@sabaiway/agent-workflow-kit 7.3.0 → 7.4.0

package/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,6 +4,47 @@ Semantically versioned ([semver](https://semver.org)), newest first. The `versio
 is the current release. `upgrade` mode reads a project's `docs/ai/.workflow-version` and applies
 every `migrations/<version>-<slug>.md` newer than it, in semver order.
 
+## 7.4.0 — the spec layer reaches existing deployments: known-prior refresh, seed-behind-checker, the `specs` ensure (AD-113)
+
+7.3.0 made a FRESH bootstrap deliver the feature-spec layer whole; this release gives every EXISTING
+deployment the same layer on an equal-head upgrade, with no lineage bump. The shaping fact: the kit's
+`index` ensure drives the BUNDLED navigator generator, which collapses `docs/ai/specs/` into one
+counted row, while the project's pre-commit hook runs ITS deployed `check-docs-size.mjs` — a store
+root seeded behind an older checker renders row by row and reds `--check-index` on the next commit.
+
+- **`tools/script-priors.mjs` — a deployed script is refreshed only when its bytes are a body a
+  release shipped.** An append-only catalog of sha256 digests of every `check-docs-size.mjs` body
+  since memory 4.0.0 (three checker bodies + the one test body); `classifyDeployedScript` answers
+  `current` · `prior` · `custom`. The fixtures are the shipped bytes verbatim
+  (`test/fixtures/script-priors/<firstShipped>/<file>.txt`, outside the test glob, the source-size
+  scope and `files[]`); the test holds catalog and fixtures equal BOTH ways and pins the rows as a
+  literal immutable prefix — a count alone would let a row and its fixture be replaced together,
+  turning a shipped body into `custom` on every deployment that carries it. No other deployed script
+  is refreshed; a custom body is preserved verbatim and said so.
+- **`tools/ensure-specs.mjs` — the sixth ensure op, and the store root seeds ONLY behind a checker
+  pair proven current after the run.** `specs` sits after `scripts` and before `index`. It surveys
+  the four script files and the store root into current | prior | custom | absent | wrong-kind
+  BEFORE writing and admits each write through ONE conjunction: an absent reader file seeds
+  create-only (nothing depends on it); the checker pair refreshes or seeds only when BOTH reader
+  files are current after the seed and NEITHER checker file is custom; the store root only when the
+  checker pair is then current. A custom file preserves itself AND withholds every dependent write,
+  and the line names the remedy (copy the pair from `references/scripts/` by hand, re-run). A seed
+  that loses the create-only race is re-PROVEN — the appeared file must classify `current`, else
+  `race-unresolved` and nothing further; every line composes from the FATE of its write (written ·
+  stood · would · withheld · stopped); the run token follows one precedence — `seeded` >
+  `refreshed` > `customized-preserved` > `already-present`. The no-Node skip stays; there is NO
+  legacy-ADR early return (the store has no ADR-layout dependency).
+- **Vocabulary + wiring.** The closed vocabulary gains the relayed pair `refreshed` /
+  `would-refresh` (doc-parity binds the `upgrade.md` step-3 line, the run-list registry mirrors the
+  op, the composed-lines guard witnesses the tokens); `ENSURE_IMPLEMENTATIONS` moved from
+  `ensure-ops.mjs` to `ensure-configs.mjs`, its only consumer, keeping the tools graph acyclic;
+  `--only specs` works and the CLI counts 6 slots.
+- **Proof.** The state table runs as a table-driven test over every cell with injected fs
+  (`--dry-run` emits only `would-*`); the integration E2E upgrades a 4.5.4-byte deployment with
+  `--reconcile` and the real installed hook — seeded/refreshed on the plain and legacy-ADR layouts,
+  and the custom-checker variant keeps the checker verbatim, seeds NO store root and prints
+  `customized-preserved`. Package-content pins 245 -> 247.
+
 ## 7.3.0 — the spec layer's delivery half: hidden from day one, mirrored, bootstrapped (AD-112)
 
 The memory substrate ships the feature-spec layer in 4.6.0 and the engine its canon in 3.3.0; this

package/SKILL.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name: agent-workflow-kit
 description: Deploy or upgrade a portable AI-agent memory-and-workflow system in any project. Use when the user wants to bootstrap `docs/ai/` + an entry-point `AGENTS.md` (+ `CLAUDE.md` alias) + cap/archive/index enforcement in a new or existing repo, set up the Memory Map and session protocols, install the docs-rotation pre-commit hook, or run `/agent-workflow-kit` / `/agent-workflow-kit upgrade`. Triggers on phrases like "set up the memory system", "deploy the AI workflow here", "bootstrap docs/ai", "upgrade the workflow".
 disable-model-invocation: true
 metadata:
-  version: '7.3.0'
+  version: '7.4.0'
 ---
 
 # agent-workflow-kit

package/capability.json

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "schema": 1,
   "name": "agent-workflow-kit",
   "kind": "composition-root",
-  "version": "7.3.0",
+  "version": "7.4.0",
   "provides": [],
   "roles": {},
   "detect": {

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@sabaiway/agent-workflow-kit",
-  "version": "7.3.0",
+  "version": "7.4.0",
   "description": "Portable, cross-agent memory & workflow for AI coding agents — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Devin Desktop. One command deploys an AGENTS.md entry point + docs/ai context with cap/archive/index enforcement into any repo.",
   "keywords": [
     "ai-agents",

package/references/modes/upgrade.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Requires: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md · ${CLAUDE_SKI
 
    1. `pointers` — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/inject-methodology.mjs reconcile <project>/AGENTS.md` → per pointer: added · already present · skipped (reported) · a hard STOP.
    2. `footprint` — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/hide-footprint.mjs --dir <project> --reconcile --dry-run` → visibility: visible · ambiguous · hidden — consent (conditional): ambiguous → ask which it is BEFORE anything; hidden → the conditional re-run without `--dry-run` (its surfaced paths ask per bootstrap step 9).
-   3. `configs` — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/ensure-configs.mjs --reconcile --cwd <project>` → one line per ensure: `seeded` / `note-refreshed` / `regenerated` / `already-current` / `customized-preserved` / `malformed-preserved` / `already-present` / `skipped-no-node` / `old-adr-layout-migration-instructed` / `failed`.
+   3. `configs` — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/ensure-configs.mjs --reconcile --cwd <project>` → one line per ensure: `seeded` / `note-refreshed` / `refreshed` / `regenerated` / `already-current` / `customized-preserved` / `malformed-preserved` / `already-present` / `skipped-no-node` / `old-adr-layout-migration-instructed` / `failed`.
    4. `gates-migration` — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/scripts/migrate-gates.mjs --kit-tools ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools --cwd <project>` → the preview plan · INERT checker · CUSTOMIZED entries, each named — consent: apply only on an explicit yes, re-run with `--apply`.
    5. `bridges` — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/setup-backends.mjs --refresh-placed` → per-bridge lines: refreshed · already current · skipped — with its stated reason (not placed / newer than the bundle / unsupported host) · `skipped-readonly` · could not refresh.
    6. `lens` — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/lens-region.mjs reconcile <project>/docs/ai/agent_rules.md` → per section: refreshed · already current · custom edit preserved · file absent / engine too old — skipped · over the line cap — refused · section absent — noted · a fully absent/invalid engine → hard STOP.
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Requires: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md · ${CLAUDE_SKI
 
    **`footprint` — hidden-mode footprint reconcile (D9 / AD-014).** A deployment does not record whether it chose `hidden`, so first **infer visibility** — the dry-run writes **zero bytes** and reports one of — **visible** (the entry point is tracked) → nothing to do; **ambiguous** (untracked but not ignored — could be a fresh uncommitted repo, or a hide that broke) → **ASK** the user which it is, never guess; **hidden** → re-run without `--dry-run` to migrate any older **machine-global** hide to the **project-local** `.git/info/exclude` (one managed block; folds in the legacy `.claude/skills/` line), idempotently (a clean re-run is zero-diff). Handle its surfaced paths exactly as bootstrap step 9 (`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/modes/bootstrap.md`) (already-committed → show `git rm --cached`, ask before `--include`; generic-name present file → ask; **leftover machine-wide ignore block → ASK before `--remove-global`**, default keep + report). No Node on the agent host / Windows → as bootstrap step 9 (`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/modes/bootstrap.md`). This runs on **every** hidden upgrade, like the methodology slot — no lineage-head bump, no migration file.
 
