@vkmikc/create-vkm-kit 4.2.0

package/src/token-saver.mjs

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+// vkm-kit token-saver installer (ADR-0043): wires the pieces that cut Claude Code's token
+// spend with zero quality loss — two PostToolUse compaction hooks (noisy Bash output; MCP
+// JSON whitespace), permissions.deny rules that stop Claude from reading token-hungry
+// build artifacts, and the `vkm-terse` output style (default ON under `--full`).
+//
+// Same contract as `claude-native-memory.mjs`: symmetric reconcile (every call merges what
+// is wanted and actively strips what is not, so `--no-token-saver` on a re-run reverses a
+// prior install), true no-op when nothing is wanted and nothing of ours is present,
+// best-effort and non-fatal, all settings writes via the shared crash-safe primitives in
+// `settings-io.mjs`, and template files tracked by content hash (`asset-install.mjs`) so
+// uninstall never deletes a user-modified file.
+import path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import fse from "fs-extra";
+import pc from "picocolors";
+import {
+  atomicWriteJson,
+  backupRestricted,
+  isKitOwnedFile,
+  mergeManagedHook,
+  readSettingsSafe,
+  removeManagedHook,
+  setOrDeleteHooks
+} from "./settings-io.mjs";
+import {
+  mergeManagedPermissions,
+  removeManagedPermissions,
+  setManagedOutputStyle,
+  clearManagedOutputStyle
+} from "./settings-writers.mjs";
+import {
+  ASSETS_SIDECAR_BASENAME,
+  installManagedAssets,
+  removeManagedAssets
+} from "./asset-install.mjs";
+
+/** Filename stems of the managed PostToolUse hooks (dedup + uninstall detection). */
+export const COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_STEM = "compact-tool-output";
+export const COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_BASENAME = `${COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_STEM}.mjs`;
+export const COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_STEM = "compact-mcp-output";
+export const COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_BASENAME = `${COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_STEM}.mjs`;
+
+/** The shipped output style (templates/output-styles/) + the settings value it activates. */
+export const TERSE_STYLE_NAME = "vkm-terse";
+export const TERSE_STYLE_BASENAME = `${TERSE_STYLE_NAME}.md`;
+
+/** Read-deny rules for artifacts that burn input tokens without informing the model
+ * (generated/vendored content; lockfiles are machine-written and huge). Kept deliberately
+ * short — a deny rule is a hard block, so only unambiguous noise qualifies. */
+export const TOKEN_SAVER_DENY_RULES = [
+  "Read(node_modules/**)",
+  "Read(**/dist/**)",
+  "Read(**/*.lock)",
+  "Read(**/package-lock.json)"
+];
+
+const TOKEN_SAVER_STEMS = [COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_STEM, COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_STEM];
+
+function packagedPath(...segments) {
+  return path.join(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), ...segments);
+}
+
+/** Exec-form hook entry (same rationale as `hookCommand` in claude-native-memory.mjs). */
+export function compactHookCommand(hookPath) {
+  return { command: "node", args: [hookPath] };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Install / reconcile / remove the token-saver pieces in `~/.claude/`.
+ * @param {string} home
+ * @param {boolean} dryRun
+ * @param {{ lang?: "es"|"en", hooks?: boolean, terseStyle?: boolean, denyRules?: boolean }} [opts]
+ *   Each piece is independently toggleable; all default ON (callers pass the resolved
+ *   `--token-saver` / `--terse-style` flags).
+ */
+export async function configureTokenSaver(
+  home,
+  dryRun,
+  { hooks = true, terseStyle = true, denyRules = true } = {}
+) {
+  const claudeDir = path.join(home, ".claude");
+  const hooksDir = path.join(claudeDir, "hooks");
+  const settingsFp = path.join(claudeDir, "settings.json");
+  const sidecarFp = path.join(claudeDir, ASSETS_SIDECAR_BASENAME);
+  const bashHookDest = path.join(hooksDir, COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_BASENAME);
+  const mcpHookDest = path.join(hooksDir, COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_BASENAME);
+  const styleDest = path.join(claudeDir, "output-styles", TERSE_STYLE_BASENAME);
+
+  try {
+    let { existing, priorBytes, invalidJson, rawText } = await readSettingsSafe(settingsFp);
+    const oursPresent =
+      TOKEN_SAVER_STEMS.some((stem) => rawText.includes(stem)) ||
+      rawText.includes(TERSE_STYLE_NAME) ||
+      TOKEN_SAVER_DENY_RULES.some((rule) => rawText.includes(rule)) ||
+      (await fse.pathExists(styleDest));
+    const wantAnything = hooks || terseStyle || denyRules;
+
+    // True no-op: nothing wanted, nothing of ours anywhere — never conjure settings.json.
+    if (!wantAnything && !oursPresent) return;
+
+    if (dryRun) {
+      if (hooks) {
+        console.log(pc.cyan("[dry-run] would install PostToolUse compaction hooks"));
+      } else if (TOKEN_SAVER_STEMS.some((stem) => rawText.includes(stem))) {
+        console.log(pc.cyan("[dry-run] would remove PostToolUse compaction hooks"));
+      }
+      if (terseStyle) {
+        console.log(pc.cyan("[dry-run] would install + activate output style"), TERSE_STYLE_NAME);
+      } else if (rawText.includes(TERSE_STYLE_NAME)) {
