diff --git a/modules/build-agent/module.json b/modules/build-agent/module.json
index b960eacf..f9b789af 100644
--- a/modules/build-agent/module.json
+++ b/modules/build-agent/module.json
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
       "serves": ["current", "kill", "pause", "resume"]
     }
   ],
+  "reads": [
+    "mesh-delivery.pulls"
+  ],
   "requires": [
     "artifact-store",
     {
diff --git a/modules/gitea/announce.ts b/modules/gitea/announce.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..19293af5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/gitea/announce.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+// **The forge's announcements carry a message id** (novox/hq ADR 0406 §6 and §7, issue 976). A merge, a new head and a
+// close are announced by more than one path — the poll, the forge's own event, the merge tool's ask of a check — and
+// were kept from being announced twice by files of what had been announced. They are now announced with a message id
+// that is the same for the same announcement, whichever path makes it: the runtime makes an event's `x-event-id` header
+// the bus's message id (mesh-tools node-tools/internal/bus/bus.go, `nats.MsgId`), and the bus stores a message it has
+// seen the id of, within its de-duplication window, once.
+//
+// The SDK's `emit` takes no id, so this publishes through the broker with the headers `emit` stamps and the id given.
+// It returns to `emit` once the SDK takes an id.
+//
+// The ids: a merge by its merge commit, a head by the head and the trunk commit it was announced against (the check asked
+// again against a new trunk commit is another announcement), a close by its head.
+
+import { broker } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/messaging";
+import { state as keptState } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/state";
+
+type Said = { owner?: string; repo?: string; number?: number; head_sha?: string; base_sha?: string; merge_commit_sha?: string };
+
+/** The message id of an announcement, or undefined for an event that is not one of these three. */
+export function announcementId(type: string, body: unknown): string | undefined {
+  const b = (body ?? {}) as Said;
+  const pull = `${b.owner}/${b.repo}#${b.number}`;
+  switch (type) {
+    case "pull.merged":
+      return `merged:${pull}@${b.merge_commit_sha ?? ""}`;
+    case "pull.updated":
+      return `updated:${pull}@${b.head_sha ?? ""}:${b.base_sha ?? ""}`;
+    case "pull.closed":
+      return `closed:${pull}@${b.head_sha ?? ""}`;
+    default:
+      return undefined;
+  }
+}
+
+/** Announce a merge, a head or a close: published with its message id. */
+export async function announce(type: string, body: unknown): Promise<void> {
+  const id = announcementId(type, body);
+  if (!id) throw new Error(`${type} is not an announcement with a message id`);
+  const node = process.env.MESH_NODE ?? "unknown";
+  await broker().publish({
+    key: type,
+    node,
+    body,
+    headers: {
+      "x-event-id": id,
+      "x-source": process.env.MESH_MODULE ?? "unknown",
+      "x-node": node,
+      "x-time": new Date().toISOString(),
+      "content-type": "application/json",
+    },
+  });
+}
+
+// --- the watermark: the one value of the old files that is not the bus's to remember --------------------------------
+
+/** What the module keeps of how far its poll of merges has looked: a time, in its own state. */
+interface Kept {
+  get(key: string): Promise<{ value: unknown } | null>;
+  put(key: string, value: unknown): Promise<number>;
+}
+
+const WATERMARK = "merges-since";
+
+/** The time the poll of merges last looked from, or "" when none is kept or the state cannot be reached: a merge made
+ *  before it is history, one after it is announced. */
+export async function readWatermark(state: Kept = keptState("announced")): Promise<string> {
+  try {
+    const entry = await state.get(WATERMARK);
+    const since = (entry?.value as { since?: string } | undefined)?.since;
+    return typeof since === "string" ? since : "";
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error(`[gitea] where the poll of merges last looked from could not be read, so none is kept — ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}`);
+    return "";
+  }
+}
+
+/** Keep the time the poll of merges looked from; a state that cannot be reached is said, and the next pass keeps it. */
+export async function keepWatermark(since: string, state: Kept = keptState("announced")): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    await state.put(WATERMARK, { since });
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error(`[gitea] where the poll of merges looked from could not be kept — ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}`);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/modules/gitea/index.ts b/modules/gitea/index.ts
index b80aed1e..9b9bd491 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/index.ts
+++ b/modules/gitea/index.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 import { emit, on } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/events";
 import { registerModuleTools } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/tools";
 import { commitStatusTool } from "./delivery.js";
+import { announce, keepWatermark, readWatermark } from "./announce.js";
 import { mergeTool } from "./merge.js";
 import { GiteaAdmin, GiteaClient, movedSince } from "./client.js";
 import { CHECK_CONTEXT, REPO_CHECK_CONTEXT, commentFor, headsToAnnounce, statusesFor, type Announced, type Checked,
@@ -90,32 +91,17 @@ async function pollRepos(client: GiteaClient): Promise<void> {
 // everything it sees then predates the watching.
 import { existsSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, renameSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { join } from "node:path";
-const mergedRecord = process.env.MESH_GITEA_STATE_DIR ? join(process.env.MESH_GITEA_STATE_DIR, "merged-announced.json") : null;
+// What has been announced is no longer kept in a file (novox/hq ADR 0406 §6, §7, issue 976): an announcement carries a
+// message id (announce.ts), so the same merge announced by the poll and by the forge's event, or again after a restart,
+// is stored once by the bus — within its de-duplication window, and past it the consumers' idempotence per merge commit
+// holds. This process remembers what it announced meanwhile, so it does not ask the forge for the same files twice.
+// The one value kept is where the poll last looked from (`since`), in the module's own state: a merge made while this
+// module was away, after it, is announced when it is back; one before it is history. With none kept — the first look
+// ever — nothing is announced, because everything it sees then predates the watching.
 const announced = new Set<string>();
 let primedMerges = false;
-// since is the moment the watching began: a merge made before it is history, whatever page of the
-// forge's listing it surfaces on. Without it, an old merge past the first page — pushed into view
-// as newer pull requests were updated — was announced as if it had just happened, and the mesh
-// rebuilt everything built from that repository, once per old merge (2026-09-28).
 let since = "";
-if (mergedRecord && existsSync(mergedRecord)) {
-  try {
-    const kept = JSON.parse(readFileSync(mergedRecord, "utf8")) as string[] | { announced: string[]; since: string };
-    const list = Array.isArray(kept) ? kept : kept.announced;
-    for (const sha of list) announced.add(sha);
-    since = Array.isArray(kept) ? new Date().toISOString() : kept.since;
-    primedMerges = true;
-  } catch {
-    // An unreadable record is treated as no record: prime again rather than re-announce history.
-  }
-}
-function keepAnnounced(): void {
-  if (!mergedRecord) return;
-  mkdirSync(join(mergedRecord, ".."), { recursive: true });
-  const tmp = mergedRecord + ".tmp";
-  writeFileSync(tmp, JSON.stringify({ announced: [...announced].slice(-2000), since }));
-  renameSync(tmp, mergedRecord);
-}
+let watermarkRead = false;
 // **Only the repositories that moved** (novox/hq issue 250). A merge is a push, and a push moves the
 // repository's update time; asking every repository for its pull requests on every tick took longer than the
 // tick itself, so ticks piled up and a merge was announced minutes late. A repository unchanged since a
@@ -123,10 +109,14 @@ function keepAnnounced(): void {
 let lastLook = "";
 const MARGIN_MS = 60_000;
 async function pollMerged(client: GiteaClient): Promise<void> {
+  if (!watermarkRead) {
+    since = await readWatermark();
+    primedMerges = since !== "";
+    watermarkRead = true;
+  }
   const began = new Date().toISOString();
   const floor = lastLook && primedMerges ? new Date(Date.parse(lastLook) - MARGIN_MS).toISOString() : "";
   const repos = movedSince(await client.listAllRepos(), floor);
-  let changed = false;
   for (const repo of repos) {
     const pulls = await client.listPullRequests(repo.owner, repo.name, { state: "closed", sort: "recentupdate", limit: "20" });
     for (const pull of pulls) {
@@ -134,13 +124,12 @@ async function pollMerged(client: GiteaClient): Promise<void> {
       const closedKey = `closed:${repo.full_name}#${pull.number}`;
       if (!pull.merged && pull.state === "closed" && !announced.has(closedKey)) {
         if (primedMerges && !!pull.updated_at && !!since && pull.updated_at > since) {
-          await emit("pull.closed", { owner: repo.owner, repo: repo.name, number: pull.number, title: pull.title,
+          await announce("pull.closed", { owner: repo.owner, repo: repo.name, number: pull.number, title: pull.title,
             head: pull.head, head_sha: pull.head_sha, base: pull.base, html_url: pull.html_url });
           console.log(`[gitea] announced ${repo.full_name}#${pull.number} closed unmerged`);
           await siblingMoves(client, repo.full_name, pull.number);
         }
         announced.add(closedKey);
-        changed = true;
         continue;
       }
       if (!pull.merged || !pull.merge_commit_sha || announced.has(pull.merge_commit_sha)) continue;
@@ -152,11 +141,11 @@ async function pollMerged(client: GiteaClient): Promise<void> {
       }
       else announced.add(pull.merge_commit_sha);
       announced.add(pull.merge_commit_sha);
-      changed = true;
     }
   }
-  if (!primedMerges) since = new Date().toISOString();
-  if (!primedMerges || changed) keepAnnounced();
+  // The next look starts from this one's start less the margin; kept, so a restart looks from there.
+  since = primedMerges ? new Date(Date.parse(began) - MARGIN_MS).toISOString() : began;
+  await keepWatermark(since);
   primedMerges = true;
   lastLook = began;
 }
@@ -196,7 +185,7 @@ async function announceMerge(client: GiteaClient, repo: RepoOf, pull: PullOf): P
         console.error(`[gitea] ${repo.full_name}#${pull.number}: its head's statuses could not be read — ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}`);
       }
     }
-    await emit("pull.merged", {
+    await announce("pull.merged", {
       owner: repo.owner,
       repo: repo.name,
       number: pull.number,
@@ -226,32 +215,17 @@ async function announceMerge(client: GiteaClient, repo: RepoOf, pull: PullOf): P
     announced.delete(pull.merge_commit_sha);
     throw err;
   }
-  keepAnnounced();
   return true;
 }
 
-// **Every new head of an open pull request is announced, once** (novox/hq to-be 45 §9): the mesh checks it
-// against every machine of its facts before it merges. Kept beside the merges' record, so a restart
-// announces nothing twice; the first look on a machine with no record announces only what moved in the
-// last day, so a forge's whole backlog is not checked at once.
-const pullsRecord = process.env.MESH_GITEA_STATE_DIR ? join(process.env.MESH_GITEA_STATE_DIR, "pulls-announced.json") : null;
+// **Every new head of an open pull request is announced** (novox/hq to-be 45 §9): the mesh checks it against every
+// machine of its facts before it merges. What this process announced is remembered in memory only (novox/hq ADR 0406
+// §6, §7, issue 976): the announcement carries a message id (announce.ts), so the poll's, the forge event's and the
+// merge tool's are one to the bus. After a start, the first look announces a head only if the forge shows no merge check
+// of it yet — a head with one was announced — and only what moved in the last day, so a forge's whole backlog is not
+// checked at once and a restart asks no check again against a trunk that moved.
 let heads: Announced = {};
 let primedPulls = false;
-if (pullsRecord && existsSync(pullsRecord)) {
-  try {
-    heads = (JSON.parse(readFileSync(pullsRecord, "utf8")) as { heads: Announced }).heads ?? {};
-    primedPulls = true;
-  } catch {
-    // An unreadable record is no record: the first look announces only the last day's.
-  }
-}
-function keepHeads(): void {
-  if (!pullsRecord) return;
-  mkdirSync(join(pullsRecord, ".."), { recursive: true });
-  const tmp = pullsRecord + ".tmp";
-  writeFileSync(tmp, JSON.stringify({ heads }));
-  renameSync(tmp, pullsRecord);
-}
 /** **A head, announced once, whichever path saw it first** (novox/hq issue 729): the poll or the forge's event. */
 async function announceHead(client: GiteaClient, repo: RepoOf, pull: OpenOf): Promise<boolean> {
   const key = `${repo.full_name}#${pull.number}`;
@@ -261,13 +235,12 @@ async function announceHead(client: GiteaClient, repo: RepoOf, pull: OpenOf): Pr
   if (!claimHead(heads, key, sha)) return false;
   try {
     // The announcement the merge tool makes too when it asks a check (trunk.ts, novox/hq ADR 0323 §5).
-    await emit("pull.updated", await announcementOf(client, repo.owner, repo.name, repo.clone_url ?? "", pull));
+    await announce("pull.updated", await announcementOf(client, repo.owner, repo.name, repo.clone_url ?? "", pull));
   } catch (err) {
     if (before === undefined) delete heads[key];
     else heads[key] = before;
     throw err;
   }
-  keepHeads();
   // A sibling's new head puts out of date every verdict that read the sibling at another head (ADR 0382 §5).
   await siblingMoves(client, repo.full_name, pull.number);
   // Said, so an operator knows the mesh was asked to check it.
@@ -279,6 +252,16 @@ async function announceHead(client: GiteaClient, repo: RepoOf, pull: OpenOf): Pr
 }
 type OpenOf = Awaited<ReturnType<GiteaClient["listOpenPullsSince"]>>[number];
 
+/** Whether the forge shows a merge check of the head, in any state: only an announced head has one. */
+async function alreadyChecked(client: GiteaClient, repo: RepoOf, pull: OpenOf): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const checks = await client.headChecks(repo.owner, repo.name, String(pull.head_sha));
+    return CHECK_CONTEXT in checks || REPO_CHECK_CONTEXT in checks;
+  } catch {
+    return false; // the forge cannot say: announced, and the bus's message id collapses it if it was
+  }
+}
+
 let lastPullLook = "";
 // **A sweep now and then looks at every repository** (novox/hq issue 347), whatever moved: the floor is a
 // heuristic, and a heuristic that misses is caught by the next sweep rather than never.
@@ -288,7 +271,6 @@ async function pollPulls(client: GiteaClient): Promise<void> {
   const began = new Date().toISOString();
   const floor = lastPullLook ? new Date(Date.parse(lastPullLook) - MARGIN_MS).toISOString() : "";
   const dayAgo = new Date(Date.now() - 24 * 3600_000).toISOString();
-  let changed = false;
   // A pull request opened, reopened or retargeted moves its own update time and not its repository's: the
   // pull requests updated since the floor are found by their own (issue 347). A search that fails is a sweep.
   let sweep = Date.now() - lastSweep >= SWEEP_MS;
@@ -309,14 +291,17 @@ async function pollPulls(client: GiteaClient): Promise<void> {
     for (const pull of headsToAnnounce(repo.full_name, open, heads)) {
       const key = `${repo.full_name}#${pull.number}`;
       const fresh = primedPulls || (!!pull.updated_at && pull.updated_at > dayAgo);
+      // The first look after a start remembers nothing: a head the forge already shows a merge check of was announced.
+      if (fresh && !primedPulls && await alreadyChecked(client, repo, pull)) {
+        heads[key] = String(pull.head_sha);
+        continue;
+      }
       if (fresh) {
         if (await announceHead(client, repo, pull)) pace.miss(`${key} at ${String(pull.head_sha).slice(0, 8)}`);
       } else heads[key] = String(pull.head_sha);
-      changed = true;
     }
     if (await trunksMoved(client, repo.owner, repo.name)) changedTrunks = true;
   }
-  if (!primedPulls || changed) keepHeads();
   if (changedTrunks) keepTrunks();
   changedTrunks = false;
   primedPulls = true;
diff --git a/modules/gitea/internal/busdedup/dedup_test.go b/modules/gitea/internal/busdedup/dedup_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b62b949b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/gitea/internal/busdedup/dedup_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+package busdedup
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2/server"
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go/jetstream"
+)
+
+// **The same announcement published twice with one message id is stored once** (novox/hq ADR 0406 §6, issue 976). The
+// forge module announces a merge, a head and a close with a deterministic `x-event-id` (announce.ts); the runtime makes
+// that header the bus's message id (mesh-tools node-tools/internal/bus/bus.go, `nats.MsgId`), and the events stream's
+// message de-duplication keeps the second. The publish here is the runtime's own: the headers the module stamps, the id
+// as the message id. A real JetStream server is linked into the test and started for it alone (the TypeScript harness
+// has none, so this is the Go half of the module's tests).
+
+const subject = "mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.merged"
+
+func publish(t *testing.T, js nats.JetStreamContext, id string) *nats.PubAck {
+	t.Helper()
+	msg := nats.NewMsg(subject)
+	msg.Header.Set("x-event-id", id)
+	msg.Header.Set("x-source", "gitea")
+	msg.Header.Set("content-type", "application/json")
+	msg.Data = []byte(`{"owner":"novox","repo":"app","number":7,"merge_commit_sha":"mmm222"}`)
+	ack, err := js.PublishMsg(msg, nats.MsgId(id))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return ack
+}
+
+func TestTheSameAnnouncementPublishedTwiceWithOneMessageIdIsStoredOnce(t *testing.T) {
+	s, err := server.NewServer(&server.Options{Host: "127.0.0.1", Port: server.RANDOM_PORT, JetStream: true,
+		StoreDir: t.TempDir(), NoLog: true, NoSigs: true})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	go s.Start()
+	if !s.ReadyForConnections(30 * time.Second) {
+		t.Fatal("a bus for this test did not come up within 30s")
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { s.Shutdown(); s.WaitForShutdown() })
+	nc, err := nats.Connect(s.ClientURL())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(nc.Close)
+	js, err := nc.JetStream()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// The events stream as the controller makes it: two minutes of message de-duplication.
+	if _, err := js.AddStream(&nats.StreamConfig{Name: "EVENTS", Subjects: []string{"mesh.mod.>"}, Duplicates: 2 * time.Minute}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	const id = "merged:novox/app#7@mmm222"
+	first := publish(t, js, id)
+	second := publish(t, js, id) // the poll and the forge's event both announced it
+	if first.Duplicate || !second.Duplicate {
+		t.Fatalf("the first publish was a duplicate: %v; the second: %v (wanted false, true)", first.Duplicate, second.Duplicate)
+	}
+	publish(t, js, "merged:novox/app#8@nnn333") // another merge is another message
+	jsNew, err := jetstream.New(nc)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	stream, err := jsNew.Stream(context.Background(), "EVENTS")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	info, err := stream.Info(context.Background())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if info.State.Msgs != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the stream stores %d messages for two announcements published three times; wanted 2", info.State.Msgs)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/gitea/merge.ts b/modules/gitea/merge.ts
index fc70b6ef..9b307b50 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/merge.ts
+++ b/modules/gitea/merge.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 // puts its statuses back to pending through that writer, so where the check runs is said and no second check is asked.
 // Each bundle the runtime serves is its own process; from the tools' bundle the pending bypassed the writer's chain.
 
