test(author): execute the native #953 tool functions and compensation paths (#953)

Review 632 F4. Every prior reference to `gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock`
and `gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract` under `tests/` was a string literal — a
`tool=` argument, an assertion on returned prose, or a docs substring check —
and the suite reconstructed the recovery sequence by hand from
`assess_bootstrap_lock_recovery`, `build_canonical_issue_lock`,
`build_recovery_record`, and `bind_session_lock`. A hand-written sequence
validates the decision layer but cannot see a divergence between itself and
the tool body, which is exactly how F1 and F2 — both call-site defects —
survived 61 passing cases.

The new cases drive the registered functions against a real `git init`
repository, a real durable lock file, and config-backed profiles:

* `NamespaceMutationWallOnRecovery` — the gate is reached with this task and
  `author_role_exclusive=True`; its return value aborts the tool rather than
  being computed and discarded; the author namespace succeeds and produces a
  canonical lock; a reviewer namespace is refused with `namespace_block` even
  when the claimant data would otherwise match, and emits the standard BLOCKED
  audit record; merger is refused; a mismatched claimant profile is refused by
  the exact-owner layer with the namespace wall explicitly clear; a mismatched
  head is refused; every refusal leaves the lock bytes, generation, branch,
  worktree, and an unrelated lock untouched. A subtest matrix asserts the
  role-kind wall admits `author` and refuses reviewer, merger, limited, and
  mixed.
* `InspectionToolExecutes` — the registered read-only tool reports the contract
  and the recovery preview while leaving lock bytes, mtime, HEAD, and porcelain
  status unchanged, and reports an absent lock without creating one.
* `Ac7PostCompensationGuidance` — drives the real bootstrap to its AC7 refusal
  with a forced partial lock and asserts the returned action against the state
  the rollback actually left: complete cleanup directs to a bootstrap retry and
  that retry is then executed and succeeds, leaving exactly one canonical lock
  and one branch; partial cleanup with a surviving lock, and with a surviving
  branch and worktree, each get their own executable action; a rollback that
  never completed is distinguished from both; no recommendation names a deleted
  artifact; unrelated locks are byte-identical afterwards. Two cases cover
  `release_session_lock` directly — that the rollback now really removes the
  lock, and that it refuses a lock owned by another session.
* `NativeEndToEndBootstrapToCreatePr` — bootstrap, inspect, heartbeat,
  legitimate divergence (commit and push), pre-mutation ownership re-check, and
  the unchanged #447 create-PR provenance guard, in one sequence against a real
  origin. `gitea_lock_issue` is patched to fail the test if anything reaches for
  it, so the bootstrap lock is proved to carry the whole cycle unrepaired.
* `DeadProvenanceConstantRemoved` — the removed constant stays removed and the
  sanctioned source set stays unwidened.

`_NativeToolBase` clears `role_session_router` route state per test: the sticky
reviewer-stop marker is process-global and, now that this task is registered in
`AUTHOR_TASKS`, an earlier suite leaving it set would make the first gate refuse
before the namespace gate under test is reached.

Also documents both new tools in `docs/mcp-tool-inventory.md`, so this branch
adds no drift to `test_documented_inventory_equals_registered_tools`; the
failure reason there is now identical to the pinned base's.

Suite: 61 -> 92 cases.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <[email protected]>

author_issue_bootstrap.py

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import shutil
 import subprocess
 from typing import Any, Mapping
 
+import author_lock_contract
 import author_mutation_worktree
 import control_plane_db
 import issue_lock_store
@@ -278,6 +279,36 @@ def _verify_assignment_and_lease_ids(
     return None
 
 
+def _branch_exists(canonical_repo_root: str, branch_name: str) -> bool:
+    """Whether *branch_name* still resolves in the canonical checkout (#953 F2).
+
+    Used after compensating recovery to observe what survived rather than infer
+    it from the journal. Fails closed to ``True``: an unobservable branch is
+    reported as present, so the recommendation stays conservative rather than
+    telling an author to re-bootstrap over something that may still be there.
+    """
+    if not branch_name:
+        return False
+    try:
+        res = subprocess.run(
+            [
+                "git",
+                "-C",
+                canonical_repo_root,
+                "rev-parse",
+                "--verify",
+                "--quiet",
+                f"refs/heads/{branch_name}",
+            ],
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            check=False,
+        )
+    except Exception:
+        return True
+    return res.returncode == 0
+
+
 def run_compensating_recovery(
     journal: dict[str, Any],
     canonical_repo_root: str,
@@ -314,10 +345,21 @@ def run_compensating_recovery(
                     issue_number=issue_num,
                     session=session_id,
                     lock_dir=journal_dir,
+                    remote=journal.get("remote"),
+                    # The same defaults the lock was written under, so the
+                    # rollback targets the exact file bind_session_lock keyed.
+                    org=journal.get("org") or "Scaled-Tech-Consulting",
+                    repo=journal.get("repo") or "Gitea-Tools",
                 )
                 rolled_back.append(f"lock:issue-{issue_num}")
-            except Exception:
+            except Exception as exc:
-                pass
+                # #953 F2: a swallowed failure here is what made the rollback
+                # report success while leaving an unrecoverable lock behind.
+                # Record it so the post-compensation classification can see the
+                # lock survived and recommend accordingly.
+                rolled_back.append(
+                    f"lock_release_failed:issue-{issue_num}:{type(exc).__name__}"
+                )
         artifacts["lock_created"] = False
 
     worktree_created = (
@@ -1198,26 +1240,31 @@ def bootstrap_author_issue_worktree(
         save_phase_journal(journal, journal_dir=lock_dir)
 
         # Phase 6: STATE_ESTABLISHED — Issue Lock Acquisition
+        #
+        # #953: this used to hand-build a thinner record — claimant at the top
+        # level, no work_lease, no lock_provenance, no expiry — which every
+        # downstream reader then refused. It now builds through the one shared
+        # canonical contract, so the lock bootstrap writes is the same lock
+        # gitea_lock_issue writes.
         from datetime import datetime, timezone
         try:
-            lock_data = {
+            lock_data = author_lock_contract.build_canonical_issue_lock(
-                "remote": remote,
+                issue_number=issue_number,
-                "org": org or "Scaled-Tech-Consulting",
+                branch_name=target_branch,
-                "repo": repo or "Gitea-Tools",
+                worktree_path=target_worktree,
-                "issue_number": issue_number,
+                remote=remote,
-                "branch": target_branch,
+                org=org or "Scaled-Tech-Consulting",
-                "branch_name": target_branch,
+                repo=repo or "Gitea-Tools",
-                "worktree_path": target_worktree,
+                identity=identity,
-                "owner_session": session,
+                profile=profile,
-                "claimant": {
+                tool="gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree",
-                    "username": identity,
+                source=author_lock_contract.SOURCE_BOOTSTRAP,
-                    "profile": profile,
+                owner_session=session,
-                },
+                assignment_id=assignment_id,
-                "assignment_id": assignment_id,
+                lease_id=lease_id,
-                "lease_id": lease_id,
+                expected_base_sha=live_master_sha,
-                "expected_base_sha": live_master_sha,
+            )
-                "created_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
+            lock_data["created_at"] = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
-            }
             journal.setdefault("pending_creations", {})["lock"] = True
             journal["artifacts_created"]["lock_created"] = True
             save_phase_journal(journal, journal_dir=lock_dir)
@@ -1235,9 +1282,65 @@ def bootstrap_author_issue_worktree(
                 "exact_next_action": "Verify lease/assignment state and retry.",
             }
 
+        # ── #953 AC7: verify the lock that was actually written ──
+        # Reporting "lock_created: true" and then directing the author to
+        # implement is what produced the unrecoverable state: by the time any
+        # reader refused the lock, the branch already carried commits and every
+        # sanctioned recovery path had become ineligible. The lock is therefore
+        # read back from disk and structurally verified *before* this function
+        # can report success, and a partial lock fails closed here — while the
+        # branch is still base-equivalent and recovery is still cheap.
+        written_lock = issue_lock_store.read_lock_file(lock_res)
+        contract = author_lock_contract.assess_lock_contract(written_lock)
+        if not contract["canonical"]:
+            journal["failure_reason"] = author_lock_contract.format_contract_refusal(
+                contract
+            )
+            compensation = run_compensating_recovery(
+                journal, root, journal_dir=lock_dir
+            )
+            # AC5/AC15: the recommendation must describe the state compensation
+            # actually left, not the state that provoked it.
+            # ``run_compensating_recovery`` has by now released the lock, removed
+            # the worktree, and deleted the branch, so recommending
+            # incomplete-lock recovery for those exact artifacts would refuse
+            # twice over. Observe what survived and answer for that.
+            post_state = author_lock_contract.assess_post_compensation_state(
+                compensation,
+                lock_present=bool(lock_res) and os.path.exists(lock_res),
+                worktree_present=os.path.isdir(target_worktree),
+                branch_present=_branch_exists(root, target_branch),
+            )
+            return {
+                "success": False,
+                "reason_code": "incomplete_issue_lock_contract",
+                "message": author_lock_contract.format_contract_refusal(contract),
+                "issue_number": issue_number,
+                "branch_name": target_branch,
+                "worktree_path": target_worktree,
+                "lock_state": lock_res,
+                "lock_contract": contract,
+                "missing_fields": contract["missing_fields"],
+                "implementation_allowed": False,
+                "compensating_recovery": compensation,
+                "post_compensation_state": post_state,
+                # AC15: never strand a branch or worktree without a structured
+                # recovery recommendation — and never name an artifact the
+                # rollback has already deleted.
+                "exact_next_action": author_lock_contract.post_compensation_action(
+                    post_state,
+                    issue_number=issue_number,
+                    branch_name=target_branch,
+                    worktree_path=target_worktree,
+                    missing_fields=contract["missing_fields"],
+                ),
+                "phase_journal": journal,
+            }
+
         journal["phases"][PHASE_6_STATE_ESTABLISHED] = {
             "status": "completed",
             "lock": lock_res,
+            "lock_contract": contract["contract"],
         }
         journal["phases"][PHASE_7_TRANSITION_COMPLETED] = {
             "status": "completed",
@@ -1261,9 +1364,16 @@ def bootstrap_author_issue_worktree(
             "assignment_id": assignment_id,
             "idempotency_key": key,
             "lock_state": lock_res,
+            "lock_contract": contract,
+            # #953 AC6: the canonical ownership token for this claim. Never null
+            # on a successful bootstrap — it is the fencing token every
+            # subsequent heartbeat and renewal is checked against.
+            "task_session_id": contract["task_session_id"],
+            "implementation_allowed": True,
             "phase_journal": journal,
-            "exact_next_action": (
+            # #953 AC5: executable under the state actually returned. The lock
-                "Call gitea_whoami, then gitea_resolve_task_capability(task='work_issue') "
+            # has been read back and verified canonical, so proceeding to
-                "and proceed with author implementation in the bootstrapped worktree."
+            # implementation is genuinely the correct next step here — which is
-            ),
+            # exactly what the old unconditional wording could not promise.
+            "exact_next_action": author_lock_contract.recommended_action(contract),
         }

author_lock_contract.py

@@ -0,0 +1,623 @@
+"""One canonical author issue-lock contract shared by every writer (#953).
+
+Before this module, ``gitea_lock_issue`` and
+``gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree`` each wrote their own lock record.
+``gitea_lock_issue`` wrote the canonical shape — ``work_lease`` carrying the
+claimant plus a sanctioned ``lock_provenance`` — while bootstrap wrote a thinner
+record with the claimant at the lock top level, ``lease_id: null``, and no
+``work_lease``, ``lock_provenance``, or expiry at all.
+
+Every downstream reader was written against the canonical shape, so a lock that
+bootstrap reported as successfully created was simultaneously:
+
+* un-heartbeatable — the ownership check read the claimant only from
+  ``work_lease.claimant``;
+* un-renewable — expiry is read only from ``work_lease.expires_at``, so a
+  missing lease read as "never expires", and #760 exact-owner renewal only ever
+  assesses an *expired* lease;
+* un-re-lockable — the branch had by then advanced past its base;
+* and rejected by the #447 create-PR provenance guard.
+
+Each of those gates is individually correct. The defect was that two writers
+disagreed about what a lock *is*. This module is the single definition, and both
+writers now build through it.
+
+Nothing here weakens a guard. ``build_sanctioned_lock_provenance`` remains the
+only provenance source, provenance is never accepted from a caller, and the
+#447 guard is untouched — this module simply makes bootstrap satisfy it.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
+from typing import Any, Mapping
+
+import issue_lock_provenance
+import issue_lock_store
+import lease_policy
+
+# Bootstrap writes through the same sanctioned source as gitea_lock_issue: the
+# lock it produces *is* a canonical lock, not a second dialect that readers must
+# learn. Adding a distinct source would have required widening
+# SANCTIONED_LOCK_SOURCES, which is exactly the #447 weakening this issue's
+# safety requirements forbid.
+SOURCE_BOOTSTRAP = issue_lock_provenance.SOURCE_LOCK_ISSUE
+
+# Recovery of an incomplete bootstrap lock (#953 AC8-AC11) deliberately writes
+# through SOURCE_LOCK_ISSUE too, and records its distinctness in
+# ``lock_provenance.written_by_tool`` plus the ``bootstrap_lock_recovery``
+# transition block instead. There is no distinct recovery *source* constant, for
+# the same reason bootstrap has none: minting one would require widening
+# SANCTIONED_LOCK_SOURCES, which the #447 safety requirements forbid.
+
+#: Top-level keys every canonical author issue lock must carry.
+REQUIRED_LOCK_FIELDS: tuple[str, ...] = (
+    "remote",
+    "org",
+    "repo",
+    "issue_number",
+    "branch_name",
+    "worktree_path",
+    "work_lease",
+    "lock_provenance",
+)
+
+#: Keys every canonical ``work_lease`` must carry.
+REQUIRED_WORK_LEASE_FIELDS: tuple[str, ...] = (
+    "operation_type",
+    "issue_number",
+    "branch",
+    "worktree_path",
+    "claimant",
+    "created_at",
+    "expires_at",
+    "last_heartbeat_at",
+    "task_session_id",
+    "lifecycle_version",
+)
+
+# ── Explicit expiration states (AC12) ──
+# The bug this replaces: a lock with no recorded expiry produced
+# ``is_lease_expired() -> False``, which reads as "not yet expired" and made the
+# lock permanently non-expiring *and* permanently ineligible for the renewal
+# path, which only ever assesses an expired lease. "Absent" and "in the future"
+# are different facts and are now named differently.
+EXPIRATION_RECORDED = "recorded"
+EXPIRATION_MISSING = "missing"
+EXPIRATION_UNPARSEABLE = "unparseable"
+
+#: Structural verdicts returned by :func:`assess_lock_contract`.
+CONTRACT_CANONICAL = "canonical"
+CONTRACT_INCOMPLETE = "incomplete"
+CONTRACT_LEGACY = "legacy"
+CONTRACT_ABSENT = "absent"
+
+
+def _text(value: Any) -> str:
+    return str(value or "").strip()
+
+
+def now_utc() -> datetime:
+    return datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+
+
+def format_timestamp(value: datetime) -> str:
+    """Serialize in the durable ``...Z`` form already used on disk."""
+    return (
+        value.astimezone(timezone.utc)
+        .replace(microsecond=0)
+        .isoformat()
+        .replace("+00:00", "Z")
+    )
+
+
+def lock_claimant(lock: Mapping[str, Any] | None) -> dict[str, str]:
+    """Read the claimant from either canonical or legacy placement.
+
+    ``work_lease.claimant`` is canonical and is preferred. A top-level
+    ``claimant`` is the legacy/bootstrap placement and is accepted as a
+    fallback (AC14) — three separate readers already disagreed about this
+    (``issue_lock_store``, ``issue_lock_renewal``, ``issue_lock_recovery``),
+    which is why it now lives in one place.
+
+    Reading a legacy placement is *not* a widening: every caller still compares
+    the values it returns against server-resolved identity and profile. This
+    only decides where to look, never whether ownership is proven.
+
+    Delegates to ``issue_lock_store.lock_claimant`` rather than reimplementing
+    the rule. A second copy here would be a fourth reader that could drift from
+    the other three, which is the exact failure #953 exists to end. It lives in
+    the store because ``author_lock_contract`` imports the store, so defining it
+    here would make that import circular.
+    """
+    recorded = issue_lock_store.lock_claimant(dict(lock) if isinstance(lock, Mapping) else None)
+    return {
+        "username": _text(recorded.get("username")),
+        "profile": _text(recorded.get("profile")),
+    }
+
+
+def claimant_placement(lock: Mapping[str, Any] | None) -> str:
+    """Where the claimant was found: ``work_lease``, ``top_level``, or ``absent``."""
+    if not isinstance(lock, Mapping):
+        return "absent"
+    lease = lock.get("work_lease")
+    if isinstance(lease, Mapping) and isinstance(lease.get("claimant"), Mapping):
+        return "work_lease"
+    if isinstance(lock.get("claimant"), Mapping):
+        return "top_level"
+    return "absent"
+
+
+def build_claimant(*, username: str | None, profile: str | None) -> dict[str, str]:
+    """Build the canonical claimant pair from server-resolved values."""
+    return {"username": _text(username), "profile": _text(profile)}
+
+
+def build_author_issue_work_lease(
+    *,
+    issue_number: int,
+    branch_name: str,
+    worktree_path: str,
+    claimant: Mapping[str, Any],
+    task_session_id: str | None = None,
+    created: datetime | None = None,
+) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Build the canonical author ``work_lease``.
+
+    The single definition behind both writers. The TTL comes from the central
+    policy rather than a literal, and the window slides from the last valid
+    heartbeat (#790), so an abandoned task releases its claim within one TTL.
+    """
+    started = created or now_utc()
+    policy = lease_policy.policy_for(lease_policy.TASK_CLASS_AUTHOR_ISSUE_WORK)
+    expires = started + timedelta(minutes=policy.initial_ttl_minutes)
+    session_id = _text(task_session_id) or issue_lock_store.mint_task_session_id(
+        issue_lock_store.AUTHOR_ISSUE_WORK_LEASE
+    )
+    return {
+        "operation_type": issue_lock_store.AUTHOR_ISSUE_WORK_LEASE,
+        "issue_number": int(issue_number),
+        "pr_number": None,
+        "branch": branch_name,
+        "worktree_path": worktree_path,
+        "claimant": dict(claimant),
+        "created_at": format_timestamp(started),
+        "expires_at": format_timestamp(expires),
+        "last_heartbeat_at": format_timestamp(started),
+        # #790 AC-N1: the ownership key for this task, distinct from the
+        # recorded PID, which is the shared daemon and identifies no task.
+        "task_session_id": session_id,
+        # #790 AC-N8: the explicit lifecycle marker. Its absence — never a
+        # timestamp comparison — is what makes a lock legacy.
+        "lifecycle_version": lease_policy.LIFECYCLE_HEARTBEAT_V1,
+        "heartbeat_count": 1,
+    }
+
+
+def build_canonical_issue_lock(
+    *,
+    issue_number: int,
+    branch_name: str,
+    worktree_path: str,
+    remote: str,
+    org: str,
+    repo: str,
+    identity: str | None,
+    profile: str | None,
+    tool: str,
+    source: str = issue_lock_provenance.SOURCE_LOCK_ISSUE,
+    owner_session: str | None = None,
+    assignment_id: str | None = None,
+    lease_id: str | None = None,
+    expected_base_sha: str | None = None,
+    task_session_id: str | None = None,
+    created: datetime | None = None,
+) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Build a complete canonical lock record.
+
+    ``tool`` and ``source`` are server-supplied. There is deliberately no
+    parameter through which a caller could inject provenance: the #953 safety
+    requirements forbid caller-manufactured provenance, so provenance is always
+    minted here from ``build_sanctioned_lock_provenance``.
+    """
+    claimant = build_claimant(username=identity, profile=profile)
+    work_lease = build_author_issue_work_lease(
+        issue_number=issue_number,
+        branch_name=branch_name,
+        worktree_path=worktree_path,
+        claimant=claimant,
+        task_session_id=task_session_id,
+        created=created,
+    )
+    record: dict[str, Any] = {
+        "remote": remote,
+        "org": org,
+        "repo": repo,
+        "issue_number": int(issue_number),
+        "branch": branch_name,
+        "branch_name": branch_name,
+        "worktree_path": worktree_path,
+        "work_lease": work_lease,
+        "lock_provenance": issue_lock_provenance.build_sanctioned_lock_provenance(
+            tool=tool,
+            source=source,
+            claimant=claimant,
+        ),
+    }
+    if owner_session is not None:
+        record["owner_session"] = owner_session
+    if assignment_id is not None:
+        record["assignment_id"] = assignment_id
+    # #953 AC6: a null lease id is recorded only when no workflow lease was
+    # allocated for this bootstrap. The task-session identifier in the
+    # work_lease is what downstream ownership checks fence on, and it is never
+    # null on a canonical lock.
+    if lease_id is not None:
+        record["lease_id"] = lease_id
+    if expected_base_sha is not None:
+        record["expected_base_sha"] = expected_base_sha
+    return record
+
+
+def expiration_state(lock: Mapping[str, Any] | None) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Classify a lock's recorded expiry explicitly (AC12).
+
+    Distinguishes "no expiry was ever recorded" from "an expiry was recorded
+    and is still in the future". Collapsing those two into a single ``False``
+    from ``is_lease_expired`` is what let a malformed lock be treated as
+    permanently live and simultaneously never renewable.
+    """
+    if not isinstance(lock, Mapping):
+        return {"state": EXPIRATION_MISSING, "expires_at": None, "expired": None}
+    lease = lock.get("work_lease")
+    raw = lease.get("expires_at") if isinstance(lease, Mapping) else None
+    text = _text(raw)
+    if not text:
+        return {"state": EXPIRATION_MISSING, "expires_at": None, "expired": None}
+    try:
+        parsed = datetime.fromisoformat(text.replace("Z", "+00:00")).astimezone(
+            timezone.utc
+        )
+    except ValueError:
+        return {"state": EXPIRATION_UNPARSEABLE, "expires_at": text, "expired": None}
+    return {
+        "state": EXPIRATION_RECORDED,
+        "expires_at": text,
+        "expired": parsed <= now_utc(),
+    }
+
+
+def missing_contract_fields(lock: Mapping[str, Any] | None) -> list[str]:
+    """Name every canonical field a lock does not carry (AC7)."""
+    if not isinstance(lock, Mapping):
+        return ["<no lock record>"]
+    missing: list[str] = []
+    for field in REQUIRED_LOCK_FIELDS:
+        value = lock.get(field)
+        if value is None or (isinstance(value, str) and not value.strip()):
+            missing.append(field)
+    lease = lock.get("work_lease")
+    if not isinstance(lease, Mapping):
+        if "work_lease" not in missing:
+            missing.append("work_lease")
+    else:
+        for field in REQUIRED_WORK_LEASE_FIELDS:
+            value = lease.get(field)
+            if value is None or (isinstance(value, str) and not value.strip()):
+                missing.append(f"work_lease.{field}")
+    provenance = lock.get("lock_provenance")
+    if isinstance(provenance, Mapping):
+        if (
+            _text(provenance.get("source"))
+            not in issue_lock_provenance.SANCTIONED_LOCK_SOURCES
+        ):
+            missing.append("lock_provenance.source (not sanctioned)")
+        if not _text(provenance.get("written_by_tool")):
+            missing.append("lock_provenance.written_by_tool")
+    claimant = lock_claimant(lock)
+    if not claimant["username"]:
+        missing.append("claimant.username")
+    if not claimant["profile"]:
+        missing.append("claimant.profile")
+    return missing
+
+
