diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index d9690e3..d56a859 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -3507,14 +3507,14 @@ frames = ["views-frames (>=1.10.2,<2)"]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "views-frames"
-version = "2.0.0"
+version = "3.0.0"
 description = "The VIEWS platform data-contract layer: immutable array+identifier frames (numpy only, root of the dependency DAG)."
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.10"
 groups = ["main"]
 files = [
-    {file = "views_frames-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:389feb16d6bda995d9f2914de6f5619a38ff37025a0022216eb65d44e03f0b48"},
-    {file = "views_frames-2.0.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:de13c9713fdecbeb705d0698d285941ea1c614c37e80e8bc2ed7b68f83733ac5"},
+    {file = "views_frames-3.0.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:0dab8ff3c374ac987734a1afce952db6db4538b9ee96b0fbe02b9f83a92c37e3"},
+    {file = "views_frames-3.0.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:b9b6407d5eaf25ba5a49893e807548b1049d5e4eeb4127c4e288222b3ee415c2"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -3526,14 +3526,14 @@ docs = ["jupyterlab (>=4,<5)", "matplotlib (>=3.8,<4)", "nbmake (>=1.5,<2)", "py
 
 [[package]]
 name = "views-pipeline-core"
-version = "3.3.0"
+version = "3.4.0"
 description = "Core orchestration, data and model-management library for the VIEWS conflict forecasting platform."
 optional = false
 python-versions = "<3.15,>=3.11"
 groups = ["main"]
 files = [
-    {file = "views_pipeline_core-3.3.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:7c0c7535ee9de7a74528bb64393621e379d57556ee125785d4d149a745dab515"},
-    {file = "views_pipeline_core-3.3.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:8edf80123d35a626ce282aae8bac94c9b6a56cdf3b0163c0d98c9ddbfb5aa7d1"},
+    {file = "views_pipeline_core-3.4.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:c560396f1ff880ea76da7365e75bbb6a49d4fa58b4518ab57021240cb29e553e"},
+    {file = "views_pipeline_core-3.4.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:806c4410caab4562ca1542af604808eca4532c079c800fb3b7615171b1156599"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -3546,7 +3546,7 @@ pyarrow = ">=14.0.0,<17.0.0"
 pyprojroot = ">=0.3.0,<0.4.0"
 tqdm = ">=4.66,<5.0"
 views-evaluation = ">=2.0.0,<3.0.0"
-views-frames = ">=1.10.2,<3.0.0"
+views-frames = ">=3.0.0,<4.0.0"
 viewser = ">=6.6.4,<7.0.0"
 wandb = ">=0.18.7,<1.0"
 
@@ -3723,4 +3723,4 @@ test = ["pytest", "websockets"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.1"
 python-versions = ">=3.11,<3.15"
-content-hash = "e305efbfd4f9ed430ac7051fca50378ec49692af59354a03c2072ebf5cfaade6"
+content-hash = "454f301b3fa62ea74ff8b906804cc6e02f758854d47d290f4fbe8ef3fb44ee46"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 599d77a..62d2521 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,25 @@ python = ">=3.11,<3.15"
 # import the SDK unguarded. Without the extra the FAO delivery fails **at import**, not
 # at runtime, and inside a dependency rather than in our own code. Register C-07.
 views-pipeline-core = {version = ">=3.0.0,<4.0.0", extras = ["appwrite"]}
-views-frames = ">=2.0.0,<3"
+# Widened from `<3` on 2026-11-02 (#324, filed from views-models). The cap was not
+# harmless: views-models' pod runners require views-frames >= 3.0.0, so `<3` meant this
+# repo could not be installed alongside the ensemble lane that produces its input.
+#
+# Why 3.x is safe for us is recorded ONCE, in `tests/fixtures/wire_contract/README.md` —
+# the home of the byte question, already carrying the 1.10.2 and 2.0.0 measurements in the
+# same series. Short version: the MAJOR's behavioural change is in `views_frames_reconcile`,
+# which this repo does not import, and the arrow writer is byte-identical across the
+# boundary. **Read that file before raising this pin again.** It names the check to run and
+# the control that tells you the check is working — the first draft of this change offered
+# a pathspec that silently matched nothing.
+#
+# **views-frames 3.x is not reachable alone:** pipeline-core 3.3.0 caps
+# `views-frames <3.0.0`, so the lock moves pipeline-core 3.3.0 -> 3.4.0 with it. Both are
+# inside the ranges already declared here. The floor stays at 2.0.0 and pipeline-core's at
+# 3.0.0 deliberately — (frames 2.x + pipeline-core 3.3.x) is still a coherent resolution.
+# The lock moves rather than staying at 2.0.0 so CI asserts this ceiling instead of
+# leaving it a claim.
+views-frames = ">=2.0.0,<4.0.0"
 pyarrow = ">=16.1.0,<17.0.0"
 