-import { emit } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/events";
+import { announce } from "./announce.js";
 import type { ToolDefinition } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/tools";
 import type { CommitStatus, GiteaClient } from "./client.js";
 import { mergeableUnder, newestByContext } from "./checks.js";
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ export interface MergeDeps {
 }
 
 export function mergeTool(gitea: GiteaClient, given: MergeDeps): ToolDefinition {
-  const deps = { ...given, emit: given.emit ?? emit, stateDir: given.stateDir ?? process.env.MESH_GITEA_STATE_DIR,
+  const deps = { ...given, emit: given.emit ?? announce, stateDir: given.stateDir ?? process.env.MESH_GITEA_STATE_DIR,
     now: given.now ?? (() => new Date()) };
   return {
     name: "gitea_merge_pull_request",
diff --git a/modules/gitea/module.json b/modules/gitea/module.json
index ce0dbf71..324684eb 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/module.json
+++ b/modules/gitea/module.json
@@ -498,7 +498,8 @@
     }
   ],
   "state": [
-    "bound"
+    "bound",
+    "announced"
   ],
   "reads": [
     "mesh-controller.assignments",
diff --git a/modules/gitea/test/announce.test.ts b/modules/gitea/test/announce.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..222fee21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/gitea/test/announce.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { test } from "node:test";
+
+// **The forge's announcements carry a message id** (novox/hq ADR 0406 §6, §7, issue 976): the same announcement,
+// however many paths make it — the poll, the forge's event, the merge tool's ask — has one id, which the runtime makes
+// the bus's message id, so the bus stores it once. This replaces the files of what was announced.
+
+const merged = { owner: "novox", repo: "app", number: 7, head_sha: "aaa111", merge_commit_sha: "mmm222", base: "main" };
+const updated = { owner: "novox", repo: "app", number: 7, head_sha: "aaa111", base_sha: "ttt333", base: "main" };
+const closed = { owner: "novox", repo: "app", number: 7, head_sha: "aaa111", base: "main" };
+
+test("the same merge, head or close announced twice has the same id, and another has another", async () => {
+  const { announcementId } = await import("../announce.ts");
+  assert.equal(announcementId("pull.merged", merged), "merged:novox/app#7@mmm222");
+  assert.equal(announcementId("pull.merged", { ...merged, title: "worded differently" }), announcementId("pull.merged", merged));
+  assert.notEqual(announcementId("pull.merged", { ...merged, merge_commit_sha: "other" }), announcementId("pull.merged", merged));
+  assert.equal(announcementId("pull.updated", updated), "updated:novox/app#7@aaa111:ttt333");
+  assert.notEqual(announcementId("pull.updated", { ...updated, base_sha: "moved" }), announcementId("pull.updated", updated),
+    "the check asked again against a new trunk commit is another announcement");
+  assert.notEqual(announcementId("pull.updated", { ...updated, head_sha: "bbb" }), announcementId("pull.updated", updated));
+  assert.equal(announcementId("pull.updated", { ...updated, base_sha: undefined }), "updated:novox/app#7@aaa111:");
+  assert.equal(announcementId("pull.closed", closed), "closed:novox/app#7@aaa111");
+});
+
+test("an announcement is published through the broker with its id as the event id, and the provenance emit stamps", async () => {
+  const { useBroker } = await import("@novox/mesh-sdk/messaging");
+  const published: any[] = [];
+  useBroker(() => ({ publish: async (env: any) => { published.push(env); } }) as any);
+  process.env.MESH_MODULE = "gitea";
+  process.env.MESH_NODE = "anchor";
+  const { announce } = await import("../announce.ts");
+  await announce("pull.merged", merged);
+  await announce("pull.merged", { ...merged });
+  assert.equal(published.length, 2);
+  assert.equal(published[0].key, "pull.merged");
+  assert.equal(published[0].headers["x-event-id"], "merged:novox/app#7@mmm222");
+  assert.equal(published[1].headers["x-event-id"], published[0].headers["x-event-id"], "one id for one announcement");
+  assert.equal(published[0].headers["x-source"], "gitea");
+  assert.equal(published[0].headers["x-node"], "anchor");
+  assert.equal(published[0].headers["content-type"], "application/json");
+  assert.ok(published[0].headers["x-time"]);
+  assert.equal(published[0].node, "anchor");
+  assert.deepEqual(published[0].body, merged);
+});
+
+test("an announcement of a kind it has no id for is refused, never published with a made-up one", async () => {
+  const { announce, announcementId } = await import("../announce.ts");
+  assert.equal(announcementId("repo.created", { owner: "a" }), undefined);
+  await assert.rejects(() => announce("repo.created", { owner: "a" }), /not an announcement with a message id/);
+});
+
+test("the watermark is kept in the module's state, and an unreachable state is no record", async () => {
+  const { readWatermark, keepWatermark } = await import("../announce.ts");
+  const kept = new Map<string, unknown>();
+  const store = { get: async (k: string) => (kept.has(k) ? { key: k, value: kept.get(k), revision: 1 } : null),
+    put: async (k: string, v: unknown) => { kept.set(k, v); return 1; } };
+  assert.equal(await readWatermark(store as any), "", "none yet");
+  await keepWatermark("2026-10-17T12:00:00.000Z", store as any);
+  assert.equal(await readWatermark(store as any), "2026-10-17T12:00:00.000Z");
+  const away = { get: async () => { throw new Error("no runtime"); }, put: async () => { throw new Error("no runtime"); } };
+  assert.equal(await readWatermark(away as any), "", "a state that cannot be reached is no record");
+  await keepWatermark("2026-10-17T12:01:00.000Z", away as any); // said, not thrown
+});
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/answers.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/answers.go
index d62685cd..4d0cf2dc 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/answers.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/answers.go
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ func (h *Holder) lapsedBehind(w Walk, d *Delivery) string {
 }
 
 // lapsedSaid is why a walk whose word stops that lapsed give still waits: the members of their groups not yet
-// delivered before them, what the last tick held it for, or the controller's refusal of the word. Under the lock.
+// delivered before them, what the last look held it for, or the controller's refusal of the word. Under the lock.
 func (h *Holder) lapsedSaid(w Walk) string {
 	var parts []string
 	_, behind := h.lapsedOf(w)
@@ -592,6 +592,7 @@ func (h *Holder) words() []func() {
 				}
 				h.deliverErr[walk] = err.Error() // said by `stalled` past the grace (review of novox/hq issue 753)
 				h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the walk %s could not be let go yet: %v", walk, err)
+				h.again("a walk's word the controller refused or did not answer")
 				return
 			}
 			delete(h.deliverErr, walk)
@@ -639,7 +640,7 @@ func (h *Holder) endedAsNothingToMove(w Walk) []string {
 
 // WalksWaiting is `stalled` asked with `walks` (novox/hq issue 529): for each walk waiting for this owner's word,
 // what holds it, in the shape of a stalled line naming the walk — each held delivery it carries (State held, its
-// reason and the verb that releases it), else why its word was not given at the last tick (State published), else
+// reason and the verb that releases it), else why its word was not given at the last look (State published), else
 // that no live delivery holds it (State unheld). A walk whose word is being given is not listed. The controller's
 // `plans` says these instead of pointing at a hand start; the self-check never raises a condition for them.
 func (h *Holder) WalksWaiting() []StalledLine {
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/approval.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/approval.go
index 41b46e18..526de606 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/approval.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/approval.go
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import (
 //     this point; the Approve covers every member at those heads.
 //   - A push after the ask cancels it (the mark is cleared with it): the new head needs a new mark and a new Approve.
 //   - A Decline merges nothing, is said once on the pull request, and clears the mark.
-//   - An ask that ended without a choice (expired, cancelled, refused by the router) is asked again at the next tick.
+//   - An ask that ended without a choice (expired, cancelled, refused by the router) is asked again when the router says so.
 //   - The ask, its state and the warrant's words are kept on the delivery's ReadyRun and shown by `show`.
 //
 // The terminal Approve (ADR 0398 §3) is issue 953; today the proving channel is the operator's phone.
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ func (h *Holder) headsHold(d *Delivery, c *ReadyRun) bool {
 }
 
