diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index c132b13..e1fb8e2 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -238,6 +238,14 @@ The leg re-checks the conversions and nothing else — each fixture's emitted ma
 document, its error code — leaving the corpus's pairing, uniqueness, source positions and
 byte-level equality to the Node suite that owns them.
 
+Every leg announces its name and, where a container is in play, the image, before it runs and its
+elapsed time after, `publish.sh` alongside `ci.sh`, so a long run reads as progress rather than as
+a hang. A leg added later owes the same marker, and a function a leg reaches chains its statements
+with `&&`, because the `||` that captures the leg's status suspends `set -e` for everything it
+calls. A leg whose output is both streamed and grepped keeps the copy in a `mktemp`
+file: `tee /dev/stderr` reopens fd 2, and under `./ci.sh > log 2>&1` the two offsets punch NUL
+holes through each other's lines (4d).
+
 The floors live in the `test` script, so `npm test` and the gate are one path: 100% of lines and
 functions, and a branch floor that only ever moves upward. It sits below 100 because the guards
 `noUncheckedIndexedAccess` and ADF's optional keys force — `?? []`, `?? {}`, `?.`, an index
diff --git a/ci.sh b/ci.sh
index dd3d712..2c99726 100755
--- a/ci.sh
+++ b/ci.sh
@@ -3,28 +3,30 @@ set -euo pipefail
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 source ./docker-runner.sh
 
-in_image "$node_image" npm ci
-in_image "$node_image" npm run typecheck
+leg "install ($node_image)" in_image "$node_image" npm ci
+leg "typecheck ($node_image)" in_image "$node_image" npm run typecheck
 
-if ! test_output=$(in_image "$node_image" npm test 2>&1); then
-  printf '%s\n' "$test_output"
-  exit 1
-fi
-printf '%s\n' "$test_output"
-if printf '%s' "$test_output" | grep -q 'ℹ tests 0'; then
+test_log=$(mktemp)
+node_tests() {
+  in_image "$node_image" npm test 2>&1 | tee "$test_log"
+}
+
+leg "tests ($node_image)" node_tests
+if grep -q 'ℹ tests 0' "$test_log"; then
   echo 'the gate ran zero tests — failing instead of a vacuous green'
   exit 1
 fi
+rm -f "$test_log"
 
-in_image "$deno_image" deno test --allow-env=PROPERTY_RUNS --allow-read --no-check src/
-in_image "$bun_image" bun test src/
+leg "tests ($deno_image)" in_image "$deno_image" deno test --allow-env=PROPERTY_RUNS --allow-read --no-check src/
+leg "tests ($bun_image)" in_image "$bun_image" bun test src/
 
-in_image "$node_image" npm run build
-in_image "$node_image" sh -c 'set -e
+leg "build ($node_image)" in_image "$node_image" npm run build
+leg "pack and install the tarball ($node_image)" in_image "$node_image" sh -c 'set -e
   rm -rf package-tests/node_modules
-  npm pack --pack-destination /tmp >/dev/null
-  npm install --no-audit --no-fund --no-package-lock --no-save --offline --prefix package-tests /tmp/*.tgz >/dev/null'
-in_image "$node_image" npx tsc -p package-tests
-in_image "$floor_image" node package-tests/node-floor.js
+  npm pack --pack-destination /tmp
+  npm install --no-audit --no-fund --no-package-lock --no-save --offline --prefix package-tests /tmp/*.tgz'
+leg "typecheck the consumer ($node_image)" in_image "$node_image" npx tsc -p package-tests
+leg "round-trip on the engines floor ($floor_image)" in_image "$floor_image" node package-tests/node-floor.js
 
-with_firefox in_image "$node_image" node browser-tests/run.js
+leg "browser ($firefox_image)" with_firefox in_image "$node_image" node browser-tests/run.js
diff --git a/docker-runner.sh b/docker-runner.sh
index 8602e71..b07496d 100644
--- a/docker-runner.sh
+++ b/docker-runner.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+: "${EPOCHREALTIME:?the gate times its legs with EPOCHREALTIME — bash 5 or newer}"
+
 bun_image=oven/bun:1.4.0-alpine
 deno_image=denoland/deno:2.9.6
 firefox_image=selenium/standalone-firefox:153.0.4
@@ -10,9 +12,22 @@ in_image() {
   docker run --rm -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -e HOME=/tmp ${PROPERTY_RUNS+-e PROPERTY_RUNS} ${in_image_network:+--network "$in_image_network"} -v "$PWD:/app" -w /app --entrypoint "$entrypoint" "$image" "$@"
 }
 
