diff --git a/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml b/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml
index 2eee815b..c553cf60 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/secret-scanner-reusable.yml
@@ -174,14 +174,22 @@ jobs:
       # a repo-specific blind spot stays local to the repo that justified it
       # instead of widening the allowlist for all 400+.
       #
-      # THIS STEP IS UNGATED ON PURPOSE. It is the only thing that creates
-      # `.gitleaks-estate.toml` for a consumer with no `.gitleaks.toml` of its
-      # own — the large majority — and that is exactly the consumer whose
-      # CONFIG resolves to that file in the scan step below. Do not delete it
-      # as a duplicate of the gated "Estate baseline — is it referenced?"
-      # block further down; that block fires only for repos that DO have a
-      # local config, so removing this one leaves CONFIG naming a file nothing
-      # creates, across most of the estate.
+      # THIS STEP RUNS FOR EVERY CONSUMER WITHOUT A `.gitleaks.toml`. It is the
+      # only thing that creates `.gitleaks-estate.toml` for that consumer — the
+      # large majority — and that is exactly the consumer whose CONFIG resolves
+      # to that file in the scan step below. Do not delete it as a duplicate of
+      # the gated "Estate baseline — is it referenced?" block further down;
+      # that block fires only for repos that DO have a local config, so
+      # removing this one leaves CONFIG naming a file nothing creates, across
+      # most of the estate.
+      #
+      # It is skipped when the repo HAS a `.gitleaks.toml`. That repo scans
+      # with its own config, and the gated block below stages the baseline
+      # only if that config `[extend]`s it. Staged anyway, the baseline sat
+      # inside the scanned tree under a config that does not allowlist the
+      # fixture values its own comments quote, and the gate reported the
+      # estate file as the caller's leak (echidnabot#185: three
+      # generic-api-key findings in .gitleaks-estate.toml).
       #
       # `ref` was `main` until 2026-09-04, and that was worse than a moving
       # pin: the file this step fetches has been RENAMED under it. Before
@@ -196,6 +204,7 @@ jobs:
       # stood at the SHA it pins, and the path each SHA references exists at
       # that SHA (verified for all six gen-1 SHAs, 2026-09-04).
       - name: Fetch estate gitleaks baseline
+        if: hashFiles('.gitleaks.toml') == ''
         uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
         with:
           repository: hyperpolymath/standards
@@ -207,6 +216,7 @@ jobs:
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: Stage estate gitleaks baseline
+        if: hashFiles('.gitleaks.toml') == ''
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           # Stage THE estate baseline, not standards' own repo config.
@@ -259,7 +269,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           if [ -f .gitleaks.toml ] && \
-             grep -qE '^[[:space:]]*path[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*"\.gitleaks-estate\.toml"' .gitleaks.toml; then
+             grep -qE "^[[:space:]]*path[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*[\"']\.gitleaks-estate\.toml[\"']" .gitleaks.toml; then
             echo "referenced=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
             echo "This repo extends the estate baseline; staging it."
           else