diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/lane-brief.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/lane-brief.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..336a51a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/lane-brief.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# lane-brief.sh — live dispatch brief for a repo "lane" (milestone/label), straight
+# from current Gitea state. Defeats stale worker self-report: workers brief from
+# static notes and routinely report issues "todo" that are already CLOSED, forcing
+# the orchestrator to re-verify each one before dispatch. This returns the CURRENT
+# open set, classified for dispatch, in one call.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   lane-brief.sh -r <owner/repo> [-m <milestone>] [-l <label>] [-L <login>] [-n <limit>]
+#   lane-brief.sh -r usc/uconnect -m "M2M Part Search (0.0.45)"
+#   lane-brief.sh -r usc/uconnect -l domain/6-security
+#
+# Reliable signals (closed issues are excluded by definition — that's the point):
+#   - open-vs-closed : authoritative; this is the stale-intake failure mode.
+#   - PR-linkage     : an open PR referencing the issue = work underway.
+# Assignees/dependencies are intentionally NOT trusted as "available" signals —
+# fleets that track work-state out-of-band (tmux board, issue text) leave them
+# empty in Gitea. Output therefore partitions by PR presence and the OPEN-NO-PR set
+# is "dispatch candidates to cross-check against the live fleet", not a blind list.
+#
+# Login resolution order: -L flag > $GITEA_LOGIN > owner inference (usc->usc,
+# mosaicstack/mosaic->mosaicstack) > detect-platform.sh default-login fallback.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+# shellcheck source=/dev/null
+source "$SCRIPT_DIR/detect-platform.sh"
+
+REPO="" MILESTONE="" LABEL="" LOGIN="" LIMIT=100
+while getopts "r:m:l:L:n:h" opt; do
+  case "$opt" in
+    r) REPO="$OPTARG" ;;
+    m) MILESTONE="$OPTARG" ;;
+    l) LABEL="$OPTARG" ;;
+    L) LOGIN="$OPTARG" ;;
+    n) LIMIT="$OPTARG" ;;
+    h) grep '^#' "$0" | sed 's/^# \?//'; exit 0 ;;
+    *) echo "see -h" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+done
+[[ -n "$REPO" ]] || { echo "FATAL: -r <owner/repo> required" >&2; exit 2; }
+
+# Resolve login: explicit -L, then $GITEA_LOGIN, then owner inference, then the
+# shared default-login resolver. Owner inference comes before the shared fallback
+# because the latter is not owner-aware (picks the default tea login), which is
+# wrong for cross-instance lanes.
+if [[ -z "$LOGIN" ]]; then
+  if [[ -n "${GITEA_LOGIN:-}" ]]; then
+    LOGIN="$GITEA_LOGIN"
+  else
+    case "${REPO%%/*}" in
+      usc|USC) LOGIN=usc ;;
+      mosaicstack|mosaic) LOGIN=mosaicstack ;;
+      *) LOGIN="$(get_gitea_login_for_repo_override 2>/dev/null || true)" ;;
+    esac
+  fi
+fi
+[[ -n "$LOGIN" ]] || { echo "FATAL: could not resolve a Gitea login for $REPO (pass -L or set GITEA_LOGIN)" >&2; exit 2; }
+
+command -v tea >/dev/null || { echo "FATAL: tea not found" >&2; exit 1; }
+command -v jq  >/dev/null || { echo "FATAL: jq not found" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+ISSUES_JSON="$(tea issues list --repo "$REPO" --login "$LOGIN" --state open --limit "$LIMIT" \
+  --fields index,title,assignees,milestone,labels --output json 2>/dev/null)" || {
+  echo "FATAL: tea issues list failed for $REPO (login=$LOGIN)" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+# Open PRs, to cross-ref which issues already have work in flight. An issue is
+# "work underway" if an open PR links to it. Two link signals are honored:
+#   (a) a closing keyword in the PR BODY — Gitea's auto-close set (close/closes/
+#       closed, fix/fixes/fixed, resolve/resolves/resolved), case-insensitive,
+#       directly preceding `#N`. This is the AUTHORITATIVE link Gitea itself uses
+#       to associate a PR with the issue it resolves; a body-only "Closes #546"
+#       is the common case and MUST count. The earlier version inspected only the
+#       PR index/title/head TSV (never the body or Gitea linkage), so a body-only
+#       reference was invisible and the linked OPEN issue was misclassified as a
+#       dispatch candidate — re-dispatchable in-flight work (the #546/#547 defect).
