The diff touches only pipeline code, its tests, and a DECISIONS.md entry — AGENTS.md is untouched and no content/ records or citations are added (verification tooling found no identifiers). The change tightens rather than loosens checks: a claim found compound but not yet split is no longer silently left standing with full weight but enters the provisional, weightless tier with reason, route, runId stamp, a history line and a disposition row (§3.2, §3.8, §3.14); a record relinked to all parts of a split claim is likewise marked provisional and weightless until read against each part, rather than asserting evidence direction that was never verified (§3.5). The quote normalizer is narrowed from erasing all whitespace to collapsing spacing only beside punctuation, so 'now here' can no longer match 'nowhere' — a strengthening of quote verification, covered by an added test. Stamps (by: runId, since: date) and the append-only history/dispositions writing are preserved, and the held-claim carve-out is now restricted at re-verify passes to claims already held, so it cannot be used to dodge refusal generally. No fabrication, confidence, or check-weakening indicators are visible; the diff is complete with no omitted files.

The change knowingly retains a Claim after the reader has determined that it contains multiple propositions, contrary to §3.2’s categorical requirement that each Claim be atomic. In `settleRecords`, it filters that failed claim out of `plan.refuse`, reclassifies it as provisional, and on later passes holds it again rather than refusing it; making it weightless does not make the Claim atomic. This is also a §3.15 check dodge because an adverse atomicity result is repeatedly converted into a non-refusal state instead of being enforced. The record should be replaced by valid atomic claims, removed or tombstoned without dangling links, or represented outside the Claim graph until valid replacements exist.

The change directly addresses review note #384 by ensuring that compound claims with no admitted split parts and records relinked across parts of a split claim enter the provisional tier (marked weightless) rather than silently retaining weight against §3.2 and §3.5. Quote matching logic in `quotes.ts` is refined to normalize spacing adjacent to punctuation without erasing boundaries between distinct words. All changes are thoroughly tested and accurately documented in DECISIONS.md and history logs without modifying AGENTS.md or introducing unverified citations.

The diff strengthens §3.2 and §3.5 rather than weakening them: a live claim found compound with no parts admitted is now stamped provisional (weightless, with reason/route/by) instead of remaining load-bearing, and a record relinked to split parts is likewise provisional until re-read against each part. Quote normalization keeps word boundaries so “now here” cannot match “nowhere,” fixing the prior over-collapse while still equating punctuation spacing. DECISIONS.md records the founder-supervised rule; AGENTS.md is untouched; no citations, confidence material, or run content are introduced. Tests assert the provisional stamps, dispositions, history lines, and quote cases.

This change tightens the epistemic checks rather than weakening them: a claim found compound with no admitted parts, which under the prior settlement would have been left standing with its weight, is now held in the provisional tier — kept but carrying no weight, with since/reason/route/by stamped on the record — until it is split into one claim per proposition, which serves §3.2; and a record relinked to the parts of a split claim, which previously kept its admitted reviewState while asserting bearings no pass had verified, is now demoted to provisional and weightless until read against each part, which serves §3.5. The quote-matching change is likewise a strengthening: the old whitespace-stripping rule could let 'now here' match 'nowhere', and the new normalization (collapse runs of whitespace to one space, drop spaces beside punctuation, keep word boundaries) is tested both positively and negatively, including a case that must fail. Extending the provisional tier to these two cases is a natural application of the founder's 2026-09-17 provisional mechanism in §4, not a reclassification to dodge checks — both moves remove weight from unverified material, the opposite of check-weakening. The DECISIONS.md entry records the change with date, channel, and supervision; AGENTS.md itself is untouched; no citations are added, so there is nothing to fabricate; and the diff is complete with no omitted files, so nothing hidden remains that could change the picture. Provenance for the held and relinked states is stamped with runId, date, reason, and route, and dispositions and history lines record what happened, satisfying the visibility requirements of §3.14 and §4.