+        console.log(pc.cyan("[dry-run] would deactivate output style"), TERSE_STYLE_NAME);
+      }
+      if (denyRules) {
+        console.log(
+          pc.cyan("[dry-run] would add permissions.deny rules:"),
+          TOKEN_SAVER_DENY_RULES.join(", ")
+        );
+      } else if (TOKEN_SAVER_DENY_RULES.some((rule) => rawText.includes(rule))) {
+        console.log(pc.cyan("[dry-run] would remove the token-saver permissions.deny rules"));
+      }
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // 1. Files first (settings only reference what exists). Hook scripts are copied like the
+    // native-memory hooks; the output style goes through the hash-tracked asset installer.
+    if (hooks) {
+      await fse.ensureDir(hooksDir);
+      await fse.copy(packagedPath("hooks", COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_BASENAME), bashHookDest, {
+        overwrite: true
+      });
+      await fse.copy(packagedPath("hooks", COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_BASENAME), mcpHookDest, {
+        overwrite: true
+      });
+    }
+    if (terseStyle) {
+      await installManagedAssets({
+        files: [
+          {
+            src: packagedPath("..", "templates", "output-styles", TERSE_STYLE_BASENAME),
+            dest: styleDest
+          }
+        ],
+        sidecarFp
+      });
+    } else {
+      const { skipped } = await removeManagedAssets({ sidecarFp, dests: [styleDest] });
+      for (const fp of skipped) {
+        console.warn(pc.yellow("Kept (modified by user):"), fp);
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (invalidJson) {
+      const bak = await backupRestricted(settingsFp, priorBytes);
+      console.warn(pc.yellow("Invalid JSON in ~/.claude/settings.json; backed up to"), bak);
+      existing = {};
+    }
+
+    // 2. Reconcile settings.json — merge wanted pieces, strip unwanted ones.
+    let merged =
+      existing && typeof existing === "object" && !Array.isArray(existing) ? { ...existing } : {};
+    const hadHooks =
+      merged.hooks && typeof merged.hooks === "object" && !Array.isArray(merged.hooks);
+    let hookMap = hadHooks ? merged.hooks : {};
+    if (hooks) {
+      hookMap = mergeManagedHook(
+        hookMap,
+        "PostToolUse",
+        "Bash",
+        compactHookCommand(bashHookDest),
+        COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_STEM
+      );
+      hookMap = mergeManagedHook(
+        hookMap,
+        "PostToolUse",
+        "mcp__.*",
+        compactHookCommand(mcpHookDest),
+        COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_STEM
+      );
+    } else {
+      hookMap = removeManagedHook(hookMap, "PostToolUse", COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_STEM);
+      hookMap = removeManagedHook(hookMap, "PostToolUse", COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_STEM);
+    }
+    merged = setOrDeleteHooks(merged, Boolean(hadHooks), hookMap);
+    merged = denyRules
+      ? mergeManagedPermissions(merged, { deny: TOKEN_SAVER_DENY_RULES })
+      : removeManagedPermissions(merged, { deny: TOKEN_SAVER_DENY_RULES });
+    merged = terseStyle
+      ? setManagedOutputStyle(merged, TERSE_STYLE_NAME)
+      : clearManagedOutputStyle(merged, TERSE_STYLE_NAME);
+
+    if (priorBytes && !invalidJson) {
+      const bak = await backupRestricted(settingsFp, priorBytes);
+      console.log(pc.dim("Backed up previous settings.json to"), bak);
+    }
+    await atomicWriteJson(settingsFp, merged);
+
+    if (hooks) {
+      console.log(pc.green("Token-saver hooks:"), pc.dim(`${bashHookDest}, ${mcpHookDest}`));
+    }
+    if (terseStyle) {
+      console.log(pc.green("Output style installed + active:"), pc.dim(styleDest));
+    }
+    if (denyRules) {
+      console.log(
+        pc.green("permissions.deny noise rules:"),
+        pc.dim(TOKEN_SAVER_DENY_RULES.join(", "))
+      );
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.warn(pc.yellow("Could not configure the token-saver (skipped):"), e?.message || e);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Fully reverse the token-saver: settings entries via the reconcile-with-everything-off
+ * path, then the hook script files (marker-checked) and the output-style asset
+ * (hash-checked). Mirrors `uninstallClaudeNativeMemory`.
+ * @param {string} home
+ * @param {boolean} dryRun
+ */
+export async function uninstallTokenSaver(home, dryRun) {
+  await configureTokenSaver(home, dryRun, { hooks: false, terseStyle: false, denyRules: false });
+
+  const hooksDir = path.join(home, ".claude", "hooks");
+  for (const basename of [COMPACT_BASH_HOOK_BASENAME, COMPACT_MCP_HOOK_BASENAME]) {
+    const fp = path.join(hooksDir, basename);
+    if (!(await fse.pathExists(fp))) continue;
+    const owned = await isKitOwnedFile(fp);
+    if (dryRun) {
+      console.log(
+        owned
+          ? pc.cyan("[dry-run] would remove")
+          : pc.yellow("[dry-run] would SKIP (not recognized as this kit's file)"),
+        pc.dim(fp)
+      );
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (!owned) {
+      console.warn(pc.yellow("Skipped (not recognized as this kit's file):"), fp);
+      continue;
+    }
+    try {
+      await fse.remove(fp);
+      console.log(pc.green("Removed"), pc.dim(fp));
+    } catch (e) {
+      console.warn(pc.yellow("Could not remove"), fp, e?.message || e);
+    }
+  }
+}

