Godot render check and e2e tiers

Repo values change: look them up in the repo, do not trust this text over them. The topics are python "{kit_root}/tools/doc_index.py" -C <worktree> --find render (preview scenes), --find e2e, --find ports, --find orphan; the pass and fail strings come from the repo's rules file's "Build" section (AGENTS.md; CLAUDE.md in an older repo) and .kit.json gate step (tools/gate.json). The values below in angle brackets are the repo's.

Render a frame (light run, no lock)

1. A preview needs a real window: it cannot run --headless. Run it through the repo's engine shim (tools\godot.cmd, which resolves GODOT_DIR) with the repo's preview scene: tools\godot.cmd --path . res://<preview scene>.tscn --resolution 512x512 -- <the scene's own arguments> --out <name>.png. Write PNGs to the git-ignored folder the repo names. Never in CI or a gate.
2. Animated subjects: sample several times across the clip (a time or pose argument, if the preview scene takes one); never trust t=0. An effect has its own life, so the time decides peak vs tail.
3. A preview that normalises each scene to its own size never shows relative scale: use a scale preview scene, if the repo has one, for that.
4. A relative tools\godot.cmd resolves from the caller's cwd: run with the worktree as cwd or pass absolute paths. Give a preview a timeout of about 180 s.
5. Open the PNG and look at it. A validator proves size, never shape.
6. Hand-off to the owner is a file: write the contact sheet as HTML in your scratch folder and lead the report with its full path, unless the repo's profile says to publish a page.
7. A Blender render or bake is heavy: run it under the lock, python "{kit_root}/tools/machine_lock.py" run --repo <repo> --slug <you> --kind render -- <blender shim> ... (skill machine-lock-run).

E2E tier (heavy)

1. The coordinator starts e2e once per batch of landings. A flaky e2e is a backlog item unless it is a clear regression. Lossy-network runs are parked: never unless the owner asks.
2. Run the repo's e2e entry point (the one --find e2e names). If it takes the machine lock itself, never wrap it in another lock call; otherwise python "{kit_root}/tools/machine_lock.py" run --repo <repo> --slug <you> --kind engine-run -- <e2e command>. Lock exits and reservations: skill machine-lock-run.
3. Ports: pick your block from the repo's ports doc (--find ports); never another session's block. The e2e entry exits non-zero if a port is bound or an orphan holds one.
4. Sweep before and after: the repo's orphan check (--find orphan). Stop only a process tree you started, by pid. A leftover engine gives "Couldn't create an ENet host".
5. Results are strings, not exit codes (godot.cmd's exit status lies). Read the pass strings the repo's rules file (AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md) names (for a stock template: the test scene's ENGINE_TEST_PASS_STRING, UNIT TESTS OK).
6. Fail anywhere: SCRIPT ERROR, Unhandled exception, System.*Exception, FATAL, Fatal error, Method not found. Warn, identify first: Node not found, Invalid packet received, Failed to get cached node, Leaked unsafe reference. Noise: Parameter m is null, Unable to start the timer, mesh_get_surface. Check stderr too: an unexplained ERROR: is a failure. (Source of truth: the repo's rules file, AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md.)
7. Name the string that would be absent without your change and find it in the log before reporting. Never truncate the output.