diff --git a/src/github/backfill.ts b/src/github/backfill.ts
index 9ec29b3fd8..4e9eab7305 100644
--- a/src/github/backfill.ts
+++ b/src/github/backfill.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ import type {
   RepositorySettings,
 } from "../types";
 import { errorMessage, nowIso, repoParts, strippedErrorMessage } from "../utils/json";
-import { createInstallationToken, getAppInstallation } from "./app";
+import { createInstallationToken, getAppInstallation, GITTENSORY_GATE_CHECK_NAME } from "./app";
 
 type GitHubLabelPayload = {
   name: string;
@@ -1985,6 +1985,11 @@ export async function fetchLiveCiAggregate(
     ).catch(() => undefined);
     if (!result) break;
     for (const run of result.data.check_runs ?? []) {
+      // The bot's OWN gate check is NOT "CI" to wait on. It posts the gate as in_progress and then concludes it
+      // AFTER reviewing — so counting it here self-deadlocks: the review waits for all CI to finish, the gate
+      // never finishes (it's pending until the review it is blocking runs), and the PR defers forever. Skip it.
+      // (#gate-self-deadlock — this was deferring green-CI PRs as "CI still running" indefinitely.)
+      if (run.name === GITTENSORY_GATE_CHECK_NAME) continue;
       total += 1;
       const conclusion = (run.conclusion ?? "").toLowerCase();
       const status = (run.status ?? "").toLowerCase();
@@ -2011,9 +2016,10 @@ export async function fetchLiveCiAggregate(
     token,
   ).catch(() => undefined);
   for (const ctx of statusResult?.data.statuses ?? []) {
+    const name = ctx.context ?? "status";
+    if (name === GITTENSORY_GATE_CHECK_NAME) continue; // never wait on the bot's own gate (see #gate-self-deadlock above)
     total += 1;
     const state = (ctx.state ?? "").toLowerCase();
-    const name = ctx.context ?? "status";
     if (state === "failure" || state === "error") {
       const summary = typeof ctx.description === "string" ? ctx.description.trim().slice(0, 200) : "";
       const detail = { name, ...(summary ? { summary } : {}), ...(ctx.target_url ? { detailsUrl: ctx.target_url } : {}) };
diff --git a/src/review/guardrail-config.ts b/src/review/guardrail-config.ts
index d89794183f..8d60693fd7 100644
--- a/src/review/guardrail-config.ts
+++ b/src/review/guardrail-config.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,13 @@ import type { JsonValue } from "../types";
 // these, it never opens the gate wide.
 export const DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS = [".github/workflows/**", "scripts/**"];
 
+// A KV READ FAULT (binding present but the read threw — an outage/transient error) must fail CLOSED, NOT fall
+// back to the narrow default: a config-read fault correlated with a contributor flood would otherwise silently
+// shrink the guarded surface to CI+scripts and let crown-jewel edits (scoring/auth/rules/the gate) auto-merge.
+// "**" matches every path (the glob engine maps ** -> .*), so this holds ALL PRs for human review until the
+// config read recovers — fail-safe for the surface a flood most threatens. (#flood-readiness)
+export const FAIL_CLOSED_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS = ["**"];
+
 function asNonEmptyStringArray(value: unknown): string[] | null {
   if (!Array.isArray(value)) return null;
   const out = value.filter((entry): entry is string => typeof entry === "string" && entry.length > 0);
@@ -20,9 +27,10 @@ function asNonEmptyStringArray(value: unknown): string[] | null {
 }
 
 /**
- * Resolve a repo's hard-guardrail path globs from the shared REVIEW_CONFIG KV (key = repo slug). Falls back to
- * DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS when the binding / key / field is absent or malformed — fail-SAFE and never
- * throws (the auto-maintain trigger is best-effort and must not be sunk by a config read).
+ * Resolve a repo's hard-guardrail path globs from the shared REVIEW_CONFIG KV (key = repo slug). Never throws
+ * (the auto-maintain trigger is best-effort). A legitimately-absent binding/key/field falls back to the narrow
+ * DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS so a freshly-installed repo can still operate; but a THROWN read (KV outage)
+ * fails CLOSED to FAIL_CLOSED_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS so a config fault can never open the gate during a flood.
  */
 export async function loadHardGuardrailGlobs(env: Env, repoFullName: string): Promise<string[]> {
   const slug = repoFullName.includes("/") ? repoFullName.slice(repoFullName.indexOf("/") + 1) : repoFullName;
@@ -31,6 +39,6 @@ export async function loadHardGuardrailGlobs(env: Env, repoFullName: string): Pr
     const config = (await env.REVIEW_CONFIG.get(slug, "json")) as { hardGuardrailGlobs?: JsonValue } | null;
     return asNonEmptyStringArray(config?.hardGuardrailGlobs) ?? DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS;
   } catch {
-    return DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS;
+    return FAIL_CLOSED_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS;
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/backfill.test.ts b/test/unit/backfill.test.ts
index 8a60253601..6e04aed959 100644
--- a/test/unit/backfill.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/backfill.test.ts
@@ -2684,6 +2684,31 @@ describe("GitHub backfill", () => {
       expect(aggregate.failingDetails).toEqual([expect.objectContaining({ name: "unknown-required-status" })]);
       expect(aggregate.nonRequiredFailingDetails).toEqual([]);
     });
+
+    it("ignores the bot's OWN Gittensory Gate check so it never self-deadlocks (#gate-self-deadlock)", async () => {
+      const env = createTestEnv({ GITHUB_PUBLIC_TOKEN: "public-token" });
+      vi.stubGlobal("fetch", async (input: RequestInfo | URL) => {
+        const url = input.toString();
+        if (url.includes("/check-runs?")) {
+          return Response.json({
+            check_runs: [
+              { name: "test", status: "completed", conclusion: "success" },
+              // the bot's OWN gate, still in_progress (posted but not yet concluded). Counting it would defer
+              // the very review that concludes it — the self-deadlock that froze green-CI PRs as "CI pending".
+              { name: "Gittensory Gate", status: "in_progress", conclusion: null },
+            ],
+          });
+        }
+        if (url.includes("/status?")) return Response.json({ statuses: [] });
+        return new Response("not found", { status: 404 });
+      });
+
+      // The gate is among the branch-protection required contexts, yet it MUST be excluded from the CI wait.
+      const aggregate = await fetchLiveCiAggregate(env, "JSONbored/metagraphed", "headsha", "public-token", new Set(["test", "Gittensory Gate"]));
+
+      expect(aggregate.ciState).toBe("passed"); // would be "pending" if the in_progress gate were counted
+      expect(aggregate.failingDetails).toEqual([]);
+    });
   });
 
