Re-measure after wave 3, and write down the two kinds of gap it had to separate

92.8% line (2183/2352), 81.3% branch (1091/1342), 584 JVM tests in 87 classes, measured
2026-09-02 on the tree this branch creates rather than quoted from a PR body.

The shape of the wave is worth more than the number, and it is different from the two
before it. Waves 1 and 2 were finding uncovered code; by wave 3 there was little of that
left, so the gaps had to be sorted before any test was written. Coverage gaps -- filtered
to sites where JaCoCo reports mi > 0, which is what separates a real gap from a partial
branch on a compound condition, and which cut the candidate list roughly in half. And
assertion gaps, where JaCoCo is green and nothing checks the answer: MainActivity's rail
and bottom bar were both executed and transposing them passed the entire suite, as did
swapping the two progress-notification strings and swapping Content's two destinations.
No coverage number would have found any of the three.

Naming the required mutation per ticket earned its keep three times, each recorded with
what the weak assertion actually was. Also recorded: a green mutation is only evidence
when the mutation is a real change -- one classify reordering was semantically equivalent
for every reachable input, and a bad mutation and a weak test look identical in the output.

Two entries came back as not gaps, which is a result rather than a shortfall:
ContainerCapabilities:282's exclude filter cannot drop anything, and probeForConcat's
catch arm is unreachable on this runtime -- Robolectric's MediaExtractor never throws from
setDataSource, measured across four input shapes.

Both denominators moved, in opposite directions and for different reasons, so they are
stated rather than folded into the percentage: 1340 -> 1342 branches from MediaProbe.merge,
2348 -> 2352 lines from the ConcatJoiner interface. Neither is new untested code.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

CLAUDE.md

@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ install for code that can never run — and on API 37 the full APK does not fit
 - The `model` package is excluded from `ReturnCount` and `CyclomaticComplexMethod` only. It is the
   decision layer, where one branch is one documented user-visible outcome and the metric counts
   answers rather than complexity. Every other rule still applies there.
-- **Coverage is reported, not gated** — **88.9% of lines (2087/2348), 75.4% of branches
-  (1011/1340)**, measured 2026-08-29 with `./gradlew :app:jacocoTestReport`, against 546 JVM tests
-  in 76 classes.
+- **Coverage is reported, not gated** — **92.8% of lines (2183/2352), 81.3% of branches
+  (1091/1342)**, measured 2026-09-02 with `./gradlew :app:jacocoTestReport`, against 584 JVM tests
+  in 87 classes.
 
   **Every figure this file carried before 2026-08-24 was an artifact, roughly half the real one.**
   Robolectric loads classes through its own sandbox classloader with no source location, JaCoCo
@@ -174,6 +174,66 @@ install for code that can never run — and on API 37 the full APK does not fit
   denominator shrank is not the same claim as one that rises because more branches are tested, and
   this entry has a history of explaining its own numbers wrongly.
 
