✨ fix(release): reject literal-emoji commit subjects and close the ### Other blind spot (D-168)

.github/workflows/verify.yaml

@@ -97,6 +97,19 @@ jobs:
         run: go run github.com/zricethezav/gitleaks/v8@v8.30.1 detect --source . --no-banner --redact --log-opts="HEAD"
       - name: sanitization check (D-002, REQ-E7-S05-01)
         run: bash hack/check-sanitization.sh
+      # REDMAIN-N1 / D-168 (REQ-REDMAIN-N1-02) — commit subjects must not lead with
+      # a LITERAL emoji: cliff.toml's parsers key on the ASCII gitmoji shortcode, so
+      # such a subject matches none of them and is published under "### Other" on the
+      # Release page (the REL-14/D-137 defect through another door). Deliberately NOT
+      # guarded off pull_request, unlike the changelog drift gate below (D-125/OQ-30):
+      # a PR is the LAST moment the subject can still be reworded, because hard rule 2
+      # forbids rewriting it once it is on main. Needs the full history the gitleaks
+      # comment above already requires (fetch-depth: 0); no argument — the argument
+      # form is the sandbox mode that skips the published-history exemption checks.
+      # Also runs locally in `task check` via hack/release/changelog_gate_test.sh §9,
+      # which is where both of its polarities are proved.
+      - name: commit subject gate (REDMAIN-N1 — no literal emoji, D-168)
+        run: bash hack/release/commit_subject_gate.sh
       - run: go test -race ./...
       # E7-S04 — determinism gate (P4-E1-S12): double-run named engine + conformance goldens.
       # Keep this block distinct — E7-S05 adds sanitization steps below/after.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -140,6 +140,12 @@ repository still gets a decision, never by following the link; no release carrie
 - :memo: docs(backlog): track the D-154 guard-idiom S7688 residual as SONAR-SHELL-R01
 - :memo: docs(decisions): correct SONAR-SHELL to 54 of 54 and withdraw two overstated figures (D-171)
 - :memo: docs(decisions): repoint D-166 at the shifted E11 backlog lines (:594->:602, :613->:621)
+- :memo: specs(redmain): the literal-emoji commit subject defect, both halves (REDMAIN-N1/N2)
+- :memo: docs(decisions): D-168 records the REDMAIN-N1/N2 fix, its narrowness and its hand-off
+- :memo: specs(redmain): N2-02 states the decoupled retire path; add N1-04 for the allowlist pin
+- :memo: docs(decisions): D-168 (d) is corrected — one authority was the wrong instinct here
+- :memo: specs(redmain): N2-02 stops claiming coverage the script does not have; file REDMAIN-N4
+- :memo: docs(decisions): D-168 (f) records the unexercised paths and points at REDMAIN-N4
 
 ### Features
 - :sparkles: feat(audit): measure REL-03/REL-07 by real mutation run, not by name
@@ -164,6 +170,7 @@ repository still gets a decision, never by following the link; no release carrie
 - :bug: fix(lint): a redirection is not a version guard — require an adjacent comparison
 - :bug: fix(lint): the include check missed 'source', one of its two spellings
 - :bug: fix(lint): drop the reversed-form guard pattern — it opened a fresh fail-open
+- :bug: fix(release): decouple the two exemption lists so REDMAIN-N3 has a green state (D-168)
 
 ### Other
 - 👷 ci(docs): stop uploading the Pages artifact on pull requests
@@ -196,6 +203,7 @@ repository still gets a decision, never by following the link; no release carrie
 - :white_check_mark: test(ci): grade the shared PR-reach helper itself, on fixtures (D-157)
 - :white_check_mark: test(lint): pin all eleven detection patterns, not the four the tree happens to use
 - :white_check_mark: test(lint): give the non-probe absence assertions an anti-vacuity partner
+- :white_check_mark: test(release): reject literal-emoji commit subjects, and let §8 see them (D-168)
 ## [0.3.0] - 2026-08-18
 
