diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fa8778d695..7755e7f1ed 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,8 +7,15 @@ Semantic Versioning where the repository publishes a release.
 ## [Unreleased]
 - Keep the required OpenCode bootstrap's Pingora policy step unconditional
   within its pull-request-only workflow, so the static bootstrap contract does
-  not depend on event payload fields. (Ported from #1414, not yet merged, so
-  this PR's own trusted-source cycle no longer needs #1414 to merge first.)
+  not depend on event payload fields. (Ported from #1414, not yet merged, to
+  unblock this PR's own `exact-head-path-policy` check.)
+- Bump the vendored `contextual-orchestrator` review-sidecar pin from
+  `b2164511` (103 commits stale) to current `main` `5f2753a`, so the
+  gateway's model-discovery/ZDR/pool-selection fixes landed since the old pin
+  reach `opencode-review`/`noema-review`. The stale pin's discovery logic was
+  failing the sidecar's own preflight with a gateway 502 before any review
+  could post, which is why `opencode-review` and `noema-review` were failing
+  closed on most `contextual-orchestrator` PRs and several `.github` PRs.
 - Skip trusted base Python lock materialization for exact-head reviews with no
   Python source or dependency-manifest changes, while preserving the
   fail-closed wheel-only path when Python coverage is relevant.
diff --git a/docs/adr/0003-contextual-orchestrator-vendored-free-zdr.md b/docs/adr/0003-contextual-orchestrator-vendored-free-zdr.md
index 3e40886e5f..f1f5883505 100644
--- a/docs/adr/0003-contextual-orchestrator-vendored-free-zdr.md
+++ b/docs/adr/0003-contextual-orchestrator-vendored-free-zdr.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ all five, and auto-optimize routing by cost.
 
 1. **Vendoring, pinned**: `scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar.sh`
    clones `ContextualWisdomLab/contextual-orchestrator` at an exact SHA
-   (`b21645116b352967e50fc497b87eb745b9cc8c61` today) into `RUNNER_TEMP`. The
+   (`5f2753ace756ddd81049a5221d55e8977572a416` today) into `RUNNER_TEMP`. The
    source's `requirements.lock` is installed with `--require-hashes` and
    `--no-deps`, so dependency resolution cannot silently move the reviewed
    runtime.
diff --git a/docs/product-technical-gap-baseline.md b/docs/product-technical-gap-baseline.md
index 1072e8b397..e40d09682f 100644
--- a/docs/product-technical-gap-baseline.md
+++ b/docs/product-technical-gap-baseline.md
@@ -396,6 +396,41 @@ flowchart LR
   or typed provider result. A green event handler that skips the LLM call is not
   acceptance evidence.
 
+## 2026-08-30 sidecar pin staleness recurrence
+
+- Same class of defect as the 2026-08-29 entry above recurred within one day:
+  `scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar.sh`'s
+  `ORCHESTRATOR_PIN_SHA` default (`b21645116b352967e50fc497b87eb745b9cc8c61`)
+  was already 103 commits behind `contextual-orchestrator` `main`. Observed
+  directly in hosted `noema-review` job logs (`.github` PR #1421,
+  `ContextualWisdomLab/contextual-orchestrator` PR #857 and others): the
+  vendored sidecar's own preflight against the stale pin fails closed with
+  `gateway preflight returned HTTP 502` (and, on a differently-shaped request,
+  `request_failed status=413 code=request_too_large`) before the model pool
+  can run, so `opencode-agent`/Noema never post a verdict and the required
+  `opencode-review`/`noema-review` checks fail on unrelated PRs across both
+  repos. Confirmed via `contextual-orchestrator` main history that
+  `5f2753ace756ddd81049a5221d55e8977572a416` is the current `main` HEAD and
+  passes its own Tests/Security/Fuzz gates.
+- This PR bumps the pin to `5f2753ace756ddd81049a5221d55e8977572a416` in the
+  three places the contract tests pin it: the sidecar script default,
+  `tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar_contract.py`'s
+  `ORCH_PIN_SHA`, and `docs/adr/0003-contextual-orchestrator-vendored-free-zdr.md`'s
+  "today" reference. `requirements.lock` needs no separate sync — the sidecar
+  installs it fresh from the freshly-checked-out pinned commit, not from a
+  copy embedded in this repo.
+- Acceptance remains open the same way the 2026-08-29 entry describes: this
+  fixes the reproduced local preflight failure and all static contract tests
+  pass, but only a fresh post-merge hosted `noema-review`/`opencode-review`
+  run against the new pin is proof the live gateway path actually completes
+  and posts a verdict. Given this is the second staleness incident in as many
+  days, the underlying gap is process, not just this one value: nothing
+  currently keeps this pin near `contextual-orchestrator` `main` on an
+  ongoing basis. A scheduled or CI-triggered pin-freshness check (e.g., fail
+  a nightly job once the pin falls more than N commits or M days behind a
+  green `contextual-orchestrator` main) would close that gap; not implemented
+  in this PR, left for a follow-up.
+
 ## 5. 실행 루프와 고객의 다음 행동
 
 각 hourly pass는 아래 순서를 유지한다.
diff --git a/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_launcher.py b/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_launcher.py
index abb9af3b21..aa61ea1c80 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_launcher.py
+++ b/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_launcher.py
@@ -65,6 +65,19 @@ def _has_text_output(model: object) -> bool:
     return not modalities or "text" in {str(modality).casefold() for modality in modalities}
 