+  Then wave 3 (#167-#178) on 2026-09-02 — 88.9% -> 92.8% line, 75.4% -> **81.3%** branch, 546 ->
+  584 tests, in ten PRs from #179 to #188.
+
+  **Its shape is different from the two before it, and the difference is the thing to carry
+  forward.** Waves 1 and 2 were finding uncovered code. By wave 3 there was not much of that left,
+  so the gaps were sorted into two kinds before any test was written:
+
+  - **coverage gaps** — the line never executes. Filtered to sites where JaCoCo reports `mi > 0`, a
+    concrete instruction no test runs, which is what separates a real gap from a partial branch on
+    a compound condition. That filter cut the candidate list roughly in half and was right to.
+  - **assertion gaps** — JaCoCo is green and nothing checks the answer. `MainActivity`'s rail and
+    bottom bar were both *executed* by `AppRootRestorationTest` and **transposing them passed the
+    entire suite**; so did swapping the two progress-notification strings, and swapping `Content`'s
+    two destinations. No coverage number would ever have found any of the three.
+
+  So **every ticket named the mutation that had to go red, and that was its acceptance criterion
+  rather than a coverage delta**. It caught **two vacuous tests written in the same session**,
+  before either shipped:
+
+  - a `firstContainerHolding` test asserting a refusal still offered *something*. True, and
+    useless: the source container is a candidate in its own right, so the list stays non-empty
+    whatever the fallback does. What it actually buys is the codec the user asked for.
+  - a staged-delete test scanning for a `"join-"` prefix `StagingNames.forJob` does not produce —
+    it names files `<jobId>.<ext>`, so the assertion was true of everything.
+
+  It also corrected a *third* test that was not vacuous: `probeForConcat`'s KDoc claimed to drive
+  the `catch` arm, and rethrowing from that catch left it green. That is how the arm turned out to
+  be unreachable — see the next paragraph. A passing test with a wrong explanation is its own
+  failure mode.
+
+  **A green mutation is only evidence when the mutation is a real change**, which is the mirror
+  trap: one `classify` mutation stayed green because reordering two arms was semantically
+  equivalent for every reachable input. A bad mutation and a weak test look identical in the output.
+
+  Three things came back **not as the ticket described them**, which is a result rather than a
+  shortfall:
+
+  - `ContainerCapabilities:282`'s `exclude` filter **cannot drop anything**. `repair` always
+    changes a codec on the shared container — a codec it left alone is one `validate` would not
+    have refused — and the one non-default `exclude` carries `COPY` while every candidate carries
+    `NONE`. F4-shaped.
+  - `probeForConcat`'s catch arm is **unreachable on this runtime**. Robolectric's `MediaExtractor`
+    never throws from `setDataSource`, measured across an unregistered `content://` authority, a
+    missing `file://`, a file of garbage bytes and an `http://` URL — all four returned with
+    `trackCount = 0`. It stays device-only.
+  - `JobSnapshots:31`'s missed arm was **not** the `!isFile` one the ticket named — that is already
+    covered by the `reclaimed` fixture. It was `path == null`: a job carrying no output path at
+    all. Read the report, not the ticket, when the two disagree.
+
+  One item was **included against** the F4 rule rather than exempted by it, and the distinction is
+  worth having written down since both live in the same function: `ContainerCapabilities:94`
+  (`accepts(container, VideoCodec.NONE, mode)`) is dead in production today — every caller guards
+  `NONE` first — and was tested anyway, because its audio twin at `:101` has had a test since #136
+  and the asymmetry was the argument. The `COPY -> error(...)` arms beside it stay exempt, because
+  a second line of defence that can be provoked is not one.
+
+  Denominators moved here too, in both directions and for two different reasons: 1340 -> 1342
+  branches from `MediaProbe.merge`, 2348 -> 2352 lines from the `ConcatJoiner` interface. Neither
+  is new untested code.
+
   And **re-measure before quoting**: this entry was once written quoting 81.4%, measured four hours
   earlier, and was already three points stale by the time it was ready to merge.
 - **Testable code is not done until it is tested.** If a piece is unit testable, it gets unit

app/src/main/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/MediaProbe.kt

@@ -50,19 +50,42 @@ object MediaProbe {
     )
 
     fun probe(context: Context, uri: Uri): InputProbe {
-        val extracted = probeWithExtractor(context, uri)
-        val info = probeWithFFprobe(context, uri)
+        val merged = merge(probeWithExtractor(context, uri), probeWithFFprobe(context, uri))
+        if (merged.kind == InputKind.UNPARSEABLE) {
+            // Not a failure: an unparseable input is a strong signal that this job belongs on
+            // FFmpeg. Reporting an unknown codec makes the router say so.
+            Log.i(TAG, "Neither MediaExtractor nor FFprobe could read $uri; routing to FFmpeg.")
+        }
+        return merged
+    }
 
