@@ -183,16 +183,38 @@ jobs:
             # it matches neither filter above: a pin-only diff skipped `core` and
             # `docs` alike, which is how #4288 moved the pin 76 commits with six of
             # fourteen checks skipped and nothing anywhere building the new SHA.
-            # The last two entries are the "a change to the guard runs the guard"
-            # rule the repo applies to every other filtered gate; they are close to
-            # free here because an unmoved pin hits the dist cache.
+            #
+            # Every entry is one of two kinds, and scripts/check-ci-filter-parity.mjs
+            # holds each one to its kind (#20765):
+            #   - a BUILD INPUT: something the console build reads to produce the
+            #     cached dist or the injection stamp inside it. Each one is ALSO
+            #     hashed into the `console-pin` job's dist-cache key. A head that
+            #     selects the job by moving a build input and then restores the old
+            #     dist from cache runs the gate without judging the change, because
+            #     the build-time assertion lives inside the build step a hit skips.
+            #   - a GUARD: code every run executes, cache hit or miss (the two check
+            #     scripts, this workflow). That is the "a change to the guard runs the
+            #     guard" rule the repo applies to every other filtered gate, and it is
+            #     close to free here because an unmoved key hits the dist cache.
+            # The two packages/spec entries are the spec's ENTRY LAYOUT: the exports
+            # map that objectui's OBJECTSTACK_SPEC_DIST hook and the probe derivation
+            # both resolve entry by entry, and the tsup entry list that decides which
+            # built file each entry points at. A head that moves them runs this gate
+            # before it enqueues. #20695 moved the migration registries to a new
+            # entry, skipped this job on every push, and went red first in the merge
+            # queue, where a check outside the required set cannot stop a merge.
+            # ⛔ Not packages/spec/**: the rest of the spec is bundled CONTENT, and
+            # its lag behind a cached dist is the ruled cache design (#9667, #9706;
+            # see scripts/check-console-injection.mjs).
             console:
               - '.objectui-sha'
               - 'scripts/build-console.sh'
               - 'scripts/check-console-sha.mjs'
               - 'scripts/check-console-injection.mjs'
               - 'scripts/console-spec-probes.mjs'
               - 'scripts/assert-console-spec-injection.mjs'
+              - 'packages/spec/package.json'
+              - 'packages/spec/tsup.config.ts'
               - '.github/workflows/ci.yml'
             # Test inputs that live OUTSIDE every package (#9829, #10015). Packages
             # whose suites read across their own boundary declare that radius in
@@ -2307,10 +2329,12 @@ jobs:
   # already covered in practice; the hole is a hand-edited pin, or that single
   # line cherry-picked out of another branch.
   #
-  # Cost is real but narrowly aimed. A moved pin is the only trigger that pays
-  # the full clone + vite build, and #4288's 76 commits of staleness are the
-  # measure of how rare that is. The other triggers (this file, the drift guard)
-  # leave the pin untouched, so they hit the dist cache and cost about a minute.
+  # Cost is real but narrowly aimed. A moved BUILD INPUT (the pin, the build and
+  # probe scripts, the spec's entry layout; see the `console` filter's comment)
+  # is the only trigger that always pays the full clone + vite build: 32 of the
+  # 3219 first-parent commits on main from 2026-08-31 to 9905e61ca2 moved one.
+  # The other triggers (this file, the check scripts) leave the key untouched,
+  # so they cost about a minute whenever the entry is still in the cache.
   #
   # Scope, stated plainly: this proves the PINNED SHA builds. It does NOT cover a
   # packages/client change breaking the injected-client bundle — that input lives
@@ -2402,10 +2426,20 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build @objectstack/client and its dependencies
         run: pnpm exec turbo run build --filter=@objectstack/client... --concurrency=4
 
