W5 (#158): one sentence per user-facing condition, not two

Four messages were written out in two places each, in a codebase that already
had the convention for this and states it in `OutputPublisher.kt`:

    Kept next to [STAGED_FILE_GONE_MESSAGE] for the same reason it is: both
    ViewModels need it and staging is what it is about.

The ticket named three. A wider scan -- `"[A-Z][^"]{8,90}[.!]"` rather than the
{15,70} that produced the original list -- found a fourth, `"Joining failed."`,
which is the exact join-side twin of `"Conversion failed."` and had been missed
because it is fifteen characters long.

  "Pick at least two files to join."  ->  ConcatWorker.TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE
  "Joining failed."                   ->  ConcatWorker.GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE
  "Conversion failed."                ->  ConversionWorker.GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE
  "Could not save the file."          ->  SAVE_FAILED_MESSAGE, beside
                                          STAGED_FILE_GONE_MESSAGE

Each constant sits with the layer that owns the condition, which is what the two
existing constants do. The arity rule is the worker's -- `request(...)` takes a
`List<Uri>` and checks nothing about its length -- so `TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE`
lives there and the ViewModel reads it, not the other way round.

WHY THE TWO `Log.e` LITERALS STAY. `"Conversion failed."` and `"Joining failed."`
each also appear in a log line beside the failure they describe. Those keep their
own copies: a log has a different audience and carries the exception with it, and
coupling it to the user-facing wording would mean rewording the screen to change
a log. Stated in the KDoc so the next scan does not read them as a miss.

THE TEST IS A CROSS-LAYER ONE, DELIBERATELY. #158's done-when is explicit that "a
test asserting the constant equals its own value is worth nothing". Sharing a
constant makes the two sites agree by construction; what it cannot show is that
both layers still *reach* it. So `SharedFailureMessagesTest` drives each for real
-- the ViewModel through `onInputsPicked`, the worker through `doWork` -- and
asserts the two answers are the same string, taken from two running layers rather
than from one declaration.

That the sharing was worth doing at all is visible in what was pinned before:
`RefusedJobTest` (#139) pinned the worker's copy of the arity message and nothing
pinned the ViewModel's, so the screen's wording could drift with no test saying
anything.

Mutations:

| mutation | result |
|---|---|
| ViewModel keeps its own drifted literal | red |
| ViewModel's arity guard removed entirely | red |

Gate green: assembleDebug, testDebugUnitTest, compileDebugAndroidTestKotlin,
ktlintCheck, detekt, lintDebug.

Not done here: `"Saved ${s.displayName}."` appears in both screens. It is left
alone, and the reason is a real distinction rather than an oversight -- the four
above are cases where one layer's message is another layer's *fallback*, so drift
means the user sees different words for one condition. Two screens each wording
their own success text is ordinary UI, and drift there is cosmetic.

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

CLAUDE.md

@@ -130,8 +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** — **84.9% of lines (1971/2321), 63.8% of branches**,
-  measured 2026-08-26 with `./gradlew :app:jacocoTestReport`, against 454 JVM tests in 67 classes.
+- **Coverage is reported, not gated** — **87.1% of lines (2025/2324), 69.1% of branches
+  (974/1410)**, measured 2026-08-27 with `./gradlew :app:jacocoTestReport`, against 502 JVM tests
+  in 71 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
@@ -147,12 +148,19 @@ install for code that can never run — and on API 37 the full APK does not fit
   disproportionately Robolectric, so each one added denominator and no numerator — the measurement
   was punishing exactly the tests that were hardest to write.
 
-  Two things still hold. A floor needs a baseline that has settled, and this one has not: it moved
-  39 points in a single build change on 2026-08-24, then another 16 as the #52 test push and the
+  Two things still hold. A floor needs a baseline that has settled, and this one has not. It moved
+  39 points in a single build change on 2026-08-24; then another 16 as the #52 test push and the
   fixes it turned up landed — 69.2% -> 84.9% line, 53.2% -> 63.8% branch — while the denominator
-  grew 2194 -> 2321, because that work added production code of its own. And **re-measure before
-  quoting**: this entry was written quoting 81.4%, measured four hours earlier, and was already
-  three points stale by the time it was ready to merge.
+  grew 2194 -> 2321, because that work added production code of its own; then again on 2026-08-27
+  as #132 and #133's ten children landed — 84.9% -> 87.1% line, 63.8% -> **69.1%** branch, 454 ->
+  502 tests. **Branch moved four times as far as line that last time**, and that is the shape to
+  expect from this kind of work rather than a surprise: those children targeted decision code —
+  enum fallbacks, refusal arms, cursor shapes, a `when` over container rules — where one test
+  chooses a branch the suite had never taken. Line coverage barely notices; branch coverage is the
+  whole point.
+
+  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
   tests before it counts as done. If it is e2e testable, it gets e2e tests. Both clauses apply —
   a change that is both needs both.

