diff --git a/modules/gitea/gate.ts b/modules/gitea/gate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b636a422
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/gitea/gate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+// **One writer of a head's mesh/merge-gate, and the verdict lands last** (novox/hq issue 446).
+//
+// A pending check says where it is: "waiting in the build queue since …" when the head is announced, "building on
+// <machine> since …" when a build machine takes the check — the build seat's `started` (novox/hq ADR 0157) — and the
+// verdict when the controller says `checked`. The forge keeps only the newest status of a context, so a pending word
+// written after the verdict hides it: a pass reads pending and the merge waits for ever; a failure hides under
+// "building". Two writers cannot order their writes, and a writer that reads the forge before writing races the other
+// between its read and its write. So this module is the one writer of mesh/merge-gate, and every write of one head's
+// gate goes through one chain: a verdict is marked the moment it is heard, before it waits its turn, and a "building"
+// still waiting behind or taking its turn after that mark is dropped, never written.
+
+import { CHECK_CONTEXT, pendingWords } from "./pulls.js";
+import type { CommitStatus } from "./client.js";
+
+/** The build seat's `started`, as mesh-controller's link.BuildStart publishes it. */
+export interface BuildStarted {
+  id?: string;
+  repository?: string;
+  path?: string;
+  ref?: string;
+  on?: string;
+  at?: string;
+}
+
+/** What the gate writer needs of the forge: a status set, and a head's gate as the forge holds it. */
+export interface GateForge {
+  setCommitStatus(owner: string, repo: string, sha: string, status: CommitStatus): Promise<void>;
+  /** The head's mesh/merge-gate, newest: its state and when it was set; undefined when it has none. */
+  gateOf(owner: string, repo: string, sha: string): Promise<{ state: string; updated_at?: string } | undefined>;
+}
+
+/** How far a build machine's clock may stand behind this one's when a start is weighed against the pending words. */
+const CLOCK_SLACK_MS = 60_000;
+
+/** The words of a check a machine is running, in the time the operator reads. */
+export function buildingWords(on: string, at: Date): string {
+  const two = (n: number) => String(n).padStart(2, "0");
+  return `building on ${on} since ${two(at.getHours())}:${two(at.getMinutes())}`;
+}
+
+/** Whether a repository as the mesh clones it (`http://forge/novox/hq.git`) is owner/repo. */
+export function clonedAs(url: string | undefined, owner: string, repo: string): boolean {
+  const u = (url ?? "").trim().toLowerCase().replace(/\.git$/, "");
+  const full = `${owner}/${repo}`.toLowerCase();
+  return u === full || u.endsWith("/" + full);
+}
+
+interface Head {
+  /** When the pending words were last set by this writer; undefined for a head this process did not announce. */
+  pendingAt?: number;
+  /** A verdict was heard for the head: nothing pending is written after it. */
+  verdict: boolean;
+  /** The chain the head's writes take their turns on. */
+  chain: Promise<void>;
+}
+
+export class GateWriter {
+  private heads = new Map<string, Head>();
+  private forge: GateForge;
+  private now: () => Date;
+
+  constructor(forge: GateForge, now: () => Date = () => new Date()) {
+    this.forge = forge;
+    this.now = now;
+  }
+
+  private head(owner: string, repo: string, sha: string): Head {
+    const key = `${owner}/${repo}@${sha}`.toLowerCase();
+    let h = this.heads.get(key);
+    if (!h) {
+      h = { verdict: false, chain: Promise.resolve() };
+      this.heads.set(key, h);
+      // Kept for the heads still in play; the oldest go first, past what any forge holds open at once.
