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+# sovereign-mesh-bridge evaluator: FALLBACK-by-default on annexe nights
+
+Recorded 2026-09-06 (commit d6b8651, deep: sovereign-mesh, slot 2).
+
+## Status
+
+The `sovereign-mesh-bridge` evaluator cannot substantively run in the HP
+annexe. `services/nostr-pod-bridge` path-deps the sibling repos
+`nostr-rust-forum` and `solid-pod-rs` (`../../../../`), which are absent from
+the per-night annexe clone, so cargo aborts during dependency resolution:
+
+    error: failed to load manifest for dependency `nostr-bbs-core`
+    Caused by:
+      failed to read `~/dream-annexe/nostr-rust-forum/crates/nostr-bbs-core/Cargo.toml`
+    Caused by:
+      No such file or directory (os error 2)
+
+## Why the receipt still says PASSED
+
+The entrypoint is `cd services/nostr-pod-bridge && cargo build --release 2>&1
+| tail -12`. The pipeline's exit status is `tail`'s (0); cargo's failure exit
+is masked, so the harness records `outcome=PASSED exit=0` while stdout carries
+the cargo error. Identical output reproduced 2026-09-01 through 2026-09-06.
+The PASSED is a pipe-masked false positive: as wired, the sovereign-mesh
+required gate is vacuous on annexe nights and cannot veto anything.
+
+## Standing rule for annexe nights (deep: sovereign-mesh)
+
+1. Record `sovereign-mesh-bridge` as FALLBACK (vacuous pass) in the nightly
+   capability probe. Do not re-derive this; do not treat its PASSED as
+   evidence about the bridge crate.
+2. Do not evaluate or propose changes to `services/nostr-pod-bridge` or its
+   sibling crates (discipline: sibling-path-deps-fenced). Handoff belongs to
+   those repositories' own dream cycles.
+3. An ACCEPT on a sovereign-mesh annexe night must rest on the other required
+   evaluators (dream-engine-tests, hooks-syntax) plus graded receipts, as on
+   2026-09-02 and 2026-09-06.
+
+## Deferred fix -- operator decision required
+
+Making the entrypoint honest (e.g. `set -o pipefail`) would, on an annexe
+without the sibling repos, fail every candidate and deterministically veto
+every ACCEPT (ADR-2024). Do not ship pipefail alone. Pair the fix with one of:
+
+  (a) checking the sibling repos out into the annexe build environment,
+  (b) re-slotting the sovereign-mesh deep to an environment that can build it,
+  (c) re-classifying this entrypoint as non-required for annexe nights.
+
+Until one of those lands, this file is the source of truth for the status of
+the `sovereign-mesh-bridge` evaluator.