Merging --admin with red discrimination (merge-gates §4). 5/6 failing tests are the compression/i18n-vi/kiro/memory mini-cluster fixed by #11306 (this branch predates it). The 6th (token-health-check-kimi, 'jittered expiration window') is a timing-sensitive test — reproduces GREEN locally, name itself indicates randomized jitter, not a deterministic regression from this PR's reasoning-effort clamp change (zero file overlap). ESLint warnings + dast-smoke (advisory, isRequired:null) also inherited.
Validated on the combined 12-PR batch board (worktree off origin/release/v3.8.50 @ 8f390eff): focused node:test suites 183/184 (the single red was a load-induced pollUntil flake — 11/11 when re-run isolated, this file included), typecheck:core clean, file-size/changelog/complexity/cognitive gates all within baseline, mutation-coverage gate no-drift. Learned effort sets now cost at most one 400 per provider+model. Thank you @maxmad64bis!
Validated on the combined batch board over release/v3.8.50 tip d91238b7: static gates clean, typecheck:core clean, focused tests green.
Learned reasoning_effort caps mirror the merged learnedThinkingCaps mechanism: parse the upstream 4xx enum, clamp, retry once, consult proactively — covers custom openai-compatible connections the static registry can't. 22 new test cases + full regression list green. Fixes#11111. Thank you @maxmad64bis!
