# Issue #838 — Broker acceptance socket flake

## Objective

Eliminate high-contention uncaught JSON parse failures in lease-broker and mutator-gate acceptance helpers without laundering malformed/empty replies into passing assertions.

## Constraints

- Branch: `fix/838-broker-acceptance-flake` in `/home/hermes/agent-work/stack-838-flakefix`.
- Red-first TDD with a forced empty/truncated reply path and deterministic rejection or documented retry.
- Read newline-framed replies completely; reject malformed broker replies with byte length/content context.
- Determine RIDER2 branch before finalizing: test-harness-only `(a)` or daemon write truncation `(b)`.
- If product-side, prove the real Claude/Pi adapter read path fails closed; fix any allow-risk.
- Coverage >=85% per changed executable through real tests.
- Full suite and repository gates green; independent exact-head review required.
- Push and open a PR containing `closes #838`; do not merge.

## Progress

- 2026-07-17: Reclaimed from #824. Confirmed clean worktree on `fix/838-broker-acceptance-flake` at main base `abd2791f59b3f06f46dd08e55298ced72f6aa7c2`.