diff --git a/internal/engine/phase.go b/internal/engine/phase.go
index 610ade7..a5cbf18 100644
--- a/internal/engine/phase.go
+++ b/internal/engine/phase.go
@@ -46,15 +46,8 @@ const phaseStatusSkipped = "skipped"
 // attempt. Every send is checked against it before the subprocess starts, and
 // exceeding it ends the attempt with its own terminal cause.
 //
-// TODO(protocol): WorstCaseSendCount understates the ladder. The constant in
-// internal/protocol declares gate_budget × parse_budget = 6 and is referenced
-// by no code; the ladder the engine actually walks is
-// parse(budget+1 emissions) × gate(budget+1 emissions) × crash
-// re-entries(budget+1) × repair edge(budget+1 self runs plus budget target
-// dispatches) — roughly 252 sends for a single phase at budget 3, and more
-// once several phases carry edges. Until that constant is corrected (it lives
-// in a package this pass does not own) the real bound is the one enforced
-// here.
+// This is the real upper bound on sends within one attempt; the parse, gate,
+// crash-reentry and repair-edge ladders all count against it.
 const defaultMaxAttemptSends = 64
 
 // maxPhaseEnvelopeBytes caps the envelope blob one phase result may embed in
diff --git a/internal/protocol/limits.go b/internal/protocol/limits.go
index d44be43..98f1319 100644
--- a/internal/protocol/limits.go
+++ b/internal/protocol/limits.go
@@ -77,13 +77,6 @@ const (
 	// emissions a gate violation may request before the phase fails (R7, R9).
 	DefaultPhaseRetryBudget = 2
 
-	// WorstCaseSendCount is the maximum number of prompt sends one phase can
-	// issue at the default budgets: gate_budget × parse_budget, because every
-	// gate correction opens a fresh per-emission parse budget. A definition
-	// that raises either budget raises this product; the per-attempt
-	// wall-clock ceiling bounds total cost regardless.
-	WorstCaseSendCount = DefaultPhaseRetryBudget * ParseBudgetPerEmission
-
 	// DefaultPhaseTimeout is the wall-clock ceiling for a single phase. A
 	// phase that exceeds it is killed by process group, consumes one phase
 	// retry, and restarts from the pre-phase snapshot with a fresh session