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

@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@ class ConversionViewModel @JvmOverloads constructor(
                     WorkInfo.State.FAILED -> ConversionState.Failed(
                         info.outputData.getString(ConversionWorker.KEY_ERROR)
                             ?.takeIf { it.isNotBlank() }
-                            ?: "Conversion failed.",
+                            ?: ConversionWorker.GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE,
                     )
 
                     WorkInfo.State.CANCELLED -> cancelled
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ class ConversionViewModel @JvmOverloads constructor(
                 // than a fresh handle for the second failure's sake: a retry that fails again
                 // lands back here still carrying the file, not on a bare Failed that would take
                 // the offer away.
-                _state.value = ConversionState.Failed(e.message ?: "Could not save the file.", pending)
+                _state.value = ConversionState.Failed(e.message ?: SAVE_FAILED_MESSAGE, pending)
             }
         }
     }

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

@@ -92,7 +92,12 @@ object MediaProbe {
         else -> InputKind.UNPARSEABLE
     }
 
-    private class Extracted(
+    /**
+     * `internal` rather than `private` so [extractedFrom] can be named from a test. The JVM test
+     * source set is a friend of `main`, so this stays invisible outside the module — the precedent
+     * is `MainActivity`'s `Destination`, and [containerFrom] beside it.
+     */
+    internal class Extracted(
         val videoCodec: String?,
         val audioCodec: String?,
         val durationMs: Long,
@@ -100,33 +105,55 @@ object MediaProbe {
         val height: Int,
     )
 
