fix(agent99): skip deferred preflight evidence

scripts/reboot-recovery/agent99-live-preflight.ps1

@@ -169,9 +169,38 @@ function Get-EvidenceReadback {
   )
 
   $evidenceDir = Join-Path $AgentRoot "evidence"
-  $file = Get-ChildItem -Path $evidenceDir -Filter $Pattern -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
-    Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending |
-    Select-Object -First 1
+  $candidates = @(Get-ChildItem -Path $evidenceDir -Filter $Pattern -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
+    Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending)
+  $deferredCandidates = @()
+  $file = $null
+  foreach ($candidate in $candidates) {
+    $candidateDeferred = $false
+    try {
+      $candidateEvidence = Get-Content -LiteralPath $candidate.FullName -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json
+      $candidateSchemaVersion = if ($candidateEvidence.PSObject.Properties["schemaVersion"]) {
+        [string]$candidateEvidence.schemaVersion
+      } else {
+        ""
+      }
+      $candidateDeferred = [bool](
+        ($candidateEvidence.PSObject.Properties["deferred"] -and [bool]$candidateEvidence.deferred) -or
+        $candidateSchemaVersion -in @(
+          "agent99_background_mode_deferred_v1",
+          "agent99_recovery_transport_deferred_v1"
+        )
+      )
+    } catch {
+      # A malformed newest non-deferred candidate must remain visible and fail closed.
+      $file = $candidate
+      break
+    }
+    if ($candidateDeferred) {
+      $deferredCandidates += $candidate
+      continue
+    }
+    $file = $candidate
+    break
+  }
   $ageMinutes = if ($file) { [math]::Round(((Get-Date) - $file.LastWriteTime).TotalMinutes, 1) } else { $null }
   $fresh = [bool]($file -and $ageMinutes -le $MaxAgeMinutes)
   $safeSummary = $null
@@ -331,6 +360,8 @@ function Get-EvidenceReadback {
     usable = $usable
     healthy = [bool](-not $Required -or $usable)
     parseError = $parseError
+    deferredCandidateCount = [int]$deferredCandidates.Count
+    latestDeferredTime = if ($deferredCandidates.Count -gt 0) { $deferredCandidates[0].LastWriteTime.ToString("o") } else { "" }
     safeSummary = $safeSummary
   }
 }

scripts/reboot-recovery/tests/test_agent99_live_preflight_decision.py

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
+import os
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 from copy import deepcopy
@@ -21,6 +22,13 @@ def _function_source() -> str:
     return source[start:end]
 
 
+def _evidence_function_source() -> str:
+    source = PREFLIGHT.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    start = source.index("function Get-EvidenceReadback")
+    end = source.index("$requiredTasks = @(", start)
+    return source[start:end]
+
+
 def _base_case() -> dict[str, Any]:
     return {
         "agentRootPresent": True,
@@ -127,6 +135,92 @@ def test_warning_receipt_is_visible_without_weakening_integrity_blockers() -> No
     )
     assert 'if ($result.summary.deploymentEligible)' in source
     assert 'if ($selfHealthSeverity -ne "ok")' not in source
+    assert '"agent99_background_mode_deferred_v1"' in source
+    assert '"agent99_recovery_transport_deferred_v1"' in source
+    assert "deferredCandidateCount = [int]$deferredCandidates.Count" in source
+
+
+def test_evidence_selection_skips_deferred_but_not_malformed_candidates(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+) -> None:
+    powershell = shutil.which("pwsh") or shutil.which("powershell")
+    if powershell is None:
+        pytest.skip("PowerShell runtime is not installed on this macOS verifier")
+
+    evidence = tmp_path / "evidence"
+    evidence.mkdir()
+    canonical = evidence / "agent99-SelfCheck-20260715-200000.json"
+    deferred = evidence / "agent99-SelfCheck-20260715-200500.json"
+    canonical.write_text(
+        json.dumps(
+            {
+                "mode": "SelfCheck",
+                "selfHealth": {
+                    "severity": "warning",
+                    "latestPerformance": {"severity": "ok", "hosts": []},
+                },
+            }
+        ),
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    deferred.write_text(
+        json.dumps(
+            {
+                "schemaVersion": "agent99_background_mode_deferred_v1",
+                "mode": "SelfCheck",
+                "deferred": True,
+            }
+        ),
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    now = canonical.stat().st_mtime
+    os.utime(canonical, (now - 10, now - 10))
+    os.utime(deferred, (now, now))
+
+    agent_root = str(tmp_path).replace("'", "''")
+    command = f"""
+{_evidence_function_source()}
+$AgentRoot = '{agent_root}'
+Get-EvidenceReadback 'self_check' 'agent99-SelfCheck-*.json' 20 $true |
+  ConvertTo-Json -Depth 8 -Compress
+"""
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [powershell, "-NoProfile", "-NonInteractive", "-Command", command],
+        check=False,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stdout + result.stderr
+    payload = json.loads(
+        next(line for line in reversed(result.stdout.splitlines()) if line.startswith("{"))
+    )
+    assert payload["file"] == canonical.name
+    assert payload["deferredCandidateCount"] == 1
+    assert payload["parsed"] is True
+    assert payload["safeSummary"]["selfHealthSeverity"] == "warning"
+
+    malformed = evidence / "agent99-SelfCheck-20260715-201000.json"
+    malformed.write_text("{not-json", encoding="utf-8")
+    os.utime(malformed, (now + 10, now + 10))
+    malformed_result = subprocess.run(
+        [powershell, "-NoProfile", "-NonInteractive", "-Command", command],
+        check=False,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+    )
+    assert malformed_result.returncode == 0, (
+        malformed_result.stdout + malformed_result.stderr
+    )
+    malformed_payload = json.loads(
+        next(
+            line
+            for line in reversed(malformed_result.stdout.splitlines())
+            if line.startswith("{")
+        )
+    )
+    assert malformed_payload["file"] == malformed.name
+    assert malformed_payload["parsed"] is False
+    assert malformed_payload["healthy"] is False
 
 
 def test_decision_behavior_when_powershell_is_available() -> None: