diff --git a/actions/labels-reconcile/labels-reconcile.sh b/actions/labels-reconcile/labels-reconcile.sh
index cd573f6..003c92c 100755
--- a/actions/labels-reconcile/labels-reconcile.sh
+++ b/actions/labels-reconcile/labels-reconcile.sh
@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@ LABELS=""
 # retirement heals the board instead of stranding a label nothing recomputes.
 RETIRED=(state:needs-rebase)
 STALE_AFTER=$((48 * 3600))
+# How long the facts behind blocker:unrequested must have stood still before it
+# is written (#236 D2). The operator's "more than 5 minutes", measured off the
+# inputs' own timestamps rather than off sweep memory — this script is
+# stateless per pass and stays that way. Overridable the way this file's other
+# constants are, for a caller whose round cadence is slower or faster.
+RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE="${RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE:-300}"
 # The workflow whose runs checks_state must never grade — its own (#208).
 # GITHUB_WORKFLOW is ambient in every Actions step and names the CALLER (the
 # consumer's PR-facing workflow, since consumers name the caller), so this
@@ -277,6 +283,8 @@ set_required_bots() { # the PR author is recused by construction
 #   MERGEABLE    MERGEABLE | CONFLICTING | UNKNOWN  (GitHub's own verdict)
 #   CHECKS       SUCCESS | FAILURE | PENDING | NONE (the check rollup)
 #   LABELS       newline-separated labels currently on the PR
+#   HEAD_COMMIT_AT  the head commit's own date, ISO-8601; empty when unread
+#   NOW          this sweep's epoch seconds (main sets it once per run)
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 requested() { grep -qxF "$1" <<<"$REQUESTED"; }
@@ -429,6 +437,44 @@ bot_verdict() { # $1 = login → MISSING | BLOCK | APPROVE | STALE | FEEDBACK
   esac
 }
 
+iso_epoch() { # $1 = ISO-8601 timestamp → epoch seconds; nothing, rc 1, when unreadable
+  # An absent field reaches this as the empty string or as jq's literal "null";
+  # both are "we did not read a time", and neither may be graded as one.
+  local at="${1-}" epoch
+  case "$at" in "" | null) return 1 ;; esac
+  epoch="$(date -d "$at" +%s 2>/dev/null)" || return 1
+  [ -n "$epoch" ] || return 1
+  printf '%s\n' "$epoch"
+}
+
+unrequested_quiescent() { # 0 when the unrequested facts have stood for the grace (#236 D2)
+  # The stall blocker's supporting facts are the head and the round's newest
+  # submitted review: the ask it demands is owed only once both have stopped
+  # moving. Measured off those timestamps, not off sweep memory — ceremony#235
+  # was flagged inside the ~90 seconds between a round-answer push and the
+  # author's re-request, because a sweep read the facts before the request
+  # landed and wrote after it. That is a round in motion, not a dropped ball.
+  #
+  # "Newest submitted review" is any submitted review, COMMENTED included: a
+  # non-verdict is still evidence the round is live, and counting it can only
+  # delay a flag, never invent one.
+  #
+  # A timestamp we could not read refuses the blocker (the standing rule: an
+  # unreadable fact never invents a verdict). This direction is deliberate and
+  # asymmetric — a missed flag costs one sweep of the 15-minute cadence, a
+  # false one flags a builder for doing exactly what BUILDER.md requires.
+  local newest verdict_at verdict_epoch
+  newest="$(iso_epoch "${HEAD_COMMIT_AT:-}")" || return 1
+  verdict_at="$(jq -r '[.[].submitted_at] | max // empty' <<<"${REVIEWS_JSON:-[]}")"
+  if [ -n "$verdict_at" ]; then
+    # A round WITH verdicts whose newest one cannot be dated is unreadable, not
+    # quiescent; a round with no verdicts at all is simply the head's clock.
