kyle-sexton · Nov 4, 2026 · Nov 4, 2026 · Nov 4, 2026 · Nov 4, 2026 · Nov 4, 2026
diff --git a/.changes/pr-pipeline/perf-dispatch-verdict-exact-name-439816b1.md b/.changes/pr-pipeline/perf-dispatch-verdict-exact-name-439816b1.md
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+---
+bump: patch
+---
+
+### Changed
+
+- No workflow looks for the artifact listing pr-merge's last run saved any more. The verdict
+  reader reads the FAIL index by exact name and saves a listing only for a pull request past
+  `INDEX_NAMES_CAP` index names, so each search cost one run listing and up to ten runs'
+  artifact listings and almost always found nothing. Past that cap a dispatcher's FAIL-cap
+  read now lists in full. The address-feedback and
+  pr-unblock dispatchers' FAIL-cap reads (`verify-cap.mjs`), pr-merge's `merge` and
+  `enable-auto-merge` jobs, and ci-status's merge-queue reader no longer run it; the run cache
+  and head-ref map are still carried. `BABYSIT_VERIFY_LISTING_CARRY` is gone from every job.
+
+### Removed
+
+- `.github/scripts/pr-merge/listing-carry.mjs` and its floor row, and pr-merge's
+  `pr-merge-verify-listing` upload with its credential scan.
diff --git a/.changes/source-control/perf-dispatch-verdict-exact-name-5b2e91c4.md b/.changes/source-control/perf-dispatch-verdict-exact-name-5b2e91c4.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+bump: patch
+---
+
+### Changed
+
+- `babysit_verify_evidence.py` documents that no workflow names `BABYSIT_VERIFY_LISTING_CARRY`
+  now that index mode saves no listing to carry; the reader still takes one when named. The
+  floor-path pins drop the removed `listing-carry.mjs` row.
diff --git a/.github/artifact-retention.json b/.github/artifact-retention.json
@@ -117,14 +117,6 @@
       "reason": "Read by the next run; 1 day is the minimum.",
       "scan": "upload"
     },
-    "pr-merge-verify-listing": {
-      "retention-days": 1,
-      "readers": [
-        ".github/scripts/pr-merge/listing-carry.mjs LISTING_ARTIFACT, from the newest trusted run"
-      ],
-      "reason": "Read by the next run as its listing base; 1 day is the minimum.",
-      "scan": "upload"
-    },
     "pr-merge-head-refs": {
       "retention-days": 1,
       "readers": [

@@ -166,7 +166,6 @@
 //   GITHUB_API_URL
 //   GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER    where the sweep starts (rotated)
 //   BABYSIT_VERIFY_GH_TOKEN, BABYSIT_VERIFY_LISTING, BABYSIT_VERIFY_HEAD_REFS,
-//   BABYSIT_VERIFY_LISTING_CARRY,
 //   BABYSIT_RUN_CACHE    the gate reader's Actions token and the run's shared
 //                        reads, as enable-auto-merge passes them; the job
 //                        token also reads branch activity, check runs and

@@ -345,7 +345,6 @@ export const HOLD_PATH_CLASSES = Object.freeze([
   [".github/scripts/pr-merge/who.mjs", "gate"],
   [".github/scripts/pr-merge/post-unarmed-status.mjs", "gate"],
   [".github/scripts/pr-merge/verify-answers.mjs", "gate"],
-  [".github/scripts/pr-merge/listing-carry.mjs", "gate"],
   [".github/actions/report-check-run/posting-run.mjs", "gate"],
   ["scripts/sync-hold-floor.py", "trust"],
   [".github/scripts/pr-unblock/address-feedback.mjs", "enforcement"],

@@ -814,8 +814,8 @@ test("enable-auto-merge skips its work when a waiting run's enable-auto-merge jo
 // answers in that job's RUNNER_TEMP; the readers' tests count what it saves.
 test("the merge and enable-auto-merge jobs' kept-file readers share their reads", () => {
   for (const [id, scripts] of [
-    ["merge", ["rotation.mjs", "head-ref-map.mjs read", "lane-records.mjs read", "listing-carry.mjs"]],
-    ["enable-auto-merge", ["head-ref-map.mjs read", "lane-records.mjs read", "verify-answers.mjs", "listing-carry.mjs"]],
+    ["merge", ["rotation.mjs", "head-ref-map.mjs read", "carry-run-cache.mjs read", "lane-records.mjs read"]],
+    ["enable-auto-merge", ["head-ref-map.mjs read", "carry-run-cache.mjs read", "lane-records.mjs read", "verify-answers.mjs"]],
     ["post-merge-dispatch", ["lane-records.mjs read", "last-report.mjs"]],
   ]) {
     for (const script of scripts) {
@@ -825,6 +825,15 @@ test("the merge and enable-auto-merge jobs' kept-file readers share their reads"
   }
 });
 
