@@ -3851,6 +3851,52 @@ export function selfTest({ tier = 'full' } = {}) {
     );
   }
 
+  // ── The name-fold loader gate's WALKED roots, declared (#24037) ───────────
+  //
+  // `check-position-name-fold-loaders.mjs` reads every text file under its
+  // roots, and kept them as a private list of bare words, which the extractor
+  // admits as nothing. A card editing a file under those roots therefore
+  // derived no command for it: PR #24028 reconciled its local union complete
+  // and met this gate red in CI, over a line it added to
+  // `scripts/cross-package-test-inputs.mjs`. The gate now declares the roots
+  // with the ROOT_DIR_WATCH_HINTS idiom and derives its walk from that literal,
+  // with no change to the extractor.
+  //
+  // Pinned against the LIVE tree, for the reason the scripts/** case above
+  // states. The probes are read off the family's own extracted hints rather
+  // than retyped here, so every root the gate declares gets one, and the first
+  // probe is the exact path the measured miss edited. The ablation strips the
+  // subtree hints and the verdict must leave MATCHED, so these cases cannot pass
+  // through another literal that happens to cover a probe.
+  const NAME_FOLD = 'scripts/check-position-name-fold-loaders.mjs';
+  const nameFoldFamilies = discoverFamilies().byCheck;
+  for (const key of [NAME_FOLD, `${NAME_FOLD} --self-test`]) {
+    const entry = nameFoldFamilies.get(key);
+    t(`${key} is discovered at all — the pins below mean nothing without this`, Boolean(entry));
+    const roots = (entry?.hints ?? []).filter((h) => h.endsWith('/**')).map((h) => h.slice(0, -'/**'.length));
+    // The floor: the five roots the walk reads at this commit. A loop over an
+    // emptied hint set runs zero cases and prints nothing, which reads as a pass.
+    t(`${key} declares at least the five subtree roots its walk reads — read: [${roots.join(', ')}]`, roots.length >= 5);
+    const probes = ['scripts/cross-package-test-inputs.mjs', ...roots.map((r) => `${r}/the-one-nobody-has-written-yet.ts`)];
+    for (const probe of probes) {
+      const verdict = entry ? classifyEntry(entry, [probe]).verdict : null;
+      t(`a change to ${probe}, under a root this gate walks, derives ${key} — read: ${verdict}`, verdict === 'matched');
+    }
+    const undeclared = entry ? { ...entry, hints: entry.hints.filter((h) => !h.endsWith('/**')) } : null;
+    const residual = undeclared
+      ? ['scripts/cross-package-test-inputs.mjs', 'packages/the-one-nobody-has-written-yet/src/index.ts']
+        .map((p) => classifyEntry(undeclared, [p]).verdict)
+      : [];
+    t(
+      `…and it is the subtree declaration doing it: strip it and ${key} is NOT MATCHED for the measured miss `
+        + `or a brand-new package file — read: [${residual.join(', ')}]`,
+      Boolean(undeclared)
+        && undeclared.hints.length < entry.hints.length
+        && residual.length === 2
+        && residual.every((v) => ['silent', 'undetermined'].includes(v)),
+    );
+  }
+
   // ── The MANIFEST population of check:merge-driver (#15501) ────────────────
   //
   // That family's `git-merge-regen --self-test` refuses a generator with no