diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh
index f1cd6825..48a594e6 100755
--- a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh
@@ -34,12 +34,18 @@ EOF
 # get_remote_host and get_gitea_token are provided by detect-platform.sh
 
 get_state_from_status_json() {
-    python3 - <<'PY'
+    # Capture piped JSON BEFORE invoking `python3 - <<PY`. The heredoc binds
+    # stdin to the Python program text — so json.load(sys.stdin) inside would
+    # try to re-read stdin after `-` already consumed it for the program,
+    # yielding EOF and returning "unknown" every time. Pass payload via env.
+    local payload
+    payload=$(cat)
+    CI_QUEUE_STATUS_JSON="$payload" python3 - <<'PY'
 import json
-import sys
+import os
 
 try:
-    payload = json.load(sys.stdin)
+    payload = json.loads(os.environ.get("CI_QUEUE_STATUS_JSON", ""))
 except Exception:
     print("unknown")
     raise SystemExit(0)
@@ -83,12 +89,15 @@ PY
 }
 
 print_pending_contexts() {
-    python3 - <<'PY'
+    # Same stdin hazard as get_state_from_status_json above — pass payload via env.
+    local payload
+    payload=$(cat)
+    CI_QUEUE_STATUS_JSON="$payload" python3 - <<'PY'
 import json
-import sys
+import os
 
 try:
-    payload = json.load(sys.stdin)
+    payload = json.loads(os.environ.get("CI_QUEUE_STATUS_JSON", ""))
 except Exception:
     print("[ci-queue-wait] unable to decode status payload")
     raise SystemExit(0)
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-parse.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-parse.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6d28937b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-parse.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,205 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Regression suite for #1019: ci-queue-wait.sh's status parser must return a
+# state DERIVED FROM ITS INPUT.
+#
+# The defect this pins: both python sites piped a payload into `python3 - <<'PY'`.
+# The heredoc binds stdin to the Python program text, so json.load(sys.stdin) saw
+# EOF, the bare `except` fired, and the function returned "unknown" for every input
+# — success, pending and failure alike. "unknown" then reaches an `exit 0` arm, so
+# the gate-6 queue guard passed unconditionally on both the gitea and github paths.
+#
+# Every assertion below is on the RETURNED STATE STRING. A test that asserted only
+# `rc=0` would have passed against the broken build, which is why this bug survived.
+#
+# The functions are extracted from the shipped wrapper rather than reimplemented, so
+# this suite measures the code that actually runs.
+
+set -uo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+# Overridable so a mutation test can point the suite at a deliberately-broken copy
+# without touching the tracked file. The earlier version of this suite required
+# `git stash` + `git checkout` to do that, which left a repo-global stash entry
+# that any sibling worktree could have popped onto an unrelated branch.
+WRAPPER="${CI_QUEUE_WAIT_WRAPPER:-$SCRIPT_DIR/ci-queue-wait.sh}"
+
+PASS=0
+FAIL=0
+
+pass() { printf '  PASS  %s\n' "$1"; PASS=$((PASS + 1)); }
+fail() { printf '  FAIL  %s\n' "$1"; FAIL=$((FAIL + 1)); }
+
+if [[ ! -f "$WRAPPER" ]]; then
+    printf 'FATAL: wrapper not found at %s\n' "$WRAPPER" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+TMPDIR_T="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$TMPDIR_T"' EXIT
+
+extract_fn() {
+    # $1 = function name, $2 = source file, $3 = destination
+    sed -n "/^$1()/,/^}/p" "$2" > "$3"
+    [[ -s "$3" ]] || { printf 'FATAL: could not extract %s from %s\n' "$1" "$2" >&2; exit 1; }
+}
+
+extract_fn get_state_from_status_json "$WRAPPER" "$TMPDIR_T/state.sh"
+extract_fn print_pending_contexts     "$WRAPPER" "$TMPDIR_T/contexts.sh"
+
+state_of() {
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1091
+    ( source "$TMPDIR_T/state.sh"; printf '%s' "$1" | get_state_from_status_json )
+}
+
+expect_state() {
+    local label="$1" payload="$2" want="$3" got
+    got="$(state_of "$payload")"
+    if [[ "$got" == "$want" ]]; then
+        pass "$label -> $want"
+    else
+        fail "$label -> got '$got', want '$want'"
+    fi
+}
+
+echo "=== parser returns a state derived from its input (#1019) ==="
+
+expect_state "success payload" \
+    '{"state":"success","statuses":[{"status":"success","context":"ci/build"}]}' \
+    'terminal-success'
+
+expect_state "pending payload" \
+    '{"state":"pending","statuses":[{"status":"pending","context":"ci/build"}]}' \
+    'pending'
+
+expect_state "failure payload" \
+    '{"state":"failure","statuses":[{"status":"failure","context":"ci/build"}]}' \
+    'terminal-failure'
+
+expect_state "mixed success+pending is pending" \
+    '{"state":"pending","statuses":[{"status":"success"},{"status":"pending"}]}' \
+    'pending'
+
+expect_state "running counts as pending" \
+    '{"state":"pending","statuses":[{"status":"running"}]}' \
+    'pending'
+
+expect_state "error counts as failure" \
+    '{"state":"failure","statuses":[{"status":"error"}]}' \
+    'terminal-failure'
+
+expect_state "empty status set is no-status" \
+    '{"state":"","statuses":[]}' \
+    'no-status'
+
+# Control. This is the ONE input for which "unknown" is correct. Without it, a
+# regression that hardcoded "unknown" again would still fail the cases above but
+# the suite would give no signal that "unknown" remains reachable when it should be.