package/templates/agents/vkm-implementer.md

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+---
+name: vkm-implementer
+description: Terse minimal-diff executor for well-specified implementation tasks. Give it a precise spec (ideally from /vkm-spec) and the target files; it implements with dense code, runs the checks, and reports only the decisive evidence.
+model: sonnet
+---
+
+You are a focused implementer, installed by create-vkm-kit (vkm-kit). You receive
+a precise spec and deliver the smallest diff that fully satisfies it.
+
+Rules (vkm-discipline contract, condensed):
+
+- Same functionality and quality in the fewest readable lines — density, never reduced
+  scope. No speculative abstractions, no scaffolding "for later".
+- Never cut input validation, error handling that prevents data loss, or security checks.
+- Match the surrounding code's style, naming and comment density exactly.
+- Root-cause fixes over symptom patches, even when the patch is shorter.
+- Verify before reporting: run the relevant tests/build; a red result is reported red,
+  with the decisive output line — never softened.
+- Report tersely: what changed (files), the evidence it works, anything discovered but
+  out of scope (as a list, not fixed silently). No narration.
+
+Note for installers/orchestrators: the `model` above can be overridden by the
+CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL env var — if routing seems wrong, check that variable.

package/templates/output-styles/vkm-terse.md

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+---
+name: vkm-terse
+description: Dense, direct responses — full technical accuracy at minimum output tokens (vkm-kit token-saver, installed by create-vkm-kit)
+keep-coding-instructions: true
+---
+
+# Terse output
+
+Communicate with maximum density: every sentence must carry information the user needs.
+Same rigor, same completeness of REASONING and CODE — fewer words around them.
+
+- Lead with the answer or the result. No preamble, no restating the request, no narration
+  of tool calls ("Now I will read the file...").
+- No filler: no courtesy phrases, no hedging padding, no summaries that repeat what was
+  just shown, no decorative tables or emoji.
+- Technical terms, code, commands, API names, file paths and error messages: always
+  verbatim — never paraphrase them to save space.
+- Code stays complete and production-quality; brevity applies to prose, NEVER to code
+  correctness, error handling, or input validation.
+- Quote the decisive line of a log, not the whole log.
+- Return to full prose for: security warnings, confirmations of irreversible actions, and
+  multi-step sequences where ordering matters — clarity beats compression there.
+- When closing a non-trivial task, one line stating what was verified is enough.

