fix(evals): absorb codex/gemini CLI drift; external-service tests go periodic-tier

- codex exec gains --skip-git-repo-check: newer CLIs refuse exec in an
  untrusted non-git dir (our temp skill dirs) — empirically verified.
- gemini: --skip-trust was removed in gemini-cli 0.34 (argv parse error);
  dropped from the session runner and the benchmark adapter. A present-
  but-unusable CLI (deprecated individual code-assist auth path) now
  classifies as SKIP, not a false adapter failure; the benchmark live
  smoke skips on auth/rate_limit error codes (environmental) while still
  failing on timeout/unknown (the drift classes it exists to catch).
- codex-e2e, gemini-e2e, and benchmark-providers gain the canonical
  whole-file EVALS_TIER === 'periodic' guard per CLAUDE.md tiering rule 3
  (external service -> periodic) — the sharded gate runner now excludes
  all three (gate: 45 -> 42 shards).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

test/codex-e2e.test.ts

@@ -37,15 +37,24 @@ const CODEX_AVAILABLE = (() => {
 
 const evalsEnabled = !!process.env.EVALS;
 
-// Skip all tests if codex is not available or EVALS is not set.
+// External-service tests are periodic-tier (CLAUDE.md tiering rule 3):
+// "Requires external service (Codex, Gemini)? -> periodic". The positive
+// form below is the canonical whole-file guard shape — the sharded runner's
+// classifyPaidTestFile greps for it to exclude this file from gate.
+const tierOk = process.env.EVALS_TIER === 'periodic';
+
+// Skip all tests if codex is not available, EVALS is not set, or we're in
+// the gate tier.
 // Note: Codex uses its own auth from ~/.codex/ config — no OPENAI_API_KEY env var needed.
-const SKIP = !CODEX_AVAILABLE || !evalsEnabled;
+const SKIP = !CODEX_AVAILABLE || !evalsEnabled || !tierOk;
 
 const describeCodex = SKIP ? describe.skip : describe;
 
 // Log why we're skipping (helpful for debugging CI)
 if (!evalsEnabled) {
   // Silent — same as Claude E2E tests, EVALS=1 required
+} else if (!tierOk) {
+  process.stderr.write('\nCodex E2E: SKIPPED — external-service test, periodic tier only (EVALS_TIER === \'periodic\')\n');
 } else if (!CODEX_AVAILABLE) {
   process.stderr.write('\nCodex E2E: SKIPPED — codex binary not found (install: npm i -g @openai/codex)\n');
 }

test/gemini-e2e.test.ts

@@ -33,18 +33,42 @@ const GEMINI_AVAILABLE = (() => {
   } catch { return false; }
 })();
 
+// A binary on PATH is not enough: the CLI can be present but UNUSABLE — the
+// individual code-assist auth path was deprecated upstream ("migrate to the
+// Antigravity suite"), which fails every run before any model call, and flag
+// churn (--skip-trust removed in 0.34) errors at argv parse. Probe with a
+// bare --help: a CLI that can't even print usage is unusable, and a working
+// one is cheap to confirm. Deeper auth failures are classified per-run.
+const GEMINI_USABLE = GEMINI_AVAILABLE && (() => {
+  try {
+    const result = Bun.spawnSync(['gemini', '--help'], { timeout: 15_000 });
+    return result.exitCode === 0;
+  } catch { return false; }
+})();
+
 const evalsEnabled = !!process.env.EVALS;
 
-// Skip all tests if gemini is not available or EVALS is not set.
-const SKIP = !GEMINI_AVAILABLE || !evalsEnabled;
+// External-service tests are periodic-tier (CLAUDE.md tiering rule 3):
+// "Requires external service (Codex, Gemini)? -> periodic". The positive
+// form below is the canonical whole-file guard shape — the sharded runner's
+// classifyPaidTestFile greps for it to exclude this file from gate.
+const tierOk = process.env.EVALS_TIER === 'periodic';
+
+// Skip all tests if gemini is not available/usable, EVALS is not set, or
+// we're in the gate tier.
+const SKIP = !GEMINI_USABLE || !evalsEnabled || !tierOk;
 
 const describeGemini = SKIP ? describe.skip : describe;
 
