diff --git a/.github/workflows/labels-sweep.yml b/.github/workflows/labels-sweep.yml
index 707b871..defca41 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/labels-sweep.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/labels-sweep.yml
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ jobs:
       # equivalent of.
       #
       # bootstrap: every trigger-driven wake arrives as workflow_dispatch
-      # too (that is how `gh workflow run` wakes the caller), so the event
+      # too (that is how the trigger's dispatch wakes the caller), so the event
       # name alone no longer separates the operator's manual full-board
       # bootstrap from an event-woken sweep — the caller's `bootstrap`
       # dispatch input does: the trigger passes "no", a bare manual
diff --git a/.github/workflows/labels.yml b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
index 925ff2f..8cdf02c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/labels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
@@ -126,33 +126,76 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: dispatch the sweep
         env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
           SWEEP_WORKFLOW: ${{ inputs.sweep_workflow }}
-          # This step speaks gh and says so, the same declaration
-          # actions/refs-not-closing carries (#198 spec 4). A workflow has no
-          # shell to call forge_preflight from, so the refusal is inline
-          # below; #205 owns the REST port that removes both.
-          CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT: gh
+          DEFAULT_BRANCH: ${{ github.event.repository.default_branch }}
         run: |
-          # Two questions, not one. @codex-reviewer-andresmgsl: a guard that
-          # only asks `command -v gh` passes the moment a Forgejo runner image
-          # happens to ship gh — and then runs a GitHub dispatch against a
-          # forge that cannot serve it, which is the client/forge mismatch
-          # forge_preflight exists to prevent. So the FORGE is decided first,
-          # mirroring forge_detect positively (only github.com is accepted;
-          # anything else, known or not, is refused — "Never 'probably
-          # github'"), and the binary is checked second.
+          # REST, not `gh` (#205). The workflow-dispatch endpoint has the SAME
+          # shape on both forges —
+          #   POST {api}/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/{file}/dispatches
+          #   {"ref": "<branch>", "inputs": {...}}  -> 204, empty body
+          # — so this step no longer decides a forge at all. That is why the
+          # `CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT: gh` declaration and both inline refusals are
+          # gone rather than ported: there is nothing left to refuse. Measured
+          # on this instance (Forgejo 8.0.3+gitea-1.22.0) and published in its
+          # own swagger; run 459 was raised this way.
           #
-          # A warning, not a failure: this trigger is the misconfiguration
-          # alarm for a CONSUMER's missing sweep caller, and reddening every
-          # sweep on a forge for a gap #205 already owns would drown that
-          # signal. #205 ports the dispatch to REST and removes all of this.
-          if [ "${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=${GITHUB_SERVER_URL:-unset}). #205 ports it to REST. The hourly SCHEDULED sweep still runs; every event-driven wake through this caller — issue events included — is unavailable until then."
-            exit 0
+          # STILL LOUD on failure, per this job's contract: a consumer missing
+          # the sweep caller, its `bootstrap` input, or `actions: write` must
+          # fail HERE and visibly, not sweep silently never again.
+          # NEVER "probably github" (lib/forge.sh). Defaulting an unset
+          # GITHUB_API_URL to api.github.com would send this forge's dispatch
+          # to GitHub and report success — the same unset-environment guess
+          # #201 just refused for docs-sync. The API root is injected by the
+          # forge running us; if it is absent we do not know where we are, and
+          # a guess is worse than a red trigger
+          # (@codex-reviewer-andresmgsl, #205 review).
+          api="${GITHUB_API_URL:-}"
+          if [ -z "$api" ]; then
+            echo "::error::labels: the sweep was NOT woken — GITHUB_API_URL is unset, so the forge's API root is unknown. Refusing to guess a forge."
+            exit 1
           fi
-          if ! command -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            echo "::warning::labels: the sweep was NOT woken from this trigger — this runner does not carry \`gh\`. #205 ports the dispatch to REST. The hourly SCHEDULED sweep still runs; every event-driven wake through this caller is unavailable until then."