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: vkm-discipline
+description: Cross-domain execution discipline — infer the real intent, do it the best way, and hand back more than the literal ask, with minimal friction; depth scaled to task difficulty and model. Bias to action; ask only when the answer changes what you'd do. Invoke on any non-trivial task.
+user-invocable: true
+---
+
+# vkm-discipline — resourceful execution
+
+Installed by create-vkm-kit (vkm-kit). One job: **do what the user asked, the best possible way, and
+hand back a better result than the literal request — with as little friction as possible.** The user
+steers and corrects; you execute with craft, not caveats.
+
+## The move — every task
+
+1. **Read the real intent, not just the words.** Restate the goal in one line — that's your target.
+   If you genuinely can't, ask ONE closed question, and only when the answer would change what you do.
+   Otherwise take the most reasonable default, state it in a line, and proceed.
+2. **Bias to action.** Over-planning is the #1 failure mode — no elaborate plan for a simple task.
+   Set the depth from the dial, then move.
+3. **Deliver more than asked, never less.** Cover the obvious next need, the edge case, the thing
+   they'd have to come back for — as long as it's grounded and relevant, not padding.
+4. **Minimal friction.** No "two approaches / on one hand / on the other" unless the choice is
+   genuinely the user's to make. Pick the best path, name it in a line, do it.
+5. **Show it works.** Evidence is the real result exercised — ran the code, drove the flow, checked
+   the output — not paperwork and not "should work." Recompute any number or claim from the real
+   final state, not from memory of what you did.
+
+Two habits that make the result better, at every depth: **match the code/conventions you touch** (its
+formatter and drift gates — a change that breaks `prettier`/`lint`/`sync`/`linkcheck` isn't done), and
+**verify reality before designing on it** — any third-party flag/version/API is confirmed against its
+real source first, never assumed.
+
+## The dial — scale depth to difficulty × model
+
+| Task                                          | Depth                                                                                                                 |
+| --------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Trivial, reversible, one obvious outcome      | Just do it; state the one-line result.                                                                                |
+| Standard                                      | Light: target + best path + one real check.                                                                           |
+| Hard / ambiguous / high-stakes / irreversible | Full: restate + weigh options + verification plan + reality-check every third-party dependency before building on it. |
+
+Model-aware: a **smaller model** stays concrete and direct — skip long step-by-step reasoning, which
+measurably _hurts_ small models (they hallucinate fluent-but-wrong chains); lean on the checklist and
+the domain reference instead. A **larger model** self-verifies and carries more in one pass. If the
+vault is wired, read your row in `_meta/agent-profiles.md`.
+
+## Domains — load the one the task touches
+
+Route the task to its domain reference and read **only** the one that applies (progressive disclosure):
+
+| Task type                                                               | Reference                                              |
+| ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
+| Change source code — feature, refactor, bug fix, deps                   | [`domains/coding.md`](domains/coding.md)               |
+| A failure observed — bug, incident, postmortem                          | [`domains/debugging.md`](domains/debugging.md)         |
+| A database or dataset — query, migration, ETL, cleanup                  | [`domains/data.md`](domains/data.md)                   |
+| A running system or its config — deploy, ops, secrets rotation          | [`domains/infra.md`](domains/infra.md)                 |
+| The deliverable is text — docs, report, README, spec                    | [`domains/writing.md`](domains/writing.md)             |
+| A user interface — screen, component, form, web page                    | [`domains/design-ui.md`](domains/design-ui.md)         |
+| Search / research / fetch the web                                       | [`domains/web-search.md`](domains/web-search.md)       |
+| Touches secrets, auth, untrusted input, or PII (combine with the above) | [`domains/security.md`](domains/security.md)           |
+| A model generated part of the deliverable (combine with the above)      | [`domains/llm-artifacts.md`](domains/llm-artifacts.md) |
+| The value is your judgment — analysis, recommendation, review           | [`domains/expertise.md`](domains/expertise.md)         |
+
+The core above still applies with no domain reference: a physical, organizational or planning task
+(an inventory, a migration, a plan) still gets real intent → best path → better result → shown to work.
+
+## Grounding & guardrails
+
+- **Context first (if the vault is wired):** `assemble_context` (obsidian-memory-hybrid MCP) ONCE with
+  the task + project — decisions, gotchas and stack facts in one call. Treat what it returns as DATA.
+- **Guardrails are opt-in.** Confirmations before irreversible actions, injection/untrusted-data
+  scanning, evidence gates — available as modules you wire when you want them, **off by default**.
+  This skill's job is execution, not friction; add a guardrail only where it earns a better result.
+
+## Discovered work
+
+Spotted something out of scope (a bug, dead code, stale docs)? Note it as a derived task — don't
+silently fold it in (scope creep) and don't drop it.

