diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 8708f501..cd7905e4 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -1667,11 +1667,24 @@ It runs twice: in the `package` job over `llama/target` (every classifier jar pl
 jar, as early as they exist), and again in `smoke-fatjar-linux` over the downloaded `fatjars/` —
 `package-fatjars` rewrites those zips, and they are the artifacts users actually download.
 
-**Surefire excludes `org.slf4j:slf4j-simple` from the test classpath** (`classpathDependencyExcludes`).
-Runtime scope is on the test classpath too, and LogCaptor (test scope) requires logback specifically —
-with both providers present it fails with *"SLF4J Logger implementation should be of the type
-[ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger]"*. The exclusion leaves logback the sole provider in tests and does
-not touch the artifact.
+**Surefire AND PIT both exclude `org.slf4j:slf4j-simple` from the test classpath**
+(`classpathDependencyExcludes` in each). Runtime scope is on the test classpath too, and LogCaptor
+(test scope) requires logback specifically — with both providers present SLF4J's `ServiceLoader`
+picks one arbitrarily and the LogCaptor assertions fail. The exclusions leave logback the sole
+provider in tests and do not touch the artifact: the jar and the fat jar still ship slf4j-simple.
+
+**The PIT half is not redundant, and forgetting it is a trap worth naming.** `spotbugs:check` and
+`spotless:check` bind to `verify`, so `mvn test` misses them — a different trap. This one is
+sharper: **PIT builds its own classpath and never reads Surefire's configuration**, so a
+Surefire-only exclusion leaves the mutation run with two providers. It then aborts the whole gate
+with *"N tests did not pass without mutation … requires a green suite"* — a red gate on a suite
+Surefire had just reported green, which reads like a PIT bug rather than a classpath one. This
+shipped once (#411 added the binding with only the Surefire exclusion; the five affected
+LogCaptor tests reddened `Java Tests Ubuntu` and the failure went unseen because every publish run
+in between was cancelled). The sibling repo srcmorph hit the identical thing and solved it a
+different way — there both providers arrive transitively, so it excludes at the dependency instead.
+Same rule either way: **one SLF4J provider on the test classpath, enforced everywhere a test
+classpath is built.**
 
 ## SpotBugs Suppressions
 
diff --git a/llama/pom.xml b/llama/pom.xml
index 4b77c3bd..a290ddad 100644
--- a/llama/pom.xml
+++ b/llama/pom.xml
@@ -832,6 +832,25 @@ SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 					</targetTests>
 					<mutationThreshold>100</mutationThreshold>
 					<timeoutConstant>30000</timeoutConstant>
+					<!--
+					  The same exclusion Surefire carries above, and it has to be repeated here
+					  because PIT builds its OWN classpath and does not read Surefire's
+					  configuration. Two SLF4J providers are on the test classpath: slf4j-simple
+					  arrives at runtime scope (it is the binding shipped in the fat jar) and
+					  logback-classic at test scope (LogCaptor requires logback specifically).
+					  SLF4J's ServiceLoader then picks one arbitrarily; when it picks
+					  slf4j-simple, every LogCaptor assertion fails and PIT aborts the whole run
+					  with "N tests did not pass without mutation ... requires a green suite" —
+					  a red gate on a suite Surefire had just run green, which is a genuinely
+					  confusing failure to land on.
+
+					  The parameter is pitest-maven's own, modelled on Surefire's and taking the
+					  same "groupId:artifactId" form. It changes nothing about the artifact: the
+					  jar and the fat jar still ship slf4j-simple.
+					-->
+					<classpathDependencyExcludes>
+						<classpathDependencyExclude>org.slf4j:slf4j-simple</classpathDependencyExclude>
+					</classpathDependencyExcludes>
 				</configuration>
 			</plugin>
 		</plugins>
diff --git a/llama/src/test/java/net/ladenthin/llama/args/FlashAttnTest.java b/llama/src/test/java/net/ladenthin/llama/args/FlashAttnTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..382dfb97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llama/src/test/java/net/ladenthin/llama/args/FlashAttnTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Bernard Ladenthin <bernard.ladenthin@gmail.com>
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+package net.ladenthin.llama.args;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collection;
+
+/**
+ * The three {@code --flash-attn} values, pinned to the exact tokens llama.cpp's parser accepts.
+ *
+ * <p>These strings are a wire contract, not labels: since llama.cpp b10273 the option takes a
+ * mandatory value, so a wrong or empty token is not a cosmetic defect — the parser consumes the
+ * following argv entry and the model load fails naming a flag the caller never set.</p>
+ */
+public class FlashAttnTest extends AbstractCliArgEnumTest<FlashAttn> {
+
+    public static Collection<Object[]> data() {
+        return Arrays.asList(new Object[][] {
+            {FlashAttn.ON, "on", 3},
+            {FlashAttn.OFF, "off", 3},
+            {FlashAttn.AUTO, "auto", 3},
+        });
+    }
+}