-            exit 0
+
+          # `gh workflow run` defaulted the ref to the repository's default
+          # branch; REST has no default and 400s without one. Prefer the event
+          # payload, fall back to an API read: on a `pull_request_target` run
+          # GITHUB_REF_NAME is `<n>/merge`, which is not a branch and would
+          # dispatch nothing.
+          branch="${DEFAULT_BRANCH:-}"
+          if [ -z "$branch" ]; then
+            branch="$(curl -fsS -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
+              "$api/repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" | jq -r '.default_branch // empty')"
           fi
-          gh workflow run "$SWEEP_WORKFLOW" -R "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" -f bootstrap=no
+          if [ -z "$branch" ]; then
+            echo "::error::labels: the sweep was NOT woken — could not determine the default branch to dispatch $SWEEP_WORKFLOW on."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          out="$(mktemp)"
+          err="$(mktemp)"
+          trap 'rm -f "$out" "$err"' EXIT
+          # A transport failure is named, not merely propagated. Letting `set
+          # -e` carry curl's own exit code out of the assignment DID fail the
+          # job — the invariant holds — but it failed with a bare status and no
+          # sentence, which is the opposite of this step owning its diagnostic.
+          if ! code="$(curl -sS -o "$out" -w '%{http_code}' -X POST \
+            -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
+            -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+            -d "$(jq -nc --arg ref "$branch" '{ref: $ref, inputs: {bootstrap: "no"}}')" \
+            "$api/repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/actions/workflows/$SWEEP_WORKFLOW/dispatches" \
+            2>"$err")"; then
+            echo "::error::labels: the sweep was NOT woken — the request to $api never completed: $(tr -d '\n' <"$err")"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [ "$code" != "204" ]; then
+            # Own the diagnostic rather than pass the status through. This
+            # Forgejo answers an unknown workflow name — and a bare ref that
+            # does not resolve — with `500` and an EMPTY body, so the raw
+            # status alone sends the reader looking for a server fault that is
+            # not there.
+            echo "::error::labels: the sweep was NOT woken — POST $api/repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/actions/workflows/$SWEEP_WORKFLOW/dispatches (ref=$branch) returned HTTP $code: $(tr -d '\n' <"$out")"
+            echo "::error::labels: check that $SWEEP_WORKFLOW exists on $branch, declares a \`bootstrap\` workflow_dispatch input, and that this caller grants \`actions: write\`. An empty 500 body from Forgejo means the workflow name or the ref did not resolve."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "labels: sweep dispatched — $SWEEP_WORKFLOW on $branch (bootstrap=no)"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/self-labels.yml b/.github/workflows/self-labels.yml
index 715f1ee..8b6b8c1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/self-labels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/self-labels.yml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ permissions:
   contents: read
   checks: read          # mergeability/check-rollup read for PR state
   statuses: read        # commit-status rollup read for PR state
-  actions: write        # the trigger job's `gh workflow run` dispatch of the sweep caller (#209)
+  actions: write        # the trigger job's dispatch of the sweep caller (#209, #205)
   issues: write
   pull-requests: write
 jobs:
diff --git a/changelog.d/205.md b/changelog.d/205.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50ed6f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/205.md
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+### Fixed
+
+- `.github/workflows/labels.yml` wakes the sweep over REST instead of
+  `gh workflow run`, so a board event reconciles within seconds on any forge
+  rather than waiting up to an hour for the scheduled sweep (#205).
+
+- The workflow-dispatch endpoint has the same shape on both forges, so that
+  step no longer decides one: the `CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT=gh` declaration and
+  both inline refusals are gone rather than ported (#205).
+
+- The dispatch supplies its `ref` explicitly, because REST has no default
+  branch where `gh workflow run` had one, and refuses without it (#205).
