diff --git a/tests/real-world/enrich_prd_pipeline.ts b/tests/real-world/enrich_prd_pipeline.ts
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+++ b/tests/real-world/enrich_prd_pipeline.ts
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+// Real-world architecture stress test — 6 iterations of the full pipeline
+// against the PRD as a corpus. Goal: prove at scale what Phase 21
+// promised (context continuation + tree-split), plus Phase 19
+// compounding across iterations.
+//
+// Run: bun run tests/real-world/enrich_prd_pipeline.ts
+//
+// No mocks. No skipped layers. On any error, the test triggers
+// cloud-rescue rather than fail — it's the architecture's job to
+// recover. The test FAILS only if we can't complete 6 iterations.
+
+import { readFile, writeFile, mkdir } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+
+const PRD_PATH = "/home/profit/lakehouse/docs/PRD.md";
+const CHUNK_SIZE = 800;            // chars per chunk — ~200 tokens
+const CHUNK_OVERLAP = 120;
+const TOP_K_RETRIEVE = 12;         // chunks per iteration — pulled up to force overflow
+const CONTEXT_BUDGET_CHARS = 4000; // tight budget — forces tree-split on every iter
+const INJECT_FAIL_ON_ITER = 3;     // plant a bad primary-cloud call so rescue fires
+const GATEWAY = "http://localhost:3100";
+const SIDECAR = "http://localhost:3200";
+const CLOUD_MODEL = "gpt-oss:120b";
+const RESCUE_MODEL = "gpt-oss:20b";       // fallback local cloud model via sidecar
+const RUN_NONCE = Date.now().toString(36);
+const OUT_DIR = `/home/profit/lakehouse/tests/real-world/runs/${RUN_NONCE}`;
+
+// The 6 progressively-compounding questions. #6 explicitly requires
+// synthesis across prior 5 answers.
+const QUESTIONS: string[] = [
+  "Summarize the Lakehouse project's one-paragraph thesis: what problem does it solve, what's the unique approach?",
+  "How does Phase 19 playbook memory turn successful fills into a signal that boosts future rankings?",
+  "Explain the role of Phase 24 observer in the learning loop — what does it see, and what does it feed into?",
+  "What's the VRAM-aware profile swap mechanism in Phase 17, and why does it matter for multi-model serving?",
+  "How do Phase 25 validity windows and Phase 27 playbook versioning interact when a schema drifts?",
+  "Synthesize the prior 5 answers: how do the pieces (playbook memory, observer, profile swap, validity windows, versioning) compose into a system that measurably gets smarter over time? Cite specific prior answers.",
+];
+
+type Chunk = { id: string; text: string; embedding: number[]; offset: number };
+
+interface IterationResult {
+  iteration: number;
+  question: string;
+  retrieval_top_k: number;
+  context_chars_before_budget: number;
+  tree_split_fired: boolean;
+  cloud_calls_total: number;
+  continuation_retries: number;
+  rescue_triggered: boolean;
+  playbook_id: string | null;
+  tokens_prompt: number;
+  tokens_completion: number;
+  citations_from_prior_iterations: string[];
+  duration_ms: number;
+  answer_preview: string;
+  errors_recovered: string[];
+}
+
+function log(msg: string) { console.log(`[enrich] ${msg}`); }
+
+function sleep(ms: number) { return new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, ms)); }
+
+function cosine(a: number[], b: number[]): number {
+  let dot = 0, na = 0, nb = 0;
+  for (let i = 0; i < a.length; i++) { dot += a[i] * b[i]; na += a[i] * a[i]; nb += b[i] * b[i]; }
+  if (na === 0 || nb === 0) return 0;
+  return dot / (Math.sqrt(na) * Math.sqrt(nb));
+}
+
+function hash(s: string): string { return createHash("sha256").update(s).digest("hex").slice(0, 10); }
+
+async function embedBatch(texts: string[]): Promise<number[][]> {
+  // Sidecar /embed accepts a list. On partial failure, retry individually.
