Native intake

Every write goes through scripts/native/native.mjs, whose decisions are tested in scripts/native/native.test.mjs. Do not write issues, labels, comments or merges any other way. The action holds carnival-app-writer (limit 1, queued), so it never runs beside another app writer. Inside this action only, run the script with CARNIVAL_APP_WRITER_HELD=1. That variable stops an accidental local run. It is not a security boundary.

Everything you write is public. Never include private logs, run artifacts, credentials or anything from outside this repository's public record.

MODE=backlog (00:00, 06:00, 12:00, 18:00 Europe/London)

1. node scripts/native/native.mjs slot gives the backlog slot. If its 18 items already exist, backlog reports complete and writes nothing.
2. Look at the carnival as it is now, in a real browser. Run scripts/visual/run-capture.sh <dir outside the clone> '#/' <route ...>, passing the midway and every game's route (with no routes it captures only two), and look at every screenshot. Play each game long enough to see a round end. Judge it against docs/visual-baseline/README.md and the review lenses: one coherent look, readable text and contrast, keyboard play, and screens that fit. If the browser cannot start, setup-browser.sh exits non-zero: stop and report that capability failure. Never file items from source alone, and never claim to have seen a screen you did not capture.
3. Also read WORKSHOP.md, the game READMEs and every issue, open or closed (gh api --paginate 'repos/guypod/carnival-evolution-20261028/issues?state=all&per_page=100' --jq '.[] | {number, state, title, body}', which has no cap), so you can compare scopes, not only titles.
4. Write the batch to a file outside the clone as {"slot": "<the backlog slot from step 1>", "candidates": [...]}, with 18 candidates {title, scope, body, evidence} and item i for index i. The slot stays fixed for this batch, even if the run crosses a six-hour boundary. Mix sizes and kinds: small polish, accessibility and feel fixes as well as larger reworks of a game or the midway. New games are allowed but should be the exception, and items must not repeat one formula across booths. Each one is coherent on its own, has a Done when list that includes checking the changed flow in a browser, and differs in scope from the others and from every existing issue. A change to one game stays inside its folder; a midway or src/carnival/ change is its own item (house rule 7). evidence names the screenshot route and what you saw there. It is public: never include private logs, run artifacts or screenshots' file paths outside the repository.
5. CARNIVAL_APP_WRITER_HELD=1 node scripts/native/native.mjs backlog <file>. It refuses duplicates by title or scope, never adds tessl, files each missing index with a durable marker, and reconciles an uncertain create by re-reading before moving on. After a crash, rerun the same file: it names its own slot and item i still maps to index i, so only that slot's missing ones are filed. When it reports partial with errors, fix the candidates it names and run it once more. Never pad, and never claim the slot is complete unless it says complete. Report the remaining count.

MODE=dispatch (every 20 minutes Europe/London)

1. CARNIVAL_APP_WRITER_HELD=1 node scripts/native/native.mjs merge. For an open Tessl PR whose source issue, branch and single Closes line agree, whose newest tessl-reviewer[bot] review on the exact head carries approved=true (advisory findings allowed) and matches the reviewer's own check run on that head, with green check CI and no request for changes still standing, it gates again and merges atomically with that head as the expected SHA. It never arms GitHub auto-merge, never submits a review, never relaxes a required check, and never merges another way.
2. A PR counts as shipped only after it merged, node scripts/native/native.mjs deploy <merge sha> reports deployed-needs-sanity, and the changed flow has been checked in a browser on the live site or that exact commit (VISUAL_REV=<sha> scripts/visual/run-capture.sh <dir> <route>), with the screenshots looked at. A 200 response or the page title alone is not app QA. Otherwise report the QA still owed. Never say merged means live.
3. CARNIVAL_APP_WRITER_HELD=1 node scripts/native/native.mjs dispatch. It claims one eligible backlog issue for the slot and adds tessl as tessl-app[bot]. That label starts no implementation by itself: it fires the native-bot-backlog-labelled trigger, which runs MODE=admit. Never start implement-github-issue from dispatch. busy, idle, blocked, labelled and stopped are all normal outcomes. Report the one you got.

MODE=admit (the native-bot-backlog-labelled trigger)

1. CARNIVAL_APP_WRITER_HELD=1 node scripts/native/native.mjs admit <repository root>/.cloud-launch/trigger-events.json. Run it once and report its JSON. It reads the issue, its comments, its events, the repository's claim history, linked pull requests and the tessl/issue-<n> branch fresh, plus Tessl's launch runs through tessl api /experimental/launch-runs, and refuses unless every check passes. It defers while another implementation run is queued or running, writing only a deferral record that a later dispatch retries, and never hands off twice under its own key. On a pass it writes one admission record and hands off with tessl action trigger implement-github-issue and a request id keyed by the label event, then returns without waiting for that run.
2. refused, deferred and blocked are final for this run: never hand off any other way, never relabel, never edit the issue, and never retry with a weaker check. uncertain means the admission write or the handoff call failed without an answer: rerun the same command once. It reads its own record back and reuses the same request id, so a repeat starts no second run.
3. Write nothing else on the issue. The admission script is the only writer.

Report the script's JSON output, plus the browser checks you actually did (routes captured and what you saw) and any browser QA still owed. Claim nothing neither the script nor your own screenshots show.