+    verdict_epoch="$(iso_epoch "$verdict_at")" || return 1
+    [ "$verdict_epoch" -gt "$newest" ] && newest="$verdict_epoch"
+  fi
+  [ $((${NOW:-0} - newest)) -ge "$RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE" ]
+}
+
 human_request_needed() { # 0 when needs-human requires a FRESH human request
   # already requested → the handoff is live; head-current human approval →
   # nothing left to ask. Anything else (never reviewed, an old comment, an
@@ -464,7 +510,27 @@ blockers() { # → the blocker:* labels this PR should carry, one per line
   # A draft is exempt (the bots ignore drafts by design), and so is an
   # explicit human request — a maintainer claiming a PR early is deliberate,
   # not a dropped ball.
-  if [ "$DRAFT" != true ] && ! requested "$HUMAN"; then
+  #
+  # And so is a head whose checks have not answered yet (#236 D1). This is the
+  # one blocker that names an act the author must PERFORM, so it is the one
+  # that has to know when performing it is permitted: BUILDER.md's review round
+  # requires a green check at the head before requesting, so a builder waiting
+  # out a pending run is complying, and flagging compliance teaches its readers
+  # to ignore the label. Both 2026-08-03 instances were exactly that —
+  # crew#318 at ~12:44Z carried state:addressing + blocker:unrequested while
+  # the head's run was IN_PROGRESS, and ceremony#235 at 12:30Z caught the
+  # ~90-second gap between a round-answer push and the re-request.
+  #
+  # PENDING and FAILURE each already have an owner, which is why gating loses
+  # no coverage: on PENDING the next move is CI's and state:addressing /
+  # state:bots-reviewing already say what the PR is doing; on FAILURE
+  # blocker:ci-red owns that head, and stacking a second blocker on it
+  # double-flags one stall. NONE joins SUCCESS because no checks configured is
+  # nothing to wait for — the same reading the request rule gives the builder.
+  # UNREADABLE never arrives here: the caller skips the PR before deciding.
+  local checks_permit_the_ask=false
+  case "${CHECKS:-NONE}" in SUCCESS | NONE) checks_permit_the_ask=true ;; esac
+  if [ "$DRAFT" != true ] && [ "$checks_permit_the_ask" = true ] && ! requested "$HUMAN"; then
     local b v owed=false any_requested=false
     for b in "${REQUIRED_BOTS[@]}"; do
       requested "$b" && any_requested=true
@@ -475,7 +541,10 @@ blockers() { # → the blocker:* labels this PR should carry, one per line
       v="$(bot_verdict "$b")"
       case "$v" in MISSING | STALE) owed=true ;; esac
     done
-    if [ "$owed" = true ] && [ "$any_requested" = false ]; then
+    # The quiescence grace (#236 D2) is the last question, after the debt is
+    # established: it asks whether the debt has stood long enough to be a
+    # dropped ball rather than a round still in motion.
+    if [ "$owed" = true ] && [ "$any_requested" = false ] && unrequested_quiescent; then
       echo blocker:unrequested
     fi
   fi
@@ -933,6 +1002,29 @@ main() {
         log "#$n: read failed: $(read_failure_reason "$GH_VIEW_ERR")"
         exit 0
       fi
+      # The head's own clock, for the blocker:unrequested grace (#236 D2). One
+      # read, pinned to the head SHA — not `gh pr view --json commits`, which
+      # asks for the FIRST hundred commits and would date a longer PR by a
+      # commit that is not its head. Last of the fetches on purpose: a PR the
+      # skip above walked away from must not pay for it, and neither do drafts,
+      # which never reach that blocker. Empty (a failed read, or a body without
+      # the field) leaves the blocker unjudged, by unrequested_quiescent.
+      HEAD_COMMIT_AT=""
+      if [ "$DRAFT" != true ]; then
+        HEAD_COMMIT_ERR_FILE="$(mktemp)"
+        HEAD_COMMIT_AT="$(gh api "repos/$REPO/commits/$HEAD_SHA" \
+          --jq '.commit.committer.date' 2>"$HEAD_COMMIT_ERR_FILE" || echo "")"
+        HEAD_COMMIT_ERR="$(cat "$HEAD_COMMIT_ERR_FILE")"
+        rm -f "$HEAD_COMMIT_ERR_FILE"
+        case "$HEAD_COMMIT_AT" in
+          "" | null)
+            # Say why it degraded (#101 D2/D4), on its own line: this one
+            # narrows a blocker rather than skipping the PR, so it must not
+            # read as the wholly-blind shape the counted line above matches.