+// The verdict reader reads the FAIL index by exact name, so no run saves an
+// artifact listing for the next: none is uploaded, looked for or named.
+test("no job keeps, fetches or names a carried artifact listing", () => {
+  const text = read("pr-merge.yml");
+  assert.doesNotMatch(text, /pr-merge-verify-listing/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(text, /listing-carry/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(text, /BABYSIT_VERIFY_LISTING_CARRY/);
+});
+
 test("the last verifier read enable-auto-merge starts ends inside its step's timeout", () => {
   const arm = job("enable-auto-merge");
   const step = /- name: Arm and disarm auto-merge\n {8}id: arm\n {8}if: .*\n {8}timeout-minutes: ([0-9]+)\n/.exec(arm);
@@ -1517,7 +1526,7 @@ test("a dispatch that failed skips the record", () => {
 test("every credential scan has a timeout of at most 2 minutes, and the upload it guards needs its clean output", () => {
   const bestEffort = {
     "post-merge-dispatch": ["scan-upload", "scan-upload-5"],
-    merge: ["scan-upload-2", "scan-upload-3", "scan-upload-4", "scan-upload-5", "scan-upload-6", "scan-upload-7"],
+    merge: ["scan-upload-2", "scan-upload-3", "scan-upload-4", "scan-upload-5", "scan-upload-6"],
     "enable-auto-merge": ["scan-upload", "scan-upload-2"],
     "dispatch-full-run": [],
   };

@@ -25,12 +25,15 @@
 // record and a compare per FAIL and a download per untied FAIL: on 2026-10-31,
 // 458 FAILs were 1,252 reads, and every read was killed at
 // VERIFY_CAP_TIMEOUT_MS with its calls spent and no answer. The
-// reads pr-merge carried answer them with no request: its listing
-// (listing-carry.mjs), run cache (carry-run-cache.mjs) and head-ref map
-// (head-ref-map.mjs), used as its gate uses them, only where they count a FAIL.
-// They are fetched on the first read only, so a run that skips before any read
-// spends none of their calls, and the run cache keeps what each read adds for
-// the next.
+// reads pr-merge carried answer them with no request: its run cache
+// (carry-run-cache.mjs) and head-ref map (head-ref-map.mjs), used as its gate
+// uses them, only where they count a FAIL. They are fetched on the first read
+// only, so a run that skips before any read spends none of their calls, and
+// the run cache keeps what each read adds for the next. pr-merge's artifact
+// listing is not fetched: the reader reads the FAIL index by exact name
+// (babysit_verify_evidence.py `index_mode`), so no gate saves a listing to
+// carry, and looking for one cost one run listing and ten runs' artifact
+// listings a job.
 //
 // A count miss on the carried listing takes the reader's waits, about 45 s a
 // read, and a read that ends in DEADLINE_UNREADABLE saves no listing, so the
@@ -119,7 +122,7 @@ export const CARRY_TIMEOUT_MS = 2 * 60_000;
 export function carrySteps(env) {
   const shared = { PR_MERGE_READS_PATH: `${env.RUNNER_TEMP}/verify-carry-reads.json` };
   const carriedFile = `${env.RUNNER_TEMP}/pr-merge-carried.json`;
-  const steps = [{ script: "listing-carry.mjs", args: [], env: { ...shared, API_BUDGET_SCRIPT: "listing-carry" } }];
+  const steps = [];
   if (env.BABYSIT_RUN_CACHE) {
     steps.push(
       { script: "carry-run-cache.mjs", args: ["read"], env: { ...shared, API_BUDGET_SCRIPT: "carry-run-cache", CARRY_TO: carriedFile } },
@@ -191,7 +194,8 @@ function stderrSummary(stderr) {
 // merge.max-verify-fails (the lower of that commit's and main's).
 // `expected`: refusals the round is sent for, which warn nothing.
 // `carry`: fetches what pr-merge carried, before the first read only, when the
-// job names BABYSIT_VERIFY_LISTING_CARRY; a failed fetch is no carry.
+// job names BABYSIT_RUN_CACHE or BABYSIT_VERIFY_HEAD_REFS (`carrySteps`); a
+// failed fetch is no carry.
 export function verifyCapReader(env, options) {
   const read = verifyReader(env, options);
   return async (request) => (await read(request)).cap;
@@ -216,7 +220,7 @@ export function verifyReader(env, { spawn = spawnAsync, log = (line) => console.
   let carried = null;
   let deadlineMissed = false;
   return async ({ number, head, base, expected = [] }) => {
-    if (env.BABYSIT_VERIFY_LISTING_CARRY) {
+    if (carrySteps(env).length > 0) {
       carried ??= Promise.resolve()
         .then(() => carry(env))
         .catch((error) => log(`::warning::pr-merge's carried reads were not all fetched (${oneLine(error?.message ?? error)}); the reader asks GitHub for the rest`));