src/scribe/services/shape_ledger.py

@@ -1545,6 +1545,25 @@ _SEMANTIC_LIMIT = 3
 # ledger's standing discipline — the one `FORM_UNKNOWN` enforces everywhere
 # else — is that not knowing must make a check quieter, never more confident.
 BASIS_NO_SEMANTIC_MATCH = "no-semantic-match"
+
+
+def _semantic_priority(row) -> tuple:
+    """Order for the capped semantic pass: the rows its verdict can still act on
+    come first (#4208, measured on the first live refresh after it shipped).
+
+    The pass is capped (`_SEMANTIC_CAP`), and `flag_divergence` acts only on
+    shapes NEW since the previous refresh. In plain row order those are the
+    highest ids — the back of the queue — so whenever the backlog exceeds the
+    cap (every `_PROPOSER_VERSION` bump queues the whole todo at once), the
+    cap is spent on old rows and the new ones are flagged as "cannot tell"
+    before the arm ever reads them. That is what happened: 1,533 rows queued,
+    150 checked, and all six new shapes flagged unexamined.
+
+    So: the human todo (`unclassified`) before `scoped`, newest first within
+    each. A row with no creation time sorts last in its group.
+    """
+    created = row.created_at.timestamp() if row.created_at is not None else float("-inf")
+    return (row.status != "unclassified", -created)
 # Bump when a basis's rule changes: rows remember the (body, ruleset) they
 # were examined under, so a tightened rule re-examines everything once.
 # v3: language-family gate on the sym bases, reference stoplist, semantic
@@ -1911,6 +1930,7 @@ async def propose_for_repo(
                 proposed += 1
             elif row.kind == "sym":
                 semantic_todo.append((row, d))
+        semantic_todo.sort(key=lambda item: _semantic_priority(item[0]))
         for i, (row, d) in enumerate(semantic_todo):
             if i >= semantic_cap:
                 # Not reached this refresh: leave it unexamined so the next
@@ -2466,7 +2486,9 @@ async def flag_divergence(project_id: int, *, since: datetime | None) -> int:
     """Flag shapes created after ``since`` (the previous refresh) that sit
     where a canon dominates and were not proposed as that canon. With no
     previous refresh (first seed) nothing is new, nothing is flagged.
-    Standing flags persist until judged. Returns how many are flagged."""
+    Standing flags persist until judged — or until the proposer's semantic
+    arm reports a conclusive miss for the row (#4208). Returns how many are
+    flagged."""
     if since is None:
         return 0
     async with async_session() as session:
@@ -2490,6 +2512,17 @@ async def flag_divergence(project_id: int, *, since: datetime | None) -> int:
             for r in siblings:
                 if r.status not in _MECHANICAL_TODO:
                     continue
+                # A conclusive miss outranks a standing flag, and is checked
+                # before it. A flag raised on a row the semantic arm had not
+                # yet reached was raised on "cannot tell" — the arm is capped,
+                # so that is routine — and once the arm has read the body and
+                # found it is none of the canons, keeping the prompt would be
+                # asserting over a measurement we now hold. Only this evidence
+                # withdraws a flag; nothing else changes "persist until judged".
+                if r.proposal_basis == BASIS_NO_SEMANTIC_MATCH:
+                    if r.diverges_from is not None:
+                        r.diverges_from = None
+                    continue
                 if r.diverges_from is not None:
                     flagged += 1
                     continue
@@ -2514,9 +2547,8 @@ async def flag_divergence(project_id: int, *, since: datetime | None) -> int:
                 #
                 # Only the conclusive miss is stored, so an unexamined row and
                 # a body too thin to embed still ask the question rather than
-                # being quietly excused.
-                if r.proposal_basis == BASIS_NO_SEMANTIC_MATCH:
-                    continue
+                # being quietly excused. (Tested at the top of this loop, where
+                # it also withdraws a flag raised before the arm got there.)
                 # The same structural test the write-time check applies
                 # (#4204). The sweep and the hook must agree about what counts
                 # as divergence, or an audit contradicts the line the writer

tests/test_divergence_meaning_gate.py

@@ -180,3 +180,33 @@ def test_the_miss_basis_is_not_one_of_the_proposal_bases(value: str) -> None:
     filters BY basis, and a collision there would mean confirming a miss as
     though it were a match."""
     assert BASIS_NO_SEMANTIC_MATCH != value
+
+
+# ── the cap spends itself on the rows its verdict can act on ─────────────
+
+
+class _AgedRow:
+    def __init__(self, name: str, status: str, created) -> None:
+        self.name, self.status, self.created_at = name, status, created
+
+
+def test_the_capped_pass_reads_new_shapes_first() -> None:
+    """Measured on the first live refresh after the gate shipped: a version
+    bump queued 1,533 rows, the cap read 150 of them in row order, and every
+    shape NEW since the previous refresh — the only rows `flag_divergence`
+    acts on, and the highest ids — was flagged before the arm reached it. The
+    gate silenced nothing because it never got to look."""
+    from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
+
+    from scribe.services.shape_ledger import _semantic_priority
+
+    t = datetime(2026, 9, 22, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+    rows = [
+        _AgedRow("scoped_new", "scoped", t),
+        _AgedRow("old", "unclassified", t - timedelta(days=30)),
+        _AgedRow("undated", "unclassified", None),
+        _AgedRow("new", "unclassified", t),
+        _AgedRow("scoped_old", "scoped", t - timedelta(days=30)),
+    ]
+    order = [r.name for r in sorted(rows, key=_semantic_priority)]
+    assert order == ["new", "old", "undated", "scoped_new", "scoped_old"]

tests/test_integration_shape_classify.py

@@ -974,6 +974,109 @@ async def test_a_conclusive_meaning_miss_silences_what_the_signature_cannot(seed
     assert total == 0, "a shape the proposer measured as unrelated must not be urged"
 
