diff --git a/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh b/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh
index 68f345f..d3325c5 100755
--- a/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh
+++ b/actions/refs-not-closing/run.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,26 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # shellcheck source=lib/forge.sh
 . "$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)/../../lib/forge.sh"
 export CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT=gh
-forge_preflight || exit 1
+# The refusal and the SCHEDULING are two different questions, and #198's first
+# head conflated them: preflight refused correctly on this forge and turned
+# every PR's `Refs guard` red, which blocks the board rather than protecting
+# it. A guard that cannot run here must not claim a verdict — but it also must
+# not stand permanently red for a port that has its own issue.
+#
+# So: not-runnable-here is reported and skipped, loudly and by name, and only
+# a preflight failure for any OTHER reason is fatal. The distinction is the
+# forge, not the exit code — on a forge this action CAN speak, a preflight
+# failure is still a hard refusal, which is the case the tests drive.
+preflight_err="$(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
 
 owner="${GITHUB_REPOSITORY%%/*}"
 name="${GITHUB_REPOSITORY#*/}"
diff --git a/changelog.d/198.md b/changelog.d/198.md
index 9aa9974..f4f6acb 100644
--- a/changelog.d/198.md
+++ b/changelog.d/198.md
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@
 - The post-merge nudge links the issue on the forge in play rather than a
   hard-coded `github.com` (#198).
 
+- `actions/refs-not-closing` reports and skips on a forge it cannot speak,
+  naming the client and #199, instead of standing red on every PR. It reaches
+  the forge zero times, so no verdict is produced either way (#198).
+
 - `.github/scripts/release-path.sh` names `lib/forge.sh`: #191 put the shim on
   the release doors' executable path here, so a doors-unchanged record that
   omitted it was measuring the wrong set (#198).
diff --git a/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh b/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
index f1a72f7..c7bedb3 100755
--- a/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
+++ b/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
@@ -118,14 +118,17 @@ check "no runtime gh outside the github backend or a declared-client file" 0 ""
 TMP="$(mktemp -d)"
 trap 'rm -rf "$TMP"' EXIT
 
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # fixture CONTENT: the literal text a scanned file would hold
 printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' 'gh api "repos/$REPO/issues/1"' >"$TMP/bad.sh"
 check "a reintroduced gh api read is seen" 0 "gh api" gh_calls "$TMP/bad.sh"
 
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # fixture CONTENT: the literal text a scanned file would hold
 printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' 'run gh issue comment "$n" --body x' >"$TMP/bad2.sh"
 check "a reintroduced gh issue write is seen, staged or not" 0 "gh issue" \
   gh_calls "$TMP/bad2.sh"
 
 # The exact shape the 0.6.0 merge reintroduced, indented inside a function.
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # fixture CONTENT: the literal text a scanned file would hold
 printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' 'f() {' \
   '  guarded_read bodies gh api --paginate "repos/$REPO/issues/$1/comments"' '}' \
   >"$TMP/bad3.sh"
@@ -136,12 +139,14 @@ printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' '# gh api used to live here (#188)' \
   '# run gh issue comment — retired' >"$TMP/prose.sh"
 check "prose about gh is not a call site" 1 "" gh_calls "$TMP/prose.sh"
 
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # fixture CONTENT: the literal text a scanned file would hold
 printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' 'forge_api "repos/$REPO/issues/1"' \
   'echo "the gh client speaks /api/v3"' >"$TMP/good.sh"
 check "the shim verb is not mistaken for a call site" 1 "" gh_calls "$TMP/good.sh"
 
 # Neighbouring identifiers must not read as the binary: `gh_calls`, `$gh`,
 # a path ending in /gh, and `regh api` are all not an invocation of gh.
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # fixture CONTENT: the literal text a scanned file would hold
 printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' 'gh_calls() { :; }' 'regh api foo' \
   'echo "$gh api"' >"$TMP/lookalike.sh"
 check "lookalike identifiers are not call sites" 1 "" gh_calls "$TMP/lookalike.sh"
diff --git a/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh b/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh
index a6b489d..bf24e73 100755
--- a/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh
+++ b/test/refs-not-closing.test.sh
@@ -100,6 +100,9 @@ mkdir -p "$TMP/bin"
 cat >"$TMP/bin/gh" <<'EOF'
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -u
+# Every call is recorded, so a probe can assert the gather did NOT run — a
+# refusal that still reads is not a refusal (#198).
+[ -z "${GH_CALL_LOG:-}" ] || printf '%s\n' "$*" >>"$GH_CALL_LOG"
 case "${FAKE_GH_MODE:-success}" in
   failure)
     echo "fake GraphQL read failed" >&2
@@ -138,18 +141,31 @@ action_boundary() {
 # Forgejo forge it must refuse by name, never produce a verdict from a graph
 # it did not read. #199 removes the declaration by making the gather REST.
 forgejo_boundary() {
-  env PATH="$TMP/bin:$PATH" FAKE_GH_MODE=success \
+  env PATH="$TMP/bin:$PATH" FAKE_GH_MODE=success GH_CALL_LOG="$TMP/gh-calls" \
     CEREMONY_FORGE=forgejo \
     GITHUB_REPOSITORY="heavy-duty/ceremony" PR_NUMBER=268 \
     GITHUB_ACTION_PATH="$ROOT/actions/refs-not-closing" \
     bash "$ENTRYPOINT"
 }
-check "on a forgejo forge the action refuses instead of verdicting" 1 \
+# The contract on a forge this action cannot speak: say so by name, produce
+# NO verdict, and do not stand red. Red would be honest about the port and
+# dishonest about the PR — it blocks every merge on this forge for a gap #199
+# owns, which is a worse failure than the one it reports (#198).
+check "on a forgejo forge the action names the client mismatch" 0 \
   "cannot speak it" forgejo_boundary
-check "...and the refusal names the client it declared" 1 "'gh' client" \
-  forgejo_boundary
-check "...and names the client the forge actually needs" 1 "'rest' client" \
+check "...naming the client it declared" 0 "'gh' client" forgejo_boundary
+check "...and the client the forge actually needs" 0 "'rest' client" forgejo_boundary
+check "...says explicitly that it produced no verdict" 0 "No verdict was produced" \
   forgejo_boundary
+check "...points at the issue that ports it" 0 "#199" forgejo_boundary
+# The teeth: it must not have READ anything. The stub counts its own calls, so
+# a gather that ran despite the refusal is visible here.
+forgejo_read_count() {
+  : >"$TMP/gh-calls"
+  forgejo_boundary >/dev/null 2>&1
+  wc -l <"$TMP/gh-calls"
+}
+check "...and reached the forge zero times" 0 "0" forgejo_read_count
 
 check "action boundary fails when GraphQL read fails" 42 \
   "fake GraphQL read failed" action_boundary failure