fleetd #505: a herdr error during the pane scan must not read as a clean negative

A transient herdr error on pane.process_info during PaneLocator's pid→pane scan used
to be swallowed into a plain "does not own it", so a real worker whose owning pane
errored mid-scan resolved with a null terminal but a resolved (real) pid — exactly
what CallerResolver's loopback-trust fallback reads as the primary. That is a
worker→primary privilege escalation through the door fleetd #317 did not close: #317
guards a failed lsof lookup (c.resolved()), not a failed herdr pane scan.

Fix: add a third state to the scan instead of widening Caller.resolved() (which stays
centralised next to the lsof sentinel it tests, per #505's explicit instruction not
to reopen that decision). PaneLocator.terminalForPid now returns a Lookup(terminal,
complete) record: a HerdrException on one pane marks that pane's ownership UNKNOWN,
not DOES_NOT_OWN, and the scan is complete only if every pane was either matched or
confirmed not to own the pid. A definite match found elsewhere in the same scan
still short-circuits as complete — a pane that genuinely vanished mid-scan without
being the caller's own does not turn into a refusal.

ConnectionIdentity.Caller carries the new scanComplete flag alongside the unchanged
resolved(). CallerResolver's loopback-trust fallback now requires both resolved()
and scanComplete() before promoting to Principal.primary(); an incomplete scan
resolves anonymous, which fails toward the recoverable error (a refused primary
retries loudly; a promoted worker would not).

Logs a warning naming the pane and which herdr client (of how many) failed, so the
incomplete-scan path is diagnosable rather than silent (fleetd #317's own lesson).

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/Fleetd.java

@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.function.Function;
+import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
@@ -270,15 +271,12 @@ public final class Fleetd {
         // the first thing that actually talks to herdr, so without this wait a boot-order race
         // would crash the daemon into a restart loop. Wait, then degrade rather than die: serving
         // with /healthz reporting "degraded" is strictly more useful than exiting.
-        boolean herdrUp = awaitHerdr(herdr);
+        HerdrAwaitOutcome herdrOutcome = awaitHerdr(herdr, System::nanoTime, Fleetd::sleepHerdrPoll);
+        boolean herdrUp = logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap(herdrOutcome);
         if (herdrUp) {
             // CB-117: herdr keeps worker panes alive across a daemon restart, and their ids died
             // with the previous process — reap those leaked orphans now, before we start serving.
             workers.reapOrphanWorkers();
-        } else {
-            log.warn("herdr did not answer within {}s — starting anyway; /healthz will report "
-                    + "degraded until it comes up. Orphaned worker panes (if any) were NOT reaped.",
-                    HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS);
         }
 
         // CB-301: authoritative session registry + lifecycle FSM on top of ClaudeCodeLauncher.
@@ -1696,12 +1694,70 @@ public final class Fleetd {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Poll herdr's {@code ping} until it answers or {@link #HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS} elapses (CB-504).
-     *
-     * @return true if herdr answered, false if it never did
+     * How {@link #awaitHerdr} ended (fleetd #498). The old code returned a bare {@code boolean},
+     * which collapsed two different facts onto the same {@code false}: the configured wait budget
+     * genuinely running out, and the waiting thread being interrupted possibly milliseconds in.
+     * Those need different operator messages — see {@link #logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap} — so
+     * this is a third state, not a better number (the same shape fleetd #497 named). Never treat
+     * {@link #INTERRUPTED} as if it were {@link #DEADLINE_PASSED}: only the latter means herdr was
+     * actually given the full {@link #HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS} and still failed to answer.
      */
-    private static boolean awaitHerdr(HerdrClient herdr) {
-        long deadline = System.nanoTime() + HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS * 1_000_000_000L;
+    enum HerdrWaitResult {
+        /** herdr answered {@code ping} before the deadline. */
+        ANSWERED,
+        /** the configured {@link #HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS} budget elapsed with no answer. */
+        DEADLINE_PASSED,
+        /**
+         * the waiting thread was interrupted before the budget ran out — a different event from
+         * {@link #DEADLINE_PASSED} and must never be reported as "did not answer within Ns".
+         */
+        INTERRUPTED
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The outcome of one {@link #awaitHerdr} call, carrying the MEASURED elapsed wait time
+     * alongside {@link #result}. {@code elapsedNanos} is always measured against the {@code nanos}
+     * supplier passed to {@link #awaitHerdr} — never assume it equals the configured budget, the
+     * same defect fleetd #494 already fixed once in {@code LeadRollover}.
+     */
+    record HerdrAwaitOutcome(HerdrWaitResult result, long elapsedNanos) {}
+
+    /**
+     * The real per-poll wait {@link #main} passes to {@link #awaitHerdr}: sleep
+     * {@link #HERDR_WAIT_POLL_MILLIS}, and on interruption re-set the thread's interrupt flag
+     * rather than throwing — {@link #awaitHerdr} detects an interruption by checking {@link
+     * Thread#isInterrupted()} right after this returns, so a poller that swallowed the flag
+     * instead of restoring it would make that check silently miss the interruption.
+     */
+    private static void sleepHerdrPoll() {
+        try {
+            Thread.sleep(HERDR_WAIT_POLL_MILLIS);
+        } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
+            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Poll herdr's {@code ping} until it answers, the configured {@link #HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS}
+     * budget elapses, or the waiting thread is interrupted (CB-504, fleetd #498).
+     *
+     * <p>{@code nanos} and {@code poller} are required parameters with no defaulted overload
+     * (fleetd #415's shape: a defaulted overload is a silent survivor a green suite would vouch
+     * for) — the previous version read {@link System#nanoTime()} and called {@link Thread#sleep}
+     * directly, so nothing could drive it from a test. The one production call site in {@link
+     * #main} passes {@code System::nanoTime} and {@link #sleepHerdrPoll}.
+     *
+     * @param nanos  a monotonic elapsed-time clock, e.g. {@code System::nanoTime} — never a
+     *               wall-clock source, since only elapsed time (not a timestamp) is measured here
+     * @param poller called once per failed ping while the budget remains; must, on an
+     *               {@link InterruptedException}, re-set the thread's interrupt flag rather than
+     *               throw or swallow it — this method's interruption check reads that flag right
+     *               after {@code poller.run()} returns
+     * @return the outcome and the measured elapsed wait time — see {@link HerdrAwaitOutcome}
+     */
+    static HerdrAwaitOutcome awaitHerdr(HerdrClient herdr, LongSupplier nanos, Runnable poller) {
+        long start = nanos.getAsLong();
+        long deadline = start + HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS * 1_000_000_000L;
         boolean waited = false;
         while (true) {
             try {
@@ -1709,25 +1765,57 @@ public final class Fleetd {
                 if (waited) {
                     log.info("herdr is up");
                 }
-                return true;
+                return new HerdrAwaitOutcome(HerdrWaitResult.ANSWERED, nanos.getAsLong() - start);
             } catch (HerdrException e) {
-                if (System.nanoTime() >= deadline) {
-                    return false;
+                if (nanos.getAsLong() >= deadline) {
+                    return new HerdrAwaitOutcome(HerdrWaitResult.DEADLINE_PASSED, nanos.getAsLong() - start);
                 }
                 if (!waited) {
                     log.info("waiting up to {}s for the herdr socket…", HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS);
                     waited = true;
                 }
-                try {
-                    Thread.sleep(HERDR_WAIT_POLL_MILLIS);
-                } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
-                    Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
-                    return false;
+                poller.run();
+                if (Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted()) {
+                    return new HerdrAwaitOutcome(HerdrWaitResult.INTERRUPTED, nanos.getAsLong() - start);
                 }
             }
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Log the right message for {@code outcome} — never the configured {@link #HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS}
+     * budget alone, always the measured elapsed time next to it — and say whether {@link #main}
+     * should now reap orphan worker panes (fleetd #498).
+     *
+     * <p>Extracted out of {@link #main} so this decision is drivable from a test: {@link #main}
+     * boots the whole daemon and cannot itself be run in a unit test, but this is the exact,
+     * unmodified code {@link #main} calls for the decision, not a re-derivation of it.
+     *
+     * @return true only for {@link HerdrWaitResult#ANSWERED} — orphan workers are reaped only
+     *         then, exactly as before this ticket
+     */
+    static boolean logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap(HerdrAwaitOutcome outcome) {
+        long elapsedMillis = TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.toMillis(outcome.elapsedNanos());
+        if (outcome.result() == HerdrWaitResult.ANSWERED) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (outcome.result() == HerdrWaitResult.DEADLINE_PASSED) {
+            log.warn("herdr did not answer within the configured wait (configured={}s elapsed={}ms) "
+                    + "— starting anyway; /healthz will report degraded until it comes up. Orphaned "
+                    + "worker panes (if any) were NOT reaped.",
+                    HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS, elapsedMillis);
+            return false;
+        }
+        // HerdrWaitResult.INTERRUPTED — a different fact from DEADLINE_PASSED (fleetd #498): the
+        // wait was cut short, not exhausted, and must never be reported as "did not answer within
+        // Ns" — that claim would be false and would send an operator to debug herdr for nothing.
+        log.warn("herdr wait was interrupted before the configured wait ran out (configured={}s "
+                + "elapsed={}ms) — starting anyway; /healthz will report degraded until it comes "
+                + "up. Orphaned worker panes (if any) were NOT reaped.",
+                HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS, elapsedMillis);
+        return false;
+    }
+
     private Fleetd() {
     }
 }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/auth/CallerResolver.java

@@ -244,7 +244,15 @@ public final class CallerResolver {
         // already names what happens if that case is handed the primary role: a worker→primary
         // escalation. So an unresolved caller is refused (ANONYMOUS — the same clean, already-tested
         // "authenticated as nothing" outcome used everywhere else in this method), never promoted.
-        return isLoopback(remoteAddr) && c.resolved() ? Principal.primary(c.pid()) : Principal.anonymous();
+        //
+        // fleetd #505: the OTHER way a real pid can wrongly reach here with a null terminal — not a
+        // failed lsof lookup, but a herdr error partway through PaneLocator's pane scan. c.resolved()
+        // says nothing about that; it only tests the lsof sentinel (by design — see
+        // ConnectionIdentity.Caller#resolved). c.scanComplete() is the separate signal: a scan that
+        // could not check every pane must not be read as "checked everywhere, no match" — the pane it
+        // could not check might have been the caller's own. So both must hold before this promotes.
+        return isLoopback(remoteAddr) && c.resolved() && c.scanComplete()
+                ? Principal.primary(c.pid()) : Principal.anonymous();
     }
 
     private boolean presentedTokenMatches(String authorizationHeader) {

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/PaneLocator.java

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package dev.ltms.fleet.herdr;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -36,6 +38,8 @@ import java.util.Set;
  */
 public final class PaneLocator {
 
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PaneLocator.class);
+
     /**
      * Bound on how many ancestor generations {@link #ancestorsOf} walks. This runs on every MCP
      * call, so a cycle or a pathologically deep process tree must not hang identity resolution;
@@ -73,22 +77,46 @@ public final class PaneLocator {
     }
 
     /**
-     * The {@code terminal_id} of the agent pane whose process tree contains {@code pid}, or
-     * {@code null} if no agent pane on any searched daemon owns it (e.g. the caller is the
-     * primary, or off-host).
+     * The outcome of a {@link #terminalForPid} scan: the {@code terminal_id} of the agent pane
+     * whose process tree contains the pid ({@link #terminal} is {@code null} if none matched),
+     * and whether the scan that produced that answer ran to completion on every daemon searched.
+     *
+     * <p>{@link #complete} is {@code false} exactly when some {@code pane.process_info} call
+     * failed and, despite that, no pane was ever found to own the pid. In that case a {@code null}
+     * {@link #terminal} means "could not tell", not "definitely not a worker" — fleetd #505: a
+     * transient herdr error on the very pane that <em>does</em> own the caller's pid must not read
+     * as a clean negative and fall through to {@code Principal.primary}, the same way #317's
+     * {@code Caller.resolved()} already guards a failed lsof lookup. Callers ({@code
+     * ConnectionIdentity}, {@code CallerResolver}) must refuse rather than promote on an incomplete
+     * scan.
+     *
+     * <p>When a pane genuinely owns the pid, {@link #complete} is {@code true} regardless of
+     * whether some other, unrelated pane failed to answer earlier in the same scan — a positive
+     * match is definitive and does not need every pane to have been checked (a pane that "vanished
+     * mid-scan" but was never the match is still a clean, complete result).
      */
-    public String terminalForPid(long pid) {
+    public record Lookup(String terminal, boolean complete) {
+        private static final Lookup NOT_FOUND = new Lookup(null, true);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Resolve {@code pid} to the agent pane whose process tree contains it, across every searched
+     * herdr daemon. See {@link Lookup} for how to read a {@code null} terminal.
+     */
+    public Lookup terminalForPid(long pid) {
         if (pid <= 0) {
-            return null;
+            return Lookup.NOT_FOUND;
         }
         Set<Long> ancestry = ancestorsOf(pid);
-        for (HerdrClient herdr : herdrs) {
-            String terminal = terminalForPid(herdr, ancestry);
-            if (terminal != null) {
-                return terminal;
+        boolean complete = true;
+        for (int i = 0; i < herdrs.size(); i++) {
+            Lookup outcome = scan(herdrs.get(i), i, herdrs.size(), ancestry);
+            if (outcome.terminal() != null) {
+                return outcome; // a definite match — no need to finish checking other clients
             }
+            complete = complete && outcome.complete();
         }
-        return null;
+        return new Lookup(null, complete);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -117,31 +145,51 @@ public final class PaneLocator {
         return ancestry;
     }
 
