Function record_covers 

pub fn record_covers(
    root: &Path,
    head: &str,
    record_sha: &str,
    gate: &GateCoverage,
) -> bool

2026-09-26: Whether a record measured at record_sha still stands for head on the path boundary alone: true when git diff between the two commits touches no path that invalidates gate, false when it does or git cannot diff them. Ancestry is not required, and the closure hash is not consulted (see record_standing).