+
+- It takes that ref from the repository, never from `GITHUB_REF_NAME` — on a
+  `pull_request_target` run that is `<n>/merge`, which is not a branch (#205).
+
+- A failed dispatch names the endpoint, the ref and the status, and says that
+  an empty `500` body from Forgejo means the workflow name or the ref did not
+  resolve — a bare status sends the reader after a server fault that is not
+  there (#205).
+
+### Added
+
+- `test/labels-dispatch.test.sh` extracts the shipped step and executes it
+  against a recording stub, asserting the method, endpoint, ref and
+  `inputs.bootstrap` actually sent (#205).
+
+- That test also drives the failure path: any non-204 still fails the job, so
+  the misconfiguration alarm the trigger exists to be cannot decay into a
+  warning (#205).
+
+- An unset `GITHUB_API_URL` refuses before any request instead of defaulting
+  to `api.github.com`. Guessing sent this forge's dispatch to GitHub and
+  reported success — the "Never 'probably github'" rule, and the same
+  unset-environment refusal #201 established for docs-sync (#205).
+
+- A dispatch that never reaches the forge names the failure. Letting `set -e`
+  carry curl's exit code out did fail the job, but with a bare status and no
+  sentence (#205).
+
+- `docs/CONSUMERS.md` and both caller comments describe the REST dispatch, and
+  the manual bootstrap command carries a forge-neutral form beside the `gh`
+  one — a cross-forge runbook that directs this forge to a missing binary is
+  wrong even where the surrounding prose is right (#205).
diff --git a/docs/CONSUMERS.md b/docs/CONSUMERS.md
index 0454f32..e5a3d59 100644
--- a/docs/CONSUMERS.md
+++ b/docs/CONSUMERS.md
@@ -339,7 +339,9 @@ together at the same pin:
 - **`labels.yml`** — the event-facing half, called on PR and issue events.
   Two jobs: additive path-based `scope:*` labels, and a few-seconds
   `trigger` job that wakes the sweep by dispatching the consumer's sweep
-  caller (`gh workflow run`, plain `GITHUB_TOKEN` — `workflow_dispatch` is
+  caller (a REST `POST` to the forge's own
+  `${GITHUB_API_URL}/repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/workflows/{file}/dispatches`,
+  plain `GITHUB_TOKEN` — `workflow_dispatch` is
   one of the two documented exemptions from the token's no-retrigger rule,
   so no PAT anywhere in the path and no loop: the sweep dispatches
   nothing).
@@ -404,7 +406,7 @@ permissions:
   contents: read
   checks: read          # mergeability/check-rollup read for PR state
   statuses: read        # commit-status rollup read for PR state
-  actions: write        # the trigger job's `gh workflow run` dispatch of the sweep caller (#209)
+  actions: write        # the trigger job's dispatch of the sweep caller (#209, #205)
   issues: write
   pull-requests: write
 jobs:
@@ -468,8 +470,8 @@ repositories allow check data to be read regardless, but a private consumer
 needs the explicit reads above; without them the failure appears as an empty
 `state:*` axis on the board rather than a red workflow run. The labels
 caller's `actions: write` is different — it is required everywhere, public
-repos included: the trigger job's `gh workflow run` is a write, and without
-it every event run goes red at the trigger.
+repos included: the trigger job's dispatch is a write, and without it every
+event run goes red at the trigger.
 
 **The failure mode to know before bumping**: a consumer that bumps its pin
 to a #209-carrying tag without adding the sweep caller keeps green-looking
@@ -526,8 +528,8 @@ carrying the split:
    fires both callers into the one shared `labels-reconcile` group — so
    displacement goes **up**, and the fix reads as the bug getting worse.
 4. **`actions: write` on the labels caller** — consumers carry
-   `actions: read` today (crew does); the trigger job's `gh workflow run`
-   is a write. The sweep caller keeps `actions: read`.
+   `actions: read` today (crew does); the trigger job's dispatch is a
+   write. The sweep caller keeps `actions: read`.
