diff --git a/src/types/strategy.ts b/src/types/strategy.ts
index ab25e60f..c8128d85 100644
--- a/src/types/strategy.ts
+++ b/src/types/strategy.ts
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ export interface MessageStoreView {
   get(id: MessageId): StoredMessage | null;
   /**
    * A message's sequence, as `get(id)?.sequence` answers it, without reading
-   * the message (optional — MessageStore provides it; a reader without it
-   * falls back to `get`).
+   * the message where the view can (optional — a reader without it falls
+   * back to `get`). MessageStore answers from its listing while that is
+   * cached, as it is during a compile, and reads the item otherwise; a merged
+   * view asks each source's, and the source's `get` where it has none.
    */
   sequenceOf?(id: MessageId): number | undefined;
   /** Get messages from a specific index */
diff --git a/test/compile-provenance.test.ts b/test/compile-provenance.test.ts
index 4ce9e50a..4b2b1243 100644
--- a/test/compile-provenance.test.ts
+++ b/test/compile-provenance.test.ts
@@ -455,6 +455,84 @@ describe('attribution reads what the raw entries name, not the stored history',
       rmSync(path, { recursive: true, force: true });
     }
   });
+
+  it('under a view filter, after a write, a compile reads no stored message to place the runs the filter breaks (#273)', async () => {
+    const { ContextManager, PassthroughStrategy, MessageStore } = await import('../src/index.js');
+    const { rmSync } = await import('node:fs');
+    // Hiding every other message starts a run at each shown one. Attribution
+    // then reads the merged view before the filter, and a resident writes
+    // before each compile.
+    const path = './test-attribution-lookups-filtered';
+    rmSync(path, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    const proto = MessageStore.prototype as unknown as { getInternal(index: number): unknown };
+    const getInternal = proto.getInternal;
+    let reads = 0;
+    try {
+      const cm = await ContextManager.open({ path, strategy: new PassthroughStrategy(), viewFilter: (m) => !m.metadata?.tuneOut });
+      const turn = (i: number) => {
+        cm.addMessage('bob', [text(`hidden ${i}`)], { tuneOut: { epochId: `e${i}` } });
+        return cm.addMessage('alice', [text(`shown ${i}`)]);
+      };
+      const shown = Array.from({ length: 20 }, (_, i) => turn(i));
+      await cm.compile();
+      shown.push(turn(20));
+      proto.getInternal = function (this: unknown, index: number) {
+        reads++;
+        return getInternal.call(this, index);
+      };
+      const result = await cm.compile();
+      proto.getInternal = getInternal;
+      const raw = result.provenance!.messages.map((m) => (m.kind === 'raw' ? m.bodies.map((b) => [b.messageId, b.complete]) : null));
+      assert.deepEqual(raw, shown.map((id) => [[id, true]]), 'each shown message is its own complete body');
+      assert.equal(reads, 0, `compile read ${reads} stored messages one at a time`);
+      cm.close();
+    } finally {
+      proto.getInternal = getInternal;
+      rmSync(path, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('a raw run from an auxiliary slot is placed without reading its message (#273)', async () => {
+    const { ContextManager, PassthroughStrategy, MessageStore } = await import('../src/index.js');
+    const { rmSync } = await import('node:fs');
+    // The hidden message breaks the run, so the second shown one, which only
+    // the auxiliary slot holds, is placed by its sequence.
+    const path = './test-attribution-lookups-auxiliary';
+    rmSync(path, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    const proto = MessageStore.prototype as unknown as { getInternal(index: number): unknown };
+    const getInternal = proto.getInternal;
+    let reads = 0;
+    try {
+      const main = await ContextManager.open({ path, strategy: new PassthroughStrategy() });
+      const side = await ContextManager.open({
+        store: main.getStore(),
+        namespace: 'subconscious/reader',
+        isolate: true,
+        strategy: new PassthroughStrategy(),
+        auxiliaryMessageViews: [{}],
+        viewFilter: (m) => !m.metadata?.tuneOut,
+      });
+      const first = main.addMessage('alice', [text('first')]);
+      main.addMessage('bob', [text('hidden')], { tuneOut: { epochId: 'e1' } });
+      const second = main.addMessage('alice', [text('second')]);
+      // The first compile reads the writer's appends into the reader's listing.
+      await side.compile();
+      proto.getInternal = function (this: unknown, index: number) {
+        reads++;
+        return getInternal.call(this, index);
+      };
+      const result = await side.compile();
+      proto.getInternal = getInternal;
+      const raw = result.provenance!.messages.map((m) => (m.kind === 'raw' ? m.bodies.map((b) => [b.messageId, b.complete]) : null));
+      assert.deepEqual(raw, [[[first, true]], [[second, true]]]);
+      assert.equal(reads, 0, `compile read ${reads} stored messages one at a time`);
+      side.close();
+      main.close();
+    } finally {
+      proto.getInternal = getInternal;
+      rmSync(path, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
 });
 
