src/scribe/mcp/tools/search.py

@@ -624,6 +624,8 @@ It is an UPPER BOUND per surface: a pull records the door it came
       corpus. Not a verdict on them: a line carries its matched passage, so
       an unopened record may have been unrelated, enough as shown, or already
       in context. Judge a sample (`menus_to_review`) before acting on it.
+      For RULES there is no judged sample: a rule set aside again and again
+      is a trigger to fix (`update_rule(when_to_apply=...)`), not a floor.
     - `read_and_unacted` — distinct rules OPENED in the window that recorded
       no outcome, against the ones that did. The failure milestone 419 was
       opened on, and the worse sibling of `surfaced_never_pulled` above: a

src/scribe/services/retrieval_telemetry.py

@@ -492,6 +492,34 @@ def _num(raw: str, fallback):
         return fallback
 
 
+# What "surfaced and never opened" can and cannot mean, per corpus, and where
+# to look next. ONE SENTENCE PER CORPUS because the two lines are built
+# differently (#4798): a note line carries its matched passage, so an unopened
+# note may have done its job, and the judged sample is the instrument that can
+# tell. A rule line carries only its trigger and asks to be opened, and no
+# judged sample covers the rule arms (`retrieval_review.REVIEWABLE`), so
+# sending that reader to `menus_to_review` sent them to a refusal.
+_NEVER_PULLED_READING = {
+    "notes": (
+        "That is not a verdict on them: a line carries its matched passage, "
+        "so an unopened record may have been unrelated, enough as shown, or "
+        "already in context. Before acting on it — a title, a floor, a "
+        "budget — judge a sample with `menus_to_review` and read the "
+        "`judged` block."
+    ),
+    "rules": (
+        "Not a verdict either, and read differently from notes: the count "
+        "includes rules that only arrived in a listing (the project "
+        "handshake, a planning read), and a rule line shows its trigger, so a "
+        "session can rightly set one aside on the trigger alone. There is no "
+        "judged sample for the rule arms. A rule set aside again and again "
+        "where it does not apply is a trigger to fix, not a floor to move — "
+        "`update_rule(when_to_apply=...)`, then `what_might_apply` with the "
+        "moment's own words to see where it ranks."
+    ),
+}
+
+
 def _warn(code, detail, source=None, **numbers) -> dict:
     """One finding, carrying the numbers that produced it.
 
@@ -767,11 +795,7 @@ def _compute_warnings(sources: dict, usage: dict, rule_usage: dict,
             out.append(_warn(
                 "surfaced_never_pulled",
                 f"{never} of {shown} distinct {label} were surfaced in this "
-                f"window and never opened. That is not a verdict on them: a "
+                f"window and never opened. {_NEVER_PULLED_READING[label]}",
-                f"line carries its matched passage, so an unopened record may "
-                f"have been unrelated, enough as shown, or already in context. "
-                f"Before acting on it — a title, a floor, a budget — judge a "
-                f"sample with `menus_to_review` and read the `judged` block.",
                 source=None, corpus=label,
                 surfaced=int(shown), pulled=int(pulled or 0), never_pulled=never,
             ))

tests/test_retrieval_warnings.py

@@ -182,6 +182,29 @@ def test_records_shown_and_never_opened_are_reported_per_corpus() -> None:
     assert found["rules"]["never_pulled"] == 58
 
 
+def test_each_corpus_is_sent_only_to_a_tool_that_takes_it() -> None:
+    """#4798: one remedy for both corpora sent the rules reader to
+    `menus_to_review`, which refuses every source but the notes menu. Tied to
+    `REVIEWABLE` itself, so it goes red in either direction: the rules text
+    naming the tool while no rule arm is reviewable, or a rule arm becoming
+    reviewable while the text still says there is no sample."""
+    from scribe.services.retrieval_review import REVIEWABLE
+
+    ws = warn(
+        {},
+        usage={"distinct_notes_surfaced": 9, "distinct_notes_pulled": 1},
+        rule_usage={"distinct_rules_surfaced": 9, "distinct_rules_pulled": 1},
+    )
+    detail = {w["numbers"]["corpus"]: w["detail"]
+              for w in ws if w["code"] == "surfaced_never_pulled"}
+    assert set(detail) == {"notes", "rules"}
+    assert "auto_inject" in REVIEWABLE
+    assert "menus_to_review" in detail["notes"]
+    rule_arms = {"prompt_rule", "pre_tool_rule", "write_path_rule"}
+    assert ("menus_to_review" in detail["rules"]) == bool(rule_arms & set(REVIEWABLE))
+    assert "when_to_apply" in detail["rules"], "the rules text names no next step"
+
+
 def test_everything_opened_reports_nothing() -> None:
     ws = warn({}, usage={"distinct_notes_surfaced": 5, "distinct_notes_pulled": 5})
     assert "surfaced_never_pulled" not in codes(ws)