Let the sweep leave what the append-only ledger holds

scripts/clean_live_tests.py

@@ -562,14 +562,19 @@ def clean_database():
     )
     stmts.append(f"DELETE FROM repositories WHERE project_id IN ({sub});")
     stmts.append(f"DELETE FROM projects WHERE {conditions};")  # noqa: S608
-    # The ledger references the user, so the user cannot go first. Deleting a
-    # run's rows and then failing here left every later phase unrun: the sweep
-    # raises, and what it had not reached yet stayed on the stand.
+    # The synthetic test user is a fixture reused by every run, not residue of
+    # one, and the attempt ledger that references it is append-only by design —
+    # a database rule refuses to delete from it, and rightly so. So the user goes
+    # only while nothing points at it; once a run has recorded an attempt, the
+    # row stays and the next run reuses it.
+    #
+    # Deleting the user unconditionally made the whole sweep raise, and a raising
+    # sweep is not a partial one: every phase after the database went unrun and
+    # its residue stayed on the stand.
     stmts.append(
-        "DELETE FROM engineering_attempt_ledger WHERE user_id IN "
-        "(SELECT id FROM users WHERE telegram_id = 999000001);"
+        "DELETE FROM users WHERE telegram_id = 999000001 "
+        "AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM engineering_attempt_ledger l WHERE l.user_id = users.id);"
     )
-    stmts.append("DELETE FROM users WHERE telegram_id = 999000001;")
     sql = "\n".join(stmts)
     result = run_cmd(
         [

scripts/tests/test_clean_live_tests.py

@@ -831,16 +831,17 @@ def test_another_contour_is_not_this_contour_s_residue(monkeypatch):
         importlib.reload(clean_live_tests)
 
 
-def test_the_test_user_s_ledger_goes_before_the_test_user():
-    """The ledger references the user; deleting the user first fails the sweep.
+def test_the_sweep_never_deletes_from_the_append_only_ledger():
+    """The ledger is append-only by a database rule, and that rule is deliberate.
 
-    And a failed sweep is not a partial sweep — it raises, so every phase after
-    the database was never reached.
+    Deleting the referenced user unconditionally made the sweep raise — and a
+    raising sweep is not a partial one: every phase after the database went
+    unrun. The user is a fixture reused by every run, so it goes only while
+    nothing points at it.
     """
     import inspect
 
     source = inspect.getsource(clean_live_tests.clean_database)
-    ledger = source.index("engineering_attempt_ledger")
-    user = source.index("DELETE FROM users")
 
-    assert ledger < user
+    assert "DELETE FROM engineering_attempt_ledger" not in source
+    assert "NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM engineering_attempt_ledger" in source