-    private static String terminalForPid(HerdrClient herdr, Set<Long> ancestry) {
+    /** Whether a pane owns one of the scanned pid's ancestors, or the check of it failed outright. */
+    private enum Ownership { OWNS, DOES_NOT_OWN, UNKNOWN }
+
+    private static Lookup scan(HerdrClient herdr, int clientIndex, int clientCount, Set<Long> ancestry) {
+        boolean complete = true;
         for (JsonNode pane : herdr.call("pane.list", Map.of()).path("panes")) {
             String paneId = pane.path("pane_id").asText(null);
-            if (paneId != null && paneOwnsAnyOf(herdr, paneId, ancestry)) {
-                return pane.path("terminal_id").asText(null);
+            if (paneId == null) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            Ownership owns = paneOwnsAnyOf(herdr, clientIndex, clientCount, paneId, ancestry);
+            if (owns == Ownership.OWNS) {
+                return new Lookup(pane.path("terminal_id").asText(null), true);
+            }
+            if (owns == Ownership.UNKNOWN) {
+                complete = false;
             }
         }
-        return null;
+        return new Lookup(null, complete);
     }
 
-    private static boolean paneOwnsAnyOf(HerdrClient herdr, String paneId, Set<Long> ancestry) {
+    private static Ownership paneOwnsAnyOf(HerdrClient herdr, int clientIndex, int clientCount,
+                                            String paneId, Set<Long> ancestry) {
         JsonNode info;
         try {
             info = herdr.call("pane.process_info", Map.of("pane_id", paneId)).path("process_info");
         } catch (HerdrException e) {
-            return false; // pane vanished mid-scan — just skip it
+            // fleetd #505: this used to be read as a clean "does not own it" (the pane vanished
+            // mid-scan, just skip it) — one boolean carrying two different facts. It is UNKNOWN
+            // now: if THIS pane is the one that owns the pid, the caller must not be told "no pane
+            // owns it", because that reads as a real primary and is promoted under loopback-trust.
+            log.warn("pane.process_info failed for pane {} on herdr client {} of {} during a "
+                            + "pid-owner scan — treating it as \"could not tell\", not a clean "
+                            + "negative (fleetd #505): {}",
+                    paneId, clientIndex + 1, clientCount, e.getMessage());
+            return Ownership.UNKNOWN;
         }
         if (ancestry.contains(info.path("shell_pid").asLong(-1))) {
-            return true;
+            return Ownership.OWNS;
         }
         for (JsonNode p : info.path("foreground_processes")) {
             if (ancestry.contains(p.path("pid").asLong(-1))) {
-                return true;
+                return Ownership.OWNS;
             }
         }
-        return false;
+        return Ownership.DOES_NOT_OWN;
     }
 }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/inject/Injector.java

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
+import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
@@ -94,6 +95,14 @@ public final class Injector {
     private final TurnListener turnListener;
     private final Predicate<String> ready; // CB-113: a target is deliverable only when available
     private final Consumer<String> forget; // CB-114: clear a gone worker's readiness/presence
+    /**
+     * Wall-clock source for the readiness-grace elapsed time logged in {@link #onStatus} (fleetd
+     * #501). Production constructors default this to {@code System::currentTimeMillis}; the
+     * package-private constructors below take it explicitly so a test can supply a stub whose
+     * advance does not track {@link #POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS} — copying the shape {@code LeadRollover}
+     * already uses for the same purpose.
+     */
+    private final LongSupplier nowMillis;
     private final ConcurrentHashMap<String, Target> targets = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
 
     /** Delivery only; completion signalling is a no-op and every target is treated as available. */
@@ -125,20 +134,34 @@ public final class Injector {
      */
     public Injector(AgentControl agents, TurnListener turnListener, Predicate<String> ready,
                     Consumer<String> forget) {
+        this(agents, turnListener, ready, forget, System::currentTimeMillis);
+    }
+
+    /** Full constructor — for tests: an injectable wall-clock supplier (fleetd #501). */
+    Injector(AgentControl agents, TurnListener turnListener, Predicate<String> ready,
+             Consumer<String> forget, LongSupplier nowMillis) {
         this.agents = agents;
         this.router = null;
         this.turnListener = turnListener;
         this.ready = ready;
         this.forget = forget;
+        this.nowMillis = nowMillis;
     }
 
     public Injector(HerdrRouter router, TurnListener turnListener, Predicate<String> ready,
                     Consumer<String> forget) {
+        this(router, turnListener, ready, forget, System::currentTimeMillis);
+    }
+
+    /** Full constructor — for tests: an injectable wall-clock supplier (fleetd #501). */
+    Injector(HerdrRouter router, TurnListener turnListener, Predicate<String> ready,
+             Consumer<String> forget, LongSupplier nowMillis) {
         this.agents = null;
         this.router = router;
         this.turnListener = turnListener;
         this.ready = ready;
         this.forget = forget;
+        this.nowMillis = nowMillis;
     }
 
     private AgentControl agentsFor(String target) {
@@ -209,6 +232,7 @@ public final class Injector {
         int unknownSinceTurn;      // consecutive `unknown` samples while a delegation is outstanding (CB-109)
         int unknownSincePostTurn;  // the same, for the post-turn housekeeping phase (fleetd #306)
         int notReadySincePoll;     // consecutive injectable samples a queued message waited on the readiness gate (CB-114)
+        long notReadySinceMillis;  // wall-clock time of the FIRST non-ready sample in the current notReadySincePoll streak (fleetd #501); reset alongside it
         boolean postTurnPending;   // completion observed; adapter housekeeping has not started yet
         boolean awaitingPostTurnPickup;
         boolean postTurnObserved;
@@ -302,6 +326,7 @@ public final class Injector {
                 t.unknownSinceTurn = 0;
                 t.unknownSincePostTurn = 0;
                 t.notReadySincePoll = 0;
+                t.notReadySinceMillis = 0;
                 if (t.awaitingCompletion) t.turnObserved = true;
             } else if (status.injectable()) { // IDLE or BLOCKED
                 t.unknownSinceTurn = 0;
@@ -353,6 +378,7 @@ public final class Injector {
                         Pending p = t.queue.peek();
                         if (p != null && ready.test(target)) {
                             t.notReadySincePoll = 0;
+                            t.notReadySinceMillis = 0;
                             try {
                                 agentsFor(target).send(target, p.text());
                                 t.queue.poll();
@@ -370,23 +396,52 @@ public final class Injector {
                                 sent = p;
                                 sendError = e;
                             }
-                        } else if (p != null && ++t.notReadySincePoll >= READINESS_GRACE_POLLS) {
-                            // The worker has been idle-but-not-ready for the whole grace: its Claude
-                            // never connected the bridge MCP (crashed during boot, or wedged on a
-                            // startup prompt). The readiness gate would hold this message forever, so
-                            // fail every queued message and release the target (CB-114) instead of
-                            // polling it indefinitely with the caller's future never completing.
-                            notReady = new ArrayList<>(t.queue);
-                            for (Pending pending : notReady) {
-                                pending.state = Pending.State.NOT_DELIVERED;
+                        } else if (p != null) {
+                            // fleetd #501: stamp the wall-clock time of the FIRST non-ready sample in
+                            // this streak, so the expiry log below can print how long the target
+                            // actually sat non-ready — not just how many polls that took.
+                            if (t.notReadySincePoll == 0) {
+                                t.notReadySinceMillis = nowMillis.getAsLong();
+                            }
+                            if (++t.notReadySincePoll >= READINESS_GRACE_POLLS) {
+                                // The worker has been idle-but-not-ready for the whole grace: its Claude
+                                // never connected the bridge MCP (crashed during boot, or wedged on a
+                                // startup prompt). The readiness gate would hold this message forever, so
+                                // fail every queued message and release the target (CB-114) instead of
+                                // polling it indefinitely with the caller's future never completing.
+                                notReady = new ArrayList<>(t.queue);
+                                for (Pending pending : notReady) {
+                                    pending.state = Pending.State.NOT_DELIVERED;
+                                }
+                                // fleetd #501: t.notReadySincePoll — the loop's own counter, already in
+                                // scope — is printed here instead of the READINESS_GRACE_POLLS constant.
+                                // On this branch the counter has JUST reached the threshold, so the two
+                                // agree by construction and no test can tell them apart. Printed anyway:
+                                // it gives this line one source of truth instead of two, so a later
+                                // change to the loop above cannot leave this message reporting a number
+                                // the loop no longer produces.
+                                //
+                                // elapsedMillis is a different case: it is NOT equal-by-construction to
+                                // the truth. notReadySincePoll only increments on a sample that reaches
+                                // this branch (p != null, not ready) — a poll that misses that condition
+                                // advances real time without advancing the counter — and this loop's real
+                                // period is not guaranteed to equal POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS (load, or a host
+                                // sleep, can widen the real gap far past it). READINESS_GRACE_POLLS *
+                                // POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS / 1000 is arithmetic on two constants, not a
+                                // measurement, so it stays here only as the labelled CONFIGURED budget,
+                                // never presented as elapsed time.
+                                long elapsedMillis = nowMillis.getAsLong() - t.notReadySinceMillis;
+                                log.warn("readiness grace for {} expired after {} polls (configured={} "
+                                                + "polls/{}s elapsed={}ms): target never became "
+                                                + "deliverable, so failing {} queued message(s) that "
+                                                + "never reached its pane",
+                                        target, t.notReadySincePoll, READINESS_GRACE_POLLS,
+                                        READINESS_GRACE_POLLS * POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS / 1000, elapsedMillis,
+                                        notReady.size());
+                                t.queue.clear();
+                                t.notReadySincePoll = 0;
+                                t.notReadySinceMillis = 0;
                             }
-                            log.warn("readiness grace for {} expired after {} polls ({}s): target never "
-                                    + "became deliverable, so failing {} queued message(s) that never "
-                                    + "reached its pane",
-                                    target, READINESS_GRACE_POLLS,
-                                    READINESS_GRACE_POLLS * POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS / 1000, notReady.size());
-                            t.queue.clear();
-                            t.notReadySincePoll = 0;
                         }
                     }
                 }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/lead/LeadRollover.java

@@ -381,13 +381,18 @@ public final class LeadRollover {
      */
     private void runRollover(PendingRollover p, FleetConfig.LeadRollover cfg) {
         String lead = p.leadTerminal();
-        boolean turnSettled = waitUntilAtTurnBoundary(lead, cfg.turnSettleSeconds());
-        if (!turnSettled) {
-            log.warn("lead-rollover: pane {} did not reach a turn boundary (IDLE or DONE) within {}s "
-                            + "after confirm() — refusing to send /clear at all; the calling lead's "
-                            + "own turn is still live and clearing it now would destroy live context "
-                            + "(token={})",
-                    lead, cfg.turnSettleSeconds(), p.token());
+        long rollStartMillis = nowMillis.getAsLong();
+        TurnSettleResult turnResult = waitUntilAtTurnBoundary(lead, cfg.turnSettleSeconds());
+        if (!turnResult.settled()) {
+            // fleetd #494 follow-up: this line had the SAME defect as the /clear-timeout line below
+            // — cfg.turnSettleSeconds() is the CONFIGURED budget, not how long this wait actually
+            // ran. Print the measured elapsed time alongside it, labelled, exactly like the /clear
+            // path already does.
+            log.warn("lead-rollover: pane {} did not reach a turn boundary (IDLE or DONE) after "
+                            + "confirm() — refusing to send /clear at all; the calling lead's own "
+                            + "turn is still live and clearing it now would destroy live context "
+                            + "(token={}, configured={}s elapsed={}ms)",
+                    lead, p.token(), cfg.turnSettleSeconds(), turnResult.elapsedMillis());
             return;
         }
 
