AGENTS.md

@@ -121,7 +121,10 @@ names the escape that unclaims the form claimed: `\!adf:` for a directive, block
 alike, `\|` for every pipe row.
 Adding, removing or renaming a code is breaking, so a new cause takes an existing code whose
 name reads true of it in both directions; where none does and a plain name exists, a new code — in
-any 0.x minor, and after 1.0 only in a MAJOR (the maintainer, 2026-09-18). A code names the
+any 0.x minor, and after 1.0 only in a MAJOR (the maintainer, 2026-09-18). A refusal whose cause is
+this library's own invariant rather than the input takes the existing code nearest what the consumer
+sees — a document that does not convert is `unsupported-node-shape` — since a code no input reaches
+is one no consumer can switch on (the maintainer, 2026-09-20). A code names the
 cause; where one cause recurs across node types, across one mark's attributes or across
 directions, one code covers them all and
 `path` and `message` say which — `unsupported-nesting-depth` is the 500-level guard whichever
@@ -208,7 +211,7 @@ wide `Result<T>`, since half their refusals come from an emit stage that read no
 
 Test for the behaviour wanted first, then implement until green. `node --test`, beside the code.
 Node, tsc and npm never run on the host — only via the pinned images (§9). Tests are independent,
-coverage does not decline, containers are torn down after a run.
+containers are torn down after a run.
 
 The gate runs that same suite under Deno and Bun as well as Node, the three images pinned alike,
 and neither extra leg is Node's proof twice. Deno refuses an extensionless or directory specifier,
@@ -314,6 +317,8 @@ someone spells it or pins it.
   mark run's segments: the argument list caps near 125k and throws a `RangeError` where a `Result`
   is owed. A walk pushes one at a time. A literal spread (`[...value]`) is not the same thing and
   is fine (4c).
+- A loop retrying an input until a fallback spells it refuses the pass taking no fallback, so its
+  termination is the loop's own check (28).
 - A reader takes the text and an index — a sticky regex whose `lastIndex` the caller sets on the
   line before it reads, `indexOf` — never a fresh slice per character, and a per-character walk
   hoists the scan that does not vary with the character. The pipeline persona feeds documents

src/markdown/emit/inline-line.ts

@@ -30,10 +30,9 @@ type InlineContext = {
 
 type InlineRun = { index: number; kind: 'marked'; mark: AdfMark; nodes: AdfNode[] } | { index: number; kind: 'plain'; node: AdfNode }
 
-type LineAttempt =
+type LineAttempt = { fallback: NodeRange | 'opening-link'; line?: undefined } | { fallback?: undefined; line: string }
-  | { carry: NodeRange; line?: undefined; openingLinkAsDirective?: undefined }
+
-  | { carry?: undefined; line?: undefined; openingLinkAsDirective: true }
+type LineFallbacks = { carried: Set<number>; openingLinkAsDirective: boolean }
-  | { carry?: undefined; line: string; openingLinkAsDirective?: undefined }
 
 export function emitInlineLine(nodes: readonly AdfNode[], container: LineContainer, path: ConvertErrorPath): Result<string> {
   const emitted = emitLine(nodes, container, path)
@@ -63,37 +62,40 @@ export function tryImageLine(alt: string | undefined, href: string, path: Conver
   return attempt.ok ? attempt.value.line : undefined
 }
 
-// Every pass carries at least one more node, or flips openingLinkAsDirective, which happens once — so the loop ends.
 function emitLine(nodes: readonly AdfNode[], container: LineContainer, path: ConvertErrorPath): Result<EmittedLine> {
-  const carried = new Set<number>()
+  const fallbacks: LineFallbacks = { carried: new Set(), openingLinkAsDirective: false }
-  let openingLinkAsDirective = false
   for (;;) {
-    const emission = lineSegments(nodes, container, path, carried, openingLinkAsDirective)
+    const emission = lineSegments(nodes, container, path, fallbacks)
     if (!emission.ok) return emission
     if (emission.value.carry !== undefined) {
-      carryRange(carried, emission.value.carry)
+      const taken = takeFallback(fallbacks, emission.value.carry, path)
+      if (!taken.ok) return taken
       continue
     }
     const attempt = attemptLine(emission.value.segments, container, path)
     if (!attempt.ok) return attempt
-    if (attempt.value.line !== undefined) return success({ line: attempt.value.line, openingLinkAsDirective, segments: emission.value.segments })
+    if (attempt.value.line !== undefined) {
-    if (attempt.value.carry !== undefined) carryRange(carried, attempt.value.carry)
+      return success({ line: attempt.value.line, openingLinkAsDirective: fallbacks.openingLinkAsDirective, segments: emission.value.segments })
-    else openingLinkAsDirective = true
+    }
+    const taken = takeFallback(fallbacks, attempt.value.fallback, path)
+    if (!taken.ok) return taken
   }
 }
 
-function carryRange(carried: Set<number>, range: NodeRange): void {
+function takeFallback(fallbacks: LineFallbacks, fallback: NodeRange | 'opening-link', path: ConvertErrorPath): Result<null> {
-  for (let index = range.first; index <= range.last; index += 1) carried.add(index)
+  if (fallback === 'opening-link') {
+    if (fallbacks.openingLinkAsDirective) return failure('unsupported-node-shape', 'an opening link spelled as a directive still reads as a link definition, so the line has no spelling left', path)
+    fallbacks.openingLinkAsDirective = true
+    return success(null)
+  }
+  const before = fallbacks.carried.size
+  for (let index = fallback.first; index <= fallback.last; index += 1) fallbacks.carried.add(index)
+  if (fallbacks.carried.size === before) return failure('unsupported-node-shape', 'a carry took no inline node the line had not carried, so the line has no spelling left', path)
+  return success(null)
 }
 