+    /**
+     * What the two probes together say about one input.
+     *
+     * A pure function, and `internal` for the same reason [extractedFrom] is: the precedence rules
+     * below are the answer to "which probe wins", and until this was pulled out of [probe] the only
+     * way to ask was to have a real `MediaExtractor` and a real FFprobe **disagree**, which nothing
+     * on any source set can arrange. `RemuxTest` drives this on a device against committed
+     * fixtures, but only ever with one probe answering and the other agreeing or also failing --
+     * so every elvis here was taken in one direction and never the other.
+     *
+     * The rules, each of which is a decision rather than an accident:
+     *
+     * - **The extractor wins on codecs.** It is the platform's own view of what it can decode,
+     *   which is the thing the router is about to ask about. FFprobe's name for the same track can
+     *   differ, and the copy planner keys off these strings.
+     * - **FFprobe alone reports the container.** `MediaExtractor` cannot, which is why [InputProbe]
+     *   carries a nullable one and `CopyPlanner` treats null as "container unknown".
+     * - **Duration is the larger of the two**, not the first non-zero. Either probe can report zero
+     *   for a file the other times correctly, and a zero duration makes the FFmpeg progress
+     *   percentage undefined.
+     */
+    internal fun merge(extracted: Extracted?, info: FFprobeInfo?): InputProbe {
         val videoCodec = extracted?.videoCodec ?: info?.videoCodec
         val audioCodec = extracted?.audioCodec ?: info?.audioCodec
         val kind = classify(extracted, info)
 
-        if (kind == InputKind.UNPARSEABLE) {
-            // Not a failure: an unparseable input is a strong signal that this job belongs on
-            // FFmpeg. Reporting an unknown codec makes the router say so.
-            Log.i(TAG, "Neither MediaExtractor nor FFprobe could read $uri; routing to FFmpeg.")
-            return UNREADABLE
-        }
+        if (kind == InputKind.UNPARSEABLE) return UNREADABLE
 
         return InputProbe(
             videoCodec = videoCodec,
@@ -83,7 +106,7 @@ object MediaProbe {
      * audio file and a corrupt file indistinguishable. The source-info card cannot describe either
      * honestly until they are separate, and neither can the copy planner.
      */
-    private fun classify(extracted: Extracted?, info: FFprobeInfo?): InputKind = when {
+    internal fun classify(extracted: Extracted?, info: FFprobeInfo?): InputKind = when {
         info?.isImage == true -> InputKind.IMAGE
         extracted == null && info == null -> InputKind.UNPARSEABLE
         (extracted?.videoCodec ?: info?.videoCodec) != null -> InputKind.VIDEO
@@ -162,7 +185,11 @@ object MediaProbe {
         }
     }
 
-    private class FFprobeInfo(
+    /**
+     * `internal` rather than `private` for the same reason [Extracted] is, and it should have been
+     * from the start: [merge] cannot be named from a test while half its signature is private.
+     */
+    internal class FFprobeInfo(
         val container: Container?,
         val videoCodec: String?,
         val audioCodec: String?,

app/src/main/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/Transcoders.kt

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import android.content.Context
 import android.net.Uri
 import androidx.media3.common.util.UnstableApi
 import org.libremediaconverter.codec.AndroidDeviceCodecs
+import org.libremediaconverter.ffmpeg.ConcatEngine
 import org.libremediaconverter.ffmpeg.FFmpegEngine
 import org.libremediaconverter.model.ConversionRequest
 import org.libremediaconverter.model.DeviceCodecs
@@ -40,6 +41,27 @@ interface SoftwareTranscoder {
     )
 }
 
+/**
+ * The join path. Implemented by [org.libremediaconverter.ffmpeg.ConcatEngine].
+ *
+ * Added last of the three, and the gap it closes was measured rather than guessed:
+ * `PerJobStagingTest`'s KDoc records that reverting `ConcatWorker` to a constant staging name left
+ * all 257 tests green, because nothing in the JVM suite can get past a `ConcatEngine` constructed
+ * in place. Everything after that line -- the failure mapping, the message fallback, the staged
+ * delete -- was untested on every source set.
+ *
+ * The result type stays nested in the implementation rather than being lifted here. Moving it would
+ * touch every call site to buy nothing: what a test needs is the ability to *not* run FFmpeg, and
+ * that is the method, not the type.
+ */
+interface ConcatJoiner {
+    suspend fun join(
+        inputs: List<Uri>,
+        output: File,
+        format: OutputFormat = OutputFormat.MP4_H264,
+    ): ConcatEngine.Result
+}
+
 /**
  * The seam that lets tests force failure paths.
  *
@@ -69,6 +91,9 @@ object ConversionDependencies {
     @Volatile
     var software: () -> SoftwareTranscoder = { FFmpegEngine() }
 
