finding-verifier: parse gains max_attempts 2 + parse_failure capture +
fallback to a new parse_fault marker that rewrites verdicts to a single
UNVERIFIABLE PIPELINE-FAULT entry and continues to done (sentinel
preserved — the caller's verify lane degrades instead of dying);
verify_one gains a branch-local verify_fault marker normalizing the
engine failure text into a schema-conformant UNVERIFIABLE verdict.
step-runner: implement gains fallback end_failure (no retry — reruns
against a mutated tree are unsafe; STEP_FAILED renders the failure via
coder_result); independent_review gains fallback write_handoff with the
handoff instructions and route_review treating an "Agent node failed:"
review_report as review-did-not-run (fail-visible, guard ahead of the
🔴 grep); orient/edge_case_sweep/write_handoff capture their failure
text via state_updates, shrinking the bundled fallback-capture warning
baseline back to zero.
R5 tests: fault-marker normalization + crash paths (raw non-JSON
GRAPH_STATE), route_review.sh fault/critical/clean routing via bash+jq,
and structural wiring tests pinning fallbacks, sentinels, and
end_failure's initial_state-backed template keys.
An llm node never persists its completion under `output` (the binding
is transient), so a map branch without state_updates collected the
stale inherited value: deep-research produced `None` findings and
finding-verifier errored on its first item because `output` was absent.
Both maps now declare an explicit output_key and their branch nodes
write it via state_updates. graph.example.yaml's research_subject gets
the same named-key pattern and its branch comment describes it.
Design: plans/map-subgraph-branches-design.md §2.6, §3.7 (C9).
Dark-Alex-17