test(calibration): replace real-name holder fixture with charlie-example placeholder

Privacy iron rule: no real people's names in checked-in code. The sanctioned placeholder mapping uses people/charlie-example. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
fix(calibration): resolve owner holder via config (default 'self'), fixes #2464
2026-08-17 10:22:34 +00:00 · 2026-07-22 11:21:06 -07:00 · 2026-07-21 14:19:58 -07:00
31 changed files with 233 additions and 604 deletions
@@ -457,6 +457,7 @@ unresolvable+true|false, pre-v80 NULL/NULL rows survive).
 - `src/core/think/prompt.ts` extension — anti-bias rewrite. `withCalibration` option on `buildThinkSystemPrompt` adds anti-bias rules. `buildCalibrationBlock()` emits the `<calibration>` XML. `buildThinkUserMessage` has TWO shapes: default (question first), and with-calibration (retrieval → calibration → question) when opt-in. Wired into `runThink` via `opts.withCalibration` + `opts.calibrationHolder`.
 - `src/commands/calibration.ts` — CLI: `gbrain calibration` (read + print), `--regenerate`, `--undo-wave <ver>`, `ab-report`. MCP op `get_calibration_profile` (scope: read) backs the same data path. Source-scoped via `sourceScopeOpts(ctx)`.
 - `src/commands/serve-http.ts` extension — three admin routes: `/admin/api/calibration/profile`, `/admin/api/calibration/charts/:type` (image/svg+xml; type in {brier-trend, domain-bars, pattern-statements, abandoned-threads}), `/admin/api/calibration/pattern/:id` (drill-down).
+- `src/core/owner-holder.ts` — single source of truth for "the brain owner" holder string. `DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER = 'self'` (matches the consolidate facts→takes writer + `docs/takes-vs-facts.md`); `resolveOwnerHolder({override, configValue})` returns override > `emotional_weight.user_holder` config > `'self'`. Consumed by the calibration_profile cycle phase, `gbrain calibration` CLI, the `get_calibration_profile` op, `think`'s calibration block, `emotional-weight`'s `DEFAULT_USER_HOLDER`, and doctor's `calibration_freshness`. Pure; unit-tested in `test/owner-holder.test.ts`. Does NOT unify owner-identity fragmentation (`self`/`brain`/`people-<owner>`) — tracked separately.
 - `src/commands/takes.ts` extension — `gbrain takes revisit <slug>` opens $EDITOR on the source page with a `<!-- gbrain:revisit -->` cursor marker.
 - `src/commands/doctor.ts` extension — 4 checks: `abandoned_threads`, `calibration_freshness`, `grade_confidence_drift` (mitigation surface; math ships later), `voice_gate_health`.
 - `admin/src/pages/Calibration.tsx` — Calibration tab. Single-column layout. `<TrustedSVG>` wrapper handles `dangerouslySetInnerHTML` for the server-rendered SVG.
@@ -91,3 +91,18 @@ First full takes extraction run on a ~100K-page brain:
 4. **Self-reported ≠ verified.** "Reports 7 figures" → holder=person, weight=0.75, NOT world/1.0
 5. **No false precision.** Use 0.05 increments (0.35, 0.55, 0.75), not 0.74 or 0.82
 6. **"So what" test.** Skip Twitter handles, follower counts, obvious metadata
+
+## Owner-holder canonicalization
+
+"The brain owner" is, by convention, the holder string **`self`** — the value the
+dream `consolidate` phase stamps when it promotes the owner's hot facts into cold
+takes. Calibration, `think`, and the `doctor` calibration check resolve the owner
+holder through `resolveOwnerHolder` (`src/core/owner-holder.ts`): explicit override
+> `emotional_weight.user_holder` config > `self`.
+
+Known limitation (tracked in garrytan/gbrain#2465): the owner can also
+appear under `brain` (a take the owner asserts, via `propose_takes`) and
+`people/<owner>` (extraction that names the owner). The resolver selects the
+*default* canonical owner string for reads; it does not merge those other
+strings. Per-take attribution for other people (e.g. `people/george`) is
+unaffected and correct.
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import { runPhaseCalibrationProfile } from '../core/cycle/calibration-profile.ts
 import { sourceScopeOpts, type OperationContext } from '../core/operations.ts';
 import type { GBrainConfig } from '../core/config.ts';
 import { GBrainError } from '../core/types.ts';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder } from '../core/owner-holder.ts';

 export interface CalibrationProfileRow {
  /** BIGSERIAL → string (postgres.js int8 wire shape; never Number() — int8
@@ -167,7 +168,10 @@ export async function runCalibration(
  config: GBrainConfig,
 ): Promise<void> {
  const { opts } = parseArgs(args);
-  const holder = opts.holder ?? 'garry';
+  const holder = resolveOwnerHolder({
+    override: opts.holder,
+    configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder'),
+  });
  // Resolve --source / GBRAIN_SOURCE / .gbrain-source so the (now reachable, #2035)
  // calibration command targets the right source in a multi-source brain instead
  // of always reading `default`. No signal → 'default' (prior behavior).
@@ -253,12 +257,15 @@ export async function getCalibrationProfileOp(
  ctx: OperationContext,
  params: { holder?: string },
 ): Promise<CalibrationProfileRow | null> {
-  const holder = params.holder ?? 'garry';
+  const holder = resolveOwnerHolder({
+    override: params.holder,
+    configValue: await ctx.engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder'),
+  });
  if (typeof holder !== 'string' || holder.length === 0) {
    throw new GBrainError(
      'INVALID_HOLDER',
      'get_calibration_profile.holder must be a non-empty string',
-      'pass holder="<slug>" or omit to default to "garry"',
+      'pass holder="<slug>" or omit to default to the owner holder (config emotional_weight.user_holder, else "self")',
    );
  }
  const scope = sourceScopeOpts(ctx);
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import type { DbUrlSource } from '../core/config.ts';
 import { gbrainPath, loadConfig } from '../core/config.ts';
 import { reflexEnabled } from '../core/context/reflex.ts';
 import { resolveSocketPath } from '../core/context/resolve-ipc.ts';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder } from '../core/owner-holder.ts';
 import { homedir } from 'os';
 import { dirname, isAbsolute, join, resolve as resolvePath } from 'path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
@@ -1287,14 +1288,19 @@ export async function checkAbandonedThreads(engine: BrainEngine): Promise<Check>

 /**
 * calibration_freshness: warns when the active calibration profile is
- * older than 7 days (configurable). Default holder 'garry'. Multi-source
+ * older than 7 days (configurable). Default holder resolves via resolveOwnerHolder
+ * (config emotional_weight.user_holder, else 'self'). Multi-source
 * brains see one row per source; this check uses the most recent across
 * all sources.
 */
 export async function checkCalibrationFreshness(engine: BrainEngine): Promise<Check> {
  try {
+    const ownerHolder = resolveOwnerHolder({
+      configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder'),
+    });
    const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{ generated_at: Date | null }>(
-      `SELECT MAX(generated_at) AS generated_at FROM calibration_profiles WHERE holder = 'garry'`,
+      `SELECT MAX(generated_at) AS generated_at FROM calibration_profiles WHERE holder = $1`,
+      [ownerHolder],
    );
    const generated = rows[0]?.generated_at;
    if (!generated) {
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import type { BrainEngine } from '../core/engine.ts';
 import { embedBatch, currentEmbeddingSignature } from '../core/embedding.ts';
-import type { ChunkInput, ResolvedColumn } from '../core/types.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from '../core/search/embedding-column.ts';
+import type { ChunkInput } from '../core/types.ts';
 import { chunkText } from '../core/chunkers/recursive.ts';
 import { createProgress, type ProgressReporter } from '../core/progress.ts';
 import { getCliOptions, cliOptsToProgressOptions } from '../core/cli-options.ts';
@@ -184,13 +183,8 @@ export class EmbeddingDimMismatchError extends Error {
 * fresh-install bug class at the very first invocation instead of letting
 * the worker pool hammer N pages with raw 22000 errors.
 */
-async function preflightDimMismatch(engine: BrainEngine, dryRun: boolean, embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn): Promise<void> {
+async function preflightDimMismatch(engine: BrainEngine, dryRun: boolean): Promise<void> {
  if (dryRun) return; // dry-run never embeds, no risk
-  // #1262: an alt-column brain writes to `embeddingColumn`, not the legacy
-  // `embedding` column — the legacy column's dims are irrelevant, and the
-  // registry entry (validated at resolve time) pins the target's dims. Only
-  // the legacy default path needs the schema-vs-gateway dim comparison.
-  if (embeddingColumn && embeddingColumn.name !== 'embedding') return;
  const { readContentChunksEmbeddingDim, embeddingMismatchMessage } = await import('../core/embedding-dim-check.ts');
  const { getEmbeddingDimensions, getEmbeddingModel } = await import('../core/ai/gateway.ts');
  let existing;
@@ -244,12 +238,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
  // v0.37.11.0 (Lane D.2): pre-flight dim-mismatch check. Catches the headline
  // fresh-install bug class before the worker pool spends 20 parallel calls
  // hitting raw Postgres dimension errors.
-  // #1262: resolve the write-side embedding column ONCE at the boundary
-  // (merged config + gateway model) and thread the descriptor through every
-  // upsertChunks / stale-scan below. undefined => legacy `embedding` column.
-  const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-
-  await preflightDimMismatch(engine, !!opts.dryRun, embeddingColumn);
+  await preflightDimMismatch(engine, !!opts.dryRun);