 
+async def _two_generations(seeded, tag: str):
+    """A canon-dense directory, an OLD unjudged helper, then one NEW shape.
+
+    The same density as the acceptance fixture above, with an extra unjudged
+    row from the first sync so there is an old row competing with the new one
+    for the capped semantic pass.
+    """
+    from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
+    from scribe.services import snippets as snippets_svc
+
+    owner, pid = seeded["owner"], seeded["pid"]
+    canon = await snippets_svc.create_snippet(
+        owner, name=f"cls_confirm_factory_{tag}",
+        code="export async function factory(): Promise<boolean> {\n  return true;\n}\n",
+        language="typescript", repo="Widget",
+        path="frontend/src/composables/useConfirm.ts", symbol="factory",
+        project_id=pid,
+    )
+    sid = int(canon.id)
+    comp = "frontend/src/components"
+    base = _defs(
+        *[(f"{comp}/{n}.vue", "sym", f"on{n}", f"async function on{n}() {{",
+           f"async function on{n}() {{\n  const ok = await factory();\n  if (!ok) return;\n}}")
+          for n in ("Trash", "Delete", "Remove", "Restore")],
+        (f"{comp}/Old.vue", "sym", "oldHelper", "function oldHelper() {",
+         "function oldHelper() {\n  return document.title.length > 0;\n}"),
+    )
+    await sync_repo_shapes(pid, REPO, base, seen_marker=f"{tag}-1")
+    await classify_shapes(owner, pid, [
+        {"path": f"{comp}/{n}.vue", "symbol": f"on{n}", "status": "instance", "snippet_id": sid}
+        for n in ("Trash", "Delete", "Remove", "Restore")
+    ], via="audit")
+    previous = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    later = base + _defs(
+        (f"{comp}/Danger.vue", "sym", "confirmDanger", "function confirmDanger() {",
+         "function confirmDanger() {\n  return window.confirm('Really?');\n}"),
+    )
+    await sync_repo_shapes(pid, REPO, later, seen_marker=f"{tag}-2")
+    return owner, pid, later, previous
+
+
+def _conclusive(*_a, report=None, **_k):
+    if report is not None:
+        report["conclusive"] = True
+    return None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.integration
+async def test_the_capped_semantic_pass_reaches_the_new_shape_first(seeded):
+    """Measured live: after the #4208 version bump, 1,533 rows competed for 150
+    semantic checks in row order and the six new shapes — the only ones the
+    divergence check acts on — were all left unread and flagged. With room for
+    ONE check, the new shape must be the one that gets it."""
+    from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, patch
+
+    from scribe.services import shape_ledger
+    from scribe.services.shape_ledger import (
+        BASIS_NO_SEMANTIC_MATCH, live_rows, propose_for_repo,
+    )
+
+    owner, pid, later, _previous = await _two_generations(seeded, "cap")
+    with patch.object(shape_ledger, "_semantic_canon",
+                      AsyncMock(side_effect=_conclusive)):
+        stats = await propose_for_repo(owner, pid, REPO, later, semantic_cap=1)
+    assert stats["semantic_checked"] == 1
+
+    rows = {r.symbol: r for r in await live_rows(pid)}
+    assert rows["confirmDanger"].proposal_basis == BASIS_NO_SEMANTIC_MATCH
+    # The old row is left for the next refresh, unexamined — never stamped.
+    assert rows["oldHelper"].proposal_basis is None
+    assert rows["oldHelper"].proposed_sha == ""
+
+
+@pytest.mark.integration
+async def test_a_later_conclusive_miss_withdraws_a_flag_raised_before_it(seeded):
+    """A flag raised while the arm had not yet read the row was raised on
+    "cannot tell". When a later refresh reads the body and finds it is none of
+    the canons, the flag goes — and only that evidence withdraws one."""
+    from datetime import timedelta
+    from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, patch
+
+    from scribe.services import shape_ledger
+    from scribe.services.shape_ledger import flag_divergence, propose_for_repo
+
+    owner, pid, later, previous = await _two_generations(seeded, "withdraw")
+    since = previous - timedelta(seconds=1)
+
+    # First refresh: the arm is quiet (formed no opinion), so the prompt is raised.
+    with patch.object(shape_ledger, "_semantic_canon", AsyncMock(return_value=None)):
+        await propose_for_repo(owner, pid, REPO, later)
+    assert await flag_divergence(pid, since=since) == 1
+
+    # A later refresh re-reads the body (a ruleset bump forces it) and is sure.
+    with patch.object(shape_ledger, "_PROPOSER_VERSION", 10_000), \
+         patch.object(shape_ledger, "_semantic_canon",
+                      AsyncMock(side_effect=_conclusive)):
+        await propose_for_repo(owner, pid, REPO, later)
+    assert await flag_divergence(pid, since=since) == 0
+    _, total = await list_project_shapes(owner, pid, flag="divergence")
+    assert total == 0
+
+
 @pytest.mark.integration
 async def test_history_records_what_was_used_when_and_drift_asks_for_a_recheck(seeded):
     from scribe.services.shape_ledger import shape_history