docs: reconcile LESSONS.md and VISION.md with what the branch removed

- LESSONS.md's 2026-06-22 test-placement entry told authors to put test
  files directly in scripts/ with a README row. The file-structure contract
  the repo now enforces permits tests/ as one of four directories, requires
  a tests/README.md when it exists, and FAILs test files in scripts/.
- LESSONS.md's 2026-08-16 entry described a dispatch chain ending at
  skill-author/references/retrofit.md in the present tense. This branch
  deleted that file. Sibling entries whose referents the branch removed
  were marked historical; this one was not.
- VISION.md's Phase 1 now puts stack, framework and deployment choices out
  of scope for this repo, while Phase 3 still named React Native and Tauri.

README.md was checked and needed no change: its offline guarantee already
carries the populated-apm_modules condition from 8cfd54f and agrees with
gates.md and AGENTS.md.

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

.pre-commit-config.yaml

@@ -97,48 +97,67 @@ repos:
 
       - id: apm-audit-ci
         name: apm audit --ci
-        description: Run apm's producer-side CI gate over the root manifest AND each of the six plugin packages. Verifies exactly two things per manifest -- apm.yml parses as a valid APM manifest (manifest-parse), and, if it declares dependencies, apm.lock.yaml exists and is consistent (lockfile-exists). It does NOT enforce an org policy and does NOT scan for hidden Unicode; see the comment below for why. Reference:plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/apm-workflow/references/audit.md
+        description: Run apm's producer-side CI gate over the root manifest AND each of the six plugin packages. On the root manifest it runs ten checks -- lockfile-exists, ref-consistency, deployment-ledger-owners, deployed-files-present, no-orphaned-packages, skill-subset-consistency, config-consistency, content-integrity, includes-consent, drift -- so it is both a hidden-Unicode scan and a drift gate that replays the install and diffs it. In a plugin package it runs one, lockfile-exists. It does NOT enforce an org policy; see the comment below for why. Reference:plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/apm-workflow/references/audit.md
         entry: bash -c 'for d in . plugins/*/; do (cd "$d" && apm audit --ci) || { echo "apm audit --ci failed in $d" >&2; exit 1; }; done'
         language: system
         stages: [pre-push]
         pass_filenames: false
         always_run: true
-        # The description above deliberately claims less than this hook's old one
-        # did ("lockfile/policy/hidden-content integrity"), because two of those
-        # three were never happening:
+        # What this hook actually runs, read off apm 0.28.0's own compliance
+        # table by invoking `apm audit --ci` at the repo root and in
+        # plugins/lint/. Long form in docs/spec/gates.md, "apm-audit-ci".
         #
-        # * POLICY. `apm audit --ci` discovers an org policy from the git remote,
-        #   and apm's discovery only understands github.com and Azure DevOps.
-        #   This repo's remote is a self-hosted Gitea, so discovery resolves
-        #   nothing and the run prints `No org policy found at unknown;
-        #   enforcement skipped`. apm's own message suggests
-        #   `policy.fetch_failure_default=block` in apm.yml "to fail closed" --
-        #   that was tried on a scratch copy and REJECTED: it does not make the
-        #   check meaningful, it makes it permanently red. `apm audit --ci` then
-        #   exits 1 with `No org policy found at unknown
-        #   (policy.fetch_failure_default=block)` on every push, because there is
-        #   no org policy to find and no supported way for this remote to serve
-        #   one. A gate that can never go green is not a gate. Revisit if this
-        #   repo ever gains a policy source apm can actually reach.
-        # * HIDDEN CONTENT. The hidden-Unicode scan is plain `apm audit`, not
-        #   `apm audit --ci` (the two are different modes, and --ci refuses to
-        #   combine with --file/--strip/--dry-run/PACKAGE). Plain `apm audit`
-        #   here reports `No apm.lock.yaml found -- nothing to scan` and exits 0,
-        #   so adding it would buy a second vacuous check, not coverage.
+        # * ROOT MANIFEST -- ten checks: lockfile-exists, ref-consistency,
+        #   deployment-ledger-owners, deployed-files-present,
+        #   no-orphaned-packages, skill-subset-consistency, config-consistency,
+        #   content-integrity, includes-consent, drift. It is a drift gate: it
+        #   replays the install cache-only and diffs the scratch result against
+        #   the working tree. Root lockfile-exists is not vacuous -- the root
+        #   declares dependencies, so it reports `Lockfile present`.
+        # * PLUGIN MANIFESTS -- one check: lockfile-exists. Conditional, and
+        #   vacuous while every plugin apm.yml declares
+        #   `dependencies: {apm: [], mcp: []}`: it reports `No dependencies
+        #   declared -- lockfile not required` and arms itself the moment one
+        #   does not (verified by adding a git dependency to
+        #   plugins/lint/apm.yml). Everything else above is root-only, because
+        #   only the root install has a lockfile, a deployment ledger and
+        #   deployed files to check. Running the six plugin packages is what
+        #   makes lockfile-exists reachable for them at all -- the root-only
+        #   invocation audits the root manifest and nothing else.
+        # * HIDDEN CONTENT IS COVERED. content-integrity is that scan; it
+        #   reports `No critical hidden Unicode or hash drift detected`. An
+        #   earlier revision of this comment said the hook does NOT scan for
+        #   hidden Unicode and that adding the scan would buy a second vacuous
+        #   check. Both claims were wrong. What is true is that the STANDALONE
+        #   mode differs: plain `apm audit` (--ci refuses to combine with
+        #   --file/--strip/--dry-run/PACKAGE) run in a plugin directory reports
+        #   `No apm.lock.yaml found -- nothing to scan` and exits 0, because
+        #   only the root has a lockfile.
+        # * MANIFEST-PARSE IS NOT A CHECK in apm 0.28.0's table, and an earlier
+        #   revision of this comment named it as one. Parsing is still
+        #   enforced -- a dependency entry missing its git/path/registry field
+        #   fails with `Cannot parse apm.yml` -- but it fails the invocation
+        #   before the table is built, so it never appears as a row.
+        # * POLICY IS NOT ENFORCED. `apm audit --ci` discovers an org policy
+        #   from the git remote, and apm's discovery only understands
+        #   github.com and Azure DevOps. This repo's remote is a self-hosted
+        #   Gitea, so discovery resolves nothing and the run prints `No org
+        #   policy found at unknown; enforcement skipped`. apm's own message
+        #   suggests `policy.fetch_failure_default=block` in apm.yml "to fail
+        #   closed" -- that was tried on a scratch copy and REJECTED: it does
+        #   not make the check meaningful, it makes it permanently red. `apm
+        #   audit --ci` then exits 1 with `No org policy found at unknown
+        #   (policy.fetch_failure_default=block)` on every push, because there
+        #   is no org policy to find and no supported way for this remote to
+        #   serve one. A gate that can never go green is not a gate. Revisit if
+        #   this repo ever gains a policy source apm can actually reach.
         #
-        # What IS left is worth keeping, and is now run against seven manifests
-        # instead of one. lockfile-exists is conditional -- it is vacuous while
-        # every apm.yml declares `dependencies: {apm: [], mcp: []}`, and it arms
-        # itself the moment one does not (verified: adding a git dependency to
-        # plugins/lint/apm.yml fails with `apm.yml declares dependencies but
-        # apm.lock.yaml is absent`). manifest-parse is unconditional and fires on
-        # any malformed manifest (verified: a dependency entry missing its
-        # git/path/registry field fails with `Cannot parse apm.yml`). Running the
-        # six plugin packages is what makes either reachable for them at all --
-        # the root-only invocation audits the marketplace manifest and nothing
-        # else. Costs ~0.5s per package, needs no network (checked under
-        # `unshare -rn`) -- consistent with every other pre-push hook: none of
-        # them need the network (see README.md's "Offline?" section).
+        # Costs ~0.5s per package. Needs no network ONCE `apm install` has
+        # populated apm_modules/ -- the root marketplace has no remote package
+        # entries, so the install replay is cache-only. On a FRESH CLONE there
+        # is no cache: deployed-files-present fails outright, and drift and
+        # config-consistency clone from the holocron remote. See README.md's
+        # "Offline?" section.
 
       - id: check-apm-agents-valid
         name: Validate real APM agent files
@@ -167,9 +186,12 @@ repos:
         pass_filenames: false
         always_run: true
 
-      # check-vale-style-sync was removed by ADR-0025. Only 6 of its 17
-      # assertions diffed skill-audit's Vale copy against agent-audit's; the
-      # merge into factory-audit leaves one copy, so those are moot. The other
+      # check-vale-style-sync was removed by ADR-0025. Of its 17 assertion
+      # sites only 2 actually diffed skill-audit's Vale copy against
+      # agent-audit's, and 4 more existed solely so the script could locate the
+      # two copies -- a real REPO_ROOT, non-stale .apm/ paths, both copies
+      # present (ADR-0025:285-287). The merge into factory-audit leaves one
+      # copy, so all 6 are moot. The other
       # 11 moved into tests/test-vale-wrap.sh (case 0, cases 28-31, its
       # Vale-absent skip, and case 32 for the one-plugin narrowing guard),
       # which run-tests runs here at

LESSONS.md

@@ -56,9 +56,9 @@ Skills sharing a resource (e.g. `validate.sh`) via a `shared/` directory and rel
 
 `skill-audit`'s (now `factory-audit`'s skill flow, per ADR-0025: `references/skill-description-quality.md` and `references/skill-body-discipline.md`) description and body-discipline rubrics were derived from `skill-write`'s own conventions — circular, so drift in one silently propagated to the other. Fix: extract condensed reference files directly from the upstream spec (agentskills.io) into the audit skill, so the rubric is independent of in-repo convention drift.
 
-## 2026-06-22 — Test files in scripts/ are dev tooling; document them in README as non-spec
+## 2026-06-22 — Test files in scripts/ are dev tooling; document them in README as non-spec (historical)
 
-The agentskills.io spec defines `scripts/` for bundled executables, not test infrastructure — bats files placed there are invisible to spec-following auditors and cause README drift. Fix: place test files directly in `scripts/` (no subdirectory), and add a README row noting each as "dev tooling, not shipped."
+Superseded — the fix below is now itself a FAIL. `factory-audit`'s `references/skill-file-structure.md:14` permits `tests/` as one of the four allowed directories, `:21-22` fails a test file found in `scripts/`, and `:58-60` requires a `tests/README.md` when `tests/` exists. Skill-root READMEs are gone too, so there is no table left to add a row to. What survives is the reason: test infrastructure is dev tooling, not shipped content, and has to be declared where an auditor reads — which is now `tests/README.md`. Kept for reference: the agentskills.io spec defines `scripts/` for bundled executables, not test infrastructure — bats files placed there are invisible to spec-following auditors and cause README drift. Fix: place test files directly in `scripts/` (no subdirectory), and add a README row noting each as "dev tooling, not shipped."
 
