diff --git a/pkg/match/engine_cncf_gap_test.go b/pkg/match/engine_cncf_gap_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1d763f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/match/engine_cncf_gap_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+package match
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/hivecommons/dibs/pkg/catalog"
+	"github.com/hivecommons/dibs/pkg/store"
+)
+
+func cncfTestCatalog(t *testing.T, projects []catalog.Project) *catalog.Store {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	raw, err := json.Marshal(projects)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Marshal: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(dir+"/cncf-catalog.json", raw, 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("WriteFile: %v", err)
+	}
+	cs, err := catalog.New(dir, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("catalog.New: %v", err)
+	}
+	return cs
+}
+
+// TestCNCFMatchesNilEngineOrCatalog: both guard arms return an empty,
+// non-nil slice without error.
+func TestCNCFMatchesNilEngineOrCatalog(t *testing.T) {
+	var nilEngine *Engine
+	idea := &store.Idea{Title: "anything"}
+	for name, e := range map[string]*Engine{"nil engine": nilEngine, "nil catalog": {}} {
+		ms, err := e.CNCFMatchesForIdea(context.Background(), idea)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("%s: %v", name, err)
+		}
+		if ms == nil || len(ms) != 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("%s: matches = %#v, want empty non-nil slice", name, ms)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TestCNCFMatchesNoCandidates: an empty catalog yields no candidates and an
+// empty result before any scoring.
+func TestCNCFMatchesNoCandidates(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	cs, err := catalog.New(dir, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("catalog.New: %v", err)
+	}
+	e := &Engine{Catalog: cs}
+	ms, err := e.CNCFMatchesForIdea(context.Background(), &store.Idea{Title: "service mesh"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CNCFMatchesForIdea: %v", err)
+	}
+	if ms == nil || len(ms) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("matches = %#v, want empty non-nil slice", ms)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestCNCFMatchesProgressAndPersist drives the internal entry point the way
+// RematchIdea does — with a progress sink — but with persist enabled, and
+// asserts both the event stream shape and the persisted CNCFMatches.
+func TestCNCFMatchesProgressAndPersist(t *testing.T) {
+	cs := cncfTestCatalog(t, []catalog.Project{
+		{Name: "Istio", RepoID: "istio/istio", RepoURL: "https://github.com/istio/istio", Maturity: "graduated", Category: "Service Proxy", Description: "Service mesh sidecar proxy"},
+		{Name: "Vitess", RepoID: "vitessio/vitess", RepoURL: "https://github.com/vitessio/vitess", Maturity: "incubating", Category: "Database", Description: "MySQL clustering database mesh"},
+	})
+	st, err := store.New(t.TempDir())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("store.New: %v", err)
+	}
+	idea := &store.Idea{Title: "Service mesh sidecar proxy", Body: "Route traffic through sidecars.", Author: "u", Visibility: "public"}
+	if err := st.Create(idea); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Create: %v", err)
+	}
+	e := &Engine{Catalog: cs, Store: st}
+
+	var events []ProgressEvent
+	ms, err := e.cncfMatchesForIdea(context.Background(), idea, true, func(ev ProgressEvent) {
+		events = append(events, ev)
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("cncfMatchesForIdea: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(ms) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("matches = %+v, want 2", ms)
+	}
+
+	// Event stream: one cncf_bm25_start, one cncf_bm25 per candidate, one
+	// cncf_score per candidate — in that order.
+	if len(events) != 5 {
+		t.Fatalf("got %d events %+v, want 5", len(events), events)
+	}
+	if events[0].Phase != "cncf_bm25_start" || events[0].Done != 2 || events[0].Total != 2 ||
+		!strings.Contains(events[0].Note, "2 projects scanned") {
+		t.Fatalf("start event = %+v", events[0])
+	}
+	for i, ev := range events[1:3] {
+		if ev.Phase != "cncf_bm25" || ev.Done != i+1 || ev.Total != 2 || ev.RepoID == "" || ev.Note == "" {
+			t.Fatalf("bm25 event %d = %+v", i, ev)
+		}
+	}
+	for i, ev := range events[3:5] {
+		if ev.Phase != "cncf_score" || ev.Done != i+1 || ev.Total != 2 || ev.ByLLM {
+			t.Fatalf("score event %d = %+v", i, ev)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Persisted: the store copy carries the matches and a fresh timestamp.
+	got, err := st.Get(idea.ID)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Get: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(got.CNCFMatches) != 2 || got.CNCFMatches[0].RepoID != ms[0].RepoID {
+		t.Fatalf("persisted CNCFMatches = %+v, want %+v", got.CNCFMatches, ms)
+	}
+	if got.MatchesUpdatedAt.IsZero() {
+		t.Fatal("MatchesUpdatedAt not set")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestCNCFMatchesPersistError: a store miss on persist surfaces as the
+// call's error.
+func TestCNCFMatchesPersistError(t *testing.T) {
+	cs := cncfTestCatalog(t, []catalog.Project{
+		{Name: "Istio", RepoID: "istio/istio", Description: "Service mesh sidecar proxy"},
+	})
+	st, err := store.New(t.TempDir())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("store.New: %v", err)
+	}
+	e := &Engine{Catalog: cs, Store: st}
+	ghost := &store.Idea{ID: "no-such-idea", Title: "Service mesh sidecar proxy"}
+	if _, err := e.cncfMatchesForIdea(context.Background(), ghost, true, nil); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("persist against a missing idea succeeded")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestCNCFMatchesLLMFailureFallsBackToBM25: a reply with no JSON object
+// keeps the BM25 score and reason (ByLLM false) instead of failing the call.