+  const r = await fetch(`${SIDECAR}/embed`, {
+    method: "POST", headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+    body: JSON.stringify({ texts }),
+    signal: AbortSignal.timeout(120000),
+  });
+  if (!r.ok) throw new Error(`embed batch ${r.status}: ${await r.text()}`);
+  const j: any = await r.json();
+  return j.embeddings;
+}
+
+function chunkText(text: string): Array<{ text: string; offset: number }> {
+  const out: Array<{ text: string; offset: number }> = [];
+  let i = 0;
+  while (i < text.length) {
+    const end = Math.min(i + CHUNK_SIZE, text.length);
+    const slice = text.slice(i, end).trim();
+    if (slice.length > 50) out.push({ text: slice, offset: i });
+    if (end >= text.length) break;
+    i = end - CHUNK_OVERLAP;
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
+async function chat(opts: {
+  provider: "ollama" | "ollama_cloud",
+  model: string,
+  messages: Array<{ role: string; content: string }>,
+  max_tokens: number,
+  think: boolean,
+}): Promise<{ content: string; prompt_tokens: number; completion_tokens: number; finish_reason: string }> {
+  const r = await fetch(`${GATEWAY}/v1/chat`, {
+    method: "POST", headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+    body: JSON.stringify({ ...opts }),
+    signal: AbortSignal.timeout(180000),
+  });
+  if (!r.ok) throw new Error(`/v1/chat ${r.status}: ${await r.text()}`);
+  const j: any = await r.json();
+  return {
+    content: j.choices?.[0]?.message?.content ?? "",
+    prompt_tokens: j.usage?.prompt_tokens ?? 0,
+    completion_tokens: j.usage?.completion_tokens ?? 0,
+    finish_reason: j.choices?.[0]?.finish_reason ?? "?",
+  };
+}
+
+// ─── Tree-split over oversized chunk set ──────────────────────────
+async function treeSplitSummarize(
+  chunks: Chunk[],
+  question: string,
+): Promise<{ scratchpad: string; cloud_calls: number }> {
+  // Shard into groups fitting within half the budget each.
+  const perShard = Math.max(1, Math.floor((CONTEXT_BUDGET_CHARS / 2) / CHUNK_SIZE));
+  const shards: Chunk[][] = [];
+  for (let i = 0; i < chunks.length; i += perShard) {
+    shards.push(chunks.slice(i, i + perShard));
+  }
+  log(`  tree-split: ${chunks.length} chunks → ${shards.length} shards of up to ${perShard}`);
+  let scratchpad = "";
+  let cloud_calls = 0;
+  for (let si = 0; si < shards.length; si++) {
+    const shard = shards[si];
+    const shardText = shard.map(c => `[chunk @${c.offset}]\n${c.text}`).join("\n\n");
+    const userMsg = `Question: ${question}\n\nShard ${si + 1}/${shards.length} of source material:\n\n${shardText}\n\nScratchpad so far:\n${scratchpad || "(empty)"}\n\nUpdate the scratchpad: extract only facts from THIS shard that help answer the question. Be terse. No prose.`;
+    const r = await chat({
+      provider: "ollama_cloud",
+      model: CLOUD_MODEL,
+      messages: [
+        { role: "system", content: "You maintain a concise factual scratchpad across multiple shards of source text. No prose outside the scratchpad. Each shard, append ≤80 words of relevant facts." },
+        { role: "user", content: userMsg },
+      ],
+      max_tokens: 500,
+      think: false,
+    });
+    cloud_calls += 1;
+    scratchpad += `\n--- shard ${si + 1} notes ---\n${r.content.trim()}`;
+    if (scratchpad.length > CONTEXT_BUDGET_CHARS) {
+      // truncate oldest halves
+      scratchpad = scratchpad.slice(-CONTEXT_BUDGET_CHARS);
+      log(`  tree-split: scratchpad truncated to ${scratchpad.length} chars`);
+    }
+  }
+  return { scratchpad, cloud_calls };
+}
+
+// ─── Continuable generate — retries once on empty/truncated ───────
+async function generateContinuable(
+  opts: Parameters<typeof chat>[0] & { max_continuations?: number },
+): Promise<{ content: string; prompt_tokens: number; completion_tokens: number; continuation_retries: number }> {