 
 Bump without the sweep caller and the trigger job goes red on every PR
 and issue event — the loud failure mode above — so never split these
@@ -596,10 +598,25 @@ to bootstrap labels on a fresh repository. A bare dispatch is also the
 operator's general manual full-board sweep — the answer when the board
 looks wrong now rather than after the next scheduled cadence:
 
+On GitHub, with the `gh` CLI:
+
 ```sh
 gh workflow run labels-sweep.yml -R <owner>/<repo>
 ```
 
+On any forge — including Forgejo, whose runners carry no `gh` — the same
+dispatch over REST, which is what the trigger job itself sends (#205):
+
+```sh
+curl -sS -X POST \
+  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+  -d '{"ref":"main","inputs":{"bootstrap":"yes"}}' \
+  "$API/repos/<owner>/<repo>/actions/workflows/labels-sweep.yml/dispatches"
+```
+
+`$API` is the forge's API root — `https://api.github.com` on GitHub,
+`<instance>/api/v1` on Forgejo — and success is `204` with an empty body.
+
 Ceremony dogfoods the callers under the filenames `self-labels.yml` and
 `self-labels-sweep.yml`, so the equivalent command in this repository
 substitutes that filename. Scheduled and trigger-driven runs only
diff --git a/test/labels-dispatch.test.sh b/test/labels-dispatch.test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d7c3bf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/labels-dispatch.test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# The sweep dispatch in .github/workflows/labels.yml (#205).
+#
+# This EXTRACTS the shipped step's `run:` script and EXECUTES it against a
+# recording stub, rather than grepping the YAML for strings. A grep here would
+# pass on a step that assembles a perfect request and never sends it — the
+# shape of defect this repo keeps finding in its own tests. So every case
+# asserts on what the step actually sent, or on what it actually did when the
+# forge refused.
+set -uo pipefail
+
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
+# shellcheck source=test/harness.sh
+. "$ROOT/test/harness.sh"
+
+WORKFLOW="$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
+TMP="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "${TMP:?}"' EXIT
+
+# --- the step under test, taken from the shipped workflow --------------------
+STEP="$TMP/step.sh"
+{
+  printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' 'set -e'
+  yq -r '.jobs.trigger.steps[] | select(.name == "dispatch the sweep") | .run' "$WORKFLOW"
+} >"$STEP"
+chmod +x "$STEP"
+
+step_extracted() { [ "$(wc -l <"$STEP")" -ge 10 ]; }
+check "the step's script was extracted from the shipped workflow" 0 "" step_extracted
+
+# --- stubs -------------------------------------------------------------------
+# `curl` records every invocation and answers with the code the case wants. It
+# parses only what the step actually passes, so a step that stopped sending
+# `-d`, or changed the method, fails here rather than recording nothing.
+make_curl() { # make_curl <http-code> <body>
+  cat >"$TMP/bin/curl" <<STUB
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+method=GET; data=; url=; out=; write=
+while [ \$# -gt 0 ]; do
+  case "\$1" in
+    -X) method="\$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    -d) data="\$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    -o) out="\$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    -w) write="\$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    -H) printf '%s\n' "HEADER \$2" >>"$TMP/calls"; shift 2 ;;
+    -fsS|-sS|-s) shift ;;
+    *) url="\$1"; shift ;;
+  esac
+done
+printf '%s\n' "METHOD \$method" "URL \$url" "DATA \$data" >>"$TMP/calls"
+# the default-branch read is a plain GET whose stdout the step pipes to jq
+if [ "\$method" = GET ]; then printf '{"default_branch":"trunk"}'; exit 0; fi
+[ -n "\$out" ] && printf '%s' '$2' >"\$out"
+[ -n "\$write" ] && printf '%s' '$1'
+exit 0
+STUB
+  chmod +x "$TMP/bin/curl"
+}
+
+run_step() { # run_step <http-code> <body> [env assignments...]
