diff --git a/tidal-server/src/cluster/node.rs b/tidal-server/src/cluster/node.rs
index b0fa737..a991209 100644
--- a/tidal-server/src/cluster/node.rs
+++ b/tidal-server/src/cluster/node.rs
@@ -3425,20 +3425,32 @@ impl ShardReplica {
             .unwrap_or(0)
     }
 
-    fn note_lag_for_readiness(&self, lag_events: u64) {
-        if (self.install_boot || self.seed_joiner)
-            && !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire)
-            && lag_events <= self.learner_promote_lag
-        {
+    /// Record convergence progress for the sticky readiness latch (§4).
+    ///
+    /// `leader_seqno` is this node's KNOWLEDGE of the followed leader's frontier.
+    /// It is required and must be non-zero: `lag_events` is
+    /// `leader_seqno - applied`, an unsigned subtraction, so a node that has
+    /// learned nothing computes `0 - 0 = 0` and would latch "converged" while
+    /// holding no data at all. That is not hypothetical — in the multi-group
+    /// reproduction all three groups reported `lag_events: 0` with
+    /// `applied_events` of 24, 14 and 0 against 5600 written items, and in
+    /// production a PVC-wiped tidaldb-0 entered the client VIP with an EMPTY
+    /// corpus. Convergence must rest on a frontier we actually learned.
+    fn note_lag_for_readiness(&self, leader_seqno: u64, lag_events: u64) {
+        if leader_seqno == 0 {
+            return; // no information yet — absence of lag is not convergence
+        }
+        if !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire) && lag_events <= self.learner_promote_lag {
             self.converged.store(true, Ordering::Release);
             tracing::info!(
                 region = %self.region_name,
+                leader_seqno,
                 lag_events,
                 threshold = self.learner_promote_lag,
                 seed_joiner = self.seed_joiner,
                 install_boot = self.install_boot,
-                "joiner first-converged (lag <= learner_promote_lag); readiness is now \
-                 sticky-ready for this process (§4 hysteresis)"
+                "first-converged against a KNOWN leader frontier (lag <= learner_promote_lag); \
+                 readiness is now sticky-ready for this process (§4 hysteresis)"
             );
         }
     }
@@ -3506,8 +3518,14 @@ impl ShardReplica {
         {
             self.transport.notify_applied(leader_shard, applied);
         }
-        if (self.install_boot || self.seed_joiner) && !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire) {
-            self.note_lag_for_readiness(leader_last_seq.saturating_sub(applied));
+        // Drive the convergence latch for EVERY boot, not just install/seed-join.
+        // A plain restarted voter used to skip this entirely and be Ready on
+        // arrival, so it joined the client VIP before it knew whether it held the
+        // data — which is how a PVC-wiped tidaldb-0 served an EMPTY corpus. The
+        // heartbeat carries the leader's live frontier, so it is the signal that
+        // makes convergence knowable on an idle cluster too (m12p5).
+        if !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire) {
+            self.note_lag_for_readiness(leader_last_seq, leader_last_seq.saturating_sub(applied));
         }
         // NO reseed-marker discharge on the heartbeat path. This is where both
         // unsound predicates lived (`applied >= leader_last_seq`, then `applied >=
@@ -3547,19 +3565,52 @@ impl ShardReplica {
         if self.decommissioned_by_signal.load(Ordering::Acquire) {
             return false;
         }
-        if (self.install_boot || self.seed_joiner) && !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire) {
-            return false;
-        }
         // m12 reseed-loop-fix (readiness gating): an unhealed reseed marker
         // (snapshot-required or quarantine) means this node holds stale data it is
-        // about to discard — drain it from the client VIP until it heals. This
-        // closes the plain-restart (install_boot == false) gap: a PVC-retained
-        // voter that re-latched snapshot-required while merely behind used to keep
-        // serving stale reads. The latch clears when the node catches up via the
-        // stream (clear_stale_reseed_marker_if_caught_up) or reseeds next boot.
+        // about to discard — drain it from the client VIP until it heals. The latch
+        // clears when a completed catch-up pull proves the stream served the gap
+        // (`discharge_reseed_marker_if_served`) or the next boot reseeds.
         if self.reseed_marker_latched.load(Ordering::Acquire) {
             return false;
         }
+        // POSITIVE EVIDENCE, every boot. This was
+        // `if (install_boot || seed_joiner) && !converged`, so a plain restarted
+        // voter fell straight through to ready — admitted to the client VIP before
+        // it had learned the leader's frontier, let alone caught up. Combined with
+        // `lag_events` reading `0 - 0 = 0` on an uninitialized gauge, that is how a
+        // PVC-wiped tidaldb-0 served an EMPTY corpus, and how a node missing 15,000
+        // entries reported itself converged.
+        //
+        // `converged` is STICKY for the process (§4 hysteresis), so this costs a
+        // restarted voter only the time to receive one heartbeat carrying the
+        // leader's frontier — heartbeats flow on an idle cluster (m12p5) — and a
+        // later transient leader loss never un-readies it. A node that genuinely
+        // cannot reach a leader stays 503, which is the honest answer: it does not
+        // know whether it holds the data.
+        if !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire) {
+            // A LEADER is trivially converged: it WRITES the log rather than
+            // applying someone else's, so there is no frontier to catch up to. This
+            // arm is load-bearing for bootstrap — a fresh cluster's leader has
+            // `last_seq == 0`, so requiring a non-zero learned frontier would leave
+            // it permanently 503 and the cluster would never come up.
+            //
+            // It MUST test ESTABLISHED leadership from the election runtime, never
+            // `current_leader()`. That view is seeded from the TOPOLOGY FILE, and in
+            // a sharded topology group `s` names node `s` as its term-0 leader — so
+            // a booting node would self-certify convergence for the group it merely
+            // believes it leads, while holding none of that group's data. The
+            // durable §1.4-1 rule is that a restart always boots a FOLLOWER, so the
+            // runtime role is the only honest source here.
+            let established_leader = self
+                .election_runtime
+                .get()
+                .is_some_and(|rt| matches!(rt.role(), tidaldb::replication::Role::Leader));
+            if established_leader {
+                self.converged.store(true, Ordering::Release);
+            } else {
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
         true
     }
 
