c0d2356d — count of not-yet-done sprint items for a project. Powers the Stop-hook sprint guard (a session is blocked from stopping while this is > 0). Distinct /sprint/ path so there's no collision with /sprint-items.

b4ce3274 — bounded retry ceiling. Each time this reports pending>0 (which the guard turns into a forced continuation) we increment a per-session counter. Once it reaches MERIDIAN_STOP_OVERRIDE_CEILING (default 3) we STOP forcing continuation: the reported pending_count is clamped to 0 so the guard lets the stop through, and stopped_at_ceiling is set with a reason so a delta handoff can be generated. Below the ceiling behaviour is byte-for-byte unchanged. session_id scopes the counter per session (the guard passes it when known); absent it, the project id keys the counter.

e2e1b682 — verification_pending_count is a purely ADVISORY field (present on every response shape below, never affects the exit-code decision the guard makes): the number of in_progress, require_verification items with no independent on-file PASS yet. Surfaces the "hallucinated- compliance completion" risk to whoever is watching the guard's stderr even though such an item never itself blocks a stop (only complete_sprint_item's structural gate blocks the completion).