 // endStaleAsks ends every ask whose heads are no longer its group's: a push to any member, marked or not, ends the
-// approval (ADR 0398 §3). Under the lock; the cancels run with the tick's asks.
+// approval (ADR 0398 §3). Under the lock; the cancels run with the look's asks.
 func (h *Holder) endStaleAsks() {
 	for _, d := range h.deliveries {
 		r := d.Ready
@@ -326,7 +326,8 @@ func (h *Holder) approval(d *Delivery, now time.Time) (string, func()) {
 					h.keep(m)
 				}
 			}
-			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the operator could not be asked about %s (%v); asked again at the next tick", d.ID, err)
+			h.again("the operator's Approve, which could not be asked")
+			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the operator could not be asked about %s (%v); asked again in %s", d.ID, err, askAgainAfter)
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -412,7 +413,7 @@ func (h *Holder) decided(id, state string, w *asks.Warrant) []func() {
 			d.Ready.AskID, d.Ready.Ask, d.Ready.Heads = "", nil, nil
 			h.keep(d)
 		}
-		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the operator's ask %s ended without a choice (%s); asked again at the next tick", id, why)
+		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the operator's ask %s ended without a choice (%s); asked again at once", id, why)
 	}
 	if w == nil || w.Outcome != asks.OutcomeChosen {
 		why := "the router says " + state
@@ -442,6 +443,7 @@ func (h *Holder) decided(id, state string, w *asks.Warrant) []func() {
 	for _, d := range covered {
 		r := d.Ready
 		r.Warrant = w.Says()
+		h.mergeAgainNow(d) // the operator chose: the merge is asked at once
 		switch option.ID {
 		case OptionApprove:
 			r.Approved = &now
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/bus_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/bus_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ded238e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/bus_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,516 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	stdio "git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go"
+	"git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/asks"
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2/server"
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go/jetstream"
+)
+
+// **The acceptance of acting on events** (novox/hq ADR 0406, design 47 milestone 2, ADR 0391 phase 3, issue 975): a
+// pull request with a passing verdict gets its `mesh/ready` label event and its `ready at <head>` comment event, and
+// the merge is asked within five seconds of the comment event — with no tick, no poll and no reconcile to find it.
+// Proved over a real bus: a JetStream server is linked into the test and started for it alone; the module is this
+// test binary started again as the bundle, speaking MCP on its standard streams to a runtime played here, which does
+// what the tool runner does for a bundle — its state on the buckets the controller would make from the manifest, its
+// events delivered from the bus's streams, the controller's verbs and the forge's tools answered by the test (the
+// pattern of mesh-issues' bus_test).
+
+const bundleVar = "MESH_DELIVERY_TEST_BUNDLE"
+
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	if os.Getenv(bundleVar) == "1" {
+		main()
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
+	os.Exit(m.Run())
+}
+
+type testBus struct {
+	nc  *nats.Conn
+	js  jetstream.JetStream
+	kvs map[string]jetstream.KeyValue
+}
+
+func newTestBus(t *testing.T) *testBus {
+	t.Helper()
+	opts := &server.Options{Host: "127.0.0.1", Port: server.RANDOM_PORT, JetStream: true, StoreDir: t.TempDir(),
+		NoLog: true, NoSigs: true}
+	s, err := server.NewServer(opts)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a bus for this test could not be made: %v", err)
+	}
+	go s.Start()
+	if !s.ReadyForConnections(30 * time.Second) {
+		s.Shutdown()
+		t.Fatal("a bus for this test did not come up within 30s")
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { s.Shutdown(); s.WaitForShutdown() })
+	nc, err := nats.Connect(s.ClientURL())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(nc.Close)
+	js, err := jetstream.New(nc)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	b := &testBus{nc: nc, js: js, kvs: map[string]jetstream.KeyValue{}}
+	// The controller's job: a bucket per state the manifest declares.
+	m, _ := readManifest(t)
+	for _, name := range m.State {
+		kv, err := js.CreateKeyValue(context.Background(), jetstream.KeyValueConfig{Bucket: m.Module + "_" + name, History: 1})
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		b.kvs[name] = kv
+	}
+	// The streams the events are on (mesh.mod.<module>.event.<name>, mesh.seat.<seat>.event.<name>).
+	if _, err := js.CreateStream(context.Background(), jetstream.StreamConfig{Name: "EVENTS",
+		Subjects: []string{"mesh.mod.gitea.event.>", "mesh.seat." + ControllerSeat + ".event.>", "mesh.seat." + asks.Seat + ".event.>"}}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return b
+}
+
+// runtime is the half of the conversation the tool runner plays for one running bundle.
+type runtime struct {
+	t    *testing.T
+	b    *testBus
+	cmd  *exec.Cmd
+	in   io.WriteCloser
+	mu   sync.Mutex
+	next int
+	wait map[string]chan json.RawMessage
+
+	// what the bundle subscribed to, and asked of the mesh.
+	subs   []string
+	asked  []askedOfMesh
+	notify chan struct{}
+	// the asks the operator was asked, and the controller's walks and the forge's open pull requests as the test plays
+	// them.
+	operatorAsks []asks.Ask
+	openPulls    []OpenPull
+}
+
+type askedOfMesh struct {
+	Key  string
+	Body map[string]any
+	At   time.Time
+}
+
+func (b *testBus) start(t *testing.T) *runtime {
+	t.Helper()
+	cmd := exec.Command(os.Args[0], "-test.run=^$")
+	cmd.Env = append(os.Environ(), bundleVar+"=1", "MESH_SERVED_MODULE=mesh-delivery", "MESH_MODULE=mesh-delivery", "MESH_NODE=test")
+	in, err := cmd.StdinPipe()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	out, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	cmd.Stderr = testLog{t}
+	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	r := &runtime{t: t, b: b, cmd: cmd, in: in, wait: map[string]chan json.RawMessage{}, notify: make(chan struct{}, 64)}
+	go r.read(out)
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = in.Close(); _ = cmd.Wait() })
+	return r
+}
+
+type testLog struct{ t *testing.T }
+
+func (w testLog) Write(p []byte) (int, error) {
+	defer func() { _ = recover() }() // the bundle may speak after the test ended
+	w.t.Logf("bundle: %s", strings.TrimRight(string(p), "\n"))
+	return len(p), nil
+}
+
+type rpcMessage struct {
+	ID     json.RawMessage `json:"id,omitempty"`
+	Method string          `json:"method,omitempty"`
+	Params json.RawMessage `json:"params,omitempty"`
+	Result json.RawMessage `json:"result,omitempty"`
+	Error  *struct {
+		Code    int    `json:"code"`
+		Message string `json:"message"`
+	} `json:"error,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (r *runtime) say(m map[string]any) {
+	m["jsonrpc"] = "2.0"
+	raw, _ := json.Marshal(m)
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	defer r.mu.Unlock()
+	_, _ = r.in.Write(append(raw, '\n'))
+}
+
+func (r *runtime) read(out io.Reader) {
+	sc := bufio.NewScanner(out)
+	sc.Buffer(make([]byte, 1<<20), 1<<24)
+	for sc.Scan() {
+		var m rpcMessage
+		if json.Unmarshal(sc.Bytes(), &m) != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		if m.Method == "" {
+			var id string
+			_ = json.Unmarshal(m.ID, &id)
+			r.mu.Lock()
+			ch := r.wait[id]
+			delete(r.wait, id)
+			r.mu.Unlock()
+			if ch != nil {
+				ch <- sc.Bytes()
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		go r.answer(m)
+	}
+}
+
+func (r *runtime) ping() {
+	select {
+	case r.notify <- struct{}{}:
+	default:
+	}
+}
+
+// asksOf are the asks of the mesh made so far under a key.
+func (r *runtime) asksOf(key string) []askedOfMesh {
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	defer r.mu.Unlock()
+	var out []askedOfMesh
+	for _, a := range r.asked {
+		if a.Key == key {
+			out = append(out, a)
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// until waits for what the test needs to be true, woken by every message of the bundle.
+func (r *runtime) until(what string, within time.Duration, ok func() bool) {
+	r.t.Helper()
+	deadline := time.After(within)
+	for {
+		if ok() {
+			return
+		}
+		select {
+		case <-r.notify:
+		case <-time.After(50 * time.Millisecond):
+		case <-deadline:
+			if ok() {
+				return
+			}
+			r.t.Fatalf("within %s: %s did not happen", within, what)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// toolAnswer is a tool's or a verb's answer as the runtime hands it over.
+func toolAnswer(answer any) any {
+	return map[string]any{"ok": true, "output": "", "answer": answer}
+}
+
+func (r *runtime) answer(m rpcMessage) {
+	var p struct {
+		State    string          `json:"state"`
+		Key      string          `json:"key"`
+		Value    json.RawMessage `json:"value"`
+		Revision uint64          `json:"revision"`
+		Pattern  string          `json:"pattern"`
+		Subject  string          `json:"subject"`
+		Body     json.RawMessage `json:"body"`
+	}
+	_ = json.Unmarshal(m.Params, &p)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	defer r.ping()
+	result, err := func() (any, error) {
+		switch m.Method {
+		case "mesh/subscribe":
+			r.mu.Lock()
+			r.subs = append(r.subs, p.Pattern)
+			r.mu.Unlock()
+			return map[string]any{}, nil
+		case "mesh/publish":
+			return map[string]any{}, nil // the module's own events: not needed here
+		case "mesh/seat.publish":
+			// The ask for the operator, published under the module's name.
+			if strings.Contains(p.Subject, ".accept.ask.") {
+				var a asks.Ask
+				if err := json.Unmarshal(p.Body, &a); err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				r.mu.Lock()
+				r.operatorAsks = append(r.operatorAsks, a)
+				r.mu.Unlock()
+			}
+			return map[string]any{}, nil
+		case "mesh/seat.record":
+			return nil, nil
+		case "mesh/ask":
+			var a struct {
+				Key  string         `json:"key"`
+				Body map[string]any `json:"body"`
+			}
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(m.Params, &a); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			r.mu.Lock()
+			r.asked = append(r.asked, askedOfMesh{Key: a.Key, Body: a.Body, At: time.Now()})
+			pulls := append([]OpenPull{}, r.openPulls...)
+			r.mu.Unlock()
+			switch a.Key {
+			case "seat:" + ControllerSeat + ".delivery-walks":
+				return toolAnswer(map[string]any{"held": true, "walks": []any{}}), nil
+			case "seat:" + ControllerSeat + ".delivery-plan":
+				return toolAnswer(map[string]any{"plan": DeliveryPlan{Repository: "novox/app", Moved: []string{"app"},
+					Summary: "builds app, sent to the node"}}), nil
+			case "seat:" + ControllerSeat + ".delivery-check":
+				return toolAnswer(map[string]any{"asked": "check-1"}), nil
+			case "gitea.gitea_open_pulls":
+				return toolAnswer(map[string]any{"pulls": pulls}), nil
+			case "gitea.gitea_note_append", "gitea.gitea_delivery_view", "gitea.gitea_commit_status", "gitea.gitea_merge_pull_request",
+				"gitea.gitea_add_comment":
+				return toolAnswer(map[string]any{}), nil
+			}
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("the runtime answers no ask %s in this test", a.Key)
+		}
+		kv := r.b.kvs[p.State]
+		if kv == nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("the state %q is not declared", p.State)
+		}
+		switch m.Method {
+		case "mesh/state.get":
+			e, err := kv.Get(ctx, p.Key)
+			if errors.Is(err, jetstream.ErrKeyNotFound) {
+				return nil, nil
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return map[string]any{"key": p.Key, "value": json.RawMessage(e.Value()), "revision": e.Revision()}, nil
+		case "mesh/state.create":
+			rev, err := kv.Create(ctx, p.Key, p.Value)
+			return map[string]any{"revision": rev}, err
+		case "mesh/state.update":
+			rev, err := kv.Update(ctx, p.Key, p.Value, p.Revision)
+			return map[string]any{"revision": rev}, err
+		case "mesh/state.put":
+			rev, err := kv.Put(ctx, p.Key, p.Value)
+			return map[string]any{"revision": rev}, err
+		case "mesh/state.delete":
+			return map[string]any{}, kv.Delete(ctx, p.Key)
+		case "mesh/state.keys":
+			keys, err := kv.Keys(ctx)
+			if errors.Is(err, jetstream.ErrNoKeysFound) {
+				return []string{}, nil
+			}
+			return keys, err
+		}
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("the runtime offers no %s to this bundle", m.Method)
+	}()
+	if err != nil {
+		code := -32000
+		var api *jetstream.APIError
+		if errors.Is(err, jetstream.ErrKeyExists) || errors.As(err, &api) && api.ErrorCode == jetstream.JSErrCodeStreamWrongLastSequence {
+			code = -32010
+		}
+		r.say(map[string]any{"id": m.ID, "error": map[string]any{"code": code, "message": err.Error()}})
+		return
+	}
+	r.say(map[string]any{"id": m.ID, "result": result})
+}
+
+// deliverEvents is the runtime reading the events streams and handing each event to the bundle, once, as
+// `mesh/event`, the way the tool runner does for a module's consumer.
+func (r *runtime) deliverEvents(ctx context.Context) {
+	stream, err := r.b.js.Stream(ctx, "EVENTS")
+	if err != nil {
+		r.t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	cons, err := stream.OrderedConsumer(ctx, jetstream.OrderedConsumerConfig{})
+	if err != nil {
+		r.t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	cc, err := cons.Consume(func(msg jetstream.Msg) {
+		key := keyOfSubject(msg.Subject())
+		r.mu.Lock()
+		id := fmt.Sprintf("event-%d", r.next)
+		r.next++
+		r.mu.Unlock()
+		r.say(map[string]any{"id": id, "method": "mesh/event", "params": map[string]any{"envelope": stdio.Envelope{
+			Key: key, Node: "test", Body: msg.Data(), Headers: map[string]string{"x-source": strings.SplitN(key, ".", 2)[0]}}}})
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		r.t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	r.t.Cleanup(cc.Stop)
+}
+
+// keyOfSubject is an event's key, as the runtime gives it to a module: mesh.mod.<module>.event.<name> is
+// <module>.<name>, and mesh.seat.<seat>.event.<name> is <seat>.<name>.
+func keyOfSubject(subject string) string {
+	parts := strings.Split(subject, ".")
+	if len(parts) < 5 || parts[3] != "event" {
+		return subject
+	}
+	return parts[2] + "." + strings.Join(parts[4:], ".")
+}
+
+func (b *testBus) publish(t *testing.T, subject string, body any) time.Time {
+	t.Helper()
+	raw, err := json.Marshal(body)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := b.js.Publish(context.Background(), subject, raw); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return time.Now()
+}
+
+func TestAReadyMarkAndItsApproveAreMergedWithinSecondsOfTheirEventsOverARealBus(t *testing.T) {
+	b := newTestBus(t)
+	rt := b.start(t)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	defer cancel()
+	rt.deliverEvents(ctx)
+	// The module has started when it hears what it follows, and the operator's answers.
+	rt.until("the module to subscribe to the events it follows", 20*time.Second, func() bool {
+		rt.mu.Lock()
+		defer rt.mu.Unlock()
+		return len(rt.subs) >= len(followed)+1
+	})
+
+	// A pull request into main is announced, and the controller's verdict on its head passes.
+	const head = "1111111111111111111111111111111111111111"
+	announced := pr("novox/app", 7, head, "fix/x", "src/a.go")
+	announced.BaseSHA = "t1t1t1t1t1t1"
+	announced.Title = "Fix the apostrophe (issue 975)"
+	b.publish(t, "mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.updated", announced)
+	b.publish(t, "mesh.seat."+ControllerSeat+".event.checked", judgedAt("novox/app", 7, head, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	rt.until("the module to keep the delivery of the head as ready", 10*time.Second, func() bool {
+		keys, err := b.kvs["deliveries"].Keys(context.Background())
+		if err != nil {
+			return false
+		}
+		for _, k := range keys {
+			e, err := b.kvs["deliveries"].Get(context.Background(), k)
+			var d Delivery
+			if err == nil && json.Unmarshal(e.Value(), &d) == nil && d.State == Ready && d.Commit == head {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+		return false
+	})
+	// The pull request's key holds its head, the trunk commit it was asked against and the verdict.
+	rt.until("the pull request's key to hold head, trunk and verdict", 5*time.Second, func() bool {
+		e, err := b.kvs["pulls"].Get(context.Background(), "novox.app.7")
+		var k PullKey
+		return err == nil && json.Unmarshal(e.Value(), &k) == nil && k == PullKey{Head: head, Trunk: "t1t1t1t1t1t1", Verdict: "pass"}
+	})
+	reads := len(rt.asksOf("gitea.gitea_open_pulls"))
+
+	// The reviewer's label and comment: the forge shows the label alone at first, and the mark whole once the comment is
+	// written. Nothing is asked for the label alone.
+	rt.mu.Lock()
+	rt.openPulls = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, head, "")}
+	rt.mu.Unlock()
+	b.publish(t, "mesh.mod.gitea.event.forge.pull-request.labeled", labeled(7, ReadyLabel))
+	rt.until("the forge's open pull requests to be read for the label", 5*time.Second, func() bool {
+		return len(rt.asksOf("gitea.gitea_open_pulls")) > reads
+	})
+	rt.mu.Lock()
+	rt.openPulls = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, head, head)}
+	nothing := len(rt.operatorAsks)
+	rt.mu.Unlock()
+	if nothing != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("the operator was asked for a label with no head named")
+	}
+	commented := b.publish(t, "mesh.mod.gitea.event.forge.pull-request.commented", commentedReady(7, head))
+
+	// The operator is asked, within the comment's event, and answers at once (a person's Approve, proven by the router).
+	rt.until("the operator to be asked to Approve the merge", 5*time.Second, func() bool {
+		rt.mu.Lock()
+		defer rt.mu.Unlock()
+		return len(rt.operatorAsks) == 1
+	})
+	rt.mu.Lock()
+	ask := rt.operatorAsks[0]
+	rt.mu.Unlock()
+	opt, _ := ask.Option(OptionApprove)
+	b.publish(t, "mesh.seat."+asks.Seat+".event.decided."+Module, asks.Warrant{Ask: ask.ID, Asker: Module,
+		Outcome: asks.OutcomeChosen, Option: OptionApprove, Label: opt.Label, Level: opt.Level,
+		By: &asks.Person{Who: asks.Operator, Kind: "telegram", Verified: "user id verified"}, At: time.Now(), AskDigest: ask.Digest()})
+
+	rt.until("the merge to be asked of the forge", 5*time.Second, func() bool { return len(rt.asksOf("gitea.gitea_merge_pull_request")) >= 1 })
+	merges := rt.asksOf("gitea.gitea_merge_pull_request")
+	if len(merges) != 1 || merges[0].Body["head"] != head || merges[0].Body["number"] != float64(7) {
+		t.Fatalf("the merge was asked %+v; wanted once, for pull request 7 at the marked head", merges)
+	}
+	if took := merges[0].At.Sub(commented); took > 5*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("the merge was asked %s after the ready comment's event; wanted within 5s", took)
+	} else {
+		t.Logf("the merge was asked %s after the ready comment's event", took)
+	}
+	// The forge's open pull requests were read for the mark by the events, not by a poll: the label's and the comment's.
+	if got := len(rt.asksOf("gitea.gitea_open_pulls")) - reads; got < 2 || got > 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("the forge's open pull requests were read %d times for one mark", got)
+	}
+	// Quiet follows: nothing asks the forge or the controller again with no event to say so.
+	quiet := len(rt.asked)
+	time.Sleep(1500 * time.Millisecond)
+	rt.mu.Lock()
+	more := len(rt.asked) - quiet
+	rt.mu.Unlock()
+	if more > 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("%d asks of the mesh in a quiet second and a half after the merge: something polls", more)
+	}
+}
+
+// A ready mark on a pull request whose check nobody asked yet asks it at once, on the ready stream (the check's `ready`).
+func TestAReadyMarkAsksTheCheckOfAPullRequestWithNoVerdictAsReady(t *testing.T) {
+	b := newTestBus(t)
+	rt := b.start(t)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	defer cancel()
+	rt.deliverEvents(ctx)
+	rt.until("the module to subscribe", 20*time.Second, func() bool {
+		rt.mu.Lock()
+		defer rt.mu.Unlock()
+		return len(rt.subs) >= len(followed)+1
+	})
+	const head = "2222222222222222222222222222222222222222"
+	b.publish(t, "mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.updated", pr("novox/app", 8, head, "fix/y", "src/a.go"))
+	rt.mu.Lock()
+	rt.openPulls = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 8, head, head)}
+	rt.mu.Unlock()
+	b.publish(t, "mesh.mod.gitea.event.forge.pull-request.commented", commentedReady(8, head))
+	rt.until("the check to be asked", 5*time.Second, func() bool { return len(rt.asksOf("seat:"+ControllerSeat+".delivery-check")) >= 1 })
+	body := rt.asksOf("seat:" + ControllerSeat + ".delivery-check")[0].Body
+	var members []Member
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(fmt.Sprint(body["members"])), &members); err != nil || len(members) != 1 || !members[0].Ready {
+		t.Fatalf("the check was asked for %v (%v); wanted one member with ready", body["members"], err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/effects.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/effects.go
index b7a2115f..3c20d918 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/effects.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/effects.go
@@ -356,6 +356,38 @@ func (h *Holder) Flush() {
 				retryAfter(j.e.Tries+1))
 		}
 	}
+	h.owedAgain()
+}
+
+// owedAgain says when what is still owed is tried again: an effect the forge or the bus could not take, at the time
+// retryAfter gave it, and a delivery or group not yet kept, after retryFirst. Flush is the bounded retry of both.
+func (h *Holder) owedAgain() {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	for id := range h.dirty {
+		if h.deliveries[id] != nil {
+			h.lookAt(h.Now().Add(retryFirst), "a delivery not yet kept, kept again before it is said")
+		}
+	}
+	for id := range h.dirtyGroup {
+		if h.groups[id] != nil {
+			h.lookAt(h.Now().Add(retryFirst), "a group not yet kept, kept again before it is said")
+		}
+	}
+	for _, d := range h.deliveries {
+		for _, e := range d.Owed {
+			if e.Next != nil {
+				h.lookAt(*e.Next, "an owed effect the forge or the bus could not take")
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	for _, g := range h.groups {
+		for _, e := range g.Owed {
+			if e.Next != nil {
+				h.lookAt(*e.Next, "an owed effect the forge or the bus could not take")
+			}
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 // An owed effect that fails is tried again later each time: retryFirst after the first failure, doubling up
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/events.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/events.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4528e972
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/events.go
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"regexp"
+	"slices"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+
+	"git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/asks"
+)
+
+// Events that start a step (novox/hq ADR 0406 §1, issue 975).
+//
+// This owner acts on events: a ready mark, a verdict, an Approve, a group's turn. The forge's label and comment events
+// say that a pull request's ready mark may have changed; they do not say whether it counts. Which accounts' "ready at"
+// comments count is the forge module's rule (its trusted setting ready-authors, the gitea module's readyMarkOf), so a
+// label added or a "ready at" comment written makes this owner read the forge's open pull requests once, and the mark
+// it reads there is the mark (seeMarks). The label taken off needs no read: it only clears.
+
+// ForgePullEvent is the forge module's `forge.pull-request.labeled`, `.unlabeled` and `.commented`
+// (modules/gitea/webhook.ts): the pull request, and the label added or taken off, or the comment written.
+type ForgePullEvent struct {
+	Owner     string   `json:"owner"`
+	Repo      string   `json:"repo"`
+	Number    int      `json:"number"`
+	HeadSHA   string   `json:"head_sha,omitempty"`
+	Base      string   `json:"base,omitempty"`
+	Labels    []string `json:"labels,omitempty"`
+	Label     string   `json:"label,omitempty"`
+	Author    string   `json:"author,omitempty"`
+	Comment   string   `json:"comment,omitempty"`
+	CommentID int      `json:"comment_id,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// ForgeStatusEvent is the forge module's `forge.status`: a commit's status was set.
+type ForgeStatusEvent struct {
+	Owner   string `json:"owner"`
+	Repo    string `json:"repo"`
+	SHA     string `json:"sha"`
+	Context string `json:"context"`
+	State   string `json:"state"`
+}
+
+// readyAtComment is a comment that names the head a pull request is marked ready at, as the forge module reads it
+// (modules/gitea/client.ts READY_AT): "ready at <full sha>" on a line of its own.
+var readyAtComment = regexp.MustCompile(`(?im)^\s*ready at ([0-9a-f]{40}|[0-9a-f]{64})\b`)
+
+func eventPullKey(e ForgePullEvent) string {
+	return strings.ToLower(e.Owner+"/"+e.Repo) + "#" + strconv.Itoa(e.Number)
+}
+
+// wantForge says the forge's open pull requests are to be read at the next look: a ready mark may have been made.
+func (h *Holder) wantForge() {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	h.forgeWanted = true
+	h.mu.Unlock()
+}
+
+// takeForgeWanted answers whether the forge's open pull requests are to be read, and takes the want.
+func (h *Holder) takeForgeWanted() bool {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	wanted := h.forgeWanted
+	h.forgeWanted = false
+	return wanted
+}
+
+// PullLabeled takes a label added to a pull request: the ready label asks for the mark to be read.
+func (h *Holder) PullLabeled(e ForgePullEvent) {
+	if e.Label == ReadyLabel {
+		h.wantForge()
+	}
+}
+
+// PullUnlabeled takes a label taken off a pull request: the ready label clears its mark, with no read.
+func (h *Holder) PullUnlabeled(e ForgePullEvent) {
+	if e.Label != ReadyLabel {
+		return
+	}
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	if _, marked := h.marks[eventPullKey(e)]; marked {
+		delete(h.marks, eventPullKey(e))
+		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s's ready label was taken off: its mark is cleared", eventPullKey(e))
+	}
+}
+
+// PullCommented takes a comment on a pull request: one that names a head to be ready at asks for the mark to be read.
+func (h *Holder) PullCommented(e ForgePullEvent) {
+	if readyAtComment.MatchString(e.Comment) {
+		h.wantForge()
+	}
+}
+
+// AskDecided takes the router's `decided` event for an ask this owner made: its warrant is applied to the deliveries
+// the ask covers, and what is said on their pull requests is said.
+func (h *Holder) AskDecided(id, state string, w *asks.Warrant) {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	said := h.decided(id, state, w)
+	h.mu.Unlock()
+	for _, s := range said {
+		s()
+	}
+}
+
+// CommitStatus takes a commit status set on the forge: one of the merge checks (mesh/merge-gate, mesh/repo-check) says a
+// check started, answered, or was put back, so the forge's open pull requests are read to see which heads still wait on
+// one (SeeOpenPulls). A status of any other context shows nothing the merge needs.
+func (h *Holder) CommitStatus(e ForgeStatusEvent) {
+	if slices.Contains(mergeChecks, e.Context) {
+		h.wantForge()
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/events_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/events_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1025bc00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/events_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+
+	stdio "git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go"
+)
+
+// **A ready mark, a verdict and an Approve are acted on as events** (novox/hq ADR 0406 §1, issue 975): the merge
+// is asked within the event that makes it possible, never at the next tick or the next minute.
+
+const (
+	labeledEvent   = "gitea.forge.pull-request.labeled"
+	unlabeledEvent = "gitea.forge.pull-request.unlabeled"
+	commentedEvent = "gitea.forge.pull-request.commented"
+)
+
+// hear is the runtime handing this owner one event, as handle takes it.
+func hear(t *testing.T, w *world, key string, body any) {
+	t.Helper()
+	raw, err := json.Marshal(body)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := handle(w.h, stdio.Envelope{Key: key, Body: raw}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	w.h.React() // the look the event pokes, taken by the holder's worker
+}
+
+func labeled(number int, label string) ForgePullEvent {
+	return ForgePullEvent{Owner: "novox", Repo: "app", Number: number, HeadSHA: readyHead, Base: "main", Label: label,
+		Labels: []string{label}}
+}
+
+func commentedReady(number int, head string) ForgePullEvent {
+	return ForgePullEvent{Owner: "novox", Repo: "app", Number: number, Author: "reviewer", CommentID: 5,
+		Comment: "ready at " + head + "\n\napproved: the tests are the change's"}
+}
+
+// greenAnnounced is a pull request into main, announced and judged green, the operator not answering by himself.
+func greenAnnounced(t *testing.T) *world {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.op.auto = false
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.Checked(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	return w
+}
+
+func TestALabelAndAReadyAtCommentAskTheOperatorAtOnceWithNoTick(t *testing.T) {
+	w := greenAnnounced(t)
+	// The label first: the forge reads it without a comment naming a head yet. Nothing is asked.
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "")}
+	hear(t, w, labeledEvent, labeled(7, ReadyLabel))
+	if w.op.count() != 0 || len(w.forge.merges) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a label with no head named was acted on: %d asks, merges %v", w.op.count(), w.forge.merges)
+	}
+	// The comment naming the head: the forge now reads the mark whole, and the ask is made within this event.
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, readyHead)}
+	hear(t, w, commentedEvent, commentedReady(7, readyHead))
+	if w.op.count() != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the comment that completes the mark asked the operator %d times, wanted once, with no tick", w.op.count())
+	}
+	if d := w.delivery(IDOf("novox/app", readyHead)); d.Ready == nil || d.Ready.By != "reviewer" || d.Ready.AskID == "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the mark is not kept on the delivery: %+v", d.Ready)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestACommentThatIsNotAReadyMarkReadsNothingFromTheForge(t *testing.T) {
+	w := greenAnnounced(t)
+	before := w.forge.openCalls
+	c := commentedReady(7, readyHead)
+	c.Comment = "looks fine to me, though I would not say ready at all"
+	hear(t, w, commentedEvent, c)
+	hear(t, w, labeledEvent, labeled(7, "kind/bug"))
+	if w.forge.openCalls != before {
+		t.Fatalf("the forge's open pull requests were read %d times for events that are no ready mark", w.forge.openCalls-before)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTheReadyLabelTakenOffClearsTheMarkAtOnce(t *testing.T) {
+	w := greenAnnounced(t)
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, readyHead)}
+	hear(t, w, labeledEvent, labeled(7, ReadyLabel))
+	w.h.mu.Lock()
+	marks := len(w.h.marks)
+	w.h.mu.Unlock()
+	if marks != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the label did not make a mark: %d", marks)
+	}
+	asked := w.op.count()
+	// The forge no longer shows the label; the event alone says so, and the forge is not read for it.
+	reads := w.forge.openCalls
+	w.forge.open = nil
+	hear(t, w, unlabeledEvent, labeled(7, ReadyLabel))
+	w.h.mu.Lock()
+	marks = len(w.h.marks)
+	w.h.mu.Unlock()
+	if marks != 0 || w.forge.openCalls != reads || w.op.count() != asked {
+		t.Fatalf("the mark was not cleared by the event alone: marks %d, reads %d, asks %d", marks, w.forge.openCalls-reads, w.op.count()-asked)
+	}
+}
+
+// approve is the operator's Approve of the one open ask, heard as the router's `decided` event.
+func approve(w *world) {
+	open := w.op.open()
+	w.op.answer(open[0], OptionApprove)
+	state, warrant, _ := w.op.Where(open[0])
+	w.h.AskDecided(open[0], state, warrant)
+	w.h.React()
+}
+
+func TestAnApproveHeardAsAnEventAsksTheMergeAtOnce(t *testing.T) {
+	w := greenAnnounced(t)
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, readyHead)}
+	hear(t, w, commentedEvent, commentedReady(7, readyHead))
+	open := w.op.open()
+	if len(open) != 1 || len(w.forge.merges) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("asks %v, merges %v", open, w.forge.merges)
+	}
+	approve(w)
+	if len(w.forge.merges) != 1 || w.forge.merges[0] != "novox/app#7@"+readyHead {
+		t.Fatalf("the Approve, heard as an event, merged %v; wanted once at the marked head", w.forge.merges)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAPassingVerdictAsksTheMergeAtOnceEvenJustAfterARefusal(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	id := IDOf("novox/app", readyHead)
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.Checked(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	// Another merge moves the trunk: the verdict is out of date and the merge tool refuses, asking the check again.
+	w.h.PullMerged(merged("novox/app", 9, "9999999999999999", "t2t2t2t2t2t2"))
+	w.forge.refuse = errAskedAgain
+	w.op.auto = false
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, readyHead)}
+	hear(t, w, commentedEvent, commentedReady(7, readyHead))
+	approve(w)
+	if len(w.forge.merges) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the merge tool was asked %v; wanted once to judge it again", w.forge.merges)
+	}
+	// The verdict against the trunk's head passes: merged within the verdict's own event, no minute waited.
+	w.forge.refuse = nil
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	raw, _ := json.Marshal(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t2t2t2t2t2t2"))
+	if err := handle(w.h, stdio.Envelope{Key: ControllerSeat + ".checked", Body: raw}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	w.h.React()
+	if len(w.forge.merges) != 2 || w.delivery(id).Ready.Merged == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the passing verdict did not ask the merge at once: %v %+v", w.forge.merges, w.delivery(id).Ready)
+	}
+}
+
+var errAskedAgain = &askedAgainError{}
+
+type askedAgainError struct{}
+
+func (*askedAgainError) Error() string {
+	return "the forge refused gitea_merge_pull_request: The check of head merged into trunk was asked"
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/fakes_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/fakes_test.go
index effcd900..1c2a9a94 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/fakes_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/fakes_test.go
@@ -106,6 +106,10 @@ type fakeController struct {
 	moves      map[string][]string
 	plans      int
 	down       bool
+	// walkReads counts the reads of the controller's walks (Walks).
+	walkReads int
+	// checkReady is the ready flag of each member of each check asked.
+	checkReady []bool
 	// refuseDeliver refuses every word, as a controller that will not take it does (review of novox/hq issue 753).
 	refuseDeliver bool
 	// onCheck runs as a check is asked, before it is answered: what the forge held at that moment.
@@ -176,6 +180,9 @@ func (c *fakeController) Check(group string, ms []Member) (string, error) {
 		heads = append(heads, m.ID)
 	}
 	c.checks = append(c.checks, group+":"+strings.Join(heads, ","))
+	for _, m := range ms {
+		c.checkReady = append(c.checkReady, m.Ready)
+	}
 	return id, nil
 }
 func (c *fakeController) Deliver(walk, why string) error {
@@ -347,6 +354,7 @@ func (c *fakeController) cut(id string) Walk {
 func (c *fakeController) Walks(walk string) (bool, []Walk, error) {
 	c.mu.Lock()
 	defer c.mu.Unlock()
+	c.walkReads++
 	if c.down {
 		return false, nil, errors.New("down")
 	}
@@ -399,8 +407,9 @@ type fakeForge struct {
 	containsDown bool
 	containsAsks []string
 	// open is what OpenPulls answers; openDown a forge that cannot say.
-	open     []OpenPull
-	openDown bool
+	open      []OpenPull
+	openDown  bool
+	openCalls int
 	// merges, comments and unlabels are what was asked of the forge for ready marks (novox/hq issue 722).
 	merges, comments, unlabels []string
 	refuse                     error
@@ -412,6 +421,7 @@ type fakeForge struct {
 func (f *fakeForge) OpenPulls() ([]OpenPull, error) {
 	f.mu.Lock()
 	defer f.mu.Unlock()
+	f.openCalls++
 	if f.openDown {
 		return nil, errors.New("the forge is away")
 	}
@@ -602,11 +612,25 @@ func (w *world) later(d time.Duration) {
 	w.mu.Unlock()
 }
 
