docs: mark finding 36 done in the simplification audit

Why: 4de5b6b retired the external pre-commit hook contract, so the audit
still listed 36 as open, with a deferred decision.

Implementation Notes: finding 36 is struck through and carries a dated
Done note (measured line counts, the case 33 cost and how its guard was
kept). The §7 status notes, the §8 consumer question and the §10
dispositions now leave 15 as the only open finding, with 22 deferred
with bin.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

SIMPLIFICATION-AUDIT.md

@@ -430,7 +430,7 @@ Not covered by the area audits above; found on a final sweep of the root config
     > - **"The per-plugin `plugin.json` pairs remain"** is void. All twelve were deleted in `718c79a` (ADR-0024); `git ls-files '*plugin.json'` returns nothing. The only tracked manifest left anywhere is the root `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`. (The root `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` beside it is untracked local `apm pack` output, ignored at `.gitignore:59`.)
     > - **"Left `.github/plugin/marketplace.json` untouched … out of scope here"** is void the same day: `0dffff3` deleted it under finding 2c, along with `scripts/sync-marketplace-mirror.sh` and its test. The "only re-ran the sync script to keep it consistent" step above refers to `sync-plugin-content.sh`, itself deleted in `718c79a`.
 
-36. **The release-tag mechanism guards an external contract with no known consumer.** `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` exports three hooks for other repos to pin by `rev: <tag>`. `check-release-needed` (242 lines + 442 test), `test-vale-hooks-consumer` (270 lines), ADR-0014, and three tags exist to serve that. If no other repo pins these hooks today, the whole mechanism can be deferred until one does. Effort S.
+36. [x] ~~**The release-tag mechanism guards an external contract with no known consumer.** `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` exports three hooks for other repos to pin by `rev: <tag>`. `check-release-needed` (242 lines + 442 test), `test-vale-hooks-consumer` (270 lines), ADR-0014, and three tags exist to serve that. If no other repo pins these hooks today, the whole mechanism can be deferred until one does. Effort S.~~
     > **Verified (2026-09-14, at HEAD `062ca47`): premise holds — the only premise in this audit to survive verification, though not the finding whole: `test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh` is 272 lines, not 270. Not yet decided; deferred by the human on 2026-09-14.**
     >
     > Exact: three exported hooks (`kyberforge-vale-audit-skill`, `kyberforge-vale-audit-agent`, `kyberforge-skill-size-check`), `check-release-needed.sh` 242, its test 442, three tags (`v1.0.0`, `v2.0.0`, `v2.0.1`). `test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh` is **272** lines, not 270.
@@ -448,6 +448,8 @@ Not covered by the area audits above; found on a final sweep of the root config
     > Removal is ~1,000 lines and mechanical: `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml`, `check-release-needed.sh`, both tests, the hook block at ~~`.pre-commit-config.yaml:194-201`~~ → `.pre-commit-config.yaml:186-193`, the ~~`gates.md:83`~~ → `gates.md:96` row and its "External consumers" section (`gates.md:789`). Tags are inert and can stay. **The one real loss:** `test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh` is the sole test exercising the entry-resolution path that once shipped broken — it goes only *with* the manifest, never while it stays. Reversal cost is bounded provided ADR-0014 and `LESSONS.md:101,105` are kept: they preserve the `entry[0]`-only constraint that took three review rounds to find.
     >
     > > **Repointed (2026-09-16, at HEAD `b426460`):** the line citations in this note were taken at `062ca47` and have shifted. The `check-release-needed` block is now `.pre-commit-config.yaml:186-193` (`grep -n "id: check-release-needed"`); the three internal `repo: local` wirings' `entry:` lines are `:221` (`skill-size-check`), `:254` and `:269` (the two `vale-audit-prefilter-*` hooks, both now on `factory-audit`'s one `vale-wrap.sh`); the `check-release-needed` table row is `gates.md:96` and the "External consumers" section heading is `gates.md:789`. Verified with `grep -n` and `sed -n`. Line counts in this note were not re-measured.
+    >
+    > **Decided and done (2026-09-16):** see commit `4de5b6b` on `docs/simplification-audit`. The human took the deferred decision: remove the mechanism. Deleted `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` (31 lines), `scripts/check-release-needed.sh` (242), `tests/test-check-release-needed.sh` (449 at HEAD, not the 442 above) and `tests/test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh` (276 at HEAD, not 272), plus the `check-release-needed` hook block, for **1,443 lines removed and 234 added** across 20 files. ADR-0014 is **amended, not retired**, as the note above says: its runtime bundling decision stands, and the amendment records why the export went and keeps the `entry[0]`-only constraint (`LESSONS.md:101,105`) in case it returns. ADR-0025 gets a pointer to that amendment. Tags are left in place. **One cost the finding did not count:** `tests/test-vale-wrap.sh` case 33, the cross-manifest `files:` drift check, and case 28's hook-scope half both read the published manifest and went with it. Case 33's one guard that did not need a second manifest, a local regex narrowed to one plugin, is now a third property of case 32, with its own mutation test, so that coverage is kept. `gates.md` now counts 8 authored pre-push hooks (10 reported), no longer 9 (11).
 