+    @Volatile
+    var concat: (Context) -> ConcatJoiner = { ConcatEngine(it) }
+
     @Volatile
     var publisher: (Context) -> OutputPublisher = { OutputPublisher(it) }
 
@@ -103,6 +128,7 @@ object ConversionDependencies {
     fun reset() {
         hardware = { Media3Engine(it) }
         software = { FFmpegEngine() }
+        concat = { ConcatEngine(it) }
         publisher = { OutputPublisher(it) }
         deviceCodecs = { AndroidDeviceCodecs.get() }
         probe = { context, uri -> MediaProbe.probe(context, uri) }

app/src/main/java/org/libremediaconverter/ffmpeg/ConcatEngine.kt

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import com.arthenica.ffmpegkit.FFmpegKit
 import com.arthenica.ffmpegkit.FFmpegKitConfig
 import com.arthenica.ffmpegkit.ReturnCode
 import kotlinx.coroutines.suspendCancellableCoroutine
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.ConcatJoiner
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.MediaProbe
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.StagingNames
 import org.libremediaconverter.model.ConcatPlanner
@@ -24,11 +25,11 @@ import kotlin.coroutines.resumeWithException
  * reliably fail when they differ — it can emit a file whose later segments are
  * garbled. See [ConcatPlanner].
  */
-class ConcatEngine(private val context: Context) {
+class ConcatEngine(private val context: Context) : ConcatJoiner {
 
     data class Result(val strategy: ConcatStrategy, val output: File)
 
-    suspend fun join(inputs: List<Uri>, output: File, format: OutputFormat = OutputFormat.MP4_H264): Result {
+    override suspend fun join(inputs: List<Uri>, output: File, format: OutputFormat): Result {
         require(inputs.size >= 2) { "Joining needs at least two files." }
 
         val paths = inputs.map { uri ->

app/src/main/java/org/libremediaconverter/work/ConcatWorker.kt

@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.CancellationException
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.ConversionDependencies
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.InputQuery
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.StagingNames
-import org.libremediaconverter.ffmpeg.ConcatEngine
 import org.libremediaconverter.model.OutputFormat
 
 /**
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ class ConcatWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWorker
 
     override suspend fun doWork(): Result {
         val uris = inputData.getStringArray(KEY_INPUT_URIS)?.map(Uri::parse)
-            ?: return Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to "No input files."))
+            ?: return Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to NO_INPUTS_MESSAGE))
         if (uris.size < 2) {
             return Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE))
         }
@@ -77,7 +76,7 @@ class ConcatWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWorker
                 ),
             )
 
-            val result = ConcatEngine(applicationContext).join(uris, staged, format)
+            val result = ConversionDependencies.concat(applicationContext).join(uris, staged, format)
             Result.success(
                 workDataOf(
                     KEY_OUTPUT_PATH to staged.absolutePath,
@@ -148,6 +147,16 @@ class ConcatWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWorker
          * Here rather than in the ViewModel because the rule is the worker's: `request(...)` takes
          * a `List<Uri>` and checks nothing about its length, so this is the guard that always runs.
          */
+        /**
+         * A job carrying no input array at all -- a downgrade, or a queue entry from a build that
+         * spelled the key differently.
+         *
+         * A constant rather than the literal it was, for the convention #158 established: a message
+         * the user can see is named once, so a test asserts the same string the worker writes
+         * rather than a copy of it that can drift.
+         */
+        const val NO_INPUTS_MESSAGE: String = "No input files."
+
         const val TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE: String = "Pick at least two files to join."
 
