2026-10-05 (admission-chain v2 item 1; formulary-systems/spec#5 section 3, C16/C18/C20): preauthorize ONE logical LLM-judge run slot BEFORE any execution. Body: {manifest_hash, dispute_id, requirement_id, judge_id, run_index, max_attempts (1..16, default 1), retry_on (["NO_RESULT"] required when max_attempts > 1 -- the committed retry condition, mirroring the manifest's; UNRESOLVED can never be one: it consumes the run, spec section 7), dispute_namespace_ref (optional, e.g. an ERC-792 arbitrator/dispute reference)}. Slot rows, slot claims and their terminals are checkpointed ALONE (single-leaf Merkle checkpoints, OTS-anchored), so their inclusion proofs are always served (C16 ordering establishable for every authority-eligible execution). Bearer api key required: only that key can later claim the slot via /review {slot: {run_id, attempt_index}}. Free: no review runs here. Returns run_id = H(manifest_hash, dispute_id, requirement_id, judge_id, run_index) and the slot row's receipt_hash in the admission chain (Merkle-checkpointed, OTS-anchored like every receipt).

Honest boundary: this proves the slot was committed in OUR chain before any claim on it (a claim's receipt_hash commits to this receipt_hash) and that each attempt is claimed at most once. It does not prove the authority of the dispute itself -- that stays with the dispute namespace (e.g. the arbitrator contract) named in dispute_namespace_ref.