diff --git a/ci/bump-tested-up-to.sh b/ci/bump-tested-up-to.sh
index f9f3365..7480083 100755
--- a/ci/bump-tested-up-to.sh
+++ b/ci/bump-tested-up-to.sh
@@ -60,10 +60,15 @@ done
 git diff --quiet && { echo "Nothing actually changed on disk — check the sed patterns." >&2; exit 1; }
 
 branch="compat/tested-up-to-$current_wp-wc-$current_wc"
-git config user.name "compatibility check"
-git config user.email "noreply@localhost"
 git checkout -b "$branch"
-git commit -am "Tested against WordPress $current_wp and WooCommerce $current_wc
+# The identity is scoped to THIS commit with `git -c`, never written to the
+# clone. `git config user.name` persists in .git/config, so every later commit
+# in this working copy — a release days afterwards, by a person — would be
+# authored by the robot with no Co-Authored-By trailer. git announces a
+# MISSING identity and says nothing about a wrong one, so that is silent.
+# Signing this one commit as the robot is right: it is not a person's.
+git -c user.name="compatibility check" -c user.email="noreply@localhost" \
+  commit -am "Tested against WordPress $current_wp and WooCommerce $current_wc
 
 $(printf '%s\n' "${changed[@]}")
 
diff --git a/ci/selftest.sh b/ci/selftest.sh
index 7b02117..98aeb5b 100755
--- a/ci/selftest.sh
+++ b/ci/selftest.sh
@@ -205,6 +205,54 @@ ann=$(ci_php ci/check-textdomain.php "$TEXT_DOMAIN" selftest-dotted 2>&1 \
   && ok "the annotated path exists on disk: $ann" \
   || bad "the annotated path is not a file: '$ann'"
 
+# ------------------------------------------------------- the clone's git identity
+# 🔴 Grade 2 evidence: the exact line ci/bump-tested-up-to.sh carried until
+# 2026-09-25, not an arbitrary `git config`. That line writes .git/config, so
+# every later commit in the clone — a release, by a person — is authored by the
+# robot with no trailer. Six such commits in one sibling plugin, two in
+# another. git warns about an identity it cannot FIND and never about a wrong
+# one, so nothing in the repository ever says so.
+echo
+echo "→ ci/static.sh must catch a ci/ script that configures the clone"
+cd "$work/repo"
+cp ci/build-zip.sh "$work/build-zip.orig"
+for scope in '' '--local' '--global'; do
+  cp "$work/build-zip.orig" ci/build-zip.sh
+  line="git config ${scope:+$scope }user.name \"compatibility check\""
+  printf '%s\n' "$line" >> ci/build-zip.sh
+  # The plant must BE there before any verdict is believed. A `printf` that
+  # silently went somewhere else leaves the control state, and every assertion
+  # below then passes while proving nothing — a hollow probe wearing the
+  # costume of the most rigorous thing in the suite.
+  if [ "$(grep -cF "$line" ci/build-zip.sh)" -lt 1 ]; then
+    bad "could not stage the git-identity fixture for '${scope:-no flag}'"
+    continue
+  fi
+  id_out=$(./ci/static.sh 2>&1 || true)
+  if printf '%s' "$id_out" | grep -q 'sets a git identity that outlives it'; then
+    ok "flagged git config ${scope:-(no flag)} user.name"
+  else
+    bad "NOT FLAGGED: git config ${scope:-(no flag)} user.name — the clone keeps the robot's name"
+  fi
+done
+
+# The correct form must NOT fire, or the fix trips the check that exists to
+# protect it and the next person deletes one of the two.
+cp "$work/build-zip.orig" ci/build-zip.sh
+printf '%s\n' 'git -c user.name="compatibility check" -c user.email=x commit -m y' >> ci/build-zip.sh
+scoped_out=$(./ci/static.sh 2>&1 || true)
+printf '%s' "$scoped_out" | grep -q 'sets a git identity that outlives it' \
+  && bad "FALSE POSITIVE on 'git -c user.name=… commit' — that is the fix, not the fault" \
+  || ok "ignored the scoped 'git -c … commit' form"
+cp "$work/build-zip.orig" ci/build-zip.sh
+
+# And the passing line must carry a number: "every script is clean" reads the
+# same over zero files as over eleven.
+clean_out=$(./ci/static.sh 2>&1 || true)
+printf '%s' "$clean_out" | grep -qE "^  [0-9]+ scripts in ci/ leave the clone's git identity alone" \
+  && ok "the git-identity check reports how many scripts it read" \
+  || bad "the git-identity check printed no count — it cannot tell 11 scripts from 0"
+
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------- plugin.conf
 echo
 echo "→ the floors must be required, not defaulted"
diff --git a/ci/static.sh b/ci/static.sh
index 772edfa..a2932b3 100755
--- a/ci/static.sh
+++ b/ci/static.sh
@@ -307,6 +307,36 @@ elif [ "$fails" = "$before" ]; then
   echo "  $secrets_scanned tracked files read, nothing that looks like a key or a private key"
 fi
 
+ci_step "no ci/ script configures the clone it was handed"
+# `git config user.name` writes .git/config and OUTLIVES the script. A helper
+# that sets an identity before committing therefore renames every later commit
+# in that working copy, including a release made by a person days afterwards
+# and with no Co-Authored-By trailer. git announces an identity it cannot FIND
+# and says nothing about one that is wrong, so the missing case is loud and
+# this one is silent: nothing fails, nothing warns, and the author is only
+# visible to somebody reading `git log` for another reason.
+#
+# ci/bump-tested-up-to.sh did this until it was scoped to `git -c … commit`,
+# which still signs its own commit as the robot — correct, that one is not a
+# person's — without touching the clone. Measured across the family: six
+# misattributed hand commits in one sibling, two in another, including
+# releases. This tree was clean and one run away.
+#
+# Any flag, not just --local: --global sets the whole machine's identity, which
+# is the same fault one scope wider and reaches every repository on the box.
+#
+# The rule: a script may configure ITSELF, never the working copy it was
+# handed. Reported by the Nolimit Security session 2026-09-25.
+scripts_scanned=$(git ls-files 'ci/*.sh' | wc -l)
+if [ "$scripts_scanned" -lt 1 ]; then
+  note_fail "The git-identity scan found no ci/*.sh files at all, so it proved nothing."
+elif git ls-files -z 'ci/*.sh' \
+  | xargs -0 grep -nE '^[^#]*git config([[:space:]]+--[a-z-]+)*[[:space:]]+user\.'; then
+  note_fail "A ci/ script sets a git identity that outlives it. Scope it to the one commit with 'git -c user.name=… commit', which does not write .git/config."
+else
+  echo "  $scripts_scanned scripts in ci/ leave the clone's git identity alone"
+fi
+
 ci_step "no placeholders left in the plugin header"
 # The header is the plugin's business card: wp-admin shows the author and the
 # links to whoever installs it, so a placeholder there survives for as long as