+def assess_lock_contract(lock: Mapping[str, Any] | None) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Structural, read-only verdict on a durable lock record (AC7, AC16).
+
+    Pure inspection: it reads the record it is handed and mutates nothing —
+    no lock, lease, branch, worktree, issue, or PR. Callers use it both to
+    verify a lock they just wrote and to report on one they found.
+    """
+    if not isinstance(lock, Mapping) or not lock:
+        return {
+            "contract": CONTRACT_ABSENT,
+            "canonical": False,
+            "missing_fields": ["<no lock record>"],
+            "claimant": {"username": "", "profile": ""},
+            "claimant_placement": "absent",
+            "expiration": {
+                "state": EXPIRATION_MISSING,
+                "expires_at": None,
+                "expired": None,
+            },
+            "heartbeatable": False,
+            "create_pr_eligible": False,
+            "lock_generation": None,
+            "task_session_id": None,
+            "reasons": ["no durable lock record"],
+        }
+
+    missing = missing_contract_fields(lock)
+    claimant = lock_claimant(lock)
+    placement = claimant_placement(lock)
+    expiration = expiration_state(lock)
+    provenance_check = issue_lock_provenance.assess_lock_file_for_create_pr(dict(lock))
+
+    # Canonical means: every required field present, the claimant in the
+    # canonical placement, an expiry actually recorded, and the untouched #447
+    # guard satisfied.
+    canonical = (
+        not missing
+        and placement == "work_lease"
+        and expiration["state"] == EXPIRATION_RECORDED
+        and bool(provenance_check.get("proven"))
+    )
+    if canonical:
+        contract = CONTRACT_CANONICAL
+    elif placement == "top_level" and claimant["username"] and claimant["profile"]:
+        contract = CONTRACT_LEGACY
+    else:
+        contract = CONTRACT_INCOMPLETE
+
+    reasons: list[str] = []
+    if missing:
+        reasons.append("missing canonical fields: " + ", ".join(missing))
+    if placement == "top_level":
+        reasons.append(
+            "claimant recorded at the lock top level rather than in work_lease "
+            "(legacy/bootstrap placement)"
+        )
+    if expiration["state"] == EXPIRATION_MISSING:
+        reasons.append(
+            "no expiration recorded; the lock is neither expirable nor renewable "
+            "until it is upgraded"
+        )
+    elif expiration["state"] == EXPIRATION_UNPARSEABLE:
+        reasons.append(f"unparseable expires_at '{expiration['expires_at']}'")
+    if provenance_check.get("block"):
+        reasons.extend(provenance_check.get("reasons") or [])
+
+    # Heartbeat needs the claimant pair (from either placement, post-fix) plus a
+    # task-session identifier to fence on.
+    lease = lock.get("work_lease")
+    task_session_id = (
+        _text(lease.get("task_session_id")) if isinstance(lease, Mapping) else ""
+    )
+    heartbeatable = bool(
+        claimant["username"] and claimant["profile"] and task_session_id
+    )
+
+    return {
+        "contract": contract,
+        "canonical": canonical,
+        "missing_fields": missing,
+        "claimant": claimant,
+        "claimant_placement": placement,
+        "expiration": expiration,
+        "heartbeatable": heartbeatable,
+        "create_pr_eligible": bool(provenance_check.get("proven")),
+        "lock_generation": lock.get("lock_generation"),
+        "task_session_id": task_session_id or None,
+        "reasons": reasons,
+    }
+
+
+def format_contract_refusal(assessment: Mapping[str, Any]) -> str:
+    """Human-readable refusal naming exactly what the lock is missing."""
+    missing = ", ".join(assessment.get("missing_fields") or []) or "unknown fields"
+    return (
+        "Issue lock contract incomplete (#953): "
+        f"{missing}. The lock cannot be heartbeated, renewed, or accepted by "
+        "gitea_create_pr in this state (fail closed)"
+    )
+
+
+def recommended_action(assessment: Mapping[str, Any]) -> str:
+    """The one executable next step for a lock in this state (AC5, AC15)."""
+    contract = assessment.get("contract")
+    if contract == CONTRACT_CANONICAL:
+        return (
+            "Lock is canonical. Call gitea_whoami, then "
+            "gitea_resolve_task_capability(task='work_issue'), then proceed with "
+            "author implementation in the bootstrapped worktree."
+        )
+    if contract == CONTRACT_ABSENT:
+        return (
+            "No durable lock exists. Call gitea_lock_issue for this issue and "
+            "branch before writing any implementation bytes."
+        )
+    return (
+        "Do not begin implementation. Call "
+        "gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock for this exact issue, branch, "
+        "and worktree to upgrade the lock to the canonical contract, or "
+        "gitea_lock_issue while the worktree is still base-equivalent."
+    )
+
+
+# ── Post-compensation recovery guidance (#953 AC5/AC15, review 632 F2) ──
+#
+# ``recommended_action`` above answers "what can be done about a lock in this
+# shape". That is the wrong question on the bootstrap AC7 refusal path, because
+# ``run_compensating_recovery`` has already run by the time the answer is
+# reported: it releases the lock, removes the worktree when clean — which it
+# always is there, no implementation bytes having been written — and deletes the
+# created branch. Recommending incomplete-lock recovery for those artifacts
+# hands the author two refusals in a row (``no_durable_lock``, then
+# ``worktree_invalid``) for a state that a plain bootstrap retry would fix. The
+# advice must describe the state that actually *remains*.
+
+#: Compensation removed every artifact this transition created.
+CLEANUP_COMPLETE = "complete"
+#: Compensation removed some artifacts; others survive and are still actionable.
+CLEANUP_PARTIAL = "partial"
+#: Compensation itself failed or could not be observed; nothing is provable.
+CLEANUP_FAILED = "failed"
+
+
+def assess_post_compensation_state(
+    recovery: Mapping[str, Any] | None,
+    *,
+    lock_present: bool,
+    worktree_present: bool,
+    branch_present: bool,
+) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Classify what survived compensation, from observed durable state.
+
+    Pure. The caller observes the filesystem and git; this decides. Observation
+    is authoritative over the journal's ``rolled_back`` list, which records what
+    compensation *attempted*: ``run_compensating_recovery`` swallows a failed
+    lock release and appends nothing, so an absent marker proves nothing either
+    way. The list is still carried through as corroborating evidence.
+
+    The three states are distinct facts, not degrees of the same one:
+
+    * ``CLEANUP_COMPLETE`` — compensation ran and nothing it created remains.
+    * ``CLEANUP_PARTIAL`` — compensation ran and artifacts survive, whether by
+      design (a worktree dirty at rollback time, a branch carrying commits) or
+      because a rollback step errored. Either way the surviving set was observed
+      directly, so it is known and actionable; ``failed_rollback_steps`` records
+      which cause applies.
+    * ``CLEANUP_FAILED`` — compensation never ran to completion, so nothing it
+      would have removed can be assumed removed.
+    """
+    rolled_back = list((recovery or {}).get("rolled_back") or [])
+    executed = bool((recovery or {}).get("executed"))
+    failed_steps = [entry for entry in rolled_back if "_failed" in entry]
+
+    surviving: list[str] = []
+    if lock_present:
+        surviving.append("lock")
+    if worktree_present:
+        surviving.append("worktree")
+    if branch_present:
+        surviving.append("branch")
+
+    if not executed:
+        state = CLEANUP_FAILED
+    elif surviving:
+        state = CLEANUP_PARTIAL
+    else:
+        state = CLEANUP_COMPLETE
+
+    return {
+        "cleanup_state": state,
+        "compensation_executed": executed,
+        "lock_present": bool(lock_present),
+        "worktree_present": bool(worktree_present),
+        "branch_present": bool(branch_present),
+        "surviving_artifacts": surviving,
+        "removed_artifacts": [
+            name
+            for name, present in (
+                ("lock", lock_present),
+                ("worktree", worktree_present),
+                ("branch", branch_present),
+            )
+            if not present
+        ],
+        "failed_rollback_steps": failed_steps,
+        "rolled_back": rolled_back,
+    }
+
+
+def post_compensation_action(
+    state: Mapping[str, Any],
+    *,
+    issue_number: int,
+    branch_name: str,
+    worktree_path: str,
+    missing_fields: list[str] | None = None,
+) -> str:
+    """The one executable next step for the state compensation actually left.
+
+    Every branch names only artifacts the classification says still exist, so no
+    recommendation can point at something the rollback deleted.
+    """
+    missing = ", ".join(missing_fields or []) or "the reported missing fields"
+    cleanup_state = state.get("cleanup_state")
+    lock_present = bool(state.get("lock_present"))
+    worktree_present = bool(state.get("worktree_present"))
+    branch_present = bool(state.get("branch_present"))
+
+    if not state.get("compensation_executed"):
+        # Compensation never ran, so nothing was rolled back and nothing about
+        # the remaining state was decided. The read-only surface is the only
+        # action executable under any state.
+        return (
+            "Compensating rollback did not complete, so the remaining state is "
+            f"not proven. Call gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract for issue "
+            f"#{issue_number} (read-only) to establish what survives before any "
+            "further action. Do not retry bootstrap until it is known."
+        )
+
+    prefix = ""
+    failed_steps = state.get("failed_rollback_steps") or []
+    if failed_steps:
+        prefix = (
+            "Compensating rollback reported a failed step "
+            f"({', '.join(failed_steps)}); what survives was observed directly "
+            "and the action below is scoped to exactly that. "
+        )
+
+    if cleanup_state == CLEANUP_COMPLETE:
+        return (
+            "Compensating rollback removed the malformed lock, the branch, and "
+            f"the worktree, so nothing from this attempt remains. Resolve "
+            f"{missing} and re-run gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree for "
+            f"issue #{issue_number} from the clean pre-bootstrap state. Do not "
+            "call gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock: there is no lock, "
+            "branch, or worktree left for it to act on."
+        )
+
+    if lock_present and worktree_present and branch_present:
+        return prefix + (
+            "The lock, branch, and worktree all survive. Call "
+            "gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock for issue "
+            f"#{issue_number}, branch '{branch_name}', and worktree "
+            f"'{worktree_path}', passing the worktree's current head as "
+            "expected_head, to upgrade the lock to the canonical contract."
+        )
+
+    if not lock_present and worktree_present and branch_present:
+        return prefix + (
+            "The malformed lock was released but the branch and worktree "
+            "survive. No implementation bytes were written, so the worktree is "
+            f"still base-equivalent: call gitea_lock_issue for issue "
+            f"#{issue_number} on branch '{branch_name}' from worktree "
+            f"'{worktree_path}' to acquire a canonical lock."
+        )
+
+    if lock_present and not worktree_present:
+        return prefix + (
+            f"The worktree for issue #{issue_number} is gone but the durable "
+            "lock survived, so neither gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock "
+            "(it would refuse worktree_invalid) nor gitea_lock_issue (it has no "
+            "worktree to bind) is executable. Call "
+            "gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract for issue "
+            f"#{issue_number} (read-only) to confirm the surviving lock; it "
+            "must be released by its recorded owner before bootstrap is "
+            "retried."
+        )
+
+    # Lock gone, worktree gone, some git artifact left (a branch with commits,
+    # or a branch this transition did not create).
+    return prefix + (
+        "Compensating rollback removed the lock and worktree; branch "
+        f"'{branch_name}' survives and was not deleted. Call "
+        f"gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract for issue #{issue_number} "
+        "(read-only) to confirm no durable lock remains, then re-run "
+        "gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree, which will adopt the existing "
+        "branch rather than recreating it."
+    )

