But a poller can go quiet while the process stays up: measured
2026-07-30 while probing for #129, a daemon logged "[poller] launched" and
never fetched a job dispatched four minutes later, while a daemon started
fresh claimed that same queued task in one second. Both times it read as a
label-mapping bug on the forge, which is the wrong place to look.

Says so where an operator already looks when nothing is obviously wrong, and
names the remedy. log, not warn: an idle-but-healthy runner is silent in
exactly the same way a stalled one is, so there is no signal separating them
and a warning on every run would be crying wolf.

No network call and no token read — the header contract, and test/cli.sh's
existing guard, both stand.

Refs #133

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

changelog.d/133.md

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+### Fixed
+
+- `rig forgejo-runner status` no longer lets a service's `(active)` stand as proof the runner is fetching jobs (#133)

commands/forgejo-runner-status.sh

@@ -80,6 +80,23 @@ log "name:     ${RUNNER_NAME:-unknown}"
 log "labels:   ${LABELS}"
 log "dir:      ${RUNNER_DIR}"
 log "service:  ${SERVICE}"
+# `active` is the strongest health signal this command has, and it proves only
+# that a process exists — not that the runner is still asking Forgejo for work.
+# A poller can go quiet while the daemon stays up: measured 2026-07-30 (#129,
+# #133), a daemon logged "[poller] launched" and never fetched a job dispatched
+# four minutes later, while a daemon started fresh claimed that same queued
+# task in one second. Both times it read as a label-mapping bug on the forge.
+#
+# log, not warn: nothing has been DETECTED here. An idle runner with no queued
+# jobs is silent in exactly the same way a stalled one is, so there is no
+# signal separating them — a warning on every status run would be crying wolf,
+# and warn in this file means a drift actually measured (the .runner mode
+# below). Saying what the signal does not cover is the honest middle.
+if [ "${STATE:-}" = active ]; then
+  log "          note: 'active' is not proof the runner is fetching jobs — only that the process is up."
+  log "          If a job stays queued and its run page says it never started, run"
+  log "          'systemctl restart forgejo-runner' and re-read before suspecting the labels."
+fi
 
 # status is the only command an operator runs when nothing is obviously wrong,
 # which makes it the right place to notice a mode that drifted. It reports and

test/cli.sh

@@ -3407,6 +3407,26 @@ check "forgejo-runner: install converges the mode on EVERY run, not only at regi
   fr_secure_every_run
 check "forgejo-runner: status warns on a drifted mode" 0 "FORGEJO_RUNNER_FILE_MODE" \
   grep -o "FORGEJO_RUNNER_FILE_MODE" "$ROOT/commands/forgejo-runner-status.sh"
+# #133: `active` is the strongest signal this command has, and it proves only
+# that a process exists. A poller can go quiet while the process stays up —
+# measured for #129: a daemon logged "[poller] launched" and never fetched a
+# job dispatched four minutes later, while a fresh daemon claimed the same
+# queued task in one second. status is where an operator looks when nothing
+# is obviously wrong, so it says so there.
+FJS="$ROOT/commands/forgejo-runner-status.sh"
+check "forgejo-runner: status says 'active' is not proof the runner is fetching" 0 "not proof" \
+  grep -o "not proof" "$FJS"
+check "forgejo-runner: …and names the remedy, so the line is actionable" 0 "restart" \
+  grep -oi "systemctl restart forgejo-runner" "$FJS"
+# It must NOT be a warning: nothing has been detected. An idle-but-healthy
+# runner logs nothing either, so there is no signal that separates it from a
+# stalled one — a WARNING on every status run would be crying wolf, and this
+# file reserves warn for drift it has actually measured (the .runner mode).
+check "forgejo-runner: the liveness note is informational, never a WARNING" 1 "" \
+  grep -nE 'warn ".*not proof' "$FJS"
+# The header contract at :25 — no token, no network call — survives this.
+check "forgejo-runner: status still makes no network call" 1 "" \
+  grep -nE '^[^#]*(curl|wget) ' "$FJS"
 rm -rf "$FRW"
 
 # --- the checksum gate, DRIVEN not grepped (review !110) --------------------