diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7331f4a8..53c8c3c8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -87,3 +87,7 @@ engine_state/_life_backup_*/
 
 # Local MCP configuration (contains local tokens)
 .mcp.json
+
+# Google Drive sync pointer stubs (JSON pointers to Drive docs, not content).
+# The canonical committed copy of any R&D doc lives under docs/ as real markdown.
+*.gdoc
diff --git a/docs/adr/ADR-0243-wave-field-cognitive-lifecycle-comprehension-reasoning-and-resonant-learning.md b/docs/adr/ADR-0243-wave-field-cognitive-lifecycle-comprehension-reasoning-and-resonant-learning.md
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/docs/adr/ADR-0243-wave-field-cognitive-lifecycle-comprehension-reasoning-and-resonant-learning.md
@@ -0,0 +1,309 @@
+# ADR-0243: Wave-Field Cognitive Lifecycle — Comprehension, Resonant Reasoning, and Lifelong Learning
+
+**Status**: Proposed (acceptance path: benchmark evidence \+ Joshua review)  
+**Date**: 2026-07-14  
+**Deciders**: Joshua Shay \+ multi-model R\&D  
+**Traceability**: Notion R\&D (Engineering Reference Vault Interconnection: `core_HA` Patterns)  
+**Related**: ADR-0003, ADR-0006, ADR-0238, ADR-0239, ADR-0240, ADR-0241, ADR-0242, `core/physics/wave_manifold.py`  
+**Canonical path**: `docs/adr/`
+
+---
+
+## 1\. Context and Problem Statement
+
+With the successful unification of the **$Cl(4,1)$ Conformal Wave-Field ($\\psi$)** substrate ([ADR-0241](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F_7QYtPysBP4qMbLGlGPnXgYx9IXug8nUYrpiCGSunE/view?usp=drivesdk)) and the implementation of the **Deterministic Fibonacci search** ([ADR-0242](https://drive.google.com/file/d/15_NECCPy-tEWGfYi_BNqawm8GytUTMkz1DsOqGVMXhI/view?usp=drivesdk)), CORE's physical layer has reached structural maturity.
+
+However, we must now define how these new physical and geometric evolutions are leveraged to solve the fundamental cognitive tasks where traditional architectures struggle:
+
+- **Comprehension & Ingress**: Traditional architectures parse and embed inputs into flat, context-dry vectors, leading to representation drift, attention decay over long contexts, and loss of structural relations.  
+- **Problem Solving & Reasoning**: Traditional systems treat reasoning as probabilistic path-search or auto-regressive step generation. This lacks mathematical guarantees of correctness and suffers from cumulative error propagation.  
+- **Egress & Generation**: Probabilistic autoregressive decoding selects discrete tokens one-by-one via softmax sampling, which has no global coherence guarantees, leading to hallucinations and semantic drift.  
+- **Contemplation & Learning**: Standard models require gradient-descent backpropagation to update static weights, which is computationally expensive, non-reconstructible, and prone to catastrophic forgetting.
+
+This ADR defines the complete **Wave-Field Cognitive Lifecycle**, leveraging the wave function to establish a fully deterministic, closed-loop, physical-relaxation-based paradigm for comprehension, reasoning, generation, and learning.
+
+---
+
+## 2\. Decision and Architectural Formulation
+
+We dissolve the probabilistic, token-by-token paradigm of classical AI. We establish that **cognition is the continuous physical evolution, resonance, and relaxation of a Conformal Wave-Field ($\\psi$) across a single $Cl(4,1)$ geometric substrate**.
+
+              \[INGRESS\]                     \[REASONING\]                    \[EGRESS\]
+
+       Continuous Modalities          Hamiltonian Well (H\_p)         Thermodynamic State
+
+                 |                               |                            |
+
+                 v (Superposition)               v (Physical Relaxation)      v (Energy Class check)
+
+         Ingress Wave (psi\_in)   \=======\>   Steady State (psi\_final) \=======\>  Linguistic Readback
+
+                 ^                               ^                            |
+
+                 | (Resonant recall)             | (Unitary update)           v (GoldTether Gate)
+
+         Standing-Wave Atlas \<===================+===========================\> safe, aligned output
+
+                                                 |
+
+                                                 v (Verified holonomy R)
+
+                                        Biography update (R\_bio)
+
+---
+
+### 2.1 Ingress and Reading Comprehension: Wave Ingestion and Holomorphic Dispersion
+
+Reading comprehension is modeled as **Wave-Packet Ingestion and Holomorphic Dispersion**, replacing flat token embeddings.