  const result: EmbedResult = {
    embedded: 0,
@@ -264,7 +253,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
    for (const s of opts.slugs) {
      if (isAborted(opts.signal)) break; // #1737: stop the per-slug loop on abort
      try {
-        await embedPage(engine, s, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal, embeddingColumn);
+        await embedPage(engine, s, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal);
      } catch (e: unknown) {
        serr(`  Error embedding ${s}: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : e}`);
      }
@@ -358,7 +347,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
        catchUp: opts.catchUp,
        pacer,
        paceMaxConcurrency,
-      }, opts.signal, embeddingColumn);
+      }, opts.signal);
    } finally {
      // E1: surface pacing telemetry (human + structured) when pacing was on.
      const snap = pacer.snapshot();
@@ -387,7 +376,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
    return result;
  }
  if (opts.slug) {
-    await embedPage(engine, opts.slug, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal, embeddingColumn);
+    await embedPage(engine, opts.slug, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal);
    return result;
  }
  throw new Error('No embed target specified. Pass { slug }, { slugs }, { all }, or { stale }.');
@@ -532,13 +521,8 @@ async function embedPage(
  result: EmbedResult,
  sourceId?: string,
  signal?: AbortSignal,
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn,
 ) {
  const opts = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: write-side descriptor rides only on WRITE calls (upsertChunks).
-  const chunkOpts = (sourceId || embeddingColumn)
-    ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }) }
-    : undefined;
  const page = await engine.getPage(slug, opts);
  if (!page) {
    throw new Error(`Page not found: ${slug}`);
@@ -570,7 +554,7 @@ async function embedPage(
    }

    if (inputs.length > 0) {
-      await engine.upsertChunks(slug, inputs, chunkOpts);
+      await engine.upsertChunks(slug, inputs, opts);
      chunks = await engine.getChunks(slug, opts);
    }
  }
@@ -605,7 +589,7 @@ async function embedPage(
    token_count: c.token_count || Math.ceil(c.chunk_text.length / 4),
  }));

-  await engine.upsertChunks(slug, updated, chunkOpts);
+  await engine.upsertChunks(slug, updated, opts);
  // v0.41.31: stamp provenance so a later model/dims swap is detectable as
  // stale. embedPage is the per-slug path used by `gbrain embed <slug>` AND
  // by `gbrain sync`'s post-import embed step (runEmbedCore({slugs})).
@@ -638,7 +622,6 @@ async function embedAll(
    paceMaxConcurrency?: number;
  },
  signal?: AbortSignal,
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn,
 ) {
  // v0.41.31: current embedding provenance signature. Stamped onto pages
  // when their chunks are (re)embedded so a later model/dimension swap is
@@ -661,7 +644,7 @@ async function embedAll(
    // D7: thread sourceId so `gbrain embed --stale --source X` actually scopes.
    // v0.41.18.0 (A13): thread batchSize/priority/catchUp into the stale path.
    // #1737: thread the external abort signal so the cycle embed phase bails.
-    return await embedAllStale(engine, sourceId, dryRun, result, onProgress, staleOpts, signature, signal, embeddingColumn);
+    return await embedAllStale(engine, sourceId, dryRun, result, onProgress, staleOpts, signature, signal);
  }

  // --all path: pacer (no-op when off). E-1: lower the worker count to the
@@ -742,10 +725,7 @@ async function embedAll(
        embedding: embeddingMap.get(c.chunk_index) ?? undefined,
        token_count: c.token_count || Math.ceil(c.chunk_text.length / 4),
      }));
-      await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(page.slug, updated, {
-        ...(pageSourceId && { sourceId: pageSourceId }),
-        ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
-      }));
+      await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(page.slug, updated, pageOpts));
      // v0.41.31: stamp embedding provenance so a later model swap is
      // detectable as stale.
      await observed(pacer, () =>
@@ -825,16 +805,10 @@ async function embedAllStale(
  },
  signature?: string,
  externalSignal?: AbortSignal,
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn,
 ) {
  // D7: thread sourceId so source-scoped runs only count + visit
  // that source's NULL embeddings.
-  // #1262: the stale predicate follows the write-side column — without it an
-  // alt-column brain would perpetually re-select (and re-pay for) chunks whose
-  // target column is already populated.
-  const sourceOpt = (sourceId || embeddingColumn)
-    ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }) }
-    : undefined;
+  const sourceOpt = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;

  // v0.41.31: re-embed pages whose embedding_signature drifted (model/dims
  // swap). dry-run must NOT mutate, so it counts signature-stale via the
@@ -993,7 +967,6 @@ async function embedAllStale(
            afterUpdatedAt,
          }),
          ...(sourceId && { sourceId }),
-          ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
        }),
      );
      if (batch.length === 0) {
@@ -1046,10 +1019,7 @@ async function embedAllStale(
            embedding: staleIdxToEmbedding.get(c.chunk_index) ?? undefined,
            token_count: c.token_count || Math.ceil(c.chunk_text.length / 4),
          }));
-          await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, {
-            sourceId: keySourceId,
-            ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
-          }));
+          await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, { sourceId: keySourceId }));
          // v0.41.31: stamp provenance after the page's chunks are embedded —
          // but only when EVERY chunk was stale (fully re-embedded this pass).
          // A partially-stale page keeps preserved chunks of unknown/old
@@ -1120,7 +1090,7 @@ async function embedAllStale(
  // as a clean run — re-running won't help until the underlying failure is fixed.
  if (staleOpts?.catchUp && !effectiveSignal.aborted && embedFailures > 0) {
    const remaining = await engine.countStaleChunks(
-      signature ? { signature, ...sourceOpt } : sourceOpt,
+      signature ? { signature, ...(sourceId ? { sourceId } : {}) } : (sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined),
    );
    if (remaining > 0) {
      serr(`\n  [embed] catch-up finished but ${remaining} chunk(s) remain stale after ${embedFailures} embed failure(s). These are not embeddable as-is; re-running won't clear them until the underlying error is resolved.`);
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ import {
  type IngestionContentType,
  type IngestionEvent,
 } from '../core/ingestion/types.ts';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder } from '../core/owner-holder.ts';

 /**
 * /health endpoint timeout. 3s rather than 5s: Fly.io's default
@@ -1190,7 +1191,7 @@ export async function runServeHttp(engine: BrainEngine, options: ServeHttpOption
  app.get('/admin/api/calibration/pattern/:id', requireAdmin, async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
    try {
      const { getLatestProfile } = await import('./calibration.ts');
-      const holder = (req.query.holder as string) || 'garry';
+      const holder = resolveOwnerHolder({ override: (req.query.holder as string) || undefined, configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder') });
      const profile = await getLatestProfile(engine, { holder });
      if (!profile) {
        res.status(404).json({ error: 'no_profile' });
@@ -1240,7 +1241,7 @@ export async function runServeHttp(engine: BrainEngine, options: ServeHttpOption
  app.get('/admin/api/calibration/profile', requireAdmin, async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
    try {
      const { getLatestProfile } = await import('./calibration.ts');
-      const holder = (req.query.holder as string) || 'garry';
+      const holder = resolveOwnerHolder({ override: (req.query.holder as string) || undefined, configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder') });
      const profile = await getLatestProfile(engine, { holder });
      res.json(profile);
    } catch (err) {
@@ -1257,7 +1258,7 @@ export async function runServeHttp(engine: BrainEngine, options: ServeHttpOption
        renderAbandonedThreadsCard,
        renderPatternStatementsCard,
      } = await import('../core/calibration/svg-renderer.ts');
-      const holder = (req.query.holder as string) || 'garry';
+      const holder = resolveOwnerHolder({ override: (req.query.holder as string) || undefined, configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder') });
      const type = req.params.type;
      const profile = await getLatestProfile(engine, { holder });