+  const maxCont = opts.max_continuations ?? 1;
+  let total = await chat(opts);
+  let retries = 0;
+  if (total.content.length === 0 || total.finish_reason === "length") {
+    for (let i = 0; i < maxCont && (total.content.length === 0 || total.finish_reason === "length"); i++) {
+      retries += 1;
+      log(`  continuation retry ${retries} (reason: ${total.finish_reason}, content=${total.content.length})`);
+      const continued = await chat({
+        ...opts,
+        max_tokens: opts.max_tokens * 2,
+        messages: [
+          ...opts.messages,
+          ...(total.content ? [{ role: "assistant", content: total.content }, { role: "user", content: "Continue from where you stopped. Complete the answer." }] : []),
+        ],
+      });
+      total = {
+        content: total.content + continued.content,
+        prompt_tokens: total.prompt_tokens + continued.prompt_tokens,
+        completion_tokens: total.completion_tokens + continued.completion_tokens,
+        finish_reason: continued.finish_reason,
+      };
+    }
+  }
+  return { ...total, continuation_retries: retries };
+}
+
+// ─── Single iteration: retrieve → budget-check → chat → seed ─────
+async function runIteration(
+  iteration: number,
+  question: string,
+  allChunks: Chunk[],
+  priorPlaybookIds: string[],
+  priorAnswers: string[],
+): Promise<IterationResult> {
+  const started = Date.now();
+  const errorsRecovered: string[] = [];
+  log(`iter ${iteration}: "${question.slice(0, 70)}..."`);
+
+  // 1. Embed the question
+  const qEmb = (await embedBatch([question]))[0];
+
+  // 2. Retrieve top-K chunks by cosine
+  const scored = allChunks
+    .map(c => ({ c, score: cosine(qEmb, c.embedding) }))
+    .sort((a, b) => b.score - a.score)
+    .slice(0, TOP_K_RETRIEVE);
+  const chunks = scored.map(x => x.c);
+  log(`  retrieved top ${chunks.length} chunks (score range ${scored[0].score.toFixed(3)} .. ${scored[scored.length - 1].score.toFixed(3)})`);
+
+  // 3. Context budget check — tree-split if over
+  const contextChars = chunks.map(c => c.text).join("\n\n").length;
+  let contextForPrompt: string;
+  let treeSplit = false;
+  let cloudCallsTotal = 0;
+  if (contextChars > CONTEXT_BUDGET_CHARS) {
+    treeSplit = true;
+    log(`  context ${contextChars} chars > budget ${CONTEXT_BUDGET_CHARS} → tree-split`);
+    const { scratchpad, cloud_calls } = await treeSplitSummarize(chunks, question);
+    contextForPrompt = `Distilled scratchpad from ${chunks.length} source chunks (too large to fit directly):\n${scratchpad}`;
+    cloudCallsTotal += cloud_calls;
+  } else {
+    contextForPrompt = chunks.map(c => `[chunk @${c.offset}]\n${c.text}`).join("\n\n");
+  }
+
+  // 4. Seed prompt with prior iteration answers (real compounding).
+  //    Not just IDs — the model needs the CONTENT to synthesize.
+  let citationBlock = "";
+  let citationsReceived: string[] = [];
+  if (priorPlaybookIds.length > 0 && priorAnswers.length > 0) {
+    const lines = priorAnswers.map((ans, i) => {
+      const pid = priorPlaybookIds[i]?.slice(0, 12) ?? "unknown";
+      // Trim each prior answer to ~400 chars so we don't blow budget
+      return `[pb:${pid}] iter ${i + 1} answer:\n${ans.slice(0, 400)}\n`;
+    });
+    citationBlock = `\n\n═══ PRIOR ITERATIONS (compounding context) ═══\n${lines.join("\n")}═══ end prior iterations ═══\n\nYour answer MUST cite specific prior iterations using [pb:ID] notation when drawing on them. Synthesis questions require explicit cross-iteration reasoning.`;
+    citationsReceived = priorPlaybookIds.slice();
+  }
+
+  // 5. Call cloud. On empty/error → rescue.
+  //    Intentional failure-injection on iter INJECT_FAIL_ON_ITER:
+  //    a deliberately-invalid model name on the primary call so the
+  //    rescue path actually runs. Proves the catch-and-rescue isn't
+  //    dead code.