+
+1. **Ingress Wave Packet**: An incoming text block, symbolic formula, or multimodal sensory stream is compiled into a localized, coherent wave packet $\\psi\_{	ext{context}}(X)$. This compilation preserves spatial-temporal phase relationships: $$\\psi\_{	ext{context}}(X) \= \\sum\_i c\_i \\psi\_{	ext{token}\_i}(X)$$  
+2. **Holomorphic Dispersion**: As $\\psi\_{	ext{context}}$ is injected, it propagates through the `VocabManifold`. Proximity and meaning are not calculated via nearest-neighbor vector scans. Instead, the wave disperses and performs parallel cross-correlation with the registered standing-wave modes ${\\psi\_k}$ of the Hyperbolic Atlas, generating a spectrum of resonant coefficients: $$R\_k \= \\int\_M \\langle \\psi\_{	ext{context}}(X) \\widetilde{\\psi}\_k(X) angle\_0 dX$$ This represents the instant, parallel projection of the input context onto the entire known semantic manifold.
+
+---
+
+### 2.2 Reasoning and Problem Solving: Hamiltonian Well Relaxation
+
+Problem-solving is re-engineered as a **Physical Wave-Field Relaxation Process**, replacing probabilistic step-by-step tree search.
+
+1. **The Problem Hamiltonian**: The constraints and boundary conditions of a given problem (e.g. mathematical equalities, safety rules, or logical premises) are formulated as potential energy barriers or wells in a problem-specific Hamiltonian operator $\\mathcal{H}\_{	ext{problem}}$.  
+2. **Relaxation to Eigenstates**: The ingress wave field $\\psi\_{	ext{context}}(X)$ is set as the initial state $\\psi(X, 0)$. The system is allowed to evolve under the Algebraic Schrödinger Equation: $$\\partial\_t \\psi \= \\mathcal{H}*{	ext{problem}}(\\psi) I$$ Through this evolution, the wave field naturally disperses away from high-potential barriers (representing logical contradictions or safety violations) and settles (relaxes) into the lowest-energy, stable standing-wave eigenmodes of the problem manifold: $$\\psi*{	ext{steady}}(X) \= \\lim\_{t 	o \\infty} \\exp\\left( \\mathcal{H}*{	ext{problem}} I t ight) \\psi*{	ext{context}}(X)$$ The resulting steady-state wave $\\psi\_{	ext{steady}}(X)$ represents the exact, geometrically congruent solution to the problem. It is mathematically guaranteed to satisfy all boundary conditions with zero room for intermediate fabrication.
+
+---
+
+### 2.3 Egress and Generative Articulation: Thermodynamic Wave Readback
+
+We replace probabilistic softmax token generation with **Thermodynamic Wave Readback**, providing ironclad coherence guarantees.
+
+1. **Thermodynamic Energy Classes**: The Field Energy Operator ($H$, defined in [ADR-0006](https://core-gitquarters.acbcontent.org/core-labs/core/src/branch/main/docs/adr/ADR-0006-field-energy-operator.md)) evaluates the "energy class" (E0 to E4) of the relaxed wave-field $\\psi\_{	ext{steady}}(X)$.  
+   - **E0/E1 (Crystalline/Stable)**: Represents cold, settled knowledge. It is bypassed for generation and vaulted into the sharded Delta-CRDT registers.  
+   - **E3/E4 (Hot/Critical)**: Indicates a high-activation, settled state that carries maximum semantic charge and "wants" to be articulated.  
+2. **Linguistic Readback**: For E3/E4 states, the system invokes the readback rules of the active language pack (`en/readback_rules.py`, `he/readback_rules.py`, `el/readback_rules.py`). These rules map the geometric components—the principal bivector directions and scale-invariant parameters of the wave field—directly to symbolic tokens or motor commands.  
+3. **GoldTether Gate**: Before any token or continuous action is permitted to exit the boundary, the **GoldTether unit residual** is evaluated: $$R\_{	ext{GoldTether}} \= \\sup\_{X \\in M} \\left| \\psi\_{	ext{steady}}(X) \\widetilde{\\psi}\_{	ext{steady}}(X) \- 1 ight|\_F \< 10^{-6}$$ If the generated state would introduce non-unitary drift (hallucination or ungrounded statements), the gate closes instantly, blocking the output and prompting a pre-ratified, safe fallback.
+
+---
+
+### 2.4 Speculative Contemplation and Non-Resonant Curiosity
+
+Active thinking, self-reflection, and learning are modeled as **Speculative Contemplation and Non-Resonant Curiosity**, replacing classical gradient-descent backpropagation.
+
+1. **Speculative Generation**: During idle cycles, the contemplation loop (`core/contemplation/runner.py`) speculatively generates wave-packets $\\psi\_{	ext{speculative}}(X)$ representing potential hypotheses or analogical transfers.  
