Shadow lane helped. It found caveats, challenged weak plans, and caught slop risk. Then fallback mode once answered like a broken brochure.
The lesson was not “never use locals.” The lesson was sharper: local models are critics, not witnesses.
If a model did not receive tool output, file content, or a packet of evidence, it does not get to claim the repo is clean, the system is configured, or the world is current.
Rule added: Critique is advisory. Current-state claims require tools.