diff --git a/tests/GenWave.Architecture.Tests/Specs/Gh445_NamespaceCycleFreedom.cs b/tests/GenWave.Architecture.Tests/Specs/Gh445_NamespaceCycleFreedom.cs
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+// gh-#445 — L7: namespace-level cycle freedom (Dean's contributor-proofing ask, 2026-08-09).
+//
+// Project-LEVEL cycles are structurally impossible (MSBuild refuses a circular
+// ProjectReference), so the dependency laws never needed to state them. But cycles BETWEEN
+// NAMESPACES INSIDE one assembly are exactly the tangle contributors introduce — two Host
+// subsystems reaching into each other until neither can be extracted (the F105.4 graduation
+// rule assumes a subsystem CAN leave Host; a namespace cycle is how it becomes unable to).
+//
+// Granularity: slices = the first namespace segment below each project root ("GenWave.Host.(*)"
+// → Api, Engine, Playout, Configuration, …). Flat-namespaced projects (most types directly in
+// the root, e.g. GenWave.Tts) contribute few or no slices and pass vacuously — the law guards
+// wherever internal structure exists, which today is chiefly Host, MediaLibrary, and Context.
+using ArchUnitNET.Fluent.Slices;
+using GenWave.Architecture.Tests.Support;
+
+namespace GenWave.Architecture.Tests.Specs;
+
+public sealed class FeatureNamespaceCycleFreedom
+{
+    public static readonly TheoryData<string> ProjectRoots =
+    [
+        "GenWave.Abstractions",
+        "GenWave.Core",
+        "GenWave.Context",
+        "GenWave.Host",
+        "GenWave.Loudness",
+        "GenWave.MediaLibrary",
+        "GenWave.Orchestration",
+        "GenWave.Tts",
+    ];
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Pre-existing tangles recorded 2026-08-09 (gh-#445, where each carries a fix sketch) — the
+    /// guard's job is stopping NEW cycles while these two are untangled. Shrink-to-fit: fixing a
+    /// cycle makes its row here STALE and the spec fails until the row is deleted, so this
+    /// baseline can only ever shrink. Mirrors the F105.2 exemption philosophy (named, dated,
+    /// reasoned) without claiming a LawId — law promotion is gh-#445's recorded /design step.
+    /// </summary>
+    static readonly IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string[]> BaselinedCycles = new Dictionary<string, string[]>
+    {
+        ["GenWave.Core"] = ["Events -> Abstractions"], // NoOpStationEventSink lives in Events; IStationEventSink's signature reaches back
+        ["GenWave.Host"] = ["Api -> Stats"],           // DockerContainerStatsSource returns Api-namespace DTOs (gh-#148 shape)
+    };
+
+    public sealed class ScenarioNoNamespaceCyclesWithinAnyProject
+    {
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(ProjectRoots), MemberType = typeof(FeatureNamespaceCycleFreedom))]
+        public void Namespaces_below_the_project_root_are_free_of_cycles(string projectRoot)
+        {
+            // Evaluate() + hand-rolled assert, not the ArchUnitNET.xUnit Check() extension — the
+            // suite deliberately carries only the core analysis package (Story290's pattern), and
+            // the failure text here lists every cyclic slice pair rather than a generic rule name.
+            var failures = SliceRuleDefinition.Slices()
+                .Matching($"{projectRoot}.(*)")
+                .Should()
+                .BeFreeOfCycles()
+                .Evaluate(ProductionArchitecture.Instance)
+                .Where(result => !result.Passed)
+                .Select(result => result.Description)
+                .ToList();
+
+            var baseline = BaselinedCycles.GetValueOrDefault(projectRoot, []);
+
+            var unexpected = failures.Where(f => !baseline.Any(f.Contains)).ToList();
+            Assert.True(
+                unexpected.Count == 0,
+                $"NEW namespace cycle(s) in {projectRoot} — not in the gh-#445 baseline, untangle before merging:\n" +
+                string.Join("\n", unexpected));
+
+            foreach (var marker in baseline)
+            {
+                Assert.True(
+                    failures.Any(f => f.Contains(marker)),
+                    $"stale baseline row '{marker}' for {projectRoot} — that cycle is fixed 🎉; " +
+                    "delete the row from BaselinedCycles so the guard tightens (gh-#445 shrink-to-fit)");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}