The change is operational configuration, not content: it adds an optional inclusive `until` to budget exemptions, applies the grant across the span in `capsFor`, adds a dated grant (2026-09-22 → 09-30, day cap held at $60, month raised to $550), and records the direction in docs/DECISIONS.md stamped with date and channel ('founder (direction in session, 2026-09-22)'). AGENTS.md is untouched, so §3.15's reservation is not implicated. Budget caps are not among the §3.15 checks (fail-closed CI validity, multi-model ratification, contested-change parking, fabrication/confidence prohibitions); raising a spending cap by founder direction does not loosen any of those, and the exemption self-expires so October falls back to the crunch caps as coded. §3.15 expressly permits founder directions to be recorded and cited in the decisions log and configuration, which is exactly the provenance given here. The diff adds no citations (verification found none) and touches no content/ records, so no fabrication or provenance-misattribution risk arises. The added test covers first/middle/last day of the span and days outside it, matching the documented behavior.

The diff does not edit AGENTS.md, alter citation/content records, or weaken the publication and ratification checks in §3.15. It records the claimed founder direction with date and channel in both budget configuration and the append-only decisions log, consistent with the constitution’s treatment of founder directions as operating records. The inclusive range is equivalent to listing nine dated exemptions and remains explicit, reasoned, attributed, and self-expiring; tests cover its first, middle, last, preceding, and following dates. No fabricated locator, confidence material, or misleading ratification label is visible in the change.

The change adds support for multi-day date spans to budget exemptions and records a founder-authorized budget grant for 2026-09-22 through 2026-09-30 in `config/budget.yaml` and `docs/DECISIONS.md`. Per §3.15, founder directions given in a working session may be recorded, paraphrased, and cited in the decisions log and configuration, stamped with date and channel. AGENTS.md is untouched, no epistemic checks are weakened, and unit tests have been added to verify the span logic.

The diff only extends budget exemption schema (optional inclusive `until`), adds a dated founder-stamped grant in config/budget.yaml, records that direction in docs/DECISIONS.md, and updates capsFor plus a unit test. AGENTS.md is untouched, so §3.15’s constitution-edit reservation is fine. Cost caps are operational configuration, not an epistemic check being loosened; the grant is on the record with date, channel, reason, and self-expiry, matching the existing exemption/crunch pattern and the constitution’s rule that founder session directions may be cited in config and the decisions log. No citations, content ledger records, confidence material, or run assessments are involved.

This is a budget-configuration change, not a content or epistemic-record change, so the §3 citation/provenance machinery is not engaged and no fabricated locators appear. The constitution's own exemption mechanism (founder-granted, dated, on the record, self-expiring, never an environment variable) is preserved and extended: the diff adds an optional `until` field with tests covering first/middle/last day and days outside the span, and the new grant is recorded in config with reason, amount, and attribution ('founder (direction in session, 2026-09-22)') plus a matching dated DECISIONS.md entry, satisfying the operating-record stamping discipline. Raising a cap is expressly the founder's act, and the change records that direction rather than claiming autonomous authority; the grant is dated and self-expiring (October falls back to the crunch caps), so it does not loosen or dodge any §3.15 check — the budget guard is a cost control, not one of the epistemic checks, and the §3.15 safeguards (fail-closed CI, multi-model ratification, append-only assessments) are untouched. I cannot independently verify the in-session founder direction dated today, but it is recorded with the channel and date the constitution requires, follows the established pattern of prior entries, and nothing in the packet contradicts it.