fix(web): ship degraded search readiness state

docs/features/checked/web/search-readiness-degraded-answer-state-ui.md

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Search Readiness Degraded Answer State UI
+
+## Scope
+- Verifies the top-bar search surface tells the truth when suggestion-viability preflight is unavailable and the active search response reports zero indexed matches.
+- Confirms the UI renders environment-readiness copy instead of clarify guidance for that bounded degraded-readiness case.
+
+## Files
+- `src/Web/StellaOps.Web/src/app/layout/global-search/global-search.component.ts`
+- `src/Web.StellaOps.Web/src/tests/global_search/global-search.component.spec.ts`
+- `src/Web.StellaOps.Web/tests/e2e/unified-search-experience-quality.e2e.spec.ts`
+- `docs/modules/ui/search-self-serve-contract.md`
+- `docs/modules/ui/search-zero-learning-primary-entry.md`
+
+## Verification
+1. Focused Angular coverage:
+   - `npm test -- --watch=false --include src/tests/global_search/global-search.component.spec.ts`
+   - Result: `26/26` tests passed.
+2. Deterministic Playwright coverage:
+   - `npx playwright test tests/e2e/unified-search-experience-quality.e2e.spec.ts --grep "search-readiness guidance" --workers=1`
+   - Result: `1/1` test passed.
+
+## Outcome
+- Search now refreshes suggestion viability on the same debounced query path that drives the search request instead of leaving the viability state stale for typed queries.
+- When viability preflight is unavailable and the response diagnostics show zero indexed matches, the answer panel renders `Search needs live data` and suppresses clarify guidance.
+- Docs now describe this as an environment-readiness problem, not an operator-query problem.