bootstrap_lock_recovery.py

@@ -0,0 +1,304 @@
+"""Target-specific recovery for incomplete bootstrap issue locks (#953).
+
+The situation this exists for: ``gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree``
+reported success, wrote an incomplete lock, and told the author to implement.
+The author did — legitimately, following the tool's own reported next action —
+and the branch now carries real committed and pushed work. At that point every
+pre-existing recovery path is simultaneously ineligible:
+
+* heartbeat refuses, because the claimant is not where it looks;
+* ``gitea_lock_issue`` refuses, because the branch is no longer base-equivalent;
+* #760 exact-owner renewal never engages, because a lock with no recorded
+  expiry is never *expired*;
+* the #447 create-PR guard refuses, because there is no provenance.
+
+Distinct from every neighbouring path: #753 ``issue_lock_recovery`` requires a
+dead owner PID, #760 ``issue_lock_renewal`` requires an *expired* lease, and
+#442 ``issue_lock_adoption`` decides branch adoption. None of them addresses a
+lock that is structurally incomplete and therefore never expires at all.
+
+**What this will not do.** It never moves, resets, or rewinds a branch, and
+never requires base-equivalence — the committed work is the thing being
+preserved. It never pushes and never opens a pull request. It touches only the
+one lock file named by (remote, org, repo, issue). It accepts no caller-supplied
+provenance and no caller-supplied authorization flag; both are minted
+server-side. It refuses a healthy foreign-owned lock outright, and a matching
+username alone is never accepted as proof of ownership — the profile must match
+too, and the lock's recorded binding must agree with the observed branch,
+worktree, and head.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+from typing import Any, Mapping
+
+import author_lock_contract
+import issue_lock_store
+
+#: Refusal codes, so callers can branch on cause rather than parse prose.
+REFUSAL_NO_LOCK = "no_durable_lock"
+REFUSAL_ALREADY_CANONICAL = "already_canonical"
+REFUSAL_FOREIGN_CLAIMANT = "foreign_claimant"
+REFUSAL_HEALTHY_FOREIGN = "healthy_foreign_lock"
+REFUSAL_IDENTITY_UNRESOLVED = "identity_unresolved"
+REFUSAL_BINDING_MISMATCH = "binding_mismatch"
+REFUSAL_WORKTREE_INVALID = "worktree_invalid"
+REFUSAL_HEAD_MISMATCH = "head_mismatch"
+
+
+def _text(value: Any) -> str:
+    return str(value or "").strip()
+
+
+def _same_realpath(left: str | None, right: str | None) -> bool:
+    lhs, rhs = _text(left), _text(right)
+    if not lhs or not rhs:
+        return False
+    try:
+        return os.path.realpath(lhs) == os.path.realpath(rhs)
+    except OSError:
+        return lhs == rhs
+
+
+def assess_bootstrap_lock_recovery(
+    existing_lock: Mapping[str, Any] | None,
+    *,
+    issue_number: int,
+    branch_name: str,
+    worktree_path: str,
+    remote: str,
+    org: str,
+    repo: str,
+    identity: str | None,
+    profile: str | None,
+    observed_head: str | None,
+    declared_head: str | None,
+    worktree_exists: bool,
+    worktree_registered: bool,
+    current_branch: str | None,
+    now: Any = None,
+) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Decide whether this exact lock may be upgraded by this exact caller.
+
+    Pure: every input is an observation the caller already made, and nothing
+    here reads or writes the filesystem, git, or Gitea. That is what makes the
+    same decision testable in isolation and reusable by the read-only
+    inspection surface, which must not mutate anything (AC16).
+
+    Returns a dict with ``recovery_sanctioned`` plus the full evidence set. A
+    refusal never raises — it reports, so the caller can surface exactly which
+    piece of evidence was missing.
+    """
+    reasons: list[str] = []
+    refusal_code: str | None = None
+
+    contract = author_lock_contract.assess_lock_contract(existing_lock)
+
+    if not existing_lock:
+        return {
+            "recovery_sanctioned": False,
+            "refusal_code": REFUSAL_NO_LOCK,
+            "reasons": [
+                f"no durable issue lock exists for issue #{issue_number}; there is "
+                "nothing to recover (fail closed)"
+            ],
+            "contract": contract,
+            "evidence": {},
+            "expected_generation": None,
+        }
+
+    active_identity = _text(identity)
+    active_profile = _text(profile)
+    recorded = author_lock_contract.lock_claimant(existing_lock)
+    freshness = issue_lock_store.assess_lock_freshness(dict(existing_lock), now=now)
+    generation = issue_lock_store.lock_generation(existing_lock)
+
+    evidence: dict[str, Any] = {
+        "recorded_claimant": recorded,
+        "active_identity": active_identity,
+        "active_profile": active_profile,
+        "recorded_branch": existing_lock.get("branch_name"),
+        "recorded_worktree": existing_lock.get("worktree_path"),
+        "recorded_owner_session": existing_lock.get("owner_session"),
+        "recorded_generation": generation,
+        "recorded_remote": existing_lock.get("remote"),
+        "recorded_org": existing_lock.get("org"),
+        "recorded_repo": existing_lock.get("repo"),
+        "observed_head": _text(observed_head),
+        "declared_head": _text(declared_head),
+        "current_branch": _text(current_branch),
+        "worktree_exists": bool(worktree_exists),
+        "worktree_registered": bool(worktree_registered),
+        "freshness": freshness,
+        "claimant_placement": contract.get("claimant_placement"),
+        "expiration_state": contract.get("expiration", {}).get("state"),
+    }
+
+    # ── Repository and issue identity (AC10) ──
+    if _text(existing_lock.get("remote")) != _text(remote):
+        reasons.append(
+            f"recorded remote '{existing_lock.get('remote')}' does not match '{remote}'"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_BINDING_MISMATCH
+    if _text(existing_lock.get("org")) != _text(org):
+        reasons.append(
+            f"recorded org '{existing_lock.get('org')}' does not match '{org}'"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_BINDING_MISMATCH
+    if _text(existing_lock.get("repo")) != _text(repo):
+        reasons.append(
+            f"recorded repo '{existing_lock.get('repo')}' does not match '{repo}'"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_BINDING_MISMATCH
+    if existing_lock.get("issue_number") != issue_number:
+        reasons.append(
+            f"lock targets issue #{existing_lock.get('issue_number')}, not "
+            f"#{issue_number}"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_BINDING_MISMATCH
+
+    # ── Branch and worktree binding (AC10) ──
+    if _text(existing_lock.get("branch_name")) != _text(branch_name):
+        reasons.append(
+            f"recorded branch '{existing_lock.get('branch_name')}' does not match "
+            f"'{branch_name}'"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_BINDING_MISMATCH
+    if not _same_realpath(existing_lock.get("worktree_path"), worktree_path):
+        reasons.append(
+            f"recorded worktree '{existing_lock.get('worktree_path')}' does not "
+            f"match '{worktree_path}'"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_BINDING_MISMATCH
+
+    # ── The worktree is real, registered, and on the branch (AC10) ──
+    # Deliberately no base-equivalence requirement and no constraint on how far
+    # the branch has advanced: the whole point is that it already carries the
+    # author's legitimate commits (AC9).
+    if not worktree_exists:
+        reasons.append(f"declared worktree '{worktree_path}' does not exist")
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_WORKTREE_INVALID
+    if not worktree_registered:
+        reasons.append(f"worktree '{worktree_path}' is not a registered git worktree")
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_WORKTREE_INVALID
+    if _text(current_branch) != _text(branch_name):
+        reasons.append(
+            f"worktree is on branch '{_text(current_branch) or 'unknown'}', not "
+            f"'{branch_name}'"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_WORKTREE_INVALID
+
+    # ── Current head fencing (AC10) ──
+    # The caller names the commit it believes it is recovering. A mismatch means
+    # the worktree moved under the caller, so the decision is stale.
+    if not _text(observed_head):
+        reasons.append("could not observe the worktree head")
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_HEAD_MISMATCH
+    elif _text(declared_head) and _text(declared_head) != _text(observed_head):
+        reasons.append(
+            f"declared head '{_text(declared_head)}' does not match observed head "
+            f"'{_text(observed_head)}'"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_HEAD_MISMATCH
+
+    # ── Ownership (AC10, AC11) ──
+    # A matching username alone is never sufficient: the profile must match too,
+    # and both are compared against server-resolved values the caller cannot set.
+    if not active_identity or not active_profile:
+        reasons.append(
+            "active identity and profile could not both be resolved; ownership "
+            "cannot be proven"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_IDENTITY_UNRESOLVED
+    if not recorded["username"] or not recorded["profile"]:
+        reasons.append(
+            "durable lock does not record both a claimant username and profile"
+        )
+        refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_FOREIGN_CLAIMANT
+    elif (
+        recorded["username"] != active_identity
+        or recorded["profile"] != active_profile
+    ):
+        # AC11: a foreign-owned lock is never recoverable through this path,
+        # healthy or not. The healthy case is reported distinctly so the refusal
+        # is legible, but both refuse.
+        if freshness.get("live"):
+            reasons.append(
+                f"lock is owned by a healthy foreign claimant "
+                f"'{recorded['username']}/{recorded['profile']}'; takeover is not "
+                "a recovery path"
+            )
+            refusal_code = REFUSAL_HEALTHY_FOREIGN
+        else:
+            reasons.append(
+                f"lock claimant '{recorded['username']}/{recorded['profile']}' "
+                f"does not match active '{active_identity}/{active_profile}'"
+            )
+            refusal_code = refusal_code or REFUSAL_FOREIGN_CLAIMANT
+
+    # ── Nothing to recover ──
+    # A lock that is already canonical is left strictly alone. Rewriting it would
+    # mint a new task-session identifier and invalidate the heartbeat token the
+    # legitimate owner is already using.
+    if contract.get("canonical") and not reasons:
+        return {
+            "recovery_sanctioned": False,
+            "refusal_code": REFUSAL_ALREADY_CANONICAL,
+            "reasons": [
+                "lock already satisfies the canonical contract; no recovery is "
+                "required"
+            ],
+            "contract": contract,
+            "evidence": evidence,
+            "expected_generation": generation,
+        }
+
+    sanctioned = not reasons
+    return {
+        "recovery_sanctioned": sanctioned,
+        "refusal_code": None if sanctioned else refusal_code,
+        "reasons": reasons,
+        "contract": contract,
+        "evidence": evidence,
+        "expected_generation": generation,
+    }
+
+
+def build_recovery_record(
+    assessment: Mapping[str, Any],
+    *,
+    recovered_at: str,
+    new_task_session_id: str,
+) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Auditable record of the ownership and generation transition (AC10).
+
+    A recovered lock must never read as an original claim, so both sides of the
+    transition are preserved: what the incomplete lock recorded, and what
+    replaced it.
+    """
+    evidence = dict(assessment.get("evidence") or {})
+    contract = dict(assessment.get("contract") or {})
+    return {
+        "recovery_kind": "incomplete_bootstrap_lock",
+        "recovered_at": recovered_at,
+        "prior_contract": contract.get("contract"),
+        "prior_missing_fields": list(contract.get("missing_fields") or []),
+        "prior_claimant_placement": evidence.get("claimant_placement"),
+        "prior_expiration_state": evidence.get("expiration_state"),
+        "prior_generation": evidence.get("recorded_generation"),
+        "prior_owner_session": evidence.get("recorded_owner_session"),
+        "prior_freshness": (evidence.get("freshness") or {}).get("status"),
+        "replacement_task_session_id": new_task_session_id,
+        "preserved_head": evidence.get("observed_head"),
+        "branch_reset": False,
+        "base_equivalence_required": False,
+    }
+
+
+def format_recovery_refusal(assessment: Mapping[str, Any]) -> str:
+    reasons = "; ".join(
+        assessment.get("reasons") or ["unknown bootstrap lock recovery refusal"]
+    )
+    code = assessment.get("refusal_code") or "refused"
+    return f"Bootstrap lock recovery refused ({code}): {reasons} (fail closed)"

