TASK-122: a bullet slot is not a cell, so render --write invents no padding

.perry/config.md

@@ -8,6 +8,25 @@
 - Code repo path: —
 - Last updated: 2026-08-16
 
+## Tracks
+
+| Track | Mode | Spine | Stages | WIP | SLA | Cycle | Default rung |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| main | project | phase/ | — | — | — | — | V3 |
+| intake | queue | standing | new→triaged→in_progress→resolved | 6 | 5d | weekly | V3 |
+
+`intake` carries the work that ARRIVES — a defect an agent found mid-run, a
+sibling a sweep turned up, a review finding. It is not decomposed from a goal,
+it shows up, and its useful questions are queue questions: what has been
+waiting longest, how deep is the backlog, what keeps recurring.
+
+`main` carries the work that is DECOMPOSED — the phase, its KRs, the rows that
+serve them.
+
+Declared 2026-08-20 as the experiment in TASK-133. `Default rung` is V3 rather
+than queue mode's V2 default: an arriving row here is a code defect, and a
+resolution note is not evidence that it is fixed.
+
 ## Why the state root is not `.`
 
 Perry's own `design/` directory is the **design lane skill**

SKILL.md

@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ The table is that sentence applied to a file list. It is a **file-ownership** co
 | Lane | Only writer of | Proposes, never writes |
 |---|---|---|
 | **`goals`** (`goals/`) | `OKR.md` — **including `## Commitments`** — and `phase/<NNN>-<slug>.md` | weekly tasks, handed to `work` |
-| **`work`** (`work/`) | `BOARD.md` (incl. `## Intake`, `## Cadence`), `journal/`, `PROJECT_STATE.md`, `evidence/`, `weekly/`, `handoff/` | KR attribution edges, handed to `goals` |
+| **`work`** (`work/`) | `BOARD.md` (incl. `## Intake`, `## Cadence`), `journal/`, `PROJECT_STATE.md`, `evidence/`, `weekly/`, `handoff/`, **`.perry/agents.jsonl` → `.perry/roles/`** | KR attribution edges, handed to `goals` |
 | **`decide`** (`decide/`) | `design/<DESIGN-ID>-<slug>.md`, **`DECISIONS.md` and `decisions/`** | implementation tasks on lock, handed to `work` |
 
 **Two changes from the previous contract** — `DECISIONS.md` + `decisions/` moved from `work` to `decide`, and `OKR.md § Commitments` became explicitly `goals`. **The lane names and the directories now agree**, an edit needing no second signature because the ownership set above is byte-identical across it. Both accounts: `reference/hand-off-contract.md`.

bin/perry-codex-preflight

@@ -48,6 +48,21 @@ USAGE
   esac
 done
 
+mtime_of() {
+  # See `bin/perry-dispatch-limit § mtime` (TASK-138). GNU `stat -f` is
+  # `--file-system` and SUCCEEDS, so the `-f || -c` chain never falls through
+  # on Linux. Try GNU first (BSD rejects `-c` outright) and accept digits only.
+  local v
+  v=$(stat -c %Y "$1" 2>/dev/null) && case "$v" in
+    ""|*[!0-9]*) : ;;
+    *) printf '%s\n' "$v"; return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  v=$(stat -f %m "$1" 2>/dev/null) && case "$v" in
+    ""|*[!0-9]*) : ;;
+    *) printf '%s\n' "$v"; return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  echo 0
+}
 log()  { [ "$QUIET" -eq 1 ] || echo "$@"; }
 warn() { echo "$@" >&2; }
 fail() { echo "$@" >&2; exit 1; }
@@ -81,7 +96,7 @@ mkdir -p "$CACHE_DIR"
 NOW=$(date +%s)
 
 if [ "$FORCE" -eq 0 ] && [ -f "$SMOKE_FILE" ]; then
-  LAST=$(stat -f %m "$SMOKE_FILE" 2>/dev/null || stat -c %Y "$SMOKE_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+  LAST=$(mtime_of "$SMOKE_FILE")
   ELAPSED=$((NOW - LAST))
   if [ "$ELAPSED" -lt "$SMOKE_TTL" ]; then
     log "🟢 codex smoke test cached ($((ELAPSED / 60))m ago, TTL $((SMOKE_TTL / 60))m)"

bin/perry-dispatch-limit

@@ -57,8 +57,24 @@ Cache: ~/.cache/perry/in-flight/<TASK-ID>-<EXECUTOR>.json
 USAGE
 }
 