+#   (b) a bare #N in the PR title, or an issue number embedded in the head branch
+#       (feat/546-x, fix-546) — the weaker heuristic preserved from prior behavior.
+# Bare #N mentions in the BODY are deliberately NOT treated as links: PR bodies
+# routinely name unrelated issues in prose ("relevant to the #538 line of work"),
+# and counting those would wrongly mark live, dispatchable issues as in-flight.
+# Only the closing-keyword form is a commitment to resolve that issue. Requiring
+# `#` to directly follow the keyword also keeps cross-repo `owner/repo#N` forms
+# from leaking a foreign issue number into this per-repo lane (cross-repo lanes
+# are run per-repo). JSON (not TSV) is used so multi-line bodies parse cleanly.
+PRS_JSON="$(tea pulls list --repo "$REPO" --login "$LOGIN" --state open \
+  --fields index,title,head,body --output json 2>/dev/null || echo '[]')"
+[[ -n "$PRS_JSON" ]] || PRS_JSON='[]'
+
+# \b anchors the keyword to a word start so embedded substrings do not match
+# (e.g. "prefix #5", "disclosed #7" must NOT be read as "fix #5" / "closed #7").
+GITEA_CLOSE_KW='close[sd]?|fix(e[sd])?|resolve[sd]?'
+PR_BODY_REFS="$(printf '%s' "$PRS_JSON" | jq -r '.[] | .body // ""' 2>/dev/null \
+  | grep -oiE "\\b(${GITEA_CLOSE_KW})[[:space:]:]+#[0-9]+" | grep -oE '[0-9]+' || true)"
+PR_TITLE_HEAD_REFS="$(printf '%s' "$PRS_JSON" \
+  | jq -r '.[] | [ (.title // ""), (.head // "" | if type=="object" then (.ref // "") else . end) ] | join(" ")' 2>/dev/null \
+  | grep -oE '#[0-9]+|[/-][0-9]{3,}' | grep -oE '[0-9]+' || true)"
+PR_ISSUE_REFS="$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$PR_BODY_REFS" "$PR_TITLE_HEAD_REFS" | grep -E '^[0-9]+$' | sort -u || true)"
+
+ts="$(date -u '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%MZ' 2>/dev/null || echo '?')"
+filt="$REPO"; [[ -n "$MILESTONE" ]] && filt="$filt · milestone:'$MILESTONE'"; [[ -n "$LABEL" ]] && filt="$filt · label:'$LABEL'"
+echo "LANE BRIEF — $filt · $ts (login=$LOGIN)"
+echo "(open issues only; closed are excluded by definition — that's the point)"
+echo
+
+# Label match is exact-token against tea's space-separated labels string (so -l
+# "security" does NOT match label "domain/6-security"). Caveat: label names that
+# themselves contain spaces aren't distinguishable in tea's string form.
+printf '%s' "$ISSUES_JSON" | jq -r --arg ms "$MILESTONE" --arg lb "$LABEL" --arg prs "$PR_ISSUE_REFS" '
+  ($prs | split("\n") | map(select(length>0))) as $prrefs
+  | map(
+      select( ($ms=="" or .milestone==$ms)
+          and ($lb=="" or ((.labels//"") | split(" ") | index($lb) != null)) )
+      | . + { assigned: ((.assignees//"")|length>0),
+              haspr: (.index as $ix | ($prrefs | index($ix)) != null) }
+    )
+  | (map(select(.haspr|not)))  as $candidates
+  | (map(select(.haspr)))      as $inflight
+  | "DISPATCH CANDIDATES (open · no open PR) — \($candidates|length)  [cross-check vs live fleet]:",
+    ( $candidates[] | "  #\(.index)  \(.title[0:90])\(if .assigned then "  (gitea-assignee set)" else "" end)" ),
+    "",
+    "WORK UNDERWAY (open · PR in flight) — \($inflight|length):",
+    ( $inflight[] | "  #\(.index)  \(.title[0:80])  [PR open]" )
+'
+echo
+echo "Closed issues are excluded — do NOT take a worker's self-reported 'todo' on faith."