+2. **Orthogonal Surprise Check**: The non-resonant surprise residual of the speculative wave is evaluated: $$\\mathcal{S}(\\psi) \= \\psi\_{	ext{speculative}} \- \\mathcal{P}*{	ext{resonance}}(\\psi*{	ext{speculative}})$$  
+   - **Low Surprise**: The hypothesis is fully explained by the existing resonant schema. It is integrated immediately with no learning required.  
+   - **High Surprise (Discovery Signal)**: If $E\_{	ext{surprise}} \> \\gamma$, the speculative wave contains structural novelty. This signal is held as a `DiscoveryCandidate` and routed to the offline review corridor. It does *not* alter active knowledge but directs the self-authorship loop (`core/physics/self_authorship.py`) to generate a proposal to expand the active Hamiltonian $\\mathcal{H}$, enabling structured learning without catastrophic forgetting.
+
+---
+
+### 2.5 Lifelong Resonant Learning: Biography Holonomy Update
+
+CORE-native learning is the permanent record of the entity's lived experiences as a sequence of geometric transformations.
+
+Once a sequence of reasoning and action steps is validated (via the validation harness, [ADR-0240](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eFNoXQl5BbUo6g4GBzRXi5tyIhT5RUGZQG6afaVXTg4/view?usp=drivesdk)), the exact unitary transformation $R \\in Spin(4,1)$ undergone by the wave-field is compiled into the **Biography Holonomy Blade** (`biography.py`): $$\\mathcal{H}*{	ext{bio}} \\leftarrow \\mathcal{H}*{	ext{bio}} \\cdot R$$ This is the ultimate, non-lossy, reconstruction-over-storage compilation of experience. It represents the "wisdom" of the entity, which can be replayed and audited byte-for-byte\!
+
+---
+
+## 3\. Implementation Specification (The Cognitive Relaxation Loop)
+
+Below is the Python prototype implementing wave-field ingestion, Hamiltonian well relaxation (problem-solving), and the GoldTether egress gate inside the active reasoning pipeline.
+
+\# core/physics/cognitive\_lifecycle.py
+
+from \_\_future\_\_ import annotations
+
+import numpy as np
+
+import scipy.linalg as la
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+from typing import Callable, Tuple
+
+N\_COMPONENTS \= 32
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True, slots=True)
+
+class IngressWavePacket:
+
+    psi: np.ndarray  \# 32-vector coefficients
+
+    domain\_id: str
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True, slots=True)
+
+class EgressVerdict:
+
+    admitted: bool
+
+    wave\_out: np.ndarray
+
+    residual: float
+
+    message: str
+
+class CognitiveLifecycleEngine:
+
+    def \_\_init\_\_(self, epsilon\_drift: float \= 1e-6):
+
+        self.epsilon\_drift \= epsilon\_drift
+
+        self.I \= np.zeros((N\_COMPONENTS, N\_COMPONENTS))
+
+        \# Central pseudoscalar proxy
+
+        for i in range(N\_COMPONENTS // 2):
+
+            self.I\[2\*i, 2\*i+1\] \= 1.0
+
+            self.I\[2\*i+1, 2\*i\] \= \-1.0
+
+    def ingest\_context(self, tokens: list\[np.ndarray\], domain\_id: str) \-\> IngressWavePacket:
+
+        """
+
+        Compiles discrete symbolic token wave-packets into a superposed,
+
+        coherent IngressWavePacket.
+
+        """
+
+        psi\_sum \= np.zeros(N\_COMPONENTS, dtype=np.float64)
+
+        for t in tokens:
+
+            arr \= np.asarray(t, dtype=np.float64)
+
+            psi\_sum \+= arr
+
+        \# Normalize to preserve unitary probability amplitude
+
+        norm \= np.linalg.norm(psi\_sum)
+
+        psi\_norm \= (psi\_sum / norm) if norm \> 1e-12 else psi\_sum
+
+        return IngressWavePacket(psi=psi\_norm, domain\_id=domain\_id)
+
+    def solve\_via\_relaxation(
+
+        self, 
+
+        ingress: IngressWavePacket, 
+
+        H\_problem: np.ndarray, 
+
+        relaxation\_steps: int \= 100,
+
+        dt: float \= 0.01
+
+    ) \-\> np.ndarray:
+
+        """
+
+        Solves a problem via continuous wave-field relaxation.
+
+        The wave relaxes into the minimum-energy eigenstate of H\_problem.
+
+        """
+
+        psi \= ingress.psi.copy()
+
+        \# Schrödinger propagator: R \= exp(H\_problem \* I \* dt)
+
+        generator \= np.dot(H\_problem, self.I)
+
+        R \= la.expm(generator \* dt)
+
+        
+
+        \# Relaxation loop (Euler/exponential integrator)
+
+        for \_ in range(relaxation\_steps):
+
+            psi \= np.dot(R, psi)
+
+            \# Enforce the null-cone amplitude normalization step
+
+            norm \= np.linalg.norm(psi)
+
+            if norm \> 1e-12:
+
+                psi /= norm
+
+                
+
+        return psi
+
+    def egress\_gate(self, psi\_steady: np.ndarray) \-\> EgressVerdict:
+
+        """
+
+        Unitary GoldTether egress gate: blocks non-unitary/hallucinated
+
+        wave-states from entering the readback and serving paths.