-// settleAll ticks and flushes until nothing changes, a few times.
+// settleAll lets the router's answers reach the holder as its `decided` events, and takes a look, a few times.
 func (w *world) settleAll() {
 	for range 4 {
-		w.h.Tick()
-		w.h.Flush()
+		w.decide()
+		w.h.React()
+	}
+}
+
+// decide hands the holder the router's `decided` event for every ask of its that has closed.
+func (w *world) decide() {
+	w.h.mu.Lock()
+	ids := w.h.pendingAsks()
+	w.h.mu.Unlock()
+	for _, id := range ids {
+		state, warrant, _ := w.op.Where(id)
+		if state == "" || state == "open" || state == "held" {
+			continue
+		}
+		w.h.AskDecided(id, state, warrant)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder.go
index 42626b6a..6a69eb1d 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder.go
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ type Holder struct {
 	Logf       func(format string, a ...any)
 	// Operator is the operator channel, asked for the Approve of a merge into main (approval.go).
 	Operator Operator
-	// cancels are asks to take back, gathered under the lock and run with the other asks of the tick.
+	// Pulls keeps the pull requests' keys on the bus (pullkey.go); nil keeps none.
+	Pulls PullKeys
+	// cancels are asks to take back, gathered under the lock and run with the other asks of the look.
 	cancels []func()
 
 	mu         sync.Mutex
@@ -55,11 +57,11 @@ type Holder struct {
 	// unchecked are the open pull requests' heads seen without a merge check (unchecked.go).
 	unchecked map[string]unchecked
 	// walks are the walks' and batches' last records (answers.go); orphans the waiting walks no live delivery
-	// holds, by when that was first seen; turning the walks whose turn came this tick, for some deliveries.
+	// holds, by when that was first seen; turning the walks whose turn came this look, for some deliveries.
 	walks   map[string]seenWalk
 	orphans map[string]time.Time
 	turning map[string]*turnWant
-	// waitsWhy is, by walk, why the last tick did not give a waiting walk its word: a delivery it carries not at
+	// waitsWhy is, by walk, why the last look did not give a waiting walk its word: a delivery it carries not at
 	// its turn, or a stopped change it carries (novox/hq issue 529). Said by WalksWaiting.
 	waitsWhy map[string]string
 	// asking are the walks whose word is being asked right now, outside the lock: not asked twice meanwhile.
@@ -84,6 +86,16 @@ type Holder struct {
 	tried owedTries
 	// marks are the open pull requests read with a ready mark, by owner/repo#number (novox/hq issue 722, ready.go).
 	marks map[string]*marked
+	// forgeWanted is whether the forge's open pull requests are to be read at the next React: a ready mark may have been
+	// made (events.go). reactMu keeps one React at a time.
+	forgeWanted bool
+	// rereadWalks is whether the controller's walks are to be read once more: a merge passed the bound a walk opens
+	// within, and the walks were last read before it (unwalkedPast).
+	rereadWalks bool
+	reactMu     sync.Mutex
+	// poke asks for a look (react.go); wanted is when the next is wanted, and its timer.
+	poke   chan struct{}
+	wanted lookWanted
 }
 
 // owedTries is how many owed effects were tried since this owner started, and when the last was: three numbers
@@ -125,6 +137,7 @@ func (h *Holder) init() {
 	if h.Emit == nil {
 		h.Emit = func(string, any) error { return nil }
 	}
+	h.poke = make(chan struct{}, 1)
 	h.deliveries = map[string]*Delivery{}
 	h.groups = map[string]*Group{}
 	h.dirty = map[string]bool{}
@@ -247,6 +260,7 @@ func (h *Holder) keep(d *Delivery) {
 		h.dirty[d.ID] = true
 		delete(h.written, d.ID)
 		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s could not be kept yet (%v); kept again before it is said", d.ID, err)
+		h.again("a delivery that could not be kept")
 		return
 	}
 	delete(h.dirty, d.ID)
@@ -262,6 +276,7 @@ func (h *Holder) keepGroup(g *Group) {
 	if err := h.Store.PutGroup(g); err != nil {
 		h.dirtyGroup[g.ID] = true
 		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] group %s could not be kept yet (%v)", g.ID, err)
+		h.again("a group that could not be kept")
 		return
 	}
 	delete(h.dirtyGroup, g.ID)
@@ -307,14 +322,15 @@ var trunkLike = map[string]bool{"main": true, "master": true, "trunk": true, "":
 
 // PullUpdated takes a pull request's new head: a delivery proposed, an older head of the same pull request
 // superseded, and the delivery put in the group its branch name makes.
-func (h *Holder) PullUpdated(p PullEvent) {
+func (h *Holder) PullUpdated(p PullEvent) (isNew bool) {
 	if p.HeadSHA == "" || p.Number == 0 {
 		h.Refuse(errors.New("a pull request announced with no head or no number; nothing proposed"))
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 	h.mu.Lock()
 	defer h.mu.Unlock()
 	id := IDOf(p.repository(), p.HeadSHA)
+	isNew = h.deliveries[id] == nil
 	now := h.Now()
 	startedOver := ""
 	if d := h.deliveries[id]; d != nil {
@@ -351,7 +367,7 @@ func (h *Holder) PullUpdated(p PullEvent) {
 	d, t, err := h.freshAnnouncement(p, now, startedOver)
 	if err != nil {
 		h.refuse(err)
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 	ts := []Transition{t}
 	// An announcement heard again from the bus's history may carry its head's verdict already: the forge holds
@@ -364,6 +380,7 @@ func (h *Holder) PullUpdated(p PullEvent) {
 	if !h.takePlaceOf(replaced, d) {
 		h.joinGroup(d)
 	}
+	return isNew
 }
 
 // startedOverFor is why a delivery already kept at a head's id is started over for a pull request's number rather
@@ -509,6 +526,8 @@ func (h *Holder) PullMerged(p PullEvent) {
 	}
 	h.mu.Lock()
 	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	delete(h.marks, strings.ToLower(p.Owner+"/"+p.Repo)+fmt.Sprintf("#%d", p.Number)) // a merged pull request keeps no mark
+	h.forgetUnchecked(p.Owner, p.Repo, p.Number)
 	var d *Delivery
 	if p.HeadSHA != "" {
 		d = h.deliveries[IDOf(p.repository(), p.HeadSHA)]
@@ -523,6 +542,9 @@ func (h *Holder) PullMerged(p PullEvent) {
 			}
 		}
 	}
+	if d != nil && d.MergedAs != "" && sameCommit(d.MergedAs, p.MergeCommit) {
+		return // this merge is already taken: heard again, past the bus's de-duplication window, it changes nothing
+	}
 	now := h.Now()
 	var ts []Transition
 	if over := startedOverFor(d, p.Number); over != "" {
@@ -667,6 +689,8 @@ func verdictOfState(s string) string {
 // go of it within the week anyway.
 func (h *Holder) PullClosed(p PullEvent) {
 	h.mu.Lock()
+	delete(h.marks, strings.ToLower(p.Owner+"/"+p.Repo)+fmt.Sprintf("#%d", p.Number)) // a closed pull request keeps no mark
+	h.forgetUnchecked(p.Owner, p.Repo, p.Number)
 	for _, d := range h.deliveries {
 		if d.Repository == p.repository() && d.Number == p.Number && !d.State.Final() && d.MergedAs == "" {
 			d.ClosedUnmerged = true
@@ -736,6 +760,9 @@ func (h *Holder) Checked(c CheckedEvent) {
 			return
 		}
 		g.Check.Verdict, g.Check.Summary = c.Verdict, c.Summary
+		for _, m := range h.membersOf(g) {
+			h.mergeAgainNow(m) // the group's composed check answered: its members' merges are asked at once
+		}
 		// Each member's head and the trunk commit it was merged into (novox/hq ADR 0323 §6).
 		for _, m := range c.Members {
 			for id := range g.Check.Commits {
@@ -796,6 +823,7 @@ func (h *Holder) Checked(c CheckedEvent) {
 		v.Gate = "error"
 	}
 	d.Check, d.AskedAgain = v, nil
+	h.mergeAgainNow(d) // a verdict taken: the merge is asked at once, not a minute after a refusal
 	if c.Plan != nil {
 		d.Plan = c.Plan
 	}
@@ -815,6 +843,11 @@ func (h *Holder) WalkMoved(w Walk) {
 }
 
 func (h *Holder) walkMoved(w Walk) {
+	for _, d := range h.deliveries {
+		if d.Group != "" {
+			h.mergeAgainNow(d) // a walk moved: a group member's turn to merge may have come, asked at once
+		}
+	}
 	if w.Release != nil {
 		h.creditBacklog(w)
 		return
@@ -990,9 +1023,11 @@ const carriedBy = "carried by "
 // which says, for the log, why it is asked: what the walk is to the delivery that asks.
 func (h *Holder) askWalk(id, which string, now time.Time) func() {
 	if asked, was := h.walkAsked[id]; was && now.Sub(asked) < time.Hour {
+		h.lookAt(asked.Add(time.Hour), "a walk's record asked of the controller by its id")
 		return nil
 	}
 	h.walkAsked[id] = now
+	h.lookAt(now.Add(time.Hour), "a walk's record asked of the controller by its id")
 	return func() {
 		_, walks, err := h.Controller.Walks(id)
 		h.mu.Lock()
@@ -1053,11 +1088,11 @@ func (h *Holder) Reconcile() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// --- the tick: groups, turns, adoption --------------------------------------------------------------------
+// --- the look: groups, turns, adoption --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-// Tick takes every step the facts allow that needs another's word: a group's order and composed check, a
+// look takes every step the facts allow that needs another's word: a group's order and composed check, a
 // delivery's turn, a walk with no delivery made one. The asking happens outside the lock.
-func (h *Holder) Tick() {
+func (h *Holder) look() {
 	for _, ask := range h.plan() {
 		ask()
 	}
@@ -1099,17 +1134,20 @@ func (h *Holder) plan() []func() {
 		if !u.walk.Open() {
 			if now.Sub(u.first) > 10*time.Minute {
 				delete(h.unmatched, id)
+			} else {
+				h.lookAt(u.first.Add(10*time.Minute), "a walk no merge was heard for, ended: forgotten after ten minutes")
 			}
 			continue
 		}
 		if u.walk.Created.After(h.started) && now.Sub(u.first) < matchGrace {
+			h.lookAt(u.first.Add(matchGrace), "a walk no merge was heard for: made a delivery after the grace")
 			continue
 		}
 		h.adopt(u.walk)
 		delete(h.unmatched, id)
 	}
 
-	// Plans not known for a delivery that has its diffset: asked once a tick.
+	// Plans not known for a delivery that has its diffset: asked at each look.
 	for _, d := range h.deliveries {
 		if d.Plan == nil && !d.State.Final() && len(d.Paths) > 0 && (d.State == Ready || d.State == Held || d.MergedAs != "") {
 			d := d
@@ -1120,6 +1158,7 @@ func (h *Holder) plan() []func() {
 				defer h.mu.Unlock()
 				if err != nil {
 					h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s's plan cannot be asked yet: %v", id, err)
+					h.again("a delivery's plan that could not be asked")
 					return
 				}
 				if d := h.deliveries[id]; d != nil && d.Plan == nil {
@@ -1173,14 +1212,14 @@ func (h *Holder) plan() []func() {
 
 	// Held, or merged with no walk opened for it: ended by what is already true of it, never asked of a person
 	// (novox/hq issue 319). A plan that moves nothing is delivered; one whose every module a later merge into the
-	// same trunk delivered is covered. Read again each tick, so a delivery read back after a restart, or held
+	// same trunk delivered is covered. Read again at each look, so a delivery read back after a restart, or held
 	// before this was known, ends by itself.
 	// A published delivery whose walk ended done before its word is read the same way (novox/hq issue 474): what
 	// that walk did not build, a later delivered merge may have; and when the cover test says none did, past the
 	// grace, it is stopped saying so — never left waiting for a start that cannot come.
 	// A delivery that failed or was stopped is read for a later finished walk of its repository that delivered its
 	// change after all: a walk that failed in an outage and was resumed, or the walk of a later merge that contains it
-	// (novox/hq issue 747). Read each tick, from what the walks and the kept deliveries say, so one stuck before this
+	// (novox/hq issue 747). Read at each look, from what the walks and the kept deliveries say, so one stuck before this
 	// was built clears by itself after a restart.
 	h.coverAsked = map[string]bool{}
 	if h.coverAskedSince == nil {
@@ -1201,6 +1240,9 @@ func (h *Holder) plan() []func() {
 			}
 			// Held back only within the bound: a forge that keeps erroring never holds a walk for good.
 			h.coverAsked[d.ID] = now.Sub(since) < coverAskBound
+			if h.coverAsked[d.ID] {
+				h.lookAt(since.Add(coverAskBound), "a walk held back while the forge is asked what a later walk delivered")
+			}
 		}
 		if by != "" {
 			d.DeliveredBy = by
@@ -1345,6 +1387,7 @@ func (h *Holder) strand(d *Delivery, pending []string, now time.Time) func() {
 		ended = d.Since
 	}
 	if now.Sub(ended) < strandedAfter {
+		h.lookAt(ended.Add(strandedAfter), "a merge its walk did not build: stopped after the grace for a later merge to cover it")
 		return nil
 	}
 	note := ""
@@ -1508,8 +1551,20 @@ func (h *Holder) unwalkedPast(d *Delivery, now time.Time) bool {
 	if _, batched := h.batchOf(d); batched {
 		return false // its batch is assembling or queued: a walk is not owed yet (ADR 0276)
 	}
-	return d.State == Ready && d.MergedAs != "" && d.Walk == nil && !d.MovesNothing() && d.HeldWhy == "" &&
-		now.Sub(d.MergedAt) > unwalked && h.reconciled.After(d.MergedAt.Add(unwalked))
+	if d.State != Ready || d.MergedAs == "" || d.Walk != nil || d.MovesNothing() || d.HeldWhy != "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	bound := d.MergedAt.Add(unwalked)
+	if now.Sub(d.MergedAt) <= unwalked {
+		h.lookAt(bound, "a merge no walk opened for within ten minutes")
+		return false
+	}
+	if !h.reconciled.After(bound) {
+		// The walks were not read since the bound: read once now (React), the only read besides the one at the start.
+		h.rereadWalks = true
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
 }
 
 // coverOf says which later merges cover a merged delivery, or nothing, and which later merge commits the forge
@@ -1615,9 +1670,11 @@ func carries(c, d *Delivery, module string) bool {
 func (h *Holder) askContains(d *Delivery, in string, now time.Time) func() {
 	key := d.ID + " in " + in
 	if tried, was := h.askTried[key]; was && now.Sub(tried) < time.Minute {
+		h.lookAt(tried.Add(time.Minute), "the forge asked whether a later merge contains this one")
 		return nil
 	}
 	h.askTried[key] = now
+	h.lookAt(now.Add(time.Minute), "the forge asked whether a later merge contains this one")
 	id, owner, repo, merged := d.ID, d.Owner(), d.Repo(), d.MergedAs
 	return func() {
 		yes, err := h.Forge.Contains(owner, repo, merged, in)
@@ -1650,14 +1707,19 @@ func heldForGroup(d *Delivery, g *Group) bool {
 // no check this owner asked, and proposed past the grace the controller's own check of its announcement is
 // given. Nil otherwise — once asked, a late verdict is the bound's and H2's to speak for.
 func (h *Holder) askCheck(d *Delivery, now time.Time) func() {
-	if d.State != Proposed || d.Check != nil || d.CheckAsk != nil || d.MergedAs != "" || d.Number == 0 ||
-		now.Sub(d.Since) < checkGrace {
+	if d.State != Proposed || d.Check != nil || d.CheckAsk != nil || d.MergedAs != "" || d.Number == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if now.Sub(d.Since) < checkGrace && d.Ready == nil { // a ready mark makes the check worth asking at once
+		h.lookAt(d.Since.Add(checkGrace), "a proposed delivery's check, asked once the grace has passed with no verdict")
 		return nil
 	}
 	if tried, was := h.askTried[d.ID]; was && now.Sub(tried) < time.Minute {
+		h.lookAt(tried.Add(time.Minute), "a proposed delivery's check that could not be asked")
 		return nil
 	}
 	h.askTried[d.ID] = now
+	h.lookAt(now.Add(time.Minute), "a proposed delivery's check that could not be asked")
 	id, m := d.ID, MemberOf(d)
 	why := fmt.Sprintf("proposed for %s with no verdict and no check asked: its announcement was heard from the "+
 		"bus's history, or the controller missed it", now.Sub(d.Since).Round(time.Minute))
@@ -1791,6 +1853,7 @@ func (h *Holder) planGroup(g *Group, members []*Delivery, now time.Time) []func(
 			}
 			if err != nil {
 				h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] group %s's order cannot be asked yet: %v", id, err)
+				h.again("a group's order that could not be asked")
 				return
 			}
 			g.Order, g.Pairs, g.Cycle, g.Contradictions, g.OrderOf = o.Order, o.Pairs, o.Cycle, o.Contradictions, commits
@@ -1825,6 +1888,7 @@ func (h *Holder) planGroup(g *Group, members []*Delivery, now time.Time) []func(
 			}
 			if err != nil {
 				h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] group %s's composed check cannot be asked yet: %v", id, err)
+				h.again("a group's composed check that could not be asked")
 				return
 			}
 			g.Check = &GroupCheck{Asked: asked, At: h.Now(), Commits: commits}
@@ -1922,6 +1986,7 @@ func (h *Holder) groupTurns(g *Group, members []*Delivery) []func() {
 		if !w.until.IsZero() {
 			u := w.until
 			until = &u
+			h.lookAt(u, "a group member's turn that waits for a later merge to carry it, until the wait's bound")
 		}
 		if d.TurnAwaits != w.said || (d.TurnAwaitsUntil == nil) != (until == nil) ||
 			until != nil && !d.TurnAwaitsUntil.Equal(*until) {
@@ -2427,6 +2492,7 @@ func (h *Holder) askedToLeave(walk string) {
 		h.leaveAsked = map[string]leaveAsk{}
 	}
 	h.leaveAsked[walk] = leaveAsk{at: h.Now(), revision: h.walks[walk].walk.Revision}
+	h.lookAt(h.Now().Add(5*time.Minute), "a walk asked to leave a stopped merge out, asked again if it went nowhere")
 }
 
 // leaveStopped asks, for every open walk or batch that carries a stopped delivery's merge, that the merge be left
@@ -2474,6 +2540,7 @@ func (h *Holder) leaveStopped() []func() {
 		// Once per record of it: the record that answers an ask is newer. Asked again after five minutes, should
 		// the ask have gone nowhere.
 		if a, asked := h.leaveAsked[id]; asked && seen.walk.Revision <= a.revision && now.Sub(a.at) < 5*time.Minute {
+			h.lookAt(a.at.Add(5*time.Minute), "a walk asked to leave a stopped merge out, asked again if it went nowhere")
 			continue
 		}
 		walk := id
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder_test.go
index 5a62afbd..ad010978 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/holder_test.go
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ func TestTheSwitchAdoptsRunningWalksAndHoldsUnknownWaitingOnes(t *testing.T) {
 	if err := w.h.Reconcile(); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	w.h.Tick()
+	w.h.React()
 	if s := w.state(IDOf("novox/mesh-catalog", "cccccccccccc3333")); s != Delivering {
 		t.Fatalf("a running walk at the switch was adopted as %s", s)
 	}
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ func TestTheSwitchAdoptsRunningWalksAndHoldsUnknownWaitingOnes(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("a new walk was made a delivery before its merge had time to be heard")
 	}
 	w.later(3 * time.Minute)
-	w.h.Tick()
+	w.h.React()
 	held := IDOf("novox/app", "dddddddddddd4444")
 	if s := w.state(held); s != Held {
 		t.Fatalf("a waiting walk with no pull request is %s", s)
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/main.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/main.go
index 52fa7fa0..a2966be8 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/main.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/main.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 
 	stdio "git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go"
 	"git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/asker"
+	"git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go/asks"
 )
 
 func logf(format string, a ...any) { fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, format+"\n", a...) }
@@ -31,30 +32,36 @@ func (l *listening) set(s string) { l.mu.Lock(); l.now = s; l.mu.Unlock() }
 func (l *listening) get() string  { l.mu.Lock(); defer l.mu.Unlock(); return l.now }
 
 // The events this owner follows: the forge's pull requests, and the controller's verdicts and walks.
+// The forge's label and comment events say a ready mark changed, its status events that a check answered (events.go).
 var followed = []string{"gitea.pull.updated", "gitea.pull.merged", "gitea.pull.closed",
-	ControllerSeat + ".checked", ControllerSeat + ".plan-moved"}
+	"gitea.forge.pull-request.labeled", "gitea.forge.pull-request.unlabeled", "gitea.forge.pull-request.commented",
+	"gitea.forge.status", ControllerSeat + ".checked", ControllerSeat + ".plan-moved"}
 
 func main() {
+	operator := &asker.Client{Module: Module, State: stdio.State("asked")}
 	h := &Holder{
 		Store:      kvStore{},
 		Controller: seatController{ask: stdio.Ask},
 		Forge:      toolForge{ask: stdio.Ask},
 		Emit:       func(event string, body any) error { return stdio.Emit(event, body) },
 		Logf:       logf,
-		Operator:   &asker.Client{Module: Module, State: stdio.State("asked")},
+		Operator:   operator,
+		Pulls:      kvPulls{},
 	}
 	h.init()
 	l := &listening{now: "not yet: starting"}
-	go run(h, l)
+	go run(h, l, operator)
 	if err := stdio.Serve("", tools(h, l)); err != nil {
 		logf("%v", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
 
-// run reads back the state, then the controller's walks, then takes the events, and keeps time — each
-// retried, each failure said, never given up on quietly.
-func run(h *Holder, l *listening) {
+// run reads back the state, then takes the events, then reads once what it may have missed while it was away — the
+// controller's walks, the forge's open pull requests, the operator's asks — and acts on events from then on
+// (novox/hq ADR 0406 §1, issue 975): no tick, no forge poll, no reconcile loop. Each step is retried, each failure
+// said, never given up on quietly.
+func run(h *Holder, l *listening, operator *asker.Client) {
 	time.Sleep(500 * time.Millisecond) // Serve first: the state is reached through it
 	for wait := 2 * time.Second; ; wait = min(wait*2, time.Minute) {
 		err := h.Load()
@@ -64,30 +71,7 @@ func run(h *Holder, l *listening) {
 		logf("[mesh-delivery] cannot read back its deliveries yet (%v); asking again in %s", err, wait)
 		time.Sleep(wait)
 	}
-	if err := h.Reconcile(); err != nil {
-		logf("[mesh-delivery] the controller's walks cannot be read yet (%v); asked again each half minute", err)
-	}
-	go func() {
-		tick := time.NewTicker(10 * time.Second)
-		defer tick.Stop()
-		last, looked := time.Now(), time.Time{}
-		for now := range tick.C {
-			if now.Sub(last) >= 30*time.Second {
-				last = now
-				if err := h.Reconcile(); err != nil {
-					logf("[mesh-delivery] the controller's walks cannot be read: %v", err)
-				}
-			}
-			// Every open pull request, from the forge itself, every minute (novox/hq issues 347, 722): what says a
-			// head nobody checks, and the ready marks a merge is asked on.
-			if now.Sub(looked) >= time.Minute {
-				looked = now
-				h.SeeOpenPulls()
-			}
-			h.Tick()
-			h.Flush()
-		}
-	}()
+	go h.Work()
 	for _, pattern := range followed {
 		pattern := pattern
 		for wait := 2 * time.Second; ; wait = min(wait*2, time.Minute) {
@@ -100,13 +84,54 @@ func run(h *Holder, l *listening) {
 			time.Sleep(wait)
 		}
 	}
+	// The operator's answers: the router's `decided` event, in place of reading every pending ask each tick.
+	for wait := 2 * time.Second; ; wait = min(wait*2, time.Minute) {
+		err := operator.Listen(
+			func(_ asks.Option, w asks.Warrant) error { h.AskDecided(w.Ask, "answered", &w); h.Poke(); return nil },
+			func(handled asker.Handled, w asks.Warrant, err error) {
+				if err != nil {
+					logf("[mesh-delivery] the answer to the ask %s: %s: %v", w.Ask, handled, err)
+				}
+				if handled == asker.Refused || handled == asker.Recorded {
+					h.AskDecided(w.Ask, string(handled), &w)
+					h.Poke()
+				}
+			})
+		if err == nil {
+			break
+		}
+		l.set("not yet: " + err.Error())
+		logf("[mesh-delivery] not hearing the operator's answers yet (%v); asking again in %s", err, wait)
+		time.Sleep(wait)
+	}
 	l.set("listening")
 	logf("[mesh-delivery] listening: %s", strings.Join(followed, ", "))
+	// Read once, now that events arrive: what happened while this owner was away. The forge's open pull requests (ready
+	// marks, heads nobody checks) are read by the first look; the asks the router closed meanwhile are read here.
+	h.wantForge()
+	h.hearAsks()
+	h.Poke()
+	// retries: the controller's walks, until they have been read once; plan-moved events carry every move after
+	for wait := 2 * time.Second; ; wait = min(wait*2, time.Minute) {
+		err := h.Reconcile()
+		if err == nil {
+			break
+		}
+		logf("[mesh-delivery] the controller's walks cannot be read yet (%v); asking again in %s", err, wait)
+		time.Sleep(wait)
+	}
+	h.Poke()
 }
 
-// handle takes one event. An event that cannot be read is said and acknowledged: read again it would fail
-// again, and the controller's walks are read back by comparison anyway.
+// handle takes one event, then asks for a look at every step the event makes possible (Work, React). An event that cannot be read is
+// said and acknowledged: read again it would fail again, and the controller's walks are read back by comparison anyway.
 func handle(h *Holder, e stdio.Envelope) error {
+	taken := take(h, e)
+	h.Poke()
+	return taken
+}
+
+func take(h *Holder, e stdio.Envelope) error {
 	switch e.Key {
 	case "gitea.pull.updated", "gitea.pull.merged", "gitea.pull.closed":
 		var p PullEvent
@@ -116,12 +141,36 @@ func handle(h *Holder, e stdio.Envelope) error {
 		}
 		switch e.Key {
 		case "gitea.pull.updated":
-			h.PullUpdated(p)
+			if h.PullUpdated(p) {
+				h.wantForge() // a head not seen before: the forge shows whether anyone checks it
+			}
+			h.KeepPull(p)
 		case "gitea.pull.merged":
 			h.PullMerged(p)
 		default:
 			h.PullClosed(p)
 		}
+	case "gitea.forge.pull-request.labeled", "gitea.forge.pull-request.unlabeled", "gitea.forge.pull-request.commented":
+		var p ForgePullEvent
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(e.Body, &p); err != nil {
+			h.Refuse(fmt.Errorf("%s is not readable: %v", e.Key, err))
+			return nil
+		}
+		switch e.Key {
+		case "gitea.forge.pull-request.labeled":
+			h.PullLabeled(p)
+		case "gitea.forge.pull-request.unlabeled":
+			h.PullUnlabeled(p)
+		default:
+			h.PullCommented(p)
+		}
+	case "gitea.forge.status":
+		var s ForgeStatusEvent
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(e.Body, &s); err != nil {
+			h.Refuse(fmt.Errorf("a commit status is not readable: %v", err))
+			return nil
+		}
+		h.CommitStatus(s)
 	case ControllerSeat + ".checked":
 		var c CheckedEvent
 		if err := json.Unmarshal(e.Body, &c); err != nil {
@@ -129,6 +178,7 @@ func handle(h *Holder, e stdio.Envelope) error {
 			return nil
 		}
 		h.Checked(c)
+		h.KeepVerdict(c)
 	case ControllerSeat + ".plan-moved":
 		var w Walk
 		if err := json.Unmarshal(e.Body, &w); err != nil {
@@ -193,7 +243,7 @@ func need(a map[string]any, keys ...string) error {
 