+            HEAD_COMMIT_AT=""
+            log "#$n: could not read the head commit's date: $(read_failure_reason "$HEAD_COMMIT_ERR") — blocker:unrequested not judged this pass" ;;
+        esac
+      fi
       reconcile_pr "$n"
       ) 2>&1
     )" || status=$?
diff --git a/changelog.d/236.md b/changelog.d/236.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d76876
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/236.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+### Fixed
+
+- `blocker:unrequested` no longer fires while a head's checks are pending or
+  red: the review round forbids requesting there, so the one blocker that
+  demanded an act flagged builders for complying. Pending is CI's move, red is
+  `blocker:ci-red`'s (#236).
+- `blocker:unrequested` now waits for the round to settle — the head and the
+  newest verdict must have stood for `RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE` (default
+  300s) — so a sweep landing between a push and its re-request no longer flags
+  a round in motion (#236).
diff --git a/test/labels-reconcile.test.sh b/test/labels-reconcile.test.sh
index f1b0aa6..c9ce210 100755
--- a/test/labels-reconcile.test.sh
+++ b/test/labels-reconcile.test.sh
@@ -38,6 +38,22 @@ rev() { # $1=login $2=state $3=commit $4=body $5=submitted_at → one review obj
 
 reviews() { jq -s '.' <<<"$*"; } # collect review objects into an array
 
+# The blocker:unrequested quiescence inputs (#236 D2). Every fixture below
+# inherits a readable, settled world — a head commit an hour before this
+# sweep's clock — so the cases written before #236 assert exactly what they
+# always asserted. The #236 block sets both per case.
+#
+# One consequence a new fixture has to know: a case that means to raise
+# blocker:unrequested needs a REAL submitted_at on its reviews, because the
+# grace dates the round's newest review. The symbolic stamps this file uses
+# elsewhere (`t1`, `t2`, …) are not unreadable — GNU date reads `t1` as 01:00
+# in military timezone T, i.e. a time on WHATEVER day the suite runs — which is
+# worse: the verdict would flip with the calendar, the hazard the LC_ALL pin at
+# the top of this file guards on the other axis. Hence a fixed NOW here and
+# real timestamps on the three stall fixtures below.
+NOW="$(date -d 2026-08-03T12:00:00Z +%s)"
+HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:00:00Z
+
 # -- a sweep-wide read failure is visible without changing any PR ------------
 warning="$(blind_sweep_warning 3 3 "HTTP 403: Resource not accessible by integration")"
 expect "a wholly blind sweep warns, leading with the observed reason" \
@@ -131,8 +147,8 @@ expect "requested bots mean bots-reviewing" state:bots-reviewing "$(decide_state
 #    With a live request that is the bots' ball; with NO request outstanding it
 #    is the agent's, because nothing is coming until somebody asks.
 REQUESTED="$BOT3" REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
-  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" t1)" \
-  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" t2)")"
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" 2026-08-03T10:00:00Z)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED head1 "" 2026-08-03T10:01:00Z)")"
 expect "a missing bot WITH a live request is bots-reviewing" state:bots-reviewing "$(decide_state)"
 REQUESTED=""
 expect "...but with nobody asked it is the agent's ball" state:addressing "$(decide_state)"
@@ -283,15 +299,15 @@ expect "...and raises no blocker" "" "$(blockers)"
 MERGEABLE=MERGEABLE CHECKS=SUCCESS REQUESTED="" REVIEWS_JSON='[]'
 expect "ready, nobody asked, nothing reviewed raises unrequested" blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
 # ...the partial case is equally stalled: one verdict in, nobody asked for the rest
-REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" t1)")"
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED head1 "" 2026-08-03T10:00:00Z)")"
 expect "one bot in, none requested is still unrequested" blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