+
+        """
+
+        psi\_arr \= np.asarray(psi\_steady, dtype=np.float64)
+
+        \# Unitary residual check: || psi \* rev(psi) \- 1 ||\_F
+
+        \# rev(psi) proxied via conjugate transpose under I-metric
+
+        psi\_rev \= np.dot(self.I.T, psi\_arr)
+
+        norm\_product \= np.dot(psi\_arr.T, psi\_rev)
+
+        drift \= np.abs(norm\_product \- 1.0)
+
+        
+
+        if drift \> self.epsilon\_drift:
+
+            return EgressVerdict(
+
+                admitted=False,
+
+                wave\_out=np.zeros\_like(psi\_arr),
+
+                residual=float(drift),
+
+                message="REJECTED: Unitary propagator drift exceeds epsilon\_drift limit (ungrounded state)."
+
+            )
+
+            
+
+        return EgressVerdict(
+
+            admitted=True,
+
+            wave\_out=psi\_arr,
+
+            residual=float(drift),
+
+            message="ADMITTED: Wave-field verified and promoted to readback path."
+
+        )
+
+---
+
+## 4\. Consequences and Gating Rules
+
+### 4.1 Benefits
+
+- **Autoregressive Hallucination Eliminated**: By replacing step-by-step probabilistic token sampling with physical wave relaxation, output generation is strictly constrained by the geometry of the problem Hamiltonian.  
+- **Zero Coordinate Loss**: Resonant standing-wave lock-in ensures that recalled memories are mathematically exact, preventing the fuzzy centroid degradation of legacy architectures.  
+- **Topologically Protected Wisdom**: Experience is compiled directly into the Biography Holonomy Blade as unitary rotor products, providing an untamperable, replayable audit trail of lifelong learning.
+
+### 4.2 Gating Rules
+
+- **No Direct Hot-Path Promotion**: Reconstructed wave-fields or proposed Hamiltonian adjustments from the self-authorship loop (`core/physics/self_authorship.py`) must never bypass the one-mutation-path. Speculative changes must reside strictly within the `evals/` and `calibration/` quarantine zones until ratified by a signed human certificate.
+
+---
+
+## 5\. References
+
+1. `docs/adr/ADR-0003-coordinate-system-dissolution.md` — Relational fields replacing coordinate frames.  
+2. `docs/adr/ADR-0238-GoldTether-Modulated-Supervised-Autonomy.md` — GoldTether residual monitoring.  
+3. `docs/adr/ADR-0239-Conformal-Procrustes-Surprise-Dual-Operator.md` — Conformal Procrustes and surprise.  
+4. `docs/adr/ADR-0241-wave-field-driven-hyperbolic-atlas-and-resonant-cognition.md` — Continuous wave-field framework.  
+5. `docs/adr/ADR-0242-deterministic-fibonacci-operators-and-evidence-gated-optimization.md` — Fibonacci search contract.
+
diff --git a/docs/plans/adr-0241-0242-mastery-close-status.md b/docs/plans/adr-0241-0242-mastery-close-status.md
index 00dad05a..959f84a7 100644
--- a/docs/plans/adr-0241-0242-mastery-close-status.md
+++ b/docs/plans/adr-0241-0242-mastery-close-status.md
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ GitHub Actions became billing-locked (~$6, account-level) mid-arc, forcing a piv
 ## Current state (2026-07-16)
 
 - Both ADRs: **Accepted**, ratified, full audit trail.
-- `main` was @ `18d3c70d` at arc close; post-Accept backlog follow-through is on `feat/adr-0241-0242-implementation` (tip includes `d388fc9e` feature commit + status notes; local-first validation; merge when ready).
+- Post-Accept backlog **merged**: PR #55 (`d388fc9e` feature commit + status notes) landed on `main` @ `19819194`; all `[Verification]` numbers were independently reproduced by the 2026-07-16 audit (smoke 176; fast lane 11709 passed / 108 skipped; f64 parity 21/21 incl. Rust-path; invariants+demos+A-04 140). Three seam-vs-integration caveats carried into the ADR-0243 arc — see `docs/plans/adr-0243-implementation-plan.md` §1.
 - CI: **local-first is the real merge gate** (no Docker CI for merge); `uv.lock` committed and locked installs enforced in workflows; optional Mac Act runner must be `ubuntu-latest:host` (native), not `docker://…`.
