diff --git a/tests/map/ladder-cases.ts b/tests/map/ladder-cases.ts
index 4f3bac7..1119f5e 100644
--- a/tests/map/ladder-cases.ts
+++ b/tests/map/ladder-cases.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,15 @@ export interface LadderCase {
     absentInvocations?: string[];
     /** A flow from request input to a sink must exist (true) or must not (false). */
     provenFlow: boolean;
+    /**
+     * Whether that flow is at the tier a consumer may ACT on — `exact-local` and rule-generatable.
+     *
+     * Separate from `provenFlow` because the two came apart in practice, and the gap was invisible from
+     * here: a proven `transformed-local` flow is real evidence that a consumer's own top verdict
+     * deliberately refuses, since the transformation may be sanitising. Asserting only "a flow exists"
+     * let a rung claim the top of the ladder while grading one step below it everywhere downstream.
+     */
+    actionableFlow?: boolean;
     /** Substrings that must appear in `coverage.apiInventoryLimitations`. */
     limitations?: RegExp[];
   };
@@ -54,11 +63,16 @@ export interface LadderCase {
 
 export const LADDER_CASES: LadderCase[] = [
   {
-    id: 'ladder/reachable',
+    // TRANSFORMED, and kept for exactly that: the input is concatenated into the SQL, which is proven but
+    // review-grade — the tier a rule generator refuses to pin because the transformation may be
+    // sanitising. It is the only case pinning the boundary between "the map proved a flow" and "a consumer
+    // will act on it", which is where a false confirmation would come from. See `ladder/reachable-exact`
+    // for the actionable half; neither replaces the other.
+    id: 'ladder/reachable-transformed',
     rung: 'reachable',
     cve: 'CVE-2019-10752',
     pkg: 'sequelize',
-    name: 'request input flows into a sequelize query',
+    name: 'request input is concatenated into a sequelize query',
     packageJson: { dependencies: { express: '4', sequelize: '4.44.0' } },
     files: {
       'src/server.js': `
@@ -83,6 +97,45 @@ export const LADDER_CASES: LadderCase[] = [
       imports: ['sequelize'],
       invocations: ['sequelize.query'],
       provenFlow: true,
+      // Proven, and NOT actionable. Asserted rather than left implicit, because "a flow exists" reads as
+      // the top of the ladder while a consumer keying on the actionable tier grades this one step lower.
+      actionableFlow: false,
+    },
+  },
+
+  {
+    // The actionable half of the `reachable` rung: request input reaches the sink UNTRANSFORMED, which is
+    // the tier a rule generator will pin and therefore the only shape that exercises a consumer's top
+    // verdict end to end. Without it every ladder case graded at most one step below the top, and nothing
+    // said so — the harness looked complete because a rung named `reachable` existed.
+    id: 'ladder/reachable-exact',
+    rung: 'reachable',
+    cve: 'CVE-2020-28168',
+    pkg: 'axios',
+    name: 'request input reaches an axios request as the URL, untransformed',
+    packageJson: { dependencies: { express: '4', axios: '0.21.0' } },
+    files: {
+      'src/server.js': `
+        const express = require("express");
+        const axios = require("axios");
+        const app = express();
+
+        app.post("/preview", async (req, res) => {
+          // The whole request URL IS the input: no concatenation, no validation, nothing between the
+          // parameter and the outbound call. That is what makes the flow pinnable — a rule can screen
+          // \`post.target\` and know it is screening the value that reaches the sink.
+          const response = await axios.get(req.body.target);
+          res.json({ status: response.status });
+        });
+
+        module.exports = app;
+      `,
+    },
+    expect: {
+      imports: ['axios'],
+      invocations: ['axios.get'],
+      provenFlow: true,
+      actionableFlow: true,
     },
   },
 
diff --git a/tests/map/ladder.test.ts b/tests/map/ladder.test.ts
index f6fd371..7051941 100644
--- a/tests/map/ladder.test.ts
+++ b/tests/map/ladder.test.ts
@@ -118,6 +118,25 @@ describe('a proven flow is reported only where one exists', () => {
       expect(count, `${c.id} must not claim a flow it has no evidence for`).toBe(0);
     }
   });
+
+  it.each(
+    LADDER_CASES.filter((c) => c.expect.actionableFlow !== undefined).map((c) => [c.id, c] as const),
+  )('%s reports the tier a consumer may act on, or does not', (_id, c) => {
+    // `exact-local` + rule-generatable is the bar a rule generator pins on, so it is the bar a consumer's
+    // top verdict uses. Asserting the tier HERE keeps the platform-side assertion honest: if this app ever
+    // drifted from exact to transformed, the verdict test over there would start proving the weaker claim
+    // while still passing.
+    const actionable = flows(mapFor(c)).filter(
+      (f: any) => f.confidence === 'exact-local' && f.ruleGeneratable === true,
+    );
+
+    if (c.expect.actionableFlow) {
+      expect(actionable.length, `${c.id} must carry an actionable flow`).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    } else {
+      expect(actionable, `${c.id} must not present a review-grade flow as actionable`).toEqual([]);
+      expect(flows(mapFor(c)).length, `${c.id} must still prove a flow`).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    }
+  });
 });
 
 describe('the map declines to answer where it cannot see', () => {
@@ -160,12 +179,26 @@ describe('the map declines to answer where it cannot see', () => {
 });
 
 describe('the ladder cases stay distinguishable', () => {
-  it('covers all five rungs exactly once', () => {
-    const rungs = LADDER_CASES.map((c) => c.rung).sort();
-
-    expect(rungs).toEqual(
+  it('covers every rung, and gives each case its own id', () => {
+    const rungs = new Set(LADDER_CASES.map((c) => c.rung));
+    const ids = LADDER_CASES.map((c) => c.id);
+
+    // Every rung covered AT LEAST once, rather than exactly once: `reachable` needs two apps, because a
+    // proven flow and an ACTIONABLE proven flow are different claims and only the second exercises a
+    // consumer's top verdict. Ids stay unique so a case cannot be silently shadowed by a copy.
+    expect([...rungs].sort()).toEqual(
       ['api-called', 'imported', 'not-a-code-question', 'reachable', 'unknown'].sort(),
     );
+    expect(new Set(ids).size).toBe(ids.length);
+  });
+
+  it('covers both sides of the actionable boundary on the reachable rung', () => {
+    const reachable = LADDER_CASES.filter((c) => c.rung === 'reachable');
+
+    // The gap this closes: every case used to sit at or below the review-grade tier, so the actionable
+    // verdict was never reached by any app and the harness could not tell you that.
+    expect(reachable.some((c) => c.expect.actionableFlow === true), 'no app reaches the actionable tier').toBe(true);
+    expect(reachable.some((c) => c.expect.actionableFlow === false), 'nothing pins the review-grade tier').toBe(true);
   });
 
   it('pairs each case with a distinct fixture advisory', () => {