fix(ci): reduce duplicate work and preserve reliable test failures (#8233)

* fix(ci): reduce duplicate work and preserve reliable test failures

* fix(ci): retain protocol evidence and repair stale test fixtures

* test(connect): honor parent deadline during API fixture readiness

* fix(ci): reserve IO capacity for state writer proofs

* test(connect): align RPC fixtures with service capture contracts

* test(connect): cover pinned service capture failures

.github/workflows/cache-warm.yml

@@ -15,16 +15,16 @@
 # Sole writer of the Rust dependency caches that ci.yml restores.
 #
 # Why this is a separate workflow rather than steps inside ci.yml: ci.yml's
-# concurrency group cancels in-progress runs on main pushes, and merges land far
-# faster than its 70-minute pipeline. Measured over 15 consecutive main pushes:
+# concurrency group originally cancelled in-progress main runs, while merges
+# landed faster than its 70-minute pipeline. Over 15 consecutive main pushes:
 # 12 cancelled, 2 failed, 0 succeeded. A cancelled run never reaches
 # Swatinem/rust-cache's post step (cache-on-failure does not cover cancellation),
 # so the writer lanes were saving nothing and every PR paid a cold restore —
 # 11.8-20.9 minutes of "Setup Rust environment" against 0.7-3.4 warm.
 #
-# Splitting cache writing out of the test pipeline lets ci.yml keep cancelling
-# superseded runs (which is correct — nobody needs test results for a commit
-# that is already three merges behind) while the caches still get written.
+# Keep cache writing separate from validation: only these jobs publish the
+# complete feature closure for each key. Main validation now also finishes its
+# running baseline, while superseded PR attempts can still be cancelled.
 #
 # The group below deliberately does NOT cancel in progress; see the comment on
 # it for how that bounds concurrency and why it is scoped by event.
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ jobs:
   # belonged to it.
   warm-ci-uring:
     name: Warm ci-uring
-    runs-on: sm-standard-2
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 60
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository