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+# v0.26.0
+
+Runner v0.26.0 completes the v0.26.0 milestone. It ships the explicitly selected
+`retained-column/1` Base consumer for Agent v0.11 that `v0.26.0-alpha.1` introduced
+(#183), moved from the Spec `v0.3.0-rc.2` candidate to the published
+[Spec `v0.3.0`](https://github.com/Judgment-Pack/judgment-pack-spec/releases/tag/v0.3.0).
+It also carries the CI headroom change from `v0.26.0-alpha.2` (#184), and tests for
+#86 and #147. The Spec's maturity remains `draft`. Ordinary Runner input routes are
+unchanged and still evaluate under `0.2.0-draft`. This release claims no Extended
+Runner support.
+
+## What an operator must do
+
+- **Re-create alpha-era selected work.** Selected releases, runs and exports made by
+  `v0.26.0-alpha.1` or `v0.26.0-alpha.2` under the rc.2 contract cannot be read or
+  verified by this release. Re-create them under the final contract. Ordinary
+  (`0.2.0-draft`) releases, runs and exports are unaffected.
+- **Update callers that name the contract.** A caller that selects the rc.2 contract
+  is refused `capability-unsupported`, whether by header, flag or capability report.
+  Select `retained-column/1` at Spec `v0.3.0@27cb29bf13e4a2d58d69fe19c7ebfeb762b014fc`.
+- The usual care applies before any upgrade: stop Desk and Runner and back up the Jobs
+  workspace, including SQLite/WAL, as
+  [State and backups](../../README.md#state-and-backups) describes. The store schema
+  is unchanged and there is no migration.
+
+## The installed contract
+
+The installed selection moves from `0.3.0-rc.2@bcac15b7` to Spec
+`v0.3.0@27cb29bf13e4a2d58d69fe19c7ebfeb762b014fc`. Schema
+`sha256:0cb49f238c78391cb163a65474cc9af962df2bb1024a55c5310c2b784b2f0557` and corpus
+`sha256:17b16ff7a9b74fe4cc81eb6f6129a6aabdd9834621d9e756aa2d4c1a3f245863` are
+byte-identical to rc.2's. The leaf fixtures, release identity and inventory (file
+sha256 `c8e489b2cabd0ee0b794a8b6a817f06f901e338348e32ec23c8c83d7c40dfe58`) come from
+the verified `v0.3.0` archive. `/v1/health` `conversionContracts` and
+`verify-preparation` report the new tuple. A new public vector,
+`vectors/retained-column-selection-v0.3.0.json`, sits beside the rc.2 vector, which is
+kept as history.
+
+The selected route admits Runtime's Core `0.3.0` Base evaluator. CI's retained
+companion Runtime moves to `v0.39.0` (`12793d2d`). The other Runtime, Gateway and
+old-Runner pins do not move.
+
+## Dialect document checks (#86)
+
+CI now holds the Runner's dialect reader to the Runtime `v0.39.0` document tools.
+Both sides give the same canonical bytes and digest on 47 shared vectors, and both
+refuse 5 malformed documents. The Runtime's document tools are pinned to Spec
+`b7cc8906`, not `v0.3.0`. This check therefore shows agreement with that revision
+and makes no claim about the dialect page at `v0.3.0`. The Runner keeps its own
+reader and calls no Runtime tool at run time; see
+[the design note](../design/dialect-document-checks.md). There is no production
+change.
+
+## Governed dispatch admission (#147)
+
+Acceptance tests cover the remaining cases of #147 against the real Runtime:
+- omitted-dependency substitution;
+- withdrawal, enqueue and dispatch orderings;
+- a lost admission response;
+- worker restart and fencing;
+- identity revocation;
+- restore from before a withdrawal.
+
+There are 6 cases with 21 subtests. The orderings are scripted interleavings. No case
+revealed a missing mechanic, so there is no production change. The fence is described
+in the names of the agent's ADR-0025, `{resource, owner, epoch}`, in
+[the admission gate design](../design/manual-admission-gate.md). An epoch is accepted
+only as a canonical decimal string, and a JSON number is refused. The Runner accepts
+epochs up to 2^64−1, a superset of ADR-0025's 18-digit bound.
+
+## Not in this release
+
+The genuine `0.3.0` dialect recording set (#174) needs ordinary Core `0.3.0`
+admission first, and that is tracked as #188. Both are in v0.28.0.
+
+## Also
+
+`docs/releasing.md` names the two prerelease forms the development kit's policy
+defines. `-rc.N` is a candidate of the complete milestone. `-alpha.N` is a scoped
+cut for a named consumer that never graduates.
+
+Review: the pre-release review of #187 and of `v0.25.0..` is on #187 (a Claude Opus
+review of a Claude Opus build; not a cross-vendor claim).