diff --git a/positronic/policy/base.py b/positronic/policy/base.py
index b3d93fac9..a76cd0bec 100644
--- a/positronic/policy/base.py
+++ b/positronic/policy/base.py
@@ -73,6 +73,19 @@ def __call__(self, obs: Mapping[str, Any], time_ns: int) -> list[dict[str, Any]]
         ``time_ns`` is the caller's clock reading in nanoseconds. A session reads no clock of its own.
         """
 
+    def reads_observation(self, obs: Mapping[str, Any], time_ns: int) -> bool:
+        """Whether the call this query precedes would read the observation it is given.
+
+        Answering False permits the caller to hand over whatever it already has instead of building
+        what this session asked for, so a session whose ``__call__`` reads the observation must answer
+        True — including one that only records it. The call happens either way.
+
+        It takes what ``__call__`` takes, so a session deciding on a field decides on the same value in
+        both: a query answered against the caller's clock and a call answered against the observation's
+        own stamp disagree wherever the two readings straddle a boundary.
+        """
+        return True
+
     @property
     def meta(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         """What this session reports about its model and its episode."""
diff --git a/positronic/policy/codec.py b/positronic/policy/codec.py
index 78c0f6bb2..b837c7619 100644
--- a/positronic/policy/codec.py
+++ b/positronic/policy/codec.py
@@ -114,8 +114,13 @@ def __init__(self, inner: Session, codec: 'Codec'):
         super().__init__(inner)
         self._codec = codec
 
+    def reads_observation(self, obs, time_ns):
+        # Forwarded because this session encodes rather than reads: told no, it hands its own input on.
+        return self._inner.reads_observation(obs, time_ns)
+
     def __call__(self, obs, time_ns):
-        encoded = self._codec.encode(obs)
+        reads = self._inner.reads_observation(obs, time_ns)
+        encoded = self._codec.encode(obs) if reads else obs
         action = self._inner(encoded, time_ns)
         if action is None:
             return None
diff --git a/positronic/policy/layers.py b/positronic/policy/layers.py
index 530039e06..96b43bee9 100644
--- a/positronic/policy/layers.py
+++ b/positronic/policy/layers.py
@@ -80,6 +80,12 @@ def __init__(self, inner: Session):
             super().__init__(inner)
             self._trajectory_end: float | None = None
 
+        def reads_observation(self, obs, time_ns):
+            # The same guard ``__call__`` makes, against the same instant, so the two cannot disagree.
+            if self._trajectory_end is not None and _obs_time(obs) < self._trajectory_end:
+                return False
+            return self._inner.reads_observation(obs, time_ns)
+
         def __call__(self, obs, time_ns):
             if self._trajectory_end is not None and _obs_time(obs) < self._trajectory_end:
                 return None
@@ -180,7 +186,11 @@ def __init__(self, inner: Session, keys: tuple[str, ...], offsets_sec: tuple[flo
 
         def __call__(self, obs, time_ns):
             now = _obs_time(obs)
+            # Unconditional, including on the ticks that skip sampling below: a gap here is a hole in
+            # the window every later sample is taken from.
             self._buffer.append(now, {k: obs[k] for k in self._keys})
+            if not self._inner.reads_observation(obs, time_ns):
+                return self._inner(obs, time_ns)
             return self._inner({**obs, **self._buffer.sample(now)}, time_ns)
 
         def cancel(self):
diff --git a/positronic/policy/remote.py b/positronic/policy/remote.py
index 875e5620b..1d5f9aa1a 100644
--- a/positronic/policy/remote.py
+++ b/positronic/policy/remote.py
@@ -93,6 +93,9 @@ def __call__(self, obs: cabc.Mapping[str, Any], time_ns: int) -> list[dict[str,
             return None
         return [result] if isinstance(result, dict) else result
 
+    def reads_observation(self, obs: cabc.Mapping[str, Any], time_ns: int) -> bool:
+        return self._answer is None
+
     def cancel(self):
         # The cancel says the world the chunk applies to has gone. The session still reads the round trip
         # for its failure, and drops the chunk that comes with it.
diff --git a/positronic/policy/tests/test_layers.py b/positronic/policy/tests/test_layers.py
index 28a5d1007..a95d581f0 100644
--- a/positronic/policy/tests/test_layers.py
+++ b/positronic/policy/tests/test_layers.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 from positronic.geom import Rotation, Transform3D
 from positronic.policy import spec
 from positronic.policy.action import AbsoluteJointsAction, AbsolutePositionAction, IKJointsAction, JointDeltaAction
-from positronic.policy.base import Layer, Policy, Session
+from positronic.policy.base import DelegatingSession, Layer, Policy, Session
 from positronic.policy.codec import (
     ActionHorizon,
     ActionTimestamp,
@@ -326,6 +326,87 @@ def test_every_arm_channel_is_stamped(self):
         np.testing.assert_array_equal(decoded[keys.TARGET_JOINTS], np.zeros(7))
 