         /**

app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/convert/MediaProbeMergeTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+package org.libremediaconverter.convert
+
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertFalse
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNull
+import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
+import org.junit.Test
+import org.libremediaconverter.model.Container
+import org.libremediaconverter.model.InputKind
+import org.libremediaconverter.model.InputProbe
+
+/**
+ * Which of the two probes wins, when they disagree.
+ *
+ * [MediaProbe.probe] runs `MediaExtractor` and FFprobe independently and then merges the two, and
+ * every rule in that merge is a decision. None of them had a test, for a reason that is structural
+ * rather than an oversight: `RemuxTest` drives the whole thing on a device against committed
+ * fixtures, but only ever with **one probe answering and the other agreeing or also failing**.
+ * Nothing on any source set can arrange for a real extractor and a real FFprobe to disagree, so
+ * every elvis in the merge was taken in one direction and never the other.
+ *
+ * Cutting `merge` out of `probe` is what makes the question askable. Both halves of its signature
+ * had to become `internal` for that -- `Extracted` already was, with a KDoc giving this exact
+ * reason; `FFprobeInfo` simply never got the same treatment.
+ */
+class MediaProbeMergeTest {
+
+    /**
+     * The rule with the loudest failure mode, and `isImageFormat`'s own KDoc names it: a false
+     * positive here "makes the source-info card describe a video as an image". So the image verdict
+     * has to beat a real video codec from the extractor, and the ordering that makes it do so is
+     * the first arm of `classify` rather than anything a reader would infer from the fields.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `an image verdict from FFprobe beats a video codec from the extractor`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(
+            extracted = extracted(video = "h264"),
+            info = info(video = "mjpeg", isImage = true),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals(InputKind.IMAGE, merged.kind)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the extractor wins on codecs, because it is the view the router will act on`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(
+            extracted = extracted(video = "h264", audio = "aac"),
+            info = info(video = "hevc", audio = "mp3"),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals("h264", merged.videoCodec)
+        assertEquals("aac", merged.audioCodec)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `FFprobe answers for a file the extractor could not open`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(extracted = null, info = info(video = "vp9", audio = "opus"))
+
+        assertEquals("vp9", merged.videoCodec)
+        assertEquals("opus", merged.audioCodec)
+        assertEquals(InputKind.VIDEO, merged.kind)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the extractor answers for a file FFprobe could not read`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(extracted = extracted(video = "h264", audio = "aac"), info = null)
+
+        assertEquals("h264", merged.videoCodec)
+        assertEquals("aac", merged.audioCodec)
+        assertNull("only FFprobe can name the container, so it stays unknown here", merged.container)
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The larger of the two, not the first non-zero.
+     *
+     * Either probe can report zero for a file the other times correctly, and a zero duration makes
+     * the FFmpeg progress percentage undefined -- `FFmpegEngine` divides by it. Both orderings are
+     * asserted because "take the extractor's" and "take the larger" agree in one direction and not