+# Markers on stderr so a captured leg's value stays clean; leg_* because bash scopes local into the leg's own call.
+leg() {
+  local leg_name=$1 leg_elapsed leg_started leg_status=0
+  shift
+  printf '\n\033[1;34m==> %s\033[0m\n' "$leg_name" >&2
+  # EPOCHREALTIME carries the locale's radix character, so keep the digits and read microseconds.
+  leg_started=${EPOCHREALTIME//[^0-9]/}
+  "$@" || leg_status=$?
+  leg_elapsed=$((${EPOCHREALTIME//[^0-9]/} - leg_started))
+  printf '\033[1;34m<== %s: %d.%ds\033[0m\n' "$leg_name" "$((leg_elapsed / 1000000))" "$((leg_elapsed % 1000000 / 100000))" >&2
+  return $leg_status
+}
+
 with_firefox() {
   local container in_image_network status=0
-  container=$(docker run -d --rm "$firefox_image")
+  container=$(docker run -d --rm "$firefox_image") || return $?
   # The id is baked in: the trap fires after this function's locals are gone.
   trap "docker rm -f $container >/dev/null 2>&1" EXIT
   trap 'exit 130' INT
diff --git a/publish.sh b/publish.sh
index d0f5999..9f4ec89 100755
--- a/publish.sh
+++ b/publish.sh
@@ -3,35 +3,43 @@ set -euo pipefail
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 source ./docker-runner.sh
 
-read_field() {
-  in_image "$node_image" npm pkg get "$1" | tr -d '"\r'
-}
-
 published_version() {
   in_image "$node_image" npm view "$1@$2" version 2>/dev/null || true
 }
 
-private=$(read_field private)
+push_tag() {
+  git tag "v$version" && git push origin "v$version"
+}
+
+read_field() {
+  in_image "$node_image" npm pkg get "$1" | tr -d '"\r'
+}
+
+read_package_fields() {
+  private=$(read_field private) &&
+    name=$(read_field name) &&
+    version=$(read_field version)
+}
+
+leg "read package.json ($node_image)" read_package_fields
 if [ "$private" = 'true' ]; then
   echo 'package.json is private — the maintainer removes that in the bump that first publishes'
   exit 0
 fi
 
-name=$(read_field name)
-version=$(read_field version)
-published=$(published_version "$name" "$version")
-tagged=$(git ls-remote --tags origin "v$version")
+published=$(leg "ask npmjs for $name@$version ($node_image)" published_version "$name" "$version")
+tagged=$(leg "ask origin for v$version" git ls-remote --tags origin "v$version")
 
 # Both steps observe their own end state, so a partial run converges on the next push to main.
 if [ -z "$published" ]; then
   : "${NPM_TOKEN:?the publish needs NPM_TOKEN}"
-  in_image "$node_image" npm ci
-  in_image "$node_image" npm run build
-  docker run --rm -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -e HOME=/tmp -e NPM_TOKEN -v "$PWD:/app" -w /app --entrypoint sh "$node_image" -c \
+  leg "install ($node_image)" in_image "$node_image" npm ci
+  leg "build ($node_image)" in_image "$node_image" npm run build
+  leg "publish $name@$version ($node_image)" \
+    docker run --rm -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -e HOME=/tmp -e NPM_TOKEN -v "$PWD:/app" -w /app --entrypoint sh "$node_image" -c \
     'printf "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=%s\n" "$NPM_TOKEN" > "$HOME/.npmrc" && npm publish --access public'
 fi
 
