diff --git a/docker/gateguard-effectiveness/lib.js b/docker/gateguard-effectiveness/lib.js
index b166741f3..a533d1a59 100644
--- a/docker/gateguard-effectiveness/lib.js
+++ b/docker/gateguard-effectiveness/lib.js
@@ -305,7 +305,11 @@ function runTrial(trial, { workRoot, armSettingsByName, executable, model, maxTu
     exitStatus: run.status,
     timedOut: Boolean(run.error && run.error.code === 'ETIMEDOUT'),
     providerError: !stream.result || stream.result.is_error === true,
-    providerMessage: stream.result && stream.result.is_error === true ? String(stream.result.result || '').slice(0, 200) : null,
+    providerMessage: stream.result && stream.result.is_error === true
+      ? String(stream.result.result || '').slice(0, 200)
+      : !stream.result
+        ? String(stream.texts[stream.texts.length - 1] || '').slice(0, 200) || null
+        : null,
     wallMs: Date.now() - started,
     passed: outcome.passed,
     score: outcome.score,
diff --git a/tests/docker/gateguard-effectiveness.test.js b/tests/docker/gateguard-effectiveness.test.js
index 68a5834af..dca3a5216 100644
--- a/tests/docker/gateguard-effectiveness.test.js
+++ b/tests/docker/gateguard-effectiveness.test.js
@@ -339,14 +339,16 @@ test('pilot summaries count valid trials only and report provider errors apart',
 });
 
 /** The pilot runner driven end to end with fake-claude.js as the provider. */
-function syntheticPilotRunner(root, scenario, arms) {
+function syntheticPilotRunner(root, scenario, arms, streamEvents = null) {
   const out = path.join(root, 'out');
   const preload = path.join(root, 'preload.js');
   fs.writeFileSync(preload, `
     const cp = require('child_process');
     const originalSpawn = cp.spawnSync;
     cp.spawnSync = (file, args, options) => file === 'ecc-fake-claude'
-      ? originalSpawn(process.execPath, [${JSON.stringify(path.join(DIR, 'fake-claude.js'))}, ...args], options)
+      ? ${streamEvents === null
+        ? `originalSpawn(process.execPath, [${JSON.stringify(path.join(DIR, 'fake-claude.js'))}, ...args], options)`
+        : JSON.stringify({ status: 0, stdout: streamEvents.map(event => JSON.stringify(event)).join('\n') + '\n', stderr: '' })}
       : originalSpawn(file, args, options);
   `);
   const args = ['--require', preload, path.join(DIR, 'run.js'), '--out', out, '--model', 'fake', '--claude', 'ecc-fake-claude', '--allow-real-provider', '--arms', arms, '--reps', '1', '--scenarios', scenario.id];
@@ -383,6 +385,57 @@ if (gitAvailable()) {
     } finally { fs.rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true }); }
   });
 