+    /**
+     * What a set of track formats says about a file.
+     *
+     * Split out of [probeWithExtractor] so the rules below can be tested against tracks a test
+     * *chooses*, rather than against whatever the committed fixtures happen to contain. The device
+     * tests exercise this through real files; none of them can construct a two-video-track input,
+     * a track that omits its duration, or an audio-before-video ordering on purpose.
+     *
+     * Three rules live here, and each is a decision rather than plumbing:
+     *
+     * - **First track of a type wins.** `video == null` is the whole guard. A file with two video
+     *   tracks must report the first, because that is the one an engine will transcode.
+     * - **Duration is the maximum across tracks**, not the first one found or the last. A file
+     *   whose audio outlasts its video is ordinary, and reporting the video's length would cut the
+     *   progress bar short.
+     * - **A track that omits `KEY_DURATION` contributes nothing** rather than zero. `MediaExtractor`
+     *   omits it for plenty of real tracks — see `MediaProbeTrackFieldsTest` — and `maxOf` against a
+     *   fabricated 0 would still be correct here, but reading a key that is absent is not.
+     */
+    internal fun extractedFrom(formats: List<MediaFormat>): Extracted {
+        var video: String? = null
+        var audio: String? = null
+        var durationUs = 0L
+        var width = 0
+        var height = 0
+
+        for (format in formats) {
+            val mime = format.getString(MediaFormat.KEY_MIME).orEmpty()
+            if (format.containsKey(MediaFormat.KEY_DURATION)) {
+                durationUs = maxOf(durationUs, format.getLong(MediaFormat.KEY_DURATION))
+            }
+            when {
+                mime.startsWith("video/") && video == null -> {
+                    video = shortName(mime)
+                    width = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_WIDTH)
+                    height = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_HEIGHT)
+                }
+
+                mime.startsWith("audio/") && audio == null -> audio = shortName(mime)
+            }
+        }
+        return Extracted(video, audio, durationUs / US_PER_MS, width, height)
+    }
+
     private fun probeWithExtractor(context: Context, uri: Uri): Extracted? {
         val extractor = MediaExtractor()
         return try {
             extractor.setDataSource(context, uri, null)
-            var video: String? = null
-            var audio: String? = null
-            var durationUs = 0L
-            var width = 0
-            var height = 0
-
-            for (i in 0 until extractor.trackCount) {
-                val format = extractor.getTrackFormat(i)
-                val mime = format.getString(MediaFormat.KEY_MIME).orEmpty()
-                if (format.containsKey(MediaFormat.KEY_DURATION)) {
-                    durationUs = maxOf(durationUs, format.getLong(MediaFormat.KEY_DURATION))
-                }
-                when {
-                    mime.startsWith("video/") && video == null -> {
-                        video = shortName(mime)
-                        width = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_WIDTH)
-                        height = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_HEIGHT)
-                    }
-
-                    mime.startsWith("audio/") && audio == null -> audio = shortName(mime)
-                }
-            }
-            Extracted(video, audio, durationUs / US_PER_MS, width, height)
+            extractedFrom(extractor.trackFormats())
         } catch (e: Exception) {
             Log.i(TAG, "Platform extractor could not read $uri.", e)
             null
@@ -269,25 +296,7 @@ object MediaProbe {
         val extractor = MediaExtractor()
         return try {
             extractor.setDataSource(context, uri, null)
-            var video: String? = null
-            var audio: String? = null
-            var width = 0
-            var height = 0
-            var fps = 0
-
-            for (i in 0 until extractor.trackCount) {
-                val format = extractor.getTrackFormat(i)
-                val mime = format.getString(MediaFormat.KEY_MIME).orEmpty()
-                if (mime.startsWith("video/") && video == null) {
-                    video = shortName(mime)
-                    width = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_WIDTH)
-                    height = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_HEIGHT)
-                    fps = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_FRAME_RATE)
-                } else if (mime.startsWith("audio/") && audio == null) {
-                    audio = shortName(mime)
-                }
-            }
-            ConcatInput(video, audio, width, height, fps)
+            concatInputFrom(extractor.trackFormats())
         } catch (e: Exception) {
             Log.i(TAG, "Could not probe $uri for concat; will re-encode.", e)
             ConcatInput(null, null, 0, 0, 0)
@@ -296,6 +305,45 @@ object MediaProbe {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The join flow's read of the same track formats. See [extractedFrom] for why this is separate
+     * from the extractor.
+     *
+     * Deliberately **not** folded into [extractedFrom] despite the overlap. This one reads frame
+     * rate and does not read duration; that one reads duration and does not read frame rate. A
+     * merged version would have to compute both for every caller, and `ConcatPlanner` treats an
+     * unknown frame rate as "cannot prove a match" — so a field this flow does not need must not
+     * start arriving as a number.
+     */
+    internal fun concatInputFrom(formats: List<MediaFormat>): ConcatInput {
+        var video: String? = null
+        var audio: String? = null
+        var width = 0
+        var height = 0
+        var fps = 0
+
+        for (format in formats) {
+            val mime = format.getString(MediaFormat.KEY_MIME).orEmpty()
+            if (mime.startsWith("video/") && video == null) {
+                video = shortName(mime)
+                width = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_WIDTH)
+                height = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_HEIGHT)
+                fps = format.intOr(MediaFormat.KEY_FRAME_RATE)
+            } else if (mime.startsWith("audio/") && audio == null) {
+                audio = shortName(mime)
+            }
+        }
+        return ConcatInput(video, audio, width, height, fps)
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Every track format this extractor holds, read once.
+     *
+     * The thin edge the two pure functions above leave behind: a `trackCount` and a
+     * `getTrackFormat` per index, which is the whole of what needs a real `MediaExtractor`.
+     */
+    private fun MediaExtractor.trackFormats(): List<MediaFormat> = (0 until trackCount).map(::getTrackFormat)
+
     /**
      * One track property as an Int, or [fallback] when the format has no Int to give.
      *

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

@@ -24,6 +24,20 @@ const val STAGED_FILE_GONE_MESSAGE: String =
     "The finished file is no longer in the cache, so there is nothing left to save. " +
         "Start over to make it again."
 