 if [ -z "$tagged" ]; then
-  git tag "v$version"
-  git push origin "v$version"
+  leg "tag v$version" push_tag
 fi
diff --git a/todo-history.md b/todo-history.md
index d2bf5d0..9b857e8 100644
--- a/todo-history.md
+++ b/todo-history.md
@@ -546,6 +546,42 @@ The done `todo.md` items in full, as they were written. `todo.md` keeps a one-li
       lines an indented code block held (200k of them at 200 kB), and `emitRun` joining a mark
       run's segments (200k nodes under one mark). Both fixed here with the same loop and a test
       each, and §11 gained the rule so the spelling cannot walk back in.
+- [x] **4d — What the gate says while it runs (`0.2.0`).** `ci.sh` runs nine legs and announces
+      none of them, so five minutes of a Gitea run read as silence and a hang cannot be told from
+      a slow pull — the maintainer hit exactly this on the `0.1.0` release. Three causes, each its
+      own fix. The legs need markers: `plainpages`' `ci.sh` prints a `step()` header per leg and
+      this one prints nothing, so name the leg and the image before each. The longest leg is the
+      quietest: `test_output=$(… npm test 2>&1)` buffers the whole Node run to replay it after,
+      because the zero-test guard greps the count — stream it and grep a copy (`tee`), rather than
+      trading the output for the guard. And two legs are silenced outright, `npm pack` and the
+      tarball install, whose `>/dev/null` predates the offline install that made them quick and
+      quiet. `publish.sh` owes the same: today it says nothing between reading `private` and the
+      registry answering, which is where its `npm ci` and rebuild sit — the seconds §9 accepts
+      rather than promoting the gate's `dist`, and unmeasured until the log shows them. Per-leg
+      timing is what turns "slow or hung" from a guess into a reading; the browser leg's own
+      5.4–7.9s against a 17s warm gate is the number that made it obviously cheap.
+      **Measured** (2026-09-20): ten legs, not the nine counted above, each naming the image it runs
+      in where it runs in one, on a 28.4 s warm gate — install 1.5 s, typecheck 1.2 s, Node tests
+      4.9 s, Deno 6.0 s, Bun 4.5 s, build 1.0 s, pack and install 1.6 s, consumer typecheck 1.0 s,
+      engines floor 0.4 s, browser 5.6 s. The browser leg lands in the 5.4–7.9 s the item quotes,
+      and the markers cost nothing measurable: 28.9 s before against 28.4 s after. `publish.sh`
+      reads its fields in 2.6 s and the registry in 1.4 s; its `npm ci` and rebuild are the gate's
+      own 1.5 s and 1.0 s, so the seconds §9 accepts for rebuilding rather than promoting the gate's
+      `dist` are about 2.5.
+      Four things the writing turned up, three of them bash scoping a rule differently than it
+      reads. The markers print to stderr, so a leg whose value is read — `publish.sh` asking npmjs —
+      stays capturable. `leg`'s locals carry its own name because bash scopes them into whatever the
+      leg runs: unprefixed, `name` was swallowed by the leg reading `package.json`. `leg` returns
+      its command's status the way `with_firefox` already did, because the bare call dropped a
+      non-zero one wherever `set -e` is suspended, which also gets the elapsed time printed for the
+      leg that failed. And the `||` that captures that status suspends `set -e` for everything the
+      leg calls, so a function a leg runs chains its statements with `&&` or every statement but the
+      last runs unchecked: `read_package_fields` read on past a failed read, and `push_tag` pushed a
+      tag the tag step had refused to write, both of which aborted before this chunk (the
+      stability-reviewer, 2026-09-20). §10 carries the rule so the next leg cannot reintroduce it,
+      and `EPOCHREALTIME` is guarded at `source` so an older bash names itself rather than dying as
+      an unbound variable on the first leg.
+
 - [x] **5a — Rename to `@larvit/adf-codec` (`0.1.0`).** Before the first publish, the name being
       the published identity: `package.json` `name` and `repository`, the Gitea repo and its
       remote, the README title, §6's published-as line, the checkout directory.
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
index 98361fb..a1283a5 100644
--- a/todo.md
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -69,20 +69,7 @@ bundle size and the tagline.
   - [x] **4.4 — The real payloads.**
 - [x] **4b — The block walk's retry (`0.2.0`).**
 - [x] **4c — The scanning rule's remaining sites (`0.2.0`).**
-- [ ] **4d — What the gate says while it runs (`0.2.0`).** `ci.sh` runs nine legs and announces
-      none of them, so five minutes of a Gitea run read as silence and a hang cannot be told from
-      a slow pull — the maintainer hit exactly this on the `0.1.0` release. Three causes, each its
-      own fix. The legs need markers: `plainpages`' `ci.sh` prints a `step()` header per leg and
-      this one prints nothing, so name the leg and the image before each. The longest leg is the
-      quietest: `test_output=$(… npm test 2>&1)` buffers the whole Node run to replay it after,
-      because the zero-test guard greps the count — stream it and grep a copy (`tee`), rather than
-      trading the output for the guard. And two legs are silenced outright, `npm pack` and the
-      tarball install, whose `>/dev/null` predates the offline install that made them quick and
-      quiet. `publish.sh` owes the same: today it says nothing between reading `private` and the
-      registry answering, which is where its `npm ci` and rebuild sit — the seconds §9 accepts
-      rather than promoting the gate's `dist`, and unmeasured until the log shows them. Per-leg
-      timing is what turns "slow or hung" from a guess into a reading; the browser leg's own
-      5.4–7.9s against a 17s warm gate is the number that made it obviously cheap.
+- [x] **4d — What the gate says while it runs (`0.2.0`).**
 - [x] **5 — Ship `0.1.0`.**
 - [ ] **5e — The publish token's deadline.** `0.1.0` published only once the npm
       token carried **Bypass 2FA**: the account requiring no 2FA on writes was not enough, and npm