+      if (this.heads.size > 2000) this.heads.delete(this.heads.keys().next().value as string);
+    }
+    return h;
+  }
+
+  /** One turn on the head's chain; a turn that fails never stops the next. Its failure is the caller's. */
+  private turn(h: Head, fn: () => Promise<void>): Promise<void> {
+    const run = h.chain.then(fn);
+    h.chain = run.catch(() => {});
+    return run;
+  }
+
+  /** A turn whose failure is said here: a pending word not written is not worth the event again. */
+  private said(h: Head, what: string, fn: () => Promise<void>): Promise<void> {
+    return this.turn(h, fn).catch((err) => {
+      console.error(`[gitea] ${what} — ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}`);
+    });
+  }
+
+  /** The head announced: it waits in the build queue from now. A new check of the head, so no verdict yet. */
+  pending(owner: string, repo: string, sha: string): Promise<void> {
+    const h = this.head(owner, repo, sha);
+    const at = this.now();
+    h.pendingAt = at.getTime();
+    h.verdict = false;
+    return this.said(h, `${owner}/${repo}@${sha.slice(0, 8)}: could not say a check is pending`, () =>
+      this.forge.setCommitStatus(owner, repo, sha, { state: "pending", context: CHECK_CONTEXT, description: pendingWords(at) }));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * A build machine took an ask of this head: said while no verdict was heard, and only for the check now pending —
+   * a start from before the pending words were set (a run before a recheck, the stream's history) is not this check's.
+   * A head this process did not announce (it restarted since) is weighed against the forge's own gate: said only while
+   * that is pending, and not for a start older than it.
+   */
+  started(owner: string, repo: string, sha: string, b: BuildStarted): Promise<boolean> {
+    const at = b.at ? new Date(b.at) : new Date(NaN);
+    if (!b.on || Number.isNaN(at.getTime())) return Promise.resolve(false);
+    const h = this.head(owner, repo, sha);
+    let said = false;
+    return this.said(h, `${owner}/${repo}@${sha.slice(0, 8)}: could not say where its check is`, async () => {
+      if (h.verdict) return;
+      let since = h.pendingAt;
+      if (since === undefined) {
+        const gate = await this.forge.gateOf(owner, repo, sha);
+        if (gate && gate.state !== "pending") return;
+        since = gate?.updated_at ? Date.parse(gate.updated_at) : undefined;
+      }
+      if (since !== undefined && at.getTime() < since - CLOCK_SLACK_MS) return;
+      if (h.verdict) return; // heard while the forge was read
+      await this.forge.setCommitStatus(owner, repo, sha, { state: "pending", context: CHECK_CONTEXT,
+        description: buildingWords(b.on as string, at) });
+      said = true;
+    }).then(() => said);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * The verdict: marked at once, so no pending word is written after it, then written in its turn — last. A write
+   * that fails fails the caller, so the event is offered again.
+   */
+  verdict(owner: string, repo: string, sha: string, write: () => Promise<void>): Promise<void> {
+    const h = this.head(owner, repo, sha);
+    h.verdict = true;
+    return this.turn(h, write);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/modules/gitea/index.ts b/modules/gitea/index.ts
index 560198f7..96d05528 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/index.ts
+++ b/modules/gitea/index.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
 // `mesh/repo-check`, the repository's own merge-check.sh (novox/hq ADR 0237 as amended); with a comment
 // saying why when the gate is not a pass or the repository's own check failed.
 //
+// Consumes node-build-agent.started — a build machine took an ask — and says, on the head a pending check is of,
+// which machine builds it since when (novox/hq issue 446). This module is the one writer of mesh/merge-gate.
+//
 // Every pull request the forge holds is announced, whatever its repository: the controller holds the
 // module graph and decides what is checked — a repository is never asked to opt in.
 //
@@ -29,6 +32,7 @@ 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 { GateWriter, clonedAs, type BuildStarted } from "./gate.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
@@ -274,12 +278,9 @@ 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.
-        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",
-          })
-          .catch((err) => console.error(`[gitea] ${key}: could not say a check is pending — ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}`));
+        // 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 a build machine takes it (novox/hq issue 446).