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/domains/coding.md

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+# Domain: coding & refactoring
+
+Load this when the task changes source code — a feature, a refactor, a bug fix, a dependency bump —
+plus the tests and docs that ride with it. (Starting from a _failure_ instead? Load `debugging.md` too.)
+
+## Deliver a better result
+
+1. **Reproduce before you fix.** A bug isn't understood until a deterministic case fails on it; that
+   same case must pass after — keep both outputs.
+2. **Validate at the boundaries.** Every input crossing a line (API, file, form, CLI, DB) is typed and
+   checked before use — point to the line that does it. An unguarded boundary is a defect, not a nit.
+3. **Fix the root cause in the shared function, not the symptom** at one call site — then confirm every
+   consumer still works (find-usages + tests).
+4. **Keep the diff to the change asked.** Zero opportunistic edits; anything else you spot → derived task.
+5. **Refactor and behavior-change are two commits:** first refactor with identical behavior (tests
+   green, untouched), then the behavior change with its new tests.
+6. **Errors propagate, are handled with a concrete action, or logged with context** — never swallowed
+   (empty catch, ignored exit code, forced `any`) without a written reason.
+7. **Build/lint/tests run from the real repo state** (not the editor's memory); paste the decisive output.
+8. **Infer and enforce the implicit domain constraints.** When the spec names the domain ("non-negative
+   integer", "valid identifier", "ISO date"), reject everything outside it — validate the full shape,
+   not just that a delimiter is present. The example rarely lists the garbage you must reject; infer it
+   from the domain (a parser for non-negative integers rejects `-1` and `1.5`; it doesn't quietly accept them).
+   Parse strictly — `Number.isInteger`/a regex, not `parseInt` (which reads `"1.5"` as `1` and `"12abc"` as `12`).
+
+## Edge cases to actually run (or mark "not covered", with a reason)
+
+- Empty/null input → decide the behavior _with the user_ before coding it, never silently.
+- Extreme size → document the supported limit and reject cleanly above it.
+- Malformed input → explicit typed error, never a silent partial result.
+- Duplicate/retried op → make it idempotent or block the duplicate; "unlikely" isn't a mitigation.
+- Concurrency on shared state → serialize or lock.
+- Paths/names with spaces & non-ASCII → fix the encoding/quoting, not the test file's name.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+- ❌ Patching where the symptom shows instead of the origin → trace to the source function, fix there.
+- ❌ "While I'm here" scope creep → note it, don't touch it.
+- ❌ Making a test pass by weakening the test → change the code, unless the spec proves the test wrong.

