Fall back to source facts when factual review fails

README.md

@@ -235,7 +235,8 @@ missing historical endpoint. Snapshot times can differ from the requested window
 marked approximate/incomplete rather than asserted as exact daily totals. GitHub title enrichment
 preserves event-time status; a later merge cannot turn an earlier close into a merge event.
 
-The owner still reviews every draft. The local LLM fact-check is best effort: if it fails, the draft
-is retained and the failure is logged. GitHub feeds/search and Discord gateway observations are
+The owner still reviews every draft. If the enabled local LLM fact-check fails, the generated prose is replaced with a
+source-based activity list and the approval message explains that the factual review failed.
+Supporter-update creation stops when its factual review fails; retry after the model is available. GitHub feeds/search and Discord gateway observations are
 bounded sources, not a complete audit of all work. This does not establish inactivity outside the
 recorded evidence. No new environment settings are required for these measurement rules.

src/Newsletter/Writer.php

@@ -99,13 +99,20 @@ public function write(Window $window, array $reports, array $previous = []): Pro
             ->then(function () use ($window, $reports, &$notes, $previous): PromiseInterface {
                 return $this->compose($window, $reports, $notes, $previous);
             })
-            ->then(function (array $composed) use (&$notes, $previous, $reports): PromiseInterface {
+            ->then(function (array $composed) use (&$notes, $previous, $reports, $window): PromiseInterface {
                 if ($composed['fallback'] !== null || ! $this->factCheck || $notes === []) {
                     return resolve($composed);
                 }
 
                 return $this->review($composed['draft'], $notes, $previous, $reports)
-                    ->then(static fn(Draft $draft): array => ['draft' => $draft, 'fallback' => null]);
+                    ->then(
+                        static fn(Draft $draft): array => ['draft' => $draft, 'fallback' => null],
+                        function (\Throwable $error) use ($window, $reports, &$notes): array {
+                            $this->logger->warning('Fact-check failed; using the source-based fallback: ' . $error->getMessage());
+                            return ['draft' => self::fallback($window, $reports, $notes, $this->author),
+                                'fallback' => 'The factual review could not be completed. This draft uses the recorded source facts instead.'];
+                        },
+                    );
             })
             ->then(function (array $composed) use (&$notes): array {
                 return ['draft' => $composed['draft'], 'notes' => $notes, 'fallback' => $composed['fallback']];
@@ -203,7 +210,7 @@ function (\Throwable $e) use ($window, $reports, $notes): array {
     /**
      * Fact-checks $draft against original reports (saved notes for legacy editions)
      * and returns a corrected draft. Any
-     * failure keeps the original: a missed check is better than a lost draft.
+     * failure rejects; callers must explicitly choose a source-based fallback or retry.
      *
      * @param array<string, string>      $notes
      * @param list<array<string, mixed>> $previous Published editions, newest first.
@@ -239,11 +246,7 @@ public function review(Draft $draft, array $notes, array $previous = [], array $
                 author's voice; do not pad the corrected draft to its original length or publish raw error diagnostics.
                 Reply with ONLY the corrected newsletter, in exactly the same Markdown format.
                 PROMPT],
-        ], 0.1, false)->then(null, function (\Throwable $e) use ($draft): Draft {
-            $this->logger->warning("Fact-check pass failed, keeping the draft: {$e->getMessage()}");
-
-            return $draft;
-        });
+        ], 0.1, false);
     }
 
     /**

tests/WriterTest.php

@@ -81,11 +81,25 @@ public function testQuietDayNeedsNoModel(): void
         $this->assertSame([], $this->prompts);
     }
 
-    public function testFactCheckFailureKeepsTheDraft(): void
+    public function testFactCheckFailureFallsBackToOriginalSourcesAndWarnsTheOwner(): void
     {
-        $writer = new Writer($this->fakeLlm(['notes', self::DRAFT, 'garbage']), 'Valithor');
+        $invented = '{"headline":"Released version 99","intro":"I released version 99 with every API supported.","sections":[],"signoff":""}';
+        foreach (['garbage', new \RuntimeException('private transport diagnostic')] as $failure) {
+            $writer = new Writer($this->fakeLlm(['Invented notes', $invented, $failure]), 'Valithor');
+            $written = self::settle($writer->write($this->window(), $this->reports()));
+            $text = $written['draft']->toMarkdown();
+            self::assertStringNotContainsString('version 99', $text);
+            self::assertStringContainsString('merged pull request #1400', $text);
+            self::assertStringContainsString('factual review could not be completed', $written['fallback']);
+            self::assertStringNotContainsString('private transport diagnostic', $written['fallback']);
+        }
+    }
 
-        $this->assertSame('Polls land in DiscordPHP', self::settle($writer->write($this->window(), $this->reports()))['draft']->headline);
+    public function testSupporterReviewFailureRejectsInsteadOfReturningUncheckedContent(): void
+    {
+        $writer = new Writer($this->fakeLlm([self::DRAFT, new \RuntimeException('Review unavailable')]), 'Valithor');
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage('Review unavailable');
+        self::settle($writer->supporterUpdate(Draft::fromLlmJson(self::DRAFT)));
     }
 
     public function testReviseSendsTheInstructionsAndCurrentDraft(): void