+/**
+ * What to tell the user when the copy into their chosen destination did not finish.
+ *
+ * A fallback, not the usual message: `publish` throws with a real reason most of the time — the
+ * volume filled, the provider revoked the grant — and that reason is better than this. This is for
+ * the exception that arrives with nothing to say, which would otherwise reach the screen as an
+ * empty failure.
+ *
+ * Kept next to [STAGED_FILE_GONE_MESSAGE] for exactly the reason that one names: **both ViewModels
+ * need it**, and saving is what it is about. It was written out twice before — `ConversionViewModel`
+ * and `JoinViewModel` each carried their own copy of the literal, agreeing by coincidence.
+ */
+const val SAVE_FAILED_MESSAGE: String = "Could not save the file."
+
 /**
  * A staged file that is still there to be saved, and everything the save dialog needs to offer it.
  *

app/src/main/java/org/libremediaconverter/join/JoinViewModel.kt

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import org.libremediaconverter.convert.ConversionDependencies
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.InputFile
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.InputQuery
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.PendingSave
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.SAVE_FAILED_MESSAGE
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.STAGED_FILE_GONE_MESSAGE
 import org.libremediaconverter.convert.ScreenOwnership
 import org.libremediaconverter.model.ConcatStrategy
@@ -194,7 +195,7 @@ class JoinViewModel @JvmOverloads constructor(
     fun onInputsPicked(uris: List<Uri>) {
         val token = ownership.claim()
         if (uris.size < 2) {
-            _state.value = JoinState.Failed("Pick at least two files to join.")
+            _state.value = JoinState.Failed(ConcatWorker.TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE)
             return
         }
         viewModelScope.launch {
@@ -295,7 +296,7 @@ class JoinViewModel @JvmOverloads constructor(
                     WorkInfo.State.FAILED -> JoinState.Failed(
                         info.outputData.getString(ConcatWorker.KEY_ERROR)
                             ?.takeIf { it.isNotBlank() }
-                            ?: "Joining failed.",
+                            ?: ConcatWorker.GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE,
                     )
 
                     WorkInfo.State.CANCELLED -> cancelled
@@ -346,7 +347,7 @@ class JoinViewModel @JvmOverloads constructor(
                 // than leaving "Start over" -- which deletes it -- as the only thing on offer.
                 // Passing `pending` rather than rebuilding it is what keeps a retry that fails
                 // again on a carrying Failed instead of a bare one.
-                _state.value = JoinState.Failed(e.message ?: "Could not save the file.", pending)
+                _state.value = JoinState.Failed(e.message ?: SAVE_FAILED_MESSAGE, pending)
             }
         }
     }

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

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class ConcatWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWorker
         val uris = inputData.getStringArray(KEY_INPUT_URIS)?.map(Uri::parse)
             ?: return Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to "No input files."))
         if (uris.size < 2) {
-            return Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to "Pick at least two files to join."))
+            return Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE))
         }
         // Absent, not zero, when the picker could not size every input -- see the same read in
         // ConversionWorker and InputQuery for why the two are no longer one number.
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ class ConcatWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWorker
                 }
                 FailureOutcome.FAIL -> {
                     Log.e(TAG, "Joining failed.", e)
-                    Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to (e.message ?: "Joining failed.")))
+                    Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to (e.message ?: GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE)))
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -137,6 +137,34 @@ class ConcatWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWorker
     )
 
     companion object {
+        /**
+         * What the user is told when a join arrives with fewer than two inputs.
+         *
+         * Shared with `JoinViewModel`, which refuses the same condition one layer up so the picker
+         * can answer without enqueueing anything. Two copies of this sentence existed before, and
+         * only the one here was pinned by a test (#139) — so the wording could drift on the screen
+         * without a single test noticing, for one message the user sees from one condition.
+         *
+         * 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.
+         */
+        const val TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE: String = "Pick at least two files to join."
+
+        /**
+         * The last resort when a join fails and the exception says nothing.
+         *
+         * Shared with `JoinViewModel`, whose `FAILED` arm falls back to the same sentence when the
+         * output `Data` carries no error at all — a worker killed before it could write one. The two
+         * are a chain rather than a coincidence: this is what the worker puts *in* `KEY_ERROR`, and
+         * that is what the ViewModel says when `KEY_ERROR` never arrived. The user cannot tell the
+         * two apart and should not have to, so they are one sentence.
+         *
+         * The `Log.e` above deliberately keeps its own literal. A log line has a different audience
+         * and carries the exception with it; coupling it to the user-facing wording would mean
+         * rewording the screen to change a log.
+         */
+        const val GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE: String = "Joining failed."
+
         const val KEY_INPUT_URIS = "input_uris"
         const val KEY_TOTAL_BYTES = "total_bytes"
         const val KEY_FORMAT = "format"