 describe('a tool result moved by repair is still carried', () => {
diff --git a/test/message-store-sequence.test.ts b/test/message-store-sequence.test.ts
index b89989e7..545aaefd 100644
--- a/test/message-store-sequence.test.ts
+++ b/test/message-store-sequence.test.ts
@@ -24,9 +24,11 @@
 
 import { describe, it, before, after, beforeEach } from 'node:test';
 import assert from 'node:assert';
-import { rmSync, existsSync } from 'node:fs';
-import { ContextManager, AutobiographicalStrategy } from '../src/index.js';
-import type { MessageStore } from '../src/index.js';
+import { rmSync, existsSync, mkdtempSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { JsStore } from '@animalabs/chronicle';
+import { ContextManager, AutobiographicalStrategy, MessageStore } from '../src/index.js';
 import type { ContentBlock } from '@animalabs/membrane';
 
 const TEST_STORE_PATH = './test-message-store-sequence';
@@ -250,3 +252,59 @@ describe('MessageStore — sequence semantics', () => {
     manager.close();
   });
 });
+
+describe('MessageStore.sequenceOf against the slot itself (#273)', () => {
+  function openSlot(t: { after(fn: () => void): void }) {
+    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'cm-sequence-of-'));
+    const js = JsStore.openOrCreate({ path: join(dir, 'store') });
+    t.after(() => {
+      js.close();
+      rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    });
+    MessageStore.register(js);
+    // The oracle reads the slot as chronicle holds it, so it shares no index
+    // or cache with the store under test.
+    const slotSequence = (id: string) =>
+      (js.getStateJson('messages') as Array<{ id: string; sequence: number }>).find((m) => m.id === id)?.sequence;
+    return { js, slotSequence };
+  }
+
+  it("follows a removal that shifts every later message, and a sibling's removal, edit and append", (t) => {
+    const { js, slotSequence } = openSlot(t);
+    const reader = new MessageStore(js);
+    const writer = new MessageStore(js);
+    const ids = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'].map((x) => reader.append('user', textBlock(x)).id);
+    const agrees = (when: string, known: string[]) => {
+      for (const id of known) assert.equal(reader.sequenceOf(id), slotSequence(id), `${id} ${when}`);
+    };
+    agrees('after the appends', ids);
+
+    reader.remove(ids[0]!);
+    assert.equal(reader.sequenceOf(ids[0]!), undefined, 'the removed message');
+    agrees('after a removal that shifts the rest', ids.slice(1));
+
+    writer.remove(ids[2]!);
+    assert.equal(reader.sequenceOf(ids[2]!), undefined, "the sibling's removed message");
+    agrees("after a sibling's removal", [ids[1]!, ids[3]!, ids[4]!]);
+
+    writer.edit(ids[3]!, textBlock('d, edited by a sibling'));
+    const appended = writer.append('user', textBlock('f')).id;
+    agrees("after a sibling's edit and append", [ids[1]!, ids[3]!, ids[4]!, appended]);
+  });
+
+  it("reads the item while the listing isn't cached, as on a chronicle without point lookup", (t) => {
+    const { js, slotSequence } = openSlot(t);
+    // Without point lookup an append can't write the listing through, so it
+    // drops the cache, and the next lookup reads the item.
+    const legacy = new Proxy(js, {
+      get(target, prop, receiver) {
+        if (prop === 'getStateItemJson') return undefined;
+        const v = Reflect.get(target, prop, receiver);
+        return typeof v === 'function' ? v.bind(target) : v;
+      },
+    }) as JsStore;
+    const messages = new MessageStore(legacy);
+    const ids = ['a', 'b'].map((x) => messages.append('user', textBlock(x)).id);
+    for (const id of ids) assert.equal(messages.sequenceOf(id), slotSequence(id), id);
+  });
+});