 
+def _routable_discovered_models(discovered: list[object] | None) -> list[object]:
+    """Drop evidence-only discovery rows before any live-serving selection.
+
+    Evidence-only rows (e.g. the OpenRouter catalog) exist solely to supply
+    ZDR evidence for other providers' models; contextual_orchestrator's own
+    ``agent_from_discovered()`` refuses to turn one into a serving agent.
+    Filtering here keeps that same invariant in this sidecar's selection path,
+    which builds its catalog independently rather than calling
+    ``agent_from_discovered()`` directly.
+    """
+    return [model for model in (discovered or []) if not getattr(model, "evidence_only", False)]
+
+
 def _route_identity(model: object) -> tuple[str, str]:
     """Return the provider/model identity used to bind price evidence."""
 
@@ -385,10 +398,11 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
         discovered, _ = discover_all_models()
     except Exception as exc:  # pragma: no cover - provider/networking failure is runtime-only
         raise SystemExit(f"review sidecar discovery failed: {exc}") from exc
-    free_models = list(free_discovered_models(discovered)) if discovered else []
+    routable_discovered = _routable_discovered_models(discovered)
+    free_models = list(free_discovered_models(routable_discovered)) if routable_discovered else []
     free_route_identities = frozenset(_route_identity(model) for model in free_models)
     selected_models = []
-    for model in discovered or []:
+    for model in routable_discovered:
         model_id = getattr(model, "model_id", "")
         if not is_general_chat_agent_model_id(model_id) or not _has_text_output(model):
             continue
diff --git a/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar.sh b/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar.sh
index bca9d5c00e..1fb2b5aea3 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 # (fail-closed zero-cost) pool.
 set -euo pipefail
 
-ORCHESTRATOR_PIN_SHA="${ORCHESTRATOR_PIN_SHA:-b21645116b352967e50fc497b87eb745b9cc8c61}"
+ORCHESTRATOR_PIN_SHA="${ORCHESTRATOR_PIN_SHA:-5f2753ace756ddd81049a5221d55e8977572a416}"
 ORCHESTRATOR_GIT_URL="${ORCHESTRATOR_GIT_URL:-https://github.com/ContextualWisdomLab/contextual-orchestrator.git}"
 # The Strix gate and Noema SSRF guard accept this one process-local origin.
 # Keep it fixed so an environment override cannot create an unvalidated sidecar.
diff --git a/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_runtime_preflight.py b/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_runtime_preflight.py
index baa1a8df76..a0fbac1f4a 100644
--- a/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_runtime_preflight.py
+++ b/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_runtime_preflight.py
@@ -52,6 +52,36 @@ def _openai_text(content: str) -> dict[str, object]:
     return {"choices": [{"message": {"content": content}}]}
 
 
+def test_routable_discovered_models_excludes_evidence_only_rows() -> None:
+    """Evidence-only rows (e.g. OpenRouter) must never enter live selection."""
+    namespace = _load_launcher()
+    routable = namespace.get("_routable_discovered_models")
+    assert callable(routable), "launcher must expose an evidence-only discovery filter"
+
+    evidence_only_model = SimpleNamespace(
+        id="openrouter_evidence_only",
+        provider_name="openrouter",
+        model_id="some/model",
+        evidence_only=True,
+    )
+    live_model = SimpleNamespace(
+        id="nvidia_ready",
+        provider_name="nvidia_nim",
+        model_id="ready/free",
+        evidence_only=False,
+    )
+    no_flag_model = SimpleNamespace(
+        id="bytez_untagged", provider_name="bytez", model_id="untagged/free"
+    )
+
+    assert routable([evidence_only_model, live_model, no_flag_model]) == [
+        live_model,
+        no_flag_model,
+    ]
+    assert routable(None) == []
+    assert routable([]) == []
+
+
 def test_preflight_mirrors_runtime_request_and_keeps_only_compatible_routes() -> None:
     """Reject provider errors/malformed replies before the sidecar becomes ready."""
     namespace = _load_launcher()
diff --git a/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar_contract.py b/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar_contract.py
index a1c0746f03..3ddf8952d2 100644
--- a/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar_contract.py
+++ b/tests/test_contextual_orchestrator_review_sidecar_contract.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 )
 
 GATEWAY_MODEL = "contextual-orchestrator/orchestrator/free"
-ORCH_PIN_SHA = "b21645116b352967e50fc497b87eb745b9cc8c61"
+ORCH_PIN_SHA = "5f2753ace756ddd81049a5221d55e8977572a416"
 
 
 def _read(path: Path) -> str:
@@ -281,7 +281,9 @@ def test_launcher_uses_orchestrator_discovery_and_governed_pools() -> None:
     text = _read(LAUNCHER)
     assert "from contextual_orchestrator.chat_capability import is_general_chat_agent_model_id" in text
     assert "from contextual_orchestrator.model_discovery import discover_all_models, free_discovered_models" in text
-    assert "free_discovered_models(discovered)" in text
+    assert "routable_discovered = _routable_discovered_models(discovered)" in text
+    assert "free_discovered_models(routable_discovered)" in text
+    assert 'getattr(model, "evidence_only", False)' in text
     assert 'getattr(model, "output_modalities", None)' in text
     assert 'isinstance(modalities, str)' in text
     assert '"text" in {str(modality).casefold() for modality in modalities}' in text