diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-checks.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-checks.yml
index b9fe5b71..bd7c2f23 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-checks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-checks.yml
@@ -128,3 +128,44 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Run test suite
         run: npm test
+
+  test-gate:
+    # Fail-closed aggregation for the cases where `test` is DISPATCHED but
+    # does not succeed: `needs: test` + `if: always()` means this job still
+    # runs (and fails) when `test` fails or is cancelled, turning that
+    # failure into an explicit red check instead of a silent partial result.
+    #
+    # WHAT THIS DOES NOT COVER (lr-665c62, MILLER fnd-3973e2): under
+    # pull_request_target, `test` is skipped by its OWN `if:` above — and a
+    # dependent job's `if: always()` only overrides the default success()
+    # condition for a job GitHub actually SCHEDULES; it does not resurrect a
+    # dependent whose dependency was skipped by that dependency's own
+    # job-level `if:`. The skip PROPAGATES, so on a head that produces only a
+    # pull_request_target run, this job is never scheduled at all — it
+    # produces no check-run, not even a skipped one. That is precisely the
+    # case this job was believed to close, and it does not.
+    #
+    # A workflow-layer fix for that case is not possible: a run cannot see
+    # its sibling runs, so nothing expressible in this file can assert "this
+    # SHA was tested by some OTHER run." Closing it requires branch
+    # protection that requires the `test` check BY NAME — protection
+    # evaluates across the whole check suite for a SHA, and a required check
+    # that is absent or skipped is not satisfied. That is an operator/repo-
+    # settings action, not something any workflow edit here can express.
+    #
+    # SECURITY: this job MUST stay a pure metadata assertion. No checkout of
+    # PR code, no npm install, no execution of anything from the PR — it only
+    # reads the `test` job's reported `result`. Adding any of those under
+    # pull_request_target would reintroduce the exact secret-exposure risk
+    # the `if:` on the `test` job exists to prevent.
+    needs: test
+    if: always()
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Require test job to have actually run and passed
+        run: |
+          echo "test job result: ${{ needs.test.result }}"
+          if [ "${{ needs.test.result }}" != "success" ]; then
+            echo "::error::test job did not succeed (result: ${{ needs.test.result }}). A skipped or failed test job must not yield a green PR Checks run." >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
diff --git a/test/pr-checks-test-gate-fail-closed-lr-665c62.test.js b/test/pr-checks-test-gate-fail-closed-lr-665c62.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6d8cd5ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/pr-checks-test-gate-fail-closed-lr-665c62.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+// pr-checks-test-gate-fail-closed-lr-665c62.test.js
+//
+// Coverage for the `test-gate` job's shell conditional in
+// .github/workflows/pr-checks.yml (lr-665c62). Commit 4b150ff added
+// `test-gate`, which asserts `needs.test.result == 'success'` and fails
+// otherwise, for the case where the `test` job is DISPATCHED but fails or
+// is cancelled.
+//
+// WHAT THIS FILE PROVES, and no more: that the extracted shell conditional
+// itself is correct for every value of `needs.test.result` (success,
+// skipped, failure, cancelled, empty). No YAML parser dependency (none in
+// package.json), so it extracts the test-gate step's run: block VERBATIM
+// from the workflow text and executes it under `sh -c` with
+// `needs.test.result` substituted exactly as GitHub Actions' `${{ }}`
+// expression interpolation would substitute it: a literal string, spliced
+// into the script text before any shell ever runs it. That is the real
+// substitution mechanism (GHA expressions are evaluated by the runner, not
+// by the step's shell), so this test exercises the identical script the
+// runner would execute for each value, not an approximation of it.
+//
+// WHAT THIS FILE DOES NOT PROVE, and this is the gap that matters (MILLER
+// fnd-3973e2, lr-665c62 comment thread): it never models GitHub's job
+// SCHEDULING layer, only the shell script's behavior once invoked. In
+// production, under pull_request_target, `test` is skipped by its own
+// job-level `if:` — and that skip PROPAGATES to `test-gate` through
+// `needs: test` even though `test-gate` has `if: always()`. always() only
+// rescues a dependent whose dependency FAILED or was CANCELLED; it does not
+// resurrect a dependent whose dependency was skipped by the dependency's
+// own `if:`. So on the exact event this job exists to guard, `test-gate` is
+// never scheduled at all — it produces no check-run, not a skipped one, not
+// a failed one. The case at :~116-120 below, "fails closed when the test
+// job result is skipped", is the exact production scenario, and it passes —
+// while production never reaches the script this test is exercising. This
+// file therefore closes PEACHES's "unreached script" concern for the
+// failed/cancelled cases only; it does NOT close lr-665c62 or demonstrate
+// that the guard fires in the pull_request_target skip case, because it
+// cannot: that gap is a job-dispatch property, not a script property, and
+// is not something a shell-level test can exercise. Closing it requires
+// branch protection requiring the `test` check by name (operator action,
+// tracked on lr-665c62), not another test in this file.