+echo "Candidates = open + no PR; confirm against the live fleet before dispatch"
+echo "(fleets that don't self-assign in Gitea leave 'unassigned' meaningless)."
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-lane-brief-pr-linkage.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-lane-brief-pr-linkage.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92baf52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-lane-brief-pr-linkage.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Regression harness for lane-brief.sh PR->issue linkage classification.
+#
+# Covers the #546/#547 defect: lane-brief.sh inspected only the PR index/title/head
+# fields and never the PR BODY, so an open PR whose body says "Closes #546" did not
+# mark issue #546 as work-underway — #546 was listed as a DISPATCH CANDIDATE and was
+# re-dispatchable in-flight work.
+#
+# Asserts:
+#   1. an open issue closed-keyword-linked from a PR BODY ("Closes #546") is
+#      classified WORK UNDERWAY, not a dispatch candidate.
+#   2. a BARE "#777" prose mention in a PR body does NOT classify #777 as
+#      work-underway (only Gitea closing keywords are a real link) — #777 stays a
+#      dispatch candidate.
+#   3. NON-VACUITY / RED-ON-REVERT: a copy of the script with the body-scan removed
+#      misclassifies #546 as a dispatch candidate — proving the body-scan is exactly
+#      what fixes the defect and that assertion 1 fails if the fix is reverted.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+LANE_BRIEF="$SCRIPT_DIR/lane-brief.sh"
+WORK_DIR="${MOSAIC_TEST_WORK_DIR:-$PWD/.mosaic-test-work/lane-brief-pr-linkage}"
+BIN_DIR="$WORK_DIR/bin"
+
+rm -rf "$WORK_DIR"
+mkdir -p "$BIN_DIR"
+
+# --- fake `tea`: serves a fixed open-issue set and one open PR. ----------------
+# PR #547 body uses a closing keyword for #546 ("Closes #546") and a BARE mention
+# of #777 ("the #777 line of work"). #777 must NOT be treated as linked.
+cat > "$BIN_DIR/tea" <<'SH'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+case "${1:-} ${2:-}" in
+  "issues list")
+    cat <<'JSON'
+[
+  {"index":"546","title":"lane-brief + ci-wait orchestration tooling","assignees":[],"milestone":null,"labels":""},
+  {"index":"777","title":"unrelated downstream item","assignees":[],"milestone":null,"labels":""},
+  {"index":"999","title":"item only named inside the word hotfix","assignees":[],"milestone":null,"labels":""}
+]
+JSON
+    ;;
+  "pulls list")
+    cat <<'JSON'
+[
+  {"index":"547","title":"feat(framework/tools): orchestration helpers","head":"feat/orchestration-tools-lane-brief-ci-wait","body":"Two additive orchestration tools.\n\nCloses #546.\n\nLogin resolution is relevant to the #777 line of work but does not touch it.\nThis shipped as a hotfix #999 earlier — that bare reference must not link it.\n\nFixes #546\n"}
+]
+JSON
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "fake-tea: unhandled: $*" >&2; exit 1 ;;
+esac
+SH
+chmod +x "$BIN_DIR/tea"
+
+run_brief() { # $1 = script path
+  PATH="$BIN_DIR:$PATH" "$1" -r mosaic/stack -L test-login 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+# Extract the issue numbers under a named section header until the next blank line.
+section_nums() { # $1 = output  $2 = header-prefix
+  printf '%s\n' "$1" | awk -v h="$2" '
+    index($0,h)==1 {grab=1; next}
+    grab && /^[[:space:]]*$/ {grab=0}
+    grab && match($0, /#[0-9]+/) { print substr($0, RSTART+1, RLENGTH-1) }
+  '
+}
+
+fail() { echo "FAIL: $1" >&2; exit 1; }
+contains() { printf '%s\n' "$1" | grep -qx "$2"; }
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Fixed (current) script behavior
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+OUT="$(run_brief "$LANE_BRIEF")"
+CAND="$(section_nums "$OUT" 'DISPATCH CANDIDATES')"
+UNDER="$(section_nums "$OUT" 'WORK UNDERWAY')"
+
+echo "--- lane-brief output (fixed) ---"; printf '%s\n' "$OUT"
+echo "--- candidates: [$(printf '%s' "$CAND" | tr '\n' ' ')] underway: [$(printf '%s' "$UNDER" | tr '\n' ' ')] ---"
+
+contains "$UNDER" 546 || fail "#546 (PR body 'Closes #546') should be WORK UNDERWAY"
+contains "$CAND" 546 && fail "#546 must NOT be a dispatch candidate (it has an open PR)"
+contains "$CAND" 777 || fail "#777 (only a bare prose mention) should remain a dispatch candidate"
+contains "$UNDER" 777 && fail "#777 must NOT be work-underway — bare body mentions are not links"
+contains "$CAND" 999 || fail "#999 ('hotfix #999' — keyword is a substring) should remain a candidate"
+contains "$UNDER" 999 && fail "#999 must NOT be work-underway — word-boundary must reject 'hotfix'"
+echo "PASS: body closing-keyword link classifies #546 underway; bare #777 / substring #999 stay candidates"
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# NON-VACUITY: revert the body-scan and prove #546 regresses to a candidate.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+REVERTED="$SCRIPT_DIR/.lane-brief.reverted.$$.sh"
+trap 'rm -f "$REVERTED"' EXIT
+# Drop the PR_BODY_REFS contribution from the union (simulates the pre-fix script
+# that only looked at index/title/head). Sibling `source detect-platform.sh` still
+# resolves because the copy lives in the same dir.
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016  # single-quoted on purpose: sed needs the literal $PR_BODY_REFS
+sed 's/"\$PR_BODY_REFS"/""/' "$LANE_BRIEF" > "$REVERTED"
+chmod +x "$REVERTED"
+grep -q 'PR_BODY_REFS' "$REVERTED" || fail "revert sed anchor not found — test is stale"
+
+ROUT="$(run_brief "$REVERTED")"
+RCAND="$(section_nums "$ROUT" 'DISPATCH CANDIDATES')"
+RUNDER="$(section_nums "$ROUT" 'WORK UNDERWAY')"
+echo "--- candidates(reverted): [$(printf '%s' "$RCAND" | tr '\n' ' ')] underway: [$(printf '%s' "$RUNDER" | tr '\n' ' ')] ---"
+
+contains "$RCAND" 546 || fail "non-vacuity broken: reverted script should misclassify #546 as a candidate"
+contains "$RUNDER" 546 && fail "non-vacuity broken: reverted script should NOT mark #546 underway"
+echo "PASS (RED-on-revert): without the body-scan, #546 regresses to a dispatch candidate"
+
+echo "ALL PASS: test-lane-brief-pr-linkage.sh"
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/README.md b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/README.md
index cd0b915..27aebe1 100644
--- a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/README.md
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/README.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ A Woodpecker API token is required. To configure:
 | `pipeline-list.sh`    | List recent pipelines for a repo            |
 | `pipeline-status.sh`  | Get status of a specific or latest pipeline |
 | `pipeline-trigger.sh` | Trigger a new pipeline build                |
+| `ci-wait.sh`          | Block until pipeline(s) reach terminal state |
 
 ## Common Options
 
@@ -55,4 +56,7 @@ A Woodpecker API token is required. To configure:
 
 # Trigger a build on a specific branch
 ~/.config/mosaic/tools/woodpecker/pipeline-trigger.sh -b feature/my-branch
+
+# Block until one or more pipelines finish (event-driven CI wait)
+~/.config/mosaic/tools/woodpecker/ci-wait.sh -r usc/uconnect -n 3917 -n 3918
 ```
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/ci-wait.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/ci-wait.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..34c38cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/ci-wait.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# ci-wait.sh — block until one or more Woodpecker pipelines reach terminal state.
+#
+# Problem it solves: orchestrators hand-author a `while true; curl .../repos/1/pipelines/$n
+# ...; sleep` loop for every CI wait. Those loops HARDCODE Woodpecker repo id 1 (only
+# correct for whichever repo happens to be id 1), re-implement URL building with raw
+# curl, and tend to get armed as tight <300s ScheduleWakeup polls (each poll = a full
+# wake+reload+recheck cycle). This encapsulates the loop once, on top of the existing
+# `pipeline-status.sh` wrapper (which resolves repo->id correctly and is instance-aware),
+# so a CI wait becomes a one-liner.
