diff --git a/cmd/mavend/ecosystem.go b/cmd/mavend/ecosystem.go
index 2e1a9bf..8ff69e0 100644
--- a/cmd/mavend/ecosystem.go
+++ b/cmd/mavend/ecosystem.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	hexisclient "github.com/kami/hexis/pkg/client"
@@ -179,6 +180,54 @@ func httpError(service, op string, status int) *ecosystemError {
 	}
 }
 
+// hexisStatusTexts maps the http.StatusText spelling back to its code, for the
+// failure statuses a Hexis call can plausibly answer with. It is the inverse of
+// what the vendored client threw away.
+var hexisStatusTexts = func() map[string]int {
+	codes := []int{
+		http.StatusBadRequest, http.StatusUnauthorized, http.StatusForbidden,
+		http.StatusNotFound, http.StatusMethodNotAllowed, http.StatusNotAcceptable,
+		http.StatusRequestTimeout, http.StatusConflict, http.StatusGone,
+		http.StatusUnprocessableEntity, http.StatusUpgradeRequired,
+		http.StatusTooManyRequests, http.StatusInternalServerError,
+		http.StatusNotImplemented, http.StatusBadGateway,
+		http.StatusServiceUnavailable, http.StatusGatewayTimeout,
+	}
+	m := make(map[string]int, len(codes))
+	for _, c := range codes {
+		m[http.StatusText(c)] = c
+	}
+	return m
+}()
+
+// hexisError re-wraps an error from the vendored Hexis client as an
+// *ecosystemError, so a Hexis failure classifies the same way a Nexus or Praxis
+// one does and ecosystemGap can tell a refused credential from an outage.
+//
+// This is a boundary adapter and it is not the fix anyone would choose. The
+// Hexis client lives in another repository and returns
+// fmt.Errorf("%s: %s", http.StatusText(status), body) for every status at or
+// above 400, so the status text is the only signal that survives — the correct
+// fix is a typed error carrying the code, and Maven cannot land it unilaterally
+// (Vikunja #587, docs/plans/20-two-artifacts-and-neither-is-spring.md). Parsing
+// here is bounded: the message's first colon-delimited segment is the status
+// text verbatim, no status text contains a colon, and anything unrecognised —
+// "do request: ...", "create request: ..." — is a transport failure and is left
+// at status 0, which is exactly what Unreachable() means.
+func hexisError(op string, err error) error {
+	if err == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var ee *ecosystemError
+	if errors.As(err, &ee) {
+		return err
+	}
+	head, _, _ := strings.Cut(err.Error(), ": ")
+	return &ecosystemError{
+		Service: "hexis", Op: op, Status: hexisStatusTexts[head], Err: err,
+	}
+}
+
 type nexusClient struct {
 	ecosystemHTTP
 }
@@ -530,6 +579,7 @@ func (w *ecosystemWiring) discoverCapabilities(ctx context.Context, entityID str
 	}
 	caps, err := w.hexis.Capabilities(ctx, entityID)
 	if err != nil {
+		err = hexisError("capabilities", err)
 		log.Printf("ecosystem: hexis capabilities error: %v", err)
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -557,7 +607,10 @@ func (w *ecosystemWiring) executeCapability(ctx context.Context, capabilityID, t
 
 	exec, err := w.hexis.Execute(ctx, req)
 	if err != nil {
-		return correlationID, fmt.Errorf("execute: %w", err)
+		// A classified dependency failure. The two returns below are NOT: an
+		// execution that ran and failed is the command failing, not Hexis
+		// degrading, and it keeps its plain error so the caller says so.
+		return correlationID, hexisError("execute", err)
 	}
 	if exec.Status == "succeeded" {
 		return correlationID, nil
diff --git a/cmd/mavend/ecosystem_acts.go b/cmd/mavend/ecosystem_acts.go
index 4c7a852..94f41c2 100644
--- a/cmd/mavend/ecosystem_acts.go
+++ b/cmd/mavend/ecosystem_acts.go
@@ -551,6 +551,14 @@ func unauthorizedEcosystemError(err error) bool {
 	return errors.As(err, &ee) && ee.Unauthorized()
 }
 
+// isEcosystemError reports a failure that belongs to the service rather than to
+// what was asked of it: a call that never landed, or one the far side refused.