@@ -395,15 +400,22 @@ public final class LeadRollover {
         // /clear is housekeeping, not a delegated turn, and routing it through Injector wedges the
         // pane forever (see this class's javadoc).
         agents.send(lead, "/clear");
-        boolean clearSettled = waitForClearPickupAndSettle(lead, cfg.clearSettleSeconds());
-        if (!clearSettled) {
-            log.warn("lead-rollover: pane {} did not reach a turn boundary (IDLE or DONE) within {}s "
-                            + "after /clear — NOT sending bootstrapText (token={})",
-                    lead, cfg.clearSettleSeconds(), p.token());
+        ClearSettleResult clearResult = waitForClearPickupAndSettle(lead, cfg.clearSettleSeconds());
+        if (!clearResult.settled()) {
+            // fleetd #494: cfg.clearSettleSeconds() is the CONFIGURED budget, not how long the wait
+            // actually ran — an operator reading only that number wrongly believes it is a measured
+            // duration. Print the measured elapsed time and nudge count alongside it, each labelled,
+            // so the two can be compared at a glance.
+            log.warn("lead-rollover: pane {} did not reach a turn boundary (IDLE or DONE) after "
+                            + "/clear — NOT sending bootstrapText (token={}, configured={}s "
+                            + "elapsed={}ms nudges={})",
+                    lead, p.token(), cfg.clearSettleSeconds(), clearResult.elapsedMillis(),
+                    clearResult.nudges());
             return;
         }
         agents.send(lead, cfg.bootstrapTextFor(p.handoverPath()));
-        log.info("lead-rollover: rolled token={} lead={}", p.token(), lead);
+        long rollElapsedMillis = nowMillis.getAsLong() - rollStartMillis;
+        log.info("lead-rollover: rolled token={} lead={} elapsedMs={}", p.token(), lead, rollElapsedMillis);
     }
 
     /** Drop a pending request without rolling. @return whether a pending request existed for {@code token} */
@@ -475,9 +487,15 @@ public final class LeadRollover {
      * gate exists to prevent. Do not "simplify" this back to {@code injectable()}. ({@link
      * #waitForClearPickupAndSettle} keeps the same exclusion of {@code BLOCKED}, for the same
      * reason, on the second wait.)
+     *
+     * @return a {@link TurnSettleResult} whose {@code settled()} is {@code true} once a real
+     *         boundary was observed, {@code false} if {@code settleSeconds} elapses first.
+     *         {@code elapsedMillis()} is a MEASURED value from the injected {@link #nowMillis}
+     *         clock, never the configured {@code settleSeconds} budget (fleetd #494 follow-up).
      */
-    private boolean waitUntilAtTurnBoundary(String target, int settleSeconds) {
-        long deadline = nowMillis.getAsLong() + TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(settleSeconds);
+    private TurnSettleResult waitUntilAtTurnBoundary(String target, int settleSeconds) {
+        long startMillis = nowMillis.getAsLong();
+        long deadline = startMillis + TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(settleSeconds);
         while (nowMillis.getAsLong() < deadline) {
             AgentStatus status;
             try {
@@ -488,13 +506,20 @@ public final class LeadRollover {
                 status = null;
             }
             if (status == AgentStatus.IDLE || status == AgentStatus.DONE) {
-                return true;
+                return new TurnSettleResult(true, nowMillis.getAsLong() - startMillis);
             }
             settleSleeper.run();
         }
-        return false;
+        return new TurnSettleResult(false, nowMillis.getAsLong() - startMillis);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The measured outcome of {@link #waitUntilAtTurnBoundary} — fleetd #494 follow-up. The sibling
+     * of {@link ClearSettleResult} for the FIRST wait, which never nudges, so it carries no nudge
+     * count.
+     */
+    private record TurnSettleResult(boolean settled, long elapsedMillis) {}
+
     /**
      * The SECOND wait in {@link #runRollover} — after {@code /clear} has been sent, waits for it to
      * settle, bounded by {@code settleSeconds}. <strong>fleetd #489 — the paste-race fix.</strong>
@@ -524,8 +549,9 @@ public final class LeadRollover {
      *       Claude Code prompt is a no-op, so repeating it is safe;</li>
      *   <li>the {@code PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS}th consecutive such poll, with {@code WORKING} still never
      *       observed, releases rather than wedges the roll instead of nudging again — the same
-     *       choice {@code Injector} makes — and returns {@code true} anyway, logged at {@code info}
-     *       so an operator can see which path ran;</li>
+     *       choice {@code Injector} makes — and returns {@code settled() == true} anyway, logged at
+     *       {@code warn} with the measured elapsed time (fleetd #494) so an operator can see which
+     *       path ran and how long it actually took;</li>
      *   <li>once {@code WORKING} has been observed, nudging stops and this instead waits for a real
      *       {@code working → IDLE/DONE} completion boundary before returning {@code true}.</li>
      * </ul>
@@ -541,15 +567,20 @@ public final class LeadRollover {
      * swallowed and logged at {@code debug}, exactly like {@code Injector.java:437-442} — a failed
      * nudge must not abort the roll.
      *
-     * @return {@code true} once {@code /clear} has settled, or once the nudge budget was exhausted
-     *         with no pickup ever observed (released rather than wedged); {@code false} if {@code
-     *         settleSeconds} elapses first — the caller must NOT send {@code bootstrapText} in that
-     *         case, exactly as before this fix
+     * @return a {@link ClearSettleResult} whose {@code settled()} is {@code true} once {@code
+     *         /clear} has settled, or once the nudge budget was exhausted with no pickup ever
+     *         observed (released rather than wedged); {@code false} if {@code settleSeconds} elapses
+     *         first — the caller must NOT send {@code bootstrapText} in that case, exactly as before
+     *         this fix. {@code elapsedMillis()} and {@code nudges()} are MEASURED values (from the
+     *         injected {@link #nowMillis} clock and an actual nudge count), never the configured
+     *         {@code settleSeconds} budget (fleetd #494).
      */
-    private boolean waitForClearPickupAndSettle(String target, int settleSeconds) {
-        long deadline = nowMillis.getAsLong() + TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(settleSeconds);
+    private ClearSettleResult waitForClearPickupAndSettle(String target, int settleSeconds) {
+        long startMillis = nowMillis.getAsLong();
+        long deadline = startMillis + TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(settleSeconds);
         boolean pickedUp = false; // a WORKING sample has been observed since /clear was sent
         int idlePollsAwaitingPickup = 0;
+        int nudges = 0;
         while (nowMillis.getAsLong() < deadline) {
             AgentStatus status;
             try {
@@ -563,26 +594,56 @@ public final class LeadRollover {
                 pickedUp = true;
             } else if (status == AgentStatus.IDLE || status == AgentStatus.DONE) {
                 if (pickedUp) {
-                    return true; // a real WORKING -> IDLE/DONE completion boundary
+                    // a real WORKING -> IDLE/DONE completion boundary
+                    return new ClearSettleResult(true, nowMillis.getAsLong() - startMillis, nudges);
                 }
                 if (++idlePollsAwaitingPickup >= PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS) {
-                    log.info("lead-rollover: /clear on {} was never observed as WORKING after {} "
+                    long elapsedMillis = nowMillis.getAsLong() - startMillis;
+                    // fleetd #494: this release trades a possibly-unsubmitted /clear for progress
+                    // instead of wedging the roll — that trade is deliberate and stays. But it is
+                    // also exactly the case that reported false success in the real incident (the
+                    // whole roll "succeeded" after 438ms of a 20s budget), so raise it to WARN and
+                    // print the MEASURED elapsed time next to the target pane, not just the count.
+                    //
+                    // fleetd #494 follow-up (2nd pass): BOTH numbers in this line must come from
+                    // the loop's own counters, never from the PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS constant.
+                    // `idlePollsAwaitingPickup` and `nudges` each have exactly one write site in
+                    // this loop, on the same branch, so on this branch they cannot differ from
+                    // PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS / PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS - 1 today — no test can prove the
+                    // difference on this line, and printing the counters does not change that.
+                    // What it does buy: one source of truth instead of two, so a later change to
+                    // the loop (an early return, a second increment site, a different exit
+                    // condition) cannot leave this message reporting a number the loop no longer
+                    // produces. The place where `nudges` genuinely varies with the run — and is
+                    // covered by a test that can tell it apart from a constant — is the
+                    // /clear-timeout warn in runRollover, which prints clearResult.nudges().
+                    log.warn("lead-rollover: /clear on {} was never observed as WORKING after {} "
                                     + "consecutive IDLE/DONE polls ({} of those were nudged) — "
-                                    + "releasing rather than wedging the roll",
-                            target, PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS, PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS - 1);
-                    return true;
+                                    + "releasing rather than wedging the roll (elapsed={}ms)",
+                            target, idlePollsAwaitingPickup, nudges, elapsedMillis);
+                    return new ClearSettleResult(true, elapsedMillis, nudges);
                 }
                 try {
                     agents.submit(target); // nudge a raced Enter (CB-113) so /clear actually submits
                 } catch (RuntimeException e) {
                     log.debug("lead-rollover: resubmit to {} failed (will retry next poll): {}",
                             target, e.getMessage());
+                } finally {
+                    nudges++; // an attempted nudge, whether or not the submit call itself threw
                 }
             }
             // AgentStatus.BLOCKED or UNKNOWN (or an unreadable status, above): neither a pickup
             // signal nor a boundary — keep polling without nudging or releasing.
             settleSleeper.run();
         }
-        return false;
+        return new ClearSettleResult(false, nowMillis.getAsLong() - startMillis, nudges);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * The measured outcome of {@link #waitForClearPickupAndSettle} — fleetd #494. Carries the
+     * MEASURED elapsed time (from the injected {@link #nowMillis} clock) and nudge count alongside
+     * the settle/timeout decision, so callers can log them instead of the configured budget, which
+     * is not how long the wait actually ran.
+     */
+    private record ClearSettleResult(boolean settled, long elapsedMillis, int nudges) {}
 }

fleetd/src/main/java/dev/ltms/fleet/mcp/ConnectionIdentity.java

@@ -33,9 +33,10 @@ public final class ConnectionIdentity {
 
     /**
      * The caller resolved from the connection: its worker {@code terminal} (or {@code null} for the
-     * primary / an off-host client) and its {@code pid} (or {@code -1} if not resolvable).
+     * primary / an off-host client), its {@code pid} (or {@code -1} if not resolvable), and whether
+     * the pane scan behind {@code terminal} ran to completion ({@link #scanComplete}).
      */
-    public record Caller(String terminal, long pid) {
+    public record Caller(String terminal, long pid, boolean scanComplete) {
 
         /**
          * Whether the OS peer-PID lookup actually succeeded — {@code false} means {@code pid} is
@@ -51,6 +52,10 @@ public final class ConnectionIdentity {
          * {@link ConnectionIdentity#isLoopback} is centralised rather than left for each caller to
          * reimplement: a raw {@code pid > 0} check duplicated at every call site is precisely the
          * "one rule, two copies" shape that let #305 drift.
+         *
+         * <p>This method is deliberately NOT widened for fleetd #505's failure (a herdr error
+         * during the pane scan, not a failed lsof lookup) — it still tests only the sentinel it is
+         * named for. #505 is a different axis, carried separately in {@link #scanComplete}.
          */
         public boolean resolved() {
             return pid > 0;
@@ -60,10 +65,11 @@ public final class ConnectionIdentity {
     /** Resolve the caller's terminal and PID from one peer-PID lookup. */
     public Caller resolve(String remoteAddr, int remotePort) {
         if (!isLoopback(remoteAddr)) {
-            return new Caller(null, -1); // only same-host callers can be workers
+            return new Caller(null, -1, true); // only same-host callers can be workers
         }
         long pid = pids.pidForLocalPort(remotePort);
-        return new Caller(panes.terminalForPid(pid), pid);
+        PaneLocator.Lookup lookup = panes.terminalForPid(pid);
+        return new Caller(lookup.terminal(), pid, lookup.complete());
     }
 