 ## 2026-06-27 — Clean-context audit catches what biased forks miss
 
@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ Widening a description-opener rule to also catch mid-sentence text looked like a
 
 `apm audit --ci` failed on `.claude/settings.json` with an empty `git diff` — `pretty-format-json --autofix` silently re-sorts JSON keys, and this generated file was missing from its exclude list, so every commit re-sorted apm's insertion-ordered output before apm compared against it. Separately, a defect introduced 3 hours earlier on the same branch was first mis-described as "pre-existing," an unverified claim about history. Fix: add tool-owned paths to every autofixing hook's exclude the moment ownership is declared, and verify "pre-existing" claims with `git log -S` or `git branch --contains` before writing them down.
 
-## 2026-08-16 — A rule reversed inside a retrofit leaves no trace unless someone writes it down
+## 2026-08-16 — A rule reversed inside a retrofit leaves no trace unless someone writes it down (historical)
 
-A retrofit replaced "keep reference chains one level deep" with "two hops, never three" — the opposite rule, needed because the new dispatch pattern requires `SKILL.md` → `improve.md` → `retrofit.md`. The ADR never mentioned chain depth, so the reversal was carried entirely by the diff with no sign a contradicting rule ever existed. Fix: when a change inverts a standing rule, record the inversion where the rule's rationale lives, or it reads as forgotten rather than overturned.
+The chain named below no longer exists — `plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/skill-author/references/retrofit.md` was deleted, so the dispatch ends at `improve.md`. The reversed rule itself survives, in `skill-author/references/create.md:150`. Kept for reference: a retrofit replaced "keep reference chains one level deep" with "two hops, never three" — the opposite rule, needed because the new dispatch pattern requires `SKILL.md` → `improve.md` → `retrofit.md`. The ADR never mentioned chain depth, so the reversal was carried entirely by the diff with no sign a contradicting rule ever existed. Fix: when a change inverts a standing rule, record the inversion where the rule's rationale lives, or it reads as forgotten rather than overturned.
 
 ## 2026-09-15 — A rare flake in a pipefail suite is a race until proven otherwise
 

docs/VISION.md

@@ -60,4 +60,4 @@ Runtime orchestration: push config updates to machines, see running agents, mana
 
 ### Phase 3 — Native Apps
 
-Mobile (React Native) and desktop (Tauri) wrappers over the Phase 1/2 web app. Deferred until the web app is mature.
+Mobile and desktop wrappers over the Phase 1/2 web app. Deferred until the web app is mature; the wrapper technology is that product's own choice, on the same terms as the rest of its stack.

docs/adr/0013-vale-harness-scope-and-rule-sources.md

@@ -26,7 +26,11 @@ stay out of this Vale-based harness because this repo already has dedicated tool
 `skill-frontmatter` (required frontmatter fields), `validate-marketplace`
 (`claude plugin validate --strict`, schema), and `gitleaks`/`detect-private-key` (secrets).
 (ADR-0024 removed the companion `validate-plugins` gate along with the per-plugin manifests it
-checked; the argument here is unaffected.)
+checked, and the `skill-frontmatter` hook has since been removed as well — its required-field
+checks were folded into `skill-size-check`, and the enforcer is now
+`scripts/skill-size-check.sh:324-335` under the `skill-size-check` hook at
+`.pre-commit-config.yaml:237`. The argument here is unaffected either way: a dedicated
+non-Vale tool still owns required frontmatter fields.)
 Duplicating those concerns as Vale rules would fight tools that already own them better.
 
 **Governance docs are excluded as a rule source.** `docs/research/governance_principles/CONTROLS.md`

docs/adr/0014-vale-prefilter-ships-from-the-plugin.md

@@ -277,11 +277,22 @@ release gate only once a server-side job can run it on merge.
 `skill-size-check.sh`. `ef27c97` removed its embedded resolver copy: the hook now sources
 `plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/scripts/lib-boundary-resolver.sh` by path and fails
 closed without it (ADR-0020's 2026-09-16 amendment; `docs/spec/gates.md`, "Duplicated constants").
-An external consumer's checkout has no such file, so restoring the manifest as described would ship
-a hook that fails for every consumer — the defect recorded at `LESSONS.md:101`. Only `vale-wrap.sh`
-still meets the `entry[0]`-only constraint. A return must first make `skill-size-check.sh`
-self-contained again, by re-embedding the resolver or shipping the library beside the hook, and
-restore a consumer test that proves it.
+
+**Amended (2026-09-20): that is not a consumer-facing defect.** The correction above went on to say
+that a consumer's checkout has no such file, so restoring the manifest would ship a hook that fails
+for every consumer. Reproduced and found false. pre-commit's `script` language clones the **whole**
+hook repo into its store and prefixes `entry[0]` with the clone directory: `clientlib.py` maps
+`script` to `unsupported_script`, whose `run_hook` does `cmd = (prefix.path(cmd[0]), *cmd[1:])` over
+`Prefix(store.clone(...))`, and `store.clone` checks out the full tree — shallow in depth, not in
+content. `skill-size-check.sh` locates the library from `${BASH_SOURCE[0]}`
+(`scripts/skill-size-check.sh:481-483`), which points into that same clone, so
+`../plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/scripts/lib-boundary-resolver.sh` resolves beside
+it. Verified end to end against pre-commit 4.6.1 with a probe hook of the same shape — bare script
+entry, sibling file reached by climbing out of `scripts/` — and the file was found and sourced. Both
+hook scripts therefore still meet the `entry[0]`-only constraint: `vale-wrap.sh` takes no `--config`,
+and `skill-size-check.sh` passes no argv of its own. A return needs no re-embedding; restore
+`test-vale-hooks-consumer.sh` with the manifest, extended to cover the sourced library, so the claim
+stays checked rather than reasoned about.
 
 **Superseded statements elsewhere.** ADR-0022's notes that the version-bump gate "is not exported
 through `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml`" and that it shares its gaps with `check-release-needed`, and

docs/adr/0015-apm-replaces-plugin-marketplace-authoring.md

@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ their authoring source; `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` and every plugin's `pl
 `apm pack`-compiled output. **Supersedes ADR-0001** ("Skills are distributed via plugins... each
 plugin contains its own `skills/` directory") — in effect.
 
+**Correction (2026-09-20): the present tense above has expired for `plugin.json`.** ADR-0024 made
+apm the only supported install path and deleted per-plugin `plugin.json` with the native install
+support that needed it. No plugin carries one at `HEAD` — `git ls-files | grep -c 'plugin\.json'`
+returns 0 — so `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` is the only `apm pack`-compiled output left. Read
+the Status line as the state at execution, 2026-08-12.
+
 This repo replaces its hand-maintained Claude Code plugin/marketplace authoring model
 (`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` + per-plugin `plugin.json`) with Microsoft APM (`apm.yml` +
 `.apm/`) as the authoring source of truth — an outright replacement of the authoring layer, not an
@@ -180,7 +186,11 @@ correction) sorted what they document into three buckets:
   `git ls-remote`, which is why two pre-push hooks needed the network (see `AGENTS.md`).
   **Superseded 2026-09-13:** the `mattpocock-skills` entry has been removed from root `apm.yml`
   entirely, along with the `codex` marketplace output profile. No pre-push hook needs the network
-  any longer.
+  any longer — **once `apm install` has populated `apm_modules/`**. The guarantee is a property of a
+  populated install, not of the hook set: on a fresh clone `apm-audit-ci`'s `deployed-files-present`
+  fails outright, and its `drift` and `config-consistency` install-replays have no cache to replay
+  from and clone from the holocron remote (`README.md:89`; `docs/spec/gates.md`, "Pushing without a
+  network").
 - **Caveat on "Status: executed" above:** issue #90's own execution comment flagged, before merge,
   that Claude Code's ability to actually load content out of `.apm/` was unverified — that caveat
   turned out to be a real defect, not a formality: the native installer has zero awareness of

docs/adr/0019-session-start-hook-keeps-the-apm-install-current.md

@@ -156,6 +156,16 @@ via `url.<path>.insteadOf`, so the twelve-hooks-pass-under-`unshare -rn` propert
 the real `apm outdated`, and replays its genuine output through the real hook. Reverting the grep
 to plural-only fails it.
 
+> **Correction (2026-09-20):** neither half of "the twelve-hooks-pass-under-`unshare -rn` property"
+> is accurate. The count was never twelve: `main` declares 14 pre-push hooks and `HEAD` declares 8 —
+> 10 counting the two `repo: meta` hooks, which set no `stages` and so run at every stage. And the
+> property is conditional, not absolute: no pre-push hook needs the network **once `apm install` has
+> populated `apm_modules/`**, but on a fresh clone `apm-audit-ci`'s `deployed-files-present` fails
+> outright and its `drift` and `config-consistency` install-replays clone from the holocron remote
+> (`README.md:89`; `docs/spec/gates.md`, "Pushing without a network"). What the probe itself
+> establishes is unchanged and is the point of the sentence: staging the outdated dependency against
+> a local git remote via `url.<path>.insteadOf` adds no network call of its own.
+
 **The hook cannot install itself.** Dependencies resolve from the remote, so the hook does not
 deploy until this change is merged and `apm update` has run once against the new default branch.
 Until then the repo has the mechanism in source and not in effect.

docs/adr/0020-skill-description-and-body-context-contract.md

@@ -21,9 +21,12 @@ SHARED BOUNDARY RESOLVER` markers, and one plugin copy — extracted out of the
 both. `validate-provenance.sh` is not a third reader: it sources `lib-contributing-files.sh` and one
 of `lib-provenance-skill.sh`/`lib-provenance-agent.sh`, and never touches the resolver at all. The
 Enforcement table's "constants mirrored in `skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh` and
-`agent-audit/scripts/validate.sh`" is one path now, `factory-audit/scripts/validate.sh`, which
-auto-detects the artifact type; the skills/agents columns are unaffected, since the merged validator
-applies the body tiers on the skill path only. The two copies must still stay byte-identical — a
+`agent-audit/scripts/validate.sh`" now means `factory-audit/scripts/lib-checks-skill.sh:313-316`
+(all four constants) and `lib-checks-agent.sh:164-165` (the two description ones). It does **not**
+mean `factory-audit/scripts/validate.sh`, which holds none of them: `validate.sh` auto-detects the
+artifact type and sources the matching check suite (`validate.sh:231-233`, `:244-246`). The
+skills/agents columns are unaffected — only the skill suite carries the body tiers. The two copies
+must still stay byte-identical — a
 plugin script cannot source the root one, which is why a second copy exists at all. Read every
 "three" below as the count at the time of writing.
 
@@ -116,6 +119,12 @@ clause**, and a **boundary clause**. Capability enumeration, output-format detai
 ("composes X rather than duplicating Y"), and implementation detail move to the body or to
 `README.md`.
 
+**Correction (2026-09-20): not `README.md`.** The canonical destination for description overflow is
+"the body or a `references/` file" (`plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/skill-author/references/contract.md:35`).
+A skill-root `README.md` is no longer somewhere overflow can go: all 39 of them were deleted, and
+`factory-audit/references/skill-file-structure.md:23` now FAILs a non-spec file at the skill root,
+which a `README.md` is. Read every "or to `README.md`" below as "or to a `references/` file".
+
 - **250 characters SUGGESTION, 400 FAIL.** The agentskills.io 1,024-character limit remains as an
   unchanged spec backstop. The SUGGESTION tier is what moves the average; the FAIL tier only stops
   outliers.
@@ -284,8 +293,8 @@ which tier each rule is in, because the failure this ADR is most exposed to is a
 
 | Check | Applies to | Tier | Home |
 |---|---|---|---|
-| description characters (250 SUGGESTION † / 400 FAIL) | skills, agents | deterministic | `scripts/skill-size-check.sh`; constants mirrored in `skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh` and `agent-audit/scripts/validate.sh` |
-| body-only words (600 SUGGESTION / 900 FAIL) | skills | deterministic | `skill-size-check.sh`, `skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh` (now `factory-audit/scripts/validate.sh`, see ADR-0025) |
+| description characters (250 SUGGESTION † / 400 FAIL) | skills, agents | deterministic | `scripts/skill-size-check.sh`; constants mirrored in `skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh` and `agent-audit/scripts/validate.sh` (now `factory-audit/scripts/lib-checks-skill.sh:313-314` and `lib-checks-agent.sh:164-165`, see the ADR-0025 amendment — **not** `factory-audit/scripts/validate.sh`, which holds no constants) |
+| body-only words (600 SUGGESTION / 900 FAIL) | skills | deterministic | `skill-size-check.sh`, `skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh` (now `factory-audit/scripts/lib-checks-skill.sh:315-316`, see the ADR-0025 amendment) |
 | description present and non-empty (ERROR) | skills, agents | deterministic | same |
 | boundary target resolves to a real skill or agent — **three** verdicts, not two (ERROR when written in route notation — `/name`, or any arrow form; or when a *terminal* bare name's own sentence names another target that resolves. SUGGESTION otherwise. INFO, "DID NOT RUN", exit 0, when no skill universe could be determined for the path at all — no authoring root above it, no apm package root, no declared apm dependencies, no deployed `.claude/` or `.agents/` tree: the targets are named and left unchecked) | skills, agents | deterministic | same |
 | boundary clause absent — `absent` (SUGGESTION) † | skills, agents | deterministic | same |

docs/adr/0021-plugin-descriptions-state-a-domain-boundary.md

@@ -103,17 +103,20 @@ output against `apm.yml`, so their entire job is to propagate whatever the descr
 those four files byte-for-byte and confirm they match. The `wiki` claim passed every one of the fourteen pre-push hooks, every day it
 was published.
 
-**Correction (2026-09-14): that gate list is down to one, and it was never two.**
+**Correction (2026-09-14): that gate list is down to two.**
 `scripts/sync-plugin-content.sh --check --all` does not exist — `718c79a` deleted the script and its
-`check-plugin-content-sync` hook with the flat mirror (ADR-0024). Of the two names left,
-`apm audit --ci` was never a drift gate at all: against this repo it checks only that each `apm.yml`
-parses and that a manifest declaring dependencies has a consistent `apm.lock.yaml`, and it reads no
-`description`. So the sole surviving gate that compares compiled output against `apm.yml` is
+`check-plugin-content-sync` hook with the flat mirror (ADR-0024). The other two survive.
+`apm audit --ci` at the repo root (apm 0.28.0) runs ten checks — `lockfile-exists`,
+`ref-consistency`, `deployment-ledger-owners`, `deployed-files-present`, `no-orphaned-packages`,
+`skill-subset-consistency`, `config-consistency`, `content-integrity`, `includes-consent` and
+`drift` — and it *is* a drift gate: `drift` and `config-consistency` replay the install and diff the
+result against the working tree, and `content-integrity` scans for hidden Unicode and hash drift.
+(In a sub-package such as `plugins/lint` it runs one check, `lockfile-exists`.) The second is
 `apm pack --check-versions --check-clean --dry-run`, run by the `apm-pack-check-clean` pre-push hook
 — and with the per-plugin manifests gone it propagates a description into exactly one file,
 `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`, not four. This narrows the mechanism and changes nothing about
-the finding: propagation is still not verification, and nothing anywhere reads the `description`
-key for sense.
+the finding: both gates compare bytes, neither reads the `description` key for sense, so propagation
+is still not verification.
 
 **And the obligation is unbounded.** Under enumeration, adding one skill to `bin`, `git` or `gitea`
 means editing two copies of a prose string on top of the version bumps and regeneration any skill

docs/adr/0022-skill-metadata-version-is-mandatory.md

@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ per-plugin choice.
   `name:` or `description:`; a missing `metadata.version` is now the same class of failure, not a
   style nit an audit might or might not catch.
 
+  > **Correction (2026-09-20): that hook no longer exists.** `skill-frontmatter` was removed and its
+  > required-field checks folded into `skill-size-check`. The enforcer is now
+  > `scripts/skill-size-check.sh:324-335`, declared under the `skill-size-check` hook at
+  > `.pre-commit-config.yaml:237`. It checks presence and three-part-semver shape, on the same
+  > `SKILL.md` glob and at the same pre-commit stage, so the decision is unaffected — only the name
+  > of the hook that holds it. The same substitution applies to the Consequences section below.
+
 ## Considered options
 
 **Leave it per-plugin, document the split.** This was the initial framing of #127 and is coherent —
@@ -152,6 +159,38 @@ on the same skill. That is the case the rule exists for, and rebasing onto or me
 shows the version to beat. The rule reads `origin/main` as last fetched, so a tip that moved since
 the last fetch is not seen until the next one.
 
+## Amendment (2026-09-20): two exemptions and a third failure form the rules above never stated
+
+The carve-outs enumerated above read as a closed list, and the baseline above reads as a single
+merge-base. `scripts/check-skill-version-bump.sh` as shipped has two further exemptions and emits a
+third failure form. **The gate is right and is not changing; this ADR was behind it.** Its own header
+comments (`:9-93`) have described all three correctly since it shipped.
+
+- **The baseline is `git merge-base --all`, not one merge-base.** A criss-cross history — `main`
+  merges a branch while that branch merges a commit of `main` — has two merge bases, and which one
+  `git merge-base` prints is an implementation detail. The script takes every base (`:154-157`) and
+  **intersects** the changed-skill sets across them (`:203-217`): a skill matching any one base is
+  already shipped by that base and is exempt, and a skill that does reach the comparison must exceed
+  the version at every base it exists at (`:367-376`). Picking one base made the verdict a coin
+  flip — an already-merged bump failed the push it should have passed.
+- **A skill whose directory tree object equals the tip's skips the tip comparison.**
+  `same_subtree()` (`:288-297`, applied at `:334-337`) compares tree object ids rather than diffing:
+  the same tree is the same content, whatever route the history took to it. A branch cut before a
+  fix landed on `main` and then cherry-picking that fix has one merge-base, predating the fix, so the
+  skill counts as changed against it and reaches the tip comparison carrying exactly the tip's
+  version — same content, same version. The merge-base intersection catches that only when some base
+  carries the content, which the criss-cross shape gives and a linear one does not. Without the skip
+  the only escapes are a spurious bump, leaving `main` carrying two versions of identical content,
+  or a rebase the push does not otherwise need.
+- **A third failure form.** The amendment above lists `(not above merge-base)` and
+  `(not above origin/main tip)`. When there is more than one base, the merge-base line is
+  sha-suffixed — `(not above merge-base <sha>)` (`:372`, against the unsuffixed `:374`) — because
+  "which merge-base" is the one question a reader cannot answer from the branch alone.
+
+`8cfd54f` recorded that "ADR-0022 is not amended: the documented behaviour does not change". That
+was wrong for the tree-identical case: the `same_subtree` skip makes a push **pass** that this ADR as
+written requires to **fail**, which is documented behaviour changing, not an implementation detail.
+
 ## Consequences
 
 27 SKILL.md files gain `metadata.version: "1.0.0"`, and a 28th — `bin/write-docs` — reaches the same

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

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Simplification audit
 
-> **Status: complete (2026-09-16).** Every finding is closed at its own note except **22**, deferred with `bin`. See §7's status notes for the closing summary. This document is now a record; do not reopen it for new work — file an issue instead.
+> **Frozen (2026-09-20) — a dated record, not a live document.** Status: complete; every finding is closed at its own note except **22**, deferred with `bin` (§7's status notes carry the closing summary). Every figure below is as measured at the commit it names, and none of them are maintained against HEAD; the document is frozen at `1ec3e8a`. Where a note dates itself "at HEAD", that means the branch tip on **that note's own date**, not the current tip — those figures were not re-derived for the freeze, and several are stale by construction because later commits moved what they measure. Do not re-measure it and do not reopen it for new work — file a Gitea issue instead.
 
 Date: 2026-09-10. Read-only analysis; nothing has been changed. Purpose: a hand-off for deciding what to remove, merge, and shrink. Findings are ranked by payoff within each area; effort is S/M/L. Claims were independently re-verified against the repo by a clean reviewer; corrections have been applied.
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Counting convention: line counts are hand-edited `.apm/` source unless marked "i
 >
 > > **Re-measured (2026-09-14, at `a6434e0`):** the right-hand column originally read 31,473 / 6,050 / 3,471 / 2,360 / 923 / 2,083 = 46,360 and was labelled "Today" against "the current working tree". It did not reconcile to its own commit's tree — at `061bb3d`, where it was written, the six plugins measured 31,435 / 6,048 / 3,474 / 2,358 / 926 / 2,087 = 46,328 — and "the current working tree" is a basis that goes stale silently. Re-counted at `a6434e0` and the column now names its SHA. The baseline column is confirmed exact against `9eb8bc7`. Commits after `061bb3d` (`c96ca9c`, which deleted the six plugin-root `.mcp.json` files) account for most of the remaining drift.
 