-   **`configs` — the project-configuration ensures, ONE run.** The ONE command performs **all five** ensures described below — orchestration config · gate declaration · autonomy declaration · enforcement scripts · navigator index — in a fixed order, and prints **one outcome line per ensure**: paste those lines into the step 4 / step 8 success report. Every SEED is **create-only** (an existing file is preserved byte-for-byte); the two refresh-class ops are named apart — the orchestration onboarding note (refreshed only while it still matches a canonical this kit shipped) and the **navigator index**, a GENERATED artifact regenerated whenever it is missing or stale (never authored content, so there is nothing to preserve). One ensure failing **never** skips the others: each reports its own outcome and the run exits non-zero when any of them `failed`. The outcome tokens, by ensure: orchestration → `seeded` / `note-refreshed` / `already-current` / `customized-preserved` / `malformed-preserved`; gates and autonomy → `seeded` / `already-present`; scripts → `seeded` / `already-present` / `old-adr-layout-migration-instructed` / `skipped-no-node`; index → `regenerated` / `already-current`; and any ensure may report `failed`, whose line OPENS with the cause (relay it with that cause — never soften it into a skip; an op that copies file by file also states when it stopped partway). The cause vocabulary is CLOSED — one of `race-unresolved`, `template-unreadable`, `bundle-unreadable`, `adr-layout-unverifiable`, `wrong-node-kind`, `write-refused`, `unexpected-error`, `generator-unlaunchable`, `generator-failed`, `index-probe-failed`, `index-stale-after-write` — and every cause that can only arise AFTER the generator ran (`generator-failed`, and `index-probe-failed` / `index-stale-after-write` when they follow a reported regeneration) DISCLOSES in its own line that a write may already have landed. **A non-zero exit STOPs this upgrade** — report the failed line and stop there, before the equal-head exit, the migrations and the re-stamp. Add `--dry-run` to preview without writing a byte. Like the pointer slots + the footprint reconcile, all five reach an equal-head deployment **without a lineage-head bump or a migration file** (they are `.json` / `scripts/` / a generated artifact, inherently outside the docs cap-validator).
+   **`configs` — the project-configuration ensures, ONE run.** The ONE command performs **all six** ensures described below — orchestration config · gate declaration · autonomy declaration · enforcement scripts · spec layer · navigator index — in a fixed order, and prints **one outcome line per ensure**: paste those lines into the step 4 / step 8 success report. Every SEED is **create-only** (an existing file is preserved byte-for-byte); the three refresh-class ops are named apart — the orchestration onboarding note (refreshed only while it still matches a canonical this kit shipped), the spec-layer checker pair (below) and the **navigator index**, a GENERATED artifact regenerated whenever it is missing or stale (never authored content, so there is nothing to preserve). One ensure failing **never** skips the others: each reports its own outcome and the run exits non-zero when any of them `failed`. The outcome tokens, by ensure: orchestration → `seeded` / `note-refreshed` / `already-current` / `customized-preserved` / `malformed-preserved`; gates and autonomy → `seeded` / `already-present`; scripts → `seeded` / `already-present` / `old-adr-layout-migration-instructed` / `skipped-no-node`; specs → `seeded` / `refreshed` / `already-present` / `customized-preserved` / `skipped-no-node`; index → `regenerated` / `already-current`; and any ensure may report `failed`, whose line OPENS with the cause (relay it with that cause — never soften it into a skip; an op that copies file by file also states when it stopped partway). The cause vocabulary is CLOSED — one of `race-unresolved`, `template-unreadable`, `bundle-unreadable`, `adr-layout-unverifiable`, `wrong-node-kind`, `write-refused`, `unexpected-error`, `generator-unlaunchable`, `generator-failed`, `index-probe-failed`, `index-stale-after-write` — and every cause that can only arise AFTER the generator ran (`generator-failed`, and `index-probe-failed` / `index-stale-after-write` when they follow a reported regeneration) DISCLOSES in its own line that a write may already have landed. **A non-zero exit STOPs this upgrade** — report the failed line and stop there, before the equal-head exit, the migrations and the re-stamp. Add `--dry-run` to preview without writing a byte. Like the pointer slots + the footprint reconcile, all six reach an equal-head deployment **without a lineage-head bump or a migration file** (they are `.json` / `scripts/` / a generated artifact / a seeded store root, inherently outside the docs cap-validator).
 
    **What the orchestration-config ensure does.** `docs/ai/orchestration.json` must exist **and its onboarding note must be current**: created from the canonical seed if missing; if it already exists, **every activity/slot the user set is preserved** and ONLY the `_README` note is refreshed, and only when the existing one still matches a known prior canonical — the tested `refreshIfCanonical` / `refreshReadme` in `tools/orchestration-config.mjs` is the source of truth for that decision (it normalizes CRLF/whitespace before comparing; a *customized* `_README` is preserved verbatim → `customized-preserved`; a *malformed* existing config is **preserved untouched + LOUD** → `malformed-preserved`, never clobbered and never silently skipped). The current note points at `/agent-workflow-kit set-recipe`. **Kit-owned:** in the **delegated** path memory only seeds/preserves the file (memory upgrade step 2) and this ensure applies the `_README` refresh; in the **fallback** path it does both. (Memory stays standalone.)
 
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ Requires: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md · ${CLAUDE_SKI
 
    **What the navigator ensure does.** `docs/ai/index.md` is the always-loaded navigator the entry point declares, and it is GENERATED — no template ships it, so a deployment that never ran the generator boots from a broken entry point (and, on a Node project, carries a pre-commit hook that fails its own index check). The ensure runs the bundled generator's finalizer and reports `regenerated` (it was missing or stale — it was written) or `already-current` (nothing written). It never skips a No-Node project: the generator runs from `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/scripts/` on the agent host, not from the project's `scripts/`. **Its position in the run-list is EARLY and therefore NOT authoritative** — `lens` (and, on the migrated path, steps 6–7) still change `docs/ai` afterwards — so the authoritative run is the LATE `--only index` rung documented at both exits; the early one is idempotent and costs at most an `already-current` line.
 
