diff --git a/workplans/ACTIVITY-WP-0039-multi-worker-identity-and-token-custody.md b/workplans/ACTIVITY-WP-0039-multi-worker-identity-and-token-custody.md
index f6d80dc..23b9a50 100644
--- a/workplans/ACTIVITY-WP-0039-multi-worker-identity-and-token-custody.md
+++ b/workplans/ACTIVITY-WP-0039-multi-worker-identity-and-token-custody.md
@@ -133,10 +133,17 @@ on stdin. The founder runs it in their own terminal:
 
 ```bash
 BAO_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:18200 VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:18200 \
+  WP0039_STATUS=$HOME/.local/state/wp0039-seed.status \
   warden access openbao-platform-admin-login --exec -- \
   sh scripts/wp0039-seed-worker-tokens.sh
 ```
 
+The first founder run on 2026-09-23 failed closed ("returned a failure or
+unexpected output"). warden discards the child's output, so the script now
+writes a non-secret step trace to `WP0039_STATUS`. The trace holds the failing
+step, the exit code, and bao's error text, never the value. The script was
+tested against a stub `bao`: silent, and a no-op on rerun.
+
 Read warden's printed line rather than its exit code (orientation section 5).
 Minting does not depend on T02, but ESO cannot read the paths until the policy
 lands.