docs/author-issue-lock-contract.md

@@ -0,0 +1,209 @@
+# The canonical author issue-lock contract (#953)
+
+Every author issue lock has exactly one shape. Both writers —
+`gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree` and `gitea_lock_issue` — build it
+through `author_lock_contract.build_canonical_issue_lock`, and every reader
+consumes that same shape.
+
+Before #953 the two writers disagreed. `gitea_lock_issue` wrote the canonical
+record; bootstrap wrote a thinner one with the claimant at the lock top level,
+`lease_id: null`, and no `work_lease`, `lock_provenance`, or expiry. Because
+every reader was written against the canonical shape, a lock that bootstrap
+reported as successfully created could not be heartbeated, renewed, re-locked,
+or accepted by `gitea_create_pr`. Each of those gates was individually correct;
+the defect was that two writers disagreed about what a lock *is*.
+
+## Required ordering
+
+**Finalize the lock before writing any implementation bytes.** This ordering is
+what keeps recovery cheap: while the worktree is still base-equivalent, a lock
+problem can be fixed by simply calling `gitea_lock_issue` again. Once the branch
+carries commits, base-equivalence is gone and the ordinary re-lock path is no
+longer available.
+
+1. `gitea_whoami` — resolve identity and profile.
+2. `gitea_resolve_task_capability(task='work_issue')`.
+3. `gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree` — creates the branch, the registered
+   worktree under `branches/`, and a **canonical** lock. It reads the lock back
+   and verifies it structurally before reporting success; a partial lock fails
+   closed here, with the missing fields named, and never reports
+   `implementation_allowed: true`.
+4. `gitea_heartbeat_issue_lock` — prove the lock is usable, using the
+   `task_session_id` bootstrap returned.
+5. Implement, commit, push.
+6. `gitea_create_pr`.
+
+If bootstrap returns `success: false` with
+`reason_code: incomplete_issue_lock_contract`, **do not implement**. Its
+`exact_next_action` names the executable recovery step. Bootstrap's reported
+next action always matches the state it actually returned.
+
+### What that refusal leaves behind
+
+The AC7 refusal runs `run_compensating_recovery` *before* it reports, so the
+advice has to describe the post-rollback state rather than the shape of the lock
+that provoked it. Recommending incomplete-lock recovery for artifacts the
+rollback already deleted would produce `no_durable_lock` and then
+`worktree_invalid` — two refusals for a state a plain retry fixes.
+
+The refusal therefore carries `compensating_recovery` and
+`post_compensation_state`, and derives `exact_next_action` from what was
+observed on disk. `cleanup_state` is one of:
+
+| `cleanup_state` | Meaning | Next action |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `complete` | lock, branch, and worktree all removed | resolve `missing_fields` and re-run `gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree` |
+| `partial` | rollback ran; some artifacts survive, by design or because a step errored | scoped to exactly what survives — see below |
+| `failed` | rollback never completed, so nothing is proven removed | `gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract` (read-only) before anything else |
+
+Within `partial`, the surviving set decides the action:
+
+| Survives | Next action |
+| --- | --- |
+| lock + branch + worktree | `gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock` for that exact issue, branch, and worktree |
+| branch + worktree (lock released) | `gitea_lock_issue` — no implementation bytes were written, so the worktree is still base-equivalent |
+| lock only (worktree removed) | `gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract`; the surviving lock must be released by its recorded owner before bootstrap is retried |
+| branch only | `gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract`, then re-run bootstrap, which adopts the existing branch |
+
+`failed_rollback_steps` names any rollback step that errored, and the returned
+action says so rather than presenting the surviving state as intentional.
+
+> The lock half of that rollback was dead code until #953 review 632 F2:
+> `run_compensating_recovery` called `issue_lock_store.release_session_lock`,
+> which did not exist, inside a bare `except Exception: pass`. Every rollback
+> removed the branch and worktree and silently left the lock — the exact
+> uninspectable, unrecoverable state this issue exists to eliminate. The
+> function now exists, releases only a lock whose recorded `owner_session`
+> matches, and its failures are recorded rather than swallowed.
+
+## The contract
+
+A canonical lock carries every field in
+`author_lock_contract.REQUIRED_LOCK_FIELDS`:
+
+| Field | Meaning |
+| --- | --- |
+| `remote`, `org`, `repo`, `issue_number` | repository and issue identity |
+| `branch_name`, `worktree_path` | the binding this claim owns |
+| `work_lease` | the canonical lease block, below |
+| `lock_provenance` | sanctioned source, minted server-side |
+| `lock_generation` | monotonic; every write advances it |
+
+`work_lease` carries every field in
+`author_lock_contract.REQUIRED_WORK_LEASE_FIELDS`, notably:
+
+| Field | Meaning |
+| --- | --- |
+| `claimant.{username,profile}` | **canonical** claimant placement |
+| `expires_at` | sliding TTL from `lease_policy` |
+| `last_heartbeat_at`, `heartbeat_count` | liveness evidence |
+| `task_session_id` | the ownership fencing token — never null |
+| `lifecycle_version` | `heartbeat-v1`; its absence is what makes a lock legacy |
+
+### Claimant placement and legacy compatibility
+
+`work_lease.claimant` is canonical. A top-level `claimant` is the legacy
+placement written by pre-#953 bootstrap and is still **read** — through the one
+shared reader, `issue_lock_store.lock_claimant` — so an existing lock is not
+refused for "not recording a claimant" when it plainly records one.
+
+Tolerating the placement is not a widening. Every caller still compares the
+values against server-resolved identity and profile, so a legacy placement
+grants nothing the canonical placement would not. When both are present, the
+`work_lease` copy wins: after an upgrade, a stale top-level copy must never
+decide ownership.
+
+### Expiration is explicit
+
+A lock with no recorded expiry is **not** "not yet expired". `is_lease_expired`
+returns `False` for it, which used to make such a lock permanently non-expiring
+*and* permanently ineligible for #760 exact-owner renewal, which only ever
+assesses an expired lease. `author_lock_contract.expiration_state` names the
+real fact: `recorded`, `missing`, or `unparseable`. A `missing` expiry makes the
+lock eligible for the recovery path below rather than stranding it.
+
+## Recovering an existing incomplete bootstrap lock
+
+For locks already written by the old bootstrap — including those whose branches
+already carry legitimate committed and pushed work — use:
+
+```text
+gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract(issue_number, branch_name, worktree_path, remote=...)
+gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock(issue_number, branch_name, worktree_path, expected_head, remote=...)
+```
+
+`gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract` is strictly read-only: it performs no lock,
+lease, branch, worktree, issue, or pull-request mutation. Use it first to see
+which fields are missing and what the recommended action is; pass `dry_run=True`
+to the recovery tool to preview the decision without writing.
+
+`gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock` upgrades that one lock to the
+canonical contract. Before writing anything it verifies:
+
+* repository (`remote`, `org`, `repo`) and issue number
+* claimant username **and** profile against the server-resolved values — a
+  matching username alone is never accepted
+* branch, worktree path, worktree existence, and worktree registration
+* the worktree is on the recorded branch
+* the observed head equals the caller's `expected_head`
+* the existing lock's generation and provenance state
+* the absence of healthy foreign ownership
+
+What it deliberately does **not** do:
+
+* it never moves, resets, or rewinds the branch, and never requires
+  base-equivalence — preserving the committed work is the entire point;
+* it never pushes and never creates a pull request;
+* it touches only the single lock file for that exact remote/org/repo/issue;
+* it accepts no caller-supplied provenance and no caller-supplied authorization
+  flag — both are minted server-side.
+
+A recovered lock records a `bootstrap_lock_recovery` block holding both sides of
+the transition — prior contract, prior missing fields, prior generation, prior
+owning session, the replacement `task_session_id`, and the preserved head — so a
+recovered claim never reads as an original one.
+
+### Gates, in order
+
+`gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock` is an author-only durable-lock
+mutation and carries the same three gates as every comparable author operation,
+in this order:
+
+1. `role_session_router.check_author_mutation_after_reviewer_stop` — no author
+   fallback after a reviewer `wrong_role_stop`.
+2. `_namespace_mutation_block(task, remote=remote, author_role_exclusive=True)` —
+   the namespace wall. It refuses a reviewer-bound session and, because this
+   task's required permission is `gitea.issue.comment` (which merger,
+   controller, and reconciler profiles also hold), additionally requires the
+   active profile's derived role kind to be exactly `author`. A refusal carries
+   `namespace_block: true` and emits a `BLOCKED` audit record naming the
+   namespace and profile.
+3. `_profile_permission_block` — operation, provenance, and session-context
+   gates.
+
+Exact-owner claimant matching inside `assess_bootstrap_lock_recovery` runs
+*after* all three. It is a further layer, never a substitute for them: on its
+own it refuses one step too late and leaves the audit trail silent about the
+attempt.
+
+### Refusals
+
+| `refusal_code` | Meaning |
+| --- | --- |
+| `no_durable_lock` | nothing to recover |
+| `already_canonical` | lock is fine; rewriting would invalidate a live heartbeat token |
+| `foreign_claimant` | recorded claimant is not the active identity/profile pair |
+| `healthy_foreign_lock` | a live foreign-owned lock; takeover is not a recovery path |
+| `identity_unresolved` | identity or profile could not be resolved |
+| `binding_mismatch` | repository, issue, branch, or worktree does not match |
+| `worktree_invalid` | worktree missing, unregistered, or on another branch |
+| `head_mismatch` | the worktree moved under the caller |
+
+## The #447 create-PR provenance guard is unchanged
+
+`issue_lock_provenance.assess_lock_file_for_create_pr` still requires both a
+sanctioned `lock_provenance` and a `work_lease`, and the sanctioned source set
+was **not** widened. Bootstrap writes through
+`issue_lock_provenance.SOURCE_LOCK_ISSUE` — the lock it produces *is* a
+canonical lock, not a second dialect with its own exemption. Bootstrap now
+satisfies the guard rather than the guard being relaxed to admit bootstrap.

docs/mcp-tool-inventory.md

@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ that gates each call, not which tools exist.
 - `gitea_get_shell_health`
 - `gitea_heartbeat_issue_lock`
 - `gitea_heartbeat_reviewer_pr_lease`
+- `gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract`
 - `gitea_inspect_workflow_lease`
 - `gitea_issue_irrecoverable_provenance_authorization`
 - `gitea_list_dependency_edges`
@@ -134,6 +135,7 @@ that gates each call, not which tools exist.
 - `gitea_record_pre_review_command`
 - `gitea_record_shell_spawn_outcome`
 - `gitea_record_stable_branch_push_attempt`
+- `gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock`
 - `gitea_release_merger_pr_lease`
 - `gitea_release_reviewer_pr_lease`
 - `gitea_release_workflow_lease`

gitea_mcp_server.py

@@ -2110,6 +2110,8 @@ import issue_lock_store  # noqa: E402
 import issue_lock_adoption  # noqa: E402
 import issue_lock_recovery  # noqa: E402
 import issue_lock_renewal  # noqa: E402
+import author_lock_contract  # noqa: E402
+import bootstrap_lock_recovery  # noqa: E402
 import dirty_orphan_worktree_recovery  # noqa: E402  # #860 dirty orphan recovery
 import dirty_same_claimant_session_rebind  # noqa: E402  # #864
 import stacked_pr_support  # noqa: E402
@@ -2658,33 +2660,17 @@ def _build_author_issue_work_lease(
     worktree_path: str,
     host: str | None,
 ) -> dict:
-    created = _work_lease_now()
+    # #953: the lease shape now lives in author_lock_contract so that bootstrap
-    # #790 Slice A: the window comes from the central policy, not a literal here.
+    # and gitea_lock_issue cannot drift apart again. The policy-derived sliding
-    # It is also now a *sliding* window — the lease lives ``initial_ttl_minutes``
+    # TTL (#790 Slice A) and the task-session ownership key (#790 AC-N1) are
-    # past its last valid heartbeat rather than a fixed four hours past its
+    # unchanged — they simply have one definition instead of two.
-    # creation, so an abandoned task stops holding the claim within one TTL.
+    return author_lock_contract.build_author_issue_work_lease(
-    policy = lease_policy.policy_for(lease_policy.TASK_CLASS_AUTHOR_ISSUE_WORK)
+        issue_number=issue_number,
-    expires = created + timedelta(minutes=policy.initial_ttl_minutes)
+        branch_name=branch_name,
-    return {
+        worktree_path=worktree_path,
-        "operation_type": AUTHOR_ISSUE_WORK_LEASE,
+        claimant=_work_lease_claimant(host),
-        "issue_number": issue_number,
+        created=_work_lease_now(),
-        "pr_number": None,
+    )
-        "branch": branch_name,
-        "worktree_path": worktree_path,
-        "claimant": _work_lease_claimant(host),
-        "created_at": _work_lease_timestamp(created),
-        "expires_at": _work_lease_timestamp(expires),
-        "last_heartbeat_at": _work_lease_timestamp(created),
-        # #790 AC-N1: the ownership key for this task. Distinct from the recorded
-        # PID, which is the shared daemon and identifies no individual task.
-        "task_session_id": issue_lock_store.mint_task_session_id(
-            AUTHOR_ISSUE_WORK_LEASE
-        ),
-        # #790 AC-N8: the explicit lifecycle marker. Its absence — never a
-        # timestamp comparison — is what makes a lock legacy.
-        "lifecycle_version": lease_policy.LIFECYCLE_HEARTBEAT_V1,
-        "heartbeat_count": 1,
-    }
 
 
 def _active_work_lease_block(
@@ -4954,6 +4940,370 @@ def gitea_heartbeat_issue_lock(
     return outcome
 