+#
+# Intended use: as the COMMAND of a Monitor / event-driven re-invoke (primary), paired
+# with a single long (>=1500s) timed fallback — NOT as a tight standalone poll.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   ci-wait.sh -r <owner/repo> -n <num> [-n <num> ...] [-a <instance>] [-i <interval>] [-t <timeout>]
+#   ci-wait.sh -r usc/uconnect -n 3917 -n 3918              # wait for both, infer instance
+#   ci-wait.sh -r usc/uconnect -n 3922 -a usc -i 30 -t 2400
+#
+# Instance is inferred from the owner (usc->usc, mosaicstack/mosaic->mosaic) unless -a given.
+# Exit: 0 = all pipelines terminal AND all 'success'; 1 = >=1 terminal non-success;
+#       2 = usage/precondition error; 3 = timeout before all terminal.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Resolve pipeline-status.sh as a sibling, matching how the woodpecker tools source
+# _lib.sh — works under the installed runtime AND an in-repo checkout, no MOSAIC_HOME dep.
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+PS="$SCRIPT_DIR/pipeline-status.sh"
+
+REPO="" INSTANCE="" INTERVAL=30 TIMEOUT=3600
+NUMS=()
+while getopts "r:n:a:i:t:h" opt; do
+  case "$opt" in
+    r) REPO="$OPTARG" ;;
+    n) NUMS+=("$OPTARG") ;;
+    a) INSTANCE="$OPTARG" ;;
+    i) INTERVAL="$OPTARG" ;;
+    t) TIMEOUT="$OPTARG" ;;
+    h) grep '^#' "$0" | sed 's/^# \?//'; exit 0 ;;
+    *) echo "see -h" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+done
+[[ -n "$REPO" ]] || { echo "FATAL: -r <owner/repo> required" >&2; exit 2; }
+[[ ${#NUMS[@]} -gt 0 ]] || { echo "FATAL: at least one -n <pipeline-number> required" >&2; exit 2; }
+[[ -x "$PS" ]] || { echo "FATAL: pipeline-status.sh not found/executable at $PS" >&2; exit 2; }
+
+# Infer Woodpecker instance from owner unless overridden (matches the git-wrapper convention).
+if [[ -z "$INSTANCE" ]]; then
+  case "${REPO%%/*}" in
+    usc|USC) INSTANCE=usc ;;
+    mosaicstack|mosaic) INSTANCE=mosaic ;;
+    *) echo "FATAL: cannot infer Woodpecker instance for owner '${REPO%%/*}' — pass -a <instance>" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+fi
+
+command -v jq >/dev/null || { echo "FATAL: jq not found" >&2; exit 2; }
+
+TERMINAL_RE='^(success|failure|error|killed|declined|blocked)$'
+declare -A STATE=()        # num -> terminal status, once reached
+start=$(date +%s 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+
+echo "ci-wait: $REPO pipelines [${NUMS[*]}] (instance=$INSTANCE, every ${INTERVAL}s, timeout ${TIMEOUT}s)"
+while true; do
+  for n in "${NUMS[@]}"; do
+    [[ -n "${STATE[$n]:-}" ]] && continue
+    s=$("$PS" -r "$REPO" -n "$n" -a "$INSTANCE" -f json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.status // empty' 2>/dev/null || true)
+    if [[ "$s" =~ $TERMINAL_RE ]]; then
+      STATE[$n]="$s"
+      echo "  pipeline $n TERMINAL: $s"
+    fi
+  done
+  # all terminal?
+  if [[ ${#STATE[@]} -eq ${#NUMS[@]} ]]; then
+    bad=0
+    for n in "${NUMS[@]}"; do [[ "${STATE[$n]}" == "success" ]] || bad=1; done
+    if [[ $bad -eq 0 ]]; then echo "ci-wait: ALL SUCCESS"; exit 0; fi
+    echo "ci-wait: all terminal, NOT all success — $(for n in "${NUMS[@]}"; do printf '%s=%s ' "$n" "${STATE[$n]}"; done)"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  now=$(date +%s 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+  if [[ "$start" != 0 && $((now - start)) -ge $TIMEOUT ]]; then
+    echo "ci-wait: TIMEOUT after ${TIMEOUT}s — pending: $(for n in "${NUMS[@]}"; do [[ -z "${STATE[$n]:-}" ]] && printf '%s ' "$n"; done)"
+    exit 3
+  fi
+  sleep "$INTERVAL"
+done
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/test-ci-wait-exit-matrix.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/test-ci-wait-exit-matrix.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3923e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/woodpecker/test-ci-wait-exit-matrix.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Regression harness for ci-wait.sh terminal-state aggregation and exit codes.
