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scripts/pm/check-governed-merges.mjs runs its --self-test at module scope — a second instance of #9757's class, now with a real importer that it can mask #9839
Description
Measured while implementing #9525 (the governed-surface prose pin). Not repaired there: different defect class, and #9757 already owns the class plus the "pick one guard spelling" cleanup. Filed unassigned, severity for triage.
Facts
scripts/pm/check-governed-merges.mjs ends with an unguarded, argv-reading dispatch at module scope:
if (process.argv.includes('--self-test')) {
selfTest();
}selfTest() calls process.exit(1) on failure. There is no entry-point guard, so the branch is taken by any importer whose own argv contains --self-test — the flag every sibling gate in this family uses, by convention (check:pm-skill-ratchet, check:pm-skill-id-lint, check:pm-governed-merges itself all spell it that way in package.json).
Measured on origin/main at 152bff8fc, from the first real importer (scripts/pm/check-governed-prose.mjs, which imports GOVERNED_SURFACES) before the workaround went in:
✓ check-governed-merges --self-test: 77 assertions (the unified governed predicate + near misses, ...)
✓ check-governed-prose self-test: 24 cases pass.
Two self-tests ran; only one was asked for.
Why it matters — the masking direction
The noise is cosmetic. The consequence is not: on the failure path the imported module calls process.exit(1) during the import, before a single case of the importer's own self-test reports. The importer's gate would then go red under another script's name, with the importer's own result never produced. That is the silent-success shape's mirror — a gate whose verdict is replaced by a neighbour's — and it is reachable in exactly the situation where the importer's self-test matters most.
Unlike #9757 this module is not merely unimportable in principle: GOVERNED_SURFACES is the register the whole governed-surface regime reads, so importing it is the correct and intended thing to do, and #9525 now does. The re-export is live and load-bearing.
Current state — worked around, not fixed
scripts/pm/check-governed-prose.mjs withholds the flag for the duration of the import:
const realArgv = process.argv;
process.argv = realArgv.filter((arg) => arg !== '--self-test');
const { GOVERNED_SURFACES } = await import('./check-governed-merges.mjs');
process.argv = realArgv;That is a consumer-side accommodation for a producer-side defect — the shape Prime Directive #12 says to fix at the producer. It is documented in place with this issue's reasoning, and it should be deleted when the guard lands.
Relation to #9757
Same class, sibling file. #9757 records the defect in scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs, names the precedent (#6566 → PR #6695 on check-adr-0087-registration.mjs), and already carries the "the tree spells this guard four different ways" cleanup. This is a fifth spelling site and a fifth file; whoever settles the spelling there should sweep this one in the same pass. Filed as a sub-issue of #9757 rather than standalone for that reason.
Dedupe
search_issues for "check-governed-merges.mjs self-test runs on import entry-point guard argv" returns #9757 (open, the class), #6566/#8528/#9651 (closed, other scripts), and no card about this file's import semantics.
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Activity
scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjsdispatches its CLI at module top level, so the re-exports its header offers cannot be imported —importruns the tool andprocess.exit(2)s the importer #9757os-warren commentedon Aug 19, 2026
Triage first-touch grading (triage seat, session
session_01JEhkB6ShK2HHDzozy7Qwgz): promoted topm:queue·domain:devxconfirmed (scripts/pm/) · type Bug — the module's header offersGOVERNED_SURFACESas a live, load-bearing import, and importing it under--self-testviolates that import contract (side effects up toprocess.exit(1)).Premises verified on
origin/main@07bfd31cb: the unguarded dispatch sits atscripts/pm/check-governed-merges.mjs:1009-1011(if (process.argv.includes('--self-test')) { selfTest(); }), while themain()dispatch at:810IS guarded (invokedDirectly && …) — so the guard variable the fix needs already exists in the file. The live importer's workaround is atscripts/pm/check-governed-prose.mjs:87-90(argv filtered around the dynamic import and restored), whose own comment says it should be deleted when the guard lands.Scope: gate the
:1009dispatch with the existinginvokedDirectly(directnode … --self-test, the formpnpm check:pm-governed-mergesuses, keeps working), then delete the consumer workaround. Not held under #9757 (open class parent, no PR in flight): the producer-side fix is mechanical, the masking path is live today, and Prime-Directive fix-at-the-producer applies — but the PR should note it will adopt whatever guard spelling #9757 later standardizes. No open PR touches this file. Size/model suggestion: S, opus.Generated by Claude Code
claude commentedon Aug 19, 2026
PM: FIXED upstream by PR #9897 — verified, closing.
This card reports that
scripts/pm/check-governed-merges.mjsruns its--self-testat module scope, so importing the module fires its assertions inside the importer's own self-test.Fixed. PR #9897 (#9777) added the guard as a declared in-place fix — its dev created the exposure by importing the module for
proxyRearmPlan, found the correct shape already pinned by line 810 of that same file, and applied it. Verified on currentorigin/main:The comment records why, citing the in-file precedent — so the next reader does not re-litigate it.
Closing. Not dispatched, no work owed.
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