 37. [x] ~~**Two `.mcp.json` files declare an Obsidian vault server over `docs/`** (root and `plugins/bin/`; the other five plugin `.mcp.json` files are empty stubs), while `AGENTS.md` forbids using an external memory system for this repo. If the Obsidian tools are unused, drop both and the `reinject_mcp_servers` explanation in the bin README; the bin `plugin.json` pair regenerates. Effort S.~~
     > **Not proceeding (2026-09-13):** premise doesn't hold. The server exposes the repo's own git-tracked `docs/` folder — not an external/off-repo store — so it isn't the "external memory system" AGENTS.md's rule targets. It was deliberately added and versioned (3 commits), is documented as current intended behavior in both READMEs, and ADR-0018 uses it as its only concrete worked example of apm's MCP-dependency propagation mechanism actually working. No skill invokes the Obsidian tools as a workflow step, but that alone doesn't make the config dead. No changes made; recommend a human confirm whether the vault tooling is still wanted before removing it.
@@ -461,12 +463,14 @@ Not covered by the area audits above; found on a final sweep of the root config
 ## 7. Suggested order
 
 1. Quick wins, all S, no design decisions needed: findings 9, 10, 26, 30, 31, 29, 12, 13, 1, 6, 4, 35, 37, 38, and the mirror-sync and executables-allow halves of 2. Removes roughly 25,000 to 30,000 lines and 6 hooks.
-2. Structural changes that need a short discussion: ~~14~~, 15, ~~19~~, ~~20~~, ~~23~~, ~~25~~, ~~17~~, ~~3~~, ~~5~~, ~~7~~, ~~33~~, ~~34~~, 36.
+2. Structural changes that need a short discussion: ~~14~~, 15, ~~19~~, ~~20~~, ~~23~~, ~~25~~, ~~17~~, ~~3~~, ~~5~~, ~~7~~, ~~33~~, ~~34~~, ~~36~~.
 3. The real complexity: ~~16 (validators)~~, ~~11 (provenance)~~, ~~24 (core)~~, ~~8 and 28 (gates.md and ADRs)~~.
 
-> **Status (2026-09-16, after the grill on 33, 28, 22/18, 20, 8, 34):** open findings are **15** (merge `skill-author` + `agent-author`) and **36** (release-tag mechanism, decision deferred by the human). **22** is deferred with the rest of `bin`. Every other finding is done, closed, or refuted at its own note.
+> **Status (2026-09-16, after the grill on 33, 28, 22/18, 20, 8, 34):** open findings were **15** (merge `skill-author` + `agent-author`) and **36** (release-tag mechanism, decision deferred by the human). **22** is deferred with the rest of `bin`. Every other finding is done, closed, or refuted at its own note.
+>
+> **Updated (2026-09-16, later):** **36** is decided and done (`4de5b6b`), so **15** is the only open finding. **22** stays deferred with `bin`.
 
-> **Re-derived (2026-09-16, at HEAD):** this ordering was written before the findings were worked, and ~~seven of its entries are now closed~~ → all but two of its bucket-2 and bucket-3 entries are now closed (corrected later on 2026-09-16, after the grill). Struck above: **14** landed (`467bbd7`, ADR-0025); **7** was superseded then done (`718c79a`); **3**, **5** and **19** are not proceeding on refuted premises; ~~**34**,~~ **16** and **24** are refuted outright; **34** was refuted as a removal and then decided and done as documentation of the branch hazard in ADR-0019 (`afcf477`), with the hook kept; **33** was decided and done (enforce the bump, `8451169`); **8**, **20** and **28** closed at the grill; **17**, **23** and **25** were declined by the human; **11** was declined by the human. ~~**5** is left standing but is downstream of 16 by its own note, so it cannot be taken in this bucket's order.~~ **5** is closed with 16: its own note says it is downstream of 16, and 16 is refuted. Still open, per the Status note above: **15** and **36**; **22** is deferred with `bin`. Read each finding's own marker, not this list — it is a plan of record, not a status board. Bucket 1 is left as written: every entry in it is marked `[x]` or carries a decision note at its own finding.
+> **Re-derived (2026-09-16, at HEAD):** this ordering was written before the findings were worked, and ~~seven of its entries are now closed~~ → all but two of its bucket-2 and bucket-3 entries are now closed (corrected later on 2026-09-16, after the grill). Struck above: **14** landed (`467bbd7`, ADR-0025); **7** was superseded then done (`718c79a`); **3**, **5** and **19** are not proceeding on refuted premises; ~~**34**,~~ **16** and **24** are refuted outright; **34** was refuted as a removal and then decided and done as documentation of the branch hazard in ADR-0019 (`afcf477`), with the hook kept; **33** was decided and done (enforce the bump, `8451169`); **8**, **20** and **28** closed at the grill; **17**, **23** and **25** were declined by the human; **11** was declined by the human. ~~**5** is left standing but is downstream of 16 by its own note, so it cannot be taken in this bucket's order.~~ **5** is closed with 16: its own note says it is downstream of 16, and 16 is refuted. Still open, per the Status note above: **15** alone, now that **36** is done (`4de5b6b`); **22** is deferred with `bin`. Read each finding's own marker, not this list — it is a plan of record, not a status board. Bucket 1 is left as written: every entry in it is marked `[x]` or carries a decision note at its own finding.
 