-> **Re-derived (2026-09-16, at HEAD on `docs/simplification-audit`):** the 2026-09-15 notes recording finding 14's merge (~~`467bbd7`~~ → `620f20b`, ADR-0025) and the pipefail fix (~~`4059cb4`~~ → `ffcbed6`) were written without correcting the headlines they annotate, so this pass re-counted every figure those two commits could have moved and corrected each in place above and below. Everything re-measured here came from a command run at HEAD — `git ls-files`, `wc -l`, `grep -c`, and `bash tests/run-tests.sh --strict` — never from an earlier note. What moved: finding 2 (two surviving sync gates → one), the `.pre-commit-config.yaml` hook counts (27/9 → 26/8 → 27/9 → 26/8, the chain spelled out in §3's table note below; **26** `- id:` entries and **8** `stages: [pre-push]` at HEAD, `grep -c -- "- id:"` and `grep -c "stages: \[pre-push\]"`), the skill census (39 → 38 and everything derived from it), finding 11's validator and `sources.md` figures, finding 16's whole numeric basis, and the stale `skill-audit/`, `agent-audit/` and `formatting-and-scripts.md` paths in findings 18, 19 and 33. §1's three rows re-measured: ~~**469**~~ → **471** tracked files (~~465~~ → 467 regular plus the 4 submodule gitlinks) / ~~**74,594**~~ → **75,441** lines (pinned to `c07ca07`; see the note below); `plugins/` ~~**46,106** (62%)~~ → **46,127** (61%); the 38 `SKILL.md` bodies **2,409** (5.2% of plugin lines); enforcement ~~**20 `tests/test-*.sh` totalling 10,189 lines**~~ → ~~**21 `tests/test-*.sh` totalling 10,608 lines**~~ → **19 totalling 10,088** at `baa2f5d`, the two runners **502** (`run-tests.sh` 283 + `run-bats.sh` 219), and `scripts/` ~~**2,901**~~ → **3,139**; kyberforge's validator scripts and their bats tests ~~**5,861**~~ → **5,876** + **6,015** (the merge deduplicated scripts and left the test corpus larger, not smaller — `git ls-files 'plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/*/scripts/*.sh'` and `.../tests/*.bats`). `run-tests.sh --strict` reports ~~**20 passed, 0 skipped, 0 failed**~~ → ~~**21 passed, 0 skipped, 0 failed**~~ → **19 passed, 0 skipped, 0 failed** at `baa2f5d` (`4de5b6b` deleted two suites).
+> **Re-derived (2026-09-16, at HEAD on `docs/simplification-audit`):** the 2026-09-15 notes recording finding 14's merge (~~`467bbd7`~~ → `620f20b`, ADR-0025) and the pipefail fix (~~`4059cb4`~~ → `ffcbed6`) were written without correcting the headlines they annotate, so this pass re-counted every figure those two commits could have moved and corrected each in place above and below. Everything re-measured here came from a command run at HEAD — `git ls-files`, `wc -l`, `grep -c`, and `bash tests/run-tests.sh --strict` — never from an earlier note. What moved: finding 2 (two surviving sync gates → one), the `.pre-commit-config.yaml` hook counts (27/9 → 26/8 → 27/9 → 26/8, the chain spelled out in §3's table note below; **26** `- id:` entries and **8** `stages: [pre-push]` at HEAD, `grep -c -- "- id:"` and `grep -c "stages: \[pre-push\]"`), the skill census (39 → 38 and everything derived from it), finding 11's validator and `sources.md` figures, finding 16's whole numeric basis, and the stale `skill-audit/`, `agent-audit/` and `formatting-and-scripts.md` paths in findings 18, 19 and 33. §1's three rows re-measured: ~~**469**~~ → **471** tracked files (~~465~~ → 467 regular plus the 4 submodule gitlinks) / ~~**74,594**~~ → **75,441** lines (pinned to `c07ca07`; see the note below); `plugins/` ~~**46,106** (62%)~~ → **46,127** (61%); the 38 `SKILL.md` bodies **2,409** (5.2% of plugin lines); enforcement ~~**20 `tests/test-*.sh` totalling 10,189 lines**~~ → ~~**21 `tests/test-*.sh` totalling 10,608 lines**~~ → **19 totalling 10,088** at `baa2f5d`, the two runners ~~**502** (`run-tests.sh` 283 + `run-bats.sh` 219)~~ → **514** (`run-tests.sh` 289 + `run-bats.sh` 225), and `scripts/` ~~**2,901**~~ → ~~**3,139**~~ → **1,926** (**corrected 2026-09-20**: the struck runner and `scripts/` figures are `c07ca07`'s, not `baa2f5d`'s, so this one clause carried two bases and contradicted §1's own row for the same commit; the replacements are `baa2f5d`'s and agree with that row); kyberforge's validator scripts and their bats tests ~~**5,861**~~ → **5,876** + **6,015** (the merge deduplicated scripts and left the test corpus larger, not smaller — `git ls-files 'plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/*/scripts/*.sh'` and `.../tests/*.bats`). `run-tests.sh --strict` reports ~~**20 passed, 0 skipped, 0 failed**~~ → ~~**21 passed, 0 skipped, 0 failed**~~ → **19 passed, 0 skipped, 0 failed** at `baa2f5d` (`4de5b6b` deleted two suites).
 >
 > > **Re-measured (2026-09-16, at `c07ca07`):** commit `8451169` added `check-skill-version-bump` — a pre-push hook, `scripts/check-skill-version-bump.sh` (238 lines) and `tests/test-skill-version-bump.sh` (410) — after the figures above were taken, so each was one short. `.pre-commit-config.yaml` now has **27** `- id:` entries and **9** `stages: [pre-push]` (`grep -c -- "- id:"`; `grep -c "stages: \[pre-push\]"`), all nine repo-authored. The struck figures are replaced from these commands. They were run against the working tree, and every figure reproduces exactly from the committed tree at `c07ca07`: `git ls-files | wc -l`; `cat` over every non-gitlink tracked path `| wc -l`; `git ls-files plugins | xargs cat | wc -l`; `git ls-files scripts | xargs wc -l` (no untracked files under `scripts/`); `ls tests/test-*.sh | wc -l` and `cat tests/test-*.sh | wc -l`; `bash tests/run-tests.sh --strict`. The earlier 469 / 74,594 / 46,106 did not reproduce exactly at `8451169^` either (469 / 74,638 / 46,121), so they were taken at an earlier commit than this note's "at HEAD" says. Re-checked and unchanged, so left alone: `docs/research/` inside plugins (19,030) and repo-level `docs/research/` + `docs/notes/` (4,488). Not re-measured, and still carrying their last stated basis: the preload-tax and commit-share rows, §2's timings, and the per-plugin table in the note above.
 >
@@ -42,11 +42,11 @@ Counting convention: line counts are hand-edited `.apm/` source unless marked "i
 | Of which the ~~39~~ → 38 `SKILL.md` files a model actually loads          | ~~about 2,600 lines (under 4% of plugin lines)~~ → ~~2,509 lines (5.4% of plugin lines)~~ → 2,409 lines (5.2% of plugin lines; unchanged at `baa2f5d`) |
 | Generated flat mirror files (byte copies of `.apm/`)                      | ~~263 files, ~22,000 lines~~ → 0 (deleted 2026-09-14, see below)                        |
 | `docs/research/` vendored inside plugins                                  | ~19,000 lines, nothing executable reads it                                              |
-| Repo-level `docs/research/` + `docs/notes/`                               | 4,500 lines, 47% of all prose words, 6 of 11 research files linked only from each other |
+| Repo-level `docs/research/` + `docs/notes/`                               | 4,500 lines, 47% of all prose words, 6 of 11 research files linked only from each other (invalidated by this document's own move into `docs/notes/`, which adds 665 lines to the row it measures) |
 | Enforcement: hook entries in `.pre-commit-config.yaml` / pre-push hooks   | ~~33 / 14~~ → 26 / 8 (at `baa2f5d`; see the note below)                                  |
 | Enforcement: `tests/*.sh` + runners + `scripts/`                          | ~~12,400 + 475 + 4,500 lines~~ → ~~9,123 + 490 + 3,308 lines~~ → ~~10,189 + 502 + 2,901~~ → ~~10,608 + 502 + 3,139~~ → ~~10,000 + 502 + 1,924 (at `4b17703`)~~ → 10,088 + 514 + 1,926 (at `baa2f5d`) |
 | Validator scripts inside kyberforge (+ their bats tests)                  | ~~6,800 + 5,300 lines~~ → ~~5,861 + 6,015~~ → ~~5,876 + 6,015~~ → 5,885 + 6,071 (at `baa2f5d`)                              |
-| Preload tax (39 skill names + descriptions)                               | 10,987 chars, ~2,750 tokens per session                                                 |
+| Preload tax (~~39~~ → 38 skill names + descriptions)                      | 10,987 chars, ~2,750 tokens per session (measured at 39 skills on 2026-09-10; never re-measured after ADR-0025's merge took the count to 38) |
 | Commits since 2026-05-10 / share touching hook, test, gate, vale, or sync | 447 / ~25%                                                                              |
 
 > **Corrected then done (2026-09-14):** the mirror row's figure was wrong. The true mirror was **213 files / 20,061 lines**, not 263 / ~22,000 — the original count swept in files that were never mirror output. All 213 were deleted in commit `718c79a` on `docs/simplification-audit` (245 files changed, 298 insertions, 22,602 deletions across the whole change), so the row is now zero. The enforcement row is stale on **both** halves — it was correct at the 2026-09-10 baseline (`9eb8bc7`: 33 `- id:` entries, 14 repo-authored pre-push hooks), but `.pre-commit-config.yaml` today has ~~**27 entries and 9 `stages: [pre-push]`**~~ → ~~**26 entries and 8 `stages: [pre-push]`**~~ → ~~**27 entries and 9 `stages: [pre-push]`**~~ → **26 entries and 8 `stages: [pre-push]`** (~~`467bbd7`~~ → `620f20b` removed `check-vale-style-sync` with finding 14's merge; `8451169` then added `check-skill-version-bump`; `4de5b6b` then removed `check-release-needed`; re-measured 2026-09-16 at `4b17703` with `grep -c -- "- id:"` and `grep -c "stages: \[pre-push\]"` on `.pre-commit-config.yaml`). Like for like that is 14 → ~~9~~ → ~~8~~ → ~~9~~ → 8 repo-authored pre-push hooks. The stage *reports* ~~11~~ → ~~10~~ → ~~11~~ → 10, because the 2 pre-commit `meta` hooks also run there — a different counting basis; see the corrected §3 target, which states it the same way.
@@ -165,7 +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.
+> > **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**~~ → **10,588** lines. (**Corrected 2026-09-20:** the suite count was right and the line total was not — 10,897 is the value at `384756b`, the commit that added the hook-wiring tests, and at `1ec3e8a`; at `1614bce` the nineteen suites total 10,588.)
 
 ## 4. Plugins
 
@@ -179,19 +179,19 @@ The shared pattern: per-skill `README.md` files no model reads, a `docs/research
 10. [x] ~~**Delete per-skill `README.md` and `references/README.md` (48 files, 1,574 lines).** They restate the SKILL.md in narrative form. The pre-commit config itself notes a skill README "is consumer-facing prose that no agent ever loads". Keep one plugin-level README with one line per skill. Requires dropping the README criterion in `skill-audit/references/file-structure.md` and the README step in `new-skill.sh`. Effort S.~~
    > **Done (2026-09-12):** see commit `edcc57c` on `docs/simplification-audit`. Deleted the 48 per-skill/reference READMEs plus 2 scaffold templates; dropped the README criterion from `skill-audit`'s `file-structure.md` and `finding-criteria.md` and the README-generation step from `new-skill.sh`; updated `new-skill.bats` to match. Plugin-root READMEs were kept, not part of this finding.
 
-11. [x] **Drop the provenance chain: `sources.md`, `source_keys` frontmatter, `validate-provenance.sh`.** 32 plugin and skill `sources.md` files (about 1,300 lines) plus 9 research indexes, 216 source files with `source_keys`, ~~two copies of the validator (1,198 and 632 lines)~~ → **one validator, 2,171 lines across four files**, with ten checks, and ~~125 bats tests~~ → **138 bats tests** exist to track which upstream informed which file. Git blame and a URL in the README do the same job. This is more code than the content it tracks. Effort M (touches ~~skill-audit, both validator copies~~ → **`factory-audit`, its one provenance validator**, two repo tests, and every skill's frontmatter).
-    > **Re-measured (2026-09-16, at HEAD):** ADR-0025 merged the two copies, so the "two copies" arithmetic throughout this finding and its note below no longer resolves. The provenance validator is now `factory-audit/scripts/` `validate-provenance.sh` (320) + `lib-provenance-skill.sh` (1,145) + `lib-provenance-agent.sh` (572) + `lib-contributing-files.sh` (134) = **2,171** lines (`wc -l` on the four), against **3,209** bats lines (`validate-provenance-skill.bats` 2,062 + `validate-provenance-agent.bats` 1,147) carrying **138** cases (`grep -c '^@test'`). Note this is *more* than the 1,198 + 632 = 1,830 the finding counted, not less: the merge deduplicated the resolver and the Contributing-files parser, not the per-mode provenance checks, and the shared entry script added the exit-tier and library guards described in `docs/spec/gates.md`. The `sources.md` census also moved: **45 files / 1,756 lines** — 27 skill `references/sources.md` (1,207), 13 research indexes (435), 4 plugin-root (100), 1 scaffold template (14). The note below's 46 / 1,752 swept in `docs/adr/0013-vale-harness-scope-and-rule-sources.md`, which matches `sources\.md$` and is not one. Imbalance at HEAD: **5,380 validator+bats lines against 1,756 of metadata, 3.1:1** — worse than the 2.6:1 below, on the same direction of argument.
+11. [x] **Drop the provenance chain: `sources.md`, `source_keys` frontmatter, `validate-provenance.sh`.** 32 plugin and skill `sources.md` files (about 1,300 lines) plus 9 research indexes, 216 source files with `source_keys`, ~~two copies of the validator (1,198 and 632 lines)~~ → **one validator, ~~2,171~~ → 2,186 lines across four files**, with ten checks, and ~~125 bats tests~~ → **138 bats tests** exist to track which upstream informed which file. Git blame and a URL in the README do the same job. This is more code than the content it tracks. Effort M (touches ~~skill-audit, both validator copies~~ → **`factory-audit`, its one provenance validator**, two repo tests, and every skill's frontmatter).
+    > **Re-measured (2026-09-16, at HEAD):** ADR-0025 merged the two copies, so the "two copies" arithmetic throughout this finding and its note below no longer resolves. The provenance validator is now `factory-audit/scripts/` `validate-provenance.sh` (~~320~~ → **324**) + `lib-provenance-skill.sh` (~~1,145~~ → **1,152**) + `lib-provenance-agent.sh` (~~572~~ → **576**) + `lib-contributing-files.sh` (134) = ~~**2,171**~~ → **2,186** lines (`wc -l` on the four; **corrected 2026-09-20** — the four struck figures never reproduced at any commit, and `wc -l` gives 324 / 1,152 / 576 / 134 at `620f20b`, the commit that created the files, and at every commit since, `1ec3e8a` included), against **3,209** bats lines (`validate-provenance-skill.bats` 2,062 + `validate-provenance-agent.bats` 1,147) carrying **138** cases (`grep -c '^@test'`). Note this is *more* than the 1,198 + 632 = 1,830 the finding counted, not less: the merge deduplicated the resolver and the Contributing-files parser, not the per-mode provenance checks, and the shared entry script added the exit-tier and library guards described in `docs/spec/gates.md`. The `sources.md` census also moved: **45 files / 1,756 lines** — 27 skill `references/sources.md` (1,207), 13 research indexes (435), 4 plugin-root (100), 1 scaffold template (14). The note below's 46 / 1,752 swept in `docs/adr/0013-vale-harness-scope-and-rule-sources.md`, which matches `sources\.md$` and is not one. Imbalance at HEAD: ~~**5,380**~~ → **5,395 validator+bats lines against 1,756 of metadata, 3.1:1** (2,186 + 3,209; the ratio is unchanged at 3.07) — worse than the 2.6:1 below, on the same direction of argument.
     > **Verified (2026-09-14, at HEAD `062ca47`):** direction defensible, two scope figures wrong, and **blocked on a decision the finding never poses**. The `sources.md` census below is exact, and so are the finding's own validator and bats figures (1,198 / 632 lines, 125 bats tests); the scope errors are narrower than an earlier revision of this note claimed.
     >
     > Corrected figures: **46 `sources.md` files / 1,752 lines** in three distinct classes — 29 skill `references/sources.md` (1,217 lines), 13 research indexes (435), 4 plugin-root files (100, ADR-0010). The finding does **not** double-count: it states two disjoint classes additively ("32 plugin and skill `sources.md` files (about 1,300 lines) **plus** 9 research indexes"), and that plugin-and-skill subtotal is really **33 files / 1,317 lines**, matching its "about 1,300" exactly — had the 32 swept in the research indexes the figure would have been ~1,750. Its real errors there are an off-by-one (32 should be 33) and an omission: it missed the 4 vendored example indexes under `kyberforge/docs/research/examples/skill-write/`, so 9 should be 13. Carriers of `source_keys` in YAML frontmatter: **196** — 168 at column 0 and 28 nested two spaces under `metadata:` — so the finding's 216 is closer to the truth than it looks. (219 files merely *mention* the string. A naive `^[[:space:]]*source_keys:` grep returns 200, but 4 of those are heredoc or fixture text rather than frontmatter: both `validate-provenance.bats` copies, `scripts/check-scope-walkup-sync.sh`, and a fenced example in `plugins/bin/.apm/skills/research/references/file-format.md`.) Checks: **16 across the two copies** (skill-audit 0–9, agent-audit 0–5), not ten. Validator line counts (1,198 / 632) and 125 bats tests are exact.
     >
-    > **"Touches every skill's frontmatter" is roughly right.** ~~**28 of the 39 real skills carry `source_keys` in frontmatter**~~ → **27 of the 38** (re-measured 2026-09-16 at HEAD; the audit-pair merge took one carrier skill with it), nested under `metadata:` — see `plugins/git/.apm/skills/git-commits/SKILL.md:10-17`, where `metadata:` → `source_keys:` carries four slugs. (~~44~~ → **43** tracked files match `*SKILL.md`; subtract `skill-author/assets/templates/SKILL.md` and the 4 vendored under `kyberforge/docs/research/examples/skill-write/`, leaving ~~39~~ → **38** real skills.) The 11 without it are exactly the `plugins/bin/` skills. Check 2 in the skill-side validator (SKILL.md `source_keys` → slug in `sources.md`) is correspondingly **live**, not dead code: `parse_source_keys()` at `plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/scripts/lib-provenance-skill.sh:277-305` handles both spellings explicitly — the metadata-nested branch at `:292`, the top-level branch at `:295`, and a docstring that says "handles metadata.source_keys and top-level" — check 2 at `:712` runs against all ~~28~~ → **27** carrier skills, every one of which has a `references/sources.md`, and bats pins it at `plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/tests/validate-provenance-skill.bats:222` ("FAIL: source_keys slug in SKILL.md not present as H2 in sources.md") and ~~`:1337`~~ → `:1338` (a BOM must not silently disable check 2). (Paths and line numbers re-derived at HEAD: ADR-0025's merge moved this code out of `skill-audit/scripts/validate-provenance.sh` into the shared skill-side library, so the figures this note carried at `062ca47` — `:242-270`, `:257`, `:260`, `:766`, `:1313` — no longer resolve.) The imbalance the finding names is real and **worse** than claimed: ~~4,641 validator+bats lines against 1,752 of metadata, a 2.6:1 ratio~~ → **5,380 against 1,756, a 3.1:1 ratio** (re-measured 2026-09-16 at HEAD; see the note under the headline).
+    > **"Touches every skill's frontmatter" is roughly right.** ~~**28 of the 39 real skills carry `source_keys` in frontmatter**~~ → **27 of the 38** (re-measured 2026-09-16 at HEAD; the audit-pair merge took one carrier skill with it), nested under `metadata:` — see `plugins/git/.apm/skills/git-commits/SKILL.md:10-17`, where `metadata:` → `source_keys:` carries four slugs. (~~44~~ → **43** tracked files match `*SKILL.md`; subtract `skill-author/assets/templates/SKILL.md` and the 4 vendored under `kyberforge/docs/research/examples/skill-write/`, leaving ~~39~~ → **38** real skills.) The 11 without it are exactly the `plugins/bin/` skills. Check 2 in the skill-side validator (SKILL.md `source_keys` → slug in `sources.md`) is correspondingly **live**, not dead code: `parse_source_keys()` at `plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/scripts/lib-provenance-skill.sh:`~~`277-305`~~ → `:284-312` handles both spellings explicitly — the metadata-nested branch at ~~`:292`~~ → `:299`, the top-level branch at ~~`:295`~~ → `:302`, and a docstring that says "handles metadata.source_keys and top-level" — check 2 at ~~`:712`~~ → `:719` runs against all ~~28~~ → **27** carrier skills, every one of which has a `references/sources.md`, and bats pins it at `plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/tests/validate-provenance-skill.bats:222` ("FAIL: source_keys slug in SKILL.md not present as H2 in sources.md") and ~~`:1337`~~ → `:1338` (a BOM must not silently disable check 2). (Paths and line numbers re-derived at HEAD: ADR-0025's merge moved this code out of `skill-audit/scripts/validate-provenance.sh` into the shared skill-side library, so the figures this note carried at `062ca47` — `:242-270`, `:257`, `:260`, `:766`, `:1313` — no longer resolve.) **Corrected (2026-09-20):** the four "re-derived at HEAD" citations into `lib-provenance-skill.sh` were themselves uniformly 7 lines low and never resolved at any commit; they are repointed above. The two `validate-provenance-skill.bats` citations (`:222`, `:1338`) do resolve and are left alone. The imbalance the finding names is real and **worse** than claimed: ~~4,641 validator+bats lines against 1,752 of metadata, a 2.6:1 ratio~~ → ~~**5,380**~~ → **5,395 against 1,756, a 3.1:1 ratio** (re-measured 2026-09-16 at HEAD; see the note under the headline).
     >
     > **Omitted entirely: the chain has a producer.** `plugins/bin/.apm/skills/research/` *specifies* the `sources.md` + `source_keys:` output format, and `plugins/bin/evals/research/research/eval.yaml` carries three criteria asserting it. **This is the blocking decision: does `research` keep emitting `sources.md`?** If yes, the chain is not dropped — only unenforced, and the finding collapses to "delete the validators." If no, the research skill's output contract and its evals need redesigning.
     >
     > Also breaks: `check-scope-walkup-sync` loses one of four walk-up ports (the hook exists because three scripts drifted); `tests/test-adr0020-contract.sh` loses its parser byte-identity assertion; `tests/test-check-scope-walkup-sync.sh` must re-base its fixture; ADR-0010 is superseded outright and ADR-0009/0016 need amending (`field-inventory.md`'s allowlist data line carries `source_keys`). `LESSONS.md:73` records this validator as the **only** thing that catches a skill authored outside `skill-author` — a failure that "recurred twice in one session" — so "git blame + a README URL do the same job" is false for the one thing the chain demonstrably catches. Side effect: 55 reference files have frontmatter containing *only* `source_keys:`, leaving empty `---\n---` blocks to delete.
     >
-    > **Effort L, not M** (about ~~6,393~~ → **7,136** lines deleted across 242 files: the ~~4,641~~ → **5,380** validator and bats lines plus the ~~1,752~~ → **1,756** of `sources.md` measured above, across 196 `source_keys` carriers and ~~46~~ → **45** `sources.md` files. An earlier revision of this note said ~4,600 lines across ~230 files, which was internally inconsistent — 4,600 is validator-plus-bats only and silently drops the `sources.md` this same note measures, and ~230 inherited a carrier count of 172 that missed every `metadata:`-nested file.) Smaller alternative worth considering: scope the drop to the skill half only (~~1,217 lines, 1,198-line validator, 82 tests~~ → **1,207 lines of skill `sources.md`, the 1,145-line `lib-provenance-skill.sh`, 87 tests**, re-measured 2026-09-16 at HEAD) and leave the ADR-0010 plugin-root half alone — no ADR supersession needed.
+    > **Effort L, not M** (about ~~6,393~~ → ~~**7,136**~~ → **7,151** lines deleted across ~~242~~ → **241** files: the ~~4,641~~ → ~~**5,380**~~ → **5,395** validator and bats lines plus the ~~1,752~~ → **1,756** of `sources.md` measured above, across 196 `source_keys` carriers and ~~46~~ → **45** `sources.md` files — 196 + 45 = 241, and the struck 242 was consistent only with the struck 46. An earlier revision of this note said ~4,600 lines across ~230 files, which was internally inconsistent — 4,600 is validator-plus-bats only and silently drops the `sources.md` this same note measures, and ~230 inherited a carrier count of 172 that missed every `metadata:`-nested file.) Smaller alternative worth considering: scope the drop to the skill half only (~~1,217 lines, 1,198-line validator, 82 tests~~ → **1,207 lines of skill `sources.md`, the ~~1,145~~ → 1,152-line `lib-provenance-skill.sh`, 87 tests**, re-measured 2026-09-16 at HEAD) and leave the ADR-0010 plugin-root half alone — no ADR supersession needed.
     >
     > **Decision (2026-09-16):** Not proceeding — the human declined this finding. The provenance chain (`sources.md`, `source_keys:`, `validate-provenance.sh`) stays, and `research` keeps producing it. This also answers §8's provenance question.
 