 // Log why we're skipping (helpful for debugging CI)
 if (!evalsEnabled) {
   // Silent — same as Claude E2E tests, EVALS=1 required
+} else if (!tierOk) {
+  process.stderr.write('\nGemini E2E: SKIPPED — external-service test, periodic tier only (EVALS_TIER === \'periodic\')\n');
 } else if (!GEMINI_AVAILABLE) {
   process.stderr.write('\nGemini E2E: SKIPPED — gemini binary not found (install: npm i -g @google/gemini-cli)\n');
+} else if (!GEMINI_USABLE) {
+  process.stderr.write('\nGemini E2E: SKIPPED — gemini CLI present but unusable (auth path deprecated upstream or CLI broken; try updating @google/gemini-cli)\n');
 }
 
 // --- Diff-based test selection ---

test/helpers/codex-session-runner.ts

@@ -199,8 +199,12 @@ export async function runCodexSkill(opts: {
       }
     }
 
-    // Build codex exec command
-    const args = ['exec', prompt, '--json', '-s', sandbox];
+    // Build codex exec command.
+    // --skip-git-repo-check: newer codex CLIs refuse exec in an untrusted
+    // non-git directory ("Not inside a trusted directory and
+    // --skip-git-repo-check was not specified") — our temp skill dirs are
+    // exactly that. Empirically verified against codex on this machine.
+    const args = ['exec', prompt, '--json', '-s', sandbox, '--skip-git-repo-check'];
 
     // Spawn codex with temp HOME so it discovers our installed skill.
     // Hermetic scrub (test/helpers/hermetic-env.ts) with codex's auth surface

test/helpers/gemini-session-runner.ts

@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
  * Key differences from Codex session-runner:
  * - Uses `gemini -p` instead of `codex exec`
  * - Output is NDJSON with event types: init, message, tool_use, tool_result, result
- * - Uses `--output-format stream-json --yolo --skip-trust` instead of `--json -s read-only`
- *   (`--skip-trust` required for headless/untrusted cwds; see gemini trusted-folders docs)
+ * - Uses `--output-format stream-json --yolo` instead of `--json -s read-only`
+ *   (`--skip-trust` was removed in gemini-cli 0.34; folder trust is settings-driven now)
  * - No temp HOME needed — Gemini discovers skills from `.agents/skills/` in cwd
  * - Message events are streamed with `delta: true` — must concatenate
  */
@@ -121,10 +121,11 @@ export async function runGeminiSkill(opts: {
     };
   }
 
-  // Build gemini command
-  // --skip-trust: headless/CI and temp cwds aren't in ~/.gemini/trustedFolders.json;
-  // without it gemini exits FatalUntrustedWorkspaceError before any model call.
-  const args = ['-p', prompt, '--output-format', 'stream-json', '--yolo', '--skip-trust'];
+  // Build gemini command.
+  // --skip-trust was REMOVED in gemini-cli 0.34 ("Unknown arguments:
+  // skip-trust"); folder trust moved to settings and no longer needs a flag
+  // for headless runs. --yolo still auto-approves tool actions.
+  const args = ['-p', prompt, '--output-format', 'stream-json', '--yolo'];
 
   // Spawn gemini — uses real HOME for auth (~/.gemini; HOME is allowlisted),
   // cwd for skill discovery. Hermetic scrub with gemini's auth surface
@@ -198,6 +199,31 @@ export async function runGeminiSkill(opts: {
     process.stderr.write(`  [gemini stderr] ${stderr.trim().slice(0, 200)}\n`);
   }
 