     /**

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/FleetdAwaitHerdrTest.java

@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+package dev.ltms.fleet;
+
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.Level;
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger;
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ILoggingEvent;
+import ch.qos.logback.core.read.ListAppender;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
+import dev.ltms.fleet.herdr.HerdrClient;
+import dev.ltms.fleet.herdr.HerdrException;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.fail;
+
+/**
+ * fleetd #498: {@code Fleetd.awaitHerdr} used to return a bare {@code boolean}, collapsing "the
+ * configured wait budget genuinely ran out" and "the waiting thread was interrupted, possibly
+ * milliseconds in" onto the same {@code false} — and the caller's log line printed only the
+ * configured budget, never how long the wait actually ran. This class covers both halves of the
+ * fix:
+ * <ul>
+ *   <li>the seam — {@link Fleetd#awaitHerdr} itself, driven with an injected clock and a stub
+ *       {@link HerdrClient}, one test per {@link Fleetd.HerdrWaitResult};</li>
+ *   <li>the call site — {@link Fleetd#logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap}, the exact decision {@code
+ *       main} calls (extracted here because {@code main} itself boots the whole daemon and cannot
+ *       be driven from a unit test), pinning the three distinct log messages it emits.</li>
+ * </ul>
+ * Every expected message below is a plain literal, not built from {@code HERDR_WAIT_SECONDS} or
+ * any other production constant — a test that derives its expectation the way the code does
+ * cannot see a change to either (fleetd #496's identical trap).
+ */
+class FleetdAwaitHerdrTest {
+
+    // ---- the seam: Fleetd.awaitHerdr ----------------------------------------------------------
+
+    @Test
+    void answeredReturnsImmediatelyWithZeroElapsedAndNeverPolls() {
+        HerdrStub herdr = new HerdrStub(0); // succeeds on the very first call
+        LongSupplier clock = fixedClock(1_000L);
+        AtomicBoolean polled = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        Runnable poller = () -> polled.set(true);
+
+        Fleetd.HerdrAwaitOutcome outcome = Fleetd.awaitHerdr(herdr, clock, poller);
+
+        assertEquals(Fleetd.HerdrWaitResult.ANSWERED, outcome.result());
+        assertEquals(0L, outcome.elapsedNanos(), "a fixed clock must measure zero elapsed time");
+        assertFalse(polled.get(), "herdr answering on the first try must never poll");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void deadlinePassedIsMeasuredNotAssumed() {
+        HerdrStub herdr = new HerdrStub(-1); // never succeeds
+        // call order inside awaitHerdr: start, then per failed attempt: deadline-check, elapsed-calc
+        ScriptedClock clock = new ScriptedClock(0L, 30_500_000_000L, 30_500_000_000L);
+        Runnable poller = () -> fail("the deadline was already exceeded on the first attempt — must not poll");
+
+        Fleetd.HerdrAwaitOutcome outcome = Fleetd.awaitHerdr(herdr, clock, poller);
+
+        assertEquals(Fleetd.HerdrWaitResult.DEADLINE_PASSED, outcome.result());
+        assertEquals(30_500_000_000L, outcome.elapsedNanos(),
+                "elapsed must be the MEASURED clock delta, not the configured budget");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void interruptedIsDistinctFromDeadlinePassedAndPreservesTheInterruptFlag() {
+        HerdrStub herdr = new HerdrStub(-1); // never succeeds
+        // start=0, deadline-check returns 500ms (well under the 30s budget) -> not deadline-passed,
+        // then the poller interrupts, and the elapsed-calc call returns 750ms.
+        ScriptedClock clock = new ScriptedClock(0L, 500_000_000L, 750_000_000L);
+        Runnable poller = () -> Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+
+        try {
+            Fleetd.HerdrAwaitOutcome outcome = Fleetd.awaitHerdr(herdr, clock, poller);
+
+            assertEquals(Fleetd.HerdrWaitResult.INTERRUPTED, outcome.result());
+            assertEquals(750_000_000L, outcome.elapsedNanos(),
+                    "elapsed must be measured even when the wait ends via interruption, not the deadline");
+            assertTrue(Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted(),
+                    "the interrupt flag the old code re-set must still be set on return");
+        } finally {
+            Thread.interrupted(); // clear it so it cannot leak into another test on this thread
+        }
+    }
+
+    // ---- the call site: Fleetd.logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap -------------------------------
+
+    @Test
+    void answeredLogsNothingAndSaysReap() {
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events = attach();
+        try {
+            boolean shouldReap = Fleetd.logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap(
+                    new Fleetd.HerdrAwaitOutcome(Fleetd.HerdrWaitResult.ANSWERED, 0L));
+
+            assertTrue(shouldReap, "only ANSWERED should tell main to reap orphan workers");
+            assertEquals(0, events.list.size(), "the answered path logs nothing itself");
+        } finally {
+            detach(events);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void deadlinePassedLogsConfiguredAndMeasuredElapsedTogether() {
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events = attach();
+        try {
+            boolean shouldReap = Fleetd.logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap(
+                    new Fleetd.HerdrAwaitOutcome(Fleetd.HerdrWaitResult.DEADLINE_PASSED, 30_500_000_000L));
+
+            assertFalse(shouldReap, "a deadline-passed wait must not tell main to reap");
+            assertEquals(1, events.list.size());
+            ILoggingEvent event = events.list.getFirst();
+            assertEquals(Level.WARN, event.getLevel());
+            assertEquals("herdr did not answer within the configured wait (configured=30s "
+                    + "elapsed=30500ms) — starting anyway; /healthz will report degraded until it "
+                    + "comes up. Orphaned worker panes (if any) were NOT reaped.",
+                    event.getFormattedMessage());
+        } finally {
+            detach(events);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void interruptedLogsItsOwnMessageAndNeverClaimsTheBudgetElapsed() {
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events = attach();
+        try {
+            // 3ms: the ticket's own example of "a few milliseconds in", not the 30s budget.
+            boolean shouldReap = Fleetd.logHerdrWaitOutcomeAndShouldReap(
+                    new Fleetd.HerdrAwaitOutcome(Fleetd.HerdrWaitResult.INTERRUPTED, 3_000_000L));
+
+            assertFalse(shouldReap, "an interrupted wait must not tell main to reap");
+            assertEquals(1, events.list.size());
+            ILoggingEvent event = events.list.getFirst();
+            assertEquals(Level.WARN, event.getLevel());
+            String message = event.getFormattedMessage();
+            assertEquals("herdr wait was interrupted before the configured wait ran out "
+                    + "(configured=30s elapsed=3ms) — starting anyway; /healthz will report "
+                    + "degraded until it comes up. Orphaned worker panes (if any) were NOT reaped.",
+                    message);
+            assertFalse(message.contains("did not answer"),
+                    "an interrupted wait must not be reported as if herdr failed to answer within the budget");
+        } finally {
+            detach(events);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // ---- fixtures --------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    /** Always returns the same value, i.e. a clock that measures zero elapsed time. */
+    private static LongSupplier fixedClock(long value) {
+        return () -> value;
+    }
+
+    /** Returns each value in order, then repeats the last one for any call beyond the list. */
+    private static final class ScriptedClock implements LongSupplier {
+        private final long[] values;
+        private int index;
+
+        ScriptedClock(long... values) {
+            this.values = values;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public long getAsLong() {
+            long v = values[Math.min(index, values.length - 1)];
+            if (index < values.length - 1) {
+                index++;
+            }
+            return v;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /** Fails {@code failuresBeforeSuccess} times, then succeeds forever; {@code -1} never succeeds. */
+    private static final class HerdrStub implements HerdrClient {
+        private final int failuresBeforeSuccess;
+        private int calls;
+
+        HerdrStub(int failuresBeforeSuccess) {
+            this.failuresBeforeSuccess = failuresBeforeSuccess;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public JsonNode call(String method, Object params) throws HerdrException {
+            calls++;
+            if (failuresBeforeSuccess < 0 || calls <= failuresBeforeSuccess) {
+                throw new HerdrException("herdr not up yet");
+            }
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void close() {
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> attach() {
+        Logger logger = (Logger) LoggerFactory.getLogger(Fleetd.class);
+        logger.setLevel(Level.DEBUG);
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> appender = new ListAppender<>();
+        appender.start();
+        logger.addAppender(appender);
+        return appender;
+    }
+
+    private static void detach(ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> appender) {
+        ((Logger) LoggerFactory.getLogger(Fleetd.class)).detachAppender(appender);
+    }
+}

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/auth/CallerResolverTest.java

@@ -186,6 +186,43 @@ class CallerResolverTest {
         assertEquals(Role.PRIMARY, r.resolve("127.0.0.1", 99, "BEARER s3cret").role());
     }
 
+    // ── fleetd #505: a herdr error DURING THE SCAN must not be conflated with "not a worker" ──────
+    // #317 (above) covers a failed lsof lookup. This is the other input to the same decision: the
+    // lsof lookup succeeds (a real pid), but PaneLocator's own pane scan hits a herdr error on the
+    // pane that owns that pid — so c.resolved() is true and c.terminal() is null, exactly like a
+    // real primary. c.scanComplete() is what tells them apart.
+
+    /**
+     * The discriminating case named in the ticket: the error must land on the pane that DOES own
+     * the caller's pid, or the test proves nothing (any other pane's failure is invisible to the
+     * scan's outcome, since a match found elsewhere is definitive regardless).
+     */
+    @Test
+    void aHerdrErrorOnTheOwningPaneDuringTheScanIsRefusedNotPromotedToPrimary() {
+        FakeHerdr failing = new FakeHerdr().processInfoFailsForPane("w2:p7", "transient");
+        ConnectionIdentity incomplete = new ConnectionIdentity(new PaneLocator(failing), _ -> FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID);
+
+        Principal p = new CallerResolver(incomplete).resolve("127.0.0.1", 55555, null);
+
+        assertEquals(Role.ANONYMOUS, p.role(),
+                "an incomplete pane scan must never be read as a clean negative and promoted to primary");
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The companion invariant: a herdr error on a DIFFERENT, non-owning pane must not turn every
+     * mid-scan teardown into a refusal — the real match is still found and resolves as a worker.
+     */
+    @Test
+    void aHerdrErrorOnANonOwningPaneStillResolvesTheRealWorker() {
+        FakeHerdr vanishedElsewhere = new FakeHerdr().processInfoFailsForPane("w2:p9", "pane_not_found");
+        ConnectionIdentity id = new ConnectionIdentity(new PaneLocator(vanishedElsewhere), _ -> FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID);
+
+        Principal p = new CallerResolver(id).resolve("127.0.0.1", 55555, null);
+
+        assertEquals(Role.WORKER, p.role());
+        assertEquals("term_a", p.terminal());
+    }
+
     @Test
     void aNonLoopbackCallerIsNeverThePrimaryUnderLoopbackTrust() {
         // Defence in depth: startup already refuses this pairing (validateAuthExposure), but if a

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/FakeHerdr.java

@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ public final class FakeHerdr implements HerdrClient {
     private int workerTabPaneCount = 1;
     private String paneCloseErrorCode = null;
     private final Map<String, String> paneCloseErrorCodeFor = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
+    private final Map<String, String> processInfoErrorCodeFor = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
     private String tabCloseErrorCode = null;
     private final Map<String, String> tabCloseErrorCodeFor = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
     private String agentSendErrorCode = null;
@@ -144,6 +145,18 @@ public final class FakeHerdr implements HerdrClient {
         return this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Make {@code pane.process_info} fail with this herdr error code, but only for the given
+     * {@code pane_id} — every other pane's {@code pane.process_info} still succeeds. Models a
+     * transient herdr failure partway through a {@link PaneLocator} pid→pane scan (fleetd #505):
+     * the scan must be able to tell "this pane does not own the pid" apart from "the scan could
+     * not check this pane at all", instead of collapsing both into one {@code false}.
+     */
+    public FakeHerdr processInfoFailsForPane(String paneId, String code) {
+        this.processInfoErrorCodeFor.put(paneId, code);
+        return this;
+    }
+
     /** Set the {@code agent_status} that {@code agent.get} reports (drives the injector). */
     public FakeHerdr agentStatus(String status) {
         this.agentStatus = status;
@@ -407,6 +420,13 @@ public final class FakeHerdr implements HerdrClient {
                           {"pane_id":"w2:p9","terminal_id":"term_shell","workspace_id":"w2","tab_id":"w2:t8"}]}""");
                 case "pane.process_info" -> {
                     Object paneId = params instanceof java.util.Map<?, ?> m ? m.get("pane_id") : null;
+                    String failCode = paneId == null ? null
+                            : processInfoErrorCodeFor.get(String.valueOf(paneId));
+                    if (failCode != null) {
+                        throw new HerdrException(
+                                "herdr error [" + failCode + "]: pane.process_info failed",
+                                failCode, null);
+                    }
                     yield "w2:p7".equals(paneId)
                             ? mapper.readTree(("""
                                 {"type":"pane_process_info","process_info":{"pane_id":"w2:p7","shell_pid":%d,