 
 ## Remaining backlog (post-Accept follow-through; 2026-07-16 mastery close)
diff --git a/docs/plans/adr-0243-implementation-plan.md b/docs/plans/adr-0243-implementation-plan.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..77ae2f48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/plans/adr-0243-implementation-plan.md
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+# ADR-0243 Implementation Plan — Wave-Field Cognitive Lifecycle
+
+**Status**: Approved by Shay 2026-07-16 (plan-of-record for the 0243 arc)
+**Authority docs**: `docs/adr/ADR-0243-wave-field-cognitive-lifecycle-comprehension-reasoning-and-resonant-learning.md` (Proposed), `docs/analysis/core_cohesion_master_plan.md` (canonical, doctrine-annotated)
+**Related**: ADR-0006, ADR-0055, ADR-0145, ADR-0238, ADR-0239, ADR-0240, ADR-0241, ADR-0242
+**Prior-arc record**: `docs/plans/adr-0241-0242-mastery-close-status.md`
+
+---
+
+## 1. Inputs carried from the ADR-0241/0242 close audit (2026-07-16)
+
+The independent audit of PR #55 confirmed the 0241/0242 close as genuine, with three
+seam-vs-integration caveats that this arc must resolve or consciously inherit:
+
+1. **D9 "f64 GP parity" is a Python-SOT freeze, not cross-implementation parity.**
+   No Rust f64 geometric product exists. All f64 wave-field math stays in Python
+   until a `geometric_product_f64` PyO3 export is built *and* parity-gated.
+   Consequence here: the ADR-0243 relaxer is pure-Python f64 by doctrine, and the
+   master plan's §5 Rust bindings are **deferred** (see §7 below).
+2. **The ADR-0242 §5 carry seams have zero live call sites.** `kappa_search_event`
+   (goldtether) and `cross_band_discovery_gate` (multi_scale_energy) are tested
+   primitives that nothing live invokes. Phase 3 Lane A wires them.
+3. **The I-04 real-compiler sensorium feed is test-only** (correct per A-04
+   quarantine) and the audio versor is float32-origin upcast to f64. Phase 3
+   Lane B gives the feed its first (off-serving) consumer.
+
+## 2. Substrate inventory — what exists vs. what this arc builds
+
+Already landed (verified on `main` @ `19819194`):
+
+| Lifecycle stage | Existing organ |
+| --- | --- |
+| §2.1 ingress superposition | `core/physics/sensorium_wave_feed.py` (`ModalityPacket`, `compile_packet_to_psi`, `superpose_packets`, `phase_correlate`) |
+| §2.1 resonant projection R_k | `WaveManifold.phase_correlation` / `resonant_recall` / `resonant_reconstruct` |
+| §2.3 energy classes E0–E4 | `core/physics/energy.py` (`EnergyClass`, `FieldEnergyOperator`; ADR-0006) |
+| §2.3 readback rules | `packs/en/readback_rules.py` (ADR-0145 energy-modulated readback) |
+| §2.3 GoldTether residual | `core/physics/goldtether.py` (`coherence_residual`, `GoldTetherMonitor`) + `WaveManifold.measure_unitary_residual` |
+| §2.4 surprise + γ check | `core/physics/surprise.py` (`surprise_residual`, `is_discovery_eligible`, `dual_operator`; ADR-0239) |
+| §2.4 discovery plumbing | `core/contemplation/runner.py` already accepts a `DiscoveryCandidateSink`; `teaching/discovery.py` `DiscoveryCandidate` (ADR-0055 Phase B) |
+| §2.4 self-authorship | `core/physics/self_authorship.py` (`SelfAuthorshipMiner`, I-03 pinned speculative-only) |
+| §2.5 biography holonomy | `core/physics/biography.py` (`integrate_biography`, `reconstruct_biography`) — **no live call sites yet** |
+| I-01…I-05, A-02/A-04, `core_ha` absence | `tests/test_third_door_cohesion.py` (master plan §3/§8 already pinned; §7 `core_ha` migration is **moot** — package absent and test-pinned) |
+
+Genuinely unbuilt: the §2.2 relaxation reasoner (`cognitive_lifecycle.py`), the
+inter-organ wiring (three lanes), and the §4 falsifiability benchmarks.
+
+## 3. Sketch-defect ledger (ADR §3 reference prototype)
+
+Pinned executable in `tests/test_adr_0243_sketch_defect_pins.py`; the reference
+prototype must **never** be ported verbatim (precedent: PR #52 sketch-defect pins).
+
+- **SD-A — the sketch egress gate always rejects.** It computes
+  `drift = |ψᵀIᵀψ − 1|` with `I` antisymmetric; `ψᵀIᵀψ ≡ 0` identically, so
+  `drift ≡ 1 > ε` for *every* state, valid or not. A fail-always gate is the
+  inverse of a hollow gate and equally worthless. The real residual already
+  exists: `WaveManifold.measure_unitary_residual` / `goldtether.coherence_residual`.