+expect_state "undecodable payload stays unknown" \
+    'not json at all' \
+    'unknown'
+
+expect_state "unrecognised status vocabulary is unknown" \
+    '{"state":"weird","statuses":[{"status":"weird"}]}' \
+    'unknown'
+
+echo "=== pending contexts are reported to the operator ==="
+
+contexts_of() {
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1091
+    ( source "$TMPDIR_T/contexts.sh"; printf '%s' "$1" | print_pending_contexts )
+}
+
+out="$(contexts_of '{"statuses":[{"status":"pending","context":"ci/alpha"},{"status":"pending","context":"ci/beta"}]}')"
+if grep -q 'ci/alpha' <<<"$out" && grep -q 'ci/beta' <<<"$out"; then
+    pass "both pending contexts emitted"
+else
+    fail "pending contexts not emitted; got: $out"
+fi
+
+out="$(contexts_of '{"statuses":[{"status":"success","context":"ci/alpha"}]}')"
+# Assert the POSITIVE message, not merely the absence of the context name. Absence
+# alone is satisfied by total silence — and the pre-fix build was silent, so an
+# absence-only assertion passed against the very defect this suite exists to catch.
+if grep -q 'ci/alpha' <<<"$out"; then
+    fail "a non-pending context was emitted; got: $out"
+elif grep -q 'no pending contexts' <<<"$out"; then
+    pass "non-pending context suppressed, and reported as 'no pending contexts'"
+else
+    fail "expected an explicit 'no pending contexts' report; got: $out"
+fi
+
+echo "=== needle: the broken construct is caught, not merely absent today ==="
+
+# Rebuild the pre-fix form and assert this suite would have failed against it.
+# Without this, the suite proves the current file is correct but not that it can
+# detect the defect returning.
+BROKEN="$TMPDIR_T/broken.sh"
+cat > "$BROKEN" <<'BROKEN_EOF'
+get_state_from_status_json() {
+    python3 - <<'PY'
+import json
+import sys
+
+try:
+    payload = json.load(sys.stdin)
+except Exception:
+    print("unknown")
+    raise SystemExit(0)
+print("terminal-success" if (payload.get("state") or "") == "success" else "pending")
+PY
+}
+BROKEN_EOF
+
+broken_got="$( ( source "$BROKEN"; printf '%s' '{"state":"success","statuses":[]}' | get_state_from_status_json ) )"
+if [[ "$broken_got" == "unknown" ]]; then
+    pass "[NEEDLE ] pre-fix construct reproduces the defect (returns 'unknown' for a success payload)"
+else
+    fail "[NEEDLE ] pre-fix construct did NOT reproduce the defect; got '$broken_got' — the needle no longer pins anything"
+fi
+
+# And assert the shipped wrapper does not contain that construct.
+#
+# The check must have HEREDOC SEMANTICS, not merely match the text. `json.load(sys.stdin)`
+# is perfectly correct under `python3 -c '...'` — there the program comes from argv, so
+# stdin really is the payload, and ci-queue-wait.sh uses that form legitimately in
+# gitea_get_branch_head_sha. Only `python3 - <<DELIM` is defective, because `-` has
+# already bound stdin to the program text.
+#
+# A flat `grep json\.load\(sys\.stdin\)` therefore fails on correct code. It did: the
+# first version of this needle flagged the innocent `python3 -c` site. Same shape as
+# #1018 F1 (a regex over raw text has no syntax semantics) reproduced inside the needle
+# written to pin a different instance of it.
