diff --git a/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-executor.mjs b/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-executor.mjs
index 9e0d1cd..c05a943 100644
--- a/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-executor.mjs
+++ b/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-executor.mjs
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import { renderJourneySteps } from "@shipbash/contracts/runtime/journey-steps.mj
 import { splitWaiting } from "./action-requests.mjs";
 import { chooseJevAction, closingOptions, pageOptions } from "./jev-actions.mjs";
 import { judge, movedBeforeHandBack, record, settle, stepRemains } from "./jev-checklist.mjs";
-import { readSteps, whichStep } from "./jev-step-questions.mjs";
-import { attribute, refuse, stepLedger, walkInputs } from "./jev-steps.mjs";
+import { readStepText, readSteps, TEXT_LIFTED_BELOW, whichStep } from "./jev-step-questions.mjs";
+import { attribute, liftTextWall, recheckable, refuse, stepLedger, walkInputs } from "./jev-steps.mjs";
 import { checkInterruption, movedFrom, readPage, waitOut } from "./jev-page-reading.mjs";
 import { withRoute } from "./jev-route.mjs";
 import { interruption, JEV_REASONS } from "./jev-stops.mjs";
@@ -182,6 +182,27 @@ async function stillOnPage(run, state, action) {
   return url.trim() === state.url && pageState(page) === pageState(state.page) && namesLiveElement(page, selector);
 }
 
+/**
+ * The ledger's refusal of `action` (jev-steps.mjs refuse), unless the step
+ * that stops it is a text wall whose own command has run and ended: that step
+ * is read once more, on the terminal (readStepText), and below
+ * TEXT_LIFTED_BELOW it stops the walk no longer — a step that types text only
+ * on a condition its command did not print. Recorded either way.
+ */
+async function refusal(run, state, step, action) {
+  const refused = refuse(run.ledger, step, action);
+  if (refused?.code !== "step_needs_text" || !recheckable(refused.step, state.terminal)) return refused;
+  refused.step.rechecked = true;
+  const read = { steps: run.instructions, history: run.history, terminal: state.terminal };
+  const { needsText } = await run.readStepText(read, refused.step.number - 1, run.request);
+  run.requests += 1;
+  const lifted = needsText !== null && needsText < TEXT_LIFTED_BELOW;
+  await record(run, "recheck", { choice: lifted ? "lifted" : "kept", step: refused.step.number, needsText });
+  if (!lifted) return refused;
+  liftTextWall(run.ledger, refused.step);
+  return refuse(run.ledger, step, action);
+}
+
 /**
  * Takes the chosen action. One read off the page is checked against the page
  * first: it may have moved on while Jev chose, or remounted the element the
@@ -189,8 +210,8 @@ async function stillOnPage(run, state, action) {
  * moved does not discard it, and the screen is not read again: a spinner
  * redraws it between any two readings. Beside that read, the step the action
  * performs is named (jev-walk-steps.mjs stepFor), and the ledger may refuse it
- * (jev-steps.mjs refuse): the walk then hands that step back before the
- * action reaches the page.
+ * (refusal): the walk then hands that step back before the action reaches the
+ * page.
  * @param {boolean} fromPage whether the action was read off the page
  */
 async function act(run, state, action, fromPage) {
@@ -206,7 +227,7 @@ async function act(run, state, action, fromPage) {
     run.guidance = "Page changed during selection; previous choice was NOT executed.";
     return outcome(null);
   }
-  const refused = refuse(run.ledger, step, action);
+  const refused = await refusal(run, state, step, action);
   await record(run, "step", { choice: refused?.code ?? step ?? "current", step: refused?.step.number ?? step });
   if (refused) return outcome(refused.code);
   await perform(run, action);
@@ -288,6 +309,7 @@ function newRun(input, options) {
     terminalSteps,
     choose: options.choose ?? chooseJevAction,
     readSteps: options.readSteps ?? readSteps,
+    readStepText: options.readStepText ?? readStepText,
     whichStep: options.whichStep ?? whichStep,
     onDecision: options.onDecision ?? (() => {}),
     onCheckpoint: options.onCheckpoint ?? (() => {}),
diff --git a/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-step-questions.mjs b/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-step-questions.mjs
index 0d2fea2..77300cd 100644
--- a/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-step-questions.mjs
+++ b/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-step-questions.mjs
@@ -24,6 +24,15 @@ import { acceptedNoul, JEV_MODEL } from "./jev-target.mjs";
  */
 export const NEEDS_TEXT_AT = 0.23;
 export const NO_ACTION_BELOW = 0.13;
+/**
+ * A step read again once its command has ended (readStepText) stops nothing
+ * below TEXT_LIFTED_BELOW. On the 25 production walls of a conditional setup
+ * step ("if its first JSON line has need_user_action, … run the
+ * resume_command it prints") whose condition never showed, it read 0.05–0.06
+ * (75 readings); with that condition's line on the screen, 0.81–0.89 (75). A
+ * step that types a value it gives in backticks read 0.41–0.46 and stays a wall.
+ */
+export const TEXT_LIFTED_BELOW = 0.2;
 
 const needsText = (step) => ({
   type: "noul",
@@ -68,6 +77,27 @@ const needsAction = (step) => ({
   },
 });
 