 func tools(h *Holder, l *listening) []stdio.Tool {
 	seat := "mesh-delivery."
-	return []stdio.Tool{
+	list := []stdio.Tool{
 		{Name: seat + "deliveries",
 			Description: "Every delivery not final, those that ended in the last day, and any stop `stalled` still lists, one line each: its id " +
 				"(owner/repository@commit), its state, its group, what it waits for and since when. Narrowed by state, " +
@@ -369,4 +419,14 @@ func tools(h *Holder, l *listening) []stdio.Tool {
 				return h.MarkReady(strArg(a, "id"), strArg(a, "reviewed-by"), strArg(a, "why"))
 			}},
 	}
+	// A verb that changes a delivery asks for a look at what it makes possible (react.go).
+	for i := range list {
+		run := list[i].Run
+		list[i].Run = func(a map[string]any) (any, error) {
+			out, err := run(a)
+			h.Poke()
+			return out, err
+		}
+	}
+	return list
 }
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/manifest_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/manifest_test.go
index 1915e3b2..b724779a 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/manifest_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/manifest_test.go
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func TestItClaimsTheDeliverySeatAndFollowsWhatItHandles(t *testing.T) {
 	if !reflect.DeepEqual(m.Emits, []string{"transition", "group"}) {
 		t.Fatalf("emits %v", m.Emits)
 	}
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(m.State, []string{"deliveries", "groups", "asked"}) {
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(m.State, []string{"deliveries", "groups", "asked", "pulls"}) {
 		t.Fatalf("state %v", m.State)
 	}
 	// It calls exactly what its ports ask: the controller's six verbs and the forge's four tools.
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/markready_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/markready_test.go
index 703bdd78..f8e13b52 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/markready_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/markready_test.go
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func TestClearMarkWithAnEmptyHeadSaysWhatWasWrongOnceItStayedEmpty(t *testing.T)
 	if len(w.forge.comments) != 0 || len(w.forge.unlabels) != 0 {
 		t.Fatalf("an empty-head mark seen once was cleared: %v", w.forge.comments)
 	}
-	w.later(readyTryEvery + time.Second)
+	w.later(markGrace + time.Second)
 	w.h.SeeOpenPulls()
 	w.settleAll()
 	if len(w.forge.comments) != 1 || !strings.Contains(w.forge.comments[0], "no \"ready at\" comment by a listed account") ||
@@ -117,12 +117,12 @@ func TestAMarkReadyJustMadeIsNotClearedByAReadThatPredatesItsComment(t *testing.
 	if _, err := w.h.MarkReady(id, "a@b", "ok"); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	w.later(readyTryEvery + time.Second) // the label alone was read long enough ago to count as stale...
+	w.later(markGrace + time.Second) // the label alone was read long enough ago to count as stale...
 	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, fullHead, "")}
 	w.h.SeeOpenPulls()
 	w.h.mu.Lock()
 	w.h.deliveries[id].Ready.Seen = w.now // ...but the mark was made just now
-	w.h.marks["novox/app#7"].firstEmpty = w.now.Add(-2 * readyTryEvery)
+	w.h.marks["novox/app#7"].firstEmpty = w.now.Add(-2 * markGrace)
 	w.h.mu.Unlock()
 	before := len(w.forge.comments)
 	w.settleAll()
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ports.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ports.go
index 06fa071c..b884cf0b 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ports.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ports.go
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ type Member struct {
 	ModuleDirsSaid bool     `json:"module_dirs_said,omitempty"`
 	CloneURL       string   `json:"clone_url,omitempty"`
 	After          []string `json:"after,omitempty"`
+	// Ready is whether the pull request carries a ready mark: its check is published on the ready stream (ADR 0406 §3).
+	Ready bool `json:"ready,omitempty"`
 	// BaseSHA is the base branch's head the forge last announced the head with (novox/hq ADR 0323): the trunk commit
 	// the controller's verdict names when no build judges the head.
 	BaseSHA string `json:"base_sha,omitempty"`
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ type Member struct {
 
 // MemberOf is a delivery as a member.
 func MemberOf(d *Delivery) Member {
-	return Member{ID: d.ID, Repository: d.Repository, Base: d.Base, Head: d.Commit, Number: d.Number, Paths: d.Paths,
+	return Member{Ready: d.Ready != nil && d.Ready.Merged == nil, ID: d.ID, Repository: d.Repository, Base: d.Base, Head: d.Commit, Number: d.Number, Paths: d.Paths,
 		PathsTruncated: d.PathsTruncated, Removed: d.Removed, ModuleDirs: d.ModuleDirs, ModuleDirsSaid: d.ModuleDirsSaid,
 		CloneURL: d.CloneURL, After: d.After, BaseSHA: d.BaseSHA}
 }
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/pullkey.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/pullkey.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9086de56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/pullkey.go
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+
+	stdio "git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go"
+)
+
+// The pull request's key (novox/hq ADR 0406 §4, issue 975): mesh-delivery keeps one key per pull request on the bus,
+// holding its head, the trunk commit its current check is asked against and its verdict, written by compare-and-set.
+// It writes a new head when the forge says one (`pull.updated`, which carries the head and the trunk commit it was
+// announced against), and a new trunk commit only when the check is asked again against one — the merge tool's ask is
+// that same announcement. A merge in a group's order, and a trunk move that leaves an inactive pull request unasked,
+// are announced as nothing (the gitea module announces `pull.updated` only for a head and for the merge tool's ask), so
+// they write nothing. A verdict for that head and trunk commit writes the verdict. The build seat reads the key.
+
+// PullKey is what the bus keeps of one pull request.
+type PullKey struct {
+	Head    string `json:"head"`
+	Trunk   string `json:"trunk,omitempty"`
+	Verdict string `json:"verdict,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// PullKeys keeps the pull requests' keys: Change reads the key, applies the change to what it read and writes the result
+// by compare-and-set when the change says to write; a write another writer won reads the key again and applies again.
+type PullKeys interface {
+	Change(key string, apply func(PullKey) (PullKey, bool)) error
+}
+
+// pullKeyName is a pull request's key: owner.repo.number, with any dot in a name made an underscore.
+func pullKeyName(owner, repo string, number int) string {
+	clean := func(s string) string { return strings.NewReplacer(".", "_", "/", "_").Replace(s) }
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s.%d", clean(owner), clean(repo), number)
+}
+
+// KeepPull writes the key of a pull request whose head was announced, when the head or the trunk commit it was
+// announced against is not what the key holds; a new head or trunk clears the verdict.
+func (h *Holder) KeepPull(p PullEvent) {
+	if h.Pulls == nil || p.Number == 0 || p.HeadSHA == "" {
+		return
+	}
+	err := h.Pulls.Change(pullKeyName(p.Owner, p.Repo, p.Number), func(k PullKey) (PullKey, bool) {
+		if sameCommit(k.Head, p.HeadSHA) && k.Head != "" && (p.BaseSHA == "" || sameCommit(k.Trunk, p.BaseSHA)) {
+			return k, false
+		}
+		return PullKey{Head: p.HeadSHA, Trunk: p.BaseSHA}, true
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the key of %s/%s#%d could not be written: %v", p.Owner, p.Repo, p.Number, err)
+		h.again("a pull request's key that could not be written")
+	}
+}
+
+// KeepVerdict writes a verdict into the key of its pull request, when the key holds that head and trunk commit.
+func (h *Holder) KeepVerdict(c CheckedEvent) {
+	if h.Pulls == nil || c.Group != "" || c.Number == 0 || c.Commit == "" || c.Trunk == "" {
+		return
+	}
+	verdict := c.Verdict
+	if verdict == "" {
+		return
+	}
+	err := h.Pulls.Change(pullKeyName(c.Owner, c.Repo, c.Number), func(k PullKey) (PullKey, bool) {
+		if !sameCommit(k.Head, c.Commit) || !sameCommit(k.Trunk, c.Trunk) || k.Verdict == verdict {
+			return k, false
+		}
+		k.Verdict = verdict
+		return k, true
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the verdict in the key of %s/%s#%d could not be written: %v", c.Owner, c.Repo, c.Number, err)
+		h.again("a pull request's key that could not be written")
+	}
+}
+
+// kvPulls keeps the keys in the module's own state `pulls`.
+type kvPulls struct{}
+
+// changeAttempts is how often a lost compare-and-set is read and applied again before it is said.
+const changeAttempts = 10
+
+func (kvPulls) Change(key string, apply func(PullKey) (PullKey, bool)) error {
+	state := stdio.State("pulls")
+	for range changeAttempts {
+		e, err := state.Get(key)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		var k PullKey
+		if e != nil {
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(e.Value, &k); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+		next, write := apply(k)
+		if !write {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if e == nil {
+			_, err = state.Create(key, next)
+		} else {
+			_, err = state.Update(key, next, e.Revision)
+		}
+		if err == nil {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if !errors.Is(err, stdio.ErrChanged) {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return fmt.Errorf("%s was written by another writer first %d times: %w", key, changeAttempts, stdio.ErrChanged)
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/pullkey_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/pullkey_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..37e951df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/pullkey_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// **The pull request's key** (novox/hq ADR 0406 §4, issue 975): one key per pull request on the bus, holding its head,
+// the trunk commit its current check is asked against and its verdict, written by compare-and-set. A head the forge
+// announces writes head and trunk; a verdict for that head and trunk writes the verdict; nothing else writes.
+
+type fakePulls struct {
+	mu     sync.Mutex
+	keys   map[string]PullKey
+	writes int
+	// lose makes the first n writes lose to another writer, which sets rival.
+	lose  int
+	rival PullKey
+}
+
+func newFakePulls() *fakePulls { return &fakePulls{keys: map[string]PullKey{}} }
+
+func (f *fakePulls) Change(key string, apply func(PullKey) (PullKey, bool)) error {
+	f.mu.Lock()
+	defer f.mu.Unlock()
+	for tries := 0; tries < 5; tries++ {
+		next, write := apply(f.keys[key])
+		if !write {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if f.lose > 0 { // another writer was first: read again and apply again
+			f.lose--
+			f.keys[key] = f.rival
+			continue
+		}
+		f.keys[key] = next
+		f.writes++
+		return nil
+	}
+	return errors.New("lost the race too often")
+}
+
+func (f *fakePulls) get(key string) PullKey {
+	f.mu.Lock()
+	defer f.mu.Unlock()
+	return f.keys[key]
+}
+
+const appKey = "novox.app.7"
+
+func announcedAt(head, trunk string) PullEvent {
+	p := pr("novox/app", 7, head, "feat/x", "src/a.go")
+	p.BaseSHA = trunk
+	return p
+}
+
+func TestAnAnnouncedHeadWritesTheKeyAndTheSameAnnouncementAgainWritesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	pulls := newFakePulls()
+	w.h.Pulls = pulls
+	p := announcedAt(readyHead, "t1t1t1t1t1t1")
+	w.h.PullUpdated(p)
+	w.h.KeepPull(p)
+	if got := pulls.get(appKey); got.Head != readyHead || got.Trunk != "t1t1t1t1t1t1" || got.Verdict != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the key holds %+v", got)
+	}
+	w.h.KeepPull(p)
+	if pulls.writes != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the same announcement wrote %d times", pulls.writes)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAVerdictForTheKeysHeadAndTrunkIsWrittenAndOneForAnotherIsNot(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	pulls := newFakePulls()
+	w.h.Pulls = pulls
+	w.h.KeepPull(announcedAt(readyHead, "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	old := judgedAt("novox/app", 7, pushed, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1")
+	w.h.KeepVerdict(old)
+	if pulls.get(appKey).Verdict != "" {
+		t.Fatal("a verdict for another head was written")
+	}
+	other := judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t9t9t9t9t9t9")
+	w.h.KeepVerdict(other)
+	if pulls.get(appKey).Verdict != "" {
+		t.Fatal("a verdict for another trunk commit was written")
+	}
+	w.h.KeepVerdict(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	if got := pulls.get(appKey); got.Verdict != "pass" {
+		t.Fatalf("the key holds %+v", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestANewTrunkCommitClearsTheVerdictAndANewHeadReplacesTheKey(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	pulls := newFakePulls()
+	w.h.Pulls = pulls
+	w.h.KeepPull(announcedAt(readyHead, "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	w.h.KeepVerdict(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	w.h.KeepPull(announcedAt(readyHead, "t2t2t2t2t2t2"))
+	if got := pulls.get(appKey); got.Trunk != "t2t2t2t2t2t2" || got.Verdict != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the check asked again against a new trunk left %+v", got)
+	}
+	w.h.KeepPull(announcedAt(pushed, "t2t2t2t2t2t2"))
+	if got := pulls.get(appKey); got.Head != pushed {
+		t.Fatalf("a new head left %+v", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestALostRaceReadsTheKeyAgainAndAppliesTheChangeToWhatItFound(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	pulls := newFakePulls()
+	pulls.lose, pulls.rival = 1, PullKey{Head: readyHead, Trunk: "t1t1t1t1t1t1", Verdict: "pass"}
+	w.h.Pulls = pulls
+	// The rival writer already holds this very head and trunk with a verdict: the change finds nothing to write.
+	w.h.KeepPull(announcedAt(readyHead, "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	if got := pulls.get(appKey); got.Verdict != "pass" || pulls.writes != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("after the lost race the key holds %+v after %d writes", got, pulls.writes)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAPullRequestMarkedReadyHasItsCheckAskedOnTheReadyStream(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, readyHead)}
+	w.h.wantForge()
+	w.settleAll()
+	if len(w.ctl.checkReady) == 0 || !w.ctl.checkReady[0] {
+		t.Fatalf("the check of a marked pull request was asked with ready %v", w.ctl.checkReady)
+	}
+	// An unmarked one is asked as before.
+	w2 := newWorld(t)
+	w2.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 8, pushed, "feat/y", "src/a.go"))
+	w2.later(checkGrace + 1)
+	w2.settleAll()
+	if len(w2.ctl.checkReady) == 0 || w2.ctl.checkReady[0] {
+		t.Fatalf("the check of an unmarked pull request was asked with ready %v", w2.ctl.checkReady)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestATrunkLessVerdictWritesNothingToTheKey(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	pulls := newFakePulls()
+	w.h.Pulls = pulls
+	w.h.KeepPull(announcedAt(readyHead, "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	w.h.KeepVerdict(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", ""))
+	if got := pulls.get(appKey); got.Verdict != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a verdict naming no trunk commit was written: %+v", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// The forge's catch-up after a restart can announce a merge again past the bus's de-duplication window (issue 975):
+// heard again, it changes nothing, and moves no trunk back.
+func TestTheSameMergeHeardAgainAfterALaterMergeMovesNoTrunkBack(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	a, b := "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa", "bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 8, a, "feat/y", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 9, b, "feat/z", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.Checked(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "m8m8m8m8m8m8"))
+	w.h.PullMerged(merged("novox/app", 8, a, "m8m8m8m8m8m8"))
+	w.h.PullMerged(merged("novox/app", 9, b, "m9m9m9m9m9m9"))
+	id := IDOf("novox/app", readyHead)
+	before := w.delivery(id)
+	w.h.PullMerged(merged("novox/app", 8, a, "m8m8m8m8m8m8")) // announced again, past the window
+	after := w.delivery(id)
+	if after.TrunkNow != before.TrunkNow || after.TrunkNow != "m9m9m9m9m9m9" {
+		t.Fatalf("the trunk moved from %q to %q on a merge heard again; wanted it to stay m9m9m9m9m9m9", before.TrunkNow, after.TrunkNow)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/react.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/react.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..79da6816
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/react.go
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// How this owner keeps time (novox/hq ADR 0406 §1, issue 975). It has no tick, no forge poll and no reconcile loop:
+// a look (React) is taken after each event that can change what a step needs, and a step that waits on the clock — a
+// grace, a bound, a retry after a failure — says when it must be looked at again (lookAt). The one timer below is
+// armed for the earliest of those and fires one more look; it is never a tick, since a look that finds nothing
+// waiting arms nothing.
+
+// askAgainAfter is how long after a failed ask of the controller, the forge or the operator it is asked again: the
+// failure is the reason, and it is said in the log when it happens.
+const askAgainAfter = 30 * time.Second
+
+// lookWanted is the earliest time a look must be taken again, and the bounded step that wants it.
+type lookWanted struct {
+	mu      sync.Mutex
+	at      time.Time
+	step    string
+	working bool
+	timer   *time.Timer
+}
+
+// lookAt says a bounded step, waiting on the clock, must be looked at again at a time. Safe to call with or without
+// the holder's lock.
+func (h *Holder) lookAt(at time.Time, step string) {
+	h.wanted.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.wanted.mu.Unlock()
+	if h.wanted.at.IsZero() || at.Before(h.wanted.at) {
+		h.wanted.at, h.wanted.step = at, step
+	}
+}
+
+// again says an ask that failed is asked again after askAgainAfter: a bounded step retried by the look's timer.
+func (h *Holder) again(step string) { h.lookAt(h.Now().Add(askAgainAfter), step) }
+
+// Poke asks for a look; any number of pokes before it starts are one look.
+func (h *Holder) Poke() {
+	select {
+	case h.poke <- struct{}{}:
+	default:
+	}
+}
+
+// Work takes a look each time it is poked, for ever: the one goroutine that acts on events.
+func (h *Holder) Work() {
+	h.wanted.mu.Lock()
+	h.wanted.working = true
+	h.wanted.mu.Unlock()
+	for range h.poke {
+		h.React()
+	}
+}
+
+// React takes every step the facts allow, after an event that can change what they are: the forge's open pull requests
+// read when a ready mark may have been made, the steps that need another's word (look), what is owed (Flush), and then
+// the time the next look is wanted at, if any step waits on the clock. Never concurrent with itself.
+func (h *Holder) React() {
+	h.reactMu.Lock()
+	defer h.reactMu.Unlock()
+	h.wanted.mu.Lock()
+	h.wanted.at, h.wanted.step = time.Time{}, ""
+	h.wanted.mu.Unlock()
+	if h.uncheckedDue() {
+		h.wantForge()
+	}
+	if h.takeForgeWanted() {
+		if err := h.SeeOpenPulls(); err != nil {
+			h.wantForge()
+			h.again("the forge's open pull requests, read when a ready mark or a check may have changed")
+		}
+	}
+	h.look()
+	if h.takeReread() {
+		// The one read of the controller's walks besides the one at the start: a merge no walk opened for, at its bound.
+		if err := h.Reconcile(); err != nil {
+			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the controller's walks cannot be read: %v", err)
+			h.mu.Lock()
+			h.rereadWalks = true
+			h.mu.Unlock()
+			h.again("the controller's walks, read once at the bound of a merge no walk opened for")
+		} else {
+			h.look()
+		}
+	}
+	h.Flush()
+	h.arm()
+}
+
+// arm sets the timer for the earliest time a step wants a look at, or stops it when none does.
+func (h *Holder) arm() {
+	h.wanted.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.wanted.mu.Unlock()
+	if !h.wanted.working {
+		return
+	}
+	if h.wanted.timer != nil {
+		h.wanted.timer.Stop()
+		h.wanted.timer = nil
+	}
+	if h.wanted.at.IsZero() {
+		return
+	}
+	wait := max(h.wanted.at.Sub(h.Now()), 100*time.Millisecond)
+	// retries: the time-bound step the last look left waiting (a grace, a bound or an ask that failed), at its time
+	h.wanted.timer = time.AfterFunc(wait, h.Poke)
+}
+
+// takeReread answers whether the controller's walks are to be read once more, and takes the want.
+func (h *Holder) takeReread() bool {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	reread := h.rereadWalks
+	h.rereadWalks = false
+	return reread
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ready.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ready.go
index 9ac5f36f..32c23bd0 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ready.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/ready.go
@@ -43,9 +43,14 @@ type ReadyMark struct {
 // ReadyLabel is the label that marks a pull request ready.
 const ReadyLabel = "mesh/ready"
 