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/PaneLocatorContractTest.java

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class PaneLocatorContractTest {
                         .path("pane").path("terminal_id").asText(null);
                 assertNotNull(terminalId, "seed pane should carry a terminal_id");
 
-                assertEquals(terminalId, new PaneLocator(herdr).terminalForPid(shellPid),
+                assertEquals(terminalId, new PaneLocator(herdr).terminalForPid(shellPid).terminal(),
                         "a real PID must resolve back to its own pane's terminal_id");
             } finally {
                 spaces.closeTab(tab.tab().tabId());

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/herdr/PaneLocatorTest.java

@@ -15,18 +15,20 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
 
     @Test
     void resolvesTerminalForAForegroundPid() {
-        assertEquals("term_a", loc.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID));
+        assertEquals("term_a", loc.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
     void nullForAPidInNoPane() {
-        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(999_999));
+        PaneLocator.Lookup outcome = loc.terminalForPid(999_999);
+        assertNull(outcome.terminal());
+        assertTrue(outcome.complete(), "a full, error-free scan that finds no match is complete");
     }
 
     @Test
     void nullForNonPositivePid() {
-        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(0));
-        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(-1));
+        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(0).terminal());
+        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(-1).terminal());
     }
 
     // --- two-daemon fallback (CB-185) -----------------------------------------
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
         HerdrClient lead = new FakeHerdr().withNoPanes();
         HerdrClient member = new FakeHerdr();
         PaneLocator two = new PaneLocator(lead, member);
-        assertEquals("term_a", two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID));
+        assertEquals("term_a", two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -48,13 +50,13 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
         HerdrClient lead = new FakeHerdr();
         HerdrClient member = new FakeHerdr().withNoPanes();
         PaneLocator two = new PaneLocator(lead, member);
-        assertEquals("term_a", two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID));
+        assertEquals("term_a", two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
     void nullWhenNeitherClientHasTheMatch() {
         PaneLocator two = new PaneLocator(new FakeHerdr().withNoPanes(), new FakeHerdr().withNoPanes());
-        assertNull(two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID));
+        assertNull(two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -63,7 +65,7 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
         // must behave exactly like the one-arg constructor, including making only one herdr call.
         FakeHerdr shared = new FakeHerdr();
         PaneLocator two = new PaneLocator(shared, shared);
-        assertEquals("term_a", two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID));
+        assertEquals("term_a", two.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID).terminal());
         long paneListCalls = shared.calls.stream().filter(c -> c.method().equals("pane.list")).count();
         assertEquals(1, paneListCalls, "same-object lead/member must scan exactly once, not twice");
     }
@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
         // Regression: a pid with no parent chain at all — no ancestry walk is needed to match it.
         OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
         PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, new FakeParentResolver());
-        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(5000));
+        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(5000).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -83,7 +85,7 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
         // Regression: same as above, but matching via the foreground-processes list.
         OnePaneHerdr pane = new OnePaneHerdr("term_x", "pX", 5000, 6000);
         PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, new FakeParentResolver());
-        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(6000));
+        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(6000).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -97,7 +99,7 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
                 .parent(7002, 7001)   // grandchild -> child
                 .parent(7001, 5000);  // child -> shell (the pane's shell_pid)
         PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, parents);
-        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(7002));
+        assertEquals("term_x", loc.terminalForPid(7002).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -110,7 +112,7 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
                 .parent(9002, 9001)
                 .parent(9001, 9000); // chain never reaches 5000 or 6000
         PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, parents);
-        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(9002));
+        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(9002).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -122,7 +124,7 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
                 .parent(100, 101)
                 .parent(101, 100); // cycle, never reaches the pane's pids
         PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(pane, parents);
-        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(100));
+        assertNull(loc.terminalForPid(100).terminal());
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -141,11 +143,43 @@ class PaneLocatorTest {
         };
         HerdrClient noPanes = new FakeHerdr().withNoPanes();
         PaneLocator two = new PaneLocator(noPanes, pane, counting);
-        assertEquals("term_x", two.terminalForPid(7002));
+        assertEquals("term_x", two.terminalForPid(7002).terminal());
         assertEquals(3, calls.get(), "ancestry must be walked once (3 lookups: 7002, 7001, 5000), "
                 + "not re-walked per herdr client");
     }
 
+    // --- fleetd #505: a herdr error during the scan must not read as a clean negative ---------
+
+    @Test
+    void anErrorOnThePaneThatOwnsThePidMakesTheScanIncompleteNotAClearNegative() {
+        // The discriminating case: pane.process_info fails for exactly the pane that DOES own the
+        // caller's pid ("w2:p7", term_a). Before the fix, that failure was swallowed into a plain
+        // "does not own it" and the scan finished with a clean-looking null — indistinguishable
+        // from a real primary. It must now report incomplete, not a definite null.
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr().processInfoFailsForPane("w2:p7", "transient");
+        PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(herdr);
+
+        PaneLocator.Lookup outcome = loc.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID);
+
+        assertNull(outcome.terminal(), "the failing pane's ownership could not be confirmed");
+        assertFalse(outcome.complete(),
+                "a scan that could not check the owning pane must not report as complete");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void aVanishedPaneThatIsNotTheMatchLeavesAnOtherwiseSuccessfulScanComplete() {
+        // The companion invariant: a DIFFERENT pane (not the caller's own) failing mid-scan must
+        // not turn every mid-scan teardown into a refusal — the real match is still found, and the
+        // scan is still reported complete.
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr().processInfoFailsForPane("w2:p9", "pane_not_found");
+        PaneLocator loc = new PaneLocator(herdr);
+
+        PaneLocator.Lookup outcome = loc.terminalForPid(FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID);
+
+        assertEquals("term_a", outcome.terminal());
+        assertTrue(outcome.complete(), "a positive match elsewhere in the scan is definitive");
+    }
+
     /** Minimal single-pane {@link HerdrClient} fake, purpose-built for the ancestry tests above. */
     private static final class OnePaneHerdr implements HerdrClient {
         private final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/inject/InjectorTest.java

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
@@ -521,6 +523,97 @@ class InjectorTest {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void readinessGraceExpiryLogsTheMeasuredPollCountNextToTheConfiguredBudget() {
+        // fleetd #501, defect 1: READINESS_GRACE_POLLS (240) used to be printed twice — once as
+        // "after {} polls" and once inside the parenthesised budget — even though the loop's own
+        // counter (Target.notReadySincePoll) was in scope at the same call site. On THIS branch the
+        // counter has just reached the threshold, so it equals the constant by construction and this
+        // test cannot tell the two apart — it only pins that the message still carries both a poll
+        // count and a labelled configured budget, using literal numbers (240, 60), never
+        // READINESS_GRACE_POLLS or POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS, so the assertion can't silently track a
+        // constant change instead of catching a real regression.
+        LoggerContext ctx = (LoggerContext) LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory();
+        ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger injectorLog =
+                (ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger) LoggerFactory.getLogger(Injector.class);
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> appender = new ListAppender<>();
+        appender.setContext(ctx);
+        appender.start();
+        injectorLog.addAppender(appender);
+        injectorLog.setLevel(Level.WARN);
+        try {
+            Injector inj = new Injector(new AgentControl(herdr), TurnListener.NOOP, _ -> false, _ -> {
+            });
+            inj.enqueue(T, "task", TestTurnTokens.inert(T));
+
+            for (int i = 0; i < READINESS_SAMPLES; i++) inj.onStatus(T, AgentStatus.IDLE);
+
+            String warn = appender.list.stream()
+                    .filter(e -> e.getLevel().equals(Level.WARN))
+                    .map(ILoggingEvent::getFormattedMessage)
+                    .findFirst()
+                    .orElse("no grace-expiry WARN logged");
+            assertTrue(warn.contains("after 240 polls"),
+                    "must print the measured poll count as a plain number: " + warn);
+            assertTrue(warn.contains("configured=240 polls/60s"),
+                    "must print the configured budget, clearly labelled: " + warn);
+        } finally {
+            injectorLog.detachAppender(appender);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void readinessGraceExpiryLogsTheMeasuredElapsedTimeNotArithmeticOnConstants() {
+        // fleetd #501, defect 2: the old line computed "({}s)" as READINESS_GRACE_POLLS *
+        // POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS / 1000 — arithmetic on two constants, never a measurement, and wrong
+        // in the direction that says everything ran on schedule. This stub clock returns two FIXED
+        // values (1_000ms at the first non-ready sample, 318_412ms at the poll that trips the grace)
+        // whose difference — 317_412ms — does NOT equal 240 * POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS (=60_000ms).
+        // Asserting on that literal, non-derived number is what makes this test able to fail if the
+        // production code goes back to printing the constant-arithmetic value instead of the
+        // injected clock's measurement.
+        long[] readings = {1_000L, 318_412L};
+        AtomicInteger call = new AtomicInteger(0);
+        LongSupplier stubClock = () -> {
+            int i = call.getAndIncrement();
+            if (i >= readings.length) {
+                throw new AssertionError("nowMillis read more times than this fixture expects (" + i
+                        + "); the readiness-not-ready branch should read the clock exactly twice — "
+                        + "once to stamp the first non-ready sample, once at grace expiry");
+            }
+            return readings[i];
+        };
+
+        LoggerContext ctx = (LoggerContext) LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory();
+        ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger injectorLog =
+                (ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger) LoggerFactory.getLogger(Injector.class);
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> appender = new ListAppender<>();
+        appender.setContext(ctx);
+        appender.start();
+        injectorLog.addAppender(appender);
+        injectorLog.setLevel(Level.WARN);
+        try {
+            Injector inj = new Injector(new AgentControl(herdr), TurnListener.NOOP, _ -> false, _ -> {
+            }, stubClock);
+            inj.enqueue(T, "task", TestTurnTokens.inert(T));
+
+            for (int i = 0; i < READINESS_SAMPLES; i++) inj.onStatus(T, AgentStatus.IDLE);
+
+            String warn = appender.list.stream()
+                    .filter(e -> e.getLevel().equals(Level.WARN))
+                    .map(ILoggingEvent::getFormattedMessage)
+                    .findFirst()
+                    .orElse("no grace-expiry WARN logged");
+            assertTrue(warn.contains("elapsed=317412ms"), "must print the MEASURED elapsed time from "
+                    + "the injected clock (318412 - 1000 = 317412), not an arithmetic value: " + warn);
+            assertFalse(warn.contains("elapsed=60000ms"), "must not print "
+                    + "READINESS_GRACE_POLLS * POLL_INTERVAL_MILLIS (240 * 250 = 60000ms) as if it "
+                    + "were the measured elapsed time: " + warn);
+        } finally {
+            injectorLog.detachAppender(appender);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     void aWorkerThatBecomesReadyWithinTheGraceIsDeliveredNormally() {
         // The readiness grace must not fail a worker that is merely slow to boot: once it becomes

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/lead/LeadRolloverTest.java

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 package dev.ltms.fleet.lead;
 