+const stillNeedsText = (step) => ({
+  type: "noul",
+  instructions: `\`${step}\` was read as typing text it does not give. Its command has run: does it still need that text typed, as \`terminal\` shows the command now?`,
+  criteria: {
+    true: {
+      what: "The step types text it does not give whatever the command printed; or it types that text only if a condition it names is shown — a status, a prompt or a message — and `terminal.screen` shows that condition; or the command is still running (`terminal.running` is true); or `terminal.screen` does not show the command's result.",
+      examples: [
+        'step "Run `acme setup --agent`. If its first JSON line has "status":"need_user_action", open the url it prints, then run the resume_command it prints"; `terminal.screen` shows {"step":"auth","status":"need_user_action","url":"https://acme.test/cli/auth?ticket=8f2","resume_command":"acme setup --agent --login-ticket 8f2"}',
+        'step "Run `acme login` and enter the one-time code it prints"; `terminal.screen` shows "Enter code: "',
+      ],
+    },
+    false: {
+      what: "The step types its unquoted text only if a condition it names is shown, the command has ended (`terminal.running` is false), and `terminal.screen` shows another result where that condition would be.",
+      examples: [
+        'step "Run `acme setup --agent`. If its first JSON line has "status":"need_user_action", open the url it prints, then run the resume_command it prints"; `terminal.screen` shows {"step":"auth","status":"ok"} then {"step":"done","status":"ok"} and the shell prompt',
+        'step "Run `acme init`; if it asks for a project name, type the name the owner gave"; `terminal.screen` shows "Initialized project acme-web" and the shell prompt',
+      ],
+    },
+  },
+});
+
 /** The answers to `questions` about `state`, and how long they took. */
 async function ask(state, questions, { jev, signal = undefined, redact = (text) => text, fetchImpl = fetch }) {
   const started = Date.now();
@@ -148,3 +178,17 @@ export async function stepsNeedingText(instructions, jev) {
     return null;
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * Whether a step read as typing text it does not give (readSteps) still needs
+ * that text once its command has run, asked on what the terminal shows: a
+ * step that types it only on a condition the command did not print is no wall
+ * to the steps after it. `state` carries `steps`, `history` and `terminal`.
+ * An unanswered reading is null.
+ * @param {{ steps: ReadonlyArray<string>, history: unknown[], terminal: unknown }} state
+ * @param {number} index the step's 0-based index in `state.steps`
+ */
+export async function readStepText(state, index, request) {
+  const { result, durationMs } = await ask(state, { text: stillNeedsText(`steps[${String(index)}]`) }, request);
+  return { durationMs, needsText: acceptedNoul(result, "text") };
+}
diff --git a/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-steps.mjs b/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-steps.mjs
index 1cc8996..777d7fe 100644
--- a/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-steps.mjs
+++ b/packages/runner/src/runtime/jev-steps.mjs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import { JEV_REASONS } from "./jev-stops.mjs";
 import { terminalSteps, withoutCodeSpans } from "./jev-terminal.mjs";
 
 /**
- * @typedef {{ number: number, id: string, instruction: string, values: string[], commands: string[], inputs: string[], keys: string[], needsText: number | null, needsAction: number | null, actions: string[], pressed: string[], remembered?: boolean }} LedgerStep
+ * @typedef {{ number: number, id: string, instruction: string, values: string[], commands: string[], inputs: string[], keys: string[], needsText: number | null, needsAction: number | null, actions: string[], pressed: string[], remembered?: boolean, rechecked?: boolean, lifted?: boolean }} LedgerStep
  * @typedef {{ code: "step_needs_text" | "step_skipped" | "steps_not_taken", step: LedgerStep }} HandBack
  * @typedef {{ steps: LedgerStep[], handedBack: HandBack | null, completed: boolean }} Ledger
  */
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ export function readInto(ledger, { needsText, needsAction }) {
 
 /** Whether a step types text it does not give; unanswered counts as yes. */
 // A step that types text it does not quote, unless the walk typed for it what the Journey's newest passing walk
-// typed there (jev-route.mjs: a remembered value).
-const typesUnquoted = (step) => !step.remembered && (step.needsText === null || step.needsText >= NEEDS_TEXT_AT);
+// typed there (jev-route.mjs: a remembered value), or its own command showed it no longer needs it (liftTextWall).
+const typesUnquoted = (step) => !step.remembered && !step.lifted && (step.needsText === null || step.needsText >= NEEDS_TEXT_AT);
 /** Whether a step needs an action of its own; unanswered or unsure counts as yes. */
 const needsAction = (step) => step.needsAction === null || step.needsAction >= NO_ACTION_BELOW;
 
@@ -104,6 +104,22 @@ export function refuse(ledger, number, action) {
   return handBack;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Whether the step a text wall stopped at may be read again on the terminal
+ * (the executor's recheck): once, after the walk ran the step's own command
+ * and that command has ended.
+ * @param {{ running?: boolean } | null | undefined} terminal the round's terminal reading
+ */
+export function recheckable(step, terminal) {
+  return !step.rechecked && step.actions.length > 0 && terminal?.running === false;
+}
+
+/** A step whose command showed it no longer needs its unquoted text stops nothing from now on. */
+export function liftTextWall(ledger, step) {
+  step.lifted = true;
+  ledger.handedBack = null;
+}
+
 /**
  * The step an action belongs to when code knows it: the one step whose own
  * text the action types or runs. Undefined when the action types nothing, or