+     * the other, and only one of them is the rule.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `duration is the longer of the two readings, whichever probe supplied it`() {
+        assertEquals(
+            5_000L,
+            MediaProbe.merge(extracted(duration = 0L), info(duration = 5_000L)).durationMs,
+        )
+        assertEquals(
+            5_000L,
+            MediaProbe.merge(extracted(duration = 5_000L), info(duration = 0L)).durationMs,
+        )
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `dimensions come from the extractor, and from FFprobe only when it has none`() {
+        assertEquals(1920, MediaProbe.merge(extracted(width = 1920), info(width = 640)).width)
+        assertEquals(640, MediaProbe.merge(extracted = null, info = info(width = 640)).width)
+        assertEquals(0, MediaProbe.merge(extracted(width = 0), info(width = 0)).width)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the container comes from FFprobe, which is the only probe that can name one`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(extracted(video = "h264"), info(container = Container.MKV))
+
+        assertEquals(Container.MKV, merged.container)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a file with audio and no video is audio-only, not unparseable`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(extracted(video = null, audio = "mp3"), info = null)
+
+        assertEquals(InputKind.AUDIO_ONLY, merged.kind)
+        assertFalse(merged.hasVideo)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a file neither probe could open is the one unreadable answer`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(extracted = null, info = null)
+
+        assertEquals(MediaProbe.UNREADABLE, merged)
+        assertEquals(InputProbe.UNPARSEABLE, merged.videoCodec)
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The arm the ticket was filed for: parsed, and carrying no stream either probe recognised.
+     *
+     * Distinct from "neither probe could open it" -- here the extractor opened the file happily and
+     * found nothing convertible, which is what a container holding only subtitles looks like. It
+     * has to reach the same [MediaProbe.UNREADABLE] answer, because the router keys off that and
+     * there is nothing here for Media3 to do either way.
+     *
+     * Its input was already being built elsewhere in the suite -- `MediaProbeTrackWalkTest` calls
+     * `extractedFrom(emptyList())` and gets exactly this -- and had simply never been handed to the
+     * merge.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `a file that parsed but carries no recognised stream is unreadable too`() {
+        val merged = MediaProbe.merge(extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(emptyList()), info = null)
+
+        assertEquals(InputKind.UNPARSEABLE, merged.kind)
+        assertEquals(MediaProbe.UNREADABLE, merged)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `hasVideo follows the codec that survived the merge, not either probe alone`() {
+        assertTrue(MediaProbe.merge(extracted(video = null), info(video = "vp9")).hasVideo)
+        assertFalse(MediaProbe.merge(extracted(video = null, audio = "aac"), info(video = null)).hasVideo)
+    }
+
+    private fun extracted(
+        video: String? = "h264",
+        audio: String? = "aac",
+        duration: Long = 1_000L,
+        width: Int = 1280,
+        height: Int = 720,
+    ) = MediaProbe.Extracted(video, audio, duration, width, height)
+
+    private fun info(
+        container: Container? = null,
+        video: String? = "h264",
+        audio: String? = "aac",
+        duration: Long = 1_000L,
+        width: Int = 1280,
+        height: Int = 720,
+        isImage: Boolean = false,
+    ) = MediaProbe.FFprobeInfo(container, video, audio, duration, width, height, isImage)
+}

