diff --git a/test/coverage-audit-evidence.test.ts b/test/coverage-audit-evidence.test.ts
index b76329b5b..caad2efc2 100644
--- a/test/coverage-audit-evidence.test.ts
+++ b/test/coverage-audit-evidence.test.ts
@@ -1282,5 +1282,10 @@ describe('coverage audit native evidence: an escaped grep over two literal files
     expect(reads(capture.call.command, capture.call.output.replace(nonce, nonce.slice(1) + '0'))).toMatchObject({ sourceRead: false });
     expect(reads(capture.call.command.replace('cat -n test/billing.test.ts', 'cat -n test/other.test.ts'))).toMatchObject({ testsRead: false });
   });
+
+  test('a quoted grep operand with a space stays one literal file operand', () => {
+    expect(reads(capture.call.command.replace('review/SKILL.md review/sections/review-army.md', 'review/SKILL.md "docs/design notes.md"'))).toEqual(both);
+    expect(reads(capture.call.command.replace('review/SKILL.md review/sections/review-army.md', '"docs/design notes.md" -f/tmp/foreign'))).toEqual(neither);
+  });
 });
 
diff --git a/test/helpers/coverage-audit-evidence.ts b/test/helpers/coverage-audit-evidence.ts
index bbb20f71c..bbd79df13 100644
--- a/test/helpers/coverage-audit-evidence.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/coverage-audit-evidence.ts
@@ -80,8 +80,9 @@ function stagePieces(stage: string[], scope: ShellScope, alone: boolean): Piece[
   if (!name || (discarded && name === 'echo')) return undefined;
   // Backslashes are data only in these closed grep/awk display patterns.
   const grepRange = /^grep\s+-n(?:\s+-i)?(?:\s+-B\d{1,4})?(?:\s+-A\d{1,4})?\s+(?:"(?:[^"\\$`]|\\[|.])*"|'(?:[^'\\$`]|\\[|.])*')\s+(.+)$/.exec(text);
-  // One or more literal file operands, none of them an option.
-  const displayGrep = Boolean(grepRange?.[1]!.split(' ').every(operand => literal(operand) !== undefined && !literal(operand)!.startsWith('-')));
+  // One or more literal file operands (the tokens after the quoted pattern), none of them an option.
+  const grepOperands = grepRange ? words.slice(words.findIndex((word, index) => index > 0 && /^["']/.test(word)) + 1) : [];
+  const displayGrep = grepOperands.length > 0 && grepOperands.every(operand => literal(operand) !== undefined && !literal(operand)!.startsWith('-'));
   const awkRange = /^awk\s+'\/(?:[^/\\]|\\[./|])*\/,\/(?:[^/\\]|\\[./|])*\/'\s+(.+)$/.exec(text)
     ?? /^awk\s+'\/(?:[^/\\]|\\[./|])*\/\{f=1\} f&&\/(?:[^/\\]|\\[./|])*\/\{exit\} f'\s+(.+)$/.exec(text);
   const displayAwk = Boolean(awkRange && literal(awkRange[1]!) && !literal(awkRange[1]!)!.startsWith('-'));
diff --git a/test/helpers/ship-budget-harness.ts b/test/helpers/ship-budget-harness.ts
index a6eb8ba8c..3f1b53853 100644
--- a/test/helpers/ship-budget-harness.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/ship-budget-harness.ts
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ export function budgetHarness(): Harness {
   const run = (bin: string, args: string[], extraEnv: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = {}): Run => {
     const argv = bin === REVIEW_LOG_BIN ? ['bash', bin] : [process.execPath, ...bunIsolationArgs(), bin];
     const started = Date.now();
+    abnormal = '';
     const r = spawnSync(argv[0], [...argv.slice(1), ...args], { cwd: repo, env: { ...env, ...extraEnv }, encoding: 'utf8', timeout: 60_000 });
     const result = { code: r.status ?? -1, out: r.stdout ?? '', err: r.stderr ?? '' };
     if (r.status !== null) return result;
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ export function budgetHarness(): Harness {
       abnormal += `; children of ${r.pid}: ${children.stdout?.trim() || (children.error ? `unavailable (${children.error.message})` : 'none')}`;
     }
     result.err += `\n[harness] ${abnormal}`;
+    process.stderr.write(`[harness] ${abnormal}\n`);
     return result;
   };
   let records = 0;
diff --git a/test/helpers/third-party-actions.ts b/test/helpers/third-party-actions.ts
index ffc19714e..0eccf99d3 100644
--- a/test/helpers/third-party-actions.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/third-party-actions.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  * predicate's own coordinate clause holds no negation: "Aside is not installed but can be downloaded at aside.com"
  * counts, "Aside is not something that can be downloaded" and "... but cannot be downloaded" never do.
  */
-const ASIDE_DOWNLOAD_PITCH = String.raw`(?:^|[.!?;:]\s*|\n)\s*(?:[>*-]\s*)*["\u201C]?download (?:it|Aside) at aside\.com\b|(?:^|[.!?;:,\u2014\u2013\n])[\s>*_-]*(?<!(?:\b(?:not|never|no|cannot)|n['\u2019]t)\s+)(?:(?:then|please|just|so|first|now)\s+)?(?:you\s+(?:can|could|may|should|need\s+to)\s+)?download (?:Aside|it) \(macOS 15\+\) at aside\.com\b|(?:^|[.!?;:,\u2014\u2013\n])[\s>*_-]*(?:Aside|it)\b(?:[^.!?;:,\n]*?\b(?:but|and|yet)\b)?(?:(?!\b(?:not|never|no)\b|n['\u2019]t\b)[^.!?;:,\n])*?\b(?:can|may)\s+be\s+downloaded\s+(?:at|from)\s+aside\.com\b`;
+const ASIDE_DOWNLOAD_PITCH = String.raw`(?:^|[.!?;:]\s*|\n)\s*(?:[>*-]\s*)*["\u201C]?download (?:it|Aside) at aside\.com\b|(?:^|[.!?;:,\u2014\u2013\n])[\s>*_-]*(?<!(?:\b(?:not|never|no|cannot)|n['\u2019]t)\s+)(?:(?:then|please|just|so|first|now)\s+)?(?:you\s+(?:can|could|may|should|need\s+to)\s+)?download (?:Aside|it) \(macOS 15\+\) at aside\.com\b|(?:^|[.!?;:,\u2014\u2013\n])[\s>*_-]*(?:Aside|it)\b(?:(?=(?<clause>(?:(?!\b(?:can|may)\s+be\s+downloaded\b)[^.!?;:,\n])*\b(?:but|and|yet)\b))\k<clause>)?(?:(?!\b(?:not|never|no)\b|n['\u2019]t\b)[^.!?;:,\n])*?\b(?:can|may)\s+be\s+downloaded\s+(?:at|from)\s+aside\.com\b`;
 export const asideDownloadPitch = new RegExp(ASIDE_DOWNLOAD_PITCH, 'im');
 export const asideDownloadPitchCount = (text: string): number => [...text.matchAll(new RegExp(ASIDE_DOWNLOAD_PITCH, 'gim'))].length;