 ### Chores

hack/release/README.md

@@ -16,6 +16,41 @@ template emits **categorized subject lines only — no commit SHAs** (D-101, oss
 | `task changelog-verify` | Fail closed if `CHANGELOG.md` drifts from `cliff.toml` output (release gate) |
 | `bash hack/release/verify-changelog.sh` | Same check as `task changelog-verify` (script entry point) |
 | `task release-changelog-gate-test` | AUD-S02: proves the drift gate is wired and fires — in `task check` (REQ-AUD-S02-01/02) |
+| `bash hack/release/commit_subject_gate.sh` | REDMAIN-N1 / D-168: rejects a commit subject that leads with a **literal emoji** instead of the ASCII gitmoji shortcode |
+
+### Commit subjects must lead with the ASCII shortcode (REDMAIN-N1 / D-168)
+
+`cliff.toml`'s `commit_parsers` key on the ASCII gitmoji **shortcode**
+(`:construction_worker:`), which is also what `GUIDELINES.md` § Repository discipline mandates.
+A subject that leads with the **literal emoji** (`👷 ci(docs): …`) matches none of them and falls
+through the `.*` catch-all into `### Other` on the published GitHub Release page — the REL-14 /
+D-137 defect reached through a different door. `dfdae69` is the commit where human attention
+failed; `commit_subject_gate.sh` is the replacement for that attention.
+
+- The rule is narrow on purpose: **the first character of the subject must be ASCII.** It is not
+  "the subject matches the whole convention" — Dependabot's `build(deps): bump …` and GitHub's
+  `Merge pull request #N from …` carry no shortcode and are legitimate.
+- Published history is tolerated **by full commit SHA** (`LEGACY_ALLOW_SHAS`), never by shape, and
+  each exempt SHA must still *be* a detection — a stale exemption reds the gate. The list's exact
+  content is pinned from a second file (`LEGACY_EXPECTED`, `changelog_gate_test.sh` §9d), so it
+  cannot grow through an unremarked append: adding an exemption is a two-file change plus a row in
+  `docs/decisions/decisions.md`.
+- Reachable two ways: a step of `verify.yaml`'s `verify:` job (**not** guarded off
+  `pull_request`, so a PR reds while the subject can still be reworded) and, locally, `task check`
+  through `changelog_gate_test.sh` §9. No 22nd `task check` stage was added — `CHECK_STAGES` in
+  `hack/audit/exitgate_test.sh` asserts the Taskfile's `check:` list is *equal* to it.
+- Both polarities and the exemption's load-bearingness are proved in `changelog_gate_test.sh`
+  §9/§9a–§9d; the matching `### Other` detector fix is §8/§8b.
+
+**Two exemption lists, and they are not interchangeable.** `LEGACY_ALLOW_SHAS`
+(`commit_subject_gate.sh`) answers *"is this commit's SUBJECT still a literal emoji?"* — permanent,
+because hard rule 2 forbids rewriting the subject. `OTHER_EXEMPT_SHAS` (`changelog_gate_test.sh`
+§8) answers *"is this commit's RENDERED ENTRY still mis-filed under `### Other`?"* — temporary,
+because REDMAIN-N3 will teach `cliff.toml` to file it correctly. Deriving one from the other left
+**no green state** after N3 (keep the entry, §8 reds as stale; drop it, the commit-subject gate
+reds on `dfdae69`), so they are separate, linked only by the one-way invariant
+`OTHER_EXEMPT_SHAS ⊆ LEGACY_ALLOW_SHAS` — which the empty set satisfies. **When N3 lands, delete
+the SHA from `OTHER_EXEMPT_SHAS` and nothing else**; §8's failure message says exactly this.
 
 Long-lived notes for consumers of released artifacts (currently the **D-120 `pins.toolDigest`**
 warning) live in `cliff.toml`'s `[changelog] header`, not in `CHANGELOG.md`: the file is