+// It separates "Hexis is down" from "the restart failed".
+func isEcosystemError(err error) bool {
+	var ee *ecosystemError
+	return errors.As(err, &ee)
+}
+
 // traceErrorFields describes an ecosystemError for a trace without leaking the
 // payload: the HTTP status and the failure class, nothing else.
 func traceErrorFields(err error) map[string]any {
@@ -777,6 +785,14 @@ func (h *reactiveHandler) execHexis(ctx context.Context, capID, capName, entityI
 			mergeFields(traceErrorFields(err), map[string]any{
 				"entity_id": entityID, "capability": capName, "causation_id": causationID,
 			}))
+		// Hexis never answering, or answering "no", is a gap in Hexis and is
+		// named as one — a refused token said "не получилось выполнить команду"
+		// here and sent him to debug a capability that was never reached
+		// (Vikunja #587). An execution that genuinely ran and failed is not an
+		// ecosystemError and keeps the command-level line.
+		if isEcosystemError(err) {
+			return ecosystemGap(serviceHexis, err)
+		}
 		return phraser.A(phraser.ActFailEntity, map[string]string{"name": displayName})
 	}
 	// One record per hop: the second write this used to make said the same
diff --git a/cmd/mavend/ecosystem_gap_test.go b/cmd/mavend/ecosystem_gap_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5797a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/mavend/ecosystem_gap_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/ipc"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/phraser"
+)
+
+// A refused credential and an outage are different answers, and on the Hexis
+// path only one of them used to be said. These tests pin the difference at both
+// Hexis sites: the discovery hop and the execute hop (Vikunja #587). The Praxis
+// half of the same defect is in praxis_gap_test.go.
+//
+// unreachableURL is a port nothing listens on, which is what "the service is
+// down" looks like from inside a call: the connection is refused, no HTTP
+// answer is ever produced, and ecosystemError.Unreachable() is true.
+const unreachableURL = "http://127.0.0.1:1"
+
+func denied(service, reply string) bool {
+	return phraser.IsA(phraser.EcoDenied, serviceVars(service), reply)
+}
+
+func down(service, reply string) bool {
+	return phraser.IsA(phraser.EcoDown, serviceVars(service), reply)
+}
+
+// hexisGapHandler wires a handler whose Nexus resolves cleanly and whose Hexis
+// is the caller's to break. hexisURL is taken separately so a test can point it
+// at a dead port.
+func hexisGapHandler(t *testing.T, nexusURL, hexisURL string) *reactiveHandler {
+	t.Helper()
+	st := newTestStore(t)
+	now := time.Now()
+	return &reactiveHandler{
+		api:       ipc.NewStoreAPI(st),
+		dataStore: st,
+		now:       func() time.Time { return now },
+		ecosystem: stubEcosystem(nexusURL, hexisURL),
+	}
+}
+
+// TestHexisDiscovery401IsDeniedNotDown — the discovery hop.
+//
+// The vendored Hexis client returns a plain fmt.Errorf for every status at or
+// above 400, so errors.As for *ecosystemError never matched and every failure
+// fell through to the outage line. "Hexis is down" for a rejected token sends
+// him to inspect a service that is running fine.
+func TestHexisDiscovery401IsDeniedNotDown(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	nexus := newFakeNexus(t, fixtureNexusResolved("ent_muzick", muzickIndexer, "service"))
+	caps := fixtureHexisCapabilities(map[string]any{"id": "cap_restart", "name": "restart", "read_only": true})
+	hexis := newFakeHexis(t, caps, fixtureHexisExecuted("exec_1", "succeeded"))
+	h := hexisGapHandler(t, nexus.URL, hexis.URL)
+
+	hexis.SetFault(401)
+	reply := h.handleHexisAct(ctx, actDec("muzick indexer"))
+	if !denied(serviceHexis, reply) {
+		t.Fatalf("401 from hexis discovery: got %q, want the denied line naming Hexis", reply)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(reply, serviceHexis) {
+		t.Errorf("reply does not name Hexis: %q", reply)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestHexisDiscoveryOutageIsDownNotDenied — the other half of the same fork.
+// Without this the fix could pass by calling everything a refused credential.