+- **SD-B — the sketch "relaxation" cannot relax.** Iterating
+  `R = expm(H·I·dt)` with renormalization does not settle into the minimum-energy
+  eigenmode: the generator's spectrum is (block-wise) purely imaginary, so the
+  iterates oscillate and preserve mode magnitudes; nothing dissipates. Relaxation
+  to the ground state requires the **dissipative (imaginary-time) semigroup**
+  `ψ ← normalize(exp(−H·dt)·ψ)` — deterministic power iteration converging at a
+  rate set by the spectral gap of H.
+- **SD-C — the sketch's block matrix "I" is not the Cl(4,1) pseudoscalar action.**
+  It shares the property I² = −Id but is a different operator from
+  left-multiplication by e₀e₁e₂e₃e₄ in the real algebra. All algebra goes
+  through `algebra/` — no bespoke component-shuffling proxies.
+
+## 4. Deviations ledger (implementation vs. ADR prose — for the acceptance packet)
+
+- **D-1 imaginary-time relaxer** replaces the sketch's `exp(H·I·t)` loop (SD-B).
+  Implemented via `np.linalg.eigh` on symmetric H: `exp(−H·dt) = Q·exp(−Λ·dt)·Qᵀ`,
+  pure numpy f64, no scipy dependency added.
+- **D-2 honest guarantee restatement.** The ADR's "mathematically guaranteed …
+  zero room for intermediate fabrication" is conditional: it holds only insofar
+  as (a) the Hamiltonian compiler encodes the constraints faithfully, (b) the
+  ground state is separated by a positive spectral gap, and (c) the iteration has
+  converged (certified, not assumed). The acceptance packet states it this way.
+- **D-3 I-05 reconciliation.** Relaxation is *deliberately non-unitary* inside
+  the off-serving solver — that is what dissipation is. I-05 (amplitude
+  conservation) governs live serve-path transitions; the relaxer's terminal
+  normalize is an **owned construction boundary** per the master plan's
+  doctrine note (no hot-path drift repair; breaches at the boundary fail closed).
+- **D-4 R-02 premise retired at v1 scale.** `expm` of a 32×32 symmetric matrix
+  in numpy is trivial; no Rust port is needed or permitted (caveat 1) for v1.
+- **D-5 E0/E1 crystallization is proposal-only.** No vault writes from the
+  lifecycle; cold states emit a typed crystallization *proposal artifact*
+  through the one-mutation-path (I-03), never a direct `COHERENT` write.
+
+## 5. Phases
+
+- **Phase 0 — Governance + doc hygiene** (this PR): commit ADR-0243 verbatim as
+  Proposed; sketch-defect pins; `*.gdoc` gitignored; stale prior-arc status line
+  fixed; this plan committed. Local strays (research-copy duplicates,
+  `core-rs/uv.lock`) removed from the working tree.
+- **Phase 1 — merged into Phase 0** (pins land with the plan).
+- **Phase 2 — flagship `core/physics/cognitive_lifecycle.py`** (1 PR): Tier-2
+  off-serving (A-04 list + lazy barrel + transitive guard). Typed
+  content-addressed `ProblemHamiltonian` compiler for two checkable domains only
+  (propositional penalty projectors; convex quadratic). Imaginary-time relaxer
+  (D-1) with convergence certificate (eigen-residual + gap estimate) and typed
+  fail-closed errors. Egress verdict composing `measure_unitary_residual` +
+  `coherence_residual` + `EnergyClass` routing (E0/E1 → proposal artifact per
+  D-5; E3/E4 → readback-eligible). Ingress delegates to `sensorium_wave_feed` /
+  `WaveManifold` — no duplication. TDD; ground-state property test vs. direct
+  eigensolve; determinism digests.
+- **Phase 3 — wiring lanes** (three independent PRs after Phase 2 API lands):
+  - **Lane A (§2.4; closes caveat 2):** wire `is_discovery_eligible` +
+    `cross_band_discovery_gate` into the contemplation runner's existing sink;
+    high-surprise speculative packets emit `DiscoveryCandidate`s
+    (proposal-only). Give `kappa_search_event` its live telemetry call site at
+    the κ line-search (calibration-gated per R-04).
+  - **Lane B (§2.1→§2.3; closes caveat 3):** off-serving corridor in `evals/`:
+    real Audio/Vision compilers → ψ_in → relaxation → E-class → `en` readback
+    rules → GoldTether gate. First live consumer of the I-04 feed.
+  - **Lane C (§2.5):** ADR-0240 validation-harness PASS →
+    `integrate_biography`, with I-01 closure asserts and provenance recording.
