diff --git a/scripts/__tests__/check-type-check-coverage-closing-keyword.test.ts b/scripts/__tests__/check-type-check-coverage-closing-keyword.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a406693ed2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/__tests__/check-type-check-coverage-closing-keyword.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,233 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import fs from 'node:fs';
+import os from 'node:os';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+// Plain-JS CI helper. Its types are INFERRED from the .mjs source by
+// `tsconfig.scripts.json` (`allowJs`), so no `@ts-expect-error` here — see
+// objectui#3494.
+import { auditPackages, collect } from '../check-type-check-coverage.mjs';
+
+/**
+ * objectui#9598 — both stale-entry messages in
+ * `scripts/check-type-check-coverage.mjs` spelled a GitHub closing keyword
+ * immediately in front of the issue number they interpolate. The DEBT tail was
+ * a byte-identical twin of the one objectui#9538 replaced in
+ * `scripts/check-lint-coverage.mjs`.
+ *
+ * ## Why a message's WORDING gets a pin at all
+ *
+ * These messages are written to be QUOTED. The discipline around a `DEBT` or
+ * `TEST_DEBT` entry is to take the INTERMEDIATE reading — the package
+ * type-checked, the entry not yet deleted — and paste the gate's own output into
+ * the pull request as proof the work landed. A closing keyword in front of the
+ * number therefore does not stay in the script: it travels into a pull-request
+ * body, and on merge it ends the anchor card silently, from a body whose author
+ * was being careful. GitHub's parser does no sentence parsing, so no hedging in
+ * the surrounding sentence reaches it. The reason is written at the ratchets
+ * that emit the messages; this file is what makes the constraint fail loudly
+ * instead of being remembered.
+ *
+ * The landed precedents are the `DEBT` ratchet in
+ * `scripts/check-lint-coverage.mjs` and both stale-entry messages in
+ * `scripts/check-action-forward-parity.mjs`, pinned by
+ * `scripts/__tests__/check-lint-coverage-closing-keyword.test.ts` and
+ * `scripts/__tests__/check-action-forward-parity-closing-keyword.test.ts` —
+ * cited by the names of the things, not by line address (root `AGENTS.md`,
+ * commandment #11).
+ *
+ * ## Why this file RENDERS both messages instead of reading the source text
+ *
+ * A source-text assertion cannot tell a repaired emitter from a broken one: it
+ * matches a template, not the sentence a contributor would paste, and it reads
+ * identically whether or not the emitter can ever fire. Both ledgers here are
+ * empty, which is exactly how this shape survived three earlier repairs of the
+ * class. So every leg below drives the REAL `collect()` + `auditPackages()` over
+ * a throwaway package tree with a SEEDED ledger row that makes the ratchet fire,
+ * and asserts on the string it actually produced. `auditPackages` takes its
+ * tables as a parameter, so no copy-the-gate-into-a-workspace harness is needed
+ * here — the one objectui#9538's pin had to build. The cheap source leg is kept
+ * at the end as a supplement, never as the proof.
+ *
+ * ⚠️ Every rendered leg is paired with a control that MUST fire. A ratchet that
+ * emitted nothing, a seed that excused something after all, and a regex that
+ * matches nothing all render identically to a clean message — so each is
+ * asserted rather than assumed.
+ */
+
+const repoRoot = path.resolve(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '../..');
+const gateSource = path.join(repoRoot, 'scripts/check-type-check-coverage.mjs');
+
+/**
+ * A deliberately meaningless anchor. It has to be TRUTHY — both tails are
+ * guarded by `X.issue ? … : ""`, so a zero would render nothing and every
+ * assertion below would pass over an empty string.
+ */
+const FIXTURE_ANCHOR = 424242;
+
+/**
+ * GitHub's closing-keyword grammar as root `AGENTS.md` states the mitigation:
+ * one of the keywords immediately before an issue reference, in any tense, with
+ * no sentence parsing of any kind. Kept byte-identical to the copies in
+ * `check-lint-coverage-closing-keyword.test.ts` and
+ * `check-action-forward-parity-closing-keyword.test.ts` so the three cannot
+ * drift.
+ */
+const CLOSING_TRIGGER =
+  /\b(?:close[sd]?|fix(?:e[sd])?|resolve[sd]?)\s+(?:[A-Za-z0-9-]+\/[A-Za-z0-9-]+|objectui|objectstack)?#(?:\$\{|\d)/i;
+
+/** Every table empty, so a fixture tree is judged only on what this leg seeds. */
+const NO_TABLES = { debt: {}, notCompiled: [], checkedByOwnBuild: {}, testDebt: {} };
+
+const manifest = (name: string, typeCheck: string) =>
+  JSON.stringify({ name, version: '0.0.0', private: true, scripts: { 'type-check': typeCheck } }, null, 2);
+
+const A_TEST = ['import { it, expect } from "vitest";', 'it("works", () => expect(1).toBe(1));', ''].join('\n');
+
+/**
+ * Runs the REAL collector and audit over a throwaway workspace carrying the
+ * seeded ledger, and returns the one message they produced.