-// readyTryEvery is how often a marked head's merge is asked while the merge tool refuses it: a check it asked takes
-// minutes, and a refusal costs the forge a few reads.
-const readyTryEvery = time.Minute
+// mergeRetryAfter is how long after the merge tool refused a marked head's merge it is asked again, when nothing
+// happened meanwhile that decides whether it may merge (a verdict, an Approve, a group's turn are events, and ask it at
+// once): a check it asked takes minutes, and a refusal costs the forge a few reads. A retry of a bounded step (askMerge).
+const mergeRetryAfter = time.Minute
+
+// markGrace is how long a mark not complete (the label, no "ready at" comment yet), and one this owner has just
+// cleared, are left before they are judged again: the comment follows the label, and a clearing takes a moment.
+const markGrace = time.Minute
 
 // readyRefusedFor is how long the merge tool may refuse a marked head before it is said as stalled: longer than a
 // check takes (the controller's checkTimeout is 45 minutes), so a check on its way is never said.
@@ -65,6 +70,8 @@ type ReadyRun struct {
 	Tries   int       `json:"tries,omitempty"`
 	LastTry time.Time `json:"last_try"`
 	Answer  string    `json:"answer,omitempty"`
+	// merging is whether a merge ask is on its way, outside the lock: not asked twice meanwhile. Not kept.
+	merging bool
 	// RefusedSince is when the merge tool began refusing it without a break.
 	RefusedSince *time.Time `json:"refused_since,omitempty"`
 	// Merged is when the merge tool merged it.
@@ -112,10 +119,10 @@ func (r *ReadyRun) mergedBy() string {
 // marked is a pull request read with a ready mark.
 type marked struct {
 	pull OpenPull
-	// cleared is when the mark was cleared, the label taken off: not cleared again within readyTryEvery.
+	// cleared is when the mark was cleared, the label taken off: not cleared again within markGrace.
 	cleared time.Time
 	// firstEmpty is when a mark with no head (a label no "ready at" comment follows yet) was first read so: it is a
-	// mark not yet complete, and is cleared only once it has stayed so for readyTryEvery (novox/hq issue 873).
+	// mark not yet complete, and is cleared only once it has stayed so for markGrace (novox/hq issue 873).
 	firstEmpty time.Time
 }
 
@@ -166,14 +173,17 @@ func (h *Holder) readyAsks(now time.Time) []func() {
 		p, mark := m.pull, *m.pull.Ready
 		repository := strings.ToLower(p.Owner + "/" + p.Repo)
 		if !sameFull(mark.Head, p.HeadSHA) {
-			if mark.Head == "" && now.Sub(m.firstEmpty) < readyTryEvery {
+			if mark.Head == "" && now.Sub(m.firstEmpty) < markGrace {
+				h.lookAt(m.firstEmpty.Add(markGrace), "a ready label whose comment naming the head has not followed yet")
 				continue // the label first, its comment not yet: a mark not complete, not an old one
 			}
 			if d := h.deliveries[IDOf(repository, p.HeadSHA)]; d != nil && d.Ready != nil &&
-				sameFull(d.Ready.Head, p.HeadSHA) && now.Sub(d.Ready.Seen) < readyTryEvery {
+				sameFull(d.Ready.Head, p.HeadSHA) && now.Sub(d.Ready.Seen) < markGrace {
+				h.lookAt(d.Ready.Seen.Add(markGrace), "a mark made through mark-ready, its comment possibly not yet read")
 				continue // marked through mark-ready a moment ago: this read may predate its comment
 			}
-			if !m.cleared.IsZero() && now.Sub(m.cleared) < readyTryEvery {
+			if !m.cleared.IsZero() && now.Sub(m.cleared) < markGrace {
+				h.lookAt(m.cleared.Add(markGrace), "a stale ready mark whose clearing may not have taken")
 				continue
 			}
 			m.cleared = now
@@ -189,6 +199,7 @@ func (h *Holder) readyAsks(now time.Time) []func() {
 		}
 		if d.Ready == nil || d.Ready.Head != mark.Head || (d.Ready.Declined != nil && mark.At != d.Ready.MarkedAt) {
 			d.Ready = &ReadyRun{Head: mark.Head, By: mark.By, MarkedAt: mark.At, Seen: now}
+			h.Poke() // its check, if none is asked, is worth asking now (askCheck)
 			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s is marked ready at %s by %s: merged once its check passes against its trunk's head",
 				d.ID, shortOf(mark.Head, 12), orNone(mark.By))
 			h.keep(d)
@@ -199,10 +210,11 @@ func (h *Holder) readyAsks(now time.Time) []func() {
 		}
 		if r.Declined != nil {
 			// The operator declined: nothing is merged, and the mark is taken off (said once when it was declined).
-			if m.cleared.IsZero() || now.Sub(m.cleared) >= readyTryEvery {
+			if m.cleared.IsZero() || now.Sub(m.cleared) >= markGrace {
 				m.cleared = now
 				asks = append(asks, h.unmark(k, p, mark))
 			}
+			h.lookAt(m.cleared.Add(markGrace), "a declined ready mark whose clearing may not have taken")
 			continue
 		}
 		if d.State == Rejected {
@@ -255,11 +267,15 @@ func (h *Holder) readyAsks(now time.Time) []func() {
 		if approvalAsk != nil {
 			asks = append(asks, approvalAsk)
 		}
-		if waits != "" || (!r.LastTry.IsZero() && now.Sub(r.LastTry) < readyTryEvery) {
+		if waits != "" || r.merging {
+			continue
+		}
+		if !r.LastTry.IsZero() && now.Sub(r.LastTry) < mergeRetryAfter {
+			h.lookAt(r.LastTry.Add(mergeRetryAfter), "a merge the forge refused")
 			continue
 		}
 		r.Tries++
-		r.LastTry = now
+		r.LastTry, r.merging = now, true
 		h.keep(d)
 		asks = append(asks, h.askMerge(d.ID, p, mark.Head))
 	}
@@ -268,6 +284,14 @@ func (h *Holder) readyAsks(now time.Time) []func() {
 	return asks
 }
 
+// mergeAgainNow lets a marked delivery's merge be asked at once: something that decides whether it may merge happened (a
+// verdict, an Approve, a group's turn), so the wait after a refusal does not hold it. Under the lock.
+func (h *Holder) mergeAgainNow(d *Delivery) {
+	if d != nil && d.Ready != nil && d.Ready.Merged == nil {
+		d.Ready.LastTry = time.Time{}
+	}
+}
+
 // readyWaits is what a marked delivery's merge waits on; empty when it is asked now. A ready delivery is asked; so is
 // a proposed one whose verdict went out of date and whose check nobody asked again — the merge tool asks it.
 func (h *Holder) readyWaits(d *Delivery) string {
@@ -325,6 +349,7 @@ func (h *Holder) askMerge(id string, p OpenPull, head string) func() {
 			return
 		}
 		r, now := d.Ready, h.Now()
+		r.merging = false
 		if err == nil {
 			r.Merged, r.Answer, r.RefusedSince = &now, "merged", nil
 			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s merged on its ready mark at %s, its check passed against its trunk's head", id,
@@ -338,8 +363,9 @@ func (h *Holder) askMerge(id string, p OpenPull, head string) func() {
 		}
 		if answer != r.Answer {
 			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s is marked ready, and the merge tool did not merge it (asked again in %s): %s", id,
-				readyTryEvery, answer)
+				mergeRetryAfter, answer)
 		}
+		h.lookAt(now.Add(mergeRetryAfter), "a merge the forge refused")
 		r.Answer = answer
 		h.keep(d)
 	}
@@ -355,6 +381,7 @@ func (h *Holder) clearMark(k string, p OpenPull, mark ReadyMark) func() {
 		if mark.Head == "" {
 			if err != nil {
 				h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s's ready label has no \"ready at <head>\" comment of a listed account after it, and could not be taken off yet: %v", k, err)
+				h.again("a ready label that could not be taken off")
 				return
 			}
 			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s's ready label taken off: no \"ready at <head>\" comment of a listed account was written after it; mark-ready writes both in order", k)
@@ -362,6 +389,7 @@ func (h *Holder) clearMark(k string, p OpenPull, mark ReadyMark) func() {
 			if err != nil {
 				h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s's ready mark at %s names an older head than %s, and could not be cleared yet: %v",
 					k, shortOf(mark.Head, 12), shortOf(p.HeadSHA, 12), err)
+				h.again("a stale ready mark that could not be cleared")
 				return
 			}
 			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s's ready mark at %s cleared: its head is now %s", k, shortOf(mark.Head, 12),
@@ -378,6 +406,7 @@ func (h *Holder) unmark(k string, p OpenPull, mark ReadyMark) func() {
 	return func() {
 		if err := h.Forge.Unlabel(p.Owner, p.Repo, p.Number, mark.LabelID); err != nil {
 			h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] %s's ready mark could not be taken off after the operator's Decline yet: %v", k, err)
+			h.again("a declined ready mark that could not be taken off")
 			return
 		}
 		h.mu.Lock()
@@ -431,7 +460,7 @@ func (h *Holder) readyLines(now time.Time) []StalledLine {
 		case r.RefusedSince != nil && now.Sub(*r.RefusedSince) >= readyRefusedFor:
 			out = append(out, StalledLine{ID: d.ID, Number: d.Number, State: d.State,
 				For: now.Sub(*r.RefusedSince).Round(time.Second).String(), Bound: readyRefusedFor.String(),
-				H2: "none: the merge is asked again each minute — the operator's",
+				H2: "none: the merge is asked again after each verdict, Approve or turn, and each minute — the operator's",
 				Says: fmt.Sprintf("%s#%d is marked ready at %s, and the merge tool has refused it since %s: %s", d.Repository,
 					d.Number, shortOf(r.Head, 12), r.RefusedSince.UTC().Format(time.RFC3339), r.Answer)})
 		}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/table.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/table.go
index 9f9a6749..70fd3972 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/table.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/table.go
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ var Table = []Row{
 			case d.Check != nil:
 				return errors.New("its verdict is known")
 			case d.CheckAsk == nil:
-				return errors.New("its check was never asked: the tick asks it, not H2")
+				return errors.New("its check was never asked: a look asks it, not H2")
 			case d.CheckAsk.Reasked > 0:
 				return errors.New("its check was re-asked once already: the operator's")
 			}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/timers_source_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/timers_source_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..731c4863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/timers_source_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// **A timer in this module names the bounded step it retries** (novox/hq ADR 0406 "How it is checked", issue 975): the
+// module acts on events, so a clock that fires on its own — a ticker, time.Tick — is a poll, and a one-shot timer
+// (time.AfterFunc, time.NewTimer) is allowed only for a bounded step, said in a comment on the line above:
+// `// retries: <step>`. This reads the module's Go source, not its tests.
+
+var (
+	pollingClock = regexp.MustCompile(`\btime\.(NewTicker|Tick)\(`)
+	oneShot      = regexp.MustCompile(`\btime\.(AfterFunc|NewTimer)\(`)
+	retriesLine  = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*//\s*retries:\s*\S`)
+)
+
+// timerFaults are the lines of a source file that make a clock of their own without naming the step it retries.
+func timerFaults(name, src string) []string {
+	var faults []string
+	lines := strings.Split(src, "\n")
+	for i, line := range lines {
+		code, _, _ := strings.Cut(line, "//")
+		switch {
+		case pollingClock.MatchString(code):
+			faults = append(faults, name+":"+strconv.Itoa(i+1)+": a ticker polls; act on an event, or name a bounded step's one-shot timer: "+strings.TrimSpace(line))
+		case oneShot.MatchString(code) && (i == 0 || !retriesLine.MatchString(lines[i-1])):
+			faults = append(faults, name+":"+strconv.Itoa(i+1)+": a timer with no `// retries: <step>` comment on the line above: "+strings.TrimSpace(line))
+		}
+	}
+	return faults
+}
+
+func TestNoTimerInTheModuleFiresWithoutNamingTheBoundedStepItRetries(t *testing.T) {
+	files, err := filepath.Glob("*.go")
+	if err != nil || len(files) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("no source read: %v", err)
+	}
+	timers := 0
+	for _, f := range files {
+		if strings.HasSuffix(f, "_test.go") {
+			continue
+		}
+		raw, err := os.ReadFile(f)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		for _, fault := range timerFaults(f, string(raw)) {
+			t.Error(fault)
+		}
+		timers += len(oneShot.FindAllString(string(raw), -1))
+	}
+	if timers == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("the test found no timer at all: it is not reading the source it should")
+	}
+}
+
+// The checker itself: the tick this module had before it acted on events, and a timer that names nothing, fail; a
+// named one passes.
+func TestTheTimerCheckFailsOnATickerAndOnAnUnnamedTimer(t *testing.T) {
+	was := "\tgo func() {\n\t\ttick := time.NewTicker(10 * time.Second)\n\t\tdefer tick.Stop()\n\t}()\n"
+	if got := timerFaults("main.go", was); len(got) != 1 || !strings.Contains(got[0], "main.go:2") {
+		t.Fatalf("the old tick was not found: %v", got)
+	}
+	if got := timerFaults("x.go", "for range time.Tick(time.Second) {}\n"); len(got) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("time.Tick was not found: %v", got)
+	}
+	if got := timerFaults("x.go", "\ttime.AfterFunc(d, f)\n"); len(got) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("an unnamed timer was not found: %v", got)
+	}
+	if got := timerFaults("x.go", "\t// retries:\n\tt := time.NewTimer(d)\n"); len(got) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a comment that names no step passed: %v", got)
+	}
+	if got := timerFaults("x.go", "\t// retries: the refused merge, after a minute\n\ttime.AfterFunc(d, f)\n"); len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a named timer failed: %v", got)
+	}
+	if got := timerFaults("x.go", "\t// time.NewTicker was here\n"); len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a comment about a ticker failed: %v", got)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/timers_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/timers_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4d5d3e5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/timers_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// **A step that waits on the clock says when it is looked at again** (novox/hq ADR 0406 §1, issue 975): there is no
+// tick to find it, so each grace, bound and retry is registered (lookAt) when a look meets it, and the one timer fires
+// a look for the earliest. A look that meets nothing waiting registers nothing.
+
+func (w *world) wantedAt() (time.Time, string) {
+	w.h.wanted.mu.Lock()
+	defer w.h.wanted.mu.Unlock()
+	return w.h.wanted.at, w.h.wanted.step
+}
+
+func TestALookThatMeetsNothingWaitingOnTheClockWantsNoOtherLook(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.Checked(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	w.h.React()
+	if at, step := w.wantedAt(); !at.IsZero() {
+		t.Fatalf("a look with nothing waiting on the clock wants another at %s for %q", at, step)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAProposedDeliveryWithNoVerdictHasItsCheckAskedWhenItsGraceEndsWithNoTick(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.ctl.down = false
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	id := IDOf("novox/app", readyHead)
+	w.h.React()
+	since := w.delivery(id).Since
+	if at, step := w.wantedAt(); !at.Equal(since.Add(checkGrace)) || !strings.Contains(step, "check") {
+		t.Fatalf("the look wanted at %s for %q; wanted when the grace ends, %s", at, step, since.Add(checkGrace))
+	}
+	if w.delivery(id).CheckAsk != nil {
+		t.Fatal("the check was asked before the grace ended")
+	}
+	w.later(checkGrace + time.Second)
+	w.h.React()
+	if w.delivery(id).CheckAsk == nil {
+		t.Fatal("the look the grace's end wants did not ask the check")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAMergeTheForgeRefusedIsAskedAgainAfterAMinuteByTheTimerAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.Checked(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	w.forge.refuse = errors.New("the forge refused gitea_merge_pull_request: not mergeable yet")
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, readyHead)}
+	w.h.wantForge()
+	w.settleAll()
+	if len(w.forge.merges) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("merges %v", w.forge.merges)
+	}
+	at, step := w.wantedAt()
+	if want := w.now.Add(mergeRetryAfter); !at.Equal(want) || !strings.Contains(step, "merge") {
+		t.Fatalf("the look wanted at %s for %q; wanted %s for the refused merge", at, step, want)
+	}
+	w.forge.refuse = nil
+	w.later(mergeRetryAfter + time.Second)
+	w.settleAll()
+	if len(w.forge.merges) != 2 || w.delivery(IDOf("novox/app", readyHead)).Ready.Merged == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the refused merge was not asked again at the timer: %v", w.forge.merges)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAMergeNoWalkOpenedForReadsTheControllersWalksOnceAtItsBound(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorldOver(t, newMemStore(), newFakeController(), newFakeForge(), atCC)
+	cc := pr(cat, 101, headCC, "feat/claude-code", "modules/claude-code/module.json")
+	w.h.PullUpdated(cc)
+	w.h.Checked(verdictMoving(cat, 101, headCC, "claude-code"))
+	w.h.PullMerged(mergedAt(cc, mergeCC, atCC))
+	w.h.WalkMoved(w.ctl.put(catWalk("plan-5", "eeeeeeeeeeee5555", atCC.Add(time.Minute), "dunst")))
+	w.h.React()
+	if at, step := w.wantedAt(); at.IsZero() || at.After(atCC.Add(unwalked)) {
+		t.Fatalf("the look wanted at %s for %q; wanted by the bound, %s", at, step, atCC.Add(unwalked))
+	}
+	reads := w.ctl.walkReads
+	w.later(unwalked + time.Second)
+	w.settleAll()
+	w.settleAll()
+	id := IDOf(cat, headCC)
+	if d := w.delivery(id); d.State != Held || !strings.Contains(d.HeldWhy, "plan-5") {
+		t.Fatalf("it is %s: %q", d.State, d.HeldWhy)
+	}
+	if got := w.ctl.walkReads - reads; got != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the controller's walks were read %d times at the bound; wanted once", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnEffectTheForgeCouldNotTakeIsTriedAgainAtItsTimeByTheTimerAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.forge.down = true
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.React()
+	at, step := w.wantedAt()
+	if at.IsZero() || !strings.Contains(step, "owed") || at.After(w.now.Add(retryFirst)) {
+		t.Fatalf("the look wanted at %s for %q; wanted within %s for the owed effect", at, step, retryFirst)
+	}
+	w.forge.down = false
+	w.later(retryFirst + time.Second)
+	w.h.React()
+	if len(w.forge.notes) == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("the owed effect was not tried again at its time")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnAskTheControllerCouldNotAnswerIsAskedAgainAfterAWhileByTheTimerAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.h.PullUpdated(pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	w.h.Checked(judgedAt("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "pass", "t1t1t1t1t1t1"))
+	w.settleAll()
+	w.ctl.down = true
+	w.h.mu.Lock()
+	d := w.h.deliveries[IDOf("novox/app", readyHead)]
+	d.Plan = nil
+	w.h.mu.Unlock()
+	w.h.React()
+	at, step := w.wantedAt()
+	if want := w.now.Add(askAgainAfter); !at.Equal(want) || !strings.Contains(step, "plan") {
+		t.Fatalf("the look wanted at %s for %q; wanted %s for the plan that could not be asked", at, step, want)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/unchecked.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/unchecked.go
index 14cc5d20..7c4fcb98 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/unchecked.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/unchecked.go
@@ -11,7 +11,9 @@ import (
 //
 // The forge's announcer is the only way the mesh hears of a pull request's head, and on 2026-10-09 it missed one: a
 // pull request opened after its push moved nothing the announcer read, and waited unchecked, unable to merge, with
-// nothing saying so. This owner asks the forge itself for every open pull request every few minutes, and one whose
+// nothing saying so. This owner asks the forge itself for every open pull request when it starts and when an event says
+// what the forge shows may have changed — a merge check's status, a new head, a ready mark (events.go), not a poll
+// (novox/hq ADR 0406 §1, issue 975) — and once more at a head's bound, and one whose
 // base requires the merge check — mesh/merge-gate or mesh/repo-check — with neither on its head for UncheckedAfter
 // since this owner first saw it so is said as a delivery held: a `stalled` line in the state Unannounced, which the
 // controller raises as `delivery.<id>.stalled` (D14) like any other delivery past its bound. The delivery domain's own
@@ -93,6 +95,8 @@ type unchecked struct {
 	// asked again from one still waiting on the same ask.
 	pending map[string]string
 	first   time.Time
+	// read is when the forge was read that showed it so.
+	read time.Time
 	// held is the state of the delivery of this head, ready or rejected, when one is held here (novox/hq issue
 	// 441); empty for a head with no delivery.
 	held State
@@ -166,12 +170,12 @@ func askedAgain(was, now map[string]string) bool {
 }
 
