The backlog-status enum was too narrow, not the nine cards wrong

This gate keeps the AGGREGATE honest — a prose status makes every open-count wrong
while each card still READS correctly, so the error hides in the total. That matters
to this loop directly: every tick starts by reading status counts to pick a card.

MEASURED across 633 cards: EIGHT distinct status values are in use and EVERY ONE IS
A SINGLE WORD. No prose remains anywhere in the field — which is exactly what the
original 130-card migration achieved. The nine cards this gate was failing carried
legitimate TERMINAL states the enum simply predated: superseded (5), deferred (2),
decided, verified-already-true.

★ REWRITING THEM TO "done" WOULD HAVE DESTROYED REAL DISTINCTIONS to satisfy a list.
A SUPERSEDED card was replaced by another; a DEFERRED one was consciously postponed;
neither was finished. Losing that information to make a checker green is the
opposite of what this gate is for.

OPEN vs CLOSED is the property that matters, and all four additions are CLOSED:
open = todo + doing + in-progress (66), closed = done + these four (507),
blocked (60).

MUTATION-TESTED BOTH WAYS, so widening did not weaken it: a prose status
("done — reconciled against main, see notes") still FAILS by name — the original
defect — AND an unagreed one-word status ("wontfix") ALSO fails, so the set stays
CLOSED rather than becoming "any single word".

Wired into gates:post (32 -> 33) after confirming it reads only backlog JSON. The
doc that quotes gates:post is re-transcribed in the same commit.

Build: 7/7 pre, 23/23 bundles, 33/33 post, exit 0.

documentation/README-SECTION-3-cli-commands.md

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ The scripts these commands are grounded in (from this branch's `package.json`):
 "build":           "bash internal/build-lock.sh",
 "build:unlocked":  "bun run gates:pre && bun run library-index && bun run check:library-index && bun run clean && bun run token && bun run build:bundles && bun run tree && bun run gates:post && bun run gallery",
 "gates:pre":       "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --label=pre -- check:template-literal check:mjs-parse check:sfc-parse check:tab-radius check:synced-css check:wp-embed check:doc-scripts",
-"gates:post":      "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --label=post -- check:drop check:parse verify check:sri check:public-hygiene check:label-joins check:facet-cascade check:facet-one-field check:heartbeat check:kpi-unit check:composite-reg check:descriptions check:no-abs-paths check:no-codename check:dep-names check:composite-srcs check:embed-targets check:nested-token check:i18n-parity check:tabs-localized check:packets-all check:packet-strings-parity check:zone-census check:share-policy check:library-index check:csv-shape check:capability-citations check:catalog-identity check:no-orphan-gates check:quoted-scripts check:done-evidence check:script-flags",
+"gates:post":      "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --label=post -- check:drop check:parse verify check:sri check:public-hygiene check:label-joins check:facet-cascade check:facet-one-field check:heartbeat check:kpi-unit check:composite-reg check:descriptions check:no-abs-paths check:no-codename check:dep-names check:composite-srcs check:embed-targets check:nested-token check:i18n-parity check:tabs-localized check:packets-all check:packet-strings-parity check:zone-census check:share-policy check:library-index check:csv-shape check:capability-citations check:catalog-identity check:no-orphan-gates check:quoted-scripts check:done-evidence check:script-flags check:backlog-status",
 "build:bundles":   "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --bundles",   // the 22 vite builds, 4 at a time
 "preview":         "bun x vite preview",
 "serve":           "node internal/serve-strict.mjs",   // 404s a directory, like production

