gentle-pi 4.2.0 → 4.4.0

package/docs/readme-reference.md

@@ -11,12 +11,14 @@ Organic Driven Development (ODD) keeps explore → implement → proportionate c
 
 ODD runs on every request, without the user asking for a workflow, a plan, or task tracking.
 
+The primary-session prompt renders steps 1-7, the phase-reporting line, and the resume line verbatim from Gentle AI's ODD routing block for Pi, published in the provider contract bundle as `routing/pi.md` (contract 1.4.0) and mirrored in `contracts/review-provider-contract-mirror/`. The prompt verifies the mirrored file against the mirror lock's SHA-256 and fails closed when it is missing, tampered, or reshaped. The list below summarizes those steps.
+
 1. **Authorize** — read-only unless implementation is authorized; ask one clarification when intent is ambiguous.
 2. **Explore** — read existing code and requirements first, proportionately to the request.
 3. **Resolve uncertainty** — optional research or one focused product question only for a real unresolved decision.
 4. **Classify** — by the Task Size section: small when understood, risk is contained, and the work could be resumed from the request plus `git diff`; large only when that resume test fails. Counts never classify.
 5. **Track before the first write** — create the feature document and Engram mirror automatically for large work, and tell the user in one line.
-6. **Implement task by task** — route each task through the smallest safe workflow, with configured TDD and applicable checks. Every task closes with at least one work-unit commit on the feature branch (branch first when on the default branch), with tests and docs alongside the behavior, using a Conventional Commit message; the feature document records the commit identity as evidence.
+6. **Implement task by task** — route each task through the smallest safe workflow, with configured TDD and applicable checks. Commit work units in reviewable slices of about 400 authored changed lines on the feature branch (branch first when on the default branch), with tests and docs alongside the behavior and a Conventional Commit message; a unit whose Risk line names a high-risk item gets its own commit so native review can take it alone, and the last slice closes the feature; the feature document records the commit that holds each task as evidence.
 7. **Close** — report the verified outcome, failed/pending checks, and the next step. The native review candidate is a work-unit commit or a PR slice, never a TODO checkbox and never the accumulated feature branch.
 
 - **One feature document:** `odd/tasks/<feature-name>.md` holds objective, problem, why, scope, constraints, actionable checklist with stable IDs and acceptance criteria, verification evidence, progress, and next step. Project-scoped Engram topic `odd/<feature-name>/tasks` mirrors the full document and repository-relative locator. Keep concise rationale for meaningful accepted changes here, not a separate plan or exhaustive journal. Accepted user, review, or verification changes update intent and tasks together; preserve valid completed work, add new tasks or reopen invalidated items with reasons. Findings alone do not authorize expansion or acceptance. Routine corrections stay with their tasks; checkoffs require observed proof.
@@ -33,6 +35,8 @@ ODD runs on every request, without the user asking for a workflow, a plan, or ta
 2. **Verified default/main branch chain** — `chain_strategy=stacked-to-main`; land slices in order on the verified destination default branch, not an assumed name.
 3. **One single PR — least recommended** — `delivery_strategy=single-pr`; review the entire oversized change together.
 
+In a session where no human can answer questions (`pi -p`, `pi --mode json`, or `pi --mode rpc` without `GENTLE_SHELL_INTERACTIVE_HOST=1`, the same rule `ask_user_question` applies), `ask-on-risk` does not ask: the harness tells the orchestrator to use `feature-branch-chain`, record the choice in the feature document's `## Log`, and continue. Consent, maintenance, and opaque-token prompts keep their own rules.
+
 Generate the complete user-facing question and every option label, description, and recommendation marker in the active user's conversation language (English for an English user, Spanish for a Spanish user, etc.). Machine strategy tokens remain unchanged and untranslated. These English examples are illustrative and localizable, not mandatory copy.
 
 The third choice overrides the pending chaining path: clear the chain choice as inapplicable and suppress later chain prompts. `single-pr` is not a `chain_strategy` token; do not automatically select `exception-ok`. Least recommended is scoped to the oversized menu: larger single PRs increase reviewer load, slow feedback, and couple rollback. A focused ≤400-line single PR remains reasonable. Follow the destination repository's documented contribution/size policy; `size:exception` is a Gentle-owned repository policy, not a universal label requirement. Do not request or add it for generic users unless the destination policy uses it; keep applicable maintainer acceptance and protected-label authorization gates. Single-PR output requires no tracker, child dependency diagram, or Chain Context. Choosing shape does not authorize push, PR creation, merge, or review-mode/consent changes. Cache both choices, and record slice boundaries (which commits each PR holds) in the feature document for chains, or the whole-PR scope for single PR. Resolve the `work-unit-commits` and `chained-pr` skills by registry name before planning or creating any PR.
@@ -57,7 +61,7 @@ flowchart TD
     TC --> M[Implement next authorized task]
     M --> N[Applicable functional checks]
     N --> O[Record truthful results; update tracked intent, tasks and mirror]
-    O --> OC[Close task with a work-unit commit]
+    O --> OC[Commit at a slice boundary; a high-risk unit alone]
     OC --> P{Authorized work remains?}
     P -->|Yes| M
     P -->|No| Q{RDD enabled at work-unit commit boundary?}
@@ -98,6 +102,9 @@ missing Herdr/socket contexts do not publish. The packaged extension loads throu
 
