diff --git a/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json b/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json
index 4c4e428..2e6742b 100644
--- a/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json
+++ b/dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "task_file": "dev/tasks/DEV-000059-local-cognitive-canary-observation.json",
-  "task_id": "DEV-000059",
+  "task_file": "dev/tasks/DEV-000060-llm-free-provider-env-audit.json",
+  "task_id": "DEV-000060",
   "task_revision": 1
 }
diff --git a/dev/tasks/DEV-000060-llm-free-provider-env-audit.json b/dev/tasks/DEV-000060-llm-free-provider-env-audit.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a203642
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/tasks/DEV-000060-llm-free-provider-env-audit.json
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+  "task_id":"DEV-000060",
+  "task_revision":1,
+  "architecture_revision":"ADR-0008",
+  "base_repo_revision":"bcb106e0a37a8620c5f06f3c7d32ff682839037e",
+  "risk_tier":"E",
+  "intent":"Correct the LLM-free production audit so it distinguishes explicitly declared non-secret cognitive provider configuration from prohibited plaintext credentials, without changing runtime routing, binding lifecycle, or secret-isolation policy.",
+  "requirement_ids":["INV-EPI-001","ADR-0006","ADR-0008","LLM-FREE-PROVIDER-ENV-AUDIT"],
+  "allowed_change_scope":{"modules":[],"paths":["tests/cognitive_advisory/**","docs/PROJECT_STATUS.md","dev/ACTIVE_TASK.json","dev/tasks/DEV-000060-llm-free-provider-env-audit.json"]},
+  "forbidden_change_scope":{"paths":["architecture/**","contracts/**","modules/**","adapters/**","database/**","deploy/**","cmd/**","security/**","ci/**",".gitea/**"]},
+  "allowed_architecture_delta":{"new_cross_module_dependencies":0,"new_canonical_owners":0,"new_privileges":0,"new_third_party_dependencies":0,"new_provider_adapters":0},
+  "contracts":{"consume":["cognitive-worker-runtime-environment","CredentialRef secret-file policy"],"may_change":[]},
+  "semantic_owner":"none; production audit guardrail only",
+  "canonical_state":[],
+  "state_transitions":["none; CANARY and ACTIVE binding states are not modified"],
+  "side_effects_and_privileges":["read-only production container inspection and advisory audit only","no credential creation or exposure","no provider invocation except the existing fail-closed audit request"],
+  "persistence_and_migrations":["none"],
+  "failure_retry_restart":["unknown environment names fail closed","plain credential-like environment names fail closed","only exact CredentialRef file names under /run/secrets are allowed"],
+  "assumptions":["LOCAL_CPU_PROVIDER_URL and LOCAL_OLLAMA_PROVIDER_URL are non-secret endpoint configuration","docker-test remains prohibited"],
+  "acceptance_scenarios":["LOCAL_CPU_PROVIDER_URL passes","LOCAL_OLLAMA_PROVIDER_URL passes","OPENAI_API_KEY fails","PROVIDER_TOKEN fails","OPENAI_API_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets/... passes","unknown credential-like environment fails closed","production worker exact environment passes"],
+  "required_tests":["PowerShell environment-policy regression suite","LLM-free production audit","go test ./...","go vet ./...","architecture sentinel","provider/router tests","exact diff scope"],
+  "terminal_gap_states":["BLOCKED_BY_ARCHITECTURE_GAP","BLOCKED_BY_SPEC_GAP","BLOCKED_BY_MISSING_CAPABILITY","BLOCKED_BY_CONFLICT"]
+}
diff --git a/docs/PROJECT_STATUS.md b/docs/PROJECT_STATUS.md
index 8260204..8ed011c 100644
--- a/docs/PROJECT_STATUS.md
+++ b/docs/PROJECT_STATUS.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Assistant project status
 
-Audit date: 2026-08-17. Active implementation: DEV-000059 revision 1.
+Audit date: 2026-08-17. Active implementation: DEV-000060 revision 1.
 