@@ -576,16 +576,9 @@ async function runInlineCostGate(

  // Stale backlog: cheap single SQL; fail-open to 0 so a transient DB hiccup
  // never blocks the sync. Signature-aware (model/dims swap surfaces here).
-  // #1262: follow the write-side embedding column — otherwise an alt-column
-  // brain's fully-embedded corpus counts as phantom backlog on every gate.
  let staleChars = 0;
  try {
-    const { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } = await import('../core/search/embedding-column.ts');
-    const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-    staleChars = await engine.sumStaleChunkChars({
-      signature: currentEmbeddingSignature(),
-      ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
-    });
+    staleChars = await engine.sumStaleChunkChars({ signature: currentEmbeddingSignature() });
  } catch {
    staleChars = 0;
  }
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import {
 } from '../core/takes-fence.ts';
 import { withPageLock } from '../core/page-lock.ts';
 import { resolveSourceId } from '../core/source-resolver.ts';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder } from '../core/owner-holder.ts';

 // --- Helpers ---

@@ -364,7 +365,7 @@ async function cmdResolve(engine: BrainEngine, args: string[], sourceId?: string
  // --evidence is the v0.30.0 alias for --source on the resolve subcommand
  // (semantic clarity: "what evidence resolved this bet?").
  const source = flagValue(args, '--evidence') ?? flagValue(args, '--source');
-  const resolvedBy = flagValue(args, '--by') ?? 'garry';
+  const resolvedBy = flagValue(args, '--by') ?? resolveOwnerHolder({ configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder') });
  const dirArg = flagValue(args, '--dir');

  const pageId = await getPageId(engine, slug, sourceId);
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ import {
  type BrainstormCheckpoint,
  type CheckpointCross,
 } from './checkpoint.ts';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder } from '../owner-holder.ts';

 export { BudgetExhausted };

@@ -139,7 +140,7 @@ export interface BrainstormOptions {
  modelOverride?: string;
  /** Skip the cost-preview TTY grace window. Required for non-interactive callers. */
  skipCostPreview?: boolean;
-  /** When set, force the user holder for calibration profile lookup. Falls back to config (`emotional_weight.user_holder`) then `'garry'`. */
+  /** When set, force the user holder for calibration profile lookup. Falls back to config (`emotional_weight.user_holder`) then `'self'`. */
  holderOverride?: string;
  /** Source scope. */
  sourceId?: string;
@@ -623,7 +624,7 @@ async function _runBrainstormInner(
  }

  // ---- Phase 3: calibration context (cold-start fallback) ----
-  const holder = opts.holderOverride ?? config.emotional_weight?.user_holder ?? 'garry';
+  const holder = resolveOwnerHolder({ override: opts.holderOverride, configValue: config.emotional_weight?.user_holder });
  const calibContext = await loadCalibrationContext(engine, {
    holder,
    sourceId: opts.sourceId,
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import type { BrainEngine } from '../engine.ts';

 export interface ABRunInput {
  question: string;
-  /** Holder context for calibration. Default 'garry'. */
+  /** Holder context for calibration. Resolves via resolveOwnerHolder (config emotional_weight.user_holder, else 'self'). */
  holder?: string;
  /** Engine for DB write. */
  engine: BrainEngine;
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ import {
  type SynopsisFailureKind,
 } from './audit-synopsis.ts';
 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from './search/embedding-column.ts';
 import type { ChunkInput, CRMode, Page } from './types.ts';
 import type { SourceRow } from './sources-ops.ts';

@@ -287,13 +286,9 @@ export async function reembedPageWithContextualRetrieval(

      // ── PHASE 2: single DB transaction ───────────────────────────
      try {
-        // #1262: contextual re-embeds write TEXT embeddings — thread the
-        // caller-resolved write column like every other embed path.
-        const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(args.engine);
        await args.engine.transaction(async (tx) => {
          await tx.upsertChunks(args.pageSlug, phase1.embeddedChunks, {
            sourceId: args.sourceId,
-            ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
          });
          await tx.updatePageContextualRetrievalState(
            args.pageSlug,
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 */

 import { BaseCyclePhase, type ScopedReadOpts, type BasePhaseOpts } from './base-phase.ts';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder } from '../owner-holder.ts';
 import { chat as gatewayChat } from '../ai/gateway.ts';
 import { TIER_DEFAULTS } from '../model-config.ts';
 import { gateVoice, type VoiceGateGenerator, type VoiceGateJudge } from '../calibration/voice-gate.ts';
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ export type PatternStatementsGenerator = (input: {
 export type BiasTagsGenerator = (patterns: string[]) => Promise<string[]>;

 export interface CalibrationProfileOpts extends BasePhaseOpts {
-  /** Holder to generate the profile for. Default 'garry'. */
+  /** Holder to generate the profile for. Default resolves via resolveOwnerHolder (config emotional_weight.user_holder, else 'self'). */
  holder?: string;
  /** Inject the patterns generator (tests). */
  patternsGenerator?: PatternStatementsGenerator;
@@ -227,7 +228,10 @@ class CalibrationProfilePhase extends BaseCyclePhase {
    _ctx: OperationContext,
    opts: CalibrationProfileOpts,
  ): Promise<{ summary: string; details: Record<string, unknown>; status?: PhaseStatus }> {
-    const holder = opts.holder ?? 'garry';
+    const holder = resolveOwnerHolder({
+      override: opts.holder,
+      configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder'),
+    });
    const promptVersion = opts.promptVersion ?? CALIBRATION_PROFILE_PROMPT_VERSION;
    const modelId = opts.model ?? TIER_DEFAULTS.reasoning;
    const gradeCompletion = opts.gradeCompletion ?? 1.0;
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 * See `loadHighEmotionTags` for the resolution path.
 */

+import { DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER } from '../owner-holder.ts';
+
 /**
 * Default high-emotion tag seed list. Pages with any tag in this set get the
 * tag-emotion boost in the formula below. Override via config key
@@ -43,11 +45,12 @@ export const HIGH_EMOTION_TAGS: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set([
 ]);

 /**
- * Holder name treated as "the user" for the Garry-as-holder ratio. Configurable
- * via the `emotional_weight.user_holder` config key (defaults to 'garry' to
- * match the v0.28 schema's takes table convention).
+ * Holder name treated as "the user" for the user-as-holder ratio. Configurable
+ * via the `emotional_weight.user_holder` config key; defaults to the canonical
+ * owner holder ('self', DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER) so it matches the consolidate
+ * facts→takes writer instead of a hardcoded name.
 */
-export const DEFAULT_USER_HOLDER = 'garry';
+export const DEFAULT_USER_HOLDER = DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER;

 export interface EmotionalWeightTake {
  holder: string;
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 */

