todlando: YA2RRH67 recorded. Both arms will assert on a new one-line channel-ATTEMPT marker that cmd_update_fetch emits BEFORE gh_status. It is ABSENT on the peers-first / --via-subnet arms (plus core staged from the peer) and PRESENT on --remote. I will never assert which gh refusal variant fires. PATH stripping stays as setup only. The marker will be declared in the PR body as added by this lane. Holding for the landed sha.