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.Level;
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger;
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ILoggingEvent;
+import ch.qos.logback.core.read.ListAppender;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 import dev.ltms.fleet.config.FleetConfig;
 import dev.ltms.fleet.herdr.AgentControl;
@@ -9,6 +13,7 @@ import dev.ltms.fleet.herdr.HerdrException;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.DisplayName;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
@@ -854,4 +859,207 @@ class LeadRolloverTest {
         assertFalse(bootstrapSent.contains("\"handover.md\""),
                 "must not name the raw relative configured value in the text actually sent");
     }
+
+    // ---- fleetd #494: the log lines must print MEASURED values, never the configured budget --
+
+    private static ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> attachLog() {
+        Logger logger = (Logger) LoggerFactory.getLogger(LeadRollover.class);
+        logger.setLevel(Level.DEBUG);
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> appender = new ListAppender<>();
+        appender.start();
+        logger.addAppender(appender);
+        return appender;
+    }
+
+    private static void detachLog(ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> appender) {
+        ((Logger) LoggerFactory.getLogger(LeadRollover.class)).detachAppender(appender);
+    }
+
+    private static ILoggingEvent lastEventContaining(ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events, String substring) {
+        return events.list.stream()
+                .filter(e -> e.getFormattedMessage().contains(substring))
+                .reduce((_, b) -> b)
+                .orElseThrow(() -> new AssertionError("no log event contained \"" + substring
+                        + "\"; got: " + events.list.stream().map(ILoggingEvent::getFormattedMessage).toList()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @DisplayName("[fleetd #494] the /clear-timeout warn line prints the MEASURED elapsed time and "
+            + "nudge count next to the configured budget, never the configured value alone")
+    void clearTimeoutLogPrintsMeasuredElapsedAndNudgesNotJustConfigured() throws IOException {
+        // Idle until /clear is sent, then permanently WORKING (a genuinely stuck /clear that never
+        // reaches a completion boundary) — isolates the SECOND wait exactly like
+        // clearThatNeverSettlesAfterwardsNeverSendsBootstrapText, but with a clock that ADVANCES on
+        // every read so the measured elapsed time is a deterministic, non-zero value distinct from
+        // the configured budget — pinning fleetd #494's fix, not just its absence of a hang.
+        FakeHerdr fake = new FakeHerdr();
+        HerdrClient flipsAfterClear = new HerdrClient() {
+            @Override
+            public JsonNode call(String method, Object params) throws HerdrException {
+                JsonNode result = fake.call(method, params);
+                if ("agent.prompt".equals(method) && String.valueOf(params).contains("/clear")) {
+                    fake.agentStatus("working");
+                }
+                return result;
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void close() {
+                fake.close();
+            }
+        };
+        Path handover = writeHandover("handover contents");
+        FleetConfig.LeadRollover config =
+                new FleetConfig.LeadRollover(handover.toString(), true, 3600, 20, 1 /*clearSettleSeconds*/, "boot text");
+        AtomicLong clock = new AtomicLong(1_000);
+        LeadRollover rollover = newRollover(flipsAfterClear, config, () -> clock.addAndGet(500));
+
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events = attachLog();
+        try {
+            LeadRollover.PendingRollover pending = rollover.open(LEAD, "context is full");
+            LeadRollover.RollDecision decision = rollover.confirm(LEAD, pending.token(), true);
+
+            assertTrue(decision.accepted(), "every synchronous gate passes; the refusal is logged "
+                    + "only, deep inside the deferred continuation");
+
+            ILoggingEvent event = lastEventContaining(events, "NOT sending bootstrapText");
+            assertEquals(Level.WARN, event.getLevel());
+            String message = event.getFormattedMessage();
+            assertTrue(message.contains("configured=1s"), "must label the configured budget: " + message);
+            assertTrue(message.contains("elapsed=1500ms"), "must print the MEASURED elapsed time — "
+                    + "with this fixture's advancing clock, the wait actually ran 1500ms against a "
+                    + "1s(=1000ms) configured budget: " + message);
+            assertTrue(message.contains("nudges=0"), "must print the measured nudge count (0 here — "
+                    + "the pane was WORKING throughout, never IDLE/DONE, so no nudge was ever sent): "
+                    + message);
+            assertFalse(message.contains("within 1s"), "must not present the configured budget as if "
+                    + "it were the measured wait duration: " + message);
+        } finally {
+            detachLog(events);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @DisplayName("[fleetd #494] the /clear pickup-grace release line is WARN (was INFO) and prints "
+            + "the measured elapsed time next to the target pane")
+    void clearGraceReleaseLogIsWarnWithMeasuredElapsed() throws IOException {
+        // Default idle throughout — no WORKING sample is ever observed, so the pickup-grace wait
+        // exhausts PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS and releases rather than wedging (see
+        // clearPickupIsNudgedBeforeBootstrapTextWhenPaneStaysIdle for the un-logged half of this
+        // scenario). A self-advancing clock makes the measured elapsed time deterministic and
+        // provably distinct from a bare poll/nudge count.
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr();
+        Path handover = writeHandover("handover contents");
+        FleetConfig.LeadRollover config = cfg(handover.toString()); // turnSettleSeconds=clearSettleSeconds=20
+        AtomicLong clock = new AtomicLong(1_000);
+        LeadRollover rollover = newRollover(herdr, config, () -> clock.addAndGet(500));
+
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events = attachLog();
+        try {
+            LeadRollover.PendingRollover pending = rollover.open(LEAD, "context is full");
+            LeadRollover.RollDecision decision = rollover.confirm(LEAD, pending.token(), true);
+
+            assertTrue(decision.accepted(), "expected approval; got: " + decision.reason()
+                    + " / " + decision.detail());
+
+            ILoggingEvent event = lastEventContaining(events, "releasing rather than wedging the roll");
+            assertEquals(Level.WARN, event.getLevel(), "the grace-limit release must be WARN, not "
+                    + "INFO — it is exactly the case that reported false success in the real incident "
+                    + "this fix comes from (a roll that 'succeeded' after 438ms of a 20s budget)");
+            String message = event.getFormattedMessage();
+            assertTrue(message.contains(LEAD), "must name the target pane: " + message);
+            assertTrue(message.contains("elapsed=4500ms"), "must print the MEASURED elapsed time — "
+                    + "with this fixture's advancing clock, the wait ran 4500ms before releasing: "
+                    + message);
+            // fleetd #494 follow-up (2nd pass): both numbers here are DELIBERATE plain literals,
+            // not derived from LeadRollover.PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS. A version of this assertion that
+            // reads "(" + (LeadRollover.PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS - 1) + " of those were nudged)" builds
+            // its expectation the same way the production code used to build the log line, so it
+            // cannot tell a fixed constant apart from the measured counter — proved by reverting
+            // the production fix and re-running: that mutant stayed green under the old assertion.
+            // If PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS ever changes, THIS TEST MUST FAIL and a human must look at the
+            // new message and update the literals below, not just re-derive them.
+            assertTrue(message.contains("after 8 consecutive IDLE/DONE polls (7 of those were nudged)"),
+                    "must print the measured poll count and nudge count as plain numbers, not the "
+                            + "PICKUP_GRACE_POLLS constant standing in for either: " + message);
+        } finally {
+            detachLog(events);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @DisplayName("[fleetd #494] the success line prints the measured elapsed time for the whole roll")
+    void successLogPrintsMeasuredElapsedForTheWholeRoll() throws IOException {
+        // Same fixture as clearGraceReleaseLogIsWarnWithMeasuredElapsed: default idle throughout, so
+        // the grace release fires and the roll still goes on to send bootstrapText and log success.
+        // This is deliberately the SAME shape as the real incident (a roll that "succeeds" quickly)
+        // — the missing signal was the elapsed time on this exact line.
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr();
+        Path handover = writeHandover("handover contents");
+        FleetConfig.LeadRollover config = cfg(handover.toString());
+        AtomicLong clock = new AtomicLong(1_000);
+        LeadRollover rollover = newRollover(herdr, config, () -> clock.addAndGet(500));
+
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events = attachLog();
+        try {
+            LeadRollover.PendingRollover pending = rollover.open(LEAD, "context is full");
+            LeadRollover.RollDecision decision = rollover.confirm(LEAD, pending.token(), true);
+
+            assertTrue(decision.accepted(), "expected approval; got: " + decision.reason()
+                    + " / " + decision.detail());
+
+            ILoggingEvent event = lastEventContaining(events, "lead-rollover: rolled");
+            assertEquals(Level.INFO, event.getLevel());
+            String message = event.getFormattedMessage();
+            // fleetd #494 follow-up: waitUntilAtTurnBoundary now also reads the injected clock one
+            // extra time (to compute ITS OWN measured elapsed on the success path), so the shared
+            // fixture clock advances by one more 500ms tick before the roll finishes than it did
+            // before that follow-up — 7000ms, not 6500ms.
+            assertTrue(message.contains("elapsedMs=7000"), "must print the MEASURED elapsed time for "
+                    + "the whole roll — with this fixture's advancing clock, the full roll (turn-settle "
+                    + "wait + /clear wait + bootstrapText) took 7000ms: " + message);
+        } finally {
+            detachLog(events);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @DisplayName("[fleetd #494 follow-up] the turn-settle timeout warn line prints the MEASURED "
+            + "elapsed time next to the configured budget, never the configured value alone")
+    void turnTimeoutLogPrintsMeasuredElapsedNotJustConfigured() throws IOException {
+        // The brief that named the four items this ticket fixed left this exact sibling line out —
+        // "did not reach a turn boundary (IDLE or DONE) within {}s after confirm()" — even though it
+        // has the identical defect shape one method below. Same fixture shape as
+        // clearTimeoutLogPrintsMeasuredElapsedAndNudgesNotJustConfigured, but for the FIRST wait: the
+        // calling lead's own pane never goes idle, so waitUntilAtTurnBoundary times out.
+        FakeHerdr herdr = new FakeHerdr();
+        herdr.agentStatus("working"); // the calling lead's own pane — never goes idle in this test
+        Path handover = writeHandover("handover contents");
+        FleetConfig.LeadRollover config =
+                new FleetConfig.LeadRollover(handover.toString(), true, 3600, 1 /*turnSettleSeconds*/, 20, "text");
+        AtomicLong clock = new AtomicLong(1_000);
+        LeadRollover rollover = newRollover(herdr, config, () -> clock.addAndGet(500));
+
+        ListAppender<ILoggingEvent> events = attachLog();
+        try {
+            LeadRollover.PendingRollover pending = rollover.open(LEAD, "context is full");
+            LeadRollover.RollDecision decision = rollover.confirm(LEAD, pending.token(), true);
+
+            assertTrue(decision.accepted(), "every synchronous gate should pass; the refusal happens "
+                    + "only inside the deferred continuation, which this test's synchronous runner "
+                    + "has already run to completion by the time confirm() returns");
+
+            ILoggingEvent event = lastEventContaining(events, "refusing to send /clear at all");
+            assertEquals(Level.WARN, event.getLevel());
+            String message = event.getFormattedMessage();
+            assertTrue(message.contains("configured=1s"), "must label the configured budget: " + message);
+            assertTrue(message.contains("elapsed=1500ms"), "must print the MEASURED elapsed time — "
+                    + "with this fixture's advancing clock, the wait actually ran 1500ms against a "
+                    + "1s(=1000ms) configured budget: " + message);
+            assertFalse(message.contains("within 1s"), "must not present the configured budget as if "
+                    + "it were the measured wait duration: " + message);
+        } finally {
+            detachLog(events);
+        }
+    }
 }

fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/mcp/ConnectionIdentityTest.java

@@ -57,6 +57,23 @@ class ConnectionIdentityTest {
         // must read as "resolved" — the distinction #317 turns on.
         ConnectionIdentity.Caller c = with(_ -> 999_999).resolve("127.0.0.1", 55555);
         assertTrue(c.resolved());
+        assertTrue(c.scanComplete(), "no herdr error happened, so the scan is complete");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void scanIsIncompleteWhenHerdrErrorsOnThePaneThatOwnsThePid() {
+        // fleetd #505: a transient herdr error on exactly the pane that DOES own the caller's pid
+        // must be visible as an incomplete scan, distinct from a real primary (resolved(), null
+        // terminal, complete scan). Both have pid > 0 and a null terminal — scanComplete is the
+        // only thing that tells them apart.
+        FakeHerdr failing = new FakeHerdr().processInfoFailsForPane("w2:p7", "transient");
+        ConnectionIdentity id = new ConnectionIdentity(new PaneLocator(failing), _ -> FakeHerdr.WORKER_PID);
+
+        ConnectionIdentity.Caller c = id.resolve("127.0.0.1", 55555);
+
+        assertTrue(c.resolved(), "the pid itself resolved fine — this is not #317's failure");
+        assertNull(c.terminal(), "the owning pane could not be confirmed");
+        assertFalse(c.scanComplete(), "the scan could not check the pane that owns this pid");
     }
 
