Adapted from the reviewed Allocation prepare/verify/selfcheck tools. Read-only preparation consumes explicitly selected closed runs in CHECKOUT/.local/prerelease37-gates. No Cargo, source execution, checkout, GUI, network or archived helper execution occurs.

python -B prepare.py --root CHECKOUT --runs connection-focused-1 connection-format-1 --check-only

Keep failed connection-focused-1 and connection-format-1: verification preserves their recorded failures rather than converting archive consistency into test success. The example selects those two historical failures. Later closed Connection admission runs can be explicitly listed with the same interface; the final package manifest is authoritative for its exact inventory. No implicit discovery includes active directories.

To create a portable package, replace --check-only with --output NEW_DIRECTORY. Existing output refuses. The exact seven raw files are required, with only source-proof.json accepted as an optional eighth file. No raw byte normalization or receipt rewriting occurs. Maps and nested input ZIPs deduplicate by SHA-256; other logical raw files keep their names. All original helper bytes, failed-run streams and optional proof bytes remain archived. The prerelease37 Connection admission manifest kind distinguishes this evidence from Allocation and Process packages.

The gate.py and source-proof.py helper catalog is preserved. Every gate's recorded helper must match available bytes; use repeatable --helper PATH for older captures. If a proof exists, its exact comparator bytes must be available at the default .local/process-source-evidence-tools/verify.py or a repeatable --comparator PATH. They are archived under their content hash and never executed.

An optional source proof is independently pinned in the manifest with its full named commit. Verification binds it to the enclosing run, exact result receipt, captured map/count, completed gate time, status and comparator bytes/hash. Captured HEAD is preserved as historical metadata and is not substituted for the named source commit. This packager checks historical proof consistency; it does not repeat Git blob comparison. A source proof on a failed gate is source-identity evidence only, never a passing-test claim.

python -B PACKAGE/verify.py
python -B selfcheck.py --root CHECKOUT --runs connection-focused-1 connection-format-1 --output TOOLS/NEW_SELFCHECK_DIRECTORY

The verifier checks pins, exact ZIP inventory, process/start/result relationships, streams, command/exit identities, source capsules, vendor inventory and Cargo artifact relationships. Selfchecks compare packaged raw bytes to originals, reject existing output, and mutate only in-memory copies to test stream/helper/exit/capsule/proof corruption. The package contains tools, manifest, files.json and evidence.zip; selfcheck is a preparation utility, not packaged runtime input.

Limits: internal consistency is not external authentication, hermetic build proof, native usability, a new source comparison or production acceptance. Review exact run results and source identity separately. Run with python -B to avoid incidental bytecode writes.