+ *
+ * `expectedPhrase` is the control that the ratchet under test is the one that
+ * fired: several sections of this gate report on the same package, and a
+ * fixture that tripped a different one would otherwise read as a pass.
+ */
+function renderStaleEntry(
+  build: (write: (rel: string, contents: string) => void) => void,
+  tables: Partial<typeof NO_TABLES>,
+  expectedPhrase: string,
+): string {
+  const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'type-check-coverage-anchor-'));
+  try {
+    build((rel, contents) => {
+      const full = path.join(dir, rel);
+      fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(full), { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(full, contents);
+    });
+    const errors: string[] = auditPackages(collect(dir), { ...NO_TABLES, ...tables, root: dir });
+    expect(errors, 'the seeded ledger did not make the ratchet fire').toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(errors[0], 'a different section fired than the one this leg seeds').toContain(expectedPhrase);
+    return errors[0];
+  } finally {
+    fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Rule 2's DEBT ratchet: a package declared as known-broken that has since
+ * gained a `type-check` script.
+ */
+const renderStaleDebtEntry = () =>
+  renderStaleEntry(
+    (write) => {
+      write('packages/demo/package.json', manifest('@fixture/demo', 'tsc --noEmit'));
+    },
+    { debt: { '@fixture/demo': { errors: 3, issue: FIXTURE_ANCHOR } } },
+    'now has a "type-check" script',
+  );
+
+/**
+ * Rule 6's TEST_DEBT ratchet: a package declared as not compiling its tests
+ * whose chained test project now reads every one of them.
+ */
+const renderStaleTestDebtEntry = () =>
+  renderStaleEntry(
+    (write) => {
+      write('packages/demo/package.json', manifest('@fixture/demo', 'tsc --noEmit && tsc -p tsconfig.test.json'));
+      write(
+        'packages/demo/tsconfig.json',
+        JSON.stringify({ include: ['src/**/*'], exclude: ['node_modules', 'dist', 'test'] }, null, 2),
+      );
+      write(
+        'packages/demo/tsconfig.test.json',
+        JSON.stringify({ compilerOptions: { noEmit: true }, include: ['test/**/*.test.ts'] }, null, 2),
+      );
+      write('packages/demo/src/index.ts', 'export const demo = 1;\n');
+      write('packages/demo/test/a.test.ts', A_TEST);
+    },
+    { testDebt: { '@fixture/demo': { errors: 3, issue: FIXTURE_ANCHOR } } },
+    'type-checks its tests now',
+  );
+
+/** A ratchet's whole region, from its own banner to the next section's. */
+function ratchetSource(from: string, to: string): string {
+  const text = fs.readFileSync(gateSource, 'utf8');
+  const start = text.indexOf(from);
+  expect(start, `the banner "${from}" is gone`).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+  const end = text.indexOf(to, start);
+  expect(end, `the marker "${to}" after the ratchet is gone`).toBeGreaterThan(start);
+  return text.slice(start, end);
+}
+
+const debtRatchetSource = () =>
+  ratchetSource(
+    '// 2. Ratchet — a declared gap that has been closed must leave the list.',
+    '// 3. Ratchet — an exemption only holds',
+  );
+
+const testDebtRatchetSource = () =>
+  ratchetSource(
+    '// 6. Ratchet — a declared test gap that has been closed must leave the list.',
+    '\n  return errors;',
+  );
+
+describe('neither stale-entry message may carry a card-ending keyword', () => {
+  it('the regex fires on the wording this card replaced — the control', () => {
+    // ⛔ Without this leg every assertion below is unfalsifiable: a ratchet that
+    // printed nothing and a regex that matches nothing render identically to a
+    // clean message.
+    //
+    // The resolved form is BUILT here rather than written as a literal, so this
+    // file plants no card-ending trigger of its own in the tree. The template
+    // forms are the byte-for-byte pre-repair spellings, which can never resolve
+    // to an issue reference in a rendered body.
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(`(and close #${FIXTURE_ANCHOR} if it is done)`)).toBe(true);
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(`(and close #${FIXTURE_ANCHOR} if the list is empty)`)).toBe(true);
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test('(and close #${debt[name].issue} if it is done)')).toBe(true);
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test('(and close #${spec.issue} if the list is empty)')).toBe(true);
+    // …and the repaired spelling is NOT a false positive for that same regex.
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(`, and objectui#${FIXTURE_ANCHOR} can be ended once that work is done`)).toBe(false);
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(`, and objectui#${FIXTURE_ANCHOR} can be ended once the list is empty`)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('…and the DEBT message the gate actually renders carries no trigger', () => {
+    expect(
+      CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(renderStaleDebtEntry()),
+      'the DEBT stale-entry message has a GitHub closing keyword in front of an issue reference '
+        + 'again. This text is quoted into pull-request bodies by design — quoting the intermediate '
+        + 'reading is the standing discipline for burning down a DEBT entry — so a keyword here ends '
+        + 'the anchor card on merge. That DEBT is empty today is not a defence: the message is one '
+        + 'ledger entry away from rendering, and an empty ledger is exactly why this shape survived '
+        + 'three repairs of its class. The reason is written at the ratchet that emits it.',
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('…and the TEST_DEBT message the gate actually renders carries no trigger', () => {
+    expect(
+      CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(renderStaleTestDebtEntry()),
+      'the TEST_DEBT stale-entry message has a GitHub closing keyword in front of an issue '
+        + 'reference again — same quoting discipline, same merge-path trigger. This tail and the '
+        + 'DEBT one are twins and were repaired together; repairing only one of them is how this '
+        + 'class keeps coming back one site at a time.',
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('…while both still tell the reader what to do with the anchor', () => {
+    // The positive half, so "no trigger" cannot be satisfied by deleting the
+    // instruction outright — losing the guidance to lose the keyword is the
+    // wrong trade.