@@ -3778,13 +3829,13 @@ impl ShardReplica {
         // m11p5 §4: feed the sticky readiness latch from the lag we just
         // computed (no separate polling thread) and report the durable reseed
         // state.
-        self.note_lag_for_readiness(lag_events);
+        self.note_lag_for_readiness(leader_seqno, lag_events);
         let reseed_required = self.reseed_marker_store.exists();
-        // `reseeding` = a joiner (snapshot-install OR seed-join) that has not yet
-        // first-converged (the catch-up that follows the install/join is in
-        // flight). Readiness is 503 while this is true.
-        let reseeding =
-            (self.install_boot || self.seed_joiner) && !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire);
+        // `reseeding` = this node has not yet first-converged against a KNOWN
+        // leader frontier. No longer scoped to joiner boots: a plain restart is
+        // equally un-converged until it learns where the leader is, and reporting
+        // it as settled is what let a blind voter into the VIP.
+        let reseeding = !self.converged.load(Ordering::Acquire);
 
         Ok(LocalStatusResponse {
             region: self.region_name.clone(),
diff --git a/tidal-server/tests/cluster_reseed.rs b/tidal-server/tests/cluster_reseed.rs
index 288835c..2c61207 100644
--- a/tidal-server/tests/cluster_reseed.rs
+++ b/tidal-server/tests/cluster_reseed.rs
@@ -626,27 +626,38 @@ fn mp_follower_reseeds_via_snapshot_after_compaction() {
 /// The gate is a FIXPOINT: node 2 must end Ready, reporting no reseed marker, with
 /// content readable from every group, within a bounded number of restarts.
 ///
-/// # CURRENTLY REPRODUCES AN OPEN DEFECT — `#[ignore]`d, not broken
+/// # This gate CLOSED the multi-group reseed defect
 ///
-/// This test FAILS today, on purpose: it is the reproduction for a real bug that
-/// the served-evidence marker fix does NOT close. Observed run:
+/// It was written as a reproduction and failed exactly as production did — the node
+/// announced itself settled and was missing data:
 ///
 /// ```text
 /// [multi] node 2 settled after 0 orchestrator restart(s)
 /// [multi] node 2 exited AFTER settling; orchestrator reboot #1
 /// missing item 500 (reboots=1) ... reseed_required: false, lag_events: 0,
-///                                   applied_events: 3798, election_tail_term: 2
+///                                   applied_events: 3798
 /// ```
 ///
-/// A multi-group node reports NO reseed marker and ZERO lag while an item written
-/// before its outage is absent — the silent-hole shape, and the local twin of the
-/// 2026-08-20 production failure where tidaldb-0 reported `lag_events: 0` on a
-/// replica missing history. Single-group reseed is correct
-/// (`mp_follower_reseeds_via_snapshot_after_compaction` passes with the same content
-/// probe); the multi-group path is not.
+/// Root cause was readiness asserting on ABSENCE of bad news. `is_ready` gated
+/// convergence behind `install_boot || seed_joiner`, so a plain restarted voter was
+/// Ready on arrival — before it had learned the leader's frontier — and
+/// `lag_events` could not contradict it, being `leader_seqno - applied` on a gauge
+/// that reads 0 until the frontier is known (`0 - 0 = 0`). A blind node therefore
+/// looked converged. Convergence is now required for EVERY boot against a KNOWN
+/// frontier, and only ESTABLISHED (election-runtime) leadership self-certifies —
+/// never the topology's term-0 belief, which would let a booting node certify the
+/// group it merely thinks it leads.
 ///
-/// It is `#[ignore]`d so the nightly chaos gate keeps its signal rather than going
-/// permanently red on a known-open defect. Remove the attribute as the fix's gate:
+/// Post-fix run, all three groups converged against real frontiers:
+///
+/// ```text
+/// shard 0: applied 3797, leader_seqno 3797, term 1
+/// shard 1: applied 3726, leader_seqno 3726, term 5
+/// shard 2: applied 3747, leader_seqno 3747, term 3
+/// [multi] every probed item is readable ... (2 reboot(s) total)
+/// ```
+///
+/// Runs long (~15 min) and wants widened tier-3 budgets:
 ///
 /// ```bash
 /// TIDAL_TEST_BOOT_BUDGET_SECS=300 TIDAL_TEST_CONVERGENCE_BUDGET_SECS=180 \
@@ -654,9 +665,6 @@ fn mp_follower_reseeds_via_snapshot_after_compaction() {
 ///   mp_multi_group_node_converges_after_reseeding_several_groups -- --nocapture
 /// ```
 #[test]
-#[ignore = "reproduces an OPEN multi-group reseed defect: the node reports \
-            reseed_required=false and lag_events=0 while missing items. Un-ignore as the \
-            fix's gate; see the doc comment for the invocation."]
 fn mp_multi_group_node_converges_after_reseeding_several_groups() {
     const GROUPS: usize = 3;
     /// Generous but FINITE. One restart per group that needs a reseed is the