 # pytest was never declared here; it arrived transitively through pipeline-core, which
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/wire_contract/README.md b/tests/fixtures/wire_contract/README.md
index bcab8c5..7c3496d 100644
--- a/tests/fixtures/wire_contract/README.md
+++ b/tests/fixtures/wire_contract/README.md
@@ -46,6 +46,34 @@ fixture — but it does require proving that, the same way.
 equal the committed fixture (`203650fd…12c54`) — measured in an isolated environment at the
 pinned toolchain (pyarrow 16.1.0, numpy 1.26.4), where all 61 frames-dependent tests also
 pass at 2.0.0. So the views-frames 2.0.0 adoption (#286) is **not** a fixture re-vendor. It
-is blocked only by views-pipeline-core, every published release of which (through 3.1.1)
-pins `views-frames <2.0.0`. Recorded so the byte question is not re-opened when that
-constraint widens.
\ No newline at end of file
+was blocked only by views-pipeline-core, every release published at the time (through
+3.1.1) pinning `views-frames <2.0.0`. Recorded so the byte question is not re-opened when
+that constraint widens.
+
+**That constraint has since widened, and the byte question was re-opened and answered the
+same way (2026-11-02, #324).** Regenerating with `scripts/build_wire_fixture.py` under
+**views-frames 3.0.0** at the pinned toolchain (pyarrow 16.1.0) reproduces **all five
+artifacts byte-identically** — `SHA256SUMS` is unchanged and the arrow shard still hashes
+`203650fd…12c54`. Expected, because `views_frames/io/arrow.py` is byte-identical between
+`v2.0.0` and `v3.0.0`, and because the 3.0.0 MAJOR's behavioural change is confined to
+`views_frames_reconcile`, which this repo does not import. (The MAJOR does also touch
+`views_frames/conformance/__init__.py`, which moves its published `CONFORMANCE_FLOOR` to
+3.0.0 — inert here, since nothing in this repo reads that constant.) The full suite passes
+at that version on Python 3.11 — 527 passed, 3 skipped, 41 xfailed, 0 failed — with the
+lock also moving views-pipeline-core 3.3.0 -> 3.4.0, since 3.3.0 was the release that
+still capped `views-frames <3.0.0`. So 3.0.0 is not a fixture re-vendor either, and the
+pin is now `>=2.0.0,<4.0.0`.
+
+**If you are the next person raising this pin, run the check like this.** views-frames
+uses a **src layout**, so the pathspec needs `src/`:
+
+```
+git -C <views-frames> diff v2.0.0..v3.0.0 -- src/views_frames/io/     # empty  -> arrow.py is unchanged
+git -C <views-frames> diff v2.0.0..v3.0.0 -- src/views_frames/        # NOT empty -> the control
+```
+
+**Run the second one too.** `git diff` prints nothing and exits 0 for a pathspec that
+matches no file in either tree, so `-- views_frames/io/` (no `src/`) comes back empty
+whatever changed, and reads exactly like a pass. The first draft of this very paragraph
+quoted that form as its proof. The control line is what tells you the command can still
+speak — if it is also empty, your pathspec is wrong, not the tree.
\ No newline at end of file