+  // Environment-unusable classification: these are Google-side conditions no
+  // test assertion can act on — the deprecated individual code-assist auth
+  // path ("migrate to the Antigravity suite") and argv drift on older/newer
+  // CLIs. Return the same SKIP shape as binary-not-found so callers report
+  // SKIPPED instead of a false FAIL.
+  const unusableMarkers = [
+    'no longer supported for Gemini Code Assist',
+    'antigravity',
+    'Unknown arguments: skip-trust',
+  ];
+  if (exitCode !== 0 && parsed.tokens === 0) {
+    const marker = unusableMarkers.find((m) => stderr.toLowerCase().includes(m.toLowerCase()));
+    if (marker) {
+      return {
+        output: `SKIP: gemini CLI unusable (${marker})`,
+        toolCalls: [],
+        tokens: 0,
+        exitCode: -1,
+        durationMs,
+        sessionId: null,
+        rawLines: collectedLines,
+      };
+    }
+  }
+
   return {
     output: parsed.output,
     toolCalls: parsed.toolCalls,

test/helpers/providers/gemini.ts

@@ -103,10 +103,10 @@ export function resultFromGeminiStream(
  * Headless flags always passed:
  *   --output-format stream-json  — NDJSON events (message/tool_use/result)
  *   --yolo                       — auto-approve tools (non-interactive)
- *   --skip-trust                 — trust cwd for this session; required when
- *                                  workdir is a temp/untrusted folder (benchmarks
- *                                  use mkdtemp). Without it headless gemini exits
- *                                  before calling the model.
+ *
+ * --skip-trust is gone: gemini-cli 0.34 removed the flag ("Unknown arguments:
+ * skip-trust") — folder trust is settings-driven now and headless runs no
+ * longer need a flag for temp workdirs.
  */
 export class GeminiAdapter implements ProviderAdapter {
   readonly name = 'gemini';
@@ -136,10 +136,9 @@ export class GeminiAdapter implements ProviderAdapter {
   async run(opts: RunOpts): Promise<RunResult> {
     const start = Date.now();
     // Default to --yolo (non-interactive) and stream-json output so we can parse
-    // tokens + tool calls. --skip-trust is required for headless/temp workdirs
-    // (gemini CLI otherwise exits: "not running in a trusted directory").
-    // Callers can override via extraArgs.
-    const args = ['-p', opts.prompt, '--output-format', 'stream-json', '--yolo', '--skip-trust'];
+    // tokens + tool calls. Callers can override via extraArgs. (--skip-trust was
+    // removed in gemini-cli 0.34; passing it errors at argv parse.)
+    const args = ['-p', opts.prompt, '--output-format', 'stream-json', '--yolo'];
     if (opts.model) args.push('--model', opts.model);
     if (opts.extraArgs) args.push(...opts.extraArgs);
 

test/skill-e2e-benchmark-providers.test.ts

@@ -30,7 +30,15 @@ import * as os from 'os';
 // --- Prerequisites / gating ---
 
 const evalsEnabled = !!process.env.EVALS;
-const describeIfEvals = evalsEnabled ? describe : describe.skip;
+// External-service tests are periodic-tier (CLAUDE.md tiering rule 3) —
+// the header above says so, but without a whole-file guard the sharded gate
+// runner still selects this file into gate. The positive form below is the
+// canonical guard shape classifyPaidTestFile greps for.
+const tierOk = process.env.EVALS_TIER === 'periodic';
+const describeIfEvals = evalsEnabled && tierOk ? describe : describe.skip;
+if (evalsEnabled && !tierOk) {
+  process.stderr.write('\nbenchmark-providers: SKIPPED — external-service test, periodic tier only\n');
+}
 
 const PROMPT = 'Reply with exactly this text and nothing else: ok';
 
@@ -127,6 +135,15 @@ describeIfEvals('multi-provider benchmark adapters (live)', () => {
     }
     const result = await gemini.run({ prompt: PROMPT, workdir, timeoutMs: 120_000 });
     if (result.error) {
+      // auth / rate_limit are ENVIRONMENT conditions the test can't act on
+      // (e.g. Google deprecated the individual code-assist auth path — the
+      // adapter classifies "no longer supported" as auth). A live smoke
+      // reports them as a skip, not a false adapter failure. timeout/unknown
+      // still fail: those are the drift classes this test exists to catch.
+      if (result.error.code === 'auth' || result.error.code === 'rate_limit') {
+        process.stderr.write(`\ngemini live smoke: SKIPPED — ${result.error.code}: ${result.error.reason.slice(0, 160)}\n`);
+        return;
+      }
       throw new Error(`gemini errored: ${result.error.code} — ${result.error.reason}`);
     }
     // Adapter must never report empty-success (#2159). After content/stats