# β closeout — cycle/424

**Issue:** [cnos#424](https://github.com/usurobor/cnos/issues/424) — Add foundational design essay `CELL-OF-CELLS.md`.

**Mode:** docs-only; γ+α+β-collapsed-on-δ.

## Verdict: APPROVED at R1

Single review round. All 5 findings (B1–B5) dispose as PASS per `beta-review.md`. No binding finding required round-2; no degraded boundary; no override block populated.

## Findings recap

| # | Finding | Severity | Disposition |
|---|---------|----------|-------------|
| B1 | Verbatim preservation of operator seed | binding | PASS |
| B2 | Section-heading mechanical AC discipline | binding | PASS (caught at self-coherence) |
| B3 | Reading Order placement defended | non-binding | PASS |
| B4 | No protocol prescription, no #405 dispatch | binding | PASS |
| B5 | No edits to existing essays | binding | PASS |

3 binding-PASS + 1 binding-PASS-at-self-coherence + 1 non-binding-PASS. All findings PASS at the structural level the validator can mechanically check; semantic adequacy (does the essay communicate the cell-of-cells thesis well?) is the β-judgment that closes the round.

## Independence posture

This cycle ran as `γ+α+β-collapsed-on-δ`: β is the same actor as α and γ. Per `COHERENCE-CELL.md §β Independence as Contagion Firebreak`, this collapse compromises the structural-independence guarantee. The receipt is closed-as-degraded at the structural-independence axis.

The justification for the collapse:

- This is a docs-only design essay with mechanical AC oracles (line counts, section presence, grep patterns).
- The substantive content is the operator's seed; α's role is essay-polish, not theory-authoring; β's role is verbatim-discipline verification, which the mechanical ACs cover.
- The cycle-414 precedent (DECREASING-INCOHERENCE.md) ran with the same collapse and the same justification; cycle-424 inherits that precedent.
- The dispatch brief explicitly authorizes this mode ("Collapse pattern: β-α-collapse-on-δ").

The collapse is named here rather than papered over. A future cycle that operationalizes V as the cell-wall validator may re-run this essay through an independent β-actor for structural-independence confirmation; until then, the receipt carries the collapse as a known disposition.

## Reviewed artifacts

- `docs/gamma/essays/CELL-OF-CELLS.md` (commit `901ffb74`) — full read of 657-line essay against operator seed + 10 ACs.
- `docs/gamma/essays/README.md` (commit `901ffb74`) — 2-line edit verified against AC6.
- `.cdd/unreleased/424/gamma-scaffold.md` — surface + contract + commit-shape declaration.
- `.cdd/unreleased/424/self-coherence.md` — α's 10-AC verification.

## Handoff

R1 APPROVED. γ to file role closeouts, cdd-iteration courtesy stub, INDEX.md row, then push branch.

Filed by β@cnos (γ+α+β-collapsed-on-δ) on 2026-05-23.