+   **What the spec-layer ensure does.** A deployment older than the feature-spec layer lacks `scripts/spec-schema.mjs` and `docs/ai/specs/index.md`, and its deployed `check-docs-size.mjs` predates the store collapse. In ONE order: the reader pair is seeded (create-only); the checker pair is REFRESHED only while its bytes are a body a release shipped (an append-only digest catalog → `refreshed`; an edited body is preserved verbatim and withholds the writes that depend on it); the store root is seeded from the bundled template, date rendered, ONLY behind a checker pair current after the run — an older or edited checker renders the store row by row and reds the hook's `--check-index`, so behind a custom checker the store root is NOT seeded and the line names the remedy (copy the pair from `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/scripts/` by hand, re-run). One token by precedence: `seeded` > `refreshed` > `customized-preserved` (an edited pair, and this run wrote nothing) > `already-present`; `skipped-no-node` without a `package.json`; every line states what this run did, and a write that stops partway names what landed. The legacy-ADR instruct never withholds it.
+
    **`gates-migration` — legacy gates.json migration (consented preview — D8).** An EXISTING declaration may still carry the retired review-ledger / fold-completeness checks. Run the preview (dry-run — writes NOTHING), show the user the exact plan, and only on an explicit yes re-run it with `--apply`: canonical legacy entries (matched by their documented single-invocation cmd forms) are REMOVED, the canonical `unit-tests` cmd gains the built-in lcov reporters, and the coverage-check gate is ADDED last — atomic and COMPLETE, so the migrated declaration satisfies `run-gates --final`. **The checker rides a PRODUCER or is not declared at all** (`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/modes/gates.md`): with no gate producing the lcov it reads, the migration does NOT add it, an already-declared one is reported INERT, the result is not called final-run-capable, and the preview prints the paste-ready suite cmd to declare by hand — nothing is ever removed for you. CUSTOMIZED entries are NEVER auto-touched: the preview names each with a paste-ready recovery, and the commit guard must NOT be installed until they are resolved. This is the ONLY gates.json writer at upgrade (the consented FILL preview runs at init).
 
