diff --git a/src/queue-intelligence.ts b/src/queue-intelligence.ts
index 0f3195b55a..67838da668 100644
--- a/src/queue-intelligence.ts
+++ b/src/queue-intelligence.ts
@@ -171,11 +171,39 @@ export async function analyzePRQueue(
  *  loopover itself), which the MCP read/actuation allowlists' analogous risk doesn't share.
  *  LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS is the env var; config-as-code, never hardcoded per #config-as-code. */
 export function isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo(env: { LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS?: string }, repoFullName: string): boolean {
-  const entries = (env.LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS ?? "")
+  return parsePublicScoreTermAllowedRepos(env.LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS).includes(repoFullName.toLowerCase());
+}
+
+/** The parsed, lowercased allowlist entries. Takes the RAW env string (not an env object) so both callers can
+ *  share it regardless of how their own `env` parameter is typed — `exactOptionalPropertyTypes` forbids
+ *  re-wrapping a `string | undefined` back into an optional property. */
+function parsePublicScoreTermAllowedRepos(raw: string | undefined): string[] {
+  return (raw ?? "")
     .split(/[\s,]+/)
     .map((entry) => entry.trim().toLowerCase())
     .filter(Boolean);
-  return entries.includes(repoFullName.toLowerCase());
+}
+
+/**
+ * True when the bare-score exemption allowlist is EMPTY — i.e. the over-broad `\bscore\w*\b` check is enforced
+ * for every repo, so any AI review narrative using the ordinary word "score"/"scoring" has its WHOLE assessment
+ * discarded in favour of the generic "did not include a separate narrative summary" placeholder.
+ *
+ * This exists because the #public-score-terms-scoping fix is CONFIG-DEPENDENT: the code path shipped, but it is
+ * inert until an operator populates LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS. Unset (the shipped default) the
+ * deployment silently behaves exactly like the pre-fix build that metagraphed#8038 was filed against, with no
+ * signal anywhere -- which is how that bug stayed live and "recurring" long after it was considered fixed. A
+ * unit test cannot catch this: it verifies the mechanism works WHEN enabled, never that a production env var
+ * was actually set. Warn-only, and deliberately not a hard boot failure: an empty allowlist is the correct,
+ * safe configuration for a deployment whose repos really do carry private trust/reward data -- the operator
+ * just needs to make that an informed choice rather than an unnoticed default. Pure predicate; the caller
+ * (server.ts) owns the actual shout, mirroring shouldWarnRagEmbedUnavailable.
+ */
+export function shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset(env: Record<string, string | undefined>): boolean {
+  // Same `Record<string, string | undefined>` shape as shouldWarnRagEmbedUnavailable so this accepts
+  // `process.env` directly at the boot-time call site (an optional-only object type does not structurally
+  // match Node's ProcessEnv).
+  return parsePublicScoreTermAllowedRepos(env.LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS).length === 0;
 }
 
 /** `allowBareScoreTerm` (#public-score-terms-scoping, default false = today's unchanged behavior): the bare
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
index 462b17691a..65681fc415 100644
--- a/src/server.ts
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import {
   subscriptionCliEnv,
   withAiGenerationCapture,
 } from "./selfhost/ai";
+import { shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset } from "./queue-intelligence";
 import {
   cookieValue,
   credentialsToEnv,
@@ -612,6 +613,22 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
       }),
     );
   }
+  // #public-score-terms-scoping: the bare-`score` exemption is inert until an operator populates the repo
+  // allowlist, and unset (the shipped default) every AI review narrative that merely uses the word
+  // "score"/"scoring" is silently replaced by the generic "did not include a separate narrative summary"
+  // placeholder -- the exact metagraphed#8038 behaviour the exemption was written to fix. Shout once at boot so
+  // a config-dependent fix can't sit inert and unnoticed the way that one did. Warn-only: an empty allowlist is
+  // the correct setting for a deployment whose repos really do carry private trust/reward data.
+  if (shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset(process.env)) {
+    console.error(
+      JSON.stringify({
+        level: "error",
+        event: "selfhost_public_score_terms_allowlist_unset",
+        message:
+          "LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS is unset, so the bare-\"score\" public-comment check is enforced for every repo. Any AI review whose narrative uses the ordinary word \"score\"/\"scoring\" will have its WHOLE summary dropped and replaced by the generic no-narrative placeholder. Set it to the repos whose own public schema legitimately uses score vocabulary (e.g. JSONbored/metagraphed). Explicit phrases (\"trust score\", \"reward\", wallet/hotkey/seed phrase, ...) stay blocked everywhere regardless.",
+      }),
+    );
+  }
   // Dedicated RAG embed provider (keeps the review chain frontier-only): when AI_EMBED_BASE_URL is set, embeddings
   // route to a SEPARATE openai-compatible endpoint (e.g. ollama at http://ollama:11434/v1, model bge-m3) instead of
   // the review chain — so a Claude/Codex outage never falls reviews back to a weak local model. Unset ⇒ absent ⇒
diff --git a/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts b/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts
index f58f4656d3..29c5a4c63f 100644
--- a/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/queue-intelligence.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {
   analyzePRQueue,
   generatePublicComment,
   isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo,
+  shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset,
   sanitizePublicComment,
   FORBIDDEN_PUBLIC_COMMENT_WORDS,
 } from "../../src/queue-intelligence";
@@ -422,3 +423,36 @@ describe("isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo (#public-score-terms-scoping)", () => {
     expect(isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo(env, "JSONbored/loopover")).toBe(false);
   });
 });
+
+// The #public-score-terms-scoping fix is CONFIG-DEPENDENT: the code path shipped, but stays inert until an
+// operator sets the env var, and unset the deployment behaves exactly like the pre-fix build metagraphed#8038
+// was filed against — every AI review narrative using the ordinary word "score"/"scoring" silently loses its
+// WHOLE summary, with no signal anywhere. No unit test can assert a production env var was set, so the boot
+// path shouts instead; these pin the predicate that drives that shout.
+describe("shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset", () => {
+  it("warns when the allowlist is unset, empty, or only separators (the inert-fix states)", () => {
+    expect(shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset({})).toBe(true);
+    expect(shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset({ LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS: "" })).toBe(true);
+    expect(shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset({ LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS: "   " })).toBe(true);
+    expect(shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset({ LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS: " , ,  " })).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("stays quiet once at least one repo is configured", () => {
+    expect(shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset({ LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS: "JSONbored/metagraphed" })).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset({ LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS: "JSONbored/loopover, JSONbored/metagraphed" }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  // The warning and the exemption must agree on what "configured" means, or the shout could fire for a
+  // deployment that IS configured (noise) or stay silent for one that is not (the failure this exists to catch).
+  it("agrees with isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo about what counts as configured", () => {
+    const env = { LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS: "JSONbored/metagraphed" };
+    expect(shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset(env)).toBe(false);
+    expect(isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo(env, "JSONbored/metagraphed")).toBe(true);
+    // "*" parses to a non-empty entry, so the warning is silent — but it grants NO repo the exemption.
+    const wildcard = { LOOPOVER_PUBLIC_SCORE_TERMS_ALLOWED_REPOS: "*" };
+    expect(shouldWarnPublicScoreTermsAllowlistUnset(wildcard)).toBe(false);
+    expect(isPublicScoreTermSafeForRepo(wildcard, "JSONbored/loopover")).toBe(false);
+  });
+});