diff --git a/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-observe-analyzer-source.ts b/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-observe-analyzer-source.ts
index 24eaf951..3599e8d7 100644
--- a/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-observe-analyzer-source.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-observe-analyzer-source.ts
@@ -1387,7 +1387,7 @@ function sessionInvariantNavigationWindows(control) {
   const started = new Map();
   const windows = [];
   for (const row of control || []) {
-    if (row?.type !== "switchAwayAndBack") continue;
+    if (row?.type !== "switchAwayAndBack" && row?.type !== "refreshCurrentSession") continue;
     const commandId = stringOrNull(row.commandId) ?? String(row.seq ?? "");
     if (row.phase === "started") {
       started.set(commandId, row);
@@ -1435,6 +1435,35 @@ function sampleInControlledNavigationWindow(sample, windows) {
   return (windows || []).some((window) => ms >= window.startMs && ms <= window.endMs);
 }
 
+function sampleRefInControlledNavigationSessionWindow(sample, windows) {
+  const ms = timestampMs(sample?.ts);
+  if (!Number.isFinite(ms)) return false;
+  const routeSessionId = stringOrNull(sample?.routeSessionId);
+  const activeSessionId = stringOrNull(sample?.activeSessionId);
+  return (windows || []).some((window) => {
+    if (ms < window.startMs || ms > window.endMs) return false;
+    const expected = [window.canarySessionId, window.alternateSessionId].filter(Boolean);
+    return expected.some((sessionId) => sessionId === routeSessionId || sessionId === activeSessionId);
+  });
+}
+
+function isBlankHydrationProjectionSample(sample) {
+  if (!sample) return false;
+  const messageCount = Array.isArray(sample.messages) ? sample.messages.length : Number(sample.messageCount ?? 0);
+  const traceRowCount = Array.isArray(sample.traceRows) ? sample.traceRows.length : Number(sample.traceRowCount ?? 0);
+  return !stringOrNull(sample.activeSessionId)
+    && Number(messageCount) === 0
+    && Number(traceRowCount) === 0;
+}
+
+function controlledNavigationHydrationCrossPageDiff(row, windows, sampleBySeq) {
+  if (row?.diffKind !== "projection") return false;
+  if (!sampleRefInControlledNavigationSessionWindow(row.control, windows) || !sampleRefInControlledNavigationSessionWindow(row.observer, windows)) return false;
+  const control = sampleBySeq.get(Number(row?.control?.seq));
+  const observer = sampleBySeq.get(Number(row?.observer?.seq));
+  return isBlankHydrationProjectionSample(control) || isBlankHydrationProjectionSample(observer);
+}
+
 function objectValue(value) {
   return value && typeof value === "object" && !Array.isArray(value) ? value : {};
 }
@@ -1602,11 +1631,15 @@ function buildFindings(samples, control, network, errors, sampleMetrics, promptN
   const crossPageProjectionDiffs = crossPageDiffs.filter((item) => item.diffKind !== "trace-visibility");
   const crossPageTraceVisibilityDiffs = crossPageDiffs.filter((item) => item.diffKind === "trace-visibility");
   const crossPageProjectionBudgetMs = alertThresholds.crossPageProjectionDivergenceRedMs;
+  const sampleBySeq = new Map(samples.map((item) => [Number(item?.seq), item]).filter(([seq]) => Number.isFinite(seq)));
   const timedCrossPageProjectionDiffs = annotateCrossPageDiffTiming(crossPageProjectionDiffs);
-  const persistentCrossPageProjectionDiffs = timedCrossPageProjectionDiffs.filter((item) => Number(item.observedSpanMs ?? 0) > crossPageProjectionBudgetMs);
-  const transientCrossPageProjectionDiffs = timedCrossPageProjectionDiffs.filter((item) => Number(item.observedSpanMs ?? 0) <= crossPageProjectionBudgetMs);
+  const controlledNavigationHydrationProjectionDiffs = timedCrossPageProjectionDiffs.filter((item) => controlledNavigationHydrationCrossPageDiff(item, controlledNavigationWindows, sampleBySeq));
+  const evaluatedCrossPageProjectionDiffs = timedCrossPageProjectionDiffs.filter((item) => !controlledNavigationHydrationCrossPageDiff(item, controlledNavigationWindows, sampleBySeq));
+  const persistentCrossPageProjectionDiffs = evaluatedCrossPageProjectionDiffs.filter((item) => Number(item.observedSpanMs ?? 0) > crossPageProjectionBudgetMs);
+  const transientCrossPageProjectionDiffs = evaluatedCrossPageProjectionDiffs.filter((item) => Number(item.observedSpanMs ?? 0) <= crossPageProjectionBudgetMs);
   if (persistentCrossPageProjectionDiffs.length > 0) findings.push({ id: "cross-page-projection-divergence", severity: "red", summary: "control and observer pages saw different projection state for the same sampled session beyond the configured budget", count: persistentCrossPageProjectionDiffs.length, budgetMs: crossPageProjectionBudgetMs, samples: persistentCrossPageProjectionDiffs.slice(0, 20) });