 
+def _observe_recovery_worktree(worktree_path: str) -> dict:
+    """Observe head, branch, existence, and registration for lock recovery.
+
+    Read-only: it runs ``git`` queries and touches nothing. Kept separate from
+    the decision so the decision stays a pure function of observations (#953).
+    """
+    observation = {
+        "worktree_exists": os.path.isdir(worktree_path),
+        "worktree_registered": False,
+        "current_branch": "",
+        "observed_head": "",
+    }
+    if not observation["worktree_exists"]:
+        return observation
+    try:
+        observation["current_branch"] = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "-C", worktree_path, "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            check=False,
+        ).stdout.strip()
+        observation["observed_head"] = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "-C", worktree_path, "rev-parse", "HEAD"],
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            check=False,
+        ).stdout.strip()
+        listing = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "-C", worktree_path, "worktree", "list", "--porcelain"],
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            check=False,
+        ).stdout
+        real = os.path.realpath(worktree_path)
+        observation["worktree_registered"] = any(
+            os.path.realpath(line.split(" ", 1)[1].strip()) == real
+            for line in listing.splitlines()
+            if line.startswith("worktree ")
+        )
+    except Exception:  # fail closed: unobservable is not provable
+        return observation
+    return observation
+
+
+@mcp.tool()
+def gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract(
+    issue_number: int,
+    branch_name: str | None = None,
+    worktree_path: str | None = None,
+    remote: str = "dadeschools",
+    host: str | None = None,
+    org: str | None = None,
+    repo: str | None = None,
+) -> dict:
+    """Inspect a durable author issue lock against the canonical contract (#953 AC8/AC16).
+
+    Strictly read-only. It performs no lock, lease, branch, worktree, issue, or
+    pull-request mutation of any kind — it reads the durable lock record and
+    reports. Use it to find out *why* a lock is being refused before choosing a
+    recovery path, and to confirm afterwards that recovery produced a canonical
+    lock.
+
+    Reports which canonical fields are missing, where the claimant is recorded
+    (``work_lease`` is canonical, top level is the legacy/bootstrap placement),
+    whether an expiration is actually recorded — as opposed to absent, which
+    used to masquerade as "not yet expired" — whether the lock can be
+    heartbeated, and whether it satisfies the untouched #447 create-PR
+    provenance guard.
+
+    Args:
+        issue_number: The issue whose lock to inspect.
+        branch_name: Optional; when given, the recovery eligibility preview is
+            evaluated against this branch.
+        worktree_path: Optional; when given, the recovery eligibility preview is
+            evaluated against this worktree.
+        remote: Known instance — 'dadeschools' or 'prgs'.
+        host: Override the Gitea host.
+        org: Override the owner/organization.
+        repo: Override the repository name.
+
+    Returns:
+        dict with 'success', 'lock_present', 'lock_contract' (the structural
+        verdict), 'recommended_action', and — when branch_name and
+        worktree_path are supplied — a non-mutating 'recovery_preview'.
+    """
+    blocked = _profile_permission_block(
+        "gitea.read",
+        issue_number=issue_number,
+        remote=remote,
+        host=host,
+        org=org,
+        repo=repo,
+        org_explicit=org is not None,
+        repo_explicit=repo is not None,
+    )
+    if blocked:
+        return blocked
+
+    h, o, r = _resolve(remote, host, org, repo)
+    existing = _load_existing_issue_lock(
+        remote=remote, org=o, repo=r, issue_number=issue_number
+    )
+    contract = author_lock_contract.assess_lock_contract(existing)
+    result = {
+        "success": True,
+        "performed": False,
+        "mutation_performed": False,
+        "read_only": True,
+        "issue_number": issue_number,
+        "lock_present": bool(existing),
+        "lock_contract": contract,
+        "lock_freshness": (
+            issue_lock_store.assess_lock_freshness(dict(existing))
+            if existing
+            else {"status": issue_lock_store.STATUS_ABSENT, "live": False}
+        ),
+        "recommended_action": author_lock_contract.recommended_action(contract),
+    }
+
+    if branch_name and worktree_path:
+        resolved = issue_lock_worktree.resolve_author_worktree_path(
+            worktree_path, _canonical_local_git_root()
+        )
+        observation = _observe_recovery_worktree(resolved)
+        claimant = _work_lease_claimant(h)
+        result["recovery_preview"] = bootstrap_lock_recovery.assess_bootstrap_lock_recovery(
+            existing,
+            issue_number=issue_number,
+            branch_name=branch_name,
+            worktree_path=resolved,
+            remote=remote,
+            org=o,
+            repo=r,
+            identity=claimant.get("username"),
+            profile=claimant.get("profile"),
+            observed_head=observation["observed_head"],
+            declared_head=None,
+            worktree_exists=observation["worktree_exists"],
+            worktree_registered=observation["worktree_registered"],
+            current_branch=observation["current_branch"],
+        )
+    return result
+
+
+@mcp.tool()
+def gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock(
+    issue_number: int,
+    branch_name: str,
+    worktree_path: str,
+    expected_head: str,
+    remote: str = "dadeschools",
+    host: str | None = None,
+    org: str | None = None,
+    repo: str | None = None,
+    dry_run: bool = False,
+) -> dict:
+    """Upgrade an incomplete bootstrap issue lock to the canonical contract (#953 AC8-AC11).
+
+    Explicit, target-specific recovery. It does **not** widen
+    ``gitea_lock_issue``, and it is not a takeover path.
+
+    The state it repairs: ``gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree`` reported
+    success but wrote a lock with the claimant at the top level, no
+    ``work_lease``, no ``lock_provenance``, and no expiry. The author then
+    implemented, committed, and pushed — following bootstrap's own reported next
+    action — after which heartbeat, re-lock, exact-owner renewal, and the #447
+    create-PR guard all refuse simultaneously.
+
+    Deliberate non-behaviours: the branch is never moved, reset, or rewound, and
+    base-equivalence is never required — preserving the already-committed and
+    pushed work is the entire point. Nothing is pushed and no pull request is
+    created. Only the single lock file for this exact (remote, org, repo, issue)
+    is written.
+
+    Ownership is proven, never asserted. The claimant recorded on the durable
+    lock must match **both** the server-resolved identity and the active
+    profile; a matching username alone is refused. Repository, issue, branch,
+    worktree, registration, current branch, and head are all verified before any
+    write, and the declared ``expected_head`` must equal the observed head. A
+    healthy foreign-owned lock is refused outright. Provenance and authorization
+    are minted server-side — there is no parameter through which a caller can
+    supply either.
+
+    Args:
+        issue_number: The issue whose incomplete lock is being recovered.
+        branch_name: The branch recorded on the lock; must match.
+        worktree_path: The registered worktree recorded on the lock; must match.
+        expected_head: Full SHA the caller believes the worktree is at. A
+            mismatch fails closed, so a worktree that moved underneath the
+            caller cannot be recovered against stale evidence.
+        remote: Known instance — 'dadeschools' or 'prgs'.
+        host: Override the Gitea host.
+        org: Override the owner/organization.
+        repo: Override the repository name.
+        dry_run: Report the decision and evidence, mutate nothing.
+
+    Returns:
+        dict with 'success', 'performed', the resulting canonical
+        'lock_contract' and 'work_lease', the auditable
+        'bootstrap_lock_recovery' transition record, and 'exact_next_action'; on
+        refusal 'success'/'performed' False with 'refusal_code' and 'reasons'
+        naming exactly which evidence was missing, and no write performed.
+    """
+    task = "recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock"
+    ok, block_reasons = role_session_router.check_author_mutation_after_reviewer_stop(
+        task
+    )
+    if not ok:
+        return _author_mutation_block(block_reasons)
+
+    # #953 F1: the namespace/session wall every author state-creating mutation
+    # carries, and which this tool — the structural neighbour of
+    # gitea_recover_dirty_orphaned_issue_worktree, writing the same durable
+    # lock — was the only one to omit. Exact-owner claimant matching inside
+    # assess_bootstrap_lock_recovery is a later layer, not a substitute: it
+    # refuses one commit too late and leaves no BLOCKED audit record of the
+    # attempt. author_role_exclusive is required here because this task is gated
+    # on gitea.issue.comment, which merger, controller, and reconciler profiles
+    # also hold.
+    blocked = _namespace_mutation_block(
+        task, remote=remote, author_role_exclusive=True
+    )
+    if blocked:
+        return blocked
+
+    blocked = _profile_permission_block(
+        task_capability_map.required_permission(task),
+        issue_number=issue_number,
+        remote=remote,
+        host=host,
+        org=org,
+        repo=repo,
+        org_explicit=org is not None,
+        repo_explicit=repo is not None,
+    )
+    if blocked:
+        return blocked
+
+    h, o, r = _resolve(remote, host, org, repo)
+    resolved_worktree = issue_lock_worktree.resolve_author_worktree_path(
+        worktree_path, _canonical_local_git_root()
+    )
+    existing = _load_existing_issue_lock(
+        remote=remote, org=o, repo=r, issue_number=issue_number
+    )
+    observation = _observe_recovery_worktree(resolved_worktree)
+
+    # The claimant pair is resolved server-side from the live session; the
+    # caller cannot influence which identity or profile recovery compares
+    # against.
+    claimant = _work_lease_claimant(h)
+    assessment = bootstrap_lock_recovery.assess_bootstrap_lock_recovery(
+        existing,
+        issue_number=issue_number,
+        branch_name=branch_name,
+        worktree_path=resolved_worktree,
+        remote=remote,
+        org=o,
+        repo=r,
+        identity=claimant.get("username"),
+        profile=claimant.get("profile"),
+        observed_head=observation["observed_head"],
+        declared_head=expected_head,
+        worktree_exists=observation["worktree_exists"],
+        worktree_registered=observation["worktree_registered"],
+        current_branch=observation["current_branch"],
+    )
+
+    if not assessment["recovery_sanctioned"]:
+        return {
+            "success": False,
+            "performed": False,
+            "mutation_performed": False,
+            "issue_number": issue_number,
+            "refusal_code": assessment["refusal_code"],
+            "reasons": assessment["reasons"],
+            "message": bootstrap_lock_recovery.format_recovery_refusal(assessment),
+            "lock_contract": assessment["contract"],
+            "evidence": assessment["evidence"],
+        }
+
+    if dry_run:
+        return {
+            "success": True,
+            "performed": False,
+            "mutation_performed": False,
+            "dry_run": True,
+            "issue_number": issue_number,
+            "would_recover": True,
+            "lock_contract": assessment["contract"],
+            "evidence": assessment["evidence"],
+            "exact_next_action": (
+                "Re-run without dry_run=True to upgrade this lock to the "
+                "canonical contract."
+            ),
+        }
+
+    recovered = author_lock_contract.build_canonical_issue_lock(
+        issue_number=issue_number,
+        branch_name=branch_name,
+        worktree_path=resolved_worktree,
+        remote=remote,
+        org=o,
+        repo=r,
+        identity=claimant.get("username"),
+        profile=claimant.get("profile"),
+        tool="gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock",
+        source=issue_lock_provenance.SOURCE_LOCK_ISSUE,
+        owner_session=(existing or {}).get("owner_session"),
+        expected_base_sha=(existing or {}).get("expected_base_sha"),
+    )
+    # AC10: preserve both sides of the transition so a recovered lock never
+    # reads as an original claim.
+    recovered["bootstrap_lock_recovery"] = bootstrap_lock_recovery.build_recovery_record(
+        assessment,
+        recovered_at=_work_lease_timestamp(_work_lease_now()),
+        new_task_session_id=recovered["work_lease"]["task_session_id"],
+    )
+
+    try:
+        lock_path = issue_lock_store.bind_session_lock(
+            recovered,
+            expected_generation=assessment["expected_generation"],
+            recovery_sanctioned=True,
+        )
+    except Exception as exc:
+        return {
+            "success": False,
+            "performed": False,
+            "mutation_performed": False,
+            "issue_number": issue_number,
+            "refusal_code": "lock_write_failed",
+            "reasons": [str(exc)],
+            "message": f"Recovered lock could not be persisted: {exc} (fail closed)",
+        }
+
+    written = issue_lock_store.read_lock_file(lock_path)
+    contract = author_lock_contract.assess_lock_contract(written)
+    return {
+        "success": True,
+        "performed": True,
+        "mutation_performed": True,
+        "issue_number": issue_number,
+        "branch_name": branch_name,
+        "worktree_path": resolved_worktree,
+        "lock_file_path": lock_path,
+        "lock_contract": contract,
+        "work_lease": (written or {}).get("work_lease"),
+        "task_session_id": contract["task_session_id"],
+        "lock_generation": (written or {}).get("lock_generation"),
+        "prior_generation": assessment["expected_generation"],
+        "bootstrap_lock_recovery": (written or {}).get("bootstrap_lock_recovery"),
+        "preserved_head": observation["observed_head"],
+        "branch_reset": False,
+        "pushed": False,
+        "pr_created": False,
+        "exact_next_action": (
+            "Lock is canonical. Heartbeat it with the returned task_session_id, "
+            "then continue the author workflow; publish and create the pull "
+            "request through the normal sanctioned calls."
+        ),
+    }
+
+
 @mcp.tool()
 def gitea_recover_dirty_orphaned_issue_worktree(
     issue_number: int,
@@ -15155,8 +15505,21 @@ def _profile_permission_block(required_operation: str, **extra_fields) -> dict |
     )
 