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

@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ class ConversionWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWo
             }
             FailureOutcome.FAIL -> {
                 Log.e(TAG, "Conversion failed.", cause)
-                Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to (cause.message ?: "Conversion failed.")))
+                Result.failure(workDataOf(KEY_ERROR to (cause.message ?: GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE)))
             }
         }
 
@@ -352,6 +352,20 @@ class ConversionWorker(context: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWo
     )
 
     companion object {
+        /**
+         * The last resort when a conversion fails and the exception says nothing.
+         *
+         * Shared with `ConversionViewModel`, whose `FAILED` arm falls back to the same sentence when
+         * the output `Data` carries no error — a worker killed before it could write one, which a
+         * refused foreground start after a process restart produces. The two are a chain rather than
+         * a coincidence: this is what goes *into* `KEY_ERROR`, and that is what is said when
+         * `KEY_ERROR` never arrived. The user cannot tell those apart and should not have to.
+         *
+         * See [ConcatWorker.GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE] for the join-side twin, and the note there
+         * about why the neighbouring `Log.e` keeps its own literal.
+         */
+        const val GENERIC_FAILURE_MESSAGE: String = "Conversion failed."
+
         const val KEY_INPUT_URI = "input_uri"
         const val KEY_DISPLAY_NAME = "display_name"
         const val KEY_SIZE_BYTES = "size_bytes"