 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
-import type { ChunkInput, ResolvedColumn } from './types.ts';
+import type { ChunkInput } from './types.ts';
 import { embedBatchWithBackoff } from '../commands/embed.ts';
 import { type DbPacer, createNoopPacer, observed } from './db-pacer.ts';
 import { AbortError } from './abort-check.ts';
@@ -61,13 +61,6 @@ export interface EmbedStaleOpts {
   * Omit to keep the legacy `embedding IS NULL`-only behavior.
   */
  embeddingSignature?: string;
-  /**
-   * #1262: caller-resolved write-side embedding column. Threaded into BOTH
-   * listStaleChunks (staleness predicate) and upsertChunks (write target) so
-   * an alt-column brain converges instead of re-selecting embedded rows.
-   * Resolve at the boundary via `resolveWriteColumnForEngine()`.
-   */
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  /**
   * DB-contention pacer (paced-backfill). When enabled it (a) supplies the
   * worker count via the caller passing `concurrency = bundle.maxConcurrency`
@@ -163,7 +156,6 @@ export async function embedStaleForSource(
        afterPageId,
        afterChunkIndex,
        sourceId,
-        ...(opts.embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn: opts.embeddingColumn }),
      }),
    );
    if (batch.length === 0) {
@@ -231,10 +223,7 @@ export async function embedStaleForSource(
          doc_comment: c.doc_comment ?? undefined,
          symbol_name_qualified: c.symbol_name_qualified ?? undefined,
        }));
-        await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, {
-          sourceId: keySourceId,
-          ...(opts.embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn: opts.embeddingColumn }),
-        }));
+        await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, { sourceId: keySourceId }));
        // v0.41.31: stamp provenance only when EVERY chunk was stale (fully
        // re-embedded this pass) — a partially-stale page keeps preserved
        // chunks of unknown provenance, so don't claim current. After the
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import type {
  BrainStats, BrainHealth,
  IngestLogEntry, IngestLogInput,
  EngineConfig,
-  ResolvedColumn,
  CodeEdgeInput, CodeEdgeResult,
  EvalCandidate, EvalCandidateInput,
  EvalCaptureFailure, EvalCaptureFailureReason,
@@ -988,13 +987,8 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
   * — Postgres rolls back automatically on conn drop, so commit-ambiguous
   * failure replays to the same end state. Callers MUST NOT wrap externally;
   * see {@link BatchOpts} retry-contract block.
-   *
-   * `opts.embeddingColumn` (optional) selects the content_chunks column that
-   * receives TEXT embeddings (#1262). The caller resolves the descriptor at
-   * the import/embed boundary via `resolveWriteColumn()`; engines never read
-   * config or choose columns themselves. Omitted => legacy `embedding`.
   */
-  upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } & BatchOpts): Promise<void>;
+  upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string } & BatchOpts): Promise<void>;
  /**
   * Read every chunk for a page. `opts.sourceId` source-scopes the page
   * lookup; without it, multi-source brains return chunks from every
@@ -1011,13 +1005,8 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
   * counts across every source in the brain. Operators running
   * `gbrain embed --stale --source media-corpus` expect only that
   * source's NULLs touched; the caller threads `sourceId` here.
-   *
-   * `opts.embeddingColumn` switches the staleness predicate from the legacy
-   * `embedding` column to the resolved write-side column, so alt-column
-   * brains do not perpetually re-select rows whose target column is already
-   * populated (#1262). Must match the eventual upsertChunks target.
   */
-  countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number>;
+  countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number>;
  /**
   * Sum of LENGTH(chunk_text) over stale chunks — the character-count
   * backlog the embed phase / embed-backfill will process. Sibling of
@@ -1031,13 +1020,8 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
   * model signature (a model/dims swap). NULL signature is GRANDFATHERED
   * (never counted) so the post-migration corpus isn't flagged en masse.
   * Omit `signature` for the legacy `embedding IS NULL`-only count.
-   *
-   * `opts.embeddingColumn` switches the staleness predicate to the resolved
-   * write-side column (#1262) — same contract as countStaleChunks — so the
-   * sync cost gate doesn't count an alt-column brain's fully-embedded corpus
-   * as phantom backlog.
   */
-  sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number>;
+  sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number>;
  /**
   * Stamp `pages.embedding_signature = signature` for one page. Called after
   * a page's chunks are (re)embedded so a later model swap can detect it as
@@ -1085,9 +1069,6 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
    // both round-trip TIMESTAMPTZ as Date | string; ISO string is the
    // common denominator on the wire).
    afterUpdatedAt?: string | null;
-    // #1262: staleness predicate targets this column when set (must match
-    // countStaleChunks and the eventual upsertChunks write target).
-    embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  }): Promise<StaleChunkRow[]>;
  /**
   * Delete every chunk for a page. Internal page-id lookup is sourceId-scoped
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ import { findChunkForOffset } from './chunkers/edge-extractor.ts';
 import { extractCodeRefs, imageOfCandidates } from './link-extraction.ts';
 import { embedBatch, embedMultimodal, currentEmbeddingSignature } from './embedding.ts';
 import { slugifyPath, slugifyCodePath, isCodeFilePath } from './sync.ts';
-import type { ChunkInput, PageInput, PageType, ResolvedColumn } from './types.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from './search/embedding-column.ts';
+import type { ChunkInput, PageInput, PageType } from './types.ts';
 import { computeEffectiveDate } from './effective-date.ts';
 import { MARKDOWN_CHUNKER_VERSION } from './chunkers/recursive.ts';
 import { logSlugFallback } from './audit-slug-fallback.ts';
@@ -741,14 +740,6 @@ export async function importFromContent(
  // schema DEFAULT — required for multi-source brains; harmless ('default')
  // for single-source callers.
  const txOpts = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: resolve the write-side embedding column once (merged config +
-  // gateway model) BEFORE the transaction; the descriptor rides only on
-  // upsertChunks so text embeddings land in the registered column.
-  const chunkWriteColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-  const chunkOpts: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } | undefined =
-    (sourceId || chunkWriteColumn)
-      ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(chunkWriteColumn && { embeddingColumn: chunkWriteColumn }) }
-      : undefined;
  await engine.transaction(async (tx) => {
    if (existing) await tx.createVersion(slug, txOpts);

@@ -833,7 +824,7 @@ export async function importFromContent(
    }

    if (chunks.length > 0) {
-      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, chunkOpts);
+      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, txOpts);
      // v0.41.31: stamp embedding provenance when this import actually
      // embedded (not --no-embed), so a later model/dims swap is detectable
      // as stale via embed --stale. The deferred/backfill + per-slug embed
@@ -1073,12 +1064,6 @@ export async function importCodeFile(
  const title = `${relativePath} (${lang})`;
  const sourceId = opts.sourceId;
  const txOpts = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: write-side embedding column descriptor (rides only on upsertChunks).
-  const chunkWriteColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-  const chunkOpts: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } | undefined =
-    (sourceId || chunkWriteColumn)
-      ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(chunkWriteColumn && { embeddingColumn: chunkWriteColumn }) }
-      : undefined;

  const byteLength = Buffer.byteLength(content, 'utf-8');
  if (byteLength > MAX_FILE_SIZE) {
@@ -1198,7 +1183,7 @@ export async function importCodeFile(
    await tx.addTag(slug, lang, txOpts);

    if (chunks.length > 0) {
-      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, chunkOpts);
+      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, txOpts);
      // v0.41.31: stamp embedding provenance ONLY when every chunk was
      // freshly embedded with the current model this call (no reuse-by-hash
      // carrying old-model vectors). Mixed pages stay unstamped rather than
@@ -1347,12 +1332,6 @@ export async function withImportTransaction(
 ): Promise<void> {
  const sourceId = spec.sourceId ?? 'default';
  const txOpts = spec.sourceId ? { sourceId: spec.sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: write-side embedding column descriptor (rides only on upsertChunks).
-  const chunkWriteColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-  const chunkOpts: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } | undefined =
-    (spec.sourceId || chunkWriteColumn)
-      ? { ...(spec.sourceId && { sourceId: spec.sourceId }), ...(chunkWriteColumn && { embeddingColumn: chunkWriteColumn }) }
-      : undefined;
  await engine.transaction(async (tx) => {
    if (spec.hadExisting) await tx.createVersion(spec.slug, txOpts);
    await tx.putPage(spec.slug, spec.page, txOpts);
@@ -1368,7 +1347,7 @@ export async function withImportTransaction(
    }
    if (spec.chunks !== undefined) {
      if (spec.chunks.length > 0) {
-        await tx.upsertChunks(spec.slug, spec.chunks, chunkOpts);
+        await tx.upsertChunks(spec.slug, spec.chunks, txOpts);
      } else {
        await tx.deleteChunks(spec.slug, txOpts);
      }
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ import { tryAcquireDbLock } from '../../db-lock.ts';
 import { BudgetTracker, BudgetExhausted } from '../../budget/budget-tracker.ts';
 import { withBudgetTracker } from '../../ai/gateway.ts';
 import { embedStaleForSource } from '../../embed-stale.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from '../../search/embedding-column.ts';
 import { currentEmbeddingSignature } from '../../embedding.ts';
 import { type DbPacer, createDbPacer, createNoopPacer } from '../../db-pacer.ts';
 import { resolvePaceMode, loadPaceModeConfig, readPaceEnv } from '../../pace-mode.ts';
@@ -165,16 +164,12 @@ export function makeEmbedBackfillHandler(engine: BrainEngine) {
    // the supervisor, so pacing it is the headline win.
    const { pacer, concurrency } = await resolveBackfillPacer(engine, job.data);

-    // #1262: resolve the write-side embedding column once at the job boundary.
-    const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-
    try {
      const result = await withBudgetTracker(tracker, async () =>
        embedStaleForSource(engine, sourceId, {
          batchSize,
          signal: job.signal,
          pacer,
-          ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
          ...(concurrency !== undefined && { concurrency }),
          // v0.41.31: re-embed pages whose model signature drifted + stamp
          // provenance as chunks land.
@@ -3289,7 +3289,7 @@ const get_calibration_profile: Operation = {
    holder: {
      type: 'string',
      description:
-        "Holder slug, e.g. 'garry' or 'people/charlie-example'. Defaults to 'garry' when omitted.",
+        "Holder slug, e.g. 'self' or 'people/charlie-example'. Defaults to config emotional_weight.user_holder, else 'self', when omitted.",
    },
  },
  handler: async (ctx, p) => {
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/**
+ * Canonical holder string for "the brain owner," resolved in ONE place so the
+ * calibration / think / doctor / emotional-weight defaults stop disagreeing.
+ *
+ * The default matches the consolidate facts→takes writer
+ * (src/core/cycle/phases/consolidate.ts: holder:'self') and docs/takes-vs-facts.md.
+ * Do NOT introduce a fourth literal — three already exist historically
+ * ('garry', 'system', 'self'); this is the source of truth.
+ *
+ * NORMALIZATION NOTE: the brain owner may also appear under other holder
+ * strings — 'brain' (propose_takes when the author asserts a claim) and
+ * people/<owner> (extraction that names the owner). This resolver only selects
+ * the *default* canonical owner string for reads; it does NOT merge those other
+ * strings. Unifying them is owner-identity entity-resolution, tracked separately
+ * (see garrytan/gbrain#2465). Until then, historical owner takes
+ * under 'brain'/people-<owner> are not folded into the default profile.
+ */
+export const DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER = 'self';
+
+export function resolveOwnerHolder(
+  opts: { override?: string | null; configValue?: string | null },
+): string {
+  return opts.override ?? opts.configValue ?? DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER;
+}
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ import type {
  BrainStats, BrainHealth,
  IngestLogEntry, IngestLogInput,
  EngineConfig,
-  ResolvedColumn,
  EvalCandidate, EvalCandidateInput,
  EvalCaptureFailure, EvalCaptureFailureReason,
  SalienceOpts, SalienceResult, AnomaliesOpts, AnomalyResult,
@@ -2231,20 +2230,12 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
  }

  // Chunks
-  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
+  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
    return this.batchRetry(opts?.auditSite ?? 'upsertChunks', opts?.signal, () => this._upsertChunksOnce(slug, chunks, opts), chunks.length);
  }

-  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<void> {
+  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string }): Promise<void> {
    const sourceId = opts?.sourceId ?? 'default';
-    // #1262: caller-resolved write target for TEXT embeddings. Descriptor
-    // names are identifier-validated + quoted by buildVectorCastFragment;
-    // omitted => legacy `embedding vector`. Mirrors postgres-engine.ts.
-    const targetFragment = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn)
-      : undefined;
-    const targetCol = targetFragment?.col ?? 'embedding';
-    const embeddingCast = targetFragment?.castSql.replace('$1::', '') ?? 'vector';

    // Source-scope the page-id lookup so duplicate slugs in different sources
    // do not return multiple rows or target the wrong page.
@@ -2279,7 +2270,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    // list. Image chunks pass embedding=null + embedding_image=Float32Array
    // (1024-dim Voyage). Text/code chunks pass embedding=Float32Array +
    // embedding_image=null. Default modality='text' when omitted.
-    const cols = `(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, ${targetCol}, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)`;
+    const cols = '(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, embedding, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)';
    const rowParts: string[] = [];
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    let paramIdx = 1;
@@ -2297,7 +2288,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
      const modality = chunk.modality ?? 'text';

      // Inline ::vector NULL literals to avoid a per-branch placeholder.
-      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::${embeddingCast}` : 'NULL';
+      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';
      const embeddedAtPh = embeddingStr ? 'now()' : 'NULL';
      const embeddingImagePh = embeddingImageStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';

@@ -2336,19 +2327,19 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
       ON CONFLICT (page_id, chunk_index) DO UPDATE SET
         chunk_text = EXCLUDED.chunk_text,
         chunk_source = EXCLUDED.chunk_source,
-         ${targetCol} = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
+         embedding = CASE
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
-                THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           ELSE content_chunks.${targetCol}
+                THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           ELSE content_chunks.embedding
         END,
         model = COALESCE(EXCLUDED.model, content_chunks.model),
         token_count = EXCLUDED.token_count,
         embedded_at = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN NULL
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NULL THEN NULL
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
                THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
@@ -2386,19 +2377,14 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
   * drift (NULL grandfathered → never stale). Shared by countStaleChunks +
   * sumStaleChunkChars so they can't drift.
   */
-  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
-    // #1262: staleness targets the caller-resolved write column when set
-    // (identifier-validated + quoted); legacy `embedding` otherwise.
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';
+  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    const conds: string[] = [];
    if (opts?.signature !== undefined) {
      params.push(opts.signature);
-      conds.push(`(cc.${staleCol} IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
+      conds.push(`(cc.embedding IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
    } else {
-      conds.push(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`);
+      conds.push(`cc.embedding IS NULL`);
    }
    conds.push(`NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')`);
    if (opts?.sourceId !== undefined) {
@@ -2408,7 +2394,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    return { where: conds.join(' AND '), params };
  }

-  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // D7: source-scoped count for `gbrain embed --stale --source X`. Always
    // JOIN pages so embed-skip + signature predicates apply. PGLite is
    // PostgreSQL 17.5 in WASM and supports the full JSONB operator set.
@@ -2424,7 +2410,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    return Number(count);
  }

-  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // Sibling of countStaleChunks: same stale predicate, summing chunk_text
    // length for the sync cost preview. ::bigint guards int4 overflow.
    const { where, params } = this.buildStaleChunkWhere(opts);
@@ -2477,17 +2463,11 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    sourceId?: string;
    orderBy?: 'page_id' | 'updated_desc';
    afterUpdatedAt?: string | null;
-    embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  }): Promise<StaleChunkRow[]> {
    const limit = opts?.batchSize ?? 2000;
    const afterPid = opts?.afterPageId ?? 0;
    const afterIdx = opts?.afterChunkIndex ?? -1;
    const orderBy = opts?.orderBy ?? 'page_id';
-    // #1262: staleness follows the caller-resolved write column (validated +
-    // quoted identifier); legacy `embedding` otherwise.
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';

    // v0.41.18.0 (A13, codex #9): --priority recent path. See postgres-engine
    // sibling for full rationale. Same composite cursor + ORDER BY.
@@ -2501,7 +2481,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                  p.updated_at
             FROM content_chunks cc
             JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
            LIMIT $1`,
@@ -2512,7 +2492,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                  p.updated_at
             FROM content_chunks cc
             JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
              AND (
                p.updated_at < $1::timestamptz
@@ -2531,7 +2511,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                p.updated_at
           FROM content_chunks cc
           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = $1
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
@@ -2543,7 +2523,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                p.updated_at
           FROM content_chunks cc
           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = $1
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (
@@ -2568,7 +2548,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
           FROM content_chunks cc
           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > ($1, $2)
          ORDER BY cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index
@@ -2582,7 +2562,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
              cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
         FROM content_chunks cc
         JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+        WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
          AND p.source_id = $1
          AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > ($2, $3)
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ import type {
  BrainStats, BrainHealth,
  IngestLogEntry, IngestLogInput,
  EngineConfig,
-  ResolvedColumn,
  EvalCandidate, EvalCandidateInput,
  EvalCaptureFailure, EvalCaptureFailureReason,
  SalienceOpts, SalienceResult, AnomaliesOpts, AnomalyResult,
@@ -2381,21 +2380,13 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
  }

  // Chunks
-  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
+  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
    return this.batchRetry(opts?.auditSite ?? 'upsertChunks', opts?.signal, () => this._upsertChunksOnce(slug, chunks, opts), chunks.length);
  }

-  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<void> {
+  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string }): Promise<void> {
    const sql = this.sql;
    const sourceId = opts?.sourceId ?? 'default';
-    // #1262: caller-resolved write target for TEXT embeddings. Descriptor
-    // names are identifier-validated + quoted by buildVectorCastFragment;
-    // omitted => legacy `embedding vector`.
-    const targetFragment = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn)
-      : undefined;
-    const targetCol = targetFragment?.col ?? 'embedding';
-    const embeddingCast = targetFragment?.castSql.replace('$1::', '') ?? 'vector';

    // Source-scope the page-id lookup. Without this filter, multi-source
    // brains where the slug exists in 2+ sources return >1 row and the
@@ -2422,7 +2413,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    // scope metadata through upserts.
    // v0.27.1 (Phase 8): added `modality` + `embedding_image` to the column
    // list. Image chunks pass embedding=null + embedding_image=Float32Array.
-    const cols = `(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, ${targetCol}, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)`;
+    const cols = '(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, embedding, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)';
    const rows: string[] = [];
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    let paramIdx = 1;
@@ -2439,7 +2430,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
        : null;
      const modality = chunk.modality ?? 'text';

-      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::${embeddingCast}` : 'NULL';
+      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';
      const embeddedAtPh = embeddingStr ? 'now()' : 'NULL';
      const embeddingImagePh = embeddingImageStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';