+#
+# ci-wait.sh wraps pipeline-status.sh and blocks until every requested pipeline
+# reaches a terminal Woodpecker state, then maps the aggregate to an exit code.
+# That contract is what callers arm a Monitor/timed-fallback around, so it must be
+# exact. This harness drives ci-wait.sh against a stub pipeline-status.sh whose
+# per-pipeline status is fixture-controlled, and asserts the full exit matrix:
+#
+#   0 = every pipeline terminal AND all 'success'
+#   1 = every pipeline terminal, at least one non-success
+#   2 = usage/precondition error (missing -n)
+#   3 = timeout before all pipelines terminal
+#
+# Non-vacuity: each case pins a DISTINCT exit code to a distinct fixture, so a
+# regression in success-aggregation (case 0 vs 1), terminal detection (case 3),
+# or arg validation (case 2) flips exactly one assertion RED.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+CIW_SRC="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)/ci-wait.sh"
+WORK_DIR="${MOSAIC_TEST_WORK_DIR:-$PWD/.mosaic-test-work/ci-wait-exit-matrix}"
+TOOL_DIR="$WORK_DIR/tool"
+
+rm -rf "$WORK_DIR"
+mkdir -p "$TOOL_DIR"
+
+# ci-wait.sh resolves pipeline-status.sh as a sibling ($SCRIPT_DIR/pipeline-status.sh),
+# so we run a COPY of ci-wait.sh next to a stub sibling we control.
+cp "$CIW_SRC" "$TOOL_DIR/ci-wait.sh"
+chmod +x "$TOOL_DIR/ci-wait.sh"
+
+# Stub pipeline-status.sh: emits {"status":"<s>"} where <s> comes from env
+# CIW_STATUS_<num> (default "running" = non-terminal, drives the timeout path).
+cat > "$TOOL_DIR/pipeline-status.sh" <<'SH'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+num=""
+while getopts "r:n:a:f:" opt; do case "$opt" in n) num="$OPTARG" ;; *) : ;; esac; done
+var="CIW_STATUS_${num}"
+printf '{"status":"%s"}\n' "${!var:-running}"
+SH
+chmod +x "$TOOL_DIR/pipeline-status.sh"
+
+CIW="$TOOL_DIR/ci-wait.sh"
+
+run_expect() { # $1 = expected exit  $2 = label ; rest = args
+  local want="$1" label="$2"; shift 2
+  local rc=0
+  "$CIW" "$@" >/dev/null 2>&1 || rc=$?
+  if [[ "$rc" -ne "$want" ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL [$label]: expected exit $want, got $rc" >&2; exit 1
+  fi
+  echo "PASS [$label]: exit $rc"
+}
+
+# 0 — both pipelines terminal + success
+CIW_STATUS_100=success CIW_STATUS_101=success \
+  run_expect 0 "all-success" -r mosaic/stack -n 100 -n 101 -a mosaic -i 1 -t 30
+
+# 1 — both terminal, one failure
+CIW_STATUS_100=success CIW_STATUS_101=failure \
+  run_expect 1 "terminal-not-success" -r mosaic/stack -n 100 -n 101 -a mosaic -i 1 -t 30
+
+# 1 — other terminal non-success states still map to 1 (error/killed)
+CIW_STATUS_100=error CIW_STATUS_101=killed \
+  run_expect 1 "terminal-error-killed" -r mosaic/stack -n 100 -n 101 -a mosaic -i 1 -t 30
+
+# 3 — a pipeline never reaches terminal state before timeout
+CIW_STATUS_100=success CIW_STATUS_101=running \
+  run_expect 3 "timeout-pending" -r mosaic/stack -n 100 -n 101 -a mosaic -i 1 -t 0
+
+# 2 — usage error: no -n
+run_expect 2 "usage-missing-n" -r mosaic/stack -a mosaic
+
+echo "ALL PASS: test-ci-wait-exit-matrix.sh"