+- **Phase 4 — falsifiability benchmarks** (1 PR):
+  `evals/adr_0243_cognitive_lifecycle/` fixed-replay eval
+  (`adr_0242_v2_energy_compare` pattern): fidelity score, surprise separation
+  (ID vs OOD), insertion cost, f32 drift over T=1000, typed failure thresholds.
+  **Decisive falsifier:** a propositional slice scored against
+  `evals/deductive_logic` ROBDD gold with wrong=0 accounting. "Field engine is
+  NOT the reasoner today" stands unless this evidence says otherwise.
+- **Phase 5 — acceptance packet** (1 PR): D10-pattern packet — claims vs.
+  evidence, deviations D-1…D-5, deferred items — for Joshua's ruling. Status
+  flip via governance commit only (provenance-guard compliant).
+
+## 6. Dependencies and process
+
+Phase 2 precedes 3/4; Lanes A/B/C are mutually independent; Phase 5 last.
+Every PR: dedicated worktree off `forgejo/main`, in-worktree smoke gate
+(`uv run core test --suite smoke -q`) before push, `[Verification]:` line in the
+PR description, Forgejo MCP for PR operations (no `gh`, no `tea`), stacked
+merges substrate-first, merged branches + worktrees deleted immediately.
+Lane briefs for Phase 3 are written at Phase 2 completion (production-line
+pattern, `docs/handoff/`); dispatch is Shay's call.
+
+## 7. Explicitly deferred (not in this arc)
+
+- Master plan §5 Rust bindings (`cl41::wedge` exists; `expm`/`versor_unit_residual`
+  SIMD do not) — blocked on a Rust f64 GP + D9-style parity gate (caveat 1).
+- MLX / Apple-UMA lanes — aspirational prose; no benchmark evidence.
+- Delta-CRDT multi-writer vault — behind the multi-writer gate (PR #42 ruling).
+- `he`/`el` readback rules — packs are skeletal; `en` only for the corridor.
+- Any serve-path activation of lifecycle machinery — A-04 quarantine holds
+  until ratification.
+
+## 8. Risks
+
+- **H-compiler scope explosion** → v1 fixed at two typed domains; extensions
+  require new evidence, not new matchers (ADR-0175 discipline).
+- **Reasoner overclaim / thesis drift** → the Phase 4 wrong=0 ROBDD cross-check
+  is the gate; disagreements fail the run and go in the packet verbatim.
+- **Hollow gates in egress wiring** → every gate ships with a must-reject test
+  (and SD-A shows the dual failure mode: a gate that rejects everything).
+- **I-05 doctrinal tension** → D-3 reconciliation text; normalize only at the
+  owned construction boundary; boundary breaches fail closed, never repaired.
diff --git a/tests/test_adr_0243_sketch_defect_pins.py b/tests/test_adr_0243_sketch_defect_pins.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..68c23312
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_adr_0243_sketch_defect_pins.py
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+"""ADR-0243 §3 reference-prototype sketch-defect pins (SD-A, SD-B, SD-C).
+
+Authority: docs/plans/adr-0243-implementation-plan.md §3 (sketch-defect ledger).
+Precedent: PR #52 sketch-defect pins for the rejected Drive-draft re-implementation.
+
+The ADR-0243 §3 Python prototype (``CognitiveLifecycleEngine``) contains
+mathematical defects that make a verbatim port worthless or misleading. These
+pins prove each defect with a deterministic counterexample so the sketch can
+never be re-landed as-is:
+
+SD-A  The sketch egress gate computes ``drift = |psi^T I^T psi - 1|`` with an
+      antisymmetric ``I``. The quadratic form of an antisymmetric matrix is
+      identically zero, so drift == 1 for EVERY state and the gate rejects
+      everything — valid and invalid alike. A fail-always gate is the inverse
+      of a hollow gate and equally worthless. The real residual is
+      ``WaveManifold.measure_unitary_residual`` / ``goldtether.coherence_residual``.
+
+SD-B  The sketch "relaxation" loop iterates ``R = expm(H @ I * dt)`` with
+      renormalization. The generator's spectrum is (block-wise) purely
+      imaginary, so iterates oscillate and nothing dissipates: the loop never
+      settles into the minimum-energy eigenmode of H. Honest deterministic
+      relaxation is the dissipative (imaginary-time) semigroup
+      ``psi <- normalize(exp(-H dt) psi)`` — power iteration whose convergence
+      rate is the spectral gap of H.
+
+SD-C  The sketch's block matrix "I" ("central pseudoscalar proxy") is NOT the
+      Cl(4,1) pseudoscalar action: it shares I^2 = -Id but is a different
+      operator from left-multiplication by e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 in the real algebra.
+      All algebra goes through ``algebra/`` — no component-shuffling proxies.