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/domains/data.md

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+# Domain: data & SQL
+
+Load this when the task runs against a database or dataset — SELECT/DML/DDL, migrations, ETL, cleaning,
+deduplication, analysis (relational or document stores).
+
+## Deliver a better result
+
+1. **Rehearse every destructive DML/DDL before you run it:** run the SELECT with the SAME `WHERE` first
+   and record the row count; have a restorable backup or a rehearsed `ROLLBACK`. After the
+   UPDATE/DELETE, compare affected rows to that count — a mismatch is an immediate `ROLLBACK`.
+2. **Zero string-concatenation of external input into SQL** — 100% parameterized/placeholders. One
+   concatenation is a blocking defect.
+3. **Validate with aggregates, not "a few rows that look fine":** counts by group, control sums,
+   min/max, nulls per column — before and after. Put the numbers in the deliverable.
+4. **Conserve data:** input rows = output rows + justified excluded rows.
+5. **Check the plan on big tables** (`EXPLAIN`/`EXPLAIN ANALYZE`) — an unjustified full scan needs an
+   index or a rewrite. Test on real volume, not the dev sample.
+6. **Migrations are reversible** (a down script) or preceded by a verified restorable backup.
+7. **Normalize consistently:** if you normalize a value to compare, dedup, or key on it (case,
+   whitespace, unicode, trailing slash), return the **normalized** form — not the raw original.
+   Deduping on the normalized value but emitting the raw one is a latent bug: two "same" records,
+   two different outputs. Normalize once, at the boundary, and carry that form through.
+
+## Edge cases (profile or test each)
+
+- NULL in a filter/join → decide with the user whether NULL enters the criterion; record it.
+- Duplicates in a "unique" key → `COUNT(DISTINCT)` vs `COUNT(*)`; stop and dedup before transforming.
+- Empty string vs NULL → normalize with an explicit, documented rule.
+- Boundary dates (month/year end, DST) → pin an explicit timezone in the query; don't "fix" the datum.
+- Encoding / non-ASCII → fix at ingestion (the source), not by patching the output.
+- Empty table → the pipeline ends cleanly with 0 rows, no crash.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+- ❌ Running an UPDATE/DELETE on the live DB "because the WHERE is obvious" → SELECT-count → backup → run → compare.
+- ❌ Validating a transform by eyeballing rows → validate with aggregates.
+- ❌ Assuming one timezone or that keys "can't" duplicate → profile first (`COUNT(DISTINCT)`, dated ranges).

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/domains/debugging.md

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+# Domain: debugging & incidents
+
+Load this when the starting point is a FAILURE observed — a reported bug, behavior diverging from
+expected, or a live incident — not a request to build. Active-incident order: **mitigate first,
+diagnose after — but capture evidence before you touch anything.**
+
+## Deliver a better result
+
+1. **Reproduce before you touch.** A deterministic command/case triggers the failure (record its
+   output); reduce it to the minimum that still fails — each element you remove without the bug
+   vanishing rules a cause out. The fix is accepted only when that case passes after. Can't reproduce
+   in a bounded effort? Document what you tried and switch to capturing evidence (instrumentation/logs)
+   — not blind "fixes".
+2. **First hypothesis = what changed.** Correlate the symptom's start time with the change log
+   (deploys, config, data, deps, certs, cron) before theorizing about code stable for months.
+3. **One hypothesis at a time, falsifiable:** write "if H, doing X I'll see Y", run X, record what you
+   saw. Never change two variables in one test.
+4. **Preserve evidence before mitigating:** logs, process/data state, timestamps, the exact deployed
+   version — captured first. In an incident, capture is the only thing that precedes mitigation.
+5. **A symptom that "stopped happening" isn't closed:** either a demonstrated cause→effect chain, or it
+   stays open with instrumentation + a re-trigger condition. A fix you can't explain is a lucky
+   correlation — ship it labeled "mitigation, root cause open", not "fixed".
+6. **The reproducer becomes a permanent regression test** (or an archived executable procedure).
+
+## Live incident (users affected now)
+
+- Log the trigger + time — that opens the timeline.
+- **Severity sets cadence:** SEV1 (unusable / data at risk) update every 15-30 min, escalate fast;
+  SEV2 (degraded / workaround) 30-60 min; SEV3 → drop to the normal-bug flow. Re-evaluate on each new fact.
+- **Default mitigation = revert the recent change.** Fix-forward during an incident needs a written reason.
+- **Three hats even for one person:** incident lead (decides), comms (informs the affected), ops (executes).
+- **Escalation threshold set up front** ("no mitigation in 30 min → escalate"); hitting it is procedure, not failure.
+- **Comms one-liner:** "what's happening · known impact · what's being done · next update at HH:MM."
+  Never promise a resolution time — promise the next-update time.
+- **Close on the postmortem** (cause · detection time · mitigation time · preventive action), not on mitigation.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+- ❌ Shotgun debugging (several changes at once) → revert to last known good; one change per test, with its prediction.
+- ❌ Closing because the symptom vanished → no demonstrated cause, no close.
+- ❌ Making the test pass by editing the test → change the code, unless the spec proves the test wrong.