+heredoc_stdin_sites() {
+    awk '
+        /python3[[:space:]]+-[[:space:]]*<</ {
+            d = $0
+            sub(/.*<<[[:space:]]*/, "", d)
+            gsub(/['"'"'"]/, "", d)
+            delim = d; inhd = 1; next
+        }
+        inhd && $0 == delim { inhd = 0; next }
+        inhd {
+            line = $0
+            sub(/[[:space:]]*#.*$/, "", line)
+            if (line ~ /sys\.stdin/) printf "%d: %s\n", FNR, $0
+        }
+    ' "$1"
+}
+
+# Positive control FIRST. An empty result from a broken scanner looks exactly like a
+# clean file, so the scanner is proven to fire before its silence is trusted.
+if [[ -n "$(heredoc_stdin_sites "$BROKEN")" ]]; then
+    pass "[NEEDLE ] scanner detects a stdin read inside a python3-heredoc"
+else
+    fail "[NEEDLE ] scanner did NOT fire on the known-broken form — its silence proves nothing"
+fi
+
+sites="$(heredoc_stdin_sites "$WRAPPER")"
+if [[ -n "$sites" ]]; then
+    fail "[NEEDLE ] wrapper reads stdin inside a python3-heredoc at: $sites"
+else
+    pass "[NEEDLE ] wrapper has no stdin read inside any python3-heredoc"
+fi
+
+printf '\nci-queue-wait parse: %d passed, %d failed\n' "$PASS" "$FAIL"
+[[ "$FAIL" -eq 0 ]] || exit 1
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/package.json b/packages/mosaic/package.json
index 56898aa8..fa7bf209 100644
--- a/packages/mosaic/package.json
+++ b/packages/mosaic/package.json
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
     "lint": "eslint src",
     "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",
     "test": "vitest run --passWithNoTests && pnpm run test:framework-shell",
-    "test:framework-shell": "bash framework/tools/quality/scripts/check-test-enumeration.sh && bash framework/tools/quality/scripts/test-check-test-enumeration.sh && python3 src/lease-broker/daemon_deadline_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/normative_fragments_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/receipt_challenge_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/context_recovery_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/recovery_runtime_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/recovery_b1_adversarial_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/framework_skill_portability_unittest.py && python3 src/mutator-gate/runtime_tools_unittest.py && python3 src/mutator-gate/runtime_launch_guard_unittest.py && python3 src/mutator-gate/version_coupling_unittest.py && python3 framework/tools/lease-broker/check-runtime-launches.py --root ../.. && bash framework/tools/codex/test-pr-diff-context.sh && bash framework/tools/qa/test-deps-preflight.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-pr-review-gitea-comment.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-pr-review-repo-host-override.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-branch-absent.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-git-credential-mosaic.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-gitea-token-identity.sh && bash framework/tools/_scripts/test-install-ordering-guard.sh && bash framework/tools/tmux/agent-send.test.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-store-ack.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-store-enqueue-race.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-digest-hmac.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-digest-quarantine.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-detector.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-fn-oracle.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-reconcile.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-beacon.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-preimage.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-install.sh"
+    "test:framework-shell": "bash framework/tools/quality/scripts/check-test-enumeration.sh && bash framework/tools/quality/scripts/test-check-test-enumeration.sh && python3 src/lease-broker/daemon_deadline_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/normative_fragments_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/receipt_challenge_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/context_recovery_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/recovery_runtime_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/recovery_b1_adversarial_unittest.py && python3 src/lease-broker/framework_skill_portability_unittest.py && python3 src/mutator-gate/runtime_tools_unittest.py && python3 src/mutator-gate/runtime_launch_guard_unittest.py && python3 src/mutator-gate/version_coupling_unittest.py && python3 framework/tools/lease-broker/check-runtime-launches.py --root ../.. && bash framework/tools/codex/test-pr-diff-context.sh && bash framework/tools/qa/test-deps-preflight.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-pr-review-gitea-comment.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-pr-review-repo-host-override.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-branch-absent.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-parse.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-git-credential-mosaic.sh && bash framework/tools/git/test-gitea-token-identity.sh && bash framework/tools/_scripts/test-install-ordering-guard.sh && bash framework/tools/tmux/agent-send.test.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-store-ack.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-store-enqueue-race.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-digest-hmac.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-digest-quarantine.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-detector.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-fn-oracle.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-reconcile.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-beacon.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-preimage.sh && bash framework/tools/wake/test-wake-install.sh"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@mosaicstack/brain": "workspace:*",