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ The shared pattern: per-skill `README.md` files no model reads, a `docs/research
     >
     > **Re-measured (2026-09-16, at HEAD) — the basis of every figure below changed when ADR-0025 landed; the refutation is unaffected.** There are no longer three validators or two `vale-wrap.sh` copies. The headline's "ported twice" is void, and its `1,677` and `526` no longer name anything. At HEAD: `scripts/skill-size-check.sh` is **1,522** (the note below's 1,517 was correct at `a6434e0`); `factory-audit`'s validator is **2,663** lines across four files (`validate.sh` 255 + `lib-checks-skill.sh` 621 + `lib-checks-agent.sh` 683 + `lib-boundary-resolver.sh` 1,104); `vale-wrap.sh` is **535**, one copy. Validator total **4,185**, of which the resolver is **2,165** (the 1,061-line block still embedded in `skill-size-check.sh`, plus `lib-boundary-resolver.sh`'s 1,104 — the same 1,061 block wrapped in 43 lines of library preamble, which is why the byte-identity test compares the block and not the files). So the resolver is now **52%** of validator lines, not 65%, and **2,020** lines remain once it is excised, not 1,749. Tests: the six repo suites over `skill-size-check.sh` are **3,907** (was 3,619) and the two in-skill validator bats files **2,248** (`validate-skill.bats` 1,029 + `validate-agent.bats` 1,219), for **6,155**, not 5,506. The 200-line target is off by the same order of magnitude it was. (All figures `wc -l`; the resolver block by `awk '/BEGIN ADR-0020 SHARED BOUNDARY RESOLVER/,/END .../'`.)
     >
-    > > **Superseded by `ef27c97` (re-measured 2026-09-19, at HEAD).** The paragraph above is a dated snapshot and its two load-bearing claims no longer hold. `scripts/skill-size-check.sh` is **509** lines, not 1,522 — it shrank by 1,013 — and the resolver is **no longer embedded in it**: `ef27c97` excised the 1,061-line block and the hook now sources `factory-audit`'s `lib-boundary-resolver.sh` by path (`RESOLVER_LIB` at `:483`, `. "$RESOLVER_LIB"` at `:492`), failing closed if the library is missing or defines no resolver. The single remaining `BEGIN ADR-0020 SHARED BOUNDARY RESOLVER` string in the hook is that fail-closed guard, not a copy. `factory-audit`'s four validator files now total **2,671** (`validate.sh` 255 + `lib-checks-skill.sh` 627 + `lib-checks-agent.sh` 685 + `lib-boundary-resolver.sh` 1,104) and `vale-wrap.sh` is **536**. So there is **one** resolver copy repo-wide, not two, and the "resolver is 52% of validator lines" arithmetic above is void along with its inputs. Only the refutation of finding 16 survives all of this unchanged.
+    > > **Superseded by `ef27c97` (re-measured 2026-09-19, at HEAD).** The paragraph above is a dated snapshot and its two load-bearing claims no longer hold. `scripts/skill-size-check.sh` is **509** lines, not ~~1,522~~ → **1,524** — it shrank by ~~1,013~~ → **1,015** — and the resolver is **no longer embedded in it**: `ef27c97` excised the 1,061-line block and the hook now sources `factory-audit`'s `lib-boundary-resolver.sh` by path (`RESOLVER_LIB` at `:483`, `. "$RESOLVER_LIB"` at `:492`), failing closed if the library is missing or defines no resolver. The single remaining `BEGIN ADR-0020 SHARED BOUNDARY RESOLVER` string in the hook is that fail-closed guard, not a copy. `factory-audit`'s four validator files now total **2,671** (`validate.sh` 255 + `lib-checks-skill.sh` 627 + `lib-checks-agent.sh` 685 + `lib-boundary-resolver.sh` 1,104) and `vale-wrap.sh` is **536**. So there is **one** resolver copy repo-wide, not two, and the "resolver is 52% of validator lines" arithmetic above is void along with its inputs. Only the refutation of finding 16 survives all of this unchanged. (**Corrected 2026-09-20:** this note originally read "not 1,522 — it shrank by 1,013", which contradicted the "−1,015" the closing note below states for the same commit. 1,522 was a stale pre-`ef27c97` reading: `git show ef27c97^:scripts/skill-size-check.sh | wc -l` is **1,524** and `ef27c97` is **509**, so the delta is **−1,015** in both places.)
     >
     > The three validators are **not three implementations**. They contain **one block, 1,061 lines, byte-identical in all three**, delimited by `# ===== BEGIN/END ADR-0020 SHARED BOUNDARY RESOLVER =====` and hashed by `tests/test-adr0020-contract.sh`. So 3,183 of 4,932 validator lines (65%) are that block × 3, and **what is left once the resolver is excised is 1,749 lines across all three** — 1,580 non-blank, 992 with comments and blanks both stripped. The duplication is forced by the self-containment constraint, which is why *merging* is the lever and *shrinking* is not.
     >
@@ -421,9 +421,9 @@ Not covered by the area audits above; found on a final sweep of the root config
     > Corrected headline: ~~**two** hand-maintained per-plugin locations (**three** for kyberforge)~~ → **one** hand-maintained per-plugin version location, `plugins/<name>/apm.yml` (**two** for kyberforge, adding the `executables.allow` key), not four. `2def060` deleted the root `packages[].version` lines (corrected 2026-09-16, review round). The root `packages[].description:` duplicates dropped in the same round are a separate duplication, not a version location, so they do not change this count — the audit's own "already done" note records the `plugin.json` deletion but never fixed the headline. Gitea skills drift across **six** values (`0.1.2, 0.1.3, 0.1.4, 0.1.5, 0.1.6, 1.0.1`), not five — ~~still six at HEAD on 2026-09-16~~ → **five** again at HEAD (`b426460`) on 2026-09-16 (`0.1.2, 0.1.4, 0.1.5, 0.1.6, 1.0.1`), because `8451169` bumped `gitea-branches` 0.1.3 → 0.1.4 under the new version-bump gate and it was the only skill at 0.1.3; re-derived by parsing `metadata.version` out of each `plugins/gitea/.apm/skills/*/SKILL.md` with PyYAML. ~~39 `SKILL.md` files ✓~~ → **38** carry it, and all 38 do (re-measured 2026-09-16; ADR-0025's merge took one). The `0.4.6` duplication between root `version:` and `marketplace.version:` is **forced by apm, not a repo choice** — deleting `marketplace.version` makes `--check-clean` go dirty.
     >
     > **"Nothing consumes `metadata.version`" is false twice over.** Machine enforcers: ~~`scripts/skill-size-check.sh:1365-1374`~~ → ~~`scripts/skill-size-check.sh:1370-1379`~~ → `scripts/skill-size-check.sh:323-335` and ~~`skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh:1292-1332`~~ → `plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/scripts/lib-checks-skill.sh:235-283`, both FAIL tier, the latter citing ADR-0022 by name, with four dedicated bats cases and ~10 fixture generators baking the field in.
-    > Instruction-level consumers: `skill-author/SKILL.md:60` (bump minor on create, patch on improve), `create.md:89,101`, `improve.md:82`, and `forge/SKILL.md:54` + `references/version-bump.md`. apm parses it for Chatmode/Instruction/Context primitives but not for Skills, and never emits it. Precise statement: the value is written, shape-validated, and never read *downstream* — it is an agent-visible revision counter, and the drift table shows the counter is not being maintained.
+    > Instruction-level consumers: `skill-author/SKILL.md:60` (bump minor on create, patch on improve), `create.md:89,101`, ~~`improve.md:82`~~ → `improve.md:105`, and `forge/SKILL.md:54` + `references/version-bump.md`. apm parses it for Chatmode/Instruction/Context primitives but not for Skills, and never emits it. Precise statement: the value is written, shape-validated, and never read *downstream* — it is an agent-visible revision counter, and the drift table shows the counter is not being maintained.
     >
-    > > **Repointed (2026-09-16, at HEAD; re-verified and corrected 2026-09-19):** `skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh` no longer exists — ADR-0025's merge moved the ADR-0022 check into `factory-audit`'s skill-side check library, where it is the `SEMVER_RE` block: comment header at `:235`, `SEMVER_RE` itself at `:254`, `fail()` calls at ~~`:261` and `:275`~~ → `:265` and `:280`, the block running `:235-283` (the next section header, `# SKILL.md size ceilings`, is at `:285`). That library is **627** lines, not 621. In `skill-size-check.sh` the check is at `:323-335`; the earlier note said the file "grew by 5 lines above the block", which is the wrong direction by two orders of magnitude — `ef27c97` excised the embedded resolver and the file **shrank** from 1,522 to **509** lines, which is why the range moved from the 1,300s to the 320s. All five instruction-level citations still resolve at HEAD, verified with `sed -n`.
+    > > **Repointed (2026-09-16, at HEAD; re-verified and corrected 2026-09-19):** `skill-audit/scripts/validate.sh` no longer exists — ADR-0025's merge moved the ADR-0022 check into `factory-audit`'s skill-side check library, where it is the `SEMVER_RE` block: comment header at `:235`, `SEMVER_RE` itself at `:254`, `fail()` calls at ~~`:261` and `:275`~~ → `:265` and `:280`, the block running `:235-283` (the next section header, `# SKILL.md size ceilings`, is at `:285`). That library is **627** lines, not 621. In `skill-size-check.sh` the check is at `:323-335`; the earlier note said the file "grew by 5 lines above the block", which is the wrong direction by two orders of magnitude — `ef27c97` excised the embedded resolver and the file **shrank** from 1,522 to **509** lines, which is why the range moved from the 1,300s to the 320s. ~~All five instruction-level citations still resolve at HEAD, verified with `sed -n`.~~ → **Corrected (2026-09-20): four of the five resolve, not five.** `improve.md:82` stopped carrying the `metadata.version` content at `baa2f5d`, three days before the 2026-09-19 verification claim was written, so that claim was false when made; the content is at ~~`improve.md:82`~~ → `improve.md:105` ("A skill carrying no `metadata.version` is seeded at `"1.0.0"`, not bumped"). The other four — `skill-author/SKILL.md:60`, `create.md:89`, `create.md:101`, `forge/SKILL.md:54` — do resolve at `1ec3e8a`.
     >
     > **ADR-0022 already considered and rejected dropping the field**, on the grounds that `skill-author` depends on it to decide whether a pass owes a bump — a rationale still live today. Superseding costs: rewrite skill-author's bump rule, delete `forge`'s version-bump route premise, strip two scripts, delete four bats cases, fix ~10 fixture generators, edit the scaffold template, update ~~`gates.md:97`~~ → ~~`gates.md:145`~~ → `gates.md:146` — and re-open the "is this field present here?" question issue #127 closed, just from the other side. *(Repointed 2026-09-16, at HEAD `b426460`: the `metadata.version` frontmatter sentence formerly at `gates.md:97` was at `:143-146`, the field itself on `:145`, and is at `:143-147` / `:146` at `4b17703`; verified with `grep -n "metadata.version" docs/spec/gates.md`.)* **Recommendation: keep it and fix the actual defect, which is that nobody bumps it.** Either enforce the bump in the skill-author workflow or declare the values advisory in the ADR.
     >