@@ -2487,19 +2478,19 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
       ON CONFLICT (page_id, chunk_index) DO UPDATE SET
         chunk_text = EXCLUDED.chunk_text,
         chunk_source = EXCLUDED.chunk_source,
-         ${targetCol} = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
+         embedding = CASE
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
-                THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           ELSE content_chunks.${targetCol}
+                THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           ELSE content_chunks.embedding
         END,
         model = COALESCE(EXCLUDED.model, content_chunks.model),
         token_count = EXCLUDED.token_count,
         embedded_at = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN NULL
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NULL THEN NULL
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
                THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
@@ -2539,19 +2530,14 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
   * embedding_signature drift (NULL grandfathered). Shared by
   * countStaleChunks + sumStaleChunkChars (parity with the PGLite sibling).
   */
-  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
-    // #1262: staleness targets the caller-resolved write column when set
-    // (identifier-validated + quoted); legacy `embedding` otherwise.
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';
+  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    const conds: string[] = [];
    if (opts?.signature !== undefined) {
      params.push(opts.signature);
-      conds.push(`(cc.${staleCol} IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
+      conds.push(`(cc.embedding IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
    } else {
-      conds.push(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`);
+      conds.push(`cc.embedding IS NULL`);
    }
    conds.push(`NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')`);
    if (opts?.sourceId !== undefined) {
@@ -2561,7 +2547,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    return { where: conds.join(' AND '), params };
  }

-  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // Always JOIN pages so the embed_skip + signature predicates apply.
    // D7: source_id scoping. v0.41.31: optional signature widens staleness
    // to embedding_signature drift (NULL grandfathered).
@@ -2579,7 +2565,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    });
  }

-  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // Sibling of countStaleChunks: same stale predicate, summing chunk_text
    // length for the sync cost preview. ::bigint guards int4 overflow.
    const { where, params } = this.buildStaleChunkWhere(opts);
@@ -2632,18 +2618,11 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    sourceId?: string;
    orderBy?: 'page_id' | 'updated_desc';
    afterUpdatedAt?: string | null;
-    embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  }): Promise<StaleChunkRow[]> {
    const limit = opts?.batchSize ?? 2000;
    const afterPid = opts?.afterPageId ?? 0;
    const afterIdx = opts?.afterChunkIndex ?? -1;
    const orderBy = opts?.orderBy ?? 'page_id';
-    // #1262: staleness follows the caller-resolved write column (validated +
-    // quoted identifier); legacy `embedding` otherwise. Interpolated below as
-    // an unsafe FRAGMENT (identifiers can't be bound parameters).
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';

    // RLS scope binding (opt-in via GBRAIN_RLS_SCOPE_BINDING).
    return await this.withScopedReadTransaction(undefined, opts?.sourceId, async (tx) => {
@@ -2660,7 +2639,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                   p.updated_at
            FROM content_chunks cc
            JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
            LIMIT ${limit}
@@ -2670,7 +2649,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                   p.updated_at
            FROM content_chunks cc
            JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
              AND (
                p.updated_at < ${afterUpdated}::timestamptz
@@ -2688,7 +2667,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                 p.updated_at
          FROM content_chunks cc
          JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = ${opts.sourceId}
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
@@ -2699,7 +2678,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                 p.updated_at
          FROM content_chunks cc
          JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = ${opts.sourceId}
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (
@@ -2719,7 +2698,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                 cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
          FROM content_chunks cc
          JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > (${afterPid}, ${afterIdx})
          ORDER BY cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index
@@ -2732,7 +2711,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
               cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
        FROM content_chunks cc
        JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+        WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
          AND p.source_id = ${opts.sourceId}
          AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > (${afterPid}, ${afterIdx})
@@ -443,80 +443,6 @@ export function resolveEmbeddingColumn(
  };
 }

-/**
- * Resolves the WRITE-side embedding column for the currently configured
- * embedding model (#1262). The read-side resolver above answers "which
- * column does this query search?"; this one answers "which column should
- * newly produced text embeddings land in?".
- *
- * Unlike read-side search, writes take no per-call column override. The
- * import/embed boundary resolves once from merged config + gateway state
- * and passes the descriptor into `engine.upsertChunks`; engines stay
- * config-free (same contract as the read-side descriptor).
- *
- * Behavior:
- *   - no user-declared `embedding_columns` => undefined (legacy brain,
- *     writes keep targeting the default `embedding` column)
- *   - a user-declared entry whose `provider` matches the current
- *     embedding model => that entry's descriptor
- *   - no provider match => undefined (fall back to legacy `embedding`)
- *
- * Only USER-declared entries are consulted — never the cfg-derived
- * builtins. The `embedding_image` builtin's provider is the multimodal
- * model; matching it here would misroute text embeddings into the image
- * column. The no-match fallback is intentional: switching models before
- * registering a matching column must not silently write vectors into an
- * arbitrary column.
- */
-export function resolveWriteColumn(cfg: GBrainConfig): ResolvedColumn | undefined {
-  const userColumns = cfg.embedding_columns;
-  if (
-    !userColumns ||
-    typeof userColumns !== 'object' ||
-    Array.isArray(userColumns) ||
-    Object.keys(userColumns).length === 0
-  ) {
-    return undefined;
-  }
-
-  // Same model-resolution chain as the registry builtin: cfg > gateway > default.
-  let gwModel: string | undefined;
-  try {
-    const gw = require('../ai/gateway.ts') as typeof import('../ai/gateway.ts');
-    gwModel = gw.getEmbeddingModel();
-  } catch {
-    // Gateway unconfigured — fall through to the canonical default.
-  }
-  const currentModel = cfg.embedding_model ?? gwModel ?? DEFAULT_EMBEDDING_MODEL;
-
-  for (const [name, entry] of Object.entries(userColumns)) {
-    if (!entry) continue;
-    validateColumnKey(name);
-    validateColumnConfig(name, entry);
-    if (entry.provider !== currentModel) continue;
-    return {
-      name,
-      type: entry.type,
-      dimensions: entry.dimensions,
-      embeddingModel: entry.provider,
-    };
-  }
-  return undefined;
-}
-
-/**
- * Engine-boundary convenience: merged config (file/env + DB plane) →
- * resolveWriteColumn. Dynamic import keeps config.ts out of this module's
- * static graph (mirrors the gateway require above).
- */
-export async function resolveWriteColumnForEngine(
-  engine: { getConfig(key: string): Promise<string | null | undefined> },
-): Promise<ResolvedColumn | undefined> {
-  const { loadConfigWithEngine } = await import('../config.ts');
-  const cfg = await loadConfigWithEngine(engine);
-  return cfg ? resolveWriteColumn(cfg) : undefined;
-}
-
 /**
 * True when the resolved column is the default `embedding` name.
 * Name-based check; does not compare embedding space.
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import { runGather, renderPagesBlock, takesHitToTakeForPrompt } from './gather.t
 import { renderTakesBlock } from './sanitize.ts';
 import { buildThinkSystemPrompt, buildThinkUserMessage } from './prompt.ts';
 import { resolveCitations, type ParsedCitation } from './cite-render.ts';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder } from '../owner-holder.ts';
 import { resolveModel } from '../model-config.ts';
 import { chat as gatewayChat, probeChatModel, type ChatResult } from '../ai/gateway.ts';
 import { AIConfigError } from '../ai/errors.ts';
@@ -76,8 +77,8 @@ export interface RunThinkOpts {
   */
  withCalibration?: boolean;
  /**
-   * Holder to retrieve the calibration profile for. Default 'garry'. Only
-   * consulted when withCalibration=true.
+   * Holder to retrieve the calibration profile for. Resolves via resolveOwnerHolder
+   * (config emotional_weight.user_holder, else 'self'). Only consulted when withCalibration=true.
   */
  calibrationHolder?: string;
  /**
@@ -308,7 +309,10 @@ export async function runThink(
    try {
      const { getLatestProfile } = await import('../../commands/calibration.ts');
      const profile = await getLatestProfile(engine, {
-        holder: opts.calibrationHolder ?? 'garry',
+        holder: resolveOwnerHolder({
+          override: opts.calibrationHolder,
+          configValue: await engine.getConfig('emotional_weight.user_holder'),
+        }),
      });
      if (profile) {
        calibrationBlockOpts = {
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ function buildMockEngine(opts: { rows: CalibrationProfileRow[] }): {
  const capturedParams: unknown[][] = [];
  const engine = {
    kind: 'pglite',
+    // #2464: getCalibrationProfileOp resolves the owner holder via
+    // resolveOwnerHolder(config emotional_weight.user_holder, else 'self'), so the
+    // mock must implement getConfig. null = key unset → resolver falls back to 'self'.
+    async getConfig(): Promise<string | null> {
+      return null;
+    },
    async executeRaw<T>(sql: string, params?: unknown[]): Promise<T[]> {
      capturedSql.push(sql);
      capturedParams.push(params ?? []);
@@ -211,17 +217,17 @@ describe('formatProfileText', () => {
 // ─── getCalibrationProfileOp ────────────────────────────────────────

