diff --git a/scripts/check-phase14.2.sh b/scripts/check-phase14.2.sh
index 831fd53..960dd84 100755
--- a/scripts/check-phase14.2.sh
+++ b/scripts/check-phase14.2.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@
 #                Playwright specs through dev-stack.sh e2e (any skip,
 #                unexpected, flaky or zero expected fails), the D-15
 #                report-only specs (counts printed, never blocking) and the
-#                Go log scan (search engine failure or a 5xx record fails)
+#                Go log scan (search engine failure or a 5xx record fails,
+#                and so does a run that wrote no http request record)
 #   --all        every stage in that order; the last line is
 #                "Phase 14.2 gate passed"
 #
@@ -186,15 +187,23 @@ run_regex() {
 	printf '^(%s)$' "$*"
 }
 
-# scan_go_log FILE refuses a silent search fallback or a 5xx request record
-# (research G8, D-12). A 499 (the surf access log's status for a 5xx caused
-# by the client going away) is not a 5xx; a 5xx with client_gone=true is.
+# scan_go_log FILE [OFFSET] refuses a silent search fallback or a 5xx
+# request record anywhere in FILE (research G8, D-12). A 499 (the surf
+# access log's status for a 5xx caused by the client going away) is not a
+# 5xx; a 5xx with client_gone=true is. It also refuses unless the part of
+# FILE after OFFSET bytes (the output of this run; default the whole file)
+# has an "http request" record: with the access log off a clean scan would
+# prove nothing (WR-08).
 scan_go_log() {
-	local file="$1" hits
+	local file="$1" offset="${2:-0}" hits
 	[[ -f "$file" ]] || {
 		echo "refuse: Go log $file not found" >&2
 		return 1
 	}
+	if ! tail -c "+$((offset + 1))" "$file" | grep -q 'msg="http request"'; then
+		echo "refuse: $file has no http request record from this run; set SUMMER_HTTP__ACCESS_LOG=true in the env file" >&2
+		return 1
+	fi
 	hits="$(grep -nE 'album search engine failed|status=5[0-9][0-9]([^0-9]|$)' "$file" || true)"
 	if [[ -n "$hits" ]]; then
 		printf '%s\n' "$hits" | tail -n 20 >&2
@@ -340,11 +349,19 @@ run_self_test() {
 	printf '%s\n' '[go] level=INFO msg="http request" method=GET pattern="GET /a" status=503 duration_ms=1' >"$dir/5xx.log"
 	printf '%s\n' '[go] level=INFO msg="http request" method=GET pattern="GET /a" status=500 duration_ms=1 client_gone=true' >"$dir/5xx-gone.log"
 	printf '%s\n' '[go] level=WARN msg="album search engine failed" err=timeout' >"$dir/search.log"
+	printf '%s\n' '[go] level=INFO msg="serve: listening" addr=127.0.0.1:8423' >"$dir/no-records.log"
 	expect_status go-log-clean 0 scan_go_log "$dir/clean.log"
 	expect_status go-log-5xx 1 scan_go_log "$dir/5xx.log"
 	expect_status go-log-5xx-client-gone 1 scan_go_log "$dir/5xx-gone.log"
 	expect_status go-log-search 1 scan_go_log "$dir/search.log"
 	expect_status go-log-missing 1 scan_go_log "$dir/absent.log"
+	expect_status go-log-no-records 1 scan_go_log "$dir/no-records.log"
+	expect_status go-log-empty 1 scan_go_log /dev/null
+	# Request records only before this run's offset: the run logged none.
+	cat "$dir/clean.log" "$dir/no-records.log" >"$dir/old-records.log"
+	expect_status go-log-old-records 1 scan_go_log "$dir/old-records.log" "$(stat -c '%s' "$dir/clean.log")"
+	cat "$dir/no-records.log" "$dir/clean.log" >"$dir/new-records.log"
+	expect_status go-log-new-records 0 scan_go_log "$dir/new-records.log" "$(stat -c '%s' "$dir/no-records.log")"
 	printf '# tests 9\n# pass 9\n# fail 0\n# cancelled 0\n# skipped 0\n# todo 0\n' >"$dir/tap-clean"
 	printf '# tests 9\n# pass 8\n# fail 1\n# cancelled 0\n# skipped 0\n# todo 0\n' >"$dir/tap-fail"
 	printf '# tests 9\n# pass 8\n# fail 0\n# cancelled 0\n# skipped 1\n# todo 0\n' >"$dir/tap-skip"
@@ -571,12 +588,14 @@ run_e2e() {
 	bash "$DEV_STACK" up --detach
 	bash "$DEV_STACK" fresh
 	seed_out_private
+	local log_start=0
+	[[ ! -f "$GO_LOG" ]] || log_start="$(stat -c '%s' "$GO_LOG")"
 	bash "$DEV_STACK" guard
 	bash "$DEV_STACK" e2e "${GATE_SPECS[@]}"
 	echo "e2e (report only, D-15): ${REPORT_SPECS[*]}"
 	bash "$DEV_STACK" e2e --report-only "${REPORT_SPECS[@]}" 2>&1 | sed 's/^/e2e (report only) /' || rc=$?
 	((rc == 0)) || echo "e2e (report only) run exited $rc (not blocking)"
-	scan_go_log "$GO_LOG"
+	scan_go_log "$GO_LOG" "$log_start"
 	echo "phase14.2 e2e passed"
 }