docs/spec/architecture.md

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ Skills are **not** deployed by `install.sh`. They are distributed as plugins and
 
 Skills, agents, MCP servers, and hooks are distributed as self-contained plugin units under `plugins/`, installed independently via `apm install`, here and in any consuming repo (ADR-0018). Each unit is an **apm package**: `plugins/<name>/apm.yml` plus a hand-authored `plugins/<name>/.apm/{skills,agents,hooks,commands,instructions,extensions}/` tree (ADR-0015). There is no per-plugin `plugin.json` at all — apm reads `apm.yml`, and the repo's one generated manifest, `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`, is compiled from that source.
 
-Self-contained is a hard constraint, not a description: a file reference inside `.apm/skills/<name>/` may not reach outside that skill's own directory, and there is no cross-skill sharing mechanism to reach for instead. That is why the Vale styles ship inside the one skill that uses them, `factory-audit/assets/vale/` (ADR-0014, ADR-0025), and why ADR-0020's constants are copied into two validators — the plugin's `validate.sh` and the repo's `scripts/skill-size-check.sh` — rather than sourced from one. The constraint used to be explained by Claude Code's plugin cache-install copying a plugin to a cache; that is no longer the reason and never was the only one. It is stated independently for APM package mode by the agentskills.io spec (`plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/skill-author/references/deployment-modes.md`), which is why ADR-0024 consequence 6 pins it as a negative result: ending native install did not relax it, and it is not to be re-litigated on the assumption that it did.
+Self-contained is a hard constraint, not a description: a file reference inside `.apm/skills/<name>/` may not reach outside that skill's own directory, and there is no cross-skill sharing mechanism to reach for instead. That is why the Vale styles ship inside the one skill that uses them, `factory-audit/assets/vale/` (ADR-0014, ADR-0025), and why ADR-0020's constants are copied rather than sourced from one place: `scripts/skill-size-check.sh` carries them, and so do `factory-audit`'s mode libraries — `scripts/lib-checks-skill.sh:313-316` all four, `scripts/lib-checks-agent.sh:164-165` the two description ones. The plugin's `validate.sh` carries none of them; it sources the library its mode selects. The constraint used to be explained by Claude Code's plugin cache-install copying a plugin to a cache; that is no longer the reason and never was the only one. It is stated independently for APM package mode by the agentskills.io spec (`plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/skill-author/references/deployment-modes.md`), which is why ADR-0024 consequence 6 pins it as a negative result: ending native install did not relax it, and it is not to be re-litigated on the assumption that it did.
 
 Which apm package a new skill belongs in follows from what each one is scoped to. The boundary that matters most in practice is `core` vs `kyberforge`: `core` is the home for cross-cutting, repo-agnostic utility skills that a consumer would want against *their* repo, while `kyberforge` is meta-tooling for the holocron marketplace itself. A skill that authors a target repo's `AGENTS.md` is `core`; a skill that audits a `SKILL.md` against this marketplace's contract is `kyberforge`.
 

docs/spec/gates.md

@@ -98,19 +98,32 @@ ADR-0022 makes `metadata.version` mandatory and says a skill change carries a bu
 
 - **It runs on every push and under a manual `pre-commit run --hook-stage pre-push`.** It does not
   read `PRE_COMMIT_REMOTE_BRANCH`, so the manual rehearsal really checks it. The pushed commit is `PRE_COMMIT_TO_REF`, or `HEAD` when that is unset.
-- **"Changed" is measured from the merge-base of the pushed commit with `origin/main`** (local
-  `main` if `origin/main` does not resolve). Readers install from `main`, so "changed" means
-  changed against the `main` the branch started from. The remote branch tip is not the baseline:
-  a second push would excuse an unbumped change the first push already carried.
-- **A changed skill's version must beat two baselines**: its version at that merge-base *and* its
+- **"Changed" is measured from the merge-bases of the pushed commit with `origin/main`** (local
+  `main` if `origin/main` does not resolve), resolved with **`git merge-base --all`** — all of
+  them, not the single one git would otherwise pick. Readers install from `main`, so "changed"
+  means changed against the `main` the branch started from. The remote branch tip is not the
+  baseline: a second push would excuse an unbumped change the first push already carried.
+- **With more than one base, the changed-skill sets are intersected.** A criss-cross history —
+  `main` merges a branch while that branch merges a `main` commit — has two merge-bases, and which
+  one a bare `git merge-base` prints is an implementation detail, so picking one made the verdict a
+  coin flip: a skill already identical to `main` was reported `(not above merge-base)` whenever the
+  losing base was chosen. A skill therefore counts as changed only when it differs from **every**
+  base; differing from none of them, or from only some, means a base already carries the pushed
+  content. A skill that does count as changed must then beat the version at every base it exists
+  at. Both directions are conservative: the intersection cannot exempt a skill that changed since
+  all of `main`'s reachable history, and requiring every base keeps the ratchet.
+- **A changed skill's version must beat two baselines**: its version at each merge-base *and* its
   version at the tip of the same `main` ref (ADR-0022's second 2026-09-16 amendment). The tip
   check stops two branches that make the same bump (`1.0.0` → `1.0.1`) with different content from
   both landing, since the identical version lines merge without a conflict. A skill absent at the
-  tip is held to the merge-base alone, and so is one whose directory at the pushed commit is the
-  *same tree object* as at the tip: it ships exactly what main ships, whatever route the history
-  took there — a criss-cross merge, a cherry-pick, a backport — so there is nothing for a bump to
-  announce. When `main` has not moved, the two baselines are the same commit. Each
-  failure line names the baseline it missed: `(not above merge-base)` or
+  tip is held to the merge-bases alone, and so is one whose directory at the pushed commit is the
+  **same tree object** as at the tip — compared as object ids, because a tree id *is* the content
+  whatever route the history took to it. That skill ships exactly what `main` ships, so there is
+  nothing for a bump to announce. The intersection does not already cover it: it exempts only when
+  some base carries the content, which a criss-cross history gives and a cherry-pick of a fix
+  `main` already has does not. When `main` has not moved, the tip is itself a base and the skill is
+  checked once. Each failure line names the baseline it missed: `(not above merge-base)`,
+  `(not above merge-base <sha>)` when there is more than one base to tell apart, or
   `(not above origin/main tip)`. The tip is `origin/main` as last fetched.
 - **It fails closed when it has no trustworthy baseline:** neither `origin/main` nor `main`
   resolves; there is no merge-base (shallow clone, unrelated history); or only local `main`
@@ -428,7 +441,8 @@ if the library is missing or defines no resolver.
 
 `tests/test-adr0020-contract.sh` pins that arrangement: the library carries the only marker pair,
 the hook carries none, the hook fails closed without the library, and a sentinel planted in a copied
-library proves the hook executes the library's text. One of its assertions was green on a
+library proves the hook executes the library's text, and a later block pins every repo-authored
+pre-commit hook's `entry` and `stages`. One of its assertions was green on a
 defect it named. "`validate.sh` sources the resolver in **both mode branches**" was implemented as a
 file-wide `grep -Ec … -ge 2`, which cannot see a branch at all: delete the `agent)` arm's source line
 and duplicate the `skill)` arm's, and the file-wide count is still 2 and the assertion still passes,
@@ -436,11 +450,14 @@ with the agent path running no resolver or some other one. It is now a **per-arm
 each arm of `validate.sh`'s `case "$MODE" in` block must carry exactly one `source` line inside its
 own body, and the file must carry exactly those two — with a mutation self-test that performs that
 exact count-preserving edit on a copy and requires the check to fail on it. The suite's case count
-runs **28 → 27 → 29**, and is **29** at HEAD: 28 at `620f20b` (the ADR-0025 merge), 27 after
-`4de5b6b` retired the `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` export, and 29 after `ef27c97` replaced the two-copy
-hash and its line-count floor with the six one-copy assertions above. There are two 2026-09-16
+runs **28 → 27 → 29 → 44**, and is **44** at HEAD: 28 at `620f20b` (the ADR-0025 merge), 27 after
+`4de5b6b` retired the `.pre-commit-hooks.yaml` export, 29 after `ef27c97` replaced the two-copy
+hash and its line-count floor with the six one-copy assertions above, and 44 after `384756b` added
+the hook-wiring block. An earlier revision of this section stopped the chain at 29 and called that
+the figure at HEAD; it was written before `384756b`. There are two 2026-09-16
 changes here, not one, which is what an earlier revision of this section conflated. Each figure is
-`bash tests/test-adr0020-contract.sh` run in a worktree at that commit, reading its `Results:` line.
+`bash tests/test-adr0020-contract.sh` run at that commit — in a worktree for the historical ones —
+reading its `Results:` line.
 An earlier revision also opened the chain at 25; that predates the branch squash, no reachable
 commit reproduces it, and it is dropped as unverifiable rather than carried.
 
@@ -482,8 +499,10 @@ against synthetic `mktemp` fixtures — it had never run against the agent files
 how ADR-0016 could be amended to bless a `disallowedTools` frontmatter field while `validate.sh`'s
 allowlist still rejected it: spec and enforcer disagreed and every gate stayed green.
 
