diff --git a/tests/test_rule_usage_wiring.py b/tests/test_rule_usage_wiring.py
index 5efbcd2..c304565 100644
--- a/tests/test_rule_usage_wiring.py
+++ b/tests/test_rule_usage_wiring.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
 
-from tests.helpers import fake_rule
+from tests.helpers import fake_note, fake_rule
 
 # The MCP tool layer reads its caller from a ContextVar the HTTP transport sets
 # per request; a unit test has no request, so it binds the caller itself. The
@@ -33,14 +33,30 @@ pytestmark = pytest.mark.usefixtures("_bind_user")
 # each of these does.
 
 
-def _arm_patches(pc, hits, recorder):
+# The write-path hint returns early when a write matched nothing at all — no
+# staleness, no synced record, no prior-art menu, no shape signal. The rule arm
+# sits deliberately on the FAR side of that guard, because it runs a semantic
+# search and moving it above would mean an embedding query on every write in
+# the session (#3311's closing note, and the reason its gating is a separate
+# question from precision).
+#
+# So a fixture that stubs every other arm to empty never reaches the rule arm
+# at all — which is what the first run of this file did. The note hit below is
+# not decoration: it is the condition the arm requires in order to fire.
+_PRIOR_ART = [(0.72, fake_note(id=9, title="debounce helper", user_id=1,
+                               note_type="snippet"))]
+
+
+def _arm_patches(pc, hits, recorder, prior_art=None):
     """The minimum stubbing that lets the rule arm run and nothing else."""
     return (
         patch.object(pc, "get_writepath_config",
                      AsyncMock(return_value={"enabled": True, "threshold": 0.6,
                                              "top_k": 3})),
         patch.object(pc.snippets_svc, "list_snippets", AsyncMock(return_value=([], 0))),
-        patch.object(pc, "semantic_search_notes", AsyncMock(return_value=[])),
+        patch.object(pc, "semantic_search_notes",
+                     AsyncMock(return_value=_PRIOR_ART if prior_art is None
+                               else prior_art)),
         patch.object(pc, "semantic_search_rules", AsyncMock(return_value=hits)),
         patch.object(pc, "record_retrieval", MagicMock()),
         patch.object(pc, "record_surfaced", MagicMock()),
@@ -50,10 +66,10 @@ def _arm_patches(pc, hits, recorder):
     )
 
 
-async def _run_arm(hits, recorder, **kwargs):
+async def _run_arm(hits, recorder, prior_art=None, **kwargs):
     from scribe.services import plugin_context as pc
     with ExitStack() as stack:
-        for ctx in _arm_patches(pc, hits, recorder):
+        for ctx in _arm_patches(pc, hits, recorder, prior_art):
             stack.enter_context(ctx)
         return await pc.build_write_path_hint(
             1, "frontend/src/api/client.ts", code="x" * 400, **kwargs
@@ -106,6 +122,24 @@ async def test_nothing_is_recorded_when_every_hit_was_already_held():
     assert rec.call_count == 0
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_the_arm_does_not_fire_on_a_write_that_matched_nothing():
+    """The gate, pinned — because the fixture above now depends on it and a
+    silent change would make every other test here pass vacuously.
+
+    A write matching no prior art returns before the rule arm runs. That is
+    deliberate: the arm is a semantic search, and ungating it means an
+    embedding query on every write in the session. #3311 is explicit that the
+    gate stays until the arm's precision is fixed, so this failing is a signal
+    to go read that issue rather than to update the assertion.
+    """
+    rec = MagicMock()
+    hits = [(0.71, fake_rule(id=156, title="A wait with no deadline is a bug"))]
+    await _run_arm(hits, rec, prior_art=[])
+
+    assert rec.call_count == 0
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_a_failing_recorder_does_not_break_the_write():
     """Telemetry must never take down the surface it observes. The arm is