 # ...a STALE round with nobody asked is the same debt, and arguably worse: the
 #    page carries approvals that no longer describe the tree. Guarding on
 #    MISSING alone let this one through with no blocker at all.
 REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews \
-  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED oldhead "" t1)" \
-  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED oldhead "" t2)" \
-  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED oldhead "" t3)")"
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED oldhead "" 2026-08-03T10:00:00Z)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED oldhead "" 2026-08-03T10:01:00Z)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED oldhead "" 2026-08-03T10:02:00Z)")"
 expect "a stale round with nobody asked is unrequested too" blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
 expect "...and is still the agent's ball" state:addressing "$(decide_state)"
 # ...but a live request means an answer IS coming
@@ -824,6 +840,77 @@ expect "each blind PR logs its reason as its own line beside the counted one" 2
 expect "exactly the blind PRs match the counted shape whole-line — no more, no less" 2 \
   "$(grep -c '^labels: #[0-9]*: could not read mergeability/checks — left alone this pass$' <<<"$blind_main")"
 
+# -- the grace's own wiring: the fixtures above prove the predicate, and only a
+#    sweep can prove the fetch that feeds it (#236 D2). The fixture-only version
+#    of this change would have passed with the global never assigned — the #91
+#    shape, where the probes could not reach the per-PR path at all.
+unrequested_main_probe() { # $1 = read | denied, the head-commit read's outcome
+  (
+    GITHUB_EVENT_NAME=schedule
+    REPO=owner/repo
+    LABELS_CONF=.github/labels.conf
+    UMODE="$1"
+    gh() {
+      if [ "$1" = label ] && [ "$2" = list ]; then core_label_rows | cut -d'|' -f1; return 0; fi
+      if [ "$1" = pr ] && [ "$2" = list ]; then printf '303\n'; return 0; fi
+      if [ "$1" = pr ] && [ "$2" = view ]; then
+        # green, so the D1 gate is open and D2 is the only question left
+        jq -n '{mergeable:"MERGEABLE",
+                statusCheckRollup:[{__typename:"CheckRun",workflowName:"ci",
+                                    name:"check",conclusion:"SUCCESS",
+                                    startedAt:"2026-07-01T00:00:00Z"}]}'
+        return 0
+      fi
+      # recorded to a file, not to stdout: reconcile_pr sends the edit call's
+      # stdout to /dev/null, so a narrating stub would look like no edit at all
+      if [ "$1" = issue ] && [ "$2" = edit ]; then printf '%s\n' "$*" >>"$RTMP/uedits-$UMODE"; return 0; fi
+      [ "$1" = api ] || return 0
+      shift
+      local jqexpr="" endpoint=""
+      while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+        case "$1" in
+          --jq) jqexpr="$2"; shift ;;
+          -*) ;;
+          *) [ -n "$endpoint" ] || endpoint="$1" ;;
+        esac
+        shift
+      done
+      case "$endpoint" in
+        */commits/*) # the head-commit read; ordered before the commit LIST below
+          if [ "$UMODE" = denied ]; then
+            printf 'gh: Not Found (HTTP 404)\n' >&2
+            return 1
+          fi
+          jq -n '{commit:{committer:{date:"2026-07-01T00:00:00Z"}}}' | jq -r "${jqexpr:-.}" ;;
+        */pulls/303)
+          jq -n '{draft:false,user:{login:"author"},head:{sha:"headsha"},
+                  base:{sha:"basesha"},labels:[],requested_reviewers:[],
+                  created_at:"2026-07-01T00:00:00Z"}' ;;
+        *) printf '[]\n' | jq -r "${jqexpr:-.}" ;; # every collection empty
+      esac
+    }
+    main
+  )
+}
+
+read_sweep="$(unrequested_main_probe read)"
+expect "the sweep reads the head's date and writes the stall it now dates" yes \
+  "$(grep -q 'blocker:unrequested' "$RTMP/uedits-read" && echo yes || echo no)"
+expect "...saying nothing about a degraded read" no \
+  "$(grep -q "could not read the head commit's date" <<<"$read_sweep" && echo yes || echo no)"
+denied_sweep="$(unrequested_main_probe denied)"
+expect "a denied head-commit read names the denial (#101's shape)" yes \
+  "$(grep -q "^labels: #303: could not read the head commit's date: gh: Not Found (HTTP 404)" <<<"$denied_sweep" \
+    && echo yes || echo no)"
+expect "...and writes no blocker it could not date" no \
+  "$(grep -q 'blocker:unrequested' "$RTMP/uedits-denied" && echo yes || echo no)"
+# ...while the PR is still converged: this read narrows one blocker, it does not
+# skip the PR the way an unreadable rollup does
+expect "...while the state still converges — one blocker unjudged, not a skip" yes \
+  "$(grep -q 'state:addressing' "$RTMP/uedits-denied" && echo yes || echo no)"
+expect "...and the sweep does not report it as a blind pass" 0 \
+  "$(grep -c 'could not read mergeability/checks' <<<"$denied_sweep" || true)"
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # bootstrap_labels retires the GitHub defaults (#93). LABELS.md published