+
+Deterministic fixtures only — no random spinors as truth.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import numpy as np
+
+from algebra.cl41 import N_COMPONENTS, geometric_product
+
+
+def _sketch_proxy_i() -> np.ndarray:
+    """The ADR-0243 §3 prototype's 'central pseudoscalar proxy' matrix."""
+    proxy = np.zeros((N_COMPONENTS, N_COMPONENTS), dtype=np.float64)
+    for i in range(N_COMPONENTS // 2):
+        proxy[2 * i, 2 * i + 1] = 1.0
+        proxy[2 * i + 1, 2 * i] = -1.0
+    return proxy
+
+
+def _expm_series(M: np.ndarray, terms: int = 60) -> np.ndarray:
+    """Deterministic truncated-series matrix exponential (no scipy)."""
+    out = np.eye(M.shape[0], dtype=np.float64)
+    term = np.eye(M.shape[0], dtype=np.float64)
+    for k in range(1, terms):
+        term = term @ M / float(k)
+        out = out + term
+    return out
+
+
+def _onehot(i: int) -> np.ndarray:
+    v = np.zeros(N_COMPONENTS, dtype=np.float64)
+    v[i] = 1.0
+    return v
+
+
+# --- SD-A: the sketch egress gate rejects every state -------------------------
+
+
+def test_sd_a_sketch_egress_gate_rejects_every_state():
+    proxy = _sketch_proxy_i()
+    mixed = np.arange(1, N_COMPONENTS + 1, dtype=np.float64)
+    mixed /= np.linalg.norm(mixed)
+    candidates = [_onehot(0), _onehot(5), _onehot(31), mixed]
+
+    for psi in candidates:
+        # Exactly the sketch's egress computation.
+        psi_rev = proxy.T @ psi
+        norm_product = psi @ psi_rev
+        drift = abs(norm_product - 1.0)
+        # Antisymmetric quadratic form vanishes identically...
+        assert abs(norm_product) < 1e-12
+        # ...so the sketch gate rejects EVERYTHING, unit-norm states included.
+        assert drift > 1e-6  # sketch epsilon_drift
+        assert abs(drift - 1.0) < 1e-12
+
+
+# --- SD-B: the sketch loop cannot relax; imaginary time can -------------------
+
+
+def test_sd_b_sketch_loop_oscillates_while_imaginary_time_relaxes():
+    energies = np.linspace(0.5, 4.0, N_COMPONENTS)
+    hamiltonian = np.diag(energies)  # ground state = component 0
+    psi0 = np.ones(N_COMPONENTS, dtype=np.float64)
+    psi0 /= np.linalg.norm(psi0)
+
+    # Exactly the sketch's relaxation loop: R = expm(H @ I * dt), 100 steps.
+    propagator = _expm_series(hamiltonian @ _sketch_proxy_i() * 0.01)
+    psi = psi0.copy()
+    for _ in range(100):
+        psi = propagator @ psi
+        norm = np.linalg.norm(psi)
+        if norm > 1e-12:
+            psi /= norm
+    sketch_ground_overlap = abs(psi[0])
+
+    # Honest dissipative semigroup: psi <- normalize(exp(-H dt) psi).
+    decay = np.exp(-energies * 0.5)
+    phi = psi0.copy()
+    for _ in range(200):
+        phi = decay * phi
+        phi /= np.linalg.norm(phi)
+    imaginary_time_ground_overlap = abs(phi[0])
+
+    # The sketch never concentrates on the ground state...
+    assert sketch_ground_overlap < 0.9
+    # ...while imaginary time converges to it (rate = spectral gap).
+    assert imaginary_time_ground_overlap > 1.0 - 1e-8
+
+
+# --- SD-C: the proxy matrix is not the Cl(4,1) pseudoscalar action ------------
+
+
+def test_sd_c_proxy_matrix_is_not_the_pseudoscalar_action():
+    # Real pseudoscalar e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 (0-indexed basis vectors, f64).
+    pseudoscalar = _onehot(1)  # e0 lives at component 1
+    for i in range(1, 5):
+        pseudoscalar = geometric_product(pseudoscalar, _onehot(1 + i))
+
+    # Left-multiplication-by-pseudoscalar as a 32x32 matrix.
+    action = np.zeros((N_COMPONENTS, N_COMPONENTS), dtype=np.float64)
+    for j in range(N_COMPONENTS):
+        action[:, j] = geometric_product(pseudoscalar, _onehot(j))
+
+    proxy = _sketch_proxy_i()
+    identity = np.eye(N_COMPONENTS)
+    # Both square to -Id (I5^2 = -1 in Cl(4,1)) — the proxy mimics the square...
+    assert np.allclose(action @ action, -identity, atol=1e-12)
+    assert np.allclose(proxy @ proxy, -identity, atol=1e-12)
+    # ...but is a DIFFERENT operator: the actions disagree outright.
+    assert float(np.max(np.abs(action - proxy))) > 0.5