+func TestHexisDiscoveryOutageIsDownNotDenied(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	nexus := newFakeNexus(t, fixtureNexusResolved("ent_muzick", muzickIndexer, "service"))
+	h := hexisGapHandler(t, nexus.URL, unreachableURL)
+
+	reply := h.handleHexisAct(ctx, actDec("muzick indexer"))
+	if !down(serviceHexis, reply) {
+		t.Fatalf("connection refused from hexis: got %q, want the outage line naming Hexis", reply)
+	}
+	if denied(serviceHexis, reply) {
+		t.Error("an outage must not be reported as a refused credential")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestHexisExecute401IsDeniedNotCommandFailure — the execute hop, which did not
+// consult ecosystemGap at all and named neither the service nor the cause.
+func TestHexisExecute401IsDeniedNotCommandFailure(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	nexus := newFakeNexus(t, fixtureNexusResolved("ent_muzick", muzickIndexer, "service"))
+	caps := fixtureHexisCapabilities(map[string]any{"id": "cap_restart", "name": "restart", "read_only": true})
+	hexis := newFakeHexis(t, caps, fixtureHexisExecuted("exec_1", "succeeded"))
+	h := hexisGapHandler(t, nexus.URL, hexis.URL)
+
+	// Discovery stays healthy; only the execute endpoint refuses. A blanket
+	// fault would never reach the site under test.
+	hexis.SetRouteFault("/api/v1/execute", 401)
+	reply := h.handleHexisAct(ctx, actDec("muzick indexer"))
+	if !denied(serviceHexis, reply) {
+		t.Fatalf("401 from hexis execute: got %q, want the denied line naming Hexis", reply)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestHexisExecuteOutageIsDown — same site, the other classification.
+//
+// Discovery and execution share one base URL, so the outage has to be scoped to
+// the execute endpoint rather than to the server: it answers capabilities
+// normally and drops the connection on execute, which is what the client sees
+// when the far side dies mid-call. That produces no HTTP status at all, which is
+// what Unreachable() means.
+func TestHexisExecuteOutageIsDown(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	nexus := newFakeNexus(t, fixtureNexusResolved("ent_muzick", muzickIndexer, "service"))
+	caps := fixtureHexisCapabilities(map[string]any{"id": "cap_restart", "name": "restart", "read_only": true})
+	hexis := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		if r.URL.Path == "/api/v1/execute" {
+			conn, _, err := w.(http.Hijacker).Hijack()
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("hijack: %v", err)
+				return
+			}
+			conn.Close()
+			return
+		}
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(caps))
+	}))
+	t.Cleanup(hexis.Close)
+	h := hexisGapHandler(t, nexus.URL, hexis.URL)
+
+	reply := h.handleHexisAct(ctx, actDec("muzick indexer"))
+	if !down(serviceHexis, reply) {
+		t.Fatalf("dropped connection on hexis execute: got %q, want the outage line", reply)
+	}
+	if denied(serviceHexis, reply) {
+		t.Error("an outage must not be reported as a refused credential")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestHexisExecutionFailedStaysCommandFailure — the boundary of the fix. Hexis
+// answering 200 with a failed execution is the command failing, not Hexis
+// degrading, and it must keep the command-level line rather than accusing a
+// healthy service of being down.
+func TestHexisExecutionFailedStaysCommandFailure(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	nexus := newFakeNexus(t, fixtureNexusResolved("ent_muzick", muzickIndexer, "service"))
+	caps := fixtureHexisCapabilities(map[string]any{"id": "cap_restart", "name": "restart", "read_only": true})
+	hexis := newFakeHexis(t, caps, fixtureHexisExecutionFailed("exec_1", "unit refused to start"))
+	h := hexisGapHandler(t, nexus.URL, hexis.URL)
+
+	reply := h.handleHexisAct(ctx, actDec("muzick indexer"))
+	if down(serviceHexis, reply) || denied(serviceHexis, reply) {
+		t.Fatalf("a failed execution must not be reported as an ecosystem gap, got %q", reply)
+	}
+	if !phraser.IsA(phraser.ActFailEntity, map[string]string{"name": muzickIndexer}, reply) {
+		t.Fatalf("want the command-failure line, got %q", reply)
+	}
+}