    **`bridges` — placed-bridge refresh — stamp-independent, same gate, BEFORE the equal-head short-circuit.** Run
@@ -86,7 +88,7 @@ Requires: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md · ${CLAUDE_SKI
    flagged + preserved, never edited. Runs on **every** upgrade; exit 0 covers every outcome.
    **The LATE navigator finalizer — the AUTHORITATIVE run, after the last `docs/ai` mutation.** `lens` above rewrites `docs/ai/agent_rules.md`, so the step-3 index ensure is already behind by the time the run-list ends. Re-run that ONE op here, before the step-4 report: `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/ensure-configs.mjs --reconcile --only index --cwd <project>`. Relay **this** line in the report (it supersedes the early one; an untouched tree reports `already-current`, a failure STOPs the upgrade like any other ensure). On the migrated path the same rung runs again at the END of step 7 — after the migrations, before the step-8 re-stamp.
 4. **Equal-head exit — a real successful-exit report, not a bare stop.** If the stamp **equals** the head, the lineage is up to date — but step 3 (the stamp-independent reconciles) ran first and may have changed things, so this is a proper exit report, not a no-op:
-   - **Report step 3's outcome in plain language** — for **each** `pointers` slot (workflow-methodology, orchestration-recipes and autonomy-policy) whether it was *added*, was *already present* (nothing changed), or was *skipped* (the soft-skip from step 3, with its reason — over the line limit / engine too old / the autonomy pointer's anchor absent); the **five project-configuration ensure** (`configs`) lines exactly as the one ensure run composed them (orchestration config, gate declaration, autonomy declaration, enforcement scripts, navigator index — their outcome tokens are enumerated in step 3), each rendered in plain language: what was created, what was left exactly as the user wrote it, and — for a `failed` line — what stopped it; for the navigator, relay the **late** `--only index` line, not the early one; the **`gates-migration`** result — *nothing to migrate*, the shown plan *applied* on your explicit yes, or the plan *left unapplied* (consent not given), with any INERT checker or CUSTOMIZED entries named; the **placed-bridge refresh** (`bridges`) outcome — paste the tool's per-bridge lines verbatim (they are already plain: *refreshed* / *already current* / *skipped — not placed* / `skipped-readonly` with its re-scan verdict / *could not refresh* + recovery); the **agent-rules lens** (`lens`) outcome (*refreshed* / *already current* / *custom edit preserved + note* / *file absent* / *engine too old* / *over the line cap*) and the **Communication-section** outcome (its own set: refreshed / already current / custom preserved + note / section absent — noted / over the cap — refused); the **bridge-settings reconcile** (`bridge-settings`) outcome (paste the tool's line(s) verbatim); and, for a hidden deployment, whether the hidden-mode footprint (`footprint`) was *moved to project-local*, was *already project-local* (nothing changed), or needed a question (ambiguous visibility / a leftover machine-wide block). Plain wording only — never the reconcile/slot/anchor/marker terms (the never-leak-kit-internals Gotcha — `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/deploy-tail.md`).
+   - **Report step 3's outcome in plain language** — for **each** `pointers` slot (workflow-methodology, orchestration-recipes and autonomy-policy) whether it was *added*, was *already present* (nothing changed), or was *skipped* (the soft-skip from step 3, with its reason — over the line limit / engine too old / the autonomy pointer's anchor absent); the **six project-configuration ensure** (`configs`) lines exactly as the one ensure run composed them (orchestration config, gate declaration, autonomy declaration, enforcement scripts, spec layer, navigator index — their outcome tokens are enumerated in step 3), each rendered in plain language: what was created, what was left exactly as the user wrote it, and — for a `failed` line — what stopped it; for the navigator, relay the **late** `--only index` line, not the early one; the **`gates-migration`** result — *nothing to migrate*, the shown plan *applied* on your explicit yes, or the plan *left unapplied* (consent not given), with any INERT checker or CUSTOMIZED entries named; the **placed-bridge refresh** (`bridges`) outcome — paste the tool's per-bridge lines verbatim (they are already plain: *refreshed* / *already current* / *skipped — not placed* / `skipped-readonly` with its re-scan verdict / *could not refresh* + recovery); the **agent-rules lens** (`lens`) outcome (*refreshed* / *already current* / *custom edit preserved + note* / *file absent* / *engine too old* / *over the line cap*) and the **Communication-section** outcome (its own set: refreshed / already current / custom preserved + note / section absent — noted / over the cap — refused); the **bridge-settings reconcile** (`bridge-settings`) outcome (paste the tool's line(s) verbatim); and, for a hidden deployment, whether the hidden-mode footprint (`footprint`) was *moved to project-local*, was *already project-local* (nothing changed), or needed a question (ambiguous visibility / a leftover machine-wide block). Plain wording only — never the reconcile/slot/anchor/marker terms (the never-leak-kit-internals Gotcha — `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/deploy-tail.md`).
    - **Never surface the structure number on this exit.** Whatever step 3 did, do **not** recite the `docs/ai` structure version, the internal versioning vocabulary, or the two-axes note here — the number is inert on an equal-head exit; it belongs to *Version disclosure* in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md` (shown at the never-downgrade STOP, the explicit status view, or on an explicit ask). Frame the success itself per the final bullet: if step 3 changed anything, say **what changed** in plain human terms; only a pure zero-diff no-op is *settings already current — no update needed*.
    - **Render the mandatory Recommendations section — on this exit too, BEFORE the footer.** Run `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/recommendations.mjs --cwd <project-root>` and PRESENT its output — from the `## Recommendations (agent-workflow)` header — in the user's conversational language: every fact, count and item from the tool, nothing added or dropped; commands, paths, hosts and rule strings byte-exact; show the raw tool block on request. The section is present-even-when-empty (with everything optimal the body is exactly `no recommendations — flow optimal.`) and VERDICT-FIRST — the composed verdict line renders from the frozen templates `{K} item(s) need attention` / `nothing is broken` / `{N} optional recommendation(s), apply any you want` / `optimality NOT attested — {M} probe check(s) skipped`. Then OFFER the consent-gated applies: the user picks items in plain language; surface each picked item's posture note, get the explicit confirm, then run EXACTLY the rendered one-liners (a HAND-APPLY item is never run by you) — the full lane in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/modes/recommendations.md`. Pinned order on this exit: Recommendations block → optional applies → report footer → the commit ask (the advisor/apply lane never lands after the commit ask).
    - **Live host/session facts are tool-composed only.** Any claim this report makes about the current host or session state — prompts fired, sandbox scope, whether a bypass was needed, network reachability, approval counts — must trace to **live tool output** from **this session** (the lines you just composed, or a probe you ran this run); a memory/handover snapshot is **context, never report facts**, and a claim with no live signal is **omitted or explicitly marked unverified** — never asserted from recollection. Full clause: *Live host/session facts* in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md`.
@@ -95,4 +97,4 @@ Requires: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md · ${CLAUDE_SKI
 5. Show the relevant `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/CHANGELOG.md` diff (entries newer than the project's stamp).
 6. **Collect the migration answers FIRST, then apply.** If `AGENTS.md` is missing BOTH the *Communication language* and *Attribution* blocks — i.e. both blocks are missing (a pre-1.1.0 deployment) — ask the two questions as ONE structured multi-question prompt; record each answer individually, write nothing until ALL are answered, and carry the answers into the migrations below: a migration whose answer was already collected never re-asks (its own "Ask the user" step is the standalone fallback); a single missing block keeps its single ask (step 7). Then apply `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/migrations/<version>-<slug>.md` in **semver order**, only those newer than the project's stamp. Migrations are **idempotent** — safe to re-run.
 7. Reconcile drift: add any kernel files/scripts the project is missing; never clobber project-authored content (their `decisions.md`, `known_issues.md`, page specs stay). Any user question a migration raises follows the same rule as bootstrap — **structured multiple-choice where supported** (`AskUserQuestion` in Claude Code), otherwise prose. If `AGENTS.md` has no *Communication language* block (pre-1.1.0 deployment), **ask the user their conversational language** and insert the block — see `migrations/1.1.0-communication-language.md`. If it has no *Attribution* block (pre-1.2.0 deployment), **ask whether the agent may attribute work to itself / AI** and insert the block (defaulting to `off`) — see `migrations/1.2.0-agent-attribution.md`. (An answer already collected by the step-6 batched prompt is carried in — never re-asked here.) **Then, before the stamp, re-run the LATE navigator finalizer:** the migrations of steps 6–7 may have added or changed `docs/ai` files, so run the one op again — `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/ensure-configs.mjs --reconcile --only index --cwd <project>` — and relay THAT line in the step-8 report (idempotent: an untouched tree reports `already-current`; a failure STOPs this upgrade like any other ensure).
-8. Re-stamp `docs/ai/.workflow-version` to the **deployment-lineage head** (`3.0.0`, not the package version — mechanics unchanged: the atomic write to the stamp file). In the report, **describe what the upgrade changed in plain human terms** — which parts of their `docs/ai` are now different (the migrations that ran), plus the step-3 run-list outcomes, each as step 4 words it: the `pointers` slots, the `footprint` visibility verdict (and what a consented re-run migrated), the **five project-configuration ensure** (`configs`) lines — the navigator one being the late `--only index` run at the end of step 7, the **`gates-migration`** result, the **placed-bridge refresh** (`bridges`) lines (pasted verbatim), the **agent-rules lens** (`lens`) + **Communication-section** outcomes (same outcome sets as step 4), and the **bridge-settings reconcile** (`bridge-settings`) outcome (line(s) pasted verbatim) — rather than reciting a version number; **omit the raw structure number**, and do **not** print the two-axes note here (it belongs to *Version disclosure* in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md`, on demand only). Then **render the mandatory Recommendations section**: run `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/recommendations.mjs --cwd <project-root>` and PRESENT its output — from the `## Recommendations (agent-workflow)` header — in the user's conversational language (every fact, count and item, nothing added or dropped; commands, paths, hosts and rule strings byte-exact; raw tool block on request; present-even-when-empty: `no recommendations — flow optimal.`), then OFFER the consent-gated applies (per picked item: posture note → explicit confirm → run EXACTLY the rendered one-liner; a HAND-APPLY item is never run by you — `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/modes/recommendations.md`). **Every current host/session claim in this report is tool-composed only** — prompts fired, sandbox scope, whether a bypass was needed, network reachability and approval counts must trace to **live tool output** from **this session**, a memory/handover snapshot is **context, never report facts**, and an unbacked claim is **omitted or explicitly marked unverified** (full clause: *Live host/session facts* in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md`). Then **print the report footer** in the canonical order (version block → one-line backend-status line → welcome mat — the shared contracts in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md`; rendered from the helpers, same host-can't-run skip-with-reason; the welcome mat closes on one caveat-aware next step). Then **ask before committing** — the pinned order on this exit is: Recommendations block → optional applies → report footer → the commit ask.
+8. Re-stamp `docs/ai/.workflow-version` to the **deployment-lineage head** (`3.0.0`, not the package version — mechanics unchanged: the atomic write to the stamp file). In the report, **describe what the upgrade changed in plain human terms** — which parts of their `docs/ai` are now different (the migrations that ran), plus the step-3 run-list outcomes, each as step 4 words it: the `pointers` slots, the `footprint` visibility verdict (and what a consented re-run migrated), the **six project-configuration ensure** (`configs`) lines — the navigator one being the late `--only index` run at the end of step 7, the **`gates-migration`** result, the **placed-bridge refresh** (`bridges`) lines (pasted verbatim), the **agent-rules lens** (`lens`) + **Communication-section** outcomes (same outcome sets as step 4), and the **bridge-settings reconcile** (`bridge-settings`) outcome (line(s) pasted verbatim) — rather than reciting a version number; **omit the raw structure number**, and do **not** print the two-axes note here (it belongs to *Version disclosure* in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md`, on demand only). Then **render the mandatory Recommendations section**: run `node ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/tools/recommendations.mjs --cwd <project-root>` and PRESENT its output — from the `## Recommendations (agent-workflow)` header — in the user's conversational language (every fact, count and item, nothing added or dropped; commands, paths, hosts and rule strings byte-exact; raw tool block on request; present-even-when-empty: `no recommendations — flow optimal.`), then OFFER the consent-gated applies (per picked item: posture note → explicit confirm → run EXACTLY the rendered one-liner; a HAND-APPLY item is never run by you — `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/modes/recommendations.md`). **Every current host/session claim in this report is tool-composed only** — prompts fired, sandbox scope, whether a bypass was needed, network reachability and approval counts must trace to **live tool output** from **this session**, a memory/handover snapshot is **context, never report facts**, and an unbacked claim is **omitted or explicitly marked unverified** (full clause: *Live host/session facts* in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md`). Then **print the report footer** in the canonical order (version block → one-line backend-status line → welcome mat — the shared contracts in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/shared/report-footer.md`; rendered from the helpers, same host-can't-run skip-with-reason; the welcome mat closes on one caveat-aware next step). Then **ask before committing** — the pinned order on this exit is: Recommendations block → optional applies → report footer → the commit ask.

package/tools/ensure-configs.mjs

@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
-// ensure-configs.mjs — ONE runnable command for the five stamp-independent upgrade ensures:
+// ensure-configs.mjs — ONE runnable command for the six stamp-independent upgrade ensures:
 //
 //   orchestration  docs/ai/orchestration.json  seed, or refresh a still-canonical onboarding note
 //   gates          docs/ai/gates.json          seed-if-missing (an existing declaration is authored content)
 //   autonomy       docs/ai/autonomy.json       seed-if-missing (same)
 //   scripts        scripts/<ADR enforcement>   seed-if-missing, ADR-layout detect FIRST
+//   specs          scripts/<spec layer>        reader pair seed-if-missing, checker pair refreshed only on
+//                  + docs/ai/specs/index.md    a shipped prior body, store root seeded behind a current checker
 //   index          docs/ai/index.md            regenerate-if-missing-or-stale (a GENERATED artifact)
 //
 // Each was prose in references/modes/upgrade.md that an agent performed by hand. One command instead
-// of five is deliberate: five independent runs would be five chances to skip one, and the mode doc now
-// has a single invocation point whose five outcome lines it relays.
+// of six is deliberate: six independent runs would be six chances to skip one, and the mode doc now
+// has a single invocation point whose six outcome lines it relays.
 //
 // The contract (pinned by this module's tests):
 //   • --reconcile is REQUIRED. A bare run is a usage error, so nothing writes by accident.
@@ -17,7 +19,7 @@
 //   • The ops run in a FIXED order and one op's failure NEVER skips the rest: every op reports its own
 //     token, and the exit is non-zero when any of them failed.
 //   • The deployment gate runs ONCE, before any op: an absent/symlinked docs/ai stops the whole run
-//     with the gate's own message rather than five copies of it.
+//     with the gate's own message rather than six copies of it.
 //
 // Output is ENGLISH/structured (repo-artifact Hard Constraint); the agent localizes when narrating.
 // Exit codes: 0 every op fine · 1 an op failed, or the deployment gate stopped the run · 2 usage.
@@ -29,10 +31,15 @@ import { dirname, resolve } from 'node:path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import { assertDocsAiDeployment } from './atomic-write.mjs';
 import { isDirectRun } from './direct-run.mjs';
-import { ENSURE_IMPLEMENTATIONS, ENSURE_OPS, failedOutcome } from './ensure-ops.mjs';
+import { ENSURE_OPS, OWN_IMPLEMENTATIONS, failedOutcome } from './ensure-ops.mjs';
+import { ensureSpecs } from './ensure-specs.mjs';
 
 const KIT_ROOT = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..');
 
+// The op table this CLI walks — name → implementation, in ENSURE_OPS order. Composed HERE (the one
+// consumer) because the spec-layer ensure imports ensure-ops.mjs for its outcome door and probes.
+export const ENSURE_IMPLEMENTATIONS = Object.freeze({ ...OWN_IMPLEMENTATIONS, specs: ensureSpecs });
+
 const EXIT_OK = 0;
 const EXIT_FAILED = 1;
 const EXIT_USAGE = 2;
@@ -44,22 +51,24 @@ const EMPTY_ONLY = `--only needs one operation name (${ENSURE_OPS.join(' | ')})
 const REPEATED_ONLY = '--only was passed more than once — this selector names exactly ONE operation';
 const unknownOp = (value) => `--only ${value}: no such operation (${ENSURE_OPS.join(' | ')}) — nothing was run`;
 
-const HELP = `ensure-configs — the five stamp-independent upgrade ensures, as ONE command.
+const HELP = `ensure-configs — the six stamp-independent upgrade ensures, as ONE command.
 
 Usage:
   node ensure-configs.mjs --reconcile [--dry-run] [--only <op>] [--cwd <project>]
 
-  --reconcile   required — run the five ensures (${ENSURE_OPS.join(', ')})
+  --reconcile   required — run the six ensures (${ENSURE_OPS.join(', ')})
   --dry-run     report what each ensure WOULD do; write nothing
   --only <op>   run EXACTLY ONE of them (an unknown, missing or repeated value is a usage error)
   --cwd <dir>   the target project (default: the current directory)
   --help, -h    this help
 
 Every SEED is CREATE-ONLY: an existing file is preserved byte-for-byte, never clobbered and never
-refreshed in place. Two ops refresh instead: the orchestration onboarding note, only while it still
-matches a canonical the kit shipped (your own wording is preserved verbatim), and the navigator
-index — a GENERATED artifact, regenerated whenever it is missing or stale. The enforcement-script
-ensure detects an older ADR-store layout FIRST and instructs the opt-in migration instead of seeding.
+refreshed in place. Three ops refresh instead: the orchestration onboarding note, only while it still
+matches a canonical the kit shipped (your own wording is preserved verbatim); the spec-layer checker
+pair, only while its bytes are a body a release shipped (an edited checker is preserved, and the spec
+store root is then NOT seeded behind it); and the navigator index — a GENERATED artifact, regenerated
+whenever it is missing or stale. The enforcement-script ensure detects an older ADR-store layout
+FIRST and instructs the opt-in migration instead of seeding.
 
 Exit codes: 0 every op fine; 1 an op failed (its line says so) or there is no deployment here; 2 usage.`;
 
@@ -138,7 +147,7 @@ export const main = (argv = [], ctx = {}) => {
     const cwd = resolve(args.cwd ?? ctx.cwd ?? process.cwd());
     const deps = ctx.deps ?? {};
     // ONE deployment gate for the whole run (see the header): with no docs/ai there is nothing to
-    // reconcile, and five identical STOPs would read as five separate problems.
+    // reconcile, and six identical STOPs would read as six separate problems.
     assertDocsAiDeployment(cwd, deps, { noun: 'the project configuration', rel: 'under docs/ai' });
     const outcomes = runEnsures({ cwd, kitRoot: ctx.kitRoot ?? KIT_ROOT, dryRun: args.dryRun, deps, only: args.only });
     return {

package/tools/ensure-ops.mjs

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-// ensure-ops.mjs — the FIVE upgrade ensure operations, one function each, behind one shared outcome
-// shape. The CLI that orders and runs them is ensure-configs.mjs; this module owns what each ensure
-// DOES and, more importantly, what it is allowed to CLAIM.
+// ensure-ops.mjs — FIVE of the upgrade ensure operations, one function each, behind one shared
+// outcome shape; the sixth (the spec-layer ensure, ensure-specs.mjs) composes its outcomes through
+// the same door and probes exported below. The CLI that orders and runs them is ensure-configs.mjs —
+// it owns the op table, so the import graph stays acyclic; this module owns what each ensure DOES
+// and, more importantly, what it is allowed to CLAIM.
 //
 // Why they became code at all: `references/modes/upgrade.md` prescribed each of them as prose an agent
 // was expected to carry out by hand ("create it from the template if missing", "copy the pair from
@@ -86,14 +88,14 @@ export const failedOutcome = (op, err) => loud(op, 'unexpected-error', `${op}: $
 // directory or a symlink named gates.json report a green ensure while the declaration the project
 // needs does not exist — an exit 0 proving nothing (both review backends found this).
 const NODE_KIND = (st) => (st.isSymbolicLink() ? 'a symlink' : st.isDirectory() ? 'a directory' : 'not a regular file');
-const probeSeedTarget = (abs, lstat) => {
+export const probeSeedTarget = (abs, lstat) => {
   const st = lstatNoFollow(abs, lstat);
   if (st === null) return { present: false };
   return st.isFile() ? { present: true } : { present: true, wrongKind: NODE_KIND(st) };
 };
 