-function lineSegments(
+function lineSegments(nodes: readonly AdfNode[], container: LineContainer, path: ConvertErrorPath, fallbacks: LineFallbacks): Result<Emission> {
-  nodes: readonly AdfNode[],
+  const context: InlineContext = { atBlockEnd: true, bracketed: false, ...fallbacks, path, spansLines: container === 'paragraph' }
-  container: LineContainer,
-  path: ConvertErrorPath,
-  carried: ReadonlySet<number>,
-  openingLinkAsDirective: boolean,
-): Result<Emission> {
-  const context: InlineContext = { atBlockEnd: true, bracketed: false, carried, openingLinkAsDirective, path, spansLines: container === 'paragraph' }
   const emission = emitRun(nodes, 0, 0, context)
   if (!emission.ok) return emission
   if (emission.value.carry !== undefined) return emission
@@ -102,8 +104,8 @@ function lineSegments(
 
 function attemptLine(segments: readonly InlineSegment[], container: LineContainer, path: ConvertErrorPath): Result<LineAttempt> {
   const assembled = assembleInlineLine(segments, container)
-  if (assembled.openingLinkAsDirective) return success({ openingLinkAsDirective: true })
+  if (assembled.openingLinkAsDirective) return success({ fallback: 'opening-link' })
-  if (assembled.unspellableRun !== undefined) return success({ carry: assembled.unspellableRun })
+  if (assembled.unspellableRun !== undefined) return success({ fallback: assembled.unspellableRun })
   for (const [index, single] of assembled.line.split('\n').entries()) {
     if (container === 'paragraph' && claimsLine(single, index === 0 ? 'first' : 'later')) {
       return failure('unspellable-line-start', `block parsing would claim the emitted line ${JSON.stringify(single)}`, path)

todo-history.md

@@ -886,6 +886,27 @@ The done `todo.md` items in full, as they were written. `todo.md` keeps a one-li
       (the stability-reviewer, 2026-09-19). The one list accounting was not
       taken: 4b settled that accounting the day this was filed, and reopening it is an ask rather
       than a chunk.
+- [x] **28 — `emitLine`'s retry loop cannot spin (`0.2.0`).** `emit/inline-line.ts:67` is a
+      `for (;;)` that re-emits the line until every unspellable node has been carried, and its
+      termination rests on a comment: each pass carries at least one more node, or flips
+      `openingLinkAsDirective`, which happens once. Ten `return success({ carry: … })` sites in
+      that file have to honour it and nothing checks them — a range already inside `carried` loops
+      forever. The library has no I/O and no timeout, so that is a hung caller rather than an
+      error result, and §1's pipeline persona feeds documents nobody typed. Make the loop hold its
+      own guarantee: refuse a carry that adds no node and return an error. Reads first in `0.2.0`
+      because it is the only known way this library fails without a `Result`. Found by the
+      comprehension panel, 2026-09-20; the ten sites are confirmed, a document that reaches the
+      spin is not.
+      **Done** (2026-09-20): the loop's progress is one named state and every pass takes a
+      fallback through `takeFallback`, which refuses a carry adding no node and an opening link
+      asked for the directive form a second time. Both are `unsupported-node-shape` under §8's
+      rule that a new cause takes an existing code reading true of it: the emitter has no spelling
+      left for that node arrangement, and a code a consumer can never switch on costs a removal
+      later. Neither refusal is reachable — a carried node takes `emitLeaf`'s carried branch
+      before any run forms, so every range a site names holds an uncarried node, and the
+      directive-spelled opening link leaves the first segment with no node range for `escape` to
+      ask about — so both are uncovered branches like the repo's other guards, 98.92% to 98.84%
+      against the floor of 98.
 
 ## 5 — Ship `0.1.0`
 

todo.md

@@ -37,17 +37,6 @@ HTML format lands than after: 19 and 20 because HTML has no answer without them,
 HTML doubles the importers and the file count they touch, and 25 to 27 because they are what the
 panel says the next reader pays for.
 
-- [ ] **28 — `emitLine`'s retry loop cannot spin (`0.2.0`).** `emit/inline-line.ts:67` is a
-      `for (;;)` that re-emits the line until every unspellable node has been carried, and its
-      termination rests on a comment: each pass carries at least one more node, or flips
-      `openingLinkAsDirective`, which happens once. Ten `return success({ carry: … })` sites in
-      that file have to honour it and nothing checks them — a range already inside `carried` loops
-      forever. The library has no I/O and no timeout, so that is a hung caller rather than an
-      error result, and §1's pipeline persona feeds documents nobody typed. Make the loop hold its
-      own guarantee: refuse a carry that adds no node and return an error. Reads first in `0.2.0`
-      because it is the only known way this library fails without a `Result`. Found by the
-      comprehension panel, 2026-09-20; the ten sites are confirmed, a document that reaches the
-      spin is not.
 - [ ] **19 — A home for what both formats read (`0.2.0`).** Settle where a construct both formats
       need lives, and say so in AGENTS.md §11. Today `adf/` may hold no format knowledge and each
       format directory holds its own shared layer, so there is no third place; the first ADF-shaped
@@ -277,6 +266,7 @@ panel says the next reader pays for.
       four and the other the clearest map of the format in the repo. So the ceiling guards against
       drift and never drives a refactor — 19 to 27 are where the hard work actually is.
 - [x] **18 — The subtree the directive spelling asks about (`0.2.0`).**
+- [x] **28 — `emitLine`'s retry loop cannot spin (`0.2.0`).**
 
 ## The ADF inventory to cover