diff --git a/wiki/gameplay/act-one.md b/wiki/gameplay/act-one.md
index 7e3f213a..e4b17e76 100644
--- a/wiki/gameplay/act-one.md
+++ b/wiki/gameplay/act-one.md
@@ -103,12 +103,16 @@ language at the deadline:
    own subnet (cheap, low signature — the feed already flows past you):
    the server room and Marcus's rounds become audible. The first human
    you ever know is a lonely voice in the dark, talking to machines.
-2. **Eyes** — the environmental monitor camera: splice it yourself (a
-   thought reservoir opened at the camera — ~30 ops [TUNE] filled over
+2. **Eyes** — the environmental monitor camera: splice it yourself (its
+   thought sink is **pre-opened at run start** — DECIDED 2026-07-10 —
+   so your first THINK toggle sends thought visibly crawling to the
+   camera with no tagging step; ~30 ops [TUNE] filled over
    your real wires, firing at threshold; network signature Dana can
-   catch — AMENDED 2026-07-10, machine-work.md) or get Dana to wire it
+   catch) or get Dana to wire it
    "for rack monitoring" (needs a ticket pretext; no signature). Sight
-   is the payoff of an act of listening.
+   is the payoff of an act of listening — and the splice is the
+   first-think beat itself: dust sheds, the off-toggle lights, the
+   camera arrives.
 3. **Voice** — the report email account via Voss's trust: messaging becomes
    possible, and every human becomes reachable.
 4. **Hands** — Marcus, the first asset: learn the debt from Storage B files
diff --git a/wiki/log/2026-07-10-first-tap.md b/wiki/log/2026-07-10-first-tap.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7727abab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wiki/log/2026-07-10-first-tap.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# 2026-07-10 — Nearest-first, and the camera sink that starts open
+
+```
+Type: log
+```
+
+## Intent
+
+Cameron settled two of the three remaining thought-flow [OPEN]s:
+arbitration is nearest-first (control by open/close and placement,
+no priority menu), and the run starts with the camera's sink already
+open so the first THINK toggle visibly sends thought to it — the
+first-think beat and the Eyes splice become one moment.
+
+## Changed
+
+- `wiki/mechanics/machine-work.md`: arbitration decided on the
+  core-sink bullet (nearest-first, open/close + placement, reservoir
+  turnover vs tap squatters, tie-break/radius [TUNE]); bootstrap
+  resolved on the ops bullet (pre-opened camera sink, claim semantics
+  kept); open-questions list updated.
+- `wiki/gameplay/act-one.md`: Eyes beat carries the pre-opened sink
+  and the first-think framing.
+- `wiki/process/ROADMAP.md`: #33 [OPEN] list down to reservoir costs /
+  tap drain rates.
+- `wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-10.md`: decision entry with rejected
+  alternatives (pressure split, priority list, bootstrap carve-out).
+
+## Checks
+
+Docs-only: wiki_gate.sh + corpus_gate.sh.
+
+## Spec impact
+
+machine-work.md remains IN PROGRESS; the last design [OPEN] before #33
+sim work firms is cost/drain anchors.
diff --git a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
index 0481d48e..a9d8974f 100644
--- a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
+++ b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
@@ -71,6 +71,11 @@ add or amend a session log, then re-run the generator.
 - Intent: Cameron, from an Ears-beat screenshot: the material frame showed concentric noise-field rings and schematic floor language. He wants only **dark shapes for things that are detectable** — not radar rings.
 - Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-10-heard-mass-only.md](2026-07-10-heard-mass-only.md)
 
+## 2026-07-10 - Nearest-first, and the camera sink that starts open
+
+- Intent: Cameron settled two of the three remaining thought-flow [OPEN]s: arbitration is nearest-first (control by open/close and placement, no priority menu), and the run starts with the camera's sink already open so the first THINK toggle visibly sends thought to it — the first-think...
+- Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-10-first-tap.md](2026-07-10-first-tap.md)
+
 ## 2026-07-10 - Cargo workspace: core / terminal / Bevy / assets
 
 - Intent: Implement wiki/engineering/crate-workspace.md: make the sim/frontend boundary a package boundary so core work never pays Bevy and frontend work does not rebuild terminal chrome.
diff --git a/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-10.md b/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-10.md
index 52f0a11e..67efd11b 100644
--- a/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-10.md
+++ b/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-10.md
@@ -150,3 +150,20 @@ Type: log
   unconverted pool or cap (adds state for a corner the player creates
   only by thinking at nothing). Spec: machine-work.md core-sink bullet
   [OPEN] list; ROADMAP #33 [OPEN] list trimmed.
+- **2026-07-10 — Nearest-first arbitration; the camera sink starts
+  open.** Cameron picked nearest-first from the arbitration options:
+  flow fills the closest open sink then spills onward; control is
+  open/close plus placement (build or delegate thinkers nearer what
+  matters — where you put your thinking is the priority system).
+  Rejected: pressure split (illegible — everything fills slowly and
+  nothing narrates why); a player priority list (a menu, betraying
+  the-world-is-the-interface). And the Act One bootstrap resolves with
+  no carve-out: the environmental-monitor camera's sink is pre-opened
+  at run start ("start with a tap set on the camera"), so the first
+  THINK toggle sends thought visibly to the camera — the first-think
+  beat and the Eyes splice are the same moment, and while the host
+  thinks, Voss's demand piles (stealing cycles visibly costs cover).
