diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 02b7d35..07c06ef 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,30 @@
+## upgrade-test.py records the ENGINE's own view of itself (2026-09-06, R-459) — NOT A RELEASE
+
+**Scripts only. No template changed, and deliberately so** — nothing with `MARIADB_` in it is
+committed by this work; that is a fleet-wide decision the operator owns.
+
+The harness returned **`proven`** for edge E3b while MariaDB was logging that the datadir conversion it
+requires had been **skipped**. The verdict was not wrong — the app's data did survive, which is what it
+asked — but nothing here could see that the engine had been left in a state the engine itself calls
+incomplete. It watched the app and the migration log; **neither looks at engine state.**
+
+`engine_state_after` now carries, per database service, the engine's own answer. On the E3b re-run:
+
+```
+verdict: proven
+engine_state_after.bookstack-db.answer:
+  "11.6.2-MariaDB| Major version upgrade detected from 11.6.2-MariaDB to 12.3.3-MariaDB. Check required! [exit=0]"
+```
+
+**It is reported BESIDE the verdict and never folded into it.** An unconverted datadir is not known to
+be a failure — `SPIKE-r459-mariadb-upgrade-2026-09-06.md` measured 5 of 5 restarts with no degradation
+— so a verdict that called it `failed` would encode an unproven judgement, which is worse than
+reporting a fact and letting a person read both.
+
+**Both engines are covered and they fail differently:** MariaDB starts anyway and skips the conversion
+quietly; PostgreSQL refuses to start on a datadir from an older major. "The engine would not start" is
+as much an engine-state observation as "the engine says it needs a check".
+
 ## upgrade-test.py — a harness that measures whether an upgrade keeps the data (2026-09-06, R-449) — NOT A RELEASE
 
 **No template changed. No image moved. Scripts only.** `scripts/upgrade-test.py` +
diff --git a/scripts/upgrade-test.py b/scripts/upgrade-test.py
index 7a5a53e..4d7de50 100755
--- a/scripts/upgrade-test.py
+++ b/scripts/upgrade-test.py
@@ -156,6 +156,53 @@ def settle(project: str, workdir: Path, wait=420):
     return False, round(time.time() - t0, 1), states
 
 
+# --- the ENGINE's own view of itself (R-459) ------------------------------------------------------
+#
+# WHY THIS EXISTS. On edge E3b this harness returned `proven` — correctly: the app's data survived,
+# which is what it asked. But MariaDB was at that moment logging that the datadir conversion it
+# requires had been SKIPPED, and nothing here could see it. The harness watched the app and the
+# migration log; neither looks at engine state.
+#
+# IT IS REPORTED BESIDE THE VERDICT, NEVER FOLDED INTO IT. An unconverted datadir is not known to be
+# a failure — SPIKE-r459-mariadb-upgrade-2026-09-06 measured 5 of 5 restarts with no degradation — so
+# a verdict that called it `failed` would encode an unproven judgement, which is worse than reporting
+# a fact and letting a person read both.
+#
+# The two engines fail differently and the field carries both: MariaDB starts anyway and skips the
+# conversion quietly; PostgreSQL REFUSES to start on a datadir from an older major. So "the engine
+# would not start" is as much an engine-state observation as "the engine says it needs a check".
+ENGINE_PROBES = {
+    # image-name fragment -> (probe command inside the container, what the answer means)
+    "mariadb": (
+        "cat /var/lib/mysql/mariadb_upgrade_info 2>&1; echo '|'; "
+        "mariadb-upgrade --check-if-upgrade-is-needed --user=root "
+        "--password=$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD 2>&1; echo \"[exit=$?]\"",
+        "datadir version | the engine's own upgrade verdict",
+    ),
+    "postgres": (
+        "cat /var/lib/postgresql/data/PG_VERSION 2>&1", "datadir major version",
+    ),
+}
+
+
+def engine_state(images: dict):
+    """Ask every database engine in this stack what it thinks of its own datadir.
+
+    Best-effort and never fatal: a probe that cannot run records why, because "we could not ask" and
+    "the engine is content" are different facts and only one of them is about the engine.
+    """
+    out = {}
+    for svc, ref in images.items():
+        for frag, (cmd, meaning) in ENGINE_PROBES.items():
+            if frag not in ref:
+                continue
+            r = cvp._sh(["docker", "exec", svc, "sh", "-c", cmd], timeout=120)
+            out[svc] = {"image": ref, "probe": meaning,
+                        "answer": " ".join(((r.stdout or "") + (r.stderr or "")).split())[:600],
+                        "probe_rc": r.returncode}
+    return out
+
+
 MIGRATION_RE = re.compile(
     r"migrat|upgrad|schema|alter table|CREATE TABLE|InnoDB: Upgrad|mysql_upgrade|"
     r"mariadb-upgrade|Running .* migration|Applying|db:migrate",
@@ -189,6 +236,8 @@ def run_edge(edge_id: str) -> dict:
            "from": e["frm"], "to": e["to"], "verdict": "inconclusive",
            "seed_read_before": False, "seed_read_after": False, "healthy_after": False,
            "migration_observed": None, "abort": "not-attempted", "abort_detail": None,
+           # engine_state is a REPORT, not a judgement — see ENGINE_PROBES.
+           "engine_state_after": None,
            "duration_s": 0, "measured_at": None, "evidence": f"evidence/{edge_id}"}
     t0 = time.time()
     log = []
@@ -254,6 +303,12 @@ def run_edge(edge_id: str) -> dict:
         full_to = compose(workdir, project, "logs", "--no-color", timeout=180)
         (ev / "to-full.log").write_text((full_to.stdout + full_to.stderr)[-400000:])
 
+        rec["engine_state_after"] = engine_state(e["to"]) or None
+        if rec["engine_state_after"]:
+            for svc, st in rec["engine_state_after"].items():
+                say(f"engine state {svc}: {st['answer'][:180]}")
+        (ev / "engine-state.json").write_text(json.dumps(rec["engine_state_after"], indent=2))
+
         mig = migration_lines(project, workdir, swap_at)
         rec["migration_observed"] = mig[0] if mig else None
         (ev / "migration-lines.txt").write_text("\n".join(mig))