 
+class _DecliningSession(Session):
+    """A session that reads no observation — what a remote one answers with a round trip in flight."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.seen: dict[str, Any] = {}
+
+    def __call__(self, obs, time_ns):
+        self.seen = dict(obs)
+        return None
+
+    def reads_observation(self, obs, time_ns):
+        return False
+
+
+class _CapturingInner(Session):
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.seen: dict[str, Any] = {}
+
+    def __call__(self, obs, time_ns):
+        self.seen = dict(obs)
+        return None
+
+
+class TestReadsObservation:
+    """The gate that lets a layer skip building an observation nothing below will read."""
+
+    def test_a_session_reads_its_observation_by_default(self):
+        assert _ConstSession(None).reads_observation(_obs(0), 0) is True
+
+    def test_a_schedule_reads_nothing_while_its_chunk_plays(self):
+        session = ChunkedSchedule().make_session(_ConstSession([{keys.ACTION_TIMESTAMP: 2.0}]))
+        assert session.reads_observation(_obs(0), 0) is True  # nothing emitted yet
+        session(_obs(0), 0)  # emits, ending 2 s from now
+        assert session.reads_observation(_obs(1.0), int(1.0e9)) is False  # mid-chunk
+        assert session.reads_observation(_obs(3.0), int(3.0e9)) is True  # played out
+
+    def test_the_gate_agrees_with_the_call(self):
+        """Both read `_trajectory_end`, in two places, so they are pinned against each other: a call
+        that answers None is one the gate would have declined."""
+        session = ChunkedSchedule().make_session(_ConstSession([{keys.ACTION_TIMESTAMP: 2.0}]))
+        session(_obs(0), 0)
+        for t_ns in (int(0.5e9), int(1.9e9), int(2.0e9), int(2.1e9), int(5.0e9)):
+            declined = not session.reads_observation(_obs(t_ns / 1e9), t_ns)
+            answered_none = session(_obs(t_ns / 1e9), t_ns) is None
+            assert declined is answered_none, f'disagreed at {t_ns} ns'
+
+    def test_the_gate_reads_the_observation_instant_the_call_reads(self):
+        """An observation ahead of the caller's clock: a gate reading the clock would decline, while
+        the call goes through to the inner session — which then gets whatever the layer above kept."""
+        session = ChunkedSchedule().make_session(_ConstSession([{keys.ACTION_TIMESTAMP: 2.0}]))
+        session(_obs(0), 0)
+        assert session.reads_observation(_obs(2.5), int(1.0e9)) is True
+        assert session(_obs(2.5), int(1.0e9)) is not None
+
+    def test_a_delegating_session_answers_for_itself(self):
+        """A session that wraps another still reads its own observation — a recording tap is the live
+        case. Forwarding the inner answer would let a layer above hand it something else to log."""
+
+        class _Tap(DelegatingSession):
+            def __call__(self, obs, time_ns):
+                self.logged = dict(obs)
+                return self._inner(obs, time_ns)
+
+        assert _Tap(_DecliningSession()).reads_observation(_obs(0), 0) is True
+
+    def test_a_stack_is_not_sampled_when_nothing_below_reads_it(self):
+        """The window is the expensive part, and most ticks do not use it. Recording still happens on
+        every tick — the history it builds is what the next real call is sampled from."""
+        inner = _DecliningSession()
+        session = TemporalStack(keys=('cam',), offsets_sec=(-0.2, 0.0)).make_session(inner)
+        session({**_obs(0), 'cam': np.zeros((4, 4, 3), np.uint8)}, 0)
+        assert inner.seen['cam'].shape == (4, 4, 3), 'passed through unstacked'
+
+    def test_a_stack_is_sampled_when_something_below_reads_it(self):
+        inner = _CapturingInner()
+        session = TemporalStack(keys=('cam',), offsets_sec=(-0.2, 0.0)).make_session(inner)
+        session({**_obs(0), 'cam': np.zeros((4, 4, 3), np.uint8)}, 0)
+        # A stacked entry carries the window's length on a new leading axis.
+        assert inner.seen['cam'].shape == (2, 4, 4, 3)
+
+
 class TestTemporalStack:
     OFFSETS = (-0.2, -0.1, 0.0)