 ## Current milestone
 
@@ -14,6 +14,18 @@ Audit date: 2026-08-17. Active implementation: DEV-000059 revision 1.
 - DEV-000058 promoted the exact CPU `Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct-Q4_K_M` lineage to `VALIDATED/CANARY` through an authenticated, evidence-gated, append-only CAS transition. Ordinary routing still excludes it; only an explicit `AllowCanary` request can select it. All other current bindings remain `INACTIVE`.
 - DEV-000059 enables that exact canary behind a fail-closed cognitive-worker flag and a 4 KiB output clamp. Five authenticated synthetic Creator requests completed through the full production path with typed usage observations, zero failures and zero API cost. The binding remains `CANARY`, not `ACTIVE`.
 
+## Cognitive Foundation baseline
+
+- `COGNITIVE_FOUNDATION = COMPLETED`
+- `PRODUCTION_REGISTRY = RUNNING`
+- `LOCAL_CPU_CANARY = WORKING`
+- `CANARY_SUCCESSFUL_REQUESTS = 5`
+- `ACTIVE_BINDINGS = none`
+- `OPENAI_REAL_CREDENTIAL = not required / not activated`
+- `NEXT_MILESTONE = Human Interaction + Intent/Evidence Semantics + Project Copilot Foundation`
+
+DEV-000060 corrects the LLM-free production audit with an exact, fail-closed cognitive-worker environment allowlist. Non-secret local provider endpoint variables are permitted only by name; plaintext credentials remain prohibited and secret-file references are restricted to the existing `OPENAI_API_KEY_FILE` mechanism under `/run/secrets`.
+
 ## Delivered
 
 - Foundation V1 is frozen and all exit criteria pass.
diff --git a/tests/cognitive_advisory/cognitive_worker_env_policy.ps1 b/tests/cognitive_advisory/cognitive_worker_env_policy.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63cb3e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cognitive_advisory/cognitive_worker_env_policy.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
+
+$script:AllowedCognitiveWorkerEnvironment = @{
+    'CORE_RUNTIME_URL' = 'http_url'
+    'LOCAL_CPU_PROVIDER_URL' = 'http_url'
+    'LOCAL_GPU_PROVIDER_URL' = 'http_url'
+    'LOCAL_OLLAMA_PROVIDER_URL' = 'http_url'
+    'COGNITIVE_OWNER_PRINCIPAL_ID' = 'nonempty'
+    'COGNITIVE_ALLOW_CANARY' = 'boolean'
+    'LISTEN_ADDR' = 'listen_address'
+    'OPENAI_API_KEY_FILE' = 'secret_file'
+    'PATH' = 'nonempty'
+}
+
+function Test-CognitiveWorkerEnvironmentPolicy {
+    [CmdletBinding()]
+    param([Parameter(Mandatory)][string[]]$Environment)
+
+    foreach ($entry in $Environment) {
+        $parts = $entry -split '=', 2
+        if ($parts.Count -ne 2 -or [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($parts[0])) {
+            throw "Cognitive worker environment entry is malformed: $entry"
+        }
+
+        $name = $parts[0]
+        $value = $parts[1]
+        if (-not $script:AllowedCognitiveWorkerEnvironment.ContainsKey($name)) {
+            if ($name -match '(?i)(API_KEY|TOKEN|PASSWORD|SECRET|CREDENTIAL|ACCESS_KEY|PRIVATE_KEY)') {
+                throw "Cognitive worker credential-like environment is not an approved CredentialRef file: $name"
+            }
+            throw "Cognitive worker environment is not explicitly approved: $name"
+        }
+
+        switch ($script:AllowedCognitiveWorkerEnvironment[$name]) {
+            'http_url' {
+                $uri = $null
+                if (-not [uri]::TryCreate($value, [System.UriKind]::Absolute, [ref]$uri) -or $uri.Scheme -notin @('http', 'https') -or [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($uri.Host)) {
+                    throw "Cognitive worker endpoint is invalid: $name"
+                }
+            }
+            'boolean' {
+                if ($value -notin @('true', 'false')) { throw "Cognitive worker boolean is invalid: $name" }
+            }
+            'listen_address' {
+                if ($value -notmatch '^:[0-9]{1,5}$') { throw "Cognitive worker listen address is invalid: $name" }
+            }
+            'secret_file' {
+                if ($value -notmatch '^/run/secrets/[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9._-]*$') {
+                    throw "Cognitive worker CredentialRef file is invalid: $name"
+                }
+            }
+            'nonempty' {
+                if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($value)) { throw "Cognitive worker environment is empty: $name" }
+            }
+            default { throw "Cognitive worker environment policy is invalid for: $name" }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/cognitive_advisory/cognitive_worker_env_policy_test.ps1 b/tests/cognitive_advisory/cognitive_worker_env_policy_test.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea7bdc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cognitive_advisory/cognitive_worker_env_policy_test.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
+Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
+
+. "$PSScriptRoot/cognitive_worker_env_policy.ps1"
+
+function Assert-PolicyPass([string]$Name, [string[]]$Environment) {
+    try { Test-CognitiveWorkerEnvironmentPolicy -Environment $Environment }
+    catch { throw "$Name expected PASS: $($_.Exception.Message)" }
+}
+
+function Assert-PolicyFail([string]$Name, [string[]]$Environment) {
+    try { Test-CognitiveWorkerEnvironmentPolicy -Environment $Environment }
+    catch { return }
+    throw "$Name expected FAIL"
+}
+
+Assert-PolicyPass 'CPU provider endpoint' @('LOCAL_CPU_PROVIDER_URL=http://docker.cin.su:18082/v1')
+Assert-PolicyPass 'Ollama provider endpoint' @('LOCAL_OLLAMA_PROVIDER_URL=http://192.168.220.91:11434')
+Assert-PolicyFail 'plaintext OpenAI API key' @('OPENAI_API_KEY=secret')
+Assert-PolicyFail 'plaintext provider token' @('PROVIDER_TOKEN=secret')
+Assert-PolicyPass 'approved OpenAI CredentialRef file' @('OPENAI_API_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets/openai_api_key')
+Assert-PolicyFail 'unknown credential-like variable' @('UNRECOGNIZED_API_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets/unknown')
+
+Write-Output 'Cognitive worker environment policy regression tests: PASS'
diff --git a/tests/cognitive_advisory/verify-remote.ps1 b/tests/cognitive_advisory/verify-remote.ps1
index c127473..59da669 100644
--- a/tests/cognitive_advisory/verify-remote.ps1
+++ b/tests/cognitive_advisory/verify-remote.ps1
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ param(
 $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
 Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
 
+. "$PSScriptRoot/cognitive_worker_env_policy.ps1"
+
 function Get-ContainerEnvironment([string]$Container) {
     $result = @{}
     $inspect = ((& docker.exe --context $DockerContext inspect $Container) -join "`n") | ConvertFrom-Json
@@ -72,8 +74,7 @@ $injected = Invoke-StatusRequest "$BaseURL/api/advisory" $authorization $injecte
 if ($injected.StatusCode -ne 400) { throw "Authority-field injection status=$($injected.StatusCode)" }
 
 $cognitiveInspect = ((& docker.exe --context $DockerContext inspect $CognitiveContainer) -join "`n") | ConvertFrom-Json
-$forbiddenEnvironment = @($cognitiveInspect[0].Config.Env | Where-Object { ($_ -split '=', 2)[0] -match '(?i)(POSTGRES|DATABASE|COMMIT|EXECUTOR|CREATOR|PASSWORD|TOKEN|PROVIDER|API_KEY)' })
-if ($forbiddenEnvironment.Count -ne 0) { throw 'Cognitive worker has forbidden privileged/provider environment' }
+Test-CognitiveWorkerEnvironmentPolicy -Environment @($cognitiveInspect[0].Config.Env)
 $forbiddenMounts = @($cognitiveInspect[0].Mounts | Where-Object { $_.Destination -match '(?i)(secret|credential|token|postgres|docker)' })
 if ($forbiddenMounts.Count -ne 0) { throw 'Cognitive worker has a forbidden credential or infrastructure mount' }
 $recentLogs = ((& docker.exe --context $DockerContext logs --since 5m $CognitiveContainer 2>&1) -join "`n")