+  let result: { content: string; prompt_tokens: number; completion_tokens: number; continuation_retries: number };
+  let rescueTriggered = false;
+  const primaryModel = iteration === INJECT_FAIL_ON_ITER
+    ? "deliberately-invalid-model-to-force-rescue"
+    : CLOUD_MODEL;
+  if (iteration === INJECT_FAIL_ON_ITER) {
+    log(`  INJECTED FAILURE on primary call — model="${primaryModel}" will 400/500`);
+  }
+  try {
+    result = await generateContinuable({
+      provider: "ollama_cloud",
+      model: primaryModel,
+      messages: [
+        { role: "system", content: "You answer questions about the Lakehouse PRD using only the provided source material and prior iteration answers. Be specific. Cite chunk offsets OR [pb:ID] markers. Keep answers under 200 words." },
+        { role: "user", content: `Question: ${question}\n\nSource material:\n${contextForPrompt}${citationBlock}` },
+      ],
+      max_tokens: 800,
+      think: true,
+      max_continuations: 2,
+    });
+    cloudCallsTotal += 1 + result.continuation_retries;
+  } catch (e) {
+    errorsRecovered.push(`primary cloud call: ${(e as Error).message}`);
+    rescueTriggered = true;
+    log(`  primary failed → rescue with ${RESCUE_MODEL}`);
+    result = await generateContinuable({
+      provider: "ollama_cloud",
+      model: RESCUE_MODEL,
+      messages: [
+        { role: "system", content: "Answer briefly using the source material." },
+        { role: "user", content: `Q: ${question}\n\n${contextForPrompt.slice(0, 8000)}` },
+      ],
+      max_tokens: 500,
+      think: false,
+    });
+    cloudCallsTotal += 1 + result.continuation_retries;
+  }
+  if (result.content.length === 0) {
+    errorsRecovered.push("even rescue returned empty — last-ditch local fallback");
+    rescueTriggered = true;
+    result = await generateContinuable({
+      provider: "ollama",
+      model: "qwen3.5:latest",
+      messages: [{ role: "user", content: `Q: ${question}\n\n${contextForPrompt.slice(0, 4000)}` }],
+      max_tokens: 300,
+      think: false,
+    });
+    cloudCallsTotal += 1;
+  }
+
+  // 6. Seed playbook with the answer
+  let playbook_id: string | null = null;
+  try {
+    const ts = new Date().toISOString();
+    const seedOp = `TEST: enrich_prd_run_${RUN_NONCE} iter${iteration} in Corpus, PRD`;
+    const r = await fetch(`${GATEWAY}/vectors/playbook_memory/seed`, {
+      method: "POST", headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+      body: JSON.stringify({
+        operation: seedOp,
+        approach: `q="${question.slice(0, 80)}" context_chars=${contextChars} tree_split=${treeSplit}`,
+        context: result.content.slice(0, 600),
+        endorsed_names: [`iter${iteration}_${RUN_NONCE}`],
+        append: true,
+      }),
+      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(15000),
+    });
+    if (r.ok) {
+      const j: any = await r.json();
+      playbook_id = j.outcome?.playbook_id ?? null;
+    } else {
+      errorsRecovered.push(`seed ${r.status}: ${(await r.text()).slice(0, 100)}`);
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    errorsRecovered.push(`seed exception: ${(e as Error).message}`);
+  }
+
+  return {
+    iteration,
+    question,
+    retrieval_top_k: chunks.length,
+    context_chars_before_budget: contextChars,
+    tree_split_fired: treeSplit,
+    cloud_calls_total: cloudCallsTotal,
+    continuation_retries: result.continuation_retries,
+    rescue_triggered: rescueTriggered,
+    playbook_id,
+    tokens_prompt: result.prompt_tokens,
+    tokens_completion: result.completion_tokens,
+    citations_from_prior_iterations: citationsReceived,
+    duration_ms: Date.now() - started,
+    answer_preview: result.content.slice(0, 500),
+    errors_recovered: errorsRecovered,
+  };
+}
+
+async function main() {
+  await mkdir(OUT_DIR, { recursive: true });
+  log(`run nonce: ${RUN_NONCE}`);
+  log(`output dir: ${OUT_DIR}`);
+
+  // ─── Phase 1: load, chunk, embed the PRD ───────────────────────
+  log(`loading PRD from ${PRD_PATH}`);
+  const prd = await readFile(PRD_PATH, "utf8");
+  log(`PRD: ${prd.length} chars, ${prd.split("\n").length} lines`);
+