 # them as deleted at bootstrap; nothing deleted them — incubator's first
@@ -1057,6 +1144,128 @@ REQUESTED="" REVIEWS_JSON='[]'
 expect "a draft with no round history still reads building" \
   state:building "$(decide_state)"
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# blocker:unrequested knows when the ask is permitted (#236). The blocker
+# demands an act — request the panel — that BUILDER.md forbids under a head
+# whose checks have not answered, so the predicate that flags the omission has
+# to read CHECKS and has to let a round in motion finish moving. Two guards,
+# each proved load-bearing by a mutation at the end of the block.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+DRAFT=false HEAD_SHA=head1 REQUESTED="" MERGEABLE=MERGEABLE LABELS=""
+NOW="$(date -d 2026-08-03T12:00:00Z +%s)"
+# the genuine #26/#39 debt: three approvals of a head a push staled, nobody
+# asked for the re-verdicts, and every fact hours old
+OWED_QUIET_ROUND="$(reviews \
+  "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED oldhead "" 2026-08-03T10:00:00Z)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT2" APPROVED oldhead "" 2026-08-03T10:01:00Z)" \
+  "$(rev "$BOT3" APPROVED oldhead "" 2026-08-03T10:02:00Z)")"
+REVIEWS_JSON="$OWED_QUIET_ROUND" HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:00:00Z
+CHECKS=SUCCESS
+expect "green, quiescent, owed and unasked is the stall (the control)" \
+  blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
+# D1 — the gate. crew#318's shape: the same debt under a running check, where
+# requesting is the one thing the builder must not do.
+CHECKS=PENDING
+expect "a pending head is CI's move, not a dropped ask" "" "$(blockers)"
+CHECKS=FAILURE
+expect "a red head raises ci-red alone — the two never co-occur" \
+  blocker:ci-red "$(blockers)"
+CHECKS=NONE
+expect "no checks configured is nothing to wait for, so the stall still shows" \
+  blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
+# D2 — the grace. ceremony#235's shape: a sweep landing in the ~90 seconds
+# between a round-answer push and the author's re-request.
+CHECKS=SUCCESS HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:57:30Z
+expect "a head pushed inside the grace is a round in motion, not a stall" \
+  "" "$(blockers)"
+HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:55:00Z
+expect "...and exactly at the grace it flags — the boundary is inclusive" \
+  blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
+HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:50:00Z
+expect "...and a later pass flags it with nothing else changed" \
+  blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
+# a verdict is the other supporting fact, and an old head does not license
+# flagging a round whose newest verdict landed a minute ago
+HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T10:00:00Z
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED oldhead "" 2026-08-03T11:59:00Z)")"
+expect "a verdict submitted inside the grace is motion too" "" "$(blockers)"
+# no verdicts at all is not an unreadable round — it is the first-ask stall,
+# and the head's clock is the whole of it
+REVIEWS_JSON='[]' HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:00:00Z
+expect "nothing reviewed and nobody asked flags off the head's clock alone" \
+  blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
+# an unreadable fact never invents a verdict — the standing rule, applied to
+# both timestamps
+REVIEWS_JSON="$OWED_QUIET_ROUND" HEAD_COMMIT_AT=""
+expect "an unread head date leaves the blocker unjudged" "" "$(blockers)"
+HEAD_COMMIT_AT=null
+expect "...and jq's literal null is unread, not epoch zero" "" "$(blockers)"
+HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:00:00Z
+REVIEWS_JSON="$(reviews "$(rev "$BOT1" APPROVED oldhead "" not-a-timestamp)")"
+expect "a round whose newest verdict cannot be dated is unread, not quiescent" \
+  "" "$(blockers)"
+# the constant is overridable the way this file's others are
+REVIEWS_JSON="$OWED_QUIET_ROUND" HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:57:30Z
+RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE=60
+expect "a shorter configured grace flags the same facts" \
+  blocker:unrequested "$(blockers)"
+RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE=300
+
+# the timestamp reader, directly: the three unreadable spellings it must refuse
+expect "iso_epoch reads a real stamp" \
+  "$(date -d 2026-08-03T12:00:00Z +%s)" "$(iso_epoch 2026-08-03T12:00:00Z)"
+expect "iso_epoch refuses an absent stamp" "" "$(iso_epoch "")"
+expect "iso_epoch refuses jq's null" "" "$(iso_epoch null)"
+expect "iso_epoch refuses a stamp date cannot read" "" "$(iso_epoch not-a-timestamp)"
+# ...and the trap it does NOT catch, recorded because a fixture author will
+# reach for it: `t1` is a valid date to GNU date — 01:00 in military timezone T,
+# on the day the suite runs — so it reads as a moving stamp rather than as an
+# unreadable one. Real timestamps in any fixture the grace touches.