 // A leftover temp file never fails a completed write, and is never silent either.
-const tmpNote = (rel, tmpLeftBehind) =>
+export const tmpNote = (rel, tmpLeftBehind) =>
   (tmpLeftBehind ? [`${rel}: the write stands, but its temp file could not be removed — delete it by hand: ${tmpLeftBehind}`] : []);
 
 // ── 1. orchestration.json — seed, or refresh ONLY a still-canonical onboarding note ────────────────
@@ -204,7 +206,7 @@ export const ensureAutonomy = ({ cwd, kitRoot, dryRun = false, deps = {} }) =>
 
 // A project with no package.json at its root is not where Node enforcement scripts belong. Stated,
 // never silent: the token names the evidence, and the three config ensures still run.
-const isNodeProject = (cwd, lstat) => lstatNoFollow(join(cwd, PACKAGE_JSON), lstat) !== null;
+export const isNodeProject = (cwd, lstat) => lstatNoFollow(join(cwd, PACKAGE_JSON), lstat) !== null;
 
 const OLD_ADR_LAYOUTS = new Set(['old', 'old-unrotated']);
 
@@ -352,8 +354,9 @@ export const ensureIndex = ({ cwd, kitRoot, dryRun = false, deps = {} }) => {
   return loud('index', 'index-probe-failed', `${INDEX_REL}: the generator reported a regeneration, but the verifying probe answered neither fresh nor stale — ${MAY_HAVE_WRITTEN}. ${verify.error ? causeOf(verify.error) : verdict}`);
 };
 
-// The op table the CLI walks — name → implementation, in ENSURE_OPS order.
-export const ENSURE_IMPLEMENTATIONS = Object.freeze({
+// The five ops this module owns, by name. The CLI composes the full ENSURE_OPS table from these plus
+// the spec-layer ensure (ensure-specs.mjs imports THIS module, so the table cannot live here).
+export const OWN_IMPLEMENTATIONS = Object.freeze({
   orchestration: ensureOrchestration,
   gates: ensureGates,
   autonomy: ensureAutonomy,