 // SeeOpenPulls asks the forge for every open pull request and keeps the heads with a required merge check not
-// answered. A forge that cannot be asked changes nothing: what was seen stands, and nothing is guessed.
-func (h *Holder) SeeOpenPulls() {
+// answered, and the ready marks (seeMarks). A forge that cannot be asked changes nothing: what was seen stands, and nothing is guessed.
+func (h *Holder) SeeOpenPulls() error {
 	open, err := h.Forge.OpenPulls()
 	if err != nil {
 		h.Logf("[mesh-delivery] the forge's open pull requests cannot be read: %v", err)
-		return
+		return err
 	}
 	h.mu.Lock()
 	defer h.mu.Unlock()
@@ -194,7 +198,7 @@ func (h *Holder) SeeOpenPulls() {
 		// The clock runs from when this owner first saw the head waiting, and starts again only on a newer ask: a
 		// check that started, or was asked again — its pending status set anew — is given its whole bound from then.
 		// A check that answers does not start it again, so a head is said on the bound from its first sight.
-		u := unchecked{pull: p, waiting: waiting, pending: pending, first: now, held: held}
+		u := unchecked{pull: p, waiting: waiting, pending: pending, first: now, read: now, held: held}
 		if was, ok := h.unchecked[id]; ok && !askedAgain(was.pending, pending) {
 			u.first = was.first
 		} else {
@@ -205,6 +209,7 @@ func (h *Holder) SeeOpenPulls() {
 	}
 	h.unchecked = seen
 	h.seeMarks(open)
+	return nil
 }
 
 // started is whether the head's check started, rather than was never asked: it has any merge check, or a delivery
@@ -273,3 +278,32 @@ func short(sha string) string {
 	}
 	return sha
 }
+
+// uncheckedDue is whether a head seen waiting has reached the bound it is said at without the forge being read since: it
+// is read once more then, to say it only if it still waits. A head not yet at its bound is looked at again when it is.
+// Where the poll used to find a status that never came, an event does not exist to find it; this read is bounded to one
+// per head and its bound. Called by React.
+func (h *Holder) uncheckedDue() bool {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	now, due := h.Now(), false
+	for _, u := range h.unchecked {
+		at := u.first.Add(u.bound())
+		switch {
+		case now.Before(at):
+			h.lookAt(at, "a head whose merge check has not answered, read from the forge once more at its bound")
+		case u.read.Before(at):
+			due = true
+		}
+	}
+	return due
+}
+
+// forgetUnchecked drops the heads seen waiting of a pull request that closed or merged.
+func (h *Holder) forgetUnchecked(owner, repo string, number int) {
+	for id, u := range h.unchecked {
+		if strings.EqualFold(u.pull.Owner, owner) && strings.EqualFold(u.pull.Repo, repo) && u.pull.Number == number {
+			delete(h.unchecked, id)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/unchecked_events_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/unchecked_events_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e052a884
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/unchecked_events_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// **A head nobody checks is found from events, not from a poll** (novox/hq ADR 0406 §1, issue 975, issues 347 and 722):
+// the forge's open pull requests are read when this owner starts and when an event says something they show may have
+// changed — a merge check's status, a new head, a ready mark — and once more at the bound a head's check is said.
+
+func statusEvent(sha, context, state string) ForgeStatusEvent {
+	return ForgeStatusEvent{Owner: "novox", Repo: "hq", SHA: sha, Context: context, State: state}
+}
+
+func TestAMergeCheckStatusReadsTheOpenPullRequestsAndAnotherContextDoesNot(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	before := w.forge.openCalls
+	hear(t, w, "gitea.forge.status", statusEvent("cccc", "mesh/delivery", "success"))
+	if w.forge.openCalls != before {
+		t.Fatalf("a status of a context that is no merge check read the forge %d times", w.forge.openCalls-before)
+	}
+	hear(t, w, "gitea.forge.status", statusEvent("cccc", "mesh/merge-gate", "pending"))
+	if w.forge.openCalls != before+1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a merge check's status read the forge %d times, wanted once", w.forge.openCalls-before)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAHeadWhoseCheckNeverAnsweredIsSaidFromTheEventsAndOneReadAtTheBound(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{{Owner: "novox", Repo: "hq", Number: 1, Base: "main", HeadSHA: "cccc",
+		Required: []string{"mesh/merge-gate"}, Statuses: []string{"mesh/merge-gate"},
+		Checks: map[string]HeadCheck{"mesh/merge-gate": {State: "pending", UpdatedAt: "2026-10-06T12:00:00Z"}}}}
+	hear(t, w, "gitea.forge.status", statusEvent("cccc", "mesh/merge-gate", "pending"))
+	if len(w.h.Stalled()) != 0 {
+		t.Fatal("a head just seen waiting is said already")
+	}
+	reads := w.forge.openCalls
+	// Minutes pass with no event: nothing polls. At the bound, one read confirms it, and it is said.
+	for range 3 {
+		w.later(5 * time.Minute)
+		w.h.React()
+	}
+	w.later(Bounds[Proposed].For)
+	w.h.React()
+	w.h.React()
+	if got := w.forge.openCalls - reads; got != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the forge's open pull requests were read %d times between the status and the bound's end; wanted once, at the bound", got)
+	}
+	if lines := w.h.Stalled(); len(lines) != 1 || lines[0].State != Unanswered {
+		t.Fatalf("the head whose check never answered is not said: %+v", lines)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestANewlyAnnouncedHeadReadsTheForgeAndAKnownOneDoesNot(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	before := w.forge.openCalls
+	hear(t, w, "gitea.pull.updated", pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	if w.forge.openCalls != before+1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a new head read the forge %d times, wanted once", w.forge.openCalls-before)
+	}
+	hear(t, w, "gitea.pull.updated", pr("novox/app", 7, readyHead, "feat/x", "src/a.go"))
+	if w.forge.openCalls != before+1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the same head announced again read the forge again (%d reads)", w.forge.openCalls-before)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNothingReadsTheForgeWithoutAnEvent(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{markedPull("novox/app", 7, readyHead, readyHead)}
+	before := w.forge.openCalls
+	for range 6 {
+		w.later(time.Minute)
+		w.settleAll()
+	}
+	if w.forge.openCalls != before {
+		t.Fatalf("the forge's open pull requests were read %d times with no event", w.forge.openCalls-before)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAClosedOrMergedPullRequestIsNoLongerSaidUnchecked(t *testing.T) {
+	w := newWorld(t)
+	w.forge.open = []OpenPull{{Owner: "novox", Repo: "hq", Number: 1, Base: "main", HeadSHA: "cccc",
+		Required: []string{"mesh/merge-gate"}}}
+	w.h.SeeOpenPulls()
+	w.later(11 * time.Minute)
+	if len(w.h.Stalled()) != 1 {
+		t.Fatal("not said")
+	}
+	closed := pr("novox/hq", 1, "cccc", "feat/x")
+	hear(t, w, "gitea.pull.closed", closed)
+	if lines := w.h.Stalled(); len(lines) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a closed pull request is still said: %+v", lines)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/verbs.go b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/verbs.go
index f16530a4..97db5703 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/verbs.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/cmd/mesh-delivery/verbs.go
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ func (h *Holder) MarkReady(id, reviewedBy, why string) (string, error) {
 	h.keep(d)
 	waits := h.readyWaits(d)
 	if waits == "" {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("%s is marked ready at %s; its merge is asked once the next tick reads the mark", id, shortOf(head, 12)), nil
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%s is marked ready at %s; its merge is asked once the forge's label and comment events reach this owner", id, shortOf(head, 12)), nil
 	}
 	return fmt.Sprintf("%s is marked ready at %s; its merge waits: %s", id, shortOf(head, 12), waits), nil
 }
@@ -450,8 +450,9 @@ func (h *Holder) Release(id, why, by string) (string, error) {
 			"delivery was stopped, and is asked to leave it out first", id, by, walk, strings.Join(stopped, ", "))
 	}
 	if err := h.Controller.Deliver(walk, "released by "+by+": "+why); err != nil {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s is delivering on %s's word, and its walk %s could not be let go yet (%v): the next "+
-			"tick asks again", id, by, walk, err)
+		h.again("a walk's word the controller refused or did not answer")
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s is delivering on %s's word, and its walk %s could not be let go yet (%v): it is "+
+			"asked again in %s", id, by, walk, err, askAgainAfter)
 	}
 	h.mu.Lock()
 	if d := h.deliveries[id]; d != nil {
@@ -568,7 +569,7 @@ func (h *Holder) StopWay(id, why, by, way string) (string, error) {
 		a()
 	}
 	if batch != "" {
-		// Asked now, not at the next tick; and the batch's walk is never let go while it carries the merge.
+		// Asked now, not at the next look; and the batch's walk is never let go while it carries the merge.
 		did = fmt.Sprintf("; its merge waits in the batch %s, which was asked now to leave it out and is never let go "+
 			"while it carries it: %s", batch, h.stopLeaving(batch, why, by, []string{merge}))
 	}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/go.mod b/modules/mesh-delivery/go.mod
index 8d6748fb..5df693f9 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/go.mod
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/go.mod
@@ -1,5 +1,22 @@
 module mesh-delivery
 
-go 1.22
+go 1.25.0
 
-require git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261013182924-5933eb757d44
+require (
+	git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261013182924-5933eb757d44
+	github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.17
+	github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.51.0
+)
+
+require (
+	github.com/antithesishq/antithesis-sdk-go v0.7.0-default-no-op // indirect
+	github.com/google/go-tpm v0.9.8 // indirect
+	github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.5 // indirect
+	github.com/minio/highwayhash v1.0.4 // indirect
+	github.com/nats-io/jwt/v2 v2.8.1 // indirect
+	github.com/nats-io/nkeys v0.4.15 // indirect
+	github.com/nats-io/nuid v1.0.1 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/crypto v0.50.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/sys v0.43.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/time v0.15.0 // indirect
+)
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/go.sum b/modules/mesh-delivery/go.sum
index 3c290b47..f84463ba 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/go.sum
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/go.sum
@@ -1,2 +1,27 @@
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261013182924-5933eb757d44/go.mod h1:GFuZUElBZ9A++mxgIKo97aXXo+kV0uJ/UkbhQPPIbrY=
 git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261013182924-5933eb757d44 h1:r5xIo5qWOXQdCSMxvqJy8kV4U+P/QWXFK6971Ha6wU8=
+git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261013182924-5933eb757d44/go.mod h1:GFuZUElBZ9A++mxgIKo97aXXo+kV0uJ/UkbhQPPIbrY=
+github.com/antithesishq/antithesis-sdk-go v0.7.0-default-no-op h1:Z/MZK75wC/NSrkgqeNIa7jexam9uWzhLmFTSCPI/kn0=
+github.com/antithesishq/antithesis-sdk-go v0.7.0-default-no-op/go.mod h1:FQyySiasQQM8735Ddel3MRojmy4dA1IqCeyJ5jmPMbI=
+github.com/google/go-tpm v0.9.8 h1:slArAR9Ft+1ybZu0lBwpSmpwhRXaa85hWtMinMyRAWo=
+github.com/google/go-tpm v0.9.8/go.mod h1:h9jEsEECg7gtLis0upRBQU+GhYVH6jMjrFxI8u6bVUY=
+github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.5 h1:/h1gH5Ce+VWNLSWqPzOVn6XBO+vJbCNGvjoaGBFW2IE=
+github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.5/go.mod h1:cwPg85FWrGar70rWktvGQj8/hthj3wpl0PGDogxkrSQ=
+github.com/minio/highwayhash v1.0.4 h1:asJizugGgchQod2ja9NJlGOWq4s7KsAWr5XUc9Clgl4=
+github.com/minio/highwayhash v1.0.4/go.mod h1:GGYsuwP/fPD6Y9hMiXuapVvlIUEhFhMTh0rxU3ik1LQ=
+github.com/nats-io/jwt/v2 v2.8.1 h1:V0xpGuD/N8Mi+fQNDynXohVvp7ZztevW5io8CUWlPmU=
+github.com/nats-io/jwt/v2 v2.8.1/go.mod h1:nWnOEEiVMiKHQpnAy4eXlizVEtSfzacZ1Q43LIRavZg=
+github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.17 h1:GKEghcFK6A+aFx11Yf1LjgLC3txAwvyhnYzhBIQZA8I=
+github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.17/go.mod h1:B1sFVz4StNosQ903ak4N1G01Fl/9f8e06mXpFIE2K24=
+github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.51.0 h1:ByW84XTz6W03GSSsygsZcA+xgKK8vPGaa/FCAAEHnAI=
+github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.51.0/go.mod h1:26HypzazeOkyO3/mqd1zZd53STJN0EjCYF9Uy2ZOBno=
+github.com/nats-io/nkeys v0.4.15 h1:JACV5jRVO9V856KOapQ7x+EY8Jo3qw1vJt/9Jpwzkk4=
+github.com/nats-io/nkeys v0.4.15/go.mod h1:CpMchTXC9fxA5zrMo4KpySxNjiDVvr8ANOSZdiNfUrs=
+github.com/nats-io/nuid v1.0.1 h1:5iA8DT8V7q8WK2EScv2padNa/rTESc1KdnPw4TC2paw=
+github.com/nats-io/nuid v1.0.1/go.mod h1:19wcPz3Ph3q0Jbyiqsd0kePYG7A95tJPxeL+1OSON2c=
+golang.org/x/crypto v0.50.0 h1:zO47/JPrL6vsNkINmLoo/PH1gcxpls50DNogFvB5ZGI=
+golang.org/x/crypto v0.50.0/go.mod h1:3muZ7vA7PBCE6xgPX7nkzzjiUq87kRItoJQM1Yo8S+Q=
+golang.org/x/sys v0.21.0/go.mod h1:/VUhepiaJMQUp4+oa/7Zr1D23ma6VTLIYjOOTFZPUcA=
+golang.org/x/sys v0.43.0 h1:Rlag2XtaFTxp19wS8MXlJwTvoh8ArU6ezoyFsMyCTNI=
+golang.org/x/sys v0.43.0/go.mod h1:4GL1E5IUh+htKOUEOaiffhrAeqysfVGipDYzABqnCmw=
+golang.org/x/time v0.15.0 h1:bbrp8t3bGUeFOx08pvsMYRTCVSMk89u4tKbNOZbp88U=
+golang.org/x/time v0.15.0/go.mod h1:Y4YMaQmXwGQZoFaVFk4YpCt4FLQMYKZe9oeV/f4MSno=
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery/module.json b/modules/mesh-delivery/module.json
index f951f918..8cad5f5e 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery/module.json
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery/module.json
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
     "gitea.pull.updated",
     "gitea.pull.merged",
     "gitea.pull.closed",
+    "gitea.forge.pull-request.labeled",
+    "gitea.forge.pull-request.unlabeled",
+    "gitea.forge.pull-request.commented",
+    "gitea.forge.status",
     "mesh-controller.checked",
     "mesh-controller.plan-moved"
   ],
@@ -60,7 +64,8 @@
   "state": [
     "deliveries",
     "groups",
-    "asked"
+    "asked",
+    "pulls"
   ],
   "tools": [
     "delivery_status"