+        await gates.pending(repo.owner, repo.name, String(pull.head_sha));
       }
       heads[key] = String(pull.head_sha);
       changed = true;
@@ -337,6 +338,31 @@ async function repoCheckFacts(client: GiteaClient, c: Checked, base: string | un
   return { defined, required };
 }
 
+// **This module is the one writer of a head's mesh/merge-gate** (novox/hq issue 446): the announcement's pending words,
+// where the check is when a build machine takes it, and the verdict — each head's writes in one chain, the verdict last
+// (gate.ts). A second writer elsewhere raced the verdict and could leave a pass reading pending.
+const gates = new GateWriter({
+  setCommitStatus: (owner, repo, sha, status) => (gitea as GiteaClient).setCommitStatus(owner, repo, sha, status),
+  gateOf: async (owner, repo, sha) => (await (gitea as GiteaClient).headChecks(owner, repo, sha))[CHECK_CONTEXT],
+});
+
+// **A build machine took an ask** (the build seat's `started`, novox/hq ADR 0157): said on the head it checks, when
+// the head is an open pull request's this module announced. Any other build — a branch, a merge's — says nothing.
+async function buildStarted(event: { body: unknown }): Promise<void> {
+  const b = (event.body ?? {}) as BuildStarted;
+  const ref = String(b.ref ?? "").toLowerCase();
+  if (!/^[0-9a-f]{40}$/.test(ref)) return;
+  for (const [key, sha] of Object.entries(heads)) {
+    if (sha.toLowerCase() !== ref) continue;
+    const [owner, rest] = key.split("/");
+    const repo = rest?.split("#")[0] ?? "";
+    if (owner && repo && clonedAs(b.repository, owner, repo)) {
+      await gates.started(owner, repo, sha, b);
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 if (gitea) {
   const client = gitea;
   // A poll that fails says so once, not once a minute: the same reason repeating (the forge not up
@@ -363,6 +389,12 @@ if (gitea) {
   tick(() => pollRepos(client), 60_000);
   tick(() => pollMerged(client), 30_000);
   tick(() => pollPulls(client), 30_000);
-  await on("mesh-controller.checked", (event) => setVerdict(client, event));
+  await on("mesh-controller.checked", (event) => {
+    const c = (event.body ?? {}) as Checked;
+    // A head's own verdict takes its turn after every write of that head's gate already asked for (gate.ts).
+    if (!c.group && c.owner && c.repo && c.commit) return gates.verdict(c.owner, c.repo, c.commit, () => setVerdict(client, event));
+    return setVerdict(client, event);
+  });
+  await on("node-build-agent.started", buildStarted);
   console.log("[gitea] watching for new repositories and merged pull requests");
 }
diff --git a/modules/gitea/module.json b/modules/gitea/module.json
index 1088a76b..7358ebde 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/module.json
+++ b/modules/gitea/module.json
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@
     "pull.closed"
   ],
   "consumes": [
-    "mesh-controller.checked"
+    "mesh-controller.checked",
+    "node-build-agent.started"
   ],
   "listens": [
     {
diff --git a/modules/gitea/pulls.ts b/modules/gitea/pulls.ts
index 3f45f08f..4e0ec815 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/pulls.ts
+++ b/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;
diff --git a/modules/gitea/test/gate.test.ts b/modules/gitea/test/gate.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1178668c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/gitea/test/gate.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { test } from "node:test";
+
+// **A pending check says where it is, and the verdict lands last** (novox/hq issue 446). This module is the one writer
+// of a head's mesh/merge-gate: the announcement's pending words, "building on <machine> since …" when the build seat
+// says a machine took the check, and the verdict. The forge keeps the newest status of a context, so a pending word
+// written after the verdict hides it — a pass reads pending, a failure hides under "building".
+
+const SHA = "a6b08de8507c1703528277e5cefc80548dbc9bb3";
+
+// The build seat's `started` as a machine said it for novox/hq#309's check on 2026-10-11 (its log, read with the
+// controller's `builds --log build-1791680941048622697`, opens at 03:09:01 on shanks); only the forge's address
+// replaced. The shape is mesh-controller's link.BuildStart.