 Herdr 0.8.2/protocol 20 needs **two separate rows**, not a newline inside a token:
 add `['$summary'], ['$summary2']` to the Agents sidebar rows in your config.
+Inside a Herdr pane, `/gentle:doctor` shows whether publishing is active and this
+read-only setup hint; Gentle Shell never edits Herdr config. Configure the Herdr
+client that displays the session (also over SSH), then reload or restart Herdr.
 The first row is `◐ title`; the extension prefixes the optional continuation with
 two spaces, though Herdr may normalize leading whitespace.
 Text wraps by display cells, preferring word boundaries unless a grapheme-safe
@@ -150,8 +157,8 @@ otherwise `herdr` from `PATH`, without a shell.
 | **Skill creation workflow**    | Provides the `gentle-ai-skill-creator`/`gentle-ai-skill-improver` skills, `/skill-creation` prompt, and packaged style guide for LLM-first skills. |
 | **Delivery skills**            | Includes issue-first PRs, chained PRs, work-unit commits, cognitive docs, comment writing, and Judgment Day review.                           |
 | **Bounded native review**      | Freezes one candidate, dispatches only controller-selected lenses, and records native authority. Review outcomes are informational; delivery follows ordinary repository policy. |
-| **Verified native runtime**    | The current source checkout provisions the exact package-local Gentle AI v4.1.1 runtime: signed, SHA-256-pinned release archives on Darwin/Linux and a Go SumDB-verified source build on Windows x64/arm64. It validates package-local integrity and rejects PATH, global, sibling, symlink, and mode fallbacks. |
-| **Runtime safety**             | Blocks destructive shell commands, asks for confirmation for sensitive operations, and blocks direct read/write/edit access to sensitive paths. |
+| **Verified native runtime**    | The current source checkout provisions the exact package-local Gentle AI v4.3.1 runtime: signed, SHA-256-pinned release archives on Darwin/Linux and a Go SumDB-verified source build on Windows x64/arm64. It validates package-local integrity and rejects PATH, global, sibling, symlink, and mode fallbacks. |
+| **Runtime safety**             | Blocks destructive shell commands, asks for confirmation for sensitive operations, and blocks direct read/write/edit access to sensitive paths. Blocks writing a test file that reads git history at a literal commit or points `TMPDIR` inside the working directory (including a relative path such as `.tmp`, `./.tmp`, or `tmp/x`), in the primary session and in subagents. Refuses native review tools (`gentle_review*`) called from inside another tool, such as a codemode script: they run only as direct tool calls. |
 
 ## Audio notifications
 
@@ -199,7 +206,7 @@ gentle-shell
 gentle-shell --link
 ```
 
-`gentle-shell` alone starts in its own home, `~/.gentle-shell/agent`. `gentle-shell --link` reuses `~/.pi/agent` as-is. Run `gentle-shell home link` to make `--link` the default. Full flags, env vars, and modes: [gentle-shell launcher](#gentle-shell-launcher).
+`gentle-shell` alone starts in its own home, `~/.gentle-shell/agent`, with its own settings in `~/.gentle-shell/gentle-ai` ([config home](#config-home)). `gentle-shell --link` reuses `~/.pi/agent` as-is. Run `gentle-shell home link` to make `--link` the default, or `gentle-shell home import-pi` to copy your pi sign-ins into the separate home instead ([`home` subcommand](#home-subcommand-and-gentle-shellconfigjson)). Full flags, env vars, and modes: [gentle-shell launcher](#gentle-shell-launcher).
 
 ### Path B: inside an existing pi
 
@@ -211,7 +218,7 @@ This installs the current npm release; select an explicit version if you need a
 
 ### Source checkout
 
-This checkout declares `gentle-pi` `4.0.0` with a package-local Gentle AI `v4.1.1` pin. Checkout metadata alone is not proof of npm publication; verify the registry version and its release workflow.
+This checkout declares `gentle-pi` `4.0.0` with a package-local Gentle AI `v4.3.1` pin. Checkout metadata alone is not proof of npm publication; verify the registry version and its release workflow.
 
 ### Pi compatibility
 
@@ -227,7 +234,7 @@ Project-local installs (`pi install -l`), Git installs outside that exact global
 
 Malformed/nonobject JSON, symlink/nonregular settings, unsafe paths, or a busy settings lock fail without replacing settings. The installer coordinates with Pi's cooperative settings lock and uses atomic replacement; it does not guarantee safety against noncooperating writers or malicious concurrent directory replacement. Already-fullscreen settings remain byte-identical. Native installation failure leaves settings untouched; `GENTLE_PI_SKIP_GENTLE_AI_INSTALL=1` skips only native provisioning, not the recognized global fullscreen setting.
 
-### RDD history and opt-in
+### RDD history and default
 
 Native RDD was introduced in `gentle-pi` `v0.15.0` on 2026-07-10 with bounded review transactions. The current stable release, [`v3.5.1`](https://github.com/Gentleman-Programming/gentle-shell/releases/tag/v3.5.1), includes native RDD:
 
@@ -236,9 +243,9 @@ Native RDD was introduced in `gentle-pi` `v0.15.0` on 2026-07-10 with bounded re
 pi install npm:gentle-pi@3.5.1
 ```
 
-RDD remains opt-in. Enable it only through an explicit user decision with `/gentle:review-mode enable`; `status` lets you inspect the mode without changing it. The `.git/gentle-ai/candidate-views` parent must sit on a filesystem that honors private POSIX modes (or equivalent Windows ACLs); WSL DrvFS mounts without metadata can reject START before lineage creation.
+RDD is optional and on by default (since Gentle AI v4.0.0). Turn it off anytime with `/gentle:review-mode disable` for this clone or `gentle-ai review mode disable` machine-wide; `/gentle:review-mode enable` only clears a clone-local off, and `status` lets you inspect the mode without changing it. The `.git/gentle-ai/candidate-views` parent must sit on a filesystem that honors private POSIX modes (or equivalent Windows ACLs); WSL DrvFS mounts without metadata can reject START before lineage creation.
 
-The