   if (transientCrossPageProjectionDiffs.length > 0) findings.push({ id: "cross-page-projection-transient-divergence", severity: "info", summary: "control and observer pages briefly differed near a sampled transition; retained as transient evidence but not treated as persistent projection failure", count: transientCrossPageProjectionDiffs.length, budgetMs: crossPageProjectionBudgetMs, samples: transientCrossPageProjectionDiffs.slice(0, 20) });
+  if (controlledNavigationHydrationProjectionDiffs.length > 0) findings.push({ id: "cross-page-projection-controlled-navigation-hydration", severity: "info", summary: "control and observer pages differed while a non-blocking session-invariance navigation command still had an unhydrated blank page; retained as context but not treated as a red projection blocker", count: controlledNavigationHydrationProjectionDiffs.length, budgetMs: crossPageProjectionBudgetMs, samples: controlledNavigationHydrationProjectionDiffs.slice(0, 20) });
   if (crossPageTraceVisibilityDiffs.length > 0) findings.push({ id: "cross-page-trace-visibility-divergence", severity: "info", summary: "control and observer pages differed only in visible trace row count; this is local disclosure/hydration visibility, not session/message projection divergence", count: crossPageTraceVisibilityDiffs.length, samples: crossPageTraceVisibilityDiffs.slice(0, 20) });
   const traceMessageDuplicates = detectTraceMessageDuplication(samples);
   if (traceMessageDuplicates.length > 0) findings.push({ id: "trace-assistant-message-duplicates-final-response", severity: "amber", summary: "trace-frame rendered duplicate visible assistant final rows; the fixed Final Response renderer summary block is excluded", count: traceMessageDuplicates.length, finalResponseSummaryBlockCounted: false, traceFrameSource: "traceRows-only", samples: traceMessageDuplicates.slice(0, 20) });
diff --git a/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-sentinel-cicd.ts b/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-sentinel-cicd.ts
index 4e1dfb0c..b10a83a4 100644
--- a/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-sentinel-cicd.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/hwlab-node-web-sentinel-cicd.ts
@@ -1816,9 +1816,10 @@ function runSentinelQuickVerify(state: SentinelCicdState, reason: string, timeou
     });
   }
   const sampleIntervalMs = numberAt(scenario, "sampleIntervalMs");
-  const budgetSeconds = Math.min(timeoutSeconds, maxSeconds);
-  const elapsedWarnings = () => targetValidationElapsedWarnings(elapsedMs(), "quick verify confirm-wait", budgetSeconds);
-  const deadline = Date.now() + budgetSeconds * 1000;
+  const warningBudgetSeconds = maxSeconds;
+  const hardBudgetSeconds = Math.min(timeoutSeconds, Math.max(maxSeconds, numberAt(scenario, "maxRunSeconds")));
+  const elapsedWarnings = () => targetValidationElapsedWarnings(elapsedMs(), "quick verify confirm-wait", warningBudgetSeconds);
+  const deadline = Date.now() + hardBudgetSeconds * 1000;
   const runId = `sentinel-run-${Date.now().toString(36)}-${randomUUID().slice(0, 8)}`;
   const steps: Record<string, unknown>[] = [];
   const startArgs = [
@@ -1851,7 +1852,7 @@ function runSentinelQuickVerify(state: SentinelCicdState, reason: string, timeou
       valuesRedacted: true,
     });
   }
-  const startupReady = waitForQuickVerifyObserverStartup(state, observerId, deadline, sampleIntervalMs, budgetSeconds);
+  const startupReady = waitForQuickVerifyObserverStartup(state, observerId, deadline, sampleIntervalMs, warningBudgetSeconds);
   steps.push({ phase: "observe-wait-startup-ready", ok: startupReady.ok, result: startupReady });
   if (startupReady.ok !== true) {
     return recordQuickVerify(state, finalizeQuickVerifyFailure(state, {
@@ -1883,7 +1884,7 @@ function runSentinelQuickVerify(state: SentinelCicdState, reason: string, timeou
           steps,
           failure: "quick-verify-timeout-over-budget",
           elapsedMs: elapsedMs(),
-          warnings: mergeWarnings(`quick verify exceeded the configured ${budgetSeconds}s targetValidation budget; investigate Code Agent multi-round continuity before retrying.`, elapsedWarnings()),
+          warnings: mergeWarnings(`quick verify exceeded the hard ${hardBudgetSeconds}s execution budget after the configured ${warningBudgetSeconds}s targetValidation warning budget.`, elapsedWarnings()),
           promptSource: prompts.summary,
         }));
       }
@@ -1920,7 +1921,7 @@ function runSentinelQuickVerify(state: SentinelCicdState, reason: string, timeou
         }));
       }
       if (type === "sendPrompt") {
-        const waitResult = waitForQuickVerifyPromptTurn(state, observerId, promptIndex, deadline, sampleIntervalMs, budgetSeconds);
+        const waitResult = waitForQuickVerifyPromptTurn(state, observerId, promptIndex, deadline, sampleIntervalMs, warningBudgetSeconds);
         steps.push({ phase: "observe-wait-turn-terminal", ok: waitResult.ok, promptIndex, result: waitResult });
         if (waitResult.ok !== true) {
           return recordQuickVerify(state, finalizeQuickVerifyFailure(state, {