-Agents take the ADR-0020 **description** gates (`factory-audit`'s `validate.sh` holds its own copy of
-those two constants) and, deliberately, **no body word gate**. A skill body is loaded into the
+Agents take the ADR-0020 **description** gates and, deliberately, **no body word gate**. The two
+description constants `factory-audit` applies to an agent live in `scripts/lib-checks-agent.sh:164-165`;
+an earlier revision of this line put them in its `validate.sh`, which carries none of them (see
+[Duplicated constants](#duplicated-constants)). A skill body is loaded into the
 caller's context and competes with the live conversation; an agent body becomes the system prompt of
 a *fresh* context. The rationale for the 900-word FAIL does not transfer. A bats test pins that
 absence for the agent path of `factory-audit`'s validator — adding a body gate there contradicts the
@@ -910,11 +929,12 @@ An explicit `--config` from any other caller still wins, in all three argv forms
 `--config=/abs`, `--config=rel`), and a relative one resolves against the caller's cwd — matching
 bare `vale`, not the repo root.
 
-Both audit skills' Step 1 passes no `--config` either. Step 1 resolves the script relative to the
+`factory-audit`'s Step 1 passes no `--config` either. Step 1 resolves the script relative to the
 skill's own directory so the call works from an installed plugin cache; a relative `--config`
 alongside it would resolve against the cwd instead, yielding `E100 Runtime error … does not exist`
-and exit 2 — which both skills' fallback misreads as "vale unavailable" and silently downgrades to
-full LLM judgment.
+and exit 2 — which the skill's fallback misreads as "vale unavailable" and silently downgrades to
+full LLM judgment. An earlier revision wrote this paragraph in the plural, for the `skill-audit` /
+`agent-audit` pair ADR-0025 merged; there is one Step 1 now.
 
 `tests/test-vale-wrap.sh` regression-tests this against `factory-audit`'s copy — the only one left.
 Its fixtures are all `SKILL.md`-shaped, and that copy's `.vale.ini` carries the matching glob section

plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/SKILL.md

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ description: >
   fixes -> agent-author.
 allowed-tools: Bash Read
 metadata:
-  version: "1.0.2"
+  version: "1.0.3"
   category: factory
   source_keys:
     - agentskills-home

plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/assets/vale/styles/Kyberforge/CompositionNote.yml

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 extends: existence
-message: "Composition or architecture note in a description: '%s' — a description carries a trigger, one capability clause and a boundary clause only; move this to README.md"
+message: "Composition or architecture note in a description: '%s' — a description carries a trigger, one capability clause and a boundary clause only; move this to the body or a references/ file"
 level: error
 scope: text.frontmatter.description
 ignorecase: true

plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/references/agent-description-quality.md

@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ A model-invoked description carries exactly three things:
 3. **Boundary clause.** Compressed form: `Not <thing> -> <skill-name>.` The target must resolve to
    a real skill directory or agent file in the authoring source.
 
-Everything else belongs in the body or in the plugin's `README.md`.
+Everything else belongs in the body or in a `references/` file. Not a `README.md`: `plugins/gitea/`
+and `plugins/lint/` both ship agents this file governs and neither has one.
 
 ## Indirect triggers — conditional, never blanket
 

plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/scripts/lib-boundary-resolver.sh

@@ -732,8 +732,41 @@ def boundary_targets(description):
     return sorted({name for name, _, _ in _extract(description)})
 
 
-def _arrow_targets(description):
-    """Names extracted from ARROW notation specifically.
+def _clause_end(description, pos):
+    """Where CLAUSE_BODY stops scanning forward from `pos`.
+
+    The same two stops the class itself encodes: a `;`, or a `.` that is not
+    followed by a non-space character (a sentence end rather than a dot inside
+    `AGENTS.md`).
+    """
+    for index in range(pos, len(description)):
+        char = description[index]
+        if char == ';':
+            return index
+        if char == '.' and not description[index + 1:index + 2].strip():
+            return index
+    return len(description)
+
+
+def _arrow_clause_spans(description):
+    """(start, end) for EACH ADR-0020 arrow clause, one span per clause.
+
+    A clause runs from its `Not` to whichever comes first: the start of the
+    NEXT arrow clause, or the end of the clause body. Bounding on the next
+    clause is what keeps two clauses joined by a comma inside one sentence
+    apart — a sentence-scoped span would merge them and let the second clause's
+    target vouch for the first.
+    """
+    starts = [match.start() for match in BOUNDARY_ARROW.finditer(description)]
+    spans = []
+    for index, start in enumerate(starts):
+        limit = starts[index + 1] if index + 1 < len(starts) else len(description)
+        spans.append((start, min(limit, _clause_end(description, start))))
+    return spans
+
+
+def _arrow_clause_parses(clause):
+    """True when either arrow extractor reads a target out of ONE clause.
 
     Kept apart from boundary_targets() because the arrow form is the one shape
     that ALWAYS names a target: ADR-0020's `Not <thing> -> <name>`. A clause
@@ -741,15 +774,11 @@ def _arrow_targets(description):
     that deserves its own message, and telling it apart needs the arrow targets
     alone rather than every target in the description.
     """
-    out = []
-    for sentence in SENTENCE_SPLIT.split(description):
-        for match in ARROW_MARKED.finditer(sentence):
-            name, _, _ = _first(match)
-            if name:
-                out.append(name)
-        for match in ARROW_BOUNDARY.finditer(sentence):
-            out.append(match.group(1))
-    return out
+    for match in ARROW_MARKED.finditer(clause):
+        name, _, _ = _first(match)
+        if name:
+            return True
+    return bool(ARROW_BOUNDARY.search(clause))
 
 
 def boundary_clause_status(description):
@@ -761,16 +790,28 @@ def boundary_clause_status(description):
     three of them reworded a correct clause to satisfy a regex instead.
 
     'unparsed' is the narrow, certain case: an ADR-0020 arrow clause was
-    detected and NO target came out of it. The arrow form always names one, so
+    detected and NO target came out of IT. The arrow form always names one, so
     zero targets means the name is written in a shape the extractor cannot see
     — a single-word bare target (`Not X -> forge`, which has to be written
     `` `forge` `` or `/forge`) is the live example, since single-word names are
     deliberately not matchable bare.
 
+    The test is PER CLAUSE, and that is the whole point of the span walk. Both
+    operands used to take the whole description, so ONE arrow clause that
+    parsed suppressed the diagnostic for every other clause beside it: a
+    backticked hyphenated target wrapped across a line break inside a `>`
+    folded scalar — `` `git-`` / ``commits` `` — went unchecked with no ERROR
+    and no SUGGESTION, while the same wrap written bare was reported correctly.
+    26 of this corpus's 38 skill descriptions carry more than one arrow clause,
+    so the suppression covered most of it. This is the issue #100 regression
+    class, and a whole-description test cannot see it by construction.
+
     A PROSE clause yielding no target is NOT reported: "Do not use for anything
     else" is a complete and legitimate boundary clause that names nowhere to go.
     """
-    if BOUNDARY_ARROW.search(description) and not _arrow_targets(description):
+    spans = _arrow_clause_spans(description)
+    if spans and not all(_arrow_clause_parses(description[start:end])
+                         for start, end in spans):
         return 'unparsed'
     if has_boundary_clause(description):
         return 'present'

plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/scripts/vale-wrap.sh

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # Divergence 2: a path-shaped argument that does not exist is a hard error
 # (exit 2). Bare vale drops it, falls back to reading stdin, and prints
 # `0 errors ... in stdin` with exit 0 — a typo'd target is then indistinguishable
-# from a clean run. Both audit skills treat a `0 files` report as NOT RUN rather
+# from a clean run. factory-audit treats a `0 files` report as NOT RUN rather
 # than clean, and `in stdin` does not match that guard, so the silent form would
 # read as "prefilter clean" and skip the LLM fallback. Erroring is the only way
 # to keep that guard honest. Linting prose piped on stdin is therefore

plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/factory-audit/tests/validate-skill.bats

@@ -945,6 +945,48 @@ make_hand_invoked_skill() {
     assert_output --partial "no target could be read"
 }
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# ADR-0020 — the unparsed diagnostic is PER CLAUSE, not per description
+#
+# boundary_clause_status() used to test `BOUNDARY_ARROW.search(description) and
+# not _arrow_targets(description)`. Both operands took the WHOLE description,
+# so ONE arrow clause that parsed suppressed the diagnostic for every other
+# clause beside it.
+#
+# The shape that hides there is a backticked hyphenated target wrapped across
+# the line break of a `>` folded scalar: the fold turns `` `fixture-sibling- ``
+# / `` skill` `` into `fixture-sibling- skill`, which no extractor can read.
+# Written BARE the same wrap is reported correctly, so the two spellings
+# disagreed. 26 of this repo's 38 skill descriptions carry more than one arrow
+# clause, which is how wide the suppression was. This is the #100 regression
+# class: no ERROR, no SUGGESTION, exit 0.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@test "ADR-0020: an unparsed arrow clause is reported even when a sibling clause parses" {
+    local skill
+    skill="$(make_fixture_tree "$TMPDIR/tree" "my-skill")"
+    # Written by hand rather than through make_sized_skill: the `>` folded
+    # scalar and the wrap INSIDE the backticks are the fixture. The second
+    # clause parses and resolves against the fixture sibling, and that is what
+    # used to silence the first.
+    cat > "$skill/SKILL.md" <<'EOF'
+---
+name: my-skill
+description: >
+  Use when doing the thing. Not the other thing -> `fixture-sibling-
+  skill`. Not a third thing -> `fixture-sibling-skill`.
+metadata:
+  version: "1.0.0"
+---
+
+word word word word word word word word word word
+EOF
+    run bash "$SCRIPT" "$skill"
+    assert_success
+    assert_output --partial "no target could be read"
+    refute_output --partial "has no boundary clause"
+}
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Encoding, write side: sys.stdout/stderr.reconfigure(encoding='utf-8')
 #

tests/test-adr0020-targets.sh

@@ -442,6 +442,24 @@ fi
 # terminal and therefore danglable. The issue #99 retrofit cut that composition
 # sentence and the dangling target went with it, so the set is down to one.
 #
+# Correction (2026-09-20): the historical text carried NO backticks. `7801589^`
+# has gitea-issues' description as "Composes gitea-labels-\n  milestones for all
+# label inference/resolution and milestone lookup", bare, so the token was read
+# by the route-verb path — `Composes` is a ROUTE_VERB and the name matched
+# NAME_HYPH — and not by the backtick sweep. Everything the paragraph above says
+# about the fold and the trailing hyphen holds; only the spelling is wrong.
+#
+# The spelling is the load-bearing part, because the two are not equally
+# visible. Backticked, that same wrap reaches every extractor as
+# `` `gitea-labels- milestones` ``, which none of them can read: the opening
+# backtick blocks the bare NAME_HYPH alternative and the space inside blocks the
+# backticked one. Bare, it was extracted and reported all along, which is the
+# only reason this dangling target was ever measured. In an ARROW clause the
+# backticked wrap was silent until the 2026-09-20 fix to
+# boundary_clause_status() in the shared resolver made the unparsed diagnostic
+# per clause: before it, one sibling clause that parsed suppressed the finding
+# for the whole description.
+#
 # `neuledge-context` was the last one. The issue #99 wave-3 retrofit deleted that
 # boundary clause outright — commit `6146120` had already deleted the skill it
 # named, and nothing has owned MCP-server installation since — so the corpus