     @Test

scripts/redeploy-fleetd.sh

@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@
 #      three different answers, drives whichever one it finds through its own control plane
 #      (`launchctl` / `systemctl --user`), and REFUSES outright — never falls back to `kill` — when
 #      it finds a supervision signal it cannot map to exactly one of the two it knows how to drive.
-#      A wrong guess here is how two daemons end up running against one herdr session.
+#      A wrong guess here is how two daemons end up running against one herdr session. Follow-up:
+#      "not currently loaded" is not the same fact as "unsupervised" — a unit that is installed but
+#      activating/failed/pending-restart, or a `systemctl` call that could not answer at all (e.g.
+#      no user-bus access), both now read as a fifth answer, "unclear", and REFUSE the same way
+#      "ambiguous" does, rather than silently falling through to "none".
 #   8. fleetd #492 — a post-restart check counts running fleetd processes and fails the whole run if
 #      more than one is alive. That is the one thing none of the checks above (healthz 200, jar id,
 #      the fresh "listening" line) can see: every one of them is satisfied by EITHER daemon.
@@ -71,6 +75,30 @@ LAUNCHD_PLIST="$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/$LAUNCHD_LABEL.plist"
 # "dev.ltms.fleetd" — systemd user units here are not namespaced the way the launchd label is).
 SYSTEMD_UNIT='fleetd'
 
+# fleetd #492 follow-up: detect_supervisor packs TWO values (kind, detail) onto the one stdout
+# line that survives its $(...) call — see the constraints comment above that function. This is
+# the separator between them: the ASCII "unit separator" byte, chosen because it never occurs in
+# any of the prose detail strings and needs no escaping in a `case`/glob pattern.
+SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP=$'\x1f'
+
+# fleetd #492 follow-up: set by systemd_loaded/systemd_installed when the underlying `systemctl`
+# call could not answer cleanly — it exited non-zero AND wrote something to stderr, which is a real
+# tool failure (e.g. it cannot reach the user bus over a non-lingering ssh session), never the same
+# fact as a clean negative answer ("not active", no stderr). Initialized here, not just inside the
+# probes, so detect_supervisor can read them under `set -u` even before either probe has ever run,
+# and so a test that stubs a probe with a plain `return 0`/`return 1` body (leaving these untouched)
+# reads a deterministic 0 rather than whatever a previous probe call left behind.
+SYSTEMD_LOADED_ERRORED=0
+SYSTEMD_INSTALLED_ERRORED=0
+# fleetd #492 follow-up: SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL is the specific supervisor/reason that
+# require_drivable_supervisor's die() names on an "unclear" answer. Deliberately NOT pre-declared
+# here (unlike the two flags above): it is set only by the real call site, right after it unpacks
+# detect_supervisor's stdout (see the constraints comment above detect_supervisor). If that call
+# site is ever skipped or broken, a bare `set -u` reference to this variable in
+# require_drivable_supervisor must fail loudly with "unbound variable" — a pre-declared empty
+# default would instead silently print an empty reason, hiding exactly the value this ticket
+# exists to surface.
+
 DO_BUILD=1; ASSUME_YES=0; CHECK_ONLY=0
 for arg in "$@"; do
   case "$arg" in
@@ -100,39 +128,128 @@ launchd_loaded() { launchctl list "$LAUNCHD_LABEL" >/dev/null 2>&1; }
 # (this repo is developed on macOS) can substitute each one independently — the same seam
 # launchd_installed/launchd_loaded above already use.
 #
+# fleetd #492 follow-up: both functions used to throw `systemctl`'s stderr straight into
+# /dev/null, which meant "systemctl answered no" and "systemctl could not answer at all" (e.g. it
+# cannot reach the user bus over a non-lingering ssh session) looked identical — both a plain
+# nonzero exit. They now capture stderr separately and set their own *_ERRORED flag ONLY when the
+# call exited non-zero AND wrote something to stderr — a real tool failure, never a clean "not
+# installed"/"not active" answer (which exits non-zero with empty stderr). detect_supervisor reads
+# the flag right after calling the probe, so a probe that could not answer routes to "unclear",
+# never silently becomes "none".
+#
 # "installed": a unit FILE by this name exists, regardless of its current state — the systemd
 # analogue of the plist file existing on disk. `list-unit-files` reads unit definitions without
 # depending on runtime state, so this stays read-only and safe under --check.
 systemd_installed() {
-  command -v systemctl >/dev/null 2>&1 \
-    && systemctl --user list-unit-files "$SYSTEMD_UNIT.service" --no-legend 2>/dev/null | grep -q .
+  SYSTEMD_INSTALLED_ERRORED=0
+  command -v systemctl >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+  local err_file out rc=0
+  if ! err_file="$(mktemp -t systemd-installed-err)"; then
+    SYSTEMD_INSTALLED_ERRORED=1
+    return 1
+  fi
+  out="$(systemctl --user list-unit-files "$SYSTEMD_UNIT.service" --no-legend 2>"$err_file")" || rc=$?
+  if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ]; then
+    if [ -s "$err_file" ]; then
+      SYSTEMD_INSTALLED_ERRORED=1
+    fi
+    rm -f "$err_file"
+    return "$rc"
+  fi
+  rm -f "$err_file"
+  printf '%s' "$out" | grep -q .
 }
 # "loaded": systemd currently supervises this unit as an active job — the systemd analogue of
 # `launchctl list <label>` succeeding. Measured on the second host: `systemctl --user is-active
-# fleetd` -> "active".
+# fleetd` -> "active". A clean "no" (inactive/failed/activating/deactivating) exits non-zero with
+# nothing on stderr; a probe that could not reach systemd at all exits non-zero WITH a stderr
+# message — see the fleetd #492 follow-up note above.
 systemd_loaded() {
-  command -v systemctl >/dev/null 2>&1 && systemctl --user is-active "$SYSTEMD_UNIT" >/dev/null 2>&1
+  SYSTEMD_LOADED_ERRORED=0
+  command -v systemctl >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+  local err_file rc=0
+  if ! err_file="$(mktemp -t systemd-loaded-err)"; then
+    SYSTEMD_LOADED_ERRORED=1
+    return 1
+  fi
+  systemctl --user is-active "$SYSTEMD_UNIT" >/dev/null 2>"$err_file" || rc=$?
+  if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ] && [ -s "$err_file" ]; then
+    SYSTEMD_LOADED_ERRORED=1
+  fi
+  rm -f "$err_file"
+  return "$rc"
 }
 
 # fleetd #492: three real answers, not two — launchd, systemd, or genuinely unsupervised — plus a
 # fourth, "ambiguous", for the one case this script cannot tell apart: both signals firing at once.
 # That is exactly "I cannot tell who supervises this process", and guessing wrong here is how two
-# daemons end up running against one herdr session (see trap 7 in the header). Pure and
-# side-effect-free: reads the two probes above and decides — never mutates anything, so it is safe
-# under --check and testable by overriding launchd_loaded/systemd_loaded after sourcing.
+# daemons end up running against one herdr session (see trap 7 in the header).
+#
+# fleetd #492 follow-up: a fifth answer, "unclear", for two more situations that must NEVER be read
+# as "none" (measured — see the report this ticket is a follow-up to):
+#   - installed-but-not-loaded, on EITHER supervisor. `systemctl --user is-active` answers "no" for
+#     `activating`, `deactivating`, `failed`, and while an auto-restart is pending — every one of
+#     those is a host that IS under systemd (or launchd) and whose supervisor is about to act again.
+#     `*_installed` already knows the unit/agent exists; this is the first place that fact is
+#     actually consulted in the decision, not just printed as a warning.
+#   - a probe that could not answer at all. systemd_loaded/systemd_installed set their own
+#     *_ERRORED flag (see the comment above them) when `systemctl` exits non-zero WITH a stderr
+#     message — a real tool failure, e.g. it cannot reach the user bus over a non-lingering ssh
+#     session — never conflated with a clean negative answer.
+# "none" now means only: neither supervisor is installed, neither is loaded, and neither probe
+# errored.
+#
+# fleetd #492 follow-up — constraints every caller of this function depends on (learned the hard
+# way: an earlier version of this fix set a SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL global from inside here and
+# it was silently lost, because every real call site invokes this as `$(detect_supervisor)`):
+#   1. It is called as `$(detect_supervisor)`, so ONLY STDOUT crosses back to the caller. Anything
+#      this function needs to tell its caller — the "unclear" detail included — must be printed,
+#      never assigned to a global: a global set inside a `$( )` subshell dies with that subshell.
+#      This function packs BOTH values (kind and detail) onto that one stdout line, joined by
+#      $SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP, and the caller unpacks them on its own side of the subshell boundary.
+#   2. This script runs under `set -euo pipefail` (line 50), so an unset variable is a loud
+#      failure. Do not add a `${VAR:-default}` anywhere downstream to paper over a value that
+#      should always be there — that hides a lost value instead of surfacing it (fleetd #497's
+#      defect class).
+#   3. Every `case` on this function's return value needs an explicit final `*)` arm, chosen by
+#      whether that caller ACTS on the value (`die` — an unrecognised value must never be silently
+#      driven) or only DISPLAYS it (`echo`/`warn` and continue — a diagnostic must not go silent on
+#      exactly the value it most needs to report).
+#
+# Pure and side-effect-free besides the two *_ERRORED flags (read back within this same call, never
+# by the caller — see the constraints above): reads the four probes and decides — never mutates
+# anything, so it is safe under --check and testable by overriding
+# launchd_installed/launchd_loaded/systemd_installed/systemd_loaded after sourcing.
 detect_supervisor() {
-  local ld=0 sd=0
+  local ld=0 sd=0 li=0 si=0 kind detail=""
+  SYSTEMD_LOADED_ERRORED=0
+  SYSTEMD_INSTALLED_ERRORED=0
+
   launchd_loaded && ld=1
   systemd_loaded && sd=1
-  if [ "$ld" = 1 ] && [ "$sd" = 1 ]; then
-    echo "ambiguous"
+  launchd_installed && li=1
+  systemd_installed && si=1
+
+  if [ "$SYSTEMD_LOADED_ERRORED" = 1 ] || [ "$SYSTEMD_INSTALLED_ERRORED" = 1 ]; then
+    detail="the systemd --user probe for '$SYSTEMD_UNIT' could not answer cleanly (systemctl exited non-zero and reported an error on stderr, not a clean negative — e.g. it cannot reach the user bus)"
+    kind="unclear"
+  elif [ "$ld" = 1 ] && [ "$sd" = 1 ]; then
+    kind="ambiguous"
+  elif [ "$li" = 1 ] && [ "$ld" = 0 ]; then
+    detail="the launchd agent ($LAUNCHD_LABEL) is installed ($LAUNCHD_PLIST exists) but is not currently loaded"
+    kind="unclear"
+  elif [ "$si" = 1 ] && [ "$sd" = 0 ]; then
+    detail="the systemd --user unit ($SYSTEMD_UNIT) is installed but not currently active — it may be activating, deactivating, failed, or waiting on an auto-restart"
+    kind="unclear"
   elif [ "$ld" = 1 ]; then
-    echo "launchd"
+    kind="launchd"
   elif [ "$sd" = 1 ]; then
-    echo "systemd"
+    kind="systemd"
   else
-    echo "none"
+    kind="none"
   fi
+
+  printf '%s%s%s' "$kind" "$SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP" "$detail"
 }
 
 # fleetd #492: turns anything detect_supervisor returns that is NOT exactly one of the two
@@ -150,6 +267,19 @@ require_drivable_supervisor() {
           OLD jar out from under it — the exact failure this ticket (fleetd #492) exists to
           prevent. Stop one of the two supervisors by hand, confirm only one remains loaded, then
           rerun." ;;
+    unclear)
+      # fleetd #492 follow-up: SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL crosses back from detect_supervisor's
+      # subshell via its stdout, unpacked by the caller BEFORE it calls this function (see the
+      # constraints comment above detect_supervisor). No ${VAR:-default} here on purpose: if the
+      # detail is somehow missing, `set -u` makes this reference fail loudly instead of silently
+      # naming nothing — a default that hides a lost value is the same defect class as fleetd
+      # #497.
+      die "a supervisor looks present but this script cannot tell whether it actually drives this
+          daemon: $SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL. Guessing wrong here is the same failure 'ambiguous'
+          above exists to prevent: driving the daemon while an unseen supervisor revives the OLD
+          jar out from under it (fleetd #492). Check 'launchctl list $LAUNCHD_LABEL' and
+          'systemctl --user status $SYSTEMD_UNIT' by hand, resolve whichever looks unclear, then
+          rerun." ;;
     *)
       die "detect_supervisor returned an unrecognized value '$kind' — refusing to guess which
           supervisor, if any, controls this daemon." ;;
@@ -301,7 +431,12 @@ fi
 # outright — before touching anything — if that cannot be told apart (see require_drivable_
 # supervisor above). --check reaches this same line, so a host with an undrivable supervisor is
 # reported as a failure even in --check, without ever reaching the build/stop/start steps.
-SUPERVISOR_KIND="$(detect_supervisor)"
+# fleetd #492 follow-up: detect_supervisor runs as $(...), so only the printed line survives —
+# unpack kind and detail from it HERE, in this shell, before calling anything downstream. See the
+# constraints comment above detect_supervisor for why this cannot be done any other way.
+SUPERVISOR_RAW="$(detect_supervisor)"
+SUPERVISOR_KIND="${SUPERVISOR_RAW%%"$SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP"*}"
+SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL="${SUPERVISOR_RAW#*"$SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP"}"
 require_drivable_supervisor "$SUPERVISOR_KIND"
 ok "supervisor detected: $SUPERVISOR_KIND"
 SUPERVISED=0
@@ -320,6 +455,13 @@ case "$SUPERVISOR_KIND" in
   none)
     warn "no supervisor loaded — this script is the only thing that will restart the daemon."
     ;;
+  *)
+    # fleetd #492 follow-up: this block only DISPLAYS state, it changes nothing yet — so a value
+    # it doesn't recognise gets reported, not an abort that goes silent on exactly the state most
+    # worth seeing. (Unreachable today: require_drivable_supervisor above already died on
+    # "ambiguous"/"unclear" before this case runs. Guards the value nobody has invented yet.)
+    warn "unrecognised supervisor kind: '$SUPERVISOR_KIND' — detect_supervisor returned a value this block does not know; continuing to report the rest of the state."
+    ;;
 esac
 