 
-def _namespace_mutation_block(mutation_task: str, **extra_fields) -> dict | None:
+def _namespace_mutation_block(
-    """Reviewer/author namespace alignment gate (#209)."""
+    mutation_task: str,
+    *,
+    author_role_exclusive: bool = False,
+    **extra_fields,
+) -> dict | None:
+    """Reviewer/author namespace alignment gate (#209).
+
+    ``author_role_exclusive`` additionally requires the active profile's derived
+    role kind to be exactly ``author`` (#953 F1). Off by default, so the six
+    pre-existing call sites are unchanged. Tools whose required permission is
+    ``gitea.issue.comment`` — which every configured role holds — opt in, since
+    the reviewer-namespace check alone would let a merger, controller, or
+    reconciler session through to a durable author lock write.
+    """
     required_permission = task_capability_map.required_permission(mutation_task)
     required_role = task_capability_map.required_role(mutation_task)
     # #714: evaluate active profile only — never auto-switch.
@@ -15178,6 +15541,9 @@ def _namespace_mutation_block(mutation_task: str, **extra_fields) -> dict | None
         }
     ok, reasons = role_namespace_gate.check_author_mutation_namespace(
         mutation_task, profile)
+    if ok and author_role_exclusive:
+        ok, reasons = role_namespace_gate.check_author_role_kind(
+            mutation_task, profile)
     if ok:
         return None
     blocked = {

issue_lock_store.py

@@ -299,9 +299,13 @@ def _ownership_refusals(
             f"lock worktree '{lock.get('worktree_path')}' does not match "
             f"'{worktree_path}'"
         )
-    lease = lock.get("work_lease") if isinstance(lock, dict) else None
+    # #953 AC2/AC13/AC14: read through the shared claimant reader so a lock
-    claimant = lease.get("claimant") if isinstance(lease, dict) else None
+    # written by bootstrap — which records the claimant at the top level — is
-    claimant = claimant if isinstance(claimant, dict) else {}
+    # not refused for "not recording a claimant" when it plainly records one.
+    # This is not a widening: the values are still compared against the
+    # server-resolved identity and profile immediately below, so a legacy
+    # placement grants nothing that the canonical placement would not.
+    claimant = lock_claimant(lock) if isinstance(lock, dict) else {}
     recorded_identity = str(claimant.get("username") or "").strip()
     recorded_profile = str(claimant.get("profile") or "").strip()
     if not recorded_identity or not recorded_profile:
@@ -636,6 +640,99 @@ def iter_lock_files(lock_dir: str | None = None) -> list[str]:
     return sorted(paths)
 
 
+def release_session_lock(
+    *,
+    issue_number: int,
+    session: str,
+    lock_dir: str | None = None,
+    remote: str | None = None,
+    org: str | None = None,
+    repo: str | None = None,
+) -> str:
+    """Remove exactly the durable lock *session* created for *issue_number*.
+
+    ``author_issue_bootstrap.run_compensating_recovery`` has called this name
+    since #850, but it was never defined: the call raised ``AttributeError``
+    into a bare ``except Exception: pass``, so the lock half of every
+    compensating rollback silently did nothing. The branch and worktree were
+    removed and the lock was left behind — a state no sanctioned tool can act
+    on, since recovery refuses ``worktree_invalid`` and ``gitea_lock_issue`` has
+    no worktree to bind (#953 review 632 F2).
+
+    Ownership is proven, not asserted. A record is removed only when its
+    recorded ``owner_session`` equals *session* and its issue number matches;
+    ``remote``/``org``/``repo`` narrow it further when supplied. Zero matches or
+    more than one both raise, so a caller can never delete a lock it does not
+    own and an ambiguous directory is never guessed at. The ``.json.lock`` flock
+    sidecar is deliberately left in place — it is a zero-byte mutex another
+    process may hold, and removing it under contention would be a race.
+
+    Returns the removed lock file path.
+    """
+    target_issue = int(issue_number)
+    owner = str(session or "").strip()
+    if not owner:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "release_session_lock requires the owning session id (fail closed)"
+        )
+
+    def _is_owned_durable_lock(record: dict[str, Any] | None) -> bool:
+        # A durable lock, not a bootstrap phase journal or a session pointer,
+        # both of which can share a directory and carry the same issue number
+        # and owner_session.
+        if not record or "lock_generation" not in record:
+            return False
+        if not str(record.get("branch_name") or "").strip():
+            return False
+        if not str(record.get("worktree_path") or "").strip():
+            return False
+        try:
+            if int(record.get("issue_number") or 0) != target_issue:
+                return False
+        except (TypeError, ValueError):
+            return False
+        return str(record.get("owner_session") or "").strip() == owner
+
+    # Prefer the exact keyed path when the caller knows the repository; scanning
+    # is the fallback for callers that only carry the issue number.
+    if remote and org and repo:
+        exact = lock_file_path(
+            remote=remote,
+            org=org,
+            repo=repo,
+            issue_number=target_issue,
+            lock_dir=lock_dir,
+        )
+        if not _is_owned_durable_lock(read_lock_file(exact)):
+            raise FileNotFoundError(
+                f"durable issue lock '{exact}' is absent or is not owned by "
+                f"session '{owner}' (fail closed; nothing released)"
+            )
+        os.remove(exact)
+        return exact
+
+    matches: list[str] = []
+    for path in iter_lock_files(lock_dir):
+        if _is_owned_durable_lock(read_lock_file(path)):
+            matches.append(path)
+
+    if not matches:
+        raise FileNotFoundError(
+            f"no durable issue lock for issue #{target_issue} is owned by "
+            f"session '{owner}' (fail closed; nothing released)"
+        )
+    if len(matches) > 1:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"{len(matches)} durable locks for issue #{target_issue} claim "
+            f"session '{owner}'; refusing to guess which to release "
+            "(fail closed)"
+        )
+
+    path = matches[0]
+    os.remove(path)
+    return path
+
+
 def find_lock_for_branch(
     *,
     remote: str,
@@ -1112,21 +1209,43 @@ def assess_same_issue_lease_conflict(
     )
 
 
-def _lock_claimant(lock: dict[str, Any] | None) -> dict[str, str]:
+def lock_claimant(lock: dict[str, Any] | None) -> dict[str, str]:
+    """Read the claimant from either canonical or legacy placement (#953 AC13/AC14).
+
+    ``work_lease.claimant`` is the canonical placement and is preferred; a
+    top-level ``claimant`` is the legacy/bootstrap placement and is accepted as
+    a fallback. This is the single definition. Before #953 the readers
+    disagreed: this module, ``issue_lock_renewal``, and ``issue_lock_recovery``
+    tolerated both placements, while ``_ownership_refusals`` looked only in
+    ``work_lease`` — which is what made a bootstrap-written lock
+    un-heartbeatable.
+
+    Preferring ``work_lease`` over the top level is deliberate: once a legacy
+    lock is upgraded, the canonical placement is authoritative and a stale
+    top-level copy must never win.
+
+    This decides *where to look*, never whether ownership is proven — every
+    caller still compares these values against server-resolved identity and
+    profile.
+    """
     if not isinstance(lock, dict):
         return {}
-    claimant = lock.get("claimant")
-    if not isinstance(claimant, dict):
     lease = lock.get("work_lease")
     claimant = lease.get("claimant") if isinstance(lease, dict) else None
+    if not isinstance(claimant, dict):
+        claimant = lock.get("claimant")
     if not isinstance(claimant, dict):
         return {}
     return {
-        "username": str(claimant.get("username") or ""),
+        "username": str(claimant.get("username") or "").strip(),
-        "profile": str(claimant.get("profile") or ""),
+        "profile": str(claimant.get("profile") or "").strip(),
     }
 
 
+#: Back-compatible alias for the pre-#953 private name.
+_lock_claimant = lock_claimant
+
+
 def assess_foreign_lock_overwrite(
     existing_lock: dict[str, Any] | None,
     incoming_lock: dict[str, Any],

role_namespace_gate.py

@@ -74,6 +74,43 @@ def check_author_mutation_namespace(
     return True, []
 
 
+def check_author_role_kind(
+    mutation_task: str,
+    profile: dict,
+) -> tuple[bool, list[str]]:
+    """Author-exclusive wall for durable-lock mutations (#953 F1).
+
+    ``check_author_mutation_namespace`` walls off reviewer-bound sessions, which
+    is the whole gate for tasks whose required permission is itself author-only
+    (``gitea.pr.create``, ``gitea.repo.commit``). It is *not* sufficient for a
+    task gated on ``gitea.issue.comment``, which every configured role holds: a
+    merger, controller, or reconciler session would clear both the namespace
+    check and the permission gate and still reach the durable write.
+
+    Opt-in per call site and additive. It refuses any active profile whose
+    derived role kind is not exactly ``author`` for a task the router declares
+    author-required, and grants nothing to anyone — a ``mixed`` profile is
+    refused rather than admitted.
+    """
+    required_role = role_session_router.required_role_for_task(mutation_task)
+    if required_role != "author":
+        return True, []
+
+    allowed = profile.get("allowed_operations") or []
+    forbidden = profile.get("forbidden_operations") or []
+    active_role = derive_role_kind(allowed, forbidden)
+    if active_role == "author":
+        return True, []
+
+    profile_name = profile.get("profile_name") or ""
+    namespace = infer_mcp_namespace(profile_name)
+    return False, [
+        f"author mutation '{mutation_task}' blocked: active session role kind is "
+        f"'{active_role}', not 'author' ({profile_name} / {namespace}); this "
+        "operation writes a durable author issue lock and is author-exclusive",
+    ]
+
+
 def mutation_audit_context(mutation_task: str, profile: dict, *,
                            remote=None, repository=None) -> dict:
     """Structured mutation metadata for audit records (#209)."""

role_session_router.py

@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ AUTHOR_TASKS = frozenset({
     "push_branch",
     "bootstrap_author_issue_worktree",
     "gitea_bootstrap_author_issue_worktree",
+    # #953: recovery of an incomplete bootstrap lock is an author-only durable
+    # state mutation and belongs to the same class as bootstrap itself.
+    "recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock",
+    "gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock",
     "create_pr",
     "comment_pr",
     "address_pr_change_requests",
@@ -112,6 +116,12 @@ TASK_REQUIRED_ROLE = {
     "claim_issue": "author",
     "create_branch": "author",
     "push_branch": "author",
+    # #953: without this entry ``required_role_for_task`` returns None and
+    # ``role_namespace_gate.check_author_mutation_namespace`` short-circuits to
+    # "allowed" — the namespace wall on the recovery tool would be inert. The
+    # capability map already records the same role; both tables must agree.
+    "recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock": "author",
+    "gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock": "author",
     "create_pr": "author",
     "comment_pr": "author",
     "address_pr_change_requests": "author",

task_capability_map.py

@@ -41,6 +41,27 @@ TASK_CAPABILITY_MAP: dict[str, dict[str, str]] = {
         "permission": "gitea.issue.comment",
         "role": "author",
     },
+    # #953: target-specific upgrade of an incomplete bootstrap lock (explicit
+    # operation, never a widening of lock_issue). Author-only, and the tool
+    # additionally proves exact-owner claimant match before writing.
+    "recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock": {
+        "permission": "gitea.issue.comment",
+        "role": "author",
+    },
+    "gitea_recover_incomplete_bootstrap_lock": {
+        "permission": "gitea.issue.comment",
+        "role": "author",
+    },
+    # #953: read-only lock contract inspection. Read permission only — it must
+    # never be able to mutate.
+    "inspect_issue_lock_contract": {
+        "permission": "gitea.read",
+        "role": "author",
+    },
+    "gitea_inspect_issue_lock_contract": {
+        "permission": "gitea.read",
+        "role": "author",
+    },
     # #860: dirty orphaned same-claimant worktree recovery (explicit operation).
     "recover_dirty_orphaned_issue_worktree": {
         "permission": "gitea.issue.comment",