+func TestCNCFMatchesLLMFailureFallsBackToBM25(t *testing.T) {
+	cs := cncfTestCatalog(t, []catalog.Project{
+		{Name: "Istio", RepoID: "istio/istio", Description: "Service mesh sidecar proxy"},
+	})
+	srv, calls := fakeGateway(t, func(string) string { return "sorry, cannot help" })
+	e := &Engine{Catalog: cs, LLM: &LLM{BaseURL: srv.URL + "/v1", Model: "test"}}
+	ms, err := e.CNCFMatchesForIdea(context.Background(), &store.Idea{Title: "Service mesh sidecar proxy"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CNCFMatchesForIdea: %v", err)
+	}
+	if calls.Load() != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("llm calls = %d, want 1", calls.Load())
+	}
+	if len(ms) != 1 || ms[0].ByLLM || !strings.Contains(ms[0].Reason, "BM25") {
+		t.Fatalf("matches = %+v, want BM25 fallback", ms)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestLLMScoreCNCFErrorAndClamps pins llmScoreCNCF's failure arms (transport
+// error, unparseable JSON) and its 0/100 score clamps.
+func TestLLMScoreCNCFErrorAndClamps(t *testing.T) {
+	idea := &store.Idea{Title: "t", Body: "b"}
+	proj := catalog.Project{Name: "Istio", RepoID: "istio/istio"}
+
+	t.Run("transport error", func(t *testing.T) {
+		srv, _ := fakeGateway(t, func(string) string { return "{}" })
+		srv.Close()
+		e := &Engine{LLM: &LLM{BaseURL: srv.URL + "/v1", Model: "test"}}
+		if _, _, err := e.llmScoreCNCF(context.Background(), idea, proj); err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("closed gateway scored successfully")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("bad json types", func(t *testing.T) {
+		srv, _ := fakeGateway(t, func(string) string { return `{"score": "high", "reason": "x"}` })
+		e := &Engine{LLM: &LLM{BaseURL: srv.URL + "/v1", Model: "test"}}
+		if _, _, err := e.llmScoreCNCF(context.Background(), idea, proj); err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("non-numeric score parsed successfully")
+		}
+	})
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		raw  float64
+		want float64
+	}{{-5, 0}, {900, 100}} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("clamp %v", tc.raw), func(t *testing.T) {
+			srv, _ := fakeGateway(t, func(string) string {
+				return fmt.Sprintf(`{"score": %v, "reason": "fit"}`, tc.raw)
+			})
+			e := &Engine{LLM: &LLM{BaseURL: srv.URL + "/v1", Model: "test"}}
+			score, reason, err := e.llmScoreCNCF(context.Background(), idea, proj)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("llmScoreCNCF: %v", err)
+			}
+			if score != tc.want || reason != "fit" {
+				t.Fatalf("score=%v reason=%q, want %v/fit", score, reason, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/store/idea_transition_test.go b/pkg/store/idea_transition_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..106916b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/store/idea_transition_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package store
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// TestTransitionTo pins the Idea-level lifecycle helper: no-op on same
+// status, mutation on an allowed edge, and a ValidationError naming the
+// action on a disallowed edge (status left untouched).
+func TestTransitionTo(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("same status is a no-op success", func(t *testing.T) {
+		i := &Idea{Status: StatusOffered}
+		if err := i.TransitionTo(StatusOffered, "offer"); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("TransitionTo same status: %v", err)
+		}
+		if i.Status != StatusOffered {
+			t.Fatalf("status changed on no-op: %s", i.Status)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("allowed edge mutates status", func(t *testing.T) {
+		i := &Idea{Status: StatusDraft}
+		if err := i.TransitionTo(StatusOffered, "offer"); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("TransitionTo draft→offered: %v", err)
+		}
+		if i.Status != StatusOffered {
+			t.Fatalf("status = %s, want %s", i.Status, StatusOffered)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("disallowed edge errors and leaves status", func(t *testing.T) {
+		i := &Idea{Status: StatusSettled}
+		err := i.TransitionTo(StatusDraft, "reopen")
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("TransitionTo settled→draft succeeded")
+		}
+		var ve *ValidationError
+		if !errors.As(err, &ve) {
+			t.Fatalf("error type = %T, want *ValidationError", err)
+		}
+		if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "cannot reopen an idea in status settled") {
+			t.Fatalf("error message = %q, want action and status named", err)
+		}
+		if i.Status != StatusSettled {
+			t.Fatalf("status mutated on rejected transition: %s", i.Status)
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+// TestTryTransition pins the silent-no-op variant used by the decline path.
+func TestTryTransition(t *testing.T) {
+	i := &Idea{Status: StatusOffered}
+	if !i.TryTransition(StatusDeclined) {
+		t.Fatal("TryTransition offered→declined = false")
+	}
+	if i.Status != StatusDeclined {
+		t.Fatalf("status = %s, want %s", i.Status, StatusDeclined)
+	}
+	if i.TryTransition(StatusSettled) {
+		t.Fatal("TryTransition declined→settled = true")
+	}
+	if i.Status != StatusDeclined {
+		t.Fatalf("status mutated on refused transition: %s", i.Status)
+	}
+}