Every llm/agent stage that can die persistently now falls back to a
machine-readable PIPELINE-FAULT sentinel instead of killing the graph:
- review_domain -> branch-local domain_fault marker (banner-prefixed
domain_report the map collects; completeness_gate precedent)
- verify -> verdict (verifier fault renders findings unverified + a
PIPELINE-FAULT attention line)
- parse -> parse_fault -> render (complete NEEDS-HUMAN verdict_out;
render's no-changes stub is bypassed for fault verdicts)
- refine_groups -> cover_gate (deterministic-proposal fallback absorbs
the failure; degradation noted in groups_note)
- aux_lanes -> aux_fault -> synthesize (aux_note fault marker; visible,
never blocking - aux is enrichment)
- synthesize -> verdict (synth_failure marker; keyed off the failure
prefix + non-empty diff, never findings==[], so clean zero-finding
reviews stay MERGE-READY)
verdict.py gains unified fault accounting (R2): any PIPELINE-FAULT in
domain_reports / verifier_output / state fault keys forces NEEDS-HUMAN,
prefix-anchored so a report merely quoting the marker mid-text never
trips it; old 'PIPELINE FAULT' spelling migrated. Faults are prepended
to attention so the [:5] cap can never hide one. Dedicated *_failure
state keys capture engine failure text on every fallback+output_schema
node, keeping the bundled warning baseline at zero.
15 python3-guarded R5 tests: fault paths, quoted-marker precedence,
happy-path byte-compat regression, marker normalization, crash-path
fail-closed (verdict/cover_gate/domain_fault), verifier-fault-on-empty-
diff render, and the no-changes stub regression.
