diff --git a/.github/workflows/gate-failure-watch.yml b/.github/workflows/gate-failure-watch.yml
index 1251cf70c4..47124b42d2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gate-failure-watch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gate-failure-watch.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,31 @@ name: Scheduled Gate Failure Watch
 # update the same issue with the current rows and their delta; the next green
 # closes it.
 
-on:
+# zizmor flags `workflow_run` categorically -- "almost always used
+# insecurely", at Medium audit confidence. The two ways it IS used insecurely
+# are both closed here, in code, and each is checkable in one line:
+#
+#   1. It never runs for untrusted input. The `observe` job's `if:` admits only
+#      `schedule`, or `workflow_dispatch`/`repository_dispatch`/`push` whose
+#      head_branch is `main` or a `v*` tag. A fork PR's run satisfies none of
+#      those, so the write-capable token is never reachable from a
+#      contributor-controlled trigger.
+#   2. It never executes the triggering run's code. The checkout pins
+#      `ref: main` with `persist-credentials: false`, and the only thing run is
+#      `scripts/gate_failure_watch.py` out of that trusted default-branch
+#      checkout. Nothing is taken from the triggering run -- no artifact
+#      download, no `head_sha` checkout.
+#
+# Permissions are `actions: read`, `contents: read`, `issues: write`: enough to
+# read a run's conclusion and file one issue, nothing more.
+#
+# Dropping the trigger is not an alternative -- observing another workflow's
+# completion IS the feature (#9830 measured a correctly-failing scheduled
+# workflow staying red for nineteen days with nobody noticing).
+#
+# Ratchet: if this workflow ever gains an artifact download, a `head_sha`
+# checkout, or a looser `if:`, delete the marker and let the gate fail.
+on: # zizmor: ignore[dangerous-triggers]
   workflow_run:
     workflows:
       - Auto-Optimize App Patterns
diff --git a/changelog.d/10386-zizmor-workflow-run.md b/changelog.d/10386-zizmor-workflow-run.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8d35e09c1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/10386-zizmor-workflow-run.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Unbreak the `zizmor` gate, red on `main` since 2026-09-06 on one high finding:
+`dangerous-triggers` against `gate-failure-watch.yml`'s `workflow_run`.
+
+zizmor flags that trigger categorically ("almost always used insecurely", at
+Medium audit confidence). Both insecure uses are already closed in the file: the
+`observe` job's `if:` admits only schedule, or dispatch/push on `main` or a `v*`
+tag, so a fork PR's run can never reach the write-capable token; and the
+checkout pins `ref: main` with `persist-credentials: false` and executes only
+the default-branch `scripts/gate_failure_watch.py`, so the triggering run's code
+is never run and none of its artifacts are downloaded.
+
+Suppressed inline rather than in `.github/zizmor.yml`, so the justification sits
+beside the trigger it excuses and carries its own ratchet: an artifact download,
+a `head_sha` checkout, or a looser `if:` means deleting the marker and letting
+the gate fail again.
+
+Verified against the pinned zizmor 1.28.0 with the workflow's own invocation —
+`zizmor .github/ --min-severity high` goes from exit 14 with one high finding to
+exit 0. The marker must trail the `on:` key; the identical text as a comment
+block above it suppresses nothing.