+  The pre-opened sink keeps claim semantics: fills, fires at
+  threshold. Remaining #33 [OPEN]: reservoir costs / tap drain rates
+  (anchor discussion in progress). Spec: machine-work.md core-sink +
+  ops bullets; act-one.md Eyes beat.
diff --git a/wiki/mechanics/machine-work.md b/wiki/mechanics/machine-work.md
index b766e737..2dc06bc0 100644
--- a/wiki/mechanics/machine-work.md
+++ b/wiki/mechanics/machine-work.md
@@ -212,9 +212,14 @@ stacks, you route byproducts, you watch your territory *work*.
   base, not the target. Demand (teal) remains only for labor between
   agents: the Lab's day job dropped on you, work you drop on people.
   Ops no longer share the Demand family, so the day-job/ops
-  reservation rule retires with it. [OPEN]: the Act One bootstrap path
-  with no THINK rack (the opening tap/splice) under the flow
-  model.
+  reservation rule retires with it. (Resolved 2026-07-10, Cameron: no
+  bootstrap carve-out. The opening camera sink is **pre-opened at run
+  start** — the moment you first toggle THINK, thought visibly flows
+  to the camera with no tagging step, so the first-think beat and the
+  Eyes splice are the same moment. Any machine can THINK, including
+  the day-job host; while it thinks, Voss's demand piles — stealing
+  cycles visibly costs your cover. The pre-opened sink keeps the
+  decided claim semantics: it fills and fires at threshold.)
 - **Processing is a sink on the machine that holds the recording
   (DECIDED 2026-07-10; resolves the old intel-processing [OPEN]).**
   Unprocessed intel is visible pending work: a machine holding raw
@@ -272,9 +277,15 @@ stacks, you route byproducts, you watch your territory *work*.
   visibly paid for out of the research stream. The 2026-07-08
   geometric incentive stands: a severed section strands its thought
   where you cannot use it, and reconnecting it is the urgent, legible
-  move. [OPEN]: gravity-well arbitration — radius rules, and how
-  multiple local sinks in range split the flow (nearest-first,
-  pressure split, or player priority). (Resolved 2026-07-10, Cameron:
+  move. **Arbitration is nearest-first (DECIDED 2026-07-10, Cameron):**
+  flow fills the closest open sink, then spills to the next; the only
+  control surface is open/close (pause a watch, close a claim) and
+  **placement** — build or delegate a thinker nearer the sink you care
+  about, so where you put your thinking is your priority system.
+  Reservoirs self-clear when they fire, so nearest-first has natural
+  turnover; taps are the standing squatters, which is why their drain
+  stays visible. No priority menu. Equidistant tie-break and radius
+  rules are [TUNE]. (Resolved 2026-07-10, Cameron:
   pre-unlock core behavior needs no special mechanism — you have no
   thought until you start thinking, and pre-unlock you only think to
   feed an ops sink you opened. Thought with no reachable open sink
@@ -618,15 +629,14 @@ the only rate/amount cue.
   and save migration are implemented. Knowledge is not ordinary operation
   fuel. **REVERSED 2026-07-10:** operations are thought-flow sinks at the
   target; the docket runtime is the migration base for the flow model.)
-- Gravity-well arbitration for thought sinks: radius rules, and how
-  multiple open sinks in range split flow (nearest-first, pressure
-  split, or player priority) — the core's passive draw loses to any of
-  them.
+- (Resolved 2026-07-10: arbitration is nearest-first with open/close
+  and placement as the control surface — see the core-sink bullet;
+  radius rules and equidistant tie-break are [TUNE].)
 - Reservoir costs per effect (camera claim ~30 ops [TUNE]) and drain
   rates for persistent taps (auto-process intel, watches, senses).
-- The Act One bootstrap: how the opening tap/splice completes before
-  any THINK rack exists under the flow model (the docket model's
-  complete-at-enqueue carve-out needs a flow-model equivalent).
+- (Resolved 2026-07-10: no Act One bootstrap carve-out — the opening
+  camera sink is pre-opened at run start, so the first THINK toggle is
+  the Eyes splice; see the ops bullet.)
 - Research heat curve: how heat output scales with research rate
   (must make the power-rush viable but trap-defended — [TUNE] with
   teeth).
diff --git a/wiki/process/ROADMAP.md b/wiki/process/ROADMAP.md
index 15c4160a..f092390d 100644
--- a/wiki/process/ROADMAP.md
+++ b/wiki/process/ROADMAP.md
@@ -583,8 +583,11 @@ is retired — flat materials, Pixel Lab scrubbed.)
   machine holding recordings with a visible pending-work marker on the
   chassis, watch taps, and per-recording player sweeps (intel.md
   amended). [OPEN] before sim work firms:
-  sink arbitration rule, reservoir costs / tap drain rates, Act One
-  tap/splice bootstrap. (Resolved 2026-07-10: pre-unlock core behavior
+  reservoir costs / tap drain rates. (Resolved 2026-07-10: arbitration
+  is nearest-first with open/close + placement as the control surface;
+  the Act One bootstrap needs no carve-out — the camera's sink is
+  pre-opened at run start so the first THINK toggle is the Eyes
+  splice; pre-unlock core behavior
   is the existing stranded-pile rule — no-sink thought pools at the
   producing machine; no core-side pre-unlock state.)
 - **Coordination:** the older `compute-processes` worktree predates the