+    for (const rendered of [renderStaleDebtEntry(), renderStaleTestDebtEntry()]) {
+      expect(rendered).toContain(`objectui#${FIXTURE_ANCHOR}`);
+      expect(rendered).toContain('can be ended once');
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('both ratchet SOURCES carry no trigger either, comments included', () => {
+    // The cheap leg, and not a duplicate of the rendered ones: it also covers
+    // the prose beside the emitters, which reaches a reader who is deciding how
+    // to word the next entry.
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(debtRatchetSource())).toBe(false);
+    expect(CLOSING_TRIGGER.test(testDebtRatchetSource())).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/scripts/check-type-check-coverage.mjs b/scripts/check-type-check-coverage.mjs
index f6747eddb0..b47a3c40d8 100644
--- a/scripts/check-type-check-coverage.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-type-check-coverage.mjs
@@ -498,6 +498,30 @@ export function auditPackages(packages, tables = {}) {
   }
 
   // 2. Ratchet — a declared gap that has been closed must leave the list.
+  //
+  // ⛔ The stale-entry message below may not put a GitHub closing keyword
+  // (`close`/`fix`/`resolve`, any tense) immediately in front of the anchor it
+  // interpolates. This message exists to be QUOTED: the discipline around a DEBT
+  // entry is to take the INTERMEDIATE reading — the package type-checked, the
+  // entry not yet deleted — and paste the gate's own output into the pull
+  // request as proof the work landed. A keyword in front of the number makes
+  // every such quote a card-ending trigger in the merge path, from a body whose
+  // author was being careful. GitHub's parser does no sentence parsing, so
+  // hedging the sentence around it buys nothing. Keep the instruction, lose the
+  // keyword, and spell the anchor `objectui#` rather than a bare `#` so the
+  // reference cannot match the closing grammar at all.
+  //
+  // ⚠️ An empty ledger is not a defence, it is the reason this shape survived:
+  // a message no entry makes reachable is quoted by nobody and read by nobody,
+  // and the entry that reopens it is written by whoever will need to quote it.
+  // The TEST_DEBT ratchet further down carries the twin of this tail and is
+  // governed by the same rule. The landed precedents are the DEBT ratchet in
+  // scripts/check-lint-coverage.mjs and both stale-entry messages in
+  // scripts/check-action-forward-parity.mjs — cited by the names of the things,
+  // not by line address (root `AGENTS.md`, commandment #11). Pinned by
+  // scripts/__tests__/check-type-check-coverage-closing-keyword.test.ts, which
+  // RENDERS both messages through `auditPackages` with a seeded ledger rather
+  // than trusting this comment or reading the template.
   for (const name of Object.keys(debt)) {
     const pkg = byName.get(name);
     if (!pkg) {
@@ -505,7 +529,7 @@ export function auditPackages(packages, tables = {}) {
     } else if (pkg.hasScript) {
       errors.push(
         `${name} now has a "type-check" script — delete its DEBT entry so the gap cannot reopen` +
-          `${debt[name].issue ? ` (and close #${debt[name].issue} if it is done)` : ""}.`
+          `${debt[name].issue ? `, and objectui#${debt[name].issue} can be ended once that work is done` : ""}.`
       );
     }
   }
@@ -724,6 +748,12 @@ export function auditPackages(packages, tables = {}) {
   }
 
   // 6. Ratchet — a declared test gap that has been closed must leave the list.
+  //
+  // ⛔ Same rule as rule 2's ratchet above, for the same reason: the tail below
+  // is quoted into pull-request bodies by design, so a GitHub closing keyword in
+  // front of the anchor ends that card on merge. Keep the instruction, lose the
+  // keyword, spell the anchor `objectui#`. Both tails are pinned together by
+  // scripts/__tests__/check-type-check-coverage-closing-keyword.test.ts.
   for (const [name, spec] of Object.entries(testDebt)) {
     const pkg = byName.get(name);
     if (!pkg) {
@@ -748,7 +778,7 @@ export function auditPackages(packages, tables = {}) {
     if (testsCovered(pkg)) {
       errors.push(
         `${name} type-checks its tests now — delete its TEST_DEBT entry so the gap cannot reopen` +
-          `${spec.issue ? ` (and close #${spec.issue} if the list is empty)` : ""}.`
+          `${spec.issue ? `, and objectui#${spec.issue} can be ended once the list is empty` : ""}.`
       );
     }
   }