+  local code="$1" body="$2"
+  shift 2
+  rm -rf "${TMP:?}/bin"
+  mkdir -p "$TMP/bin"
+  : >"$TMP/calls"
+  make_curl "$code" "$body"
+  env PATH="$TMP/bin:$PATH" \
+    GITHUB_TOKEN=tok \
+    GITHUB_API_URL=https://forge.example/api/v1 \
+    GITHUB_REPOSITORY=owner/repo \
+    SWEEP_WORKFLOW=self-labels-sweep.yml \
+    "$@" \
+    "$STEP"
+}
+
+sent() { grep -h "^$1 " "$TMP/calls" | tail -1 | cut -d' ' -f2-; }
+sent_field() { jq -r "$1" <<<"$(sent DATA)"; }
+
+# --- the success path --------------------------------------------------------
+check "a 204 dispatch succeeds, naming what it woke and where" 0 \
+  "sweep dispatched — self-labels-sweep.yml on main" \
+  run_step 204 "" DEFAULT_BRANCH=main
+
+posted() { [ "$(sent METHOD)" = POST ]; }
+check "...by POST, not GET" 0 "" posted
+
+right_endpoint() {
+  [ "$(sent URL)" = \
+    "https://forge.example/api/v1/repos/owner/repo/actions/workflows/self-labels-sweep.yml/dispatches" ]
+}
+check "...to the dispatches endpoint of the workflow it was told to wake" 0 "" right_endpoint
+
+ref_is_main() { [ "$(sent_field .ref)" = main ]; }
+check "...carrying a ref, because REST has no default and refuses without one" 0 "" ref_is_main
+
+bootstrap_is_string_no() { [ "$(sent_field '.inputs.bootstrap')" = no ]; }
+check "...and bootstrap=no as a STRING input, not a bare flag" 0 "" bootstrap_is_string_no
+
+bearer_sent() { grep -qF 'HEADER Authorization: Bearer tok' "$TMP/calls"; }
+check "...under the bearer header both forges accept" 0 "" bearer_sent
+
+# --- the ref it must NOT inherit ---------------------------------------------
+# On pull_request_target GITHUB_REF_NAME is `<n>/merge`. A step that reaches
+# for it dispatches at something that is not a branch — and the forge answers
+# that with the opaque 500, so it would look like an outage.
+check "a pull_request_target run still dispatches at the branch" 0 "" \
+  run_step 204 "" DEFAULT_BRANCH=main GITHUB_REF_NAME=203/merge
+ref_is_not_a_merge_ref() { case "$(sent_field .ref)" in *merge*) return 1 ;; *) return 0 ;; esac; }
+check "...never at its merge ref" 0 "" ref_is_not_a_merge_ref
+
+# --- the fallback ------------------------------------------------------------
+check "an absent default branch is read from the forge, not guessed" 0 "" \
+  run_step 204 "" DEFAULT_BRANCH=
+ref_is_trunk() { [ "$(sent_field .ref)" = trunk ]; }
+check "...and the dispatch uses what the read returned" 0 "" ref_is_trunk
+
+# --- failure is loud, and the diagnostic is owned ----------------------------
+# `gh workflow run` failing WAS the misconfiguration alarm. The port keeps that
+# contract: a consumer missing the caller, its input, or `actions: write` must
+# fail here rather than sweep silently never again.
+check "an empty 500 fails the step — the alarm still rings" 1 \
+  "/self-labels-sweep.yml/dispatches (ref=main)" \
+  run_step 500 "" DEFAULT_BRANCH=main
+check "...explaining Forgejo's EMPTY 500 rather than passing it through" 1 \
+  "empty 500 body from Forgejo means the workflow name or the ref did not resolve" \
+  run_step 500 "" DEFAULT_BRANCH=main
+check "...and naming the consumer causes the alarm exists for" 1 "actions: write" \
+  run_step 500 "" DEFAULT_BRANCH=main
+check "any non-204 fails, not only the statuses the API documents" 1 "forbidden" \
+  run_step 403 '{"message":"forbidden"}' DEFAULT_BRANCH=main
+
+# --- the API root is not guessed ---------------------------------------------
+# Defaulting an unset GITHUB_API_URL to api.github.com sent this forge's
+# dispatch to GitHub and reported success (@codex-reviewer-andresmgsl). The
+# teeth are the call count: refusing AFTER a request is not refusing.
