docs: close the self-contradictions left by the branch's own cuts

CONTEXT.md used two terms it no longer defines. This branch deleted the
Preload tax and Skill context contract entries as audit finding 31, but
the Hand-invoked skill definition and the example dialogue still used
both, bolded, which is this file's convention for a defined term. The
definitional file contradicted itself while AGENTS.md tells every
session to read it as authoritative. Rephrased in place, the way
e2e957e handled the one the audit's own note records.

ADR-0024 said 10 .bats files deploy across 6 skills; ADR-0025 merged
two of those directories the next day, on this branch, leaving 5. It
was also the only ADR ADR-0025 invalidated without an amendment banner,
as was ADR-0016, which still named agent-audit in the present tense as
the live enforcer. Both get the banner the other nine carry, and the
figure and names are corrected in place as well, since these sit in
text asserting present fact rather than a superseded decision.

ADR-0019's correction block from 1614bce was inserted mid-paragraph and
swallowed the original's trailing sentence, leaving the quote malformed
and the next line starting lowercase mid-sentence. gates.md took the
same correction and is not affected.

In the audit note: two of §12's five open follow-ups were already
closed (e4ed343 repointed the a8cd5e8 citations at 598a7c3; #101 closed
2026-09-16, so Closes #101 is a no-op), the same stale hash sat at :330
with a wrong line number, the vale-wrap counts had drifted from 63/19
to 65/14 and are now pinned to a commit per §1's own convention, and
the deleted-suite tally said eight where the diff shows nine.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01NwD8Egs5r4ndqeFLmhusX2

docs/notes/simplification-audit-2026-09.md

@@ -117,7 +117,8 @@ This is the area you named as hardest to understand and slowest. Root cause: mos
    - [x] ~~`check-vale-style-sync`: 413 lines + 798 test lines guarding a byte-identical 526-line `vale-wrap.sh` and style directory copied between skill-audit and agent-audit. About 350 of its lines run Vale glob probes against the hook file patterns. Disappears if the two audit skills merge (finding 14); the probes belong in `test-vale-wrap.sh`.~~ **Done (2026-09-15, ~~`467bbd7`~~ → `620f20b`)** — hook, script and test all deleted; see the settled note below for the corrected probe arithmetic.
    - `check-scope-walkup-sync`: ~~365~~ → **381** lines (plus **297** test lines; re-measured 2026-09-16 at HEAD) cross-checking four independent ports of the same package-root walk-up. Disappears if the ports share one script ~~or the skills merge~~ — the second half is refuted below, and the first is unreachable.
      > **Grilled, held (2026-09-14):** both of the above are gated on findings 14/15 (merging skill-audit+agent-audit and skill-author+agent-author), deliberately held for a separate session rather than decided here. Correction for that session: the audit's §8 grouping is wrong — these merges don't need ADR-0012 revisited (that ADR governs the unrelated `core` plugin's three `agentsmd-*` skills). The actual constraint is ADR-0014 (no-cross-skill file sharing on plugin cache-install), and merging sidesteps it rather than requiring it be reversed. The open question for that session is a design one — a shared skill's `description` carrying both skill- and agent-audit trigger phrases — not an ADR supersession. ADR-0012 revisit is needed only for finding 24.
-     > **Settled (2026-09-15) — split verdict, and the first bullet held in full.** Finding 14 landed as `factory-audit` (ADR-0025). **`check-vale-style-sync` is deleted**, hook, script and test, exactly as the first bullet predicted — and its probes **were** rehomed into `test-vale-wrap.sh`, as cases 28-30 (case 31 carries the override allowlist), so both halves of that bullet are closed. `docs/spec/gates.md` records the rehoming, not an open gap. *(Updated later on 2026-09-15.)* The one assertion this note used to call still uncovered — cross-manifest *agreement* between `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml`'s and `.pre-commit-config.yaml`'s `files:` regexes — ~~is now ported as case 33, which pairs the hooks by `id:`~~ → was ported as case 33, and case 33 was deleted with `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` in `4de5b6b` (finding 36), so there is no second manifest left to agree with. Case 32 covers the separate zero-match question. It was a real gap while it lasted: narrowing the local skill hook to `^plugins/kyberforge/` left 6 of 38 skills prefiltered and the suite green. `bash tests/test-vale-wrap.sh` now reports ~~`61 passed, 0 failed`~~ → `63 passed, 0 failed` (it was 56 before cases 0 and 33 and the Part B mutation self-tests; 61 on 2026-09-15, and 63 once case 34 — the static `.vale.ini` style-load check — landed on 2026-09-16. Without vale on PATH it reports 19 and exits 77, up from 17). The bullet's "about 350 of its lines run Vale glob probes" overstates the probe half: at `a5962ba` the script is **413 lines**, of which the `.vale.ini` coverage section is **332** (`67..398`) and the machinery that actually invokes vale against a probe path is **204** (`195..398`). The balance of that section is `StylesPath`, `BasedOnStyles` and per-rule-override greps — text assertions, not probes. (Its test file is **797** lines, as the note above says, not the 798 the bullet carries.) **`check-scope-walkup-sync` stays**, and the second bullet's "or the skills merge" is wrong: two of its four walk-up ports are in the *author* skills (`new-agent.sh`, `new-skill.sh`), which this merge does not touch, and the audit-side pair is Python against the author-side pair's Bash, so the gate can never degrade into a text diff. Full reasoning in §10's 2026-09-15 note. Finding 15 would not remove it either.
+     > **Settled (2026-09-15) — split verdict, and the first bullet held in full.** Finding 14 landed as `factory-audit` (ADR-0025). **`check-vale-style-sync` is deleted**, hook, script and test, exactly as the first bullet predicted — and its probes **were** rehomed into `test-vale-wrap.sh`, as cases 28-30 (case 31 carries the override allowlist), so both halves of that bullet are closed. `docs/spec/gates.md` records the rehoming, not an open gap. *(Updated later on 2026-09-15.)* The one assertion this note used to call still uncovered — cross-manifest *agreement* between `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml`'s and `.pre-commit-config.yaml`'s `files:` regexes — ~~is now ported as case 33, which pairs the hooks by `id:`~~ → was ported as case 33, and case 33 was deleted with `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` in `4de5b6b` (finding 36), so there is no second manifest left to agree with. Case 32 covers the separate zero-match question. It was a real gap while it lasted: narrowing the local skill hook to `^plugins/kyberforge/` left 6 of 38 skills prefiltered and the suite green. `bash tests/test-vale-wrap.sh` reports ~~`61 passed, 0 failed`~~ → ~~`63 passed, 0 failed`~~ → **`65 passed, 0 failed` (pinned at `1614bce`)** (it was 56 before cases 0 and 33 and the Part B mutation self-tests; 61 on 2026-09-15, and 63 once case 34 — the static `.vale.ini` style-load check — landed on 2026-09-16. Without vale on PATH it reports ~~19~~ → **14** and exits 77, ~~up from 17~~). The bullet's "about 350 of its lines run Vale glob probes" overstates the probe half: at `a5962ba` the script is **413 lines**, of which the `.vale.ini` coverage section is **332** (`67..398`) and the machinery that actually invokes vale against a probe path is **204** (`195..398`). The balance of that section is `StylesPath`, `BasedOnStyles` and per-rule-override greps — text assertions, not probes. (Its test file is **797** lines, as the note above says, not the 798 the bullet carries.) **`check-scope-walkup-sync` stays**, and the second bullet's "or the skills merge" is wrong: two of its four walk-up ports are in the *author* skills (`new-agent.sh`, `new-skill.sh`), which this merge does not touch, and the audit-side pair is Python against the author-side pair's Bash, so the gate can never degrade into a text diff. Full reasoning in §10's 2026-09-15 note. Finding 15 would not remove it either.
+     > > **Re-measured and pinned (2026-09-20, at `1614bce`).** The two `test-vale-wrap.sh` counts in the note above were written as current readings rather than pinned to a commit, and both went stale when `ea119d8` added cases to that suite after this note. Measured here, not copied forward: `bash tests/test-vale-wrap.sh` → `Results: 65 passed, 0 failed`, exit 0; `env PATH=/usr/bin:/bin bash tests/test-vale-wrap.sh` → `Results: 14 passed, 0 failed`, exit 77. The struck 63 and 19 were correct for the commits they were taken at; no attempt is made here to attribute the 19 → 14 move, only to record the reading at `1614bce`. Take the counts from a run against a named commit, never from this note — that is the same reason §1 carries its "Pinned (2026-09-16, review round)" note.
    - [x] ~~`check-marketplace-mirror-sync`: guards `.github/plugin/marketplace.json`. The script header calls it Copilot's legacy convention path and says Copilot also accepts the Claude path; the vendored Copilot docs list it as primary. Verify against current Copilot CLI before deleting hook, script, test, and mirror file.~~
      > **Grilled and done (2026-09-14):** verified against GitHub's current Copilot CLI plugin docs (not the vendored copy, which risked drift). Copilot CLI's marketplace discovery checks paths in order — `marketplace.json`, `.plugin/marketplace.json`, `.github/plugin/marketplace.json`, `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` — falling through to whichever exists first. `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` (apm's own `claude` output) already satisfies that chain's last step, so the dedicated `.github/plugin/marketplace.json` mirror bought Copilot users its *preferred* discovery path rather than a required one. Decided against reopening ADR-0018 (native install for both Claude Code and Copilot CLI stays supported) to justify this — the deletion holds either way, since Copilot's own fallback covers it. Deleted `.github/plugin/marketplace.json`, `scripts/sync-marketplace-mirror.sh` (81 lines), `tests/test-sync-marketplace-mirror.sh` (304 lines), and the `check-marketplace-mirror-sync` pre-push hook; removed the dangling references to the deleted script in `scripts/sync-plugin-content.sh` and `tests/test-sync-plugin-content.sh` (both had comments citing its reasoning by name), and updated `docs/spec/architecture.md`'s description of the marketplace-manifest compile step. `tests/test-sync-plugin-content.sh` (92 cases) still passes in full.
      >
@@ -164,6 +165,7 @@ This is the area you named as hardest to understand and slowest. Root cause: mos
 Pre-commit stays roughly as is minus `skill-frontmatter`, and minus `check-ast` once finding 9 removes the only `.py` files. ~~Tests 26 files to about 10 (12,400 to about 5,000 lines).~~ Keep bats and its three submodules; the 351 bats tests ship inside plugins and are the right tool there. ~~Do not port the bash suites to bats; delete them instead.~~ **Struck (2026-09-16, grill):** see finding 8's closing note — the suites are regression coverage (findings 3 and 5; finding 16 found the same of the validators they test).
 
 > **Re-measured (2026-09-14, at `a6434e0`):** the tests target was stated against the 2026-09-10 baseline and both its numbers are stale. `tests/` now holds **20 `test-*.sh` suites totalling 9,123 lines** (plus the two runners, 490). Six suites have gone since the baseline: `test-check-manifests.sh` (`e647f14`), `test-skill-frontmatter.sh` (`c8a7c9e`), `test-governance-layer.sh` and `test-instructions-and-docs.sh` (`5f9f2b3`), `test-sync-marketplace-mirror.sh` (`0dffff3`), `test-sync-plugin-content.sh` (`718c79a`). ~~Restated on the same basis the target is **20 files to about 10, 9,123 to about 5,000 lines**~~ — **struck (2026-09-16):** the target itself is withdrawn (see the struck sentence above); for the record, `tests/` holds **19** suites totalling **10,000** lines at `4b17703`, after `4de5b6b` deleted `test-check-release-needed.sh` and `test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh`. Finding 9's `check-ast` clause is moot anyway, since finding 9 is not proceeding.
+> > **Corrected (2026-09-20, at `1614bce`) — the deletion tally is nine, not ~~six~~ → ~~eight~~.** The six named above plus the two the 2026-09-16 strike adds come to eight, and a ninth was never folded into the running tally: **`test-check-vale-style-sync.sh`**, removed by `620f20b` with the `factory-audit` merge (finding 14) — the same commit finding 2's bullet already credits for deleting that gate's hook and script. The full `main...HEAD` set is nine: `test-check-manifests.sh` (`e647f14`), `test-check-release-needed.sh` (`4de5b6b`), `test-check-vale-style-sync.sh` (`620f20b`), `test-governance-layer.sh` and `test-instructions-and-docs.sh` (`5f9f2b3`), `test-skill-frontmatter.sh` (`c8a7c9e`), `test-sync-marketplace-mirror.sh` (`0dffff3`), `test-sync-plugin-content.sh` (`718c79a`), `test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh` (`4de5b6b`). Method: `git diff --name-status main...HEAD -- tests/ | grep '^D'`. The pinned "19 suites at `4b17703`" is unaffected — `620f20b` precedes that commit, so the file count already reflected the deletion even though the tally did not. At `1614bce` `tests/` holds **19** `test-*.sh` suites totalling **10,897** lines.
 