app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/work/ConcatFailureTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,237 @@
+package org.libremediaconverter.work
+
+import android.app.Application
+import android.net.Uri
+import androidx.media3.common.util.UnstableApi
+import androidx.work.Data
+import androidx.work.ListenableWorker
+import androidx.work.testing.TestListenableWorkerBuilder
+import androidx.work.workDataOf
+import kotlinx.coroutines.runBlocking
+import org.junit.After
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertFalse
+import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
+import org.junit.Before
+import org.junit.Test
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.ConcatJoiner
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.ConversionDependencies
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.StagingNames
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.installTestWorkManager
+import org.libremediaconverter.ffmpeg.ConcatEngine
+import org.libremediaconverter.model.ConcatStrategy
+import org.libremediaconverter.model.OutputFormat
+import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner
+import org.robolectric.RuntimeEnvironment
+import java.io.File
+import java.util.UUID
+
+/**
+ * What a join does when the engine fails partway.
+ *
+ * Everything past `ConcatWorker`'s `setForeground` was untested on **every** source set, and the
+ * repo had already measured the cost: `PerJobStagingTest`'s KDoc records that reverting
+ * `ConcatWorker` to a constant staging name left all 257 tests green, because nothing in the JVM
+ * suite can get past a `ConcatEngine` constructed in place. `RefusedJobTest` says the same from the
+ * other side -- "the next thing past the count guard is `ConcatEngine`, which is native".
+ * `ConcatEngineTest` on a device tests the engine directly, bypassing the worker, and
+ * `ConcatWorkerTest` covers only the too-few-inputs guard and the happy path.
+ *
+ * `ConversionDependencies.concat` is the seam that closes it, added here to sit beside the
+ * `.hardware` and `.software` that `ConversionWorker` has had all along -- the asymmetry between the
+ * two workers was the whole reason one of them had a tested failure path and the other did not.
+ */
+@UnstableApi
+@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner::class)
+class ConcatFailureTest {
+
+    private lateinit var app: Application
+    private lateinit var publisher: AlwaysRoomPublisher
+
+    @Before
+    fun setUp() {
+        app = RuntimeEnvironment.getApplication()
+        publisher = AlwaysRoomPublisher(app)
+        ConversionDependencies.publisher = { publisher }
+        installTestWorkManager(app, Data.EMPTY)
+    }
+
+    @After
+    fun tearDown() {
+        ConversionDependencies.reset()
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a join whose engine fails reports the engine's own reason`() {
+        ConversionDependencies.concat = { FailingJoiner { error(DEMUXER_MESSAGE) } }
+
+        val result = runBlocking { joinWorker().doWork() }
+
+        assertEquals(
+            ListenableWorker.Result.failure(workDataOf(ConcatWorker.KEY_ERROR to DEMUXER_MESSAGE)),
+            result,
+        )
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A failure carrying no message at all, which Kotlin and Java both allow and FFmpegKit's
+     * wrappers can produce.
+     *
+     * Without the fallback the user is shown an empty error, and `JoinViewModel` cannot tell that
+     * from a job that reported nothing -- the two would be one blank screen with different causes.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `a failure with no message of its own still says something`() {
+        ConversionDependencies.concat = { FailingJoiner { throw RuntimeException() } }
+
+        val result = runBlocking { joinWorker().doWork() }
+
+        assertEquals(
+            ListenableWorker.Result.failure(
+                workDataOf(ConcatWorker.KEY_ERROR to ConcatWorker.GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE),
+            ),
+            result,
+        )
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The staged file is deleted on the way out.
+     *
+     * The joiner writes before it fails, exactly as `PartialThenFailingTranscoder` does on the
+     * conversion side: a stub that only threw would let a missing `staged.delete()` pass. What it
+     * costs to lose is a full-size partial per failed join, sitting in cache until the sweep is old
+     * enough to be sure nobody is coming back for it.
+     *
+     * Asserted against the file the joiner was actually handed rather than by scanning the staging
+     * directory for a name. The first draft did scan, for a `"join-"` prefix that
+     * `StagingNames.forJob` does not produce -- it names files `<jobId>.<ext>` -- so the assertion
+     * was trivially true and the mutation walked straight through it.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `a failed join leaves nothing behind in staging`() {
+        val joiner = FailingJoiner { error(DEMUXER_MESSAGE) }
+        ConversionDependencies.concat = { joiner }
+
+        runBlocking { joinWorker().doWork() }
+
+        val staged = requireNotNull(joiner.lastOutput) { "the joiner never ran, so this proves nothing" }
+        assertEquals(