-      # Same key as release.yml's "Cache vendored Console dist" step. Actions
-      # caches are repo-scoped, so a PR reads whatever main already built for this
-      # pin — that is what makes the non-pin triggers cheap. Only a pin the repo
-      # has never built misses, and a miss is exactly when this gate has work to do.
+      # Keyed on every BUILD INPUT the `filter` job's `console` list names (the
+      # pin, the build script, the two scripts that derive and stamp the injection
+      # probes, and the spec's entry layout) and on nothing else.
+      # scripts/check-ci-filter-parity.mjs holds this key and that list in step
+      # (#20765). A head that moves a build input MISSES, so the build and the
+      # assertion inside it judge the change on the PR head, not first in the
+      # merge queue. A head that moves only a guard hits, which is what keeps
+      # those triggers cheap. A PR reads what main, or its own earlier pushes,
+      # saved under the same key.
+      #
+      # ⚠️ release.yml's restore step still keys on the pin and the build script
+      # alone, so the two workflows no longer share dist entries: each builds its
+      # own on a miss. That file's comment asks for the two to stay in step; which
+      # way to reconcile them is recorded on #20765.
       #
       # Split restore/save where release.yml uses the combined action, because the
       # combined form's post-step saves even when the job FAILED. build-console.sh
@@ -2414,12 +2448,12 @@ jobs:
       # run restores it, skips the build, and sails through the stamp check. Saving
       # only once every assertion below is green is what lets a restored dist carry
       # the same guarantees as a freshly built one.
-      - name: Restore vendored Console dist (keyed on the objectui pin)
+      - name: Restore vendored Console dist (keyed on the pin and its other build inputs)
         id: console-dist
         uses: actions/cache/restore@v6
         with:
           path: packages/console/dist
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-console-dist-${{ hashFiles('.objectui-sha', 'scripts/build-console.sh') }}
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-console-dist-${{ hashFiles('.objectui-sha', 'scripts/build-console.sh', 'scripts/assert-console-spec-injection.mjs', 'scripts/console-spec-probes.mjs', 'packages/spec/package.json', 'packages/spec/tsup.config.ts') }}
 
       # The gate. Shallow-clones objectui at the pinned SHA, builds
       # @object-ui/console against this tree's client, copies the dist into
@@ -2458,10 +2492,11 @@ jobs:
       # The spec-injection half of the same question, and the reason it is a
       # SEPARATE step from build-console.sh (#9667).
       #
-      # The dist cache key is hashFiles('.objectui-sha', 'scripts/build-console.sh')
-      # — packages/spec is deliberately NOT in it, because adding it would bust the
-      # key on every spec change and force a ~20 min cold console rebuild on a repo
-      # doing ~18 merges a day. The cost model stays; what does not stay is the
+      # The dist cache key carries only the spec's ENTRY LAYOUT (package.json and
+      # tsup.config.ts, see the restore step). The rest of packages/spec is
+      # deliberately NOT in it, because adding it would bust the key on every spec
+      # change and force a ~20 min cold console rebuild on a repo doing ~18 merges
+      # a day. The cost model stays; what does not stay is the
       # silence. scripts/assert-console-spec-injection.mjs runs INSIDE
       # build-console.sh, so the `if: cache-hit != 'true'` above skips it exactly
       # when the dist was NOT built here — which is the run that most needs asking.
@@ -2482,7 +2517,7 @@ jobs:
       # a poisoned entry is reachable from here and must not pass quietly.
       - name: Verify the restored Console dist bundles this tree's spec
         env:
-          CONSOLE_DIST_CACHE_KEY: ${{ runner.os }}-console-dist-${{ hashFiles('.objectui-sha', 'scripts/build-console.sh') }}
+          CONSOLE_DIST_CACHE_KEY: ${{ runner.os }}-console-dist-${{ hashFiles('.objectui-sha', 'scripts/build-console.sh', 'scripts/assert-console-spec-injection.mjs', 'scripts/console-spec-probes.mjs', 'packages/spec/package.json', 'packages/spec/tsup.config.ts') }}
         run: pnpm check:console-injection --require-stamp
 
       # Reached only with every assertion above green (see the split-restore note).
@@ -2495,4 +2530,4 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/cache/save@v6
         with:
           path: packages/console/dist
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-console-dist-${{ hashFiles('.objectui-sha', 'scripts/build-console.sh') }}
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-console-dist-${{ hashFiles('.objectui-sha', 'scripts/build-console.sh', 'scripts/assert-console-spec-injection.mjs', 'scripts/console-spec-probes.mjs', 'packages/spec/package.json', 'packages/spec/tsup.config.ts') }}