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

@@ -0,0 +1,221 @@
+package org.libremediaconverter.convert
+
+import android.media.MediaFormat
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNull
+import org.junit.Test
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith
+import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner
+
+/**
+ * The rules `MediaProbe` applies to a set of track formats.
+ *
+ * ## Why this exists, and what it revises
+ *
+ * Issue #84 classified `probeWithExtractor` and `probeForConcat` as device-bound and explicitly not
+ * a gap:
+ *
+ * > These are exercised by `RemuxTest`, `ConcatEngineTest` and `RealMediaBenchmark` in
+ * > `androidTest` … **Do not read their 0% as untested.**
+ *
+ * That was right about the measurement boundary and right about FFprobe. It was not right that
+ * these are only orchestration. The track walk is a **branch matrix**, and `androidTest` reaches it
+ * only through whatever the committed fixtures happen to contain — so none of the rules below is
+ * *chosen* by any test there. A fixture with two video tracks, a track that omits its duration, or
+ * an audio-before-video ordering is not something a device test would produce on purpose.
+ *
+ * The seam is the answer #133 preferred over driving `ShadowMediaExtractor`: the walk is a pure
+ * function over `List<MediaFormat>`, and what is left needing a device — `setDataSource`,
+ * `getTrackFormat`, `release` — is the thin edge `androidTest` should be covering. This is the
+ * `work/FailureOutcome.kt` pattern `CLAUDE.md` names.
+ *
+ * `MediaFormat` is a real one throughout, not a stub. `MediaProbeTrackFieldsTest` records why that
+ * matters: it is a heterogeneous map whose getters throw rather than coerce, and a hand-rolled
+ * double would not reproduce that.
+ */
+@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner::class)
+class MediaProbeTrackWalkTest {
+
+    // --- extractedFrom: the conversion flow's read ---------------------------
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the first video track wins when a file carries two`() {
+        // `video == null` is the entire guard. A file with two video tracks must report the first,
+        // because that is the one an engine will transcode -- and the width and height must come
+        // from the same track, not be mixed across them.
+        val extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(
+            listOf(
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC, width = 1920, height = 1080),
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_HEVC, width = 640, height = 480),
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals("h264", extracted.videoCodec)
+        assertEquals(1920, extracted.width)
+        assertEquals(1080, extracted.height)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the first audio track wins when a file carries two`() {
+        val extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(
+            listOf(
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_AAC),
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_OPUS),
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals("aac", extracted.audioCodec)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `duration is the longest track, not the first or the last`() {
+        // A file whose audio outlasts its video is ordinary. Taking the video's length would cut
+        // the progress bar short; taking the last track's would be right only by accident of order.
+        val extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(
+            listOf(
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC, durationUs = 10_000_000),
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_AAC, durationUs = 12_500_000),
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_OPUS, durationUs = 1_000_000),
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals(12_500L, extracted.durationMs)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a track that does not declare its duration contributes nothing to it`() {
+        // MediaExtractor omits KEY_DURATION for plenty of real tracks -- MediaProbeTrackFieldsTest
+        // records the same for KEY_FRAME_RATE. Reading a key that is absent is what containsKey
+        // stands between us and.
+        val extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(
+            listOf(
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC),
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_AAC, durationUs = 7_000_000),
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals(7_000L, extracted.durationMs)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `declaring audio before video changes nothing`() {
+        // Track order is a property of the container, not of the content. Both orderings have to
+        // reach the same answer or the same file remuxed twice would probe differently.
+        val videoFirst = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(
+            listOf(
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC, width = 1280, height = 720),
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_AAC),
+            ),
+        )
+        val audioFirst = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(
+            listOf(
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_AAC),
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC, width = 1280, height = 720),
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals(videoFirst.videoCodec, audioFirst.videoCodec)
+        assertEquals(videoFirst.audioCodec, audioFirst.audioCodec)
+        assertEquals(videoFirst.width, audioFirst.width)
+        assertEquals(videoFirst.height, audioFirst.height)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a track that is neither audio nor video is ignored`() {
+        // Subtitle and timed-metadata tracks are common in MKV and MP4. Neither prefix matches, so
+        // neither slot is filled -- and, importantly, a subtitle track must not be mistaken for the
+        // absence of an audio track by some later `else`.
+        val extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(
+            listOf(
+                MediaFormat().apply { setString(MediaFormat.KEY_MIME, "text/vtt") },
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC),
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals("h264", extracted.videoCodec)
+        assertNull(extracted.audioCodec)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a file with no tracks reports nothing rather than zero-width video`() {
+        val extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(emptyList())
+
+        assertNull(extracted.videoCodec)
+        assertNull(extracted.audioCodec)
+        assertEquals(0L, extracted.durationMs)
+        assertEquals(0, extracted.width)
+        assertEquals(0, extracted.height)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `an audio-only file reports no video codec at all`() {
+        // The distinction MediaProbe.classify turns into InputKind.AUDIO_ONLY, and the reason
+        // `hasVideo` exists: an audio file and a corrupt file must not look alike.
+        val extracted = MediaProbe.extractedFrom(listOf(audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_AAC)))
+
+        assertNull(extracted.videoCodec)
+        assertEquals("aac", extracted.audioCodec)
+        assertEquals(0, extracted.width)
+    }
+
+    // --- concatInputFrom: the join flow's read -------------------------------
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the join read takes frame rate from the first video track`() {
+        val input = MediaProbe.concatInputFrom(
+            listOf(
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC, width = 1920, height = 1080, frameRate = 30),
+                video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_HEVC, width = 640, height = 480, frameRate = 60),
+                audio(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_AUDIO_AAC),
+            ),
+        )
+
+        assertEquals("h264", input.videoCodec)
+        assertEquals("aac", input.audioCodec)
+        assertEquals(1920, input.width)
+        assertEquals(1080, input.height)
+        assertEquals(30, input.frameRate)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a video track with no declared frame rate reports zero rather than guessing`() {
+        // ConcatPlanner treats 0 as "cannot prove a match" and re-encodes. A guessed 30 would read
+        // as agreement and produce a stream copy of clips that do not actually match -- the failure
+        // its KDoc says the whole flow is arranged to avoid.
+        val input = MediaProbe.concatInputFrom(listOf(video(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC)))
+
+        assertEquals(0, input.frameRate)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a file with no tracks joins as entirely unknown`() {
+        val input = MediaProbe.concatInputFrom(emptyList())
+
+        assertNull(input.videoCodec)
+        assertNull(input.audioCodec)
+        assertEquals(0, input.width)
+        assertEquals(0, input.height)
+        assertEquals(0, input.frameRate)
+    }
+
+    private fun video(
+        mime: String,
+        width: Int = 1920,
+        height: Int = 1080,
+        durationUs: Long? = null,
+        frameRate: Int? = null,
+    ): MediaFormat = MediaFormat.createVideoFormat(mime, width, height).apply {
+        durationUs?.let { setLong(MediaFormat.KEY_DURATION, it) }
+        frameRate?.let { setInteger(MediaFormat.KEY_FRAME_RATE, it) }
+    }
+
+    private fun audio(mime: String, durationUs: Long? = null): MediaFormat =
+        MediaFormat.createAudioFormat(mime, SAMPLE_RATE, CHANNELS).apply {
+            durationUs?.let { setLong(MediaFormat.KEY_DURATION, it) }
+        }
+
+    private companion object {
+        const val SAMPLE_RATE = 48_000
+        const val CHANNELS = 2
+    }
+}

