RUL-010 — Never skip infra verification, including nested runs

Ruling

"you cannot skip anything." (verbatim, mid-turn, 2026-07-21). No pytest invocation — including a nested child subprocess run — may disable the infra preflight/verification (e.g. PYTEST_SKIP_SERVICE_START=1), and the kernel specifically must be started AND gRPC-verified every suite run.

Evidence

• Project memory feedback-never-skip-infra-verification: reverted a PYTEST_SKIP_SERVICE_START=1 addition to nested child runs in test_session_meta.py/test_session_coverage_gates.py the same turn it was flagged; measurement showed the skip saved ~0s when services were warm anyway.
• Project memory project-kernel-is-required: the Agent Runtime kernel (runtime_main, gRPC 50053) must be STARTED + VERIFIED every suite run; start_test_services.py previously marked it required=False, silently skipping it — a false-green class.

Enforcement

• gate scripts/start_test_services.py non-authoritative

Verification

scripts/start_test_services.py's SERVICES table marks redis, neo4j, gateway, AND kernel required=True (all four); its in-source comment states the only sanctioned opt-out is explicit --skip kernel, which "marks the run non-authoritative" — i.e. no silent skip is possible, only a loud, named, non-authoritative one.