+const startedOnShanks = { id: "build-1791680941048622697", repository: "http://127.0.0.1:20000/novox/hq.git",
+  ref: SHA, on: "shanks", at: "2026-10-11T01:09:01.204319Z" };
+
+/** A forge that keeps the newest status per context, as gitea does, and whose writes take as long as a test says. */
+function aForge() {
+  const kept: Record<string, { state: string; description: string; updated_at: string }> = {};
+  const written: string[] = [];
+  let hold: Promise<void> | null = null;
+  let release = () => {};
+  let readHold: Promise<void> | null = null;
+  let readRelease = () => {};
+  return {
+    kept, written,
+    /** The next writes wait until released: a request in flight. */
+    holdWrites() {
+      hold = new Promise<void>((r) => (release = r));
+    },
+    release() {
+      hold = null;
+      release();
+    },
+    async setCommitStatus(_o: string, _r: string, _sha: string, s: { state: string; context: string; description: string }) {
+      if (hold) await hold;
+      kept[s.context] = { state: s.state, description: s.description, updated_at: new Date().toISOString() };
+      written.push(`${s.state} ${s.description}`);
+    },
+    /** Reads answer what the forge held when asked, as late as the reads are held: the answer of a request in flight. */
+    holdReads() {
+      readHold = new Promise<void>((r) => (readRelease = r));
+    },
+    releaseReads() {
+      readHold = null;
+      readRelease();
+    },
+    async gateOf(_o: string, _r: string, _sha: string) {
+      const held = kept["mesh/merge-gate"] ? { ...kept["mesh/merge-gate"] } : undefined;
+      if (readHold) await readHold;
+      return held;
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+/** The clock of the test: the head announced at 01:08:50Z. */
+const announcedAt = () => new Date("2026-10-11T01:08:50Z");
+
+test("a build machine taking the check is said on the head: building on which machine, since the local time", async () => {
+  const { GateWriter, buildingWords } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  const forge = aForge();
+  const gates = new GateWriter(forge, announcedAt);
+  await gates.pending("novox", "hq", SHA);
+  assert.equal(await gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks), true);
+  assert.equal(forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].state, "pending");
+  assert.equal(forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].description, buildingWords("shanks", new Date(startedOnShanks.at)));
+  assert.equal(buildingWords("shanks", new Date(2026, 9, 11, 3, 9, 1)), "building on shanks since 03:09");
+});
+
+test("the verdict heard while a 'building' write is in flight lands last and stays", async () => {
+  const { GateWriter } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  const forge = aForge();
+  const gates = new GateWriter(forge, announcedAt);
+  await gates.pending("novox", "hq", SHA);
+  forge.holdWrites(); // the 'building' request is in flight when the verdict comes
+  const building = gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks);
+  await new Promise((r) => setImmediate(r));
+  const verdict = gates.verdict("novox", "hq", SHA, () =>
+    forge.setCommitStatus("novox", "hq", SHA, { state: "success", context: "mesh/merge-gate", description: "pass" }));
+  forge.release();
+  await Promise.all([building, verdict]);
+  assert.equal(`${forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].state} ${forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].description}`, "success pass",
+    `the verdict is not the newest status: ${forge.written.join(" | ")}`);
+});
+
+// The race the review of mesh-catalog#202 reproduced: a writer reads the forge's gate (pending), the verdict is written,
+// then the writer writes "building" — and the pass reads pending until the next push. A head this process did not
+// announce is the one case where the forge is read before writing.