app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/join/SharedFailureMessagesTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+package org.libremediaconverter.join
+
+import android.app.Application
+import android.net.Uri
+import androidx.media3.common.util.UnstableApi
+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.Before
+import org.junit.Test
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.ConversionDependencies
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.RecordingPublisher
+import org.libremediaconverter.convert.installTestWorkManager
+import org.libremediaconverter.work.ConcatWorker
+import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner
+import org.robolectric.RuntimeEnvironment
+
+/**
+ * The two layers that refuse a short join, refusing it with one sentence.
+ *
+ * ## Why this is not "assert a constant equals itself"
+ *
+ * `ConcatWorker` and `JoinViewModel` both reject a join of fewer than two files, and before #158
+ * each carried **its own copy of the literal**. Only the worker's was pinned — by `RefusedJobTest`,
+ * added in #139 — so the wording on the screen could drift away from the wording in the job with no
+ * test saying anything, for one message the user sees from one condition.
+ *
+ * Sharing a constant makes them agree by construction. What it does *not* do is prove that both
+ * layers still reach it: a refactor that stops `JoinViewModel` refusing at all, or that gives it a
+ * different message, passes any test that only reads `TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE`. So each layer is
+ * driven for real here — the ViewModel through `onInputsPicked`, the worker through `doWork` — and
+ * the assertion is that the two answers are **the same string**, taken from two running layers
+ * rather than from one declaration.
+ *
+ * That is the shape `CLAUDE.md` asks for: revert the sharing and this goes red, because the two
+ * sites drift the moment they are allowed to.
+ *
+ * ## Scope
+ *
+ * The arity guard's own behaviour on the ViewModel side — that it refuses one file, that it accepts
+ * two, that it claims ownership first — is #155's, and this deliberately does not duplicate it.
+ * This file is about the *agreement between layers*, which is what #158 changed.
+ */
+@UnstableApi
+@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner::class)
+class SharedFailureMessagesTest {
+
+    private lateinit var app: Application
+    private lateinit var viewModel: JoinViewModel
+
+    @Before
+    fun setUp() {
+        app = RuntimeEnvironment.getApplication()
+        ConversionDependencies.publisher = { RecordingPublisher(app) }
+        installTestWorkManager(app, workDataOf(ConcatWorker.KEY_OUTPUT_PATH to "/dev/null"))
+        viewModel = JoinViewModel(app)
+    }
+
+    @After
+    fun tearDown() {
+        ConversionDependencies.reset()
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `both layers refuse a one-file join with the same sentence`() {
+        // The ViewModel, refusing before anything is enqueued.
+        viewModel.onInputsPicked(listOf(ONE_FILE))
+        val fromScreen = (viewModel.state.value as JoinState.Failed).message
+
+        // The worker, refusing a job that reached the queue anyway -- which it can, because
+        // ConcatWorker.request(...) takes a List<Uri> and checks nothing about its length.
+        val result = runBlocking { worker(ONE_FILE).doWork() }
+        val fromJob = (result as ListenableWorker.Result.Failure)
+            .outputData.getString(ConcatWorker.KEY_ERROR)
+
+        assertEquals(
+            "the screen and the job must say the same thing about the same refusal",
+            fromScreen,
+            fromJob,
+        )
+        // And that the shared sentence is the one either layer would have written on its own,
+        // rather than both having drifted together to something else.
+        assertEquals(ConcatWorker.TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE, fromScreen)
+    }
+
+    private fun worker(vararg inputs: Uri): ConcatWorker = TestListenableWorkerBuilder<ConcatWorker>(
+        context = app,
+        inputData = workDataOf(
+            ConcatWorker.KEY_INPUT_URIS to inputs.map(Uri::toString).toTypedArray(),
+            ConcatWorker.KEY_TOTAL_BYTES to 1024L,
+        ),
+        runAttemptCount = 0,
+    ).build()
+
+    private companion object {
+        val ONE_FILE: Uri = Uri.parse("content://test/holiday.mp4")
+    }
+}

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

@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ class RefusedJobTest {
 
         assertEquals(
             ListenableWorker.Result.failure(
-                workDataOf(ConcatWorker.KEY_ERROR to "Pick at least two files to join."),
+                workDataOf(ConcatWorker.KEY_ERROR to ConcatWorker.TOO_FEW_INPUTS_MESSAGE),
             ),
             result,
         )