+expect "a symbolic stamp is readable, and moves with the run's day" \
+  "$(date -d t1 +%s)" "$(iso_epoch t1)"
+
+# -- the mutation proofs: both guards are load-bearing, and this runs them ----
+# A guard the fixtures cannot see removed is a guard nobody is testing, so each
+# is deleted from a COPY of the script and the fixture that covers it must flip.
+# The sed programs target one token each, so a refactor that moves a guard
+# fails here loudly instead of passing silently.
+mutant_blockers() { # $1 = sed program → blockers() from a copy of the script
+  # The copy keeps its position in the tree — the script sources lib/ruling.sh
+  # relative to its own path, and a copy dropped anywhere else would source
+  # nothing and say so on stderr instead of failing.
+  local root="$RTMP/mutant" mutated
+  mutated="$root/actions/labels-reconcile/labels-reconcile.sh"
+  mkdir -p "$root/actions/labels-reconcile"
+  ln -sfn "$PWD/lib" "$root/lib"
+  sed "$1" actions/labels-reconcile/labels-reconcile.sh >"$mutated"
+  DRAFT="$DRAFT" HEAD_SHA="$HEAD_SHA" REQUESTED="$REQUESTED" \
+    REVIEWS_JSON="$REVIEWS_JSON" MERGEABLE="$MERGEABLE" CHECKS="$CHECKS" \
+    NOW="$NOW" HEAD_COMMIT_AT="$HEAD_COMMIT_AT" \
+    RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE="$RECONCILE_UNREQUESTED_GRACE" \
+    bash -u -c '
+      . "$1"
+      load_config .github/labels.conf
+      set_required_bots codex-bot-andresmgsl
+      blockers
+    ' bash "$mutated"
+}
+# the harness itself, unmutated: it must reproduce the verdict the sourced
+# functions give, or a "flip" below proves nothing about the guard
+REVIEWS_JSON="$OWED_QUIET_ROUND" HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:00:00Z CHECKS=SUCCESS
+expect "the mutation harness reproduces the control verdict" \
+  blocker:unrequested "$(mutant_blockers 's/^#no-such-line$//')"
+CHECKS=PENDING
+expect "...and the pending fixture is green in the unmutated copy" \
+  "" "$(mutant_blockers 's/^#no-such-line$//')"
+expect "removing the green gate reds the pending fixture" \
+  blocker:unrequested \
+  "$(mutant_blockers 's/checks_permit_the_ask=false/checks_permit_the_ask=true/')"
+CHECKS=SUCCESS HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:57:30Z
+expect "removing the grace reds the inside-the-window fixture" \
+  blocker:unrequested \
+  "$(mutant_blockers 's/ \&\& unrequested_quiescent//')"
+HEAD_COMMIT_AT=2026-08-03T11:00:00Z
+
 # -- per-author panels (#224): the required set flows from the one ----------
 #    resolution point, and convergence counts the effective set — never the
 #    base panel beside a reduced request set (the must-fail the issue names)