+
+var test = require("node:test");
+var assert = require("node:assert");
+var fs = require("fs");
+var path = require("path");
+var childProcess = require("child_process");
+
+var workflowPath = path.join(__dirname, "..", ".github", "workflows", "pr-checks.yml");
+var yml = fs.readFileSync(workflowPath, "utf8");
+
+function jobBody(jobName) {
+  var jobHeaderRe = new RegExp("^  " + jobName + ":", "m");
+  var match = jobHeaderRe.exec(yml);
+  assert.ok(match, "expected to find job `" + jobName + "` in pr-checks.yml");
+  var start = match.index;
+  var rest = yml.slice(start + match[0].length);
+  var nextJobMatch = /^\n {2}\S.*:\n/m.exec(rest);
+  var end = nextJobMatch ? start + match[0].length + nextJobMatch.index : yml.length;
+  return yml.slice(start, end);
+}
+
+function stepBody(job, stepName) {
+  var stepHeaderRe = new RegExp("- name: " + stepName.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&"));
+  var match = stepHeaderRe.exec(job);
+  assert.ok(match, "expected to find step `" + stepName + "` in job");
+  var start = match.index;
+  var rest = job.slice(start + match[0].length);
+  var nextStepMatch = /\n {6}- name:/.exec(rest);
+  var end = nextStepMatch ? start + match[0].length + nextStepMatch.index : job.length;
+  return job.slice(start, end);
+}
+
+test("test-gate job needs the test job and runs on always()", function () {
+  var gate = jobBody("test-gate");
+  assert.match(gate, /needs:\s*test/);
+  assert.match(gate, /if:\s*always\(\)/);
+});
+
+test("test job stays excluded from pull_request_target (safety property, must not regress)", function () {
+  var testJob = jobBody("test");
+  assert.match(testJob, /if:\s*github\.event_name != 'pull_request_target'/);
+});
+
+test("test-gate job stays a pure metadata assertion: no checkout, no npm install", function () {
+  var gate = jobBody("test-gate");
+  assert.doesNotMatch(gate, /actions\/checkout/);
+  // Check only the executed run: bodies, not the job's own header comments —
+  // the job's SECURITY comment names "npm install" in prose to explain the
+  // constraint, which must not make this check trip on its own documentation.
+  var runBlocks = gate.match(/run:\s*\|[\s\S]*?(?=\n {6}- name:|$)/g) || [];
+  runBlocks.forEach(function (block) {
+    assert.doesNotMatch(block, /npm (ci|install)/);
+  });
+});
+
+function extractGateScript() {
+  var gate = jobBody("test-gate");
+  var step = stepBody(gate, "Require test job to have actually run and passed");
+  var runMatch = /run:\s*\|\n([\s\S]*)$/.exec(step);
+  assert.ok(runMatch, "expected to extract the test-gate run: block");
+  // De-indent (the block is indented 10 spaces under `run: |` in the workflow).
+  var lines = runMatch[1].split("\n").map(function (line) {
+    return line.replace(/^ {10}/, "");
+  });
+  // Drop trailing blank lines left over from the step/job boundary trim.
+  while (lines.length && lines[lines.length - 1].trim() === "") {
+    lines.pop();
+  }
+  var text = lines.join("\n");
+  assert.match(
+    text,
+    /\$\{\{\s*needs\.test\.result\s*\}\}/,
+    "expected the extracted script to still reference the needs.test.result expression"
+  );
+  return text;
+}
+
+// GitHub Actions expression interpolation (`${{ ... }}`) is a literal text
+// substitution performed by the runner BEFORE the shell ever sees the
+// script — it is not a shell variable. Reproducing that substitution here
+// (rather than sourcing needs.test.result through env:, which is not how
+// the real step is written) keeps this test byte-faithful to what actually
+// runs, including the direct-interpolation shape of the real step.
+function runGate(resultValue) {
+  var script = extractGateScript().split("${{ needs.test.result }}").join(resultValue);
+  return childProcess.spawnSync("sh", ["-c", script], { encoding: "utf8" });
+}
+
+test("guard behavior: passes when the test job result is success", function () {
+  var result = runGate("success");
+  assert.strictEqual(result.status, 0, "expected the guard to pass for success: " + result.stderr);
+});
+
+test("guard behavior: fails closed when the test job result is skipped", function () {
+  var result = runGate("skipped");
+  assert.notStrictEqual(result.status, 0, "expected the guard to fail for skipped");
+  assert.match(result.stdout + result.stderr, /did not succeed/);
+});
+
+test("guard behavior: fails closed when the test job result is failure", function () {
+  var result = runGate("failure");
+  assert.notStrictEqual(result.status, 0, "expected the guard to fail for failure");
+});
+
+test("guard behavior: fails closed when the test job result is cancelled", function () {
+  var result = runGate("cancelled");
+  assert.notStrictEqual(result.status, 0, "expected the guard to fail for cancelled");
+});
+
+test("guard behavior: fails closed when the test job result is the empty string", function () {
+  var result = runGate("");
+  assert.notStrictEqual(result.status, 0, "expected the guard to fail for an empty/unset result");
+});