Two real gaps the CI-red sibling tests exposed:
- read_selection() treated EVERY raw stt.provider: local as the legacy
DEFAULT_CONFIG seed and reported no-selection — but the seed never
reached config.yaml (save_config strips schema defaults), so a
picker- or hand-written local pick was silently discarded and the
autodetect ladder could route an explicit local user to cloud STT.
A raw 'local' is now a genuine selection; the merged-view ambiguity
note replaces the over-broad shim (mirror comment updated in
nous_subscription._selected_provider and _get_provider).
- _reconfigure_provider was half-migrated: the tts/stt/browser/web
branches and the managed-category fallthrough still wrote
use_gateway flags and vendor names for managed rows. They now write
the single provider string ('nous' for managed rows) and pop the
legacy key, matching _write_provider_config.
New tests/tools/test_strict_provider_selection.py covers read_selection
semantics (legacy use_gateway interpretation, seeded stt local, empty
strings, browser.backend vs cloud_provider) and the three strict
behaviors per category: managed 'nous' selection wins over present
direct keys, a vendor selection with missing credentials raises the
selection-naming error with NO managed call, and never-configured
installs keep today's autodetect. Updated the tests that pinned the old
credential-first precedence (TTS resolver gateway override, STT silent
managed fallback, web invalid-backend reroute, video_gen picker writes).
Sabotage-verified: reverting the image FAL strict switch makes the new
managed-selection tests fail.
Teknium