 });
diff --git a/test/unit/change-guardrail.test.ts b/test/unit/change-guardrail.test.ts
index b18205d2c8..5c1a1e172c 100644
--- a/test/unit/change-guardrail.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/change-guardrail.test.ts
@@ -30,3 +30,41 @@ describe("change-guardrail glob matching", () => {
     expect(changedPathsHittingGuardrail(["src/scoring/x.ts"], [])).toEqual([]);
   });
 });
+
+// #flood-readiness: the LIVE gittensory KV globs must guard crucial files that live OUTSIDE the dir-prefix
+// guards (the awesome-claude #4196 class — a weakened sensitive file slipping through because its folder
+// wasn't covered), while leaving clean non-crucial PRs auto-mergeable. Mirrors REVIEW_CONFIG["gittensory"].
+describe("hard-guardrail covers content-crucial files outside the dir-prefix guards", () => {
+  const GITTENSORY_GLOBS = [
+    ".github/**", "scripts/**", "packages/**", "apps/gittensory-ui/**",
+    "src/scoring/**", "src/signals/**", "src/rules/**", "src/gittensor/**", "src/auth/**",
+    "src/upstream/**", "src/settings/**", "src/review/**", "src/services/**", "src/github/**", "src/config/**",
+  ];
+
+  it("guards crucial files in non-obvious folders (scoring/auth/rules/gate/reviewer)", () => {
+    for (const p of [
+      "src/services/score-breakdown.ts", // scoring logic under services/
+      "src/services/ai-review.ts", // the reviewer engine (#4196 class)
+      "src/settings/command-authorization.ts", // authorization under settings/
+      "src/settings/agent-actions.ts", // the merge/close decision planner
+      "src/upstream/ruleset.ts", // rules under upstream/
+      "src/upstream/unmodeled-scoring-drift.ts", // scoring drift under upstream/
+      "src/review/guardrail-config.ts", // the guardrail loader itself
+      "src/github/backfill.ts", // CI aggregation that gates merges
+      "src/config/gittensory-repo-focus-manifest.ts", // scoring focus config
+    ]) {
+      expect(changedPathsHittingGuardrail([p], GITTENSORY_GLOBS)).toEqual([p]);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("still lets clean non-crucial PRs auto-merge (infra/data/registry/docs/tests)", () => {
+    const nonCrucial = ["src/utils/json.ts", "src/db/repositories.ts", "src/registry/normalize.ts", "src/mcp/server.ts", "README.md", "docs/x.md", "test/unit/foo.test.ts"];
+    expect(changedPathsHittingGuardrail(nonCrucial, GITTENSORY_GLOBS)).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("the fail-closed sentinel ['**'] guards every path (KV-outage hold-all)", () => {
+    for (const p of ["src/utils/json.ts", "README.md", "anything/at/all.txt"]) {
+      expect(matchesAny(p, ["**"])).toBe(true);
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/unit/guardrail-config.test.ts b/test/unit/guardrail-config.test.ts
index fdb2a91a6d..ee8902fd11 100644
--- a/test/unit/guardrail-config.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/guardrail-config.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
-import { DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS, loadHardGuardrailGlobs } from "../../src/review/guardrail-config";
+import { DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS, FAIL_CLOSED_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS, loadHardGuardrailGlobs } from "../../src/review/guardrail-config";
 
 function envWith(get: (key: string, type: string) => Promise<unknown>): Env {
   return { REVIEW_CONFIG: { get } } as unknown as Env;
@@ -28,14 +28,15 @@ describe("loadHardGuardrailGlobs", () => {
     expect(globs).toEqual(["scripts/**"]);
   });
 
-  it("fails safe to the default when the KV read throws", async () => {
+  it("fails CLOSED (guard everything) when the KV read throws — an outage must never open the gate", async () => {
     const globs = await loadHardGuardrailGlobs(
       envWith(async () => {
         throw new Error("kv down");
       }),
       "o/r",
     );
-    expect(globs).toEqual(DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS);
+    expect(globs).toEqual(FAIL_CLOSED_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS); // ["**"] → every path held for human review
+    expect(globs).not.toEqual(DEFAULT_CRUCIAL_GUARDRAIL_GLOBS);
   });
 
   it("uses the whole name as the slug when there is no owner prefix", async () => {