 describe('getCalibrationProfileOp (MCP)', () => {
-  test('defaults holder to "garry" when omitted', async () => {
-    const { engine } = buildMockEngine({ rows: [buildProfile({ holder: 'garry' })] });
+  test('defaults holder to "self" when omitted (config emotional_weight.user_holder unset)', async () => {
+    const { engine } = buildMockEngine({ rows: [buildProfile({ holder: 'self' })] });
    const ctx = buildCtx(engine);
    const result = await getCalibrationProfileOp(ctx, {});
-    expect(result?.holder).toBe('garry');
+    expect(result?.holder).toBe('self');
  });

  test('routes through sourceScopeOpts: scalar source-bound client gets source-scoped result', async () => {
    const rows = [
-      buildProfile({ holder: 'garry', source_id: 'default' }),
-      buildProfile({ holder: 'garry', source_id: 'tenant-b' }),
+      buildProfile({ holder: 'self', source_id: 'default' }),
+      buildProfile({ holder: 'self', source_id: 'tenant-b' }),
    ];
    const { engine } = buildMockEngine({ rows });
    const ctx = buildCtx(engine, { sourceId: 'tenant-b' });
@@ -231,8 +237,8 @@ describe('getCalibrationProfileOp (MCP)', () => {

  test('federated read scope sees the union of allowed sources', async () => {
    const rows = [
-      buildProfile({ holder: 'garry', source_id: 'tenant-a' }),
-      buildProfile({ holder: 'garry', source_id: 'tenant-z' }),
+      buildProfile({ holder: 'self', source_id: 'tenant-a' }),
+      buildProfile({ holder: 'self', source_id: 'tenant-z' }),
    ];
    const { engine } = buildMockEngine({ rows });
    const ctx = buildCtx(engine, { allowedSources: ['tenant-a', 'tenant-b'] });
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ interface CapturedSql {
  params: unknown[];
 }

-function buildMockEngine(opts: { scorecard: TakesScorecard }): {
+function buildMockEngine(opts: { scorecard: TakesScorecard; userHolder?: string | null }): {
  engine: BrainEngine;
  captured: CapturedSql[];
 } {
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ function buildMockEngine(opts: { scorecard: TakesScorecard }): {
    async getScorecard() {
      return opts.scorecard;
    },
+    async getConfig(key: string): Promise<string | null> {
+      if (key === 'emotional_weight.user_holder') return opts.userHolder ?? null;
+      return null;
+    },
    async executeRaw<T>(sql: string, params?: unknown[]): Promise<T[]> {
      captured.push({ sql, params: params ?? [] });
      return [];
@@ -234,7 +238,7 @@ describe('runPhaseCalibrationProfile — phase integration', () => {
    // grade_completion, domain_scorecards_json, patterns[], voice_passed, voice_attempts,
    // bias_tags[], model_id
    expect(insert!.params[0]).toBe('default'); // source_id
-    expect(insert!.params[1]).toBe('garry'); // holder
+    expect(insert!.params[1]).toBe('self'); // holder (resolved via resolveOwnerHolder, no override)
    expect(insert!.params[2]).toBe(12); // total_resolved
    expect(insert!.params[9]).toBe(true); // voice_gate_passed
    expect(insert!.params[10]).toBe(1); // voice_gate_attempts
@@ -330,4 +334,24 @@ describe('runPhaseCalibrationProfile — phase integration', () => {
    const insert = captured.find(c => c.sql.includes('INSERT INTO calibration_profiles'));
    expect(insert!.params[0]).toBe('tenant-b');
  });
+
+  test('cold-brain summary uses resolved owner holder self when user_holder unset', async () => {
+    const { engine } = buildMockEngine({
+      scorecard: { total_bets: 0, resolved: 0, correct: 0, incorrect: 0, partial: 0,
+        accuracy: null, brier: null, partial_rate: null, unresolvable_count: 0, unresolvable_rate: null },
+    });
+    const result = await runPhaseCalibrationProfile(buildCtx(engine), {});
+    expect(result.summary).toContain('holder=self');
+    expect(result.summary).not.toContain('holder=garry');
+  });
+
+  test('configured user_holder overrides the default in the cold-brain summary', async () => {
+    const { engine } = buildMockEngine({
+      scorecard: { total_bets: 0, resolved: 0, correct: 0, incorrect: 0, partial: 0,
+        accuracy: null, brier: null, partial_rate: null, unresolvable_count: 0, unresolvable_rate: null },
+      userHolder: 'people/charlie-example',
+    });
+    const result = await runPhaseCalibrationProfile(buildCtx(engine), {});
+    expect(result.summary).toContain('holder=people/charlie-example');
+  });
 });
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ function buildMockEngine(opts: {
 }): BrainEngine {
  return {
    kind: 'pglite',
+    // #2464: checkCalibrationFreshness resolves the owner holder via
+    // resolveOwnerHolder(config emotional_weight.user_holder, else 'self'), so the
+    // mock must implement getConfig. null = key unset → resolver falls back to 'self'.
+    async getConfig(): Promise<string | null> {
+      return null;
+    },
    async executeRaw<T>(sql: string): Promise<T[]> {
      if (opts.throwOn && opts.throwOn.test(sql)) {
        throw new Error('mock engine error: ' + sql.slice(0, 50));
@@ -241,136 +241,3 @@ describe('buildVectorCastFragment — engine SQL composer (D3)', () => {
    expect(castSql).toBe('$1::halfvec(2560)');
  });
 });
-
-describe('PGLite engine: upsertChunks write-side ResolvedColumn descriptor (#1262)', () => {
-  test('halfvec descriptor writes the text embedding to the alternate column, not legacy embedding', async () => {
-    await engine.putPage('docs/write-alt-pglite', {
-      type: 'concept',
-      title: 'Write alt column PGLite',
-      compiled_truth: 'PGLite write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-    });
-
-    const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    };
-    await engine.upsertChunks('docs/write-alt-pglite', [
-      {
-        chunk_index: 0,
-        chunk_text: 'PGLite write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-        chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-        embedding: new Float32Array(2560).fill(0.25),
-      },
-    ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-
-    const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{
-      has_default: boolean;
-      has_ze: boolean;
-      has_embedded_at: boolean;
-    }>(
-      `SELECT embedding IS NOT NULL AS has_default,
-              embedding_ze IS NOT NULL AS has_ze,
-              embedded_at IS NOT NULL AS has_embedded_at
-         FROM content_chunks cc
-         JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE p.slug = 'docs/write-alt-pglite'`,
-    );
-    expect(rows.length).toBe(1);
-    expect(rows[0].has_default).toBe(false);
-    expect(rows[0].has_ze).toBe(true);
-    expect(rows[0].has_embedded_at).toBe(true);
-  });
-
-  test('text-unchanged re-upsert without a vector preserves the alternate-column embedding', async () => {
-    const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    };
-    // Same chunk_text, no embedding: the ON CONFLICT CASE must keep the
-    // existing alternate-column vector (D24 semantics follow the column).
-    await engine.upsertChunks('docs/write-alt-pglite', [
-      {
-        chunk_index: 0,
-        chunk_text: 'PGLite write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-        chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-      },
-    ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-    const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{ has_ze: boolean }>(
-      `SELECT embedding_ze IS NOT NULL AS has_ze
-         FROM content_chunks cc
-         JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE p.slug = 'docs/write-alt-pglite'`,
-    );
-    expect(rows).toEqual([{ has_ze: true }]);
-  });
-});
-
-describe('PGLite: embed --stale converges on an alt-column brain (#1262)', () => {
-  test('boundary resolves the write column; stale scan does not re-select embedded rows', async () => {
-    const { runEmbedCore } = await import('../../src/commands/embed.ts');
-    const local = new PGLiteEngine();
-    const previousHome = process.env.GBRAIN_HOME;
-    process.env.GBRAIN_HOME = `/tmp/gbrain-write-col-stale-${Date.now()}`;
-    try {
-      await local.connect({});
-      await local.initSchema();
-      await (local as any).db.exec(
-        `ALTER TABLE content_chunks ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS embedding_ze halfvec(2560)`,
-      );
-
-      const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-        name: 'embedding_ze',
-        type: 'halfvec',
-        dimensions: 2560,
-        embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-      };
-      await local.setConfig('embedding_columns', JSON.stringify({
-        embedding_ze: { provider: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1', dimensions: 2560, type: 'halfvec' },
-      }));
-      configureGateway({
-        embedding_model: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-        embedding_dimensions: 2560,
-        env: {},
-      });
-
-      await local.putPage('docs/stale-alt-pglite', {
-        type: 'concept',
-        title: 'Dynamic stale column',
-        compiled_truth: 'A chunk that is embedded only in the dynamic column.',
-      });
-      await local.upsertChunks('docs/stale-alt-pglite', [
-        {
-          chunk_index: 0,
-          chunk_text: 'A chunk that is embedded only in the dynamic column.',
-          chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-          embedding: new Float32Array(2560).fill(0.25),
-        },
-      ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-
-      // Engine-level contrast: legacy predicate still sees the row as stale;
-      // the alt-column predicate does not.
-      expect(await local.countStaleChunks()).toBe(1);
-      expect(await local.countStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor })).toBe(0);
-      // sumStaleChunkChars feeds the sync cost gate — same predicate contract.
-      expect(await local.sumStaleChunkChars()).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-      expect(await local.sumStaleChunkChars({ embeddingColumn: descriptor })).toBe(0);
-      expect(await local.listStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor, batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(0);
-      expect(await local.listStaleChunks({ batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(1);
-
-      // Boundary-level: `embed --stale --dry-run` resolves the write column
-      // from merged config + gateway and reports NOTHING to embed. Without
-      // the fix this reports 1 (perpetual re-embed loop).
-      const result = await runEmbedCore(local, { stale: true, dryRun: true });
-      expect(result.would_embed).toBe(0);
-    } finally {
-      await local.disconnect();
-      if (previousHome === undefined) delete process.env.GBRAIN_HOME;
-      else process.env.GBRAIN_HOME = previousHome;
-      resetGateway();
-    }
-  });
-});
@@ -224,54 +224,4 @@ if (!dbUrl) {
      await engine.executeRaw(`UPDATE content_chunks SET embedding_voyage = '${v}'::vector WHERE id = ${dogId}`);
    });
  });
-
-  describe('Postgres: upsertChunks write-side ResolvedColumn descriptor (#1262)', () => {
-    const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    };
-
-    test('halfvec descriptor writes the text embedding to the alternate column, not legacy embedding', async () => {
-      await engine.putPage('docs/write-alt-postgres', {
-        type: 'concept',
-        title: 'Write alt column Postgres',
-        compiled_truth: 'Postgres write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-      });
-      await engine.upsertChunks('docs/write-alt-postgres', [
-        {
-          chunk_index: 0,
-          chunk_text: 'Postgres write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-          chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-          embedding: new Float32Array(2560).fill(0.25),
-        },
-      ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-
-      const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{
-        has_default: boolean;
-        has_ze: boolean;
-      }>(
-        `SELECT embedding IS NOT NULL AS has_default,
-                embedding_ze IS NOT NULL AS has_ze
-           FROM content_chunks cc
-           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE p.slug = 'docs/write-alt-postgres'`,
-      );
-      expect(rows.length).toBe(1);
-      expect(rows[0].has_default).toBe(false);
-      expect(rows[0].has_ze).toBe(true);
-    }, 30_000);
-
-    test('stale scan follows the write-side column (count + list parity with the write target)', async () => {
-      // Legacy predicate: cat/dog/write-alt rows all have embedding NULL.
-      expect(await engine.countStaleChunks()).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-      // Alt-column predicate: every chunk has embedding_ze populated.
-      expect(await engine.countStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor })).toBe(0);
-      expect(await engine.listStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor, batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(0);
-      expect((await engine.listStaleChunks({ batchSize: 100 })).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-      // updated_desc arm uses the same predicate.
-      expect(await engine.listStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor, orderBy: 'updated_desc', batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(0);
-    }, 30_000);
-  });
 }
@@ -112,3 +112,7 @@ describe('computeEmotionalWeight', () => {
    expect(HIGH_EMOTION_TAGS.has('mental-health')).toBe(true);
  });
 });
+
+test('DEFAULT_USER_HOLDER is the canonical owner holder self', () => {
+  expect(DEFAULT_USER_HOLDER).toBe('self');
+});
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
+import { resolveOwnerHolder, DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER } from '../src/core/owner-holder.ts';
+
+describe('owner-holder', () => {
+  test('DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER is self', () => {
+    expect(DEFAULT_OWNER_HOLDER).toBe('self');
+  });
+
+  test('defaults to self when nothing provided', () => {
+    expect(resolveOwnerHolder({})).toBe('self');
+  });
+
+  test('null/undefined config falls back to self', () => {
+    expect(resolveOwnerHolder({ configValue: null })).toBe('self');
+    expect(resolveOwnerHolder({ configValue: undefined })).toBe('self');
+  });
+
+  test('uses config value when set and no override', () => {
+    expect(resolveOwnerHolder({ configValue: 'people/charlie-example' }))
+      .toBe('people/charlie-example');
+  });
+
+  test('override beats config and default', () => {
+    expect(resolveOwnerHolder({ override: 'world', configValue: 'people/charlie-example' }))
+      .toBe('world');
+  });
+});
@@ -13,10 +13,9 @@
 *     throw on unknown string.
 */