+            "the fixture has to write before it fails, or the delete is unobservable",
+            PARTIAL_BYTES,
+            joiner.bytesWritten,
+        )
+        assertFalse("a failed join must not leave its partial behind: $staged", staged.exists())
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The success path, and the staging name #159's fixture and `PerJobStagingTest` both care about.
+     *
+     * Worth its place rather than a happy-path formality: `PerJobStagingTest`'s KDoc records that
+     * **reverting `ConcatWorker` to a constant staging name left all 257 tests green**, because
+     * nothing could reach the line that names the file. This is the test that was missing when that
+     * was written -- the join's output `Data` had never been read by anything on the JVM.
+     *
+     * The staged path is asserted to carry the job id, not a constant: two joins of the same format
+     * sharing one name is the defect, and `ConcatEngine`'s list file collided harder still.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `a join that works reports its own staged file, strategy and name`() {
+        val joiner = SucceedingJoiner()
+        ConversionDependencies.concat = { joiner }
+
+        val result = runBlocking { joinWorker().doWork() }
+
+        assertTrue("got $result", result is ListenableWorker.Result.Success)
+        val data = (result as ListenableWorker.Result.Success).outputData
+        assertEquals(
+            "the staged file has to be this job's, not a name every join shares",
+            File(publisherStagingDir(), StagingNames.forJob(JOB_ID, OutputFormat.MP4_H264.extension)).absolutePath,
+            data.getString(ConcatWorker.KEY_OUTPUT_PATH),
+        )
+        assertEquals(ConcatStrategy.STREAM_COPY.name, data.getString(ConcatWorker.KEY_STRATEGY))
+        assertEquals(OutputFormat.MP4_H264.mimeType, data.getString(ConcatWorker.KEY_MIME_TYPE))
+        assertTrue(
+            "the save dialog needs a name with the right extension, got ${data.getString(
+                ConcatWorker.KEY_SUGGESTED_NAME,
+            )}",
+            data.getString(ConcatWorker.KEY_SUGGESTED_NAME).orEmpty().endsWith(".${OutputFormat.MP4_H264.extension}"),
+        )
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The arm beside the count guard: no URI array at all.
+     *
+     * Covered today only by `UnopenableUriTest` on a device, although it runs before staging and
+     * before any native code. It is the exact sibling of `RefusedJobTest`'s ConversionWorker twin,
+     * and it belongs on the JVM with it -- a device test for a branch that needs no device is a
+     * slower test that reports later.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `a join with no input array at all is refused with a message`() {
+        val result = runBlocking {
+            TestListenableWorkerBuilder<ConcatWorker>(
+                context = app,
+                inputData = workDataOf(ConcatWorker.KEY_FORMAT to OutputFormat.MP4_H264.name),
+                runAttemptCount = 0,
+            ).setId(JOB_ID).build().doWork()
+        }
+
+        assertEquals(
+            ListenableWorker.Result.failure(workDataOf(ConcatWorker.KEY_ERROR to ConcatWorker.NO_INPUTS_MESSAGE)),
+            result,
+        )
+    }
+
+    private fun publisherStagingDir(): File? = publisher.createStagingFile("probe").parentFile
+
+    private fun joinWorker(): ConcatWorker = TestListenableWorkerBuilder<ConcatWorker>(
+        context = app,
+        inputData = workDataOf(
+            ConcatWorker.KEY_INPUT_URIS to arrayOf(FIRST.toString(), SECOND.toString()),
+            ConcatWorker.KEY_TOTAL_BYTES to TOTAL_BYTES,
+            ConcatWorker.KEY_FORMAT to OutputFormat.MP4_H264.name,
+        ),
+        runAttemptCount = 0,
+    ).setId(JOB_ID).build()
+
+    private companion object {
+        val FIRST: Uri = Uri.parse("file:///tmp/one.mp4")
+        val SECOND: Uri = Uri.parse("file:///tmp/two.mp4")
+        const val TOTAL_BYTES = 2048L
+        const val DEMUXER_MESSAGE = "the demuxer rejected the input list"
+        const val PARTIAL_BYTES = 2048
+        val JOB_ID: UUID = UUID.fromString("00000000-0000-4000-8000-00000000000b")
+    }
+}
+
+/** A joiner that writes something and then fails, so a missing `staged.delete()` cannot pass. */
+private class FailingJoiner(private val failure: () -> Nothing) : ConcatJoiner {
+
+    /** The handle the worker created, kept so a test can ask whether it survived the failure. */
+    var lastOutput: File? = null
+    var bytesWritten = 0
+
+    override suspend fun join(inputs: List<Uri>, output: File, format: OutputFormat): ConcatEngine.Result {
+        lastOutput = output
+        output.writeBytes(ByteArray(PARTIAL_BYTES))
+        bytesWritten = PARTIAL_BYTES
+        failure()
+    }
+
+    private companion object {
+        const val PARTIAL_BYTES = 2048
+    }
+}
+
+/** The joiner that finishes, so the success path and the output `Data` can be read on the JVM. */
+private class SucceedingJoiner : ConcatJoiner {
+    override suspend fun join(inputs: List<Uri>, output: File, format: OutputFormat): ConcatEngine.Result {
+        output.writeBytes(ByteArray(OUTPUT_BYTES))
+        return ConcatEngine.Result(ConcatStrategy.STREAM_COPY, output)
+    }
+
+    private companion object {
+        const val OUTPUT_BYTES = 4096
+    }
+}