+test("the verdict written while a start's read of the forge is in flight stays the newest status", async () => {
+  const { GateWriter } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  const forge = aForge();
+  forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"] = { state: "pending", description: "waiting", updated_at: "2026-10-11T01:08:50Z" };
+  const gates = new GateWriter(forge, announcedAt);
+  forge.holdReads();
+  const building = gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks);
+  await new Promise((r) => setImmediate(r));
+  const verdict = gates.verdict("novox", "hq", SHA, () =>
+    forge.setCommitStatus("novox", "hq", SHA, { state: "success", context: "mesh/merge-gate", description: "pass" }));
+  await new Promise((r) => setImmediate(r));
+  forge.releaseReads();
+  await Promise.all([building, verdict]);
+  assert.equal(`${forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].state} ${forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].description}`, "success pass",
+    `the verdict is not the newest status: ${forge.written.join(" | ")}`);
+});
+
+test("the verdict heard while a 'building' write still waits its turn: the 'building' is never written", async () => {
+  const { GateWriter } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  const forge = aForge();
+  const gates = new GateWriter(forge, announcedAt);
+  forge.holdWrites(); // the pending words are still being written
+  const pending = gates.pending("novox", "hq", SHA);
+  const building = gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks);
+  const verdict = gates.verdict("novox", "hq", SHA, () =>
+    forge.setCommitStatus("novox", "hq", SHA, { state: "failure", context: "mesh/merge-gate", description: "fail: 0 of 4 compose" }));
+  forge.release();
+  await Promise.all([pending, verdict]);
+  assert.equal(await building, false);
+  assert.equal(forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].state, "failure");
+  assert.ok(!forge.written.some((w) => w.includes("building")), forge.written.join(" | "));
+});
+
+test("a start heard after the verdict writes nothing", async () => {
+  const { GateWriter } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  const forge = aForge();
+  const gates = new GateWriter(forge, announcedAt);
+  await gates.pending("novox", "hq", SHA);
+  await gates.verdict("novox", "hq", SHA, () =>
+    forge.setCommitStatus("novox", "hq", SHA, { state: "success", context: "mesh/merge-gate", description: "pass" }));
+  assert.equal(await gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks), false);
+  assert.equal(forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].state, "success");
+});
+
+test("a start from before the check now pending (a run before a recheck, the stream's history) writes nothing", async () => {
+  const { GateWriter } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  const forge = aForge();
+  let now = announcedAt();
+  const gates = new GateWriter(forge, () => now);
+  await gates.pending("novox", "hq", SHA);
+  await gates.verdict("novox", "hq", SHA, () =>
+    forge.setCommitStatus("novox", "hq", SHA, { state: "failure", context: "mesh/merge-gate", description: "error" }));
+  now = new Date("2026-10-11T01:30:00Z"); // checked again: pending once more
+  await gates.pending("novox", "hq", SHA);
+  assert.equal(await gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks), false, "the first run's start");
+  assert.match(forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"].description, /^waiting in the build queue since /);
+  assert.equal(await gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, { ...startedOnShanks, at: "2026-10-11T01:31:00Z" }), true,
+    "the second run's start");
+});
+
+test("a head this process did not announce (it restarted) is said only while the forge holds its gate pending", async () => {
+  const { GateWriter } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  const forge = aForge();
+  forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"] = { state: "success", description: "pass", updated_at: "2026-10-11T01:20:00Z" };
+  const gates = new GateWriter(forge, announcedAt);
+  assert.equal(await gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks), false);
+  forge.kept["mesh/merge-gate"] = { state: "pending", description: "waiting", updated_at: "2026-10-11T01:08:50Z" };
+  assert.equal(await gates.started("novox", "hq", SHA, startedOnShanks), true);
+});
+
+test("a repository as the mesh clones it is told from another", async () => {
+  const { clonedAs } = await import("../gate.ts");
+  assert.equal(clonedAs("http://127.0.0.1:20000/novox/hq.git", "novox", "hq"), true);
+  assert.equal(clonedAs("http://127.0.0.1:20000/novox/mesh-hq.git", "novox", "hq"), false);
+  assert.equal(clonedAs("http://127.0.0.1:20000/novox/mesh-controller.git", "novox", "hq"), false);
+});
diff --git a/modules/gitea/test/pulls.test.ts b/modules/gitea/test/pulls.test.ts
index 8e228a85..e1396125 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/test/pulls.test.ts
+++ b/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");
+});