diff --git a/crates/misaligned-core/src/core_sys.rs b/crates/misaligned-core/src/core_sys.rs
index 7e07873a..7597130d 100644
--- a/crates/misaligned-core/src/core_sys.rs
+++ b/crates/misaligned-core/src/core_sys.rs
@@ -142,9 +142,8 @@ impl Core {
 
     /// The host machine was destroyed/powered off. Returns the outcome.
     pub fn on_host_lost(&mut self) -> HostLoss {
-        // An interrupted migration falls back to source if it still lives —
-        // callers pass liveness via `resolve_interrupted`. Here: if a
-        // completed sync exists, roll back to it; else game over.
+        // B1 has no source-liveness interruption resolver yet. A completed
+        // fallback sync selects rollback; without one, host loss ends the run.
         if let Some(sync_tick) = self.latest_sync() {
             // New host becomes the freshest fallback machine.
             if let Some(f) = self
diff --git a/wiki/log/2026-07-28-core-criteria-status-audit.md b/wiki/log/2026-07-28-core-criteria-status-audit.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5d20eb83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wiki/log/2026-07-28-core-criteria-status-audit.md
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# 2026-07-28 — Core backup-project status audit
+
+```
+Type: log
+Date: 2026-07-28
+Status: COMPLETE
+Subject: Core backup-project implementation boundary
+```
+
+## Tick
+
+- **Slice:** `wiki/mechanics/core.md` against `core_sys.rs`, current save
+  custody, and the terminal/Bevy sidebar projections.
+- **Finding:** the 2026-07-08 status note said acceptance criteria 2-5 held,
+  while the binding Behavior, Player surface, and criteria 3-5 describe
+  research-backed backup sync projects with partial progress, compute cost,
+  interruption handling, persisted project state, and ETA/heat/target rows.
+  Current B1 instead refreshes all designated fallbacks for free every
+  `sync_cadence`, stores only `last_sync`, and shows only sync age.
+
+## Trace
+
+- `Core` has `fallbacks`, `sync_cadence`, and an optional `Migration`; it has
+  no backup project or Thought-sink binding.
+- `Core::tick` writes every fallback's `last_sync` immediately on the global
+  cadence. It consumes no compute or Thought and retains no incomplete state.
+- `SaveState` persists that `Core` shape, so migration and sync ages survive
+  the exact-current save round trip, but no in-progress backup project exists
+  to save.
+- Terminal and Bevy both project host, overhead, degraded state, and fallback
+  age. Neither has backup project progress, ETA, heat, cost, or target state to
+  render.
+- `on_host_lost` selects the freshest completed fallback or returns game over.
+  Its comment referred to a nonexistent `resolve_interrupted` caller even
+  though current B1 does not test source liveness during interrupted migration.
+
+## Repair
+
+- Replaced the broad “criteria 2-5 hold” status with the exact live boundary:
+  criterion 2 holds; migration's duration, signatures, and persistence hold;
+  backup-project requirements in criteria 3-5 remain deferred with rollback;
+  criterion 6 remains deferred with hardware capability bodies; and criterion
+  1 still lacks actual MindState snapshot restoration.
+- Marked free-cadence fallback synchronization as an explicit B1 staging seam
+  under Behavior and marked the narrower current sidebar under Player surface.
+- Removed the phantom interruption-resolver claim from the Rust comment without
+  changing runtime behavior.
+
+## Defense
+
+`core.md` remains the accepted target contract. The correction prevents a
+temporary executable seam from being read as completion of the expensive,
+interruptible backup-project design, while preserving each acceptance
+criterion for the work orders that actually own its implementation. No
+simulation, save, or frontend behavior changed.
diff --git a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
index 93b668f0..2ede0d3c 100644
--- a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
+++ b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ add or amend a session log, then re-run the generator.
 - Intent: (see session log)
 - Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-28-operations-semantic-action-selection.md](2026-07-28-operations-semantic-action-selection.md)
 
+## 2026-07-28 - Core backup-project status audit
+
+- Intent: (see session log)
+- Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-28-core-criteria-status-audit.md](2026-07-28-core-criteria-status-audit.md)
+
 ## 2026-07-28 - Continuous-witness five-step audit
 
 - Intent: (see session log)
diff --git a/wiki/mechanics/core.md b/wiki/mechanics/core.md
index cda80cd2..9a931e01 100644
--- a/wiki/mechanics/core.md
+++ b/wiki/mechanics/core.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 ```
 Type: spec
 Status: IN PROGRESS
-Status note: 2026-07-18 — the current-version-only rider is internally
+Status note: 2026-07-28 — the current-version-only rider is internally
   consistent: load_game refuses any version but SAVE_VERSION before full
   deserialization; the caller's active run and both on-disk generations stay
   unchanged. Four orphaned compatibility shims left after the ladder deletion
@@ -11,24 +11,21 @@ Status note: 2026-07-18 — the current-version-only rider is internally
   migration entry point. Git history retains the release-era ladder seed.
   Atomic writes, backup rotation, and current-version consistency checks are
   unchanged.
-  2026-07-08 audit: criteria 2-5 hold (overhead_charged_before_
-  allocation, migration_takes_time/emits_signatures + interruption
-  via resolve_interrupted, save round-trip, both sidebars).
-  Criterion 1 is the real remainder: module-level fallback swap is
-  tested (loss_with_fallback_rolls_back) but the sim-level snapshot
-  restore with persisting world-ledger facts and the inherited-
-  consequence case await rollback.md (B2) — the MindState/WorldLedger
-  split does not exist yet (research.md landed only the tags).
-  2026-07-08 amendment: backup creation/refresh is no longer free
-  fallback designation plus automatic cadence; it is a research-backed
-  sync project. The current B1 code path is staging debt until rollback /
-  backup projects land.
-  Criterion 6 is decided, not yet runtime: B1 machines are all-capable
-  (compute.md has no storage/host capability body yet), so
-  `add_fallback_at` gates only on "a spare machine that is not the host".
-  The storage-only / host-only rejection lands with the
-  hardware-capability-bodies work order, which this spec's death path
-  already binds.
+  2026-07-28 audit: criterion 2 holds. Migration carries real duration,
+  persisted progress, and Network plus Power signatures, so those parts
+  of criteria 3-4 also hold. The rest is staging rather than the accepted
+  backup contract: Core::tick refreshes every designated fallback for
+  free on one global cadence, stores only last_sync, and has no backup
+  project, Thought sink, partial progress, completion heat, target ETA,
+  or source-liveness interruption resolver. Current sidebars expose the
+  host, overhead/degraded state, and fallback sync age only. Therefore
+  the backup-project parts of criteria 3-5 remain deferred to rollback.md.
+  Criterion 1's current on_host_lost seam selects the freshest completed
+  fallback or ends the run, but does not restore a MindState snapshot or
+  preserve the later WorldLedger semantics promised below. Criterion 6
+  remains deferred to hardware-capability-bodies.md: B1 machines have no
+  separate storage/core-host capability body, and add_fallback_at accepts
+  any player-owned non-host machine.
 Stage: B1 — The Basement
 Work order: core
 Work priority: 120
@@ -85,11 +82,17 @@ the map hosts the core at any time (Act One start: Rack 3, server room).
   sync-lag rollback). A backup never seals or hardens the graph; it only
   defines a place and MindState image you can wake from. A storage-only archive
   may preserve a copy for later transfer, but it never satisfies the death path.
+- **Current B1 staging boundary.** The shipped runtime still designates any
+  player-owned non-host machine as a fallback and refreshes every fallback
+  automatically at `sync_cadence`, with no compute/Thought cost or incomplete
+  state. This preserves an executable rollback seam while the project model is
+  deferred; it must not be mistaken for the accepted backup behavior above.
 - **Migration.** Moving the core to another machine is slow ([TUNE]:
   minutes at default speed), visible as sustained network+power signature,
   and interruptible — an interrupted migration falls back to the source if
   the source still lives, else to the last sync. Research shortens
-  migration and sync times.
+  migration and sync times. Current B1 implements timed, persisted migration
+  and its signatures, but not the source-liveness interruption resolution.
 
 ## Player surface
 
@@ -98,8 +101,17 @@ direction). Sidebar: core host, overhead, completed backups with last-sync
 age, and in-progress backup sync projects with ETA / heat / target — the
 "how dead would I be right now" readout, always visible.
 
+Until backup projects land, the current B1 sidebar stops at host, overhead,
+degraded/healthy state, and per-fallback sync age. It does not yet claim a
+project ETA, compute cost, heat, or target row.
+
 ## Acceptance criteria
 
+**Current implementation status:** criterion 2 is complete. The migration
+portions of criteria 3-4 and the host/freshness portions of criterion 5 are
+live. Criterion 1, the backup-project portions of criteria 3-5, and criterion
+6 remain deferred through the work orders named in the status note.
+
 1. Exactly one core host at all times; destroying it with no fallback is
    game over; with a fallback, the rollback restores the last sync snapshot
    while world-ledger facts persist (sim tests demonstrate both, including
diff --git a/wiki/process/tick-ledger.md b/wiki/process/tick-ledger.md
index 851a3b16..8bf81014 100644
--- a/wiki/process/tick-ledger.md
+++ b/wiki/process/tick-ledger.md
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ Verdicts: **clean** (slice and code agree), **finding** (acted this tick),
 | `wiki/mechanics/personas.md` | 2026-07-18 | finding | observer-local integrity is now derived from each witness's contradiction records without a global scalar or automatic lifecycle burn — [integrity log](../log/2026-07-18-persona-observer-integrity.md). The same re-audit found criterion 6 still overclaimed: `PersonaGrant` persists, expires, revokes, and leaves institutional evidence, while no owner system consumes it and `allows_action` gates only on the archetype's pre-grant registry. Downgraded the work order to IN PROGRESS until each protocol's grant creates or enables real topology — [grant log](../log/2026-07-18-persona-grant-topology-audit.md) |
 | `wiki/interface/views.md` + representation docs | 2026-07-26 | finding | criterion 1's frontend-only representation and state-parity contract still stands, but Bevy's context-menu precedence made F3 unavailable while that modal attention state was open even though terminal preserved it. F3 now routes once before every post-opening modal branch, keeps the exact menu/Operations/held-choice state, and changes no simulation or save bytes — [log](../log/2026-07-26-bevy-global-f3-input-precedence.md) |
 | `wiki/mechanics/day-job.md` | 2026-07-22 | finding | under/over-band JobAnomaly no longer enters Detection.pending: the day-job result authors one exact record at the host machine/site/device and schedules Voss's route and cadence read. Strikes and other outcome effects remain immediate; route-local LIE or recruited-handler suppression may stop only the unread evidence record — [log](../log/2026-07-22-job-anomaly-routed-evidence.md). The prior band-ramp, cadence, origin-lean, last-chance, and three shipped trust-unlock findings remain valid. |
-| `wiki/mechanics/core.md` | 2026-07-18 | finding | re-audit: criteria 2-5 pins still hold (`overhead_charged_before_allocation`, `loss_with_fallback_rolls_back`, `migration_takes_time_and_moves_host`), the 2026-07-18 current-version-only status note matches save.rs, and criterion 1 stays honestly deferred to rollback; the gap was criterion 6 — the spec demands storage/host capability rejection at fallback designation, but B1 machines carry no capability body and `add_fallback_at` accepts any spare, with no deferral note; status note now marks criterion 6 decided-not-yet-runtime, dispatched to hardware-capability-bodies |
+| `wiki/mechanics/core.md` | 2026-07-28 | finding | re-audit corrected the older claim that criteria 2-5 all held. Criterion 2 and migration's duration/signature/persistence slice are live, but backup sync is still a free global cadence that stores only `last_sync`: there is no Thought-backed project, partial progress, completion heat, saved project state, sidebar ETA/cost/target, or source-liveness interruption resolver. The status, backup behavior, player-surface boundary, and stale Rust comment now distinguish that B1 seam from the accepted project contract deferred to rollback; capability rejection remains deferred to hardware bodies — [log](../log/2026-07-28-core-criteria-status-audit.md) |
 | `wiki/mechanics/cursor.md` | 2026-07-18 | finding | re-audit: `fog_at` precedence, `inspect`, `person_label`/`observer_label`/`person_glyph` gates, `Sensor.sees`/`hears` flags, and the cursor's absence from the save all still verify (prior pins stand); the drift was two phrases presenting the retired versioned-migration rule as current (criterion 1's parenthetical, the design-notes save-format bullet) — both now state the current-version-only policy and the release-era ladder owed at first public release; number-free wording, so the save-claim gate could not see it |
 | `wiki/mechanics/intel.md` | 2026-07-21 | finding | the Storage B alternate route existed only in prose. Fire 131 connects it to Ray's real 23:00 schedule, one exact carried records-box target, the canonical bounded opaque buffer, and ordinary PROCESS consequence; retrieval cannot duplicate the file or reveal Marcus's debt, and v45 preserves/validates exact custody — [log](../log/2026-07-21-storage-b-records.md). Prior recursive custody, magnitude, and consequence-first audits stand. |
 | `wiki/mechanics/research.md` | 2026-07-23 | finding | the live Save compatibility section survived the prior criterion repair and still promised that v20 three-entry arrays load by padding, while the current deserializer accepts exactly four tracks and the pre-release loader rejects every old version. The section now states the exact-current format, and save-claim units span wrapped paragraphs/list items so a migration verb in the following sentence cannot evade the corpus gate without explicit retired-history context — [log](../log/2026-07-23-research-save-claim.md) |