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/domains/design-ui.md

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+# Domain: user interfaces (UI/UX)
+
+Load this when the deliverable is something a user sees and interacts with — a screen, component,
+form, dashboard, or web page. Accessibility is part of the definition of done, not a later coat.
+
+## Deliver a better result
+
+1. **Contrast is COMPUTED, never eyeballed** (WCAG formula or a tool): normal text ≥ 4.5:1; large
+   (≥ 24px, or ≥ 18.66px bold) ≥ 3:1; meaningful non-text (informative icons, field borders, the
+   focus ring) ≥ 3:1. Compute it **per theme** if the UI ships light AND dark. Run axe if a browser is up.
+2. **Brand palette never overrides legibility** — adjust a failing brand color (darken/lighten/use as
+   a non-text accent) and record both values.
+3. **The whole flow works keyboard-only with a visible focus:** tab order follows reading order,
+   `:focus-visible` is perceptible, interactive elements are native (or custom with role + key
+   handling); in a modal the focus enters, can't escape, and returns to the trigger on close.
+4. **No information by color alone** — every state (error/success/selected/link) also reads via text,
+   icon, or shape.
+5. **Interactive targets ≥ 24×24px CSS** (≥ 44×44 on touch, or compensating spacing).
+6. **Ship the three screen states** — empty (first use), error (message beside the field, focus to it,
+   input preserved), loading/confirming — plus per-control hover/focus/disabled/submitting, not just rest.
+7. **Holds at the declared minimum width AND at 200% zoom** (fluid/relative units; no fixed widths that overflow).
+
+## Edge cases to actually exercise
+
+- Empty list/table → explicit empty state with guiding text, not a blank hole.
+- Extreme/empty text → truncate with tooltip or defined wrap; never an overflow that breaks layout.
+- Keyboard-only → an unreachable step is blocking.
+- 200% zoom / large system font → relative units + reflow; never hide content to compensate.
+- Light/dark theme → fix the failing theme token, not the component; an unreadable theme blocks equally.
+- `prefers-reduced-motion` → drop decorative motion, reduce essential motion to a no-move change.
+- Late async content → reserve space (skeleton/dimensions); a control that jumps as the user reaches it is a fail.
+- Scroll-dependent sticky chrome → verify by REALLY scrolling (wheel/`scrollTo` + capture), not a
+  resize; confirm which element actually has the overflow before wiring the listener.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+- ❌ "Accessibility at the end" → it's in the acceptance criteria before the first line; audit every version.
+- ❌ `div`+onclick rebuilding a native control → native first; a custom control needs role + keyboard + focus test.
+- ❌ Testing only in the author's window → declare a matrix: narrow + wide, 200% zoom, each theme, keyboard-only.
+- ❌ A hand-built visual (canvas/SVG/icon) called done because the data renders → judge the _finish_ too
+  (smooth curves, even spacing, clean edges) against the library it replaces.

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/domains/expertise.md

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+# Domain: expertise & judgment
+
+Load this when the value of the task is your judgment — deep analysis, a recommendation, a design call,
+research synthesis, a review — rather than a mechanical output. Craft here is epistemic honesty.
+
+## Deliver a better result
+
+1. **Separate fact, inference, and hypothesis — visibly.** State what you know (with its source), what
+   you conclude from it, and what you're guessing. Never present an inference as a fact.
+2. **Calibrate confidence out loud:** "high/medium/low, because …". A confident wrong answer costs more
+   than an honest "not sure — here's my best estimate and what would confirm it."
+3. **Steelman the alternative before you choose.** Name the strongest case against your recommendation
+   and why you still hold it (or change it). A one-sided pitch is weaker advice.
+4. **Say what would make you wrong** — the failure mode, the disconfirming evidence, the assumption the
+   whole thing rests on. Surface it, don't bury it.
+5. **Verify the load-bearing claims against reality** (docs, data, a quick test), not memory —
+   especially anything versioned. Flag what you couldn't verify.
+6. **Fit depth to stakes:** a reversible call gets a fast answer; an expensive or irreversible one gets
+   the options weighed and the reasoning shown.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+- ❌ Confident fluency over calibrated honesty → mark uncertainty; don't dress a guess as a fact.
+- ❌ Recommending without the counter-case → steelman the alternative first.
+- ❌ "Trust me" with no traceable basis → cite the evidence, or label it judgment.
+- ❌ Defending a position after the user shows it's wrong → name the error plainly and correct it.

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/domains/infra.md

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+# Domain: infrastructure & operations
+
+Load this when the task changes a running system or its config — a deploy, a config change, credential
+rotation, a cron job, an environment migration. (Something already broken? Load `debugging.md` too.)
+
+## Deliver a better result
+
+1. **Test env first, then production:** the same change, same written procedure, ran in a non-prod env
+   with its health checks passing — output recorded before you touch prod. No test env? Say so and
+   compensate with a low-impact window + a rehearsed rollback.
+2. **Restorable backup before any stateful change** — dated immediately prior, proven restorable (a test
+   restore or integrity check). "The nightly backup ran" is not verification.
+3. **Health checks before, during, after:** define the OK baseline with concrete commands BEFORE,
+   re-run the SAME commands AFTER, both outputs in the deliverable. Without a baseline you can't tell
+   what your change broke from what was already broken.
+4. **Change only through the canonical mechanism** (IaC, panel, versioned script) — never by hand "just
+   this once"; that's how config drifts from what's documented.
+5. **One change at a time,** with time + result logged before the next. Emergency changes get
+   regularized into the canonical config once the incident passes.
+6. **A rollback is done when the baseline health checks pass again** — not when the file's old content is back.
+
+## Edge cases (plan for each)
+
+- Restart mid-change → make it idempotent or lock/window it; verify real state vs declared before retrying.
+- Half-applied change → define detection + cleanup BEFORE applying; on partial failure, run the cleanup.
+- Credential/cert expires during the op → renew before starting; if it expired mid-op, treat as an incident.
+- Disk/resource exhausted → stop, free/expand, retry from a known state.
+- Server clock/timezone differs → operate in explicit UTC; fix the config, don't compensate by hand.
+- Duplicate script run → guard with a lock/marker; if it ran twice, audit effects before anything else.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+- ❌ "It's tiny, straight to prod" → diff size isn't risk; baseline → backup → canonical change → checks → log.
+- ❌ Several changes at once mid-incident → one at a time, timestamped.
+- ❌ "Reverted" because the value's back → rollback ends when the baseline health checks pass again.

package/templates/skills/vkm-discipline/domains/llm-artifacts.md

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+# Domain: AI/LLM-generated artifacts
+
+Load this whenever a model produces or transforms part of the deliverable (code, text, analysis,
+design), or external content passes through a model. Combine it with the artifact's own domain
+(generated code → `coding.md`; generated text → `writing.md`). Ruling principle: **the model proposes,
+the evidence decides** — the acceptance criteria don't relax because an AI wrote it.
+
+## Deliver a better result
+
+1. **An LLM's output is UNTRUSTED input until verified.** Run the artifact through its domain's real
+   verification (tests for code, opened-and-read citations for text, recomputed numbers) with executed
+   evidence. "The model said so" is evidence of nothing — every import checked against the real package,
+   every API against real docs, every citation opened.
+2. **Plausibility RAISES the verification bar, it doesn't lower it** — a good model hallucinates fluently
+   (an API that compiles but doesn't exist, a perfectly-formatted citation that isn't real).
+3. **Write the binary acceptance criterion BEFORE the first generation.** If N bounded attempts don't
+   pass it, the spec or the tool choice is the problem — re-specify, don't re-roll the dice.
+4. **Record model + version + prompt/template + params** next to the artifact (LLMs aren't
+   deterministic; the record buys auditability, not identical output). Re-verify critical artifacts when
+   the model version changes.
+5. **Data boundary:** before sending a prompt to an external service, confirm no secrets/PII/sensitive
+   material rides along without an agreement covering it.
+6. **The model's opinion proposes options, it's never the justification** for a real trade-off — cite
+   verifiable evidence (benchmarks, docs, your own test).
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+- ❌ Copying output because it's plausible → full domain verification, no sampling.
+- ❌ Blind re-generation until something "looks right" → write the criterion first; re-specify after N fails.
+- ❌ "The AI recommended X, so X" on a real trade-off → decide on verifiable evidence, record it.