diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5810906..06297f4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -155,11 +155,11 @@ burn-kindergarten: bootstrap ## bust providence rows < SECONDS old [SECONDS=3600
 # Multi-source RAG query against the shard cluster.
 # Usage: make query Q="What is anarcho-capitalism?"
 QUERY_TOP_K ?= 8
-query: bootstrap ## ask the corpus a question [JSON=1 BURN=1]; sources picked across shards
+query: bootstrap ## ask the corpus a question [JSON=1 BURN=1 REPAIR=1 REPROMPTS=N]; sources picked across shards
 	@if [ -z "$$Q" ] && [ -z "$(Q)" ]; then \
-	  echo "usage: make query Q=\"your question\" [JSON=1 BURN=1]"; exit 2; \
+	  echo "usage: make query Q=\"your question\" [JSON=1 BURN=1 REPAIR=1 REPROMPTS=N]"; exit 2; \
 	fi
-	$(ABORIST) --shards-dir $(SHARDS_DIR) query --top-k $(QUERY_TOP_K) $(if $(JSON),--json,) $(if $(BURN),--burn,) "$(Q)"
+	$(ABORIST) --shards-dir $(SHARDS_DIR) query --top-k $(QUERY_TOP_K) $(if $(JSON),--json,) $(if $(BURN),--burn,) $(if $(REPAIR),--repair,) $(if $(REPROMPTS),--repair-reprompts $(REPROMPTS),) "$(Q)"
 
 query-dry: bootstrap ## like 'make query' but skip the LLM call (dry-run) [JSON=1 BURN=1]
 	@if [ -z "$$Q" ] && [ -z "$(Q)" ]; then \
diff --git a/aborist/cli.py b/aborist/cli.py
index cc25026..797691a 100644
--- a/aborist/cli.py
+++ b/aborist/cli.py
@@ -343,12 +343,20 @@ def _cmd_query(args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
     )
     single_db = None if shards_dir else args.db
 
-    # Apply per-call policy overrides (question_dedup) on top of the
-    # default. fidelity is a function-level kwarg, not in the policy.
+    # Apply per-call policy overrides (question_dedup, repair) on top of
+    # the default. fidelity is a function-level kwarg, not in the policy.
     from aborist.qa.query import DEFAULT_QUERY_POLICY
     call_policy = dict(DEFAULT_QUERY_POLICY)
     if getattr(args, "question_dedup", None):
         call_policy["question_dedup"] = args.question_dedup
+    if getattr(args, "repair", False):
+        # Mechanical-only repair when --repair is set; --repair-reprompts
+        # adds the optional re-prompt tier on top. Both default off so
+        # `make query` stays single-shot unless a knob is flipped.
+        call_policy["repair_enabled"] = True
+        call_policy["repair_max_reprompts"] = max(
+            0, int(getattr(args, "repair_reprompts", 0))
+        )
 
     result = query(
         question=args.question,
@@ -1057,7 +1065,15 @@ def _cmd_burn_kindergarten(args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
     from aborist.store import discover_shards
 
     now = int(_time.time())
-    cutoff = now - max(0, args.kindergarten_seconds)
+    # `kindergarten_seconds <= 0` means "no time gate — burn every live
+    # row" per the verb's docstring. The earlier `cutoff = now - 0`
+    # treated 0 as a same-second-only window, which made
+    # test_burn_kindergarten_zero_seconds_burns_everything timing-flaky:
+    # if the wall-clock second rolled over between seed and burn,
+    # cutoff > seed.created_at and nothing matched.
+    kindergarten_seconds = max(0, args.kindergarten_seconds)
+    no_time_gate = kindergarten_seconds == 0
+    cutoff = 0 if no_time_gate else now - kindergarten_seconds
     shards_dir = Path(args.global_shards_dir) if args.global_shards_dir else None
     single_db = Path(args.db) if args.db else None
     paths: list[Path] = (
@@ -1074,13 +1090,21 @@ def _cmd_burn_kindergarten(args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
     for sp in paths:
         c = connect(sp)
         try:
-            rows = c.execute(
-                "SELECT cache_key, created_at, audit_mode "
-                "FROM providence_cache "
-                "WHERE created_at >= ? AND falsification_state = 'live' "
-                "ORDER BY created_at DESC",
-                (cutoff,),
-            ).fetchall()
+            if no_time_gate:
+                rows = c.execute(
+                    "SELECT cache_key, created_at, audit_mode "
+                    "FROM providence_cache "
+                    "WHERE falsification_state = 'live' "
+                    "ORDER BY created_at DESC"
+                ).fetchall()
+            else:
+                rows = c.execute(
+                    "SELECT cache_key, created_at, audit_mode "
+                    "FROM providence_cache "
+                    "WHERE created_at >= ? AND falsification_state = 'live' "
+                    "ORDER BY created_at DESC",
+                    (cutoff,),
+                ).fetchall()
         finally:
             c.close()
         for r in rows:
@@ -2856,6 +2880,25 @@ def build_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
             "audit event."
         ),
     )
+    query_cmd.add_argument(
+        "--repair", action="store_true",
+        help=(
+            "enable mechanical repair after first verify (off by "
+            "default). When the verdict is HYBRID/UNGROUNDED, applies "
+            "synthetic_elision split, trailing_artifact trim, and "
+            "no_overlap drop deterministically; persists the repaired "
+            "answer with a providence_repair audit event."
+        ),
+    )
+    query_cmd.add_argument(
+        "--repair-reprompts", dest="repair_reprompts", type=int, default=0,
+        help=(
+            "max LLM re-prompt iterations after mechanical repair "
+            "(default 0 = no re-prompt). Each iteration sends a feedback "
+            "turn naming failed quotes; the model is asked to rewrite "
+            "using only verbatim citations. Requires --repair."
+        ),
+    )
     query_cmd.set_defaults(func=_cmd_query)
 
     inspect_cmd = sub.add_parser(