+run_step_no_api() {
+  rm -rf "${TMP:?}/bin"; mkdir -p "$TMP/bin"; : >"$TMP/calls"
+  make_curl 204 ""
+  # -u, because plain `env` PRESERVES the parent environment: on the runner
+  # every step arrives with GITHUB_API_URL set — the premise of the fix under
+  # test — so without the unset this case inherits it, the refusal path never
+  # executes, and the case passes only in a dev shell that lacks the variable
+  # (@kimi-reviewer-andresmgsl, run 468).
+  env -u GITHUB_API_URL \
+    PATH="$TMP/bin:$PATH" GITHUB_TOKEN=tok GITHUB_REPOSITORY=owner/repo \
+    SWEEP_WORKFLOW=self-labels-sweep.yml DEFAULT_BRANCH=main "$STEP"
+}
+check "an unset GITHUB_API_URL refuses rather than guessing GitHub" 1 \
+  "GITHUB_API_URL is unset" run_step_no_api
+no_calls_made() { [ ! -s "$TMP/calls" ]; }
+check "...having made zero requests: refusing after a POST is not refusing" 0 "" no_calls_made
+
+# --- a transport failure is not silence --------------------------------------
+# The old `|| true` invariant was asserted by grepping the gh line this port
+# removed, so it passed on any REST implementation including one that swallows
+# a failed POST (@codex-reviewer-andresmgsl). Driven instead: curl itself exits
+# non-zero, which `-w` cannot report because nothing is written.
+make_failing_curl() {
+  printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' 'echo "curl: (7) failed to connect" >&2' 'exit 7' \
+    >"$TMP/bin/curl"
+  chmod +x "$TMP/bin/curl"
+}
+run_step_curl_dies() {
+  rm -rf "${TMP:?}/bin"; mkdir -p "$TMP/bin"; : >"$TMP/calls"
+  make_failing_curl
+  env PATH="$TMP/bin:$PATH" GITHUB_TOKEN=tok \
+    GITHUB_API_URL=https://forge.example/api/v1 GITHUB_REPOSITORY=owner/repo \
+    SWEEP_WORKFLOW=self-labels-sweep.yml DEFAULT_BRANCH=main "$STEP"
+}
+check "a POST that never reaches the forge fails the step, and says so" 1 \
+  "never completed" run_step_curl_dies
+
+# A code-aware guard alongside the behavioural one: no swallowing operator on
+# the dispatch itself.
+never_silenced() { sed 's/#.*//' "$STEP" | grep -qE '\|\|[[:space:]]*true'; }
+check "...and the step carries no || true" 1 "" never_silenced
+
+# --- what the port removed ---------------------------------------------------
+# Strip comments first: the step's prose NAMES `gh workflow run` and
+# CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT to explain what it replaced, so a raw grep asserts on
+# the explanation instead of the code.