package/tools/ensure-specs.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,214 @@
+// ensure-specs.mjs — the SIXTH upgrade ensure: the spec layer (memory 4.6.0, AD-112) delivered to an
+// EXISTING deployment on an equal-head upgrade. Four deployed scripts and one store root, written in
+// a FIXED order the measured coupling dictates:
+//   1. the reader pair   scripts/spec-schema.mjs + .test.mjs      — CREATE-ONLY (brief D1: a new
+//      deployed script ships create-only before any refresh of a file that imports it);
+//   2. the checker pair  scripts/check-docs-size.mjs + .test.mjs  — REFRESHED only when the deployed
+//      bytes are a body a release shipped (script-priors.mjs), created when absent, a custom body
+//      preserved verbatim — and only behind a reader pair that is byte-current;
+//   3. the store root    docs/ai/specs/index.md                   — seeded (placeholders rendered)
+//      only once both pairs are current.
+// Why the order: the kit's bundled navigator generator collapses `specs/` into one row, while the
+// project's pre-commit hook runs ITS deployed checker — an older one renders the store row by row and
+// reds `--check-index`. A store root seeded behind a stale checker breaks the hook, so the store is
+// the LAST write and admits only behind a checker this run has proven current.
+//
+// The state table (enumerate by PROOF, never by exclusion): every file is classified into exactly one
+// of current | prior | custom | absent | wrong-kind before anything is written, each write admits
+// through ONE conjunction of those facts (decideWrites), and every other cell is a stated refusal —
+// a custom file of either pair preserves itself AND withholds every write that depends on it. Writes
+// run in order and each is idempotent, so a run that stopped partway converges on the next run.
+//
+// Dependency-free, Node >= 22. Every fs primitive is injectable (deps.*). No side effects on import.
+
+import { readFileSync, lstatSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { writeContainedFileAtomic, writeProjectFileCreateOnly } from './atomic-write.mjs';
+import { PRIOR_FILES, classifyDeployedScript } from './script-priors.mjs';
+import { composeFailure, composeOutcome, isNodeProject, probeSeedTarget, tmpNote } from './ensure-ops.mjs';
+
+const OP = 'specs';
+const SCRIPTS_DIR = 'scripts';
+const BUNDLED_SCRIPTS = ['references', 'scripts'];
+const STORE_ROOT_REL = 'docs/ai/specs/index.md';
+const STORE_ROOT_TEMPLATE = ['references', 'templates', 'specs', 'index.md'];
+const DATE_PLACEHOLDER = '{{DATE}}';
+const READER_PAIR = Object.freeze(['spec-schema.mjs', 'spec-schema.test.mjs']);
+const CHECKER_PAIR = PRIOR_FILES;
+
+const ok = (token, lines) => composeOutcome(OP, token, lines, false);
+const loud = (cause, ...lines) => composeFailure(OP, cause, ...lines);
+const causeOf = (err) => String((err && err.message) || err);
+const todayIso = () => new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10);
+
+// ── the survey: five paths classified, nothing written ────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+// One deployed script → { rel, name, state, bundle }; `wrongKind` carries the node kind for the
+// refusal, `prior`/`custom` come from the catalog classifier against the bundled body.
+const surveyScript = ({ cwd, kitRoot, name, read, lstat }) => {
+  const rel = `${SCRIPTS_DIR}/${name}`;
+  let bundle;
+  try {
+    bundle = read(join(kitRoot, ...BUNDLED_SCRIPTS, name));
+  } catch (err) {
+    return { rel, name, state: 'bundle-unreadable', error: causeOf(err) };
+  }
+  const probe = probeSeedTarget(join(cwd, SCRIPTS_DIR, name), lstat);
+  if (probe.wrongKind) return { rel, name, state: 'wrong-kind', wrongKind: probe.wrongKind, bundle };
+  if (!probe.present) return { rel, name, state: 'absent', bundle };
+  return { rel, name, state: classifyDeployedScript(read(join(cwd, SCRIPTS_DIR, name)), name, bundle), bundle };
+};
+
+const surveyStoreRoot = (cwd, lstat) => {
+  const probe = probeSeedTarget(join(cwd, STORE_ROOT_REL), lstat);
+  if (probe.wrongKind) return { rel: STORE_ROOT_REL, state: 'wrong-kind', wrongKind: probe.wrongKind };
+  return { rel: STORE_ROOT_REL, state: probe.present ? 'present' : 'absent' };
+};
+
+// ── the decision: which writes the survey admits (pure over the survey) ───────────────────────────
+
+const CURRENT_AFTER_SEED = new Set(['current', 'absent']);
+const CHECKER_ELIGIBLE = new Set(['current', 'prior', 'absent']);
+
+export const decideWrites = ({ reader, checker, store }) => {
+  const readerCurrentAfter = reader.every((f) => CURRENT_AFTER_SEED.has(f.state));
+  const checkerEligible = readerCurrentAfter && checker.every((f) => CHECKER_ELIGIBLE.has(f.state));
+  const writes = [];
+  for (const f of reader) if (f.state === 'absent') writes.push({ kind: 'seed', file: f });
+  if (checkerEligible) {
+    for (const f of checker) {
+      if (f.state === 'absent') writes.push({ kind: 'seed', file: f });
+      if (f.state === 'prior') writes.push({ kind: 'refresh', file: f });
+    }
+  }
+  if (checkerEligible && store.state === 'absent') writes.push({ kind: 'store' });
+  return { writes, withheld: !checkerEligible };
+};
+
+// ── the lines (composed from what HAPPENED, never from what was planned) ──────────────────────────
+
+// Every file's line is a function of its surveyed state and the FATE of its write this run:
+// `written` · `stood` (lost the create-only race to the bundled body) · `would` (dry run) ·
+// `withheld` (a custom file in the pair) · `stopped` (the run failed before reaching it) · `none`
+// (no write was admitted or needed). A line never claims a write that did not happen.
+const LEFT_FOR = { withheld: 'it waits on the pair named above', stopped: 'the run stopped before it' };
+const SCRIPT_LINES = {
+  current: () => 'already the bundled body — nothing written',
+  custom: () => "carries a body this kit did not ship as current — preserved verbatim; the writes that depend on it wait until the pair matches the bundled scripts (copy them by hand from the kit's references/scripts/ when convenient, then re-run the upgrade)",
+  absent: (fate) => ({
+    written: 'copied from the bundled scripts',
+    stood: 'appeared while this run was seeding it — the bundled body stands',
+    would: 'absent — would be copied from the bundled scripts',
+  })[fate] ?? `absent — not copied${fate === 'withheld' ? ' this run' : ''}; ${LEFT_FOR[fate]}`,
+  prior: (fate) => `matches a body an earlier release shipped — ${({
+    written: 'refreshed to the bundled one',
+    would: 'would be refreshed to the bundled one',
+  })[fate] ?? `left as is; ${LEFT_FOR[fate]}`}`,
+};
+const scriptLine = (f, fate) => `${f.rel}: ${SCRIPT_LINES[f.state](fate)}`;
+const STORE_LINES = {
+  present: 'already present — preserved byte-for-byte, nothing written',
+  written: "created from the bundled template (today's date rendered)",
+  stood: 'appeared while this run was seeding it — the existing file stands',
+  would: 'absent — would be created from the bundled template',
+  withheld: "not seeded — an older or edited checker renders the spec store row by row and reds the hook's index check, so the store root waits for a current checker pair",
+  stopped: 'absent — not created; the run stopped before it',
+};
+const storeLine = (store, fate) => `${STORE_ROOT_REL}: ${STORE_LINES[store.state === 'present' ? 'present' : fate]}`;
+const relOf = (write) => (write.kind === 'store' ? STORE_ROOT_REL : write.file.rel);
+
+// The fate of every path for the lines: a write that ran carries its result, an admitted write the
+// run never reached is `stopped`, and a path with no admitted write is `withheld` behind a custom
+// file or `none` when nothing was needed.
+const fateOf = (rel, { writes, fates, withheld, stopped }) => {
+  if (fates.has(rel)) return fates.get(rel);
+  if (writes.some((w) => relOf(w) === rel)) return stopped ? 'stopped' : 'would';
+  return withheld ? 'withheld' : 'none';
+};
+const composeLines = ({ reader, checker, store, writes, fates, withheld, stopped }) => {
+  const fate = (rel) => fateOf(rel, { writes, fates, withheld, stopped });
+  const lines = [...reader, ...checker].map((f) => scriptLine(f, fate(f.rel)));
+  const storeFate = fate(STORE_ROOT_REL);
+  if (store.state === 'present' || storeFate !== 'none') lines.push(storeLine(store, storeFate));
+  return lines;
+};
+
+// A per-file loop can stop partway; the run says which files already landed — never "nothing happened".
+const partialNote = (count) =>
+  (count > 0 ? [`the writes stopped PARTWAY — the ${count} file(s) named above were already written and are NOT rolled back`] : []);
+
+// ── the ensure ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+// The store body is read and rendered BEFORE the first write, so a missing or unrenderable template
+// refuses with nothing written.
+const renderStoreRoot = (kitRoot, read, today) => {
+  const body = String(read(join(kitRoot, ...STORE_ROOT_TEMPLATE), 'utf8')).replaceAll(DATE_PLACEHOLDER, today);
+  if (body.includes('{{')) throw new Error('the bundled template carries a placeholder this kit cannot render — reinstall the kit');
+  return body;
+};
+
+export const ensureSpecs = ({ cwd, kitRoot, dryRun = false, deps = {} }) => {
+  const lstat = deps.lstat ?? lstatSync;
+  const read = deps.readFile ?? readFileSync;
+  if (!isNodeProject(cwd, lstat)) {
+    return ok('skipped-no-node', [`${SCRIPTS_DIR}/: no package.json at the project root — the spec reader and checker are Node scripts; nothing written`]);
+  }
+  const survey = (name) => surveyScript({ cwd, kitRoot, name, read, lstat });
+  const reader = READER_PAIR.map(survey);
+  const checker = CHECKER_PAIR.map(survey);
+  const store = surveyStoreRoot(cwd, lstat);
+  for (const f of [...reader, ...checker]) {
+    if (f.state === 'bundle-unreadable') return loud('bundle-unreadable', `${f.rel}: the bundled script could not be read, so nothing was written — reinstall the kit. ${f.error}`);
+  }
+  for (const f of [...reader, ...checker, store]) {
+    if (f.state === 'wrong-kind') return loud('wrong-node-kind', `${f.rel}: exists but is ${f.wrongKind} — nothing was read or written; resolve it by hand, then re-run`);
+  }
+
+  const { writes, withheld } = decideWrites({ reader, checker, store });
+  const kinds = new Set(writes.map((w) => w.kind));
+  // ONE token by precedence — a write that happened (or, dry, would happen) always outranks the
+  // preserved-custom report, which names a run that wrote nothing behind an edited pair.
+  const tokenFor = (seeded, refreshed) => {
+    if (seeded) return dryRun ? 'would-seed' : 'seeded';
+    if (refreshed) return dryRun ? 'would-refresh' : 'refreshed';
+    return withheld ? 'customized-preserved' : 'already-present';
+  };
+  const fates = new Map();
+  const linesNow = (stopped) => composeLines({ reader, checker, store, writes, fates, withheld, stopped });
+  const writtenCount = () => [...fates.values()].filter((fate) => fate === 'written').length;
+  if (dryRun) return ok(tokenFor(kinds.has('seed') || kinds.has('store'), kinds.has('refresh')), linesNow(false));
+
+  let storeBody = null;
+  if (kinds.has('store')) {
+    try {
+      storeBody = renderStoreRoot(kitRoot, read, deps.today ?? todayIso());
+    } catch (err) {
+      return loud('template-unreadable', `${STORE_ROOT_REL}: ${causeOf(err)}`, ...linesNow(true));
+    }
+  }
+  const writeOne = ({ kind, file }) => {
+    if (kind === 'store') return writeProjectFileCreateOnly(cwd, STORE_ROOT_REL, storeBody, deps, { noun: 'the spec store root' });
+    if (kind === 'seed') return writeProjectFileCreateOnly(cwd, file.rel, String(file.bundle), deps, { noun: 'a seeded spec-layer script' });
+    return writeContainedFileAtomic(cwd, join(cwd, file.rel), String(file.bundle), deps, { label: file.rel });
+  };
+  // A seed that lost the create-only race is re-PROVEN before anything that depends on it runs: the
+  // file that appeared must carry the bundled body, or the tree is changing underneath this run.
+  const stoodCurrent = ({ kind, file }) => kind === 'store' || classifyDeployedScript(read(join(cwd, file.rel)), file.name, file.bundle) === 'current';
+  const notes = [];
+  for (const write of writes) {
+    const rel = relOf(write);
+    let result;
+    try {
+      result = writeOne(write);
+    } catch (err) {
+      return loud('write-refused', `${rel}: ${causeOf(err)}`, ...linesNow(true), ...notes, ...partialNote(writtenCount()));
+    }
+    if (write.kind !== 'refresh' && !result.created && !stoodCurrent(write)) {
+      return loud('race-unresolved', `${rel}: appeared while this run was seeding it and does not carry the bundled body — something is writing there underneath this run; nothing further written, re-run when the tree is settled`, ...linesNow(true), ...notes, ...partialNote(writtenCount()));
+    }
+    fates.set(rel, write.kind !== 'refresh' && !result.created ? 'stood' : 'written');
+    notes.push(...tmpNote(rel, result.tmpLeftBehind));
+  }
+  const landed = (kind) => writes.some((w) => w.kind === kind && fates.get(relOf(w)) === 'written');
+  return ok(tokenFor(landed('seed') || landed('store'), landed('refresh')), [...linesNow(false), ...notes]);
+};