+# GNU `stat -f` is `--file-system`: it SUCCEEDS and prints a filesystem block,
+# so a `-f %m || -c %Y` chain never reaches its fallback on Linux and hands
+# `$((now - last))` four lines of prose. That was green on every mac and red on
+# every CI run (TASK-138). Two rules, both load-bearing: try the GNU form
+# FIRST — `-c` is rejected outright by BSD stat, so it fails cleanly, which
+# `-f` does not — and accept an answer only if it is all digits, because an
+# exit code is not evidence that the output means what was asked for.
 mtime() {
-  stat -f %m "$1" 2>/dev/null || stat -c %Y "$1" 2>/dev/null || echo 0
+  local v
+  v=$(stat -c %Y "$1" 2>/dev/null) && case "$v" in
+    ""|*[!0-9]*) : ;;
+    *) printf '%s\n' "$v"; return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  v=$(stat -f %m "$1" 2>/dev/null) && case "$v" in
+    ""|*[!0-9]*) : ;;
+    *) printf '%s\n' "$v"; return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  echo 0
 }
 
 release_lock() {

bin/perry-update-check

@@ -42,6 +42,21 @@ USAGE
   esac
 done
 
+mtime_of() {
+  # See `bin/perry-dispatch-limit § mtime` (TASK-138). GNU `stat -f` is
+  # `--file-system` and SUCCEEDS, so the `-f || -c` chain never falls through
+  # on Linux. Try GNU first (BSD rejects `-c` outright) and accept digits only.
+  local v
+  v=$(stat -c %Y "$1" 2>/dev/null) && case "$v" in
+    ""|*[!0-9]*) : ;;
+    *) printf '%s\n' "$v"; return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  v=$(stat -f %m "$1" 2>/dev/null) && case "$v" in
+    ""|*[!0-9]*) : ;;
+    *) printf '%s\n' "$v"; return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  echo 0
+}
 log()  { [ "$QUIET" -eq 1 ] || echo "$@"; }
 warn() { echo "$@" >&2; }
 fail() { warn "$@"; [ "$STRICT" -eq 1 ] && exit 1 || exit 0; }
@@ -110,7 +125,7 @@ NOW=$(date +%s)
 
 if [ "$FORCE" -eq 0 ] && [ -f "$CHECK_FILE" ]; then
   # Portable mtime: try macOS stat first, fall back to GNU
-  LAST=$(stat -f %m "$CHECK_FILE" 2>/dev/null || stat -c %Y "$CHECK_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+  LAST=$(mtime_of "$CHECK_FILE")
   ELAPSED=$((NOW - LAST))
   if [ "$ELAPSED" -lt "$WEEK_SECS" ]; then
     # Recently checked; bail without noise

bin/perry_store.py

@@ -265,8 +265,10 @@ def cell_text(field: str, rec: dict, escape: bool = True) -> str:
     `escape` is False for a slot that is not inside a markdown table — a
     `- PMO repo path: …` bullet in `.perry/config.md` carries no cell
     boundaries, and escaping a pipe there would write a backslash the file
-    never had. It is the ONE thing that differs between a table cell and a
-    bullet slot, so it is one flag rather than a second function.
+    never had. "Is this inside a table?" is the ONE question a table cell and
+    a bullet slot answer differently, so it is one flag rather than a second
+    function — and it is the same flag `describe_cell` reads to decide whether
+    a value may be handed padding it did not come with, for the same reason.
     """
     v = rec.get(field, "")
     if isinstance(v, list) or field == "depends_on":
@@ -314,11 +316,28 @@ def describe_cell(raw: str, field: str, rec: dict, escape: bool = True) -> dict:
     body = raw.strip()
     lead = raw[:len(raw) - len(raw.lstrip())]
     trail = raw[len(raw.rstrip()):]
+    # **A table cell has boundaries; a bullet slot has neighbours** — so only
+    # the cell may be given padding it did not come with. `render_line` joins
+    # cells on `|`, a character that carries no whitespace of its own, so a
+    # cell whose own padding is missing has to be handed some or `|split|` is
+    # what gets written. A bullet slot is joined on `""` between literal spans
+    # that already hold every character around it: the span before the slot in
+    # `- Repo layout: single` is `'- Repo layout: '`, separator space included.
+    # A space invented there is written TWICE — two after the colon, and a
+    # trailing one `git diff --check` reports — on a line the tool's own
+    # refusal message told the reader to run `render --write` to repair.
+    # `escape` is the same flag that tells a cell from a slot in `cell_text`,
+    # for the same reason: a slot is not inside a table.
+    pad = " " if escape else ""
     if not body:
         # A whitespace-only cell is ALL padding, and splitting it into a
         # leading half and a trailing half counts it twice — `|  |` came back
-        # `|    |` on every empty `Depends on` cell of Perry's own board.
-        c = {"f": field, "lead": " ", "trail": " ", "blank": raw}
+        # `|    |` on every empty `Depends on` cell of Perry's own board. A
+        # bullet slot has only one side to pad against, so its whitespace is
+        # kept whole and on the left, where the separator it follows is: an
+        # empty `- Code repo path: ` gains a value without gaining a second
+        # space and without losing the one it had.
+        c = {"f": field, "lead": pad or raw, "trail": pad, "blank": raw}
         if want:
             c["disagrees"] = body
         return c
@@ -341,7 +360,7 @@ def describe_cell(raw: str, field: str, rec: dict, escape: bool = True) -> dict:
         at = body.index(want)
         return {"f": field, "lead": lead, "trail": trail,
                 "p": body[:at], "s": body[at + len(want):]}
-    return {"f": field, "lead": lead or " ", "trail": trail or " ",
+    return {"f": field, "lead": lead or pad, "trail": trail or pad,
             "disagrees": body}