+step_code() { sed 's/#.*//' "$STEP"; }
+invokes_gh() { step_code | grep -qE '(^|[^[:alnum:]_])gh[[:space:]]'; }
+decides_forge() { step_code | grep -qE 'GITHUB_SERVER_URL|CEREMONY_FORGE_CLIENT'; }
+check "the step no longer INVOKES gh, its comments about it aside" 1 "" invokes_gh
+check "...and no longer decides a forge, because REST needs no branch" 1 "" decides_forge
+
+summary
diff --git a/test/labels-triggers.test.sh b/test/labels-triggers.test.sh
index c547ae9..14847c5 100644
--- a/test/labels-triggers.test.sh
+++ b/test/labels-triggers.test.sh
@@ -70,13 +70,24 @@ check "the sweep keeps the ONE shared concurrency group" 0 "group: labels-reconc
   grep -F 'group: labels-reconcile' "$SWEEP"
 check "labels.yml carries the trigger job" 0 "  trigger:" \
   grep -E '^  trigger:' "$REUSABLE"
+# #205 ported this dispatch from `gh workflow run` to REST. The assertion is
+# the same one it always was — the sweep caller is woken BY NAME and never
+# bootstrapped — but it now has to hold against a request rather than a CLI
+# line. What the step actually SENDS is driven in test/labels-dispatch.test.sh;
+# these two keep the wiring pinned here alongside the rest of the trigger.
 # shellcheck disable=SC2016 # $SWEEP_WORKFLOW is the workflow's own env var, asserted literally
-check "the trigger dispatches the sweep caller, never bootstrapping" 0 \
-  'gh workflow run "$SWEEP_WORKFLOW" -R "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" -f bootstrap=no' \
-  grep -F 'gh workflow run' "$REUSABLE"
-# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # $1 expands in the nested bash, not here
-check "the trigger dispatch is never silenced with || true" 1 "" \
-  bash -c 'grep -F "gh workflow run" "$1" | grep -qF "|| true"' _ "$REUSABLE"
+check "the trigger dispatches the sweep caller by name" 0 \
+  'actions/workflows/$SWEEP_WORKFLOW/dispatches' \
+  grep -F '/dispatches' "$REUSABLE"
+check "...never bootstrapping" 0 'bootstrap: "no"' \
+  grep -F 'bootstrap' "$REUSABLE"
+# The never-silenced invariant moved to test/labels-dispatch.test.sh, where it
+# is BEHAVIOURAL: a curl that dies at the transport must fail the extracted
+# step, plus a code-aware no-`|| true` guard on the step itself. The check that
+# lived here grepped the `gh workflow run` line #205 removed, so after the port
+# it passed on every implementation including one that swallows a failed POST —
+# a green assertion whose name claimed an invariant its implementation could
+# not observe (@codex-reviewer-andresmgsl, #213 review).
 check "the sweep caller filename input defaults to labels-sweep.yml" 0 \
   "default: labels-sweep.yml" grep -F 'default: labels-sweep.yml' "$REUSABLE"
 # the dogfood callers wear the split: the event caller names its deviant
diff --git a/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh b/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
index 7ef6b59..bb2d2ec 100755
--- a/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
+++ b/test/no-runtime-gh.test.sh
@@ -205,13 +205,20 @@ printf '%s\n' 'jobs:' '  t:' '    steps:' '      - env:' \
   '          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 "" \
+# labels.yml WAS the real customer for that pair. #205 ported its dispatch to
+# REST, so it no longer speaks gh and must no longer declare a client — the
+# exemption is spent, not inherited. Asserting its ABSENCE is what stops the
+# declaration coming back as cover for a re-added `gh` call: an opt-out with no
+# gh behind it is a standing permission slip.
+check "labels.yml no longer declares a client, because it speaks none (#205)" 1 "" \
   declares_gh_client "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
-check "...decides the forge before dispatching" 0 "" \
-  refuses_wrong_forge "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
-check "...and checks the binary too, rather than dying on command not found" 0 "" \
-  refuses_missing_binary "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016 # `$SWEEP_WORKFLOW` is the literal the YAML must
+# carry: the endpoint has to be built from the caller's input, not hardcoded.
+labels_yml_dispatches_by_rest() {
+  grep -qF 'actions/workflows/$SWEEP_WORKFLOW/dispatches' \
+    "$ROOT/.github/workflows/labels.yml"
+}
+check "...and dispatches the sweep over REST instead" 0 "" labels_yml_dispatches_by_rest
 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' \