diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml
index cb3a60b..85bd033 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml
@@ -89,12 +89,30 @@ on:
 # makes the milestone-362 gate verifiable at all: a gate has to be watched
 # rejecting something before anyone can believe it is wired up.
 #
-# Note this is a STRING comparison, not a boolean. Forgejo delivers
-# workflow_dispatch inputs as strings, so `inputs.refresh` is 'true'/'false'
-# and `&&` on it would treat the string 'false' as truthy.
+# The input is normalised through `format()` before it is compared, and that
+# is not defensive styling — the direct comparison is WRONG and fails silently.
+#
+# `type: boolean` delivers a real boolean, and GitHub expression semantics cast
+# operands to numbers when their types differ: `true == 'true'` compares 1
+# against NaN and is FALSE. Measured on run 5270, whose own log says it —
+#
+#   expression '(github.event_name == 'schedule'
+#                || github.event.inputs.refresh == 'true') && 'true' || 'false''
+#     evaluated to '%!t(string=false)'
+#   trigger: raw inputs refresh='true'
+#
+# — the input arrived as `true` and the expression still said false. The run
+# then went green with every step skipped, because a refresh that evaluates
+# false behaves exactly like an ordinary push. That is the whole hazard: the
+# failure has no symptom.
+#
+# `force_build` never hit this because it never compares in an expression. It
+# passes the raw value into an env var and tests it in the shell, where
+# everything is already a string. `format('{0}', x)` buys the same thing here,
+# where a step-level `if:` needs the answer before any shell runs.
 env:
-  IS_REFRESH: ${{ (github.event_name == 'schedule' || github.event.inputs.refresh == 'true') && 'true' || 'false' }}
-  BUILD_REF: ${{ (github.event_name == 'schedule' || github.event.inputs.refresh == 'true') && 'main' || github.ref }}
+  IS_REFRESH: ${{ (github.event_name == 'schedule' || format('{0}', github.event.inputs.refresh) == 'true') && 'true' || 'false' }}
+  BUILD_REF: ${{ (github.event_name == 'schedule' || format('{0}', github.event.inputs.refresh) == 'true') && 'main' || github.ref }}
 
 # Requires repo secret RELEASE_TOKEN — a Forgejo PAT with scopes:
 #   - write:package, read:package  (for docker push to git.fabledsword.com)