fix(board): --brief's zero-debt branch no longer claims zero pending mail

Found in review of the previous commit, before catalog tags 0.22.0: once
n_owe counts OWED repos rather than raw pending, its ==0 branch could fire
while a repo still held FYI-only mail, making "Ingen repo har uhaandtert
innboks" false at the exact moment it printed. Fixed to state only the
debt claim, and to name any FYI-only mailboxes found instead of letting
their existence go unmentioned. No fixture in the shared test tree ever
reached n_owe==0 (it always carries a debtor), so this needed its own
isolated-root fixture to pin.

Still part of the 0.22.0 release -- amends that changelog entry rather
than bumping again, since no tag exists yet.

board-selftest.sh: 150 -> 152 checks.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01WGWMPskXBsTjMrrQ2GofFx

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -30,9 +30,17 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   hit `--brief` too, whenever there was neither chain-root credit nor debt on
   a given day). Verified against the shipped 0.21.0 script with a minimal
   reproduction. Fixed by matching on `FILENAME` instead of line counts.
+- **`--brief`'s zero-debt branch claimed no mail was pending, not just that
+  none was owed.** A side effect of the first fix above: once `n_owe` counts
+  OWED repos, its `== 0` branch can fire while a repo still holds FYI-only
+  mail, making the branch's first sentence ("Ingen repo har uhaandtert
+  innboks") false the moment that happens. Fixed to state only the debt
+  claim, and to name any FYI-only mailboxes found instead of letting their
+  existence go unmentioned in that branch.
 
-  `board-selftest.sh`: 142 -> 150 checks (fixtures for FYI-only mail,
+  `board-selftest.sh`: 142 -> 152 checks (fixtures for FYI-only mail, mixed
-  mixed owed/pending mail, and the zero-blocked-repos case).
+  owed/pending mail, the zero-blocked-repos case, and the zero-debt
+  briefing's own false claim).
 
 ## [0.21.0] - 2026-08-09
 

CLAUDE.md

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ marketplace plugin. Three components, one boundary:
 - **Board (`scripts/board.sh`):** cross-repo attention board. Reads STATE.md
   next-step blocks + board lines, `git status`, and mailbox pending counts, and
   prints one line per repo. Read-only by construction: it writes to no repo, no
-  STATE.md and no mailbox. Pinned by `board-selftest.sh` (150 checks).
+  STATE.md and no mailbox. Pinned by `board-selftest.sh` (152 checks).
 
   **It lives here because the mailbox is one of its three inputs, and it carries
   the same axis distinction the mailbox does.** A pending count means *others
@@ -147,6 +147,20 @@ marketplace plugin. Three components, one boundary:
   of every repo," not "who is waiting on you," and stay on raw pending by
   design.
 
+  **The same 0.22.0 patch that switched `n_owe` to OWED also had to fix what
+  `n_owe == 0` claims.** `--brief`'s empty-debt branch said "Ingen repo har
+  uhaandtert innboks. Ingen skylder noen et svar i dag." (no repo has
+  unhandled inbox; nobody owes a reply) - two claims in one branch, and only
+  the second is what `n_owe == 0` actually proves once `n_owe` means OWED. A
+  repo can hold FYI-only mail with zero debt, which makes the first sentence
+  false while it fires - caught in review before release, not by any fixture
+  (the shared test tree never reaches `n_owe == 0`, since it always carries a
+  debtor). Fixed to state only the debt claim, and to name any FYI-only
+  mailboxes found rather than let their existence become invisible again -
+  the same "labelled, not silently dropped" principle `--plan` already
+  applies to unknown-status repos. Pinned by board-selftest.sh section 14
+  with its own isolated root (debt-free, one FYI-only repo).
+
   **The `$UNBLOCKS`/`$RECORDS` join used `NR==FNR` through 0.21.0, and that
   idiom silently drops the entire plan whenever the FIRST file is empty - fixed
   to `FILENAME==` comparison in 0.22.0, found while adding the `$OWED` join
@@ -347,7 +361,7 @@ obligations in another repo.
   builtins only in hook and tests.
 - TDD: no behavior change without a failing selftest check first.
   `bash scripts/coord-selftest.sh` must exit 0 (191/191),
-  `bash scripts/board-selftest.sh` must exit 0 (150/150) and
+  `bash scripts/board-selftest.sh` must exit 0 (152/152) and
   `bash scripts/route-selftest.sh` must exit 0 (69/69).
 - English for all code, docs, and commit messages (public repo). Norwegian
   trigger aliases in the skill description are deliberate.