 # The trap with no log line. Checked in a LOGIN shell, because that is how the daemon is started
@@ -434,6 +576,14 @@ if [ -n "$OLD_PID" ]; then
     none)
       kill "$OLD_PID"
       ;;
+    *)
+      # fleetd #492 follow-up: this block ACTS (stops the daemon one specific way per kind) — an
+      # unrecognised value must never fall through to a default action, silently picking the wrong
+      # one (or none at all) while reporting success. (Unreachable today: require_drivable_
+      # supervisor already died before this runs. Guards the value nobody has invented yet.)
+      die "detect_supervisor returned an unrecognized value '$SUPERVISOR_KIND' at the stop step —
+          refusing to guess how to stop a daemon under an unknown supervisor. The daemon was NOT
+          stopped." ;;
   esac
   for _ in $(seq "$STOP_WAIT"); do
     [ -z "$(running_pid)" ] && break
@@ -507,6 +657,14 @@ case "$SUPERVISOR_KIND" in
     # Absolute jar path so `ps` names which checkout is running.
     ( cd "$MODULE" && zsh -lc "nohup java -jar '$JAR' >> fleetd.out 2>&1 &" )
     ;;
+  *)
+    # fleetd #492 follow-up: this block ACTS (starts the daemon one specific way per kind) — an
+    # unrecognised value must never fall through to a default action, silently picking the wrong
+    # one (or none at all) while reporting success. (Unreachable today: require_drivable_
+    # supervisor already died before this runs. Guards the value nobody has invented yet.)
+    die "detect_supervisor returned an unrecognized value '$SUPERVISOR_KIND' at the start step —
+        refusing to guess how to start a daemon under an unknown supervisor. The daemon was NOT
+        started." ;;
 esac
 
 for _ in $(seq 10); do

scripts/test-redeploy-fleetd.sh

@@ -25,6 +25,17 @@ classify_fixture() {
   classify_amqp_connection_errors "$TMP/$name"
 }
 
+# fleetd #492 follow-up: detect_supervisor's stdout is now "kind<SEP>detail" (see the constraints
+# comment above detect_supervisor in redeploy-fleetd.sh) — every test below that only cares about
+# the kind must split it out with the SAME in-shell parameter expansion the real call site (:438)
+# uses, never a bare string comparison against the raw output.
+supervisor_kind_of() {
+  printf '%s' "${1%%"$SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP"*}"
+}
+supervisor_detail_of() {
+  printf '%s' "${1#*"$SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP"}"
+}
+
 
 # fleetd #492 — supervisor detection. Detect_supervisor() reads launchd_loaded/systemd_loaded, so
 # each test overrides BOTH pairs (installed + loaded) explicitly, rather than relying on either
@@ -37,7 +48,7 @@ test_detect_supervisor_launchd_only() {
   launchd_loaded()    { return 0; }
   systemd_installed() { return 1; }
   systemd_loaded()    { return 1; }
-  assert_equals "launchd" "$(detect_supervisor)" "launchd-only detection"
+  assert_equals "launchd" "$(supervisor_kind_of "$(detect_supervisor)")" "launchd-only detection"
 }
 
 test_detect_supervisor_systemd_only() {
@@ -45,7 +56,7 @@ test_detect_supervisor_systemd_only() {
   launchd_loaded()    { return 1; }
   systemd_installed() { return 0; }
   systemd_loaded()    { return 0; }
-  assert_equals "systemd" "$(detect_supervisor)" "systemd-only detection"
+  assert_equals "systemd" "$(supervisor_kind_of "$(detect_supervisor)")" "systemd-only detection"
 }
 
 test_detect_supervisor_none() {
@@ -53,7 +64,105 @@ test_detect_supervisor_none() {
   launchd_loaded()    { return 1; }
   systemd_installed() { return 1; }
   systemd_loaded()    { return 1; }
-  assert_equals "none" "$(detect_supervisor)" "unsupervised detection"
+  assert_equals "none" "$(supervisor_kind_of "$(detect_supervisor)")" "unsupervised detection"
+}
+
+# fleetd #492 follow-up — detect_supervisor must never answer "none" when the truth is "could not
+# tell". `systemd_installed`/`systemd_loaded` already know a unit file exists; this proves that
+# fact is now actually consulted, not just printed as a warning: an installed-but-not-loaded unit
+# reads as unclear, because is-active answers "no" for activating/deactivating/failed/pending
+# auto-restart too, and every one of those is a host that IS under systemd.
+test_detect_supervisor_systemd_installed_not_loaded_is_unclear() {
+  launchd_installed() { return 1; }
+  launchd_loaded()    { return 1; }
+  systemd_installed() { return 0; }   # the unit file IS there
+  systemd_loaded()    { return 1; }   # is-active says no — could be activating/failed/pending restart
+  local raw
+  raw="$(detect_supervisor)"
+  assert_equals "unclear" "$(supervisor_kind_of "$raw")" "systemd installed-but-not-loaded must read as unclear, not none"
+  printf '%s' "$(supervisor_detail_of "$raw")" | grep -qF "$SYSTEMD_UNIT" \
+    || fail "detail does not name the systemd unit it found installed-but-not-loaded"
+}
+
+# Same fact, the launchd side: a plist on disk that is not currently loaded (unloaded without being
+# removed, or about to be reloaded) must not read as "no supervisor" either.
+test_detect_supervisor_launchd_installed_not_loaded_is_unclear() {
+  launchd_installed() { return 0; }   # the plist IS there
+  launchd_loaded()    { return 1; }   # launchctl list says not loaded
+  systemd_installed() { return 1; }
+  systemd_loaded()    { return 1; }
+  local raw
+  raw="$(detect_supervisor)"
+  assert_equals "unclear" "$(supervisor_kind_of "$raw")" "launchd installed-but-not-loaded must read as unclear, not none"
+  printf '%s' "$(supervisor_detail_of "$raw")" | grep -qF "$LAUNCHD_LABEL" \
+    || fail "detail does not name the launchd label it found installed-but-not-loaded"
+}
+
+# Drives the REAL systemd_loaded/systemd_installed bodies (never stubbed) through a `systemctl`
+# stub placed first on PATH that exits non-zero AND writes to stderr — the shape of a systemctl
+# that runs but cannot reach the user bus (measured elsewhere as a headless ssh session with no
+# lingering). This must read as unclear, never none: a probe that could not answer at all is not
+# the same fact as "no supervisor is loaded".
+test_detect_supervisor_systemd_probe_error_is_unclear() {
+  # Re-source first to restore the REAL launchd_*/systemd_* probe bodies. Earlier tests in this
+  # file permanently override them with stub `return 0`/`return 1` bodies (that is the whole point
+  # of those tests), and a bash function definition is global for the rest of the process — without
+  # this, systemd_loaded here would still be whatever the previous test left it as, never touching
+  # a real `systemctl` call at all.
+  source "$ROOT/scripts/redeploy-fleetd.sh"
+  local bin_dir result rc=0
+  bin_dir="$TMP/stub-bin-systemctl-errors"
+  mkdir -p "$bin_dir"
+  cat > "$bin_dir/systemctl" <<'STUB'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+echo "Failed to connect to bus: No such file or directory" >&2
+exit 1
+STUB
+  chmod +x "$bin_dir/systemctl"
+
+  PATH="$bin_dir:$PATH" systemd_loaded && rc=0 || rc=$?
+  [ "$rc" -ne 0 ] || fail "systemd_loaded must not report loaded=true when systemctl only errored"
+  assert_equals "1" "$SYSTEMD_LOADED_ERRORED" "systemd_loaded must flag a probe error, not a clean negative"
+
+  launchd_installed() { return 1; }
+  launchd_loaded()    { return 1; }
+  result="$(PATH="$bin_dir:$PATH" detect_supervisor)"
+  assert_equals "unclear" "$(supervisor_kind_of "$result")" "a systemd probe error must read as unclear, not none"
+  printf '%s' "$(supervisor_detail_of "$result")" | grep -qF "$SYSTEMD_UNIT" \
+    || fail "detail does not name the systemd unit whose probe errored"
+}
+
+# fleetd #492 follow-up (Item 1): this must go through the REAL call-site shape at :437-440, not a
+# hand-constructed "unclear" value — a test that builds "unclear" directly proves the switch, not
+# the handoff, and that is exactly the gap that let SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL never reach the real
+# caller in b17f37a. detect_supervisor runs as $(detect_supervisor): a subshell. Only stdout
+# survives that boundary, so kind AND detail must both cross on it — this test proves they do.
+test_require_drivable_supervisor_refuses_unclear() {
+  launchd_installed() { return 1; }
+  launchd_loaded()    { return 1; }
+  systemd_installed() { return 0; }
+  systemd_loaded()    { return 1; }
+
+  local SUPERVISOR_RAW SUPERVISOR_KIND SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL output rc=0
+  # Exactly what :437-439 does — do not shortcut this by constructing "unclear" by hand.
+  SUPERVISOR_RAW="$(detect_supervisor)"
+  SUPERVISOR_KIND="${SUPERVISOR_RAW%%"$SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP"*}"
+  SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL="${SUPERVISOR_RAW#*"$SUPERVISOR_DETAIL_SEP"}"
+
+  assert_equals "unclear" "$SUPERVISOR_KIND" "setup: expected unclear before testing the refusal"
+  [ -n "$SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL" ] \
+    || fail "detail did not survive the \$(...) call-site boundary — SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL is empty in the parent shell"
+  printf '%s' "$SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL" | grep -qF "$SYSTEMD_UNIT" \
+    || fail "detail that crossed the subshell boundary does not name the systemd unit it found installed-but-not-loaded"
+
+  output="$(require_drivable_supervisor "$SUPERVISOR_KIND" 2>&1)" || rc=$?
+  [ "$rc" -ne 0 ] || fail "require_drivable_supervisor accepted an unclear (undrivable) supervisor"
+  # Check for the ACTUAL DETAIL TEXT, not just "$SYSTEMD_UNIT" — the die() message's boilerplate
+  # recovery instructions name the unit unconditionally either way ("systemctl --user status
+  # $SYSTEMD_UNIT"), so a bare unit-name grep here would pass even on a lost/fallback detail. Only
+  # the specific detail string proves the crossed value, not the boilerplate, reached the message.
+  printf '%s' "$output" | grep -qF "$SUPERVISOR_UNCLEAR_DETAIL" \
+    || fail "refusal message does not contain the specific detail that crossed the subshell boundary"
 }
 
 # The heart of the ticket: a supervisor this script cannot drive must refuse, never fall through to
@@ -299,7 +408,11 @@ test_unattributable_quiet_mutation_is_caught() {
 test_detect_supervisor_launchd_only
 test_detect_supervisor_systemd_only
 test_detect_supervisor_none
+test_detect_supervisor_systemd_installed_not_loaded_is_unclear
+test_detect_supervisor_launchd_installed_not_loaded_is_unclear
+test_detect_supervisor_systemd_probe_error_is_unclear
 test_require_drivable_supervisor_refuses_ambiguous
+test_require_drivable_supervisor_refuses_unclear
 test_require_drivable_supervisor_accepts_known_kinds
 test_count_daemon_pids
 test_assert_single_daemon_accepts_one_pid