diff --git a/scripts/tarbuckle-wrap.py b/scripts/tarbuckle-wrap.py
index c722919..4ab6db4 100755
--- a/scripts/tarbuckle-wrap.py
+++ b/scripts/tarbuckle-wrap.py
@@ -181,6 +181,23 @@ def main() -> int:
             fh.write(time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"))
     except OSError:
         pass
+
+    # ⚠ `Stop` FIRES FOR `claude -p` TOO, so this hook re-enters inside the fool's own
+    # generator child. Measured over the fortnight to 2026-09-09: 3 of 10 wrap runs landed
+    # in a generation subprocess, and 18 s of the 80 s of blocking `Stop` went on occasions
+    # that were the end of a generation nobody was waiting on. The child already carries the
+    # variable — it is set on the spawn below, and by the three sibling seams.
+    # ⚠ THE HEARTBEAT STAYS ABOVE THIS GATE, deliberately: it answers "did the hook fire",
+    # and gating it would quietly narrow the one artifact that can tell a hook that never
+    # fires from a hook that fires and does nothing.
+    # ⚠ THE VARIABLE NOW MEANS TWO THINGS AND NEITHER IMPLIES THE OTHER. In
+    # `tarbuckle-body.py` it means DO NOT TICK — a fork-bomb guard on the status line.
+    # Here it means DO NOT SPEAK OR WORK — a generation's `Stop` is not a turn, and he has
+    # no business wrapping a session that is one of his own sentences. Whoever deletes one
+    # meaning must check the other: they are separate guards that share a name.
+    if os.environ.get("TARBUCKLE_CHILD"):
+        return 0
+
     session_id = str(payload.get("session_id") or "")
     transcript = payload.get("transcript_path") or ""
     if not transcript or not wrap_invoked(transcript):
@@ -219,6 +236,9 @@ def main() -> int:
 
 
 def selftest() -> int:
+    # W6 rebinds these three for the duration of one control and restores them; Python
+    # requires the declaration ahead of first use, which W3's calls would otherwise be.
+    global wrap_invoked, muted, HEARTBEAT
     checks, failed = [], []
     import tempfile
 
@@ -302,6 +322,44 @@ def selftest() -> int:
     ck("W5 prompt keeps no truth value", "NO TRUTH VALUE" in p)
     ck("W5n wrap prompt differs from the wake prompt", "put down" in p)
 
+    # W6 — `Stop` fires for `claude -p`, so this hook re-enters inside the fool's own
+    # generator. ⚠ BEHAVIOURAL, NOT A SOURCE STRING. The source-string form of exactly
+    # this kind of check is what passed vacuously for its whole life two files away
+    # (PENDING-180), and no string in this file can see whether the gate is reached
+    # BEFORE the work — which is the entire claim.
+    import io as _io
+    _wi, _mu, _hb = wrap_invoked, muted, HEARTBEAT
+    _env, _stdin, seen = os.environ.get("TARBUCKLE_CHILD"), sys.stdin, []
+    _hbt = os.path.join(td, "hb")
+
+    def _spy(path):
+        seen.append(path)
+        return False
+
+    _payload = json.dumps({"session_id": "w6", "transcript_path": t})
+    try:
+        # muted() is neutralised for the duration: a control whose outcome depends on a
+        # switch it does not name is not a control, and mute is a different question.
+        wrap_invoked, muted, HEARTBEAT = _spy, (lambda: False), _hbt
+        os.environ["TARBUCKLE_CHILD"] = "1"
+        sys.stdin = _io.StringIO(_payload)
+        ck("W6 a generation's Stop returns without reading the transcript",
+           main() == 0 and not seen)
+        ck("W6 the heartbeat is written above the gate, so liveness still reports",
+           os.path.exists(_hbt))
+        os.environ.pop("TARBUCKLE_CHILD", None)
+        sys.stdin = _io.StringIO(_payload)
+        main()
+        ck("W6n the predicate can fail: an ordinary Stop does read the transcript",
+           len(seen) == 1)
+    finally:
+        wrap_invoked, muted, HEARTBEAT = _wi, _mu, _hb
+        sys.stdin = _stdin
+        if _env is None:
+            os.environ.pop("TARBUCKLE_CHILD", None)
+        else:
+            os.environ["TARBUCKLE_CHILD"] = _env
+
     for name in checks:
         print(f"  {'FAIL' if name in failed else 'ok  '}  {name}")
     print(f"{len(checks) - len(failed)}/{len(checks)} controls passed")