-import { describe, test, expect, afterAll, afterEach } from 'bun:test';
+import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
 import {
  resolveEmbeddingColumn,
-  resolveWriteColumn,
  getEmbeddingColumnRegistry,
  buildVectorCastFragment,
  quoteIdentifier,
@@ -35,28 +34,6 @@ import {
 } from '../../src/core/search/embedding-column.ts';
 import type { GBrainConfig } from '../../src/core/config.ts';
 import type { ResolvedColumn } from '../../src/core/types.ts';
-import { configureGateway, resetGateway } from '../../src/core/ai/gateway.ts';
-
-/**
- * Teardown: reset AND re-apply the legacy preload config
- * (test/helpers/legacy-embedding-preload.ts). A bare resetGateway() would
- * leave the slot empty for the NEXT file's beforeAll (the preload's
- * per-test beforeEach only fires before tests, not before beforeAll), which
- * would make sibling PGLite fixtures initSchema at the 1280 default instead
- * of the legacy 1536 their seed vectors assume.
- */
-function restorePreloadGateway() {
-  resetGateway();
-  configureGateway({
-    embedding_model: 'openai:text-embedding-3-large',
-    embedding_dimensions: 1536,
-    env: { ...process.env },
-  });
-}
-
-afterAll(() => {
-  restorePreloadGateway();
-});

 function cfg(overrides: Partial<GBrainConfig> = {}): GBrainConfig {
  return { engine: 'pglite', ...overrides };
@@ -545,89 +522,3 @@ describe('codex /ship #4 — isCacheSafe (embedding-space-based skip)', () => {
    expect(isCacheSafe(r, cfg())).toBe(true);
  });
 });
-
-describe('resolveWriteColumn — write-side boundary resolution (#1262)', () => {
-  afterEach(() => {
-    restorePreloadGateway();
-  });
-
-  test('no registry / empty registry returns undefined (legacy single-column brain)', () => {
-    expect(resolveWriteColumn(cfg())).toBeUndefined();
-    expect(resolveWriteColumn(cfg({ embedding_columns: {} }))).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
-  test('provider match via cfg.embedding_model returns the descriptor', () => {
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_model: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
-      embedding_dimensions: 1024,
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_voyage: { provider: 'voyage:voyage-3-large', dimensions: 1024, type: 'vector' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toEqual({
-      name: 'embedding_voyage',
-      type: 'vector',
-      dimensions: 1024,
-      embeddingModel: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
-    });
-  });
-
-  test('provider match via gateway state (cfg.embedding_model unset) returns descriptor', () => {
-    configureGateway({
-      embedding_model: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-      embedding_dimensions: 2560,
-      env: {},
-    });
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_ze: { provider: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1', dimensions: 2560, type: 'halfvec' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toEqual({
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    });
-  });
-
-  test('no provider match returns undefined instead of guessing a column', () => {
-    configureGateway({
-      embedding_model: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-      embedding_dimensions: 2560,
-      env: {},
-    });
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_voyage: { provider: 'voyage:voyage-3-large', dimensions: 1024, type: 'vector' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
-  test('only USER-declared columns are consulted — multimodal builtin never captures text writes', () => {
-    // Current model equals the embedding_image BUILTIN's provider; a registry
-    // walk that consulted builtins would misroute text writes into the image
-    // column. resolveWriteColumn must return undefined here.
-    configureGateway({
-      embedding_model: 'voyage:voyage-multimodal-3',
-      embedding_dimensions: 1024,
-      env: {},
-    });
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_other: { provider: 'openai:text-embedding-3-large', dimensions: 1536, type: 'vector' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
-  test('malformed registry entry throws loud (same validation as the read side)', () => {
-    expect(() => resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_model: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
-      embedding_columns: {
-        'bad"col': { provider: 'voyage:voyage-3-large', dimensions: 1024, type: 'vector' },
-      } as never,
-    }))).toThrow(EmbeddingColumnConfigError);
-  });
-});