 ## 4. Plugins
 
@@ -328,6 +330,8 @@ The shared pattern: per-skill `README.md` files no model reads, a `docs/research
     > **The self-containment constraint does not support this finding the way it supports 14/15** — there is no cross-skill duplication here to merge away. `agentsmd-audit`'s three scripts share essentially nothing with `validate-adapter.sh` (no `read_text`, no BOM handling, no NUL check; they exit 1 on usage errors). Merging would *expose* that they are unhardened — costing lines, not saving them.
     >
     > Two further blockers if it were ever revisited: the merge dissolves `agentsmd-author`'s standing prohibition *"Never write to a provider file yourself, in any circumstance"* (SKILL.md:21), a hazard `c59e4bf` closed after the validator's own size-FAIL remediation text "actively invited the prohibited edit"; and `skill-size-check.sh:121` + `tests/test-skill-size-check.sh:729` both cite `a8cd5e8`'s exit-2 split as precedent for their own, so deleting it orphans two live cross-references.
+    >
+    > > **Corrected (2026-09-20, at `1614bce`) — neither cross-reference points at `a8cd5e8` any more, and one line number was wrong when written.** `e4ed343` ("docs(gates): cite the reachable squash commit for the exit-2 split") repointed both at `598a7c3`, which `main` reaches. The citations now sit at `scripts/skill-size-check.sh:121` and `tests/test-skill-size-check.sh:737` — `:737`, not the `:729` above. `grep -rn a8cd5e8 scripts/ tests/` returns nothing. The blocker itself is unaffected: the exit-2 precedent still exists, under a hash a branch reaches. Same correction as §12's follow-up, closed there on the same date.
 
 25. [x] **lint: delete the `lint-runner` agent.** Its body is "call `vale-run`, reformat output", which `--output=JSON` already gives; it exists for backends that do not exist. It is the example boundary clause in three `agent-author` templates and ADR-0016, so those need a new example. About 40% of `vale-config` is install tables and settings lists the model can fetch from vale.sh. Keep the house-verified matrices (`E100`/`E201`, `Packages` below glob, frontmatter, ignore paths). `lint/docs/research/docs/vale/` overlaps the skill's own references by about two thirds. Effort S.
    > **Decision (2026-09-16):** Not proceeding — the human declined this finding. The `lint-runner` agent stays.
@@ -654,8 +658,8 @@ Seven parallel reviewers went over the whole branch against `main`, each coverin
 
 **Open follow-ups:**
 
-- **Gitea #101.** Close it through this branch's PR with `Closes #101`. A comment is posted.
+- **~~Gitea #101.~~ Closed — the instruction was already a no-op when written (2026-09-20).** ~~Close it through this branch's PR with `Closes #101`.~~ A comment is posted. Read back from the Gitea API on 2026-09-20, #101 is `"state": "closed"` with `"closed_at": "2026-09-16T16:03:35Z"` — closed on 2026-09-16, this §12 note's own date, so there is nothing left for a `Closes #101` trailer to do. No PR change needed. The comment on the issue stands.
 - **Gitea #66.** It needs re-scoping, because its `.mcp.json` target is gone. A comment is posted.
 - **The dropped `LESSONS.md` entry.** The entry saying that "read at session start" is only a hope was removed, and no issue tracks it.
 - **The ADR-0020 constants.** They could move into the shared library that `skill-size-check` now sources, which would remove the last duplicated copy.
-- **The `a8cd5e8` citations.** `scripts/skill-size-check.sh` and `tests/test-skill-size-check.sh` still cite `a8cd5e8`, which no branch reaches. `598a7c3` is the reachable equivalent.
+- **~~The `a8cd5e8` citations.~~ Closed (2026-09-20, by `e4ed343`).** ~~`scripts/skill-size-check.sh` and `tests/test-skill-size-check.sh` still cite `a8cd5e8`, which no branch reaches. `598a7c3` is the reachable equivalent.~~ `e4ed343` ("docs(gates): cite the reachable squash commit for the exit-2 split", 2026-09-16 15:39 UTC) landed after this follow-up was written and repointed both at `598a7c3`: `scripts/skill-size-check.sh:121` and `tests/test-skill-size-check.sh:737`. Verified at `1614bce` — `grep -rn a8cd5e8 scripts/ tests/` returns nothing. §4.4's finding 24 note carried the same stale citation (with `:729`, a wrong line number) and is corrected in place there.