package/tools/ensure-vocabulary.mjs

@@ -8,12 +8,16 @@
 // read-only tool's import graph. Vocabulary here, behaviour in ensure-ops.mjs.
 
 // The FIXED order the CLI runs them in — the order references/modes/upgrade.md already prescribed.
-export const ENSURE_OPS = Object.freeze(['orchestration', 'gates', 'autonomy', 'scripts', 'index']);
+// `specs` sits after `scripts` (its reader pair is a scripts/ seed too) and BEFORE `index`: the store
+// root it seeds is a docs/ai file the navigator must count.
+export const ENSURE_OPS = Object.freeze(['orchestration', 'gates', 'autonomy', 'scripts', 'specs', 'index']);
 
 // Tokens that assert a WRITE happened. --dry-run may never emit one of these (the CLI's contract test
-// walks this set), and each has exactly one `would-` counterpart below.
-export const WRITE_TOKENS = Object.freeze(['seeded', 'note-refreshed', 'regenerated']);
-export const DRY_RUN_TOKENS = Object.freeze(['would-seed', 'would-refresh-note', 'would-regenerate']);
+// walks this set), and each has exactly one `would-` counterpart below. `refreshed` is the spec-layer
+// ensure's checker-pair refresh — a deployed script on a body a release shipped, rewritten to the
+// bundled one (a custom body is never refreshed).
+export const WRITE_TOKENS = Object.freeze(['seeded', 'note-refreshed', 'refreshed', 'regenerated']);
+export const DRY_RUN_TOKENS = Object.freeze(['would-seed', 'would-refresh-note', 'would-refresh', 'would-regenerate']);
 
 // The CLOSED outcome vocabulary. Closed at RUNTIME, not by convention: composing an outcome with a
 // token outside this list throws, so an op cannot quietly invent a word the mode doc has never heard
@@ -65,6 +69,7 @@ export const RELAYED_FAILURE_CAUSES = FAILURE_CAUSES;
 export const RELAYED_ENSURE_TOKENS = Object.freeze([
   'seeded',
   'note-refreshed',
+  'refreshed',
   'regenerated',
   'already-current',
   'customized-preserved',

package/tools/script-priors.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// script-priors.mjs — the APPEND-ONLY catalog of every enforcement-script body this family has shipped
+// into a project's `scripts/`, as sha256 digests, and the ONE classifier the spec-layer ensure asks
+// before it refreshes a deployed script: `current` (byte-equal to the bundled copy) · `prior` (a body
+// a release shipped, never edited since) · `custom` (anything else — preserved verbatim, never
+// overwritten). The lens-region idiom (AD-041) over whole script bodies.
+//
+// Append discipline: when a release changes one of PRIOR_FILES, append the OUTGOING body's row here
+// in the same release and copy its bytes to test/fixtures/script-priors/<firstShipped>/<file>.txt —
+// script-priors.test.mjs holds the two sides equal both ways and pins the row count. Rows are never
+// edited or removed: a deployment on any shipped body must keep classifying `prior`.
+//
+// Pure leaf: node:crypto only. No side effects on import.
+
+import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
+
+// The deployed scripts the spec-layer ensure may REFRESH (the checker pair that imports the reader).
+// Every other deployed script is outside the refresh lane by design.
+export const PRIOR_FILES = Object.freeze(['check-docs-size.mjs', 'check-docs-size.test.mjs']);
+
+const prior = (file, firstShipped, lastShipped, digest) => Object.freeze({ file, firstShipped, lastShipped, digest });
+
+// One row per DISTINCT shipped body (memory package versions; the body is the memory canon the kit
+// mirrors). `firstShipped`..`lastShipped` is the inclusive release range that carried the body.
+export const SCRIPT_PRIORS = Object.freeze([
+  prior('check-docs-size.mjs', '4.0.0', '4.3.0', '84fb3673b034d4b2ba5bedf4a3e47899f98da3971c17902d1f2a548d07dc53bf'),
+  prior('check-docs-size.mjs', '4.4.0', '4.5.0', '7a5cd7f98571c3248d0378623172e9c60073b8d8761bce7a95c263f99bfb3a42'),
+  prior('check-docs-size.mjs', '4.5.1', '4.5.4', 'fef3555b14a5ade46071bac18bd6dfc87daec39dd63ce1f7965864c3e51558d9'),
+  prior('check-docs-size.test.mjs', '4.0.0', '4.5.4', '88fbb3d7f097d74771b7c5d9ad99fcd58b274ae33f391e1ff01f4b138b9236cd'),
+]);
+
+export const digestOf = (bytes) => createHash('sha256').update(bytes).digest('hex');
+
+// classifyDeployedScript(deployedBytes, file, bundleBytes, priors?) → 'current' | 'prior' | 'custom'.
+// The bundled body is compared FIRST, so a bundle that happens to equal a catalogued body still
+// reads as current; the catalog is consulted by file name, so a body shipped under another name is
+// never a prior for this one.
+export const classifyDeployedScript = (deployedBytes, file, bundleBytes, priors = SCRIPT_PRIORS) => {
+  const digest = digestOf(deployedBytes);
+  if (digest === digestOf(bundleBytes)) return 'current';
+  return priors.some((row) => row.file === file && row.digest === digest) ? 'prior' : 'custom';
+};

package/tools/upgrade-runlist.mjs

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ export const UPGRADE_RUNLIST = Object.freeze([
     [
       'seeded',
       'note-refreshed',
+      'refreshed',
       'regenerated',
       'already-current',
       'customized-preserved',