Say where a pending merge check is: queued since when, then building on which machine (hq issue 446)

The forge's holder set mesh/merge-gate pending as "the mesh is mapping this head onto its module graph" and nothing
changed it until the verdict, so a ten-minute controller check read as a stalled forge (issue 423). The holder now
says the head waits in the build queue since the local time it was announced; mesh-delivery follows the build
seat's started event and says the machine building it and since when, never over a verdict the forge holds.

modules/gitea/index.ts

@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@
 
 import { emit, on } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/events";
 import { GiteaClient, movedSince } from "./client.js";
-import { CHECK_CONTEXT, REPO_CHECK_CONTEXT, commentFor, headsToAnnounce, statusesFor, type Announced, type Checked,
-  type RepoCheckFacts, reposToLook } from "./pulls.js";
+import { CHECK_CONTEXT, REPO_CHECK_CONTEXT, commentFor, headsToAnnounce, pendingWords, statusesFor, type Announced,
+  type Checked, type RepoCheckFacts, reposToLook } from "./pulls.js";
 
 // Without a way to a token — configured, or mintable with the admin account (token.ts) — there is
 // nothing to watch; log and stay quiet rather than crash the runtime. With one, the first poll mints
@@ -274,10 +274,11 @@ async function pollPulls(client: GiteaClient): Promise<void> {
         });
         // Said, so an operator knows the mesh was asked to check it.
         console.log(`[gitea] announced ${key} at ${String(pull.head_sha).slice(0, 8)} to be checked before it merges`);
-        // Pending until the verdict comes, so the pull request says a check is running rather than nothing.
+        // Pending until the verdict comes, so the pull request says a check is running rather than nothing — and
+        // where it is: in the build queue from now, until mesh-delivery says a build machine took it (issue 446).
         await client
           .setCommitStatus(repo.owner, repo.name, String(pull.head_sha), {
-            state: "pending", context: CHECK_CONTEXT, description: "the mesh is mapping this head onto its module graph",
+            state: "pending", context: CHECK_CONTEXT, description: pendingWords(new Date()),
           })
           .catch((err) => console.error(`[gitea] ${key}: could not say a check is pending — ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}`));
       }

modules/gitea/pulls.ts

@@ -18,6 +18,18 @@ export const CHECK_CONTEXT = "mesh/merge-gate";
 /** The status context of the repository's own merge-check.sh, the check's second layer (novox/hq ADR 0237). */
 export const REPO_CHECK_CONTEXT = "mesh/repo-check";
 
+/**
+ * The pending words a head's merge check is announced with (novox/hq issue 446): where the check is, and since when,
+ * in the time the operator reads. They stood as "the mesh is mapping this head onto its module graph" for the whole
+ * check — the few seconds the controller maps the head and then the queue wait and the build — and readers took the
+ * forge for lagging (issue 423). The controller maps and queues the check in seconds, so from the announcement it waits
+ * in the build queue; mesh-delivery says "building on <machine> since …" when a build machine takes it.
+ */
+export function pendingWords(announced: Date): string {
+  const two = (n: number) => String(n).padStart(2, "0");
+  return `waiting in the build queue since ${two(announced.getHours())}:${two(announced.getMinutes())}`;
+}
+
 /** One layer of a check, judged. */
 export interface Layer {
   verdict: string;

modules/gitea/test/pulls.test.ts

@@ -146,3 +146,11 @@ test("a change plan is the gate's result: said on the status and, when it builds
   const nothing = { ...c, plan: { ...plan, moved: [], tiers: [], machines: [], summary: "builds nothing" } };
   assert.equal(commentFor(nothing), null);
 });
+
+// **A pending check says where it is** (novox/hq issue 446): announced, it waits in the build queue, since the time the
+// operator reads — not "mapping this head onto its module graph" for the ten minutes of a controller check.
+test("a head announced is pending in the build queue, since the local time it was announced", async () => {
+  const { pendingWords } = await import("../pulls.ts");
+  assert.equal(pendingWords(new Date(2026, 9, 11, 3, 8, 50)), "waiting in the build queue since 03:08");
+  assert.equal(pendingWords(new Date(2026, 9, 11, 14, 0, 0)), "waiting in the build queue since 14:00");
+});