README.md

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Session A in repo X leaves a message for repo Y; the next session in repo Y gets
 ![Hooks](https://img.shields.io/badge/hooks-1-green)
 ![Skills](https://img.shields.io/badge/skills-3-orange)
 ![CLI scripts](https://img.shields.io/badge/CLI_scripts-8-blue)
-![Selftest checks](https://img.shields.io/badge/selftest_checks-410-blue)
+![Selftest checks](https://img.shields.io/badge/selftest_checks-412-blue)
 
 ---
 
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ Note that raising the inbox's priority (Rule 7) deliberately does **not** widen
 ## Development
 
     bash scripts/coord-selftest.sh    # 191 checks against a throwaway mailbox
-    bash scripts/board-selftest.sh    # 150 checks against a throwaway repo tree
+    bash scripts/board-selftest.sh    # 152 checks against a throwaway repo tree
     bash scripts/route-selftest.sh    # 69 checks, incl. the route->board round trip
     npm test                          # all three selftests via node --test
 

scripts/board-selftest.sh

@@ -1250,6 +1250,42 @@ check "the surviving repo still ranks correctly with an empty chain-root lookup"
 
 /bin/rm -rf "$NOBLOCK_ROOT" "$NOBLOCK_COORD" 2>/dev/null
 
+# --- 14. Zero-debt briefing must not claim zero pending mail ---------------
+# n_owe now counts OWED repos (section 8's fix), so its ==0 branch can fire
+# while a repo still holds FYI-only mail - a real, re-injected message the
+# operator has not seen answered here. The branch's own first sentence used
+# to say "Ingen repo har uhaandtert innboks" (no repo has unhandled inbox),
+# which becomes FALSE the moment that happens; its second sentence ("ingen
+# skylder svar") stays true. Isolated root: the shared fixture tree never
+# reaches n_owe==0 (repo-a and friends always owe something), so this branch
+# is otherwise never exercised by this suite.
+NODEBT_ROOT="$(mktemp -d)"
+NODEBT_COORD="$(mktemp -d)"
+mkrepo "$NODEBT_ROOT/fyi-only-repo"
+{
+  echo "# STATE - fyi-only-repo"
+  printf '## %s NESTE %s START HER\n' "$HAND" "$EMDASH"
+  echo "<!-- board: status=done; blocked-on=-; next-cost=Sonnet 5/high -->"
+  echo "Ferdig, ett varsel ligger i innboksen."
+} > "$NODEBT_ROOT/fyi-only-repo/STATE.md"
+mkdir -p "$NODEBT_COORD/fyi-only-repo/inbox"
+{
+  echo "---"
+  echo "from: w"
+  echo "to: fyi-only-repo"
+  echo "reply-expected: no"
+  echo "---"
+  echo "fyi only"
+} > "$NODEBT_COORD/fyi-only-repo/inbox/2026-msg1-from-w.md"
+
+NODEBT_BRIEF="$(CLAUDE_COORD_DIR="$NODEBT_COORD" "$BOARD" --roots "$NODEBT_ROOT" --brief 2>/dev/null)"
+printf '%s' "$NODEBT_BRIEF" | grep -qi 'ingen.*uhaandtert innboks'; [ $? -ne 0 ]
+check "zero-debt briefing never claims no mail is pending when FYI mail exists" $?
+printf '%s' "$NODEBT_BRIEF" | grep -q 'Ingen repo skylder'
+check "zero-debt briefing still states the true claim: nobody owes a reply" $?
+
+/bin/rm -rf "$NODEBT_ROOT" "$NODEBT_COORD" 2>/dev/null
+
 echo ""
 echo "board-selftest: $PASS passed, $FAIL failed"
 [ "$FAIL" -eq 0 ] || exit 1

scripts/board.sh

@@ -495,9 +495,21 @@ brief() {
   echo ""
 
   if [ "${n_owe:-0}" -eq 0 ]; then
-    echo "Ingen repo har uhaandtert innboks. Ingen skylder noen et svar i dag."
+    # Only the debt claim, never "no repo has unhandled inbox": n_owe counts
-    # Still checked: "no repo owes" and "no mailbox is pending" are different
+    # OWED repos since 0.22.0, so this branch can fire while a repo still
-    # claims, and only the second one is the good news it reads as.
+    # holds FYI-only mail - real, re-injected, just not an obligation. The
+    # comment this replaces already named the two claims as different; the
+    # code used to make both anyway.
+    echo "Ingen repo skylder noen et svar i dag."
+    fyi_only="$(awk -F'|' -v OWF="$OWED" '
+      FILENAME==OWF { ow[$1] = $2 + 0; next }
+      { name = $3; inbox = $6 + 0; owed = (name in ow) ? ow[name] : 0
+        if (inbox > 0 && owed == 0) print name }
+    ' "$OWED" "$RECORDS")"
+    if [ -n "$fyi_only" ]; then
+      echo "Disse har bare FYI-post (ingen skylder svar, men posten er reell):"
+      printf '%s\n' "$fyi_only" | sed 's/^/  /'
+    fi
     brief_orphans
     echo ""
     echo "MERK: INN teller hva ANDRE venter paa fra deg. Hva et repo venter PAA"