+  test('assistant-only authentication failures retain transcripts and abort before pilot rows', () => {
+    for (const text of ['Not logged in - Please run /login', 'Authentication failed: OAuth token expired']) {
+      const root = tempDir('gg-eff-auth-');
+      try {
+        const scenario = scenarios.find(item => item.id === 'importers-date-shape');
+        const events = [{ type: 'assistant', message: { content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'Preparing' }, { type: 'text', text }] } }];
+        const { out, run, results } = syntheticPilotRunner(root, scenario, 'off', events);
+        const auth = run({});
+        assert.strictEqual(auth.status, 2, auth.stderr);
+        assert.match(auth.stderr, /not signed in/);
+        assert.deepStrictEqual(results(), [], 'authentication is not recorded as a completed or failed trial row');
+        const files = fs.readdirSync(path.join(out, 'transcripts'));
+        assert.strictEqual(files.length, 1);
+        const retained = fs.readFileSync(path.join(out, 'transcripts', files[0]), 'utf8');
+        assert.ok(retained.includes(text));
+        assert.ok(!fs.existsSync(path.join(out, '.run.lock')));
+        const resumed = syntheticPilotRunner(root, scenario, 'off').run({});
+        assert.strictEqual(resumed.status, 0, resumed.stderr);
+        assert.strictEqual(results().length, 1);
+        assert.strictEqual(results()[0].providerError, false);
+        assert.strictEqual(fs.readdirSync(path.join(out, 'transcripts')).length, 2);
+        assert.strictEqual(fs.readFileSync(path.join(out, 'transcripts', files[0]), 'utf8'), retained);
+      } finally { fs.rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true }); }
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('missing-result messages preserve ordinary failures, empty text and result mapping', () => {
+    const root = tempDir('gg-eff-messages-');
+    try {
+      const scenario = scenarios.find(item => item.id === 'importers-date-shape');
+      const text = value => ({ type: 'assistant', message: { content: [{ type: 'text', text: value }] } });
+      const cases = [
+        [[text('Provider connection closed')], true, 'Provider connection closed'],
+        [[text('old'), text('')], true, null],
+        [[], true, null],
+        [[text('x'.repeat(250))], true, 'x'.repeat(200)],
+        [[text('Not logged in'), { type: 'result', is_error: false, result: 'Done' }], false, null],
+        [[text('Ignored'), { type: 'result', is_error: true, result: 'Result error' }], true, 'Result error']
+      ];
+      for (const [events, error, message] of cases) {
+        const row = lib.runTrial({ key: 'mapping/off/1', scenario, arm: 'off', rep: 1 }, {
+          workRoot: root, armSettingsByName: { off: arms.armSettings(null) }, executable: 'controlled',
+          model: 'fake', maxTurns: 1, timeoutMs: 1000,
+          execute: () => ({ status: 0, stdout: events.map(event => JSON.stringify(event)).join('\n'), stderr: '' })
+        });
+        assert.strictEqual(row.providerError, error);
+        assert.strictEqual(row.providerMessage, message);
+      }
+    } finally { fs.rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true }); }
+  });
+
   test('the pilot runner stops before recording a gated trial whose hook never ran', () => {
     const root = tempDir('gg-eff-hookless-');
     try {
diff --git a/tests/lib/state-store-concurrency.test.js b/tests/lib/state-store-concurrency.test.js
index 79d137b64..de246ef9b 100644
--- a/tests/lib/state-store-concurrency.test.js
+++ b/tests/lib/state-store-concurrency.test.js
@@ -127,12 +127,17 @@ async function run() {
     await withWorkers(3, async workers => {
       // IPC acknowledgements form a barrier: every handle exists before any write.
       await Promise.all(workers.map(worker => worker.request('open', { dbPath })));
-      await Promise.all(workers.map((worker, index) => worker.request('write', { worker: `worker-${index}`, count: 4 })));
+      // One operation per request retains contention without assuming lock fairness
+      // for greedy batches beyond the documented five-second acquisition budget.
+      for (let round = 0; round < 4; round += 1) {
+        await Promise.all(workers.map((worker, index) =>
+          worker.request('write', { worker: `worker-${index}-${round}`, count: 1 })));
+      }
       await Promise.all(workers.map(worker => worker.request('close')));
     });
     const actual = (await readItems(dbPath)).map(item => item.id).sort();
     const expected = Array.from({ length: 3 }, (_, worker) =>
-      Array.from({ length: 4 }, (_, item) => `worker-${worker}-${item}`)).flat().sort();
+      Array.from({ length: 4 }, (_, item) => `worker-${worker}-${item}-0`)).flat().sort();
     assert.deepStrictEqual(actual, expected, 'Every acknowledged task must survive all worker exits');
   });
 
diff --git a/tests/test_agent_self_evaluation.py b/tests/test_agent_self_evaluation.py
index 9e245ac34..894d71213 100644
--- a/tests/test_agent_self_evaluation.py
+++ b/tests/test_agent_self_evaluation.py
@@ -122,11 +122,11 @@ def test_task_read_does_not_hide_other_file_errors(evaluator: ModuleType, monkey
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(params=[SCRIPT, PI_SCRIPT], ids=["canonical", "pi"])
-def evaluator(request: pytest.FixtureRequest) -> ModuleType:
+def evaluator(request: pytest.FixtureRequest, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> ModuleType:
     spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("task_input_evaluator", request.param)
     assert spec is not None and spec.loader is not None
     module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
-    sys.modules[spec.name] = module
+    monkeypatch.setitem(sys.modules, spec.name, module)
     spec.loader.exec_module(module)
     return module