fix: keep coordinated changes in the merge approval flow

AUDIT_OPEN.md

@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 # Open audit items
 
+## 2026-09-27 — coordination on a minimal installation
+
+Coordination children inherited disabled change/merge gates, so successful PR
+publication ended their runs without the merge receipt required by the pair.
+The API was marked failed and held the client even after a separate forge merge.
+New coordination children now explicitly request classification and the existing
+merge boundary; operator approval and authority rechecks remain in that path.
+Regression coverage reproduces the missing flags and checks both children.
+Existing failed pairs are not rewritten or treated as merged; external merge
+reconciliation and the full live producer/consumer run remain acceptance work.
+
 ## 2026-09-25 — database retry pressure
 
 Fresh-connection retries bypassed the four-connection pool without a concurrency

src/coordination.test.ts

@@ -691,3 +691,25 @@ test("sweepCoordinations advances every coordination and collects per-record err
   assert.deepEqual((await listCoordinations(runtime)).map((r) => r.id).sort(), [fake.record.id, second.id].sort(), "the broken record never lists");
   assert.equal(third.errors.length, 0);
 });
+
+
+test("coordination requires a recorded merge even when deployment-wide change gates are off", async () => {
+  const saved = { change: process.env.SHIP_CHANGE_CLASS, merge: process.env.SHIP_MERGE_GATE };
+  process.env.SHIP_CHANGE_CLASS = "0";
+  process.env.SHIP_MERGE_GATE = "0";
+  try {
+    const fake = await newPair();
+    const api = await launchNext(fake.runtime, fake.record.id);
+    const input = recordedInput(fake, api.runId!) as unknown as { changeClass?: boolean; mergeGate?: boolean };
+    assert.equal(input.changeClass, true, "API change must reach classification and its merge boundary");
+    assert.equal(input.mergeGate, true, "publishing a PR alone cannot satisfy the dependency");
+    mergeRun(fake, api.runId!, "abc123def456");
+    const client = await launchNext(fake.runtime, fake.record.id);
+    const next = recordedInput(fake, client.runId!) as unknown as { changeClass?: boolean; mergeGate?: boolean };
+    assert.equal(next.changeClass, true);
+    assert.equal(next.mergeGate, true, "client completion also requires a recorded merge");
+  } finally {
+    if (saved.change === undefined) delete process.env.SHIP_CHANGE_CLASS; else process.env.SHIP_CHANGE_CLASS = saved.change;
+    if (saved.merge === undefined) delete process.env.SHIP_MERGE_GATE; else process.env.SHIP_MERGE_GATE = saved.merge;
+  }
+});

src/coordination.ts

@@ -1133,6 +1133,10 @@ async function launchChild(
       model: claimed.model,
       repo: child.repo,
       journey: "change",
+      // Coordination depends on merge receipts, so publishing a PR alone is
+      // insufficient even on deployments where standalone change gates are off.
+      changeClass: true,
+      mergeGate: true,
       source: "manual",
       // The repos were typed by an authenticated human on the coordination
       // form; the allowlist was checked at creation and binds here too.