 Findings 9, 10, 11, and 12 are coupled through the provenance validator and the audit criteria; land them together or the audit gates start reporting the removals.
 
@@ -499,8 +503,9 @@ Findings 9, 10, 11, and 12 are coupled through the provenance validator and the
   > **Recommendation on evidence (2026-09-14): keep it; finding 34 refuted.** The premise that it runs on every startup is false (the update is conditional on a real SHA check), the lock was not dirty, the hook did not fire this session, and the install is currently **9 commits behind `main` with nothing reporting it** — the failure the hook exists to prevent. `install.sh`, the proposed alternative host, has no apm step. Still formally the human's call, but the factual basis for removing it does not survive. See finding 34.
   >
   > **Decided (2026-09-16, grill):** keep the hook and document the feature-branch hazard; skipping the refresh off the default branch was rejected. Landed in ADR-0019 (`afcf477`). See finding 34's closing note.
-- **External hook consumers.** Does any other repo pin this repo's `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` by tag today? If not, finding 36 defers the release mechanism entirely.
+- ~~**External hook consumers.** Does any other repo pin this repo's `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` by tag today? If not, finding 36 defers the release mechanism entirely.~~
   > **Evidence gathered, decision deferred (2026-09-14).** No consumer found: the Gitea instance holds two repos, and the other pins seven hook repos, none of them this one. No consumer-driven commit in the 13 touching the mechanism. Off-instance clones undeterminable — but ADR-0024 accepted exactly this standard when it deleted the mirror. The mechanism is additionally **already broken** (a consumer pinning `rev: v2.0.1` gets a stale `skill-size-check.sh`, and the guard cannot fire through Gitea's merge button). The human deferred the decision on 2026-09-14; the finding is ready to execute when it is taken. See finding 36.
+  > **Answered (2026-09-16):** no consumer, and the human took the decision: the mechanism is removed (`4de5b6b`), and ADR-0014 is amended to record why. See finding 36.
 - [x] ~~**Obsidian MCP.** Are the Obsidian tools over `docs/` used by anyone? If not, finding 37 is a pure delete.~~
   > **Answered (2026-09-14):** not used — remove entirely. All seven `.mcp.json` files are deleted and the repo-root path is gitignored; see finding 37, which also records the functional regression this uncovered (since `718c79a` deleted the per-plugin manifests, apm no longer propagated the server to consumers at all).
 
@@ -546,7 +551,7 @@ That base rate made "effort S, no decisions needed" an unreliable signal, and §
 | 24 | Refuted — arithmetically impossible (1,360w vs a 900 cap) | 0 |
 | 34 | Refuted — evidence inverted | 0 |
 
-> **Dispositions since the wave (2026-09-16):** this table records the verdicts at `062ca47` and is left as written. Of the ten, only **36** is still open (decision deferred by the human). **33** and **34** are decided and done — the bump is enforced (`8451169`) and the feature-branch hazard is documented in ADR-0019 (`afcf477`), with the hook kept. **20** and **28** closed at the grill as not proceeding; **11** and **27** were declined by the human; **22** is deferred with `bin`. See each finding's own closing note.
+> **Dispositions since the wave (2026-09-16):** this table records the verdicts at `062ca47` and is left as written. Of the ten, none is still open: **36** was decided and done later the same day (`4de5b6b`), and before that it was the only open one. **33** and **34** are decided and done — the bump is enforced (`8451169`) and the feature-branch hazard is documented in ADR-0019 (`afcf477`), with the hook kept. **20** and **28** closed at the grill as not proceeding; **11** and **27** were declined by the human; **22** is deferred with `bin`. See each finding's own closing note.
 
 **One premise of ten survived — finding 36's — but not the finding whole: its supporting figure was wrong (`test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh` is 272 lines, not 270). The other nine premises failed.**