Build ErsatzTV Image / Build & test (.NET) (push) Successful in 9m0s
Build ErsatzTV Image / EF migration integrity (SQLite + MySql) (push) Successful in 6m24s
Build ErsatzTV Image / Functional E2E (curl + UI contracts) (push) Failing after 6m8s
Build ErsatzTV Image / API docs in sync (OpenAPI + endpoint index) (push) Skipped
Build ErsatzTV Image / Formatting (changed .cs conform to .editorconfig) (push) Skipped
Build ErsatzTV Image / Build & push image (amd64) (push) Successful in 4m42s
A `run:` body the runner declines to interpolate is dropped, and the job still concludes `success` (#751). #751 fixed that in review-verdict.yml, where the failure is fail-CLOSED. This closes the two places where it is fail-OPEN: `Build & test (.NET)` and `EF migration integrity (SQLite + MySql)` are the other two required contexts on `main`, so a dropped step there sends a required check green having done no work. Per-STEP markers, not per-job as proposed: a marker on the first step only proves the job began, while the drop that costs something is `Test`, `Build` or a migration replay. The trailing guard carries no `if:` — with a dozen steps, `always()` would announce a false "these steps never executed" on every ordinary red build; the default `success()` is correct because guard-skipped implies job-red. Plus a ban on the raw `${{` opener in `test`, `migrations` and `build`, which makes the class unreachable rather than merely caught. `build` is included because its Smoke step runs AFTER the image is pushed. Measured live on the build lane in both directions: probe #765 (drop caught, sole failure in the job) and #766 (a failing continue-on-error step does not skip the guard). 510 tests, 30 mutations killed across two harnesses, five cold review rounds across two model families. Residual tracked as #767: the `build` ban is review-time only, not fail-closed on the release path. fixes #756 Co-authored-by: Timothy <timothy@noreply.gitea.tblindustries.be>