+  const raw_chunks = chunkText(prd);
+  log(`chunked into ${raw_chunks.length} pieces (size ${CHUNK_SIZE}, overlap ${CHUNK_OVERLAP})`);
+
+  // Embed in batches of 32 to avoid sidecar overload
+  const allChunks: Chunk[] = [];
+  const BATCH = 32;
+  const t0 = Date.now();
+  for (let i = 0; i < raw_chunks.length; i += BATCH) {
+    const batch = raw_chunks.slice(i, i + BATCH);
+    const embs = await embedBatch(batch.map(b => b.text));
+    for (let j = 0; j < batch.length; j++) {
+      allChunks.push({
+        id: hash(batch[j].text),
+        text: batch[j].text,
+        embedding: embs[j].map(x => Number(x)),
+        offset: batch[j].offset,
+      });
+    }
+    log(`  embedded ${allChunks.length}/${raw_chunks.length}`);
+  }
+  log(`embedded all ${allChunks.length} chunks in ${((Date.now() - t0) / 1000).toFixed(1)}s`);
+
+  // ─── Phase 2: 6 iterations ─────────────────────────────────────
+  const results: IterationResult[] = [];
+  const priorIds: string[] = [];
+  const priorAnswers: string[] = [];
+  for (let i = 1; i <= QUESTIONS.length; i++) {
+    const q = QUESTIONS[i - 1];
+    const r = await runIteration(i, q, allChunks, priorIds, priorAnswers);
+    results.push(r);
+    if (r.playbook_id) priorIds.push(r.playbook_id);
+    priorAnswers.push(r.answer_preview);
+    log(`  → iter ${i}: ${r.errors_recovered.length} errors recovered, ${r.continuation_retries} continuations, tree-split=${r.tree_split_fired}, rescue=${r.rescue_triggered}, ${r.duration_ms}ms`);
+    await writeFile(`${OUT_DIR}/iter_${i}.json`, JSON.stringify(r, null, 2));
+  }
+  // Check whether iter 6 actually cited prior pb:IDs in its answer.
+  // Playbook IDs look like `pb-seed-<hex>` so the regex needs to allow
+  // hyphens + letters inside the brackets, not just hex chars.
+  const iter6 = results[5];
+  const citationsHonored = iter6 ? (iter6.answer_preview.match(/\[pb:[\w-]+\]/gi)?.length ?? 0) : 0;
+
+  // ─── Phase 3: summary ──────────────────────────────────────────
+  const summary = {
+    run_nonce: RUN_NONCE,
+    ran_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+    prd_chars: prd.length,
+    prd_chunks: allChunks.length,
+    iterations: results.length,
+    total_cloud_calls: results.reduce((s, r) => s + r.cloud_calls_total, 0),
+    total_continuation_retries: results.reduce((s, r) => s + r.continuation_retries, 0),
+    total_errors_recovered: results.reduce((s, r) => s + r.errors_recovered.length, 0),
+    tree_splits_fired: results.filter(r => r.tree_split_fired).length,
+    rescues_triggered: results.filter(r => r.rescue_triggered).length,
+    iter6_received_prior_ids: results[5]?.citations_from_prior_iterations.length ?? 0,
+    iter6_actually_cited_in_answer: citationsHonored,
+    total_duration_ms: results.reduce((s, r) => s + r.duration_ms, 0),
+    overall: results.length === 6 && results.every(r => r.playbook_id !== null) ? "PASS" : "PARTIAL",
+  };
+  await writeFile(`${OUT_DIR}/summary.json`, JSON.stringify(summary, null, 2));
+
+  log("");
+  log(`══════ SUMMARY ${summary.overall} ══════`);
+  log(`  6 iterations, ${summary.total_cloud_calls} cloud calls, ${summary.total_errors_recovered} errors recovered`);
+  log(`  tree-splits: ${summary.tree_splits_fired}/6   continuations: ${summary.total_continuation_retries}   rescues: ${summary.rescues_triggered}`);
+  log(`  iter 6 cited ${summary.iter6_cited_prior} prior iteration playbooks`);
+  log(`  total duration: ${(summary.total_duration_ms / 1000).toFixed(1)}s`);
+  log("");
+  for (const r of results) {
+    const flags = [
+      r.tree_split_fired ? "tree-split" : "",
+      r.continuation_retries > 0 ? `cont=${r.continuation_retries}` : "",
+      r.rescue_triggered ? "rescued" : "",
+      r.errors_recovered.length > 0 ? `err=${r.errors_recovered.length}` : "",
+    ].filter(Boolean).join(" ");
+    log(`  iter ${r.iteration}: ${r.tokens_prompt}+${r.tokens_completion} tok, ${r.duration_ms}ms ${flags ? `[${flags}]` : ""}`);
+  }
+  log("");
+  log(`artifacts: ${OUT_DIR}/{iter_1..6.json, summary.json}`);
+  process.exit(summary.overall === "PASS" ? 0 : 1);
+}
+
+main().catch(e => { console.error("[enrich] fatal:", e); process.exit(2); });