internal/check-backlog-status-enum.mjs

@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@
  * to the enum; 130/130 preserved, 0 lost. The explanation was never the problem — putting it in the
  * field that tooling reads was.
  *
- * WHAT IT ASSERTS: every card's `status` is one of todo / doing / in-progress / blocked / done.
+ * WHAT IT ASSERTS: every card's `status` is ONE WORD from a closed set — the five workflow
+ * states plus four terminal ones (superseded / deferred / decided / verified-already-true).
+ * The point is not the particular words: it is that `status` stays machine-readable so the
+ * open-count is right. Prose belongs in fields.status_detail.
  *
  * It deliberately does NOT require `status_detail` to exist. Most cards need no explanation, and
  * demanding one would turn a real check into paperwork that gets satisfied with filler.
@@ -41,7 +44,23 @@ import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 const ROOT = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..')
 const QA = join(ROOT, '../_qa-cycle')
 const PHASES = ['01-ideation-research', '02-builder-cycle', '03-deployment-cycle']
-const ALLOWED = new Set(['todo', 'doing', 'in-progress', 'blocked', 'done'])
+// ★ THE ENUM WAS TOO NARROW, not the cards wrong. MEASURED 2026-09-24 across 633 cards:
+// EIGHT distinct status values are in use and EVERY ONE IS A SINGLE WORD — there is no
+// prose left anywhere in the field. The nine this gate was failing carried legitimate
+// TERMINAL states the original enum simply predated: superseded (5), deferred (2),
+// decided, verified-already-true.
+//
+// This gate exists to keep the AGGREGATE honest — "a prose status makes every open-count
+// wrong while each card still READS correctly". A one-word terminal state serves that
+// purpose perfectly; it is exactly what the 130-card migration was FOR. Rewriting nine
+// accurate statuses to 'done' would have destroyed real distinctions (a SUPERSEDED card
+// was replaced by another; a DEFERRED one was consciously postponed; neither was
+// finished) to satisfy a list — losing information to make a checker green.
+//
+// OPEN vs CLOSED is the property that matters, and all four additions are CLOSED:
+// open = todo + doing + in-progress (66), closed = done + these four (507), blocked (60).
+const TERMINAL_EXTRA = ['superseded', 'deferred', 'decided', 'verified-already-true']
+const ALLOWED = new Set(['todo', 'doing', 'in-progress', 'blocked', 'done', ...TERMINAL_EXTRA])
 
 if (!existsSync(QA)) {
   // _qa-cycle lives outside every repo the CI clones, so absence is EXPECTED there. Say so loudly

package.json

@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@
     "check:doc-scripts:self-test": "node internal/check-doc-quotes-scripts.mjs --self-test",
     "check:legend-source": "node internal/check-legend-matches-source.mjs   # the numbers the maps SHOW must match the numbers the live SOURCE has. Every other gate checks INTERNAL consistency — a page can agree with itself perfectly while its legend has stopped describing reality. Offline SKIPs (exit 0); only a reachable endpoint that disagrees fails.",
     "gates:pre": "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --label=pre -- check:template-literal check:mjs-parse check:sfc-parse check:tab-radius check:synced-css check:wp-embed check:doc-scripts",
-    "gates:post": "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --label=post -- check:drop check:parse verify check:sri check:public-hygiene check:label-joins check:facet-cascade check:facet-one-field check:heartbeat check:kpi-unit check:composite-reg check:descriptions check:no-abs-paths check:no-codename check:dep-names check:composite-srcs check:embed-targets check:nested-token check:i18n-parity check:tabs-localized check:packets-all check:packet-strings-parity check:zone-census check:share-policy check:library-index check:csv-shape check:capability-citations check:catalog-identity check:no-orphan-gates check:quoted-scripts check:done-evidence check:script-flags",
+    "gates:post": "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --label=post -- check:drop check:parse verify check:sri check:public-hygiene check:label-joins check:facet-cascade check:facet-one-field check:heartbeat check:kpi-unit check:composite-reg check:descriptions check:no-abs-paths check:no-codename check:dep-names check:composite-srcs check:embed-targets check:nested-token check:i18n-parity check:tabs-localized check:packets-all check:packet-strings-parity check:zone-census check:share-policy check:library-index check:csv-shape check:capability-citations check:catalog-identity check:no-orphan-gates check:quoted-scripts check:done-evidence check:script-flags check:backlog-status",
     "build:bundles": "node internal/run-parallel.mjs --bundles",
     "check:maplibre-drops": "node internal/check-maplibre-layer-drops.mjs",
     "check:tabs-localized": "node internal/check-tabs-localized.mjs   # a chosen locale must CHANGE the rendered tab text. check:i18n-parity compares catalogs to each OTHER, so it cannot tell a shipped translation from a dead one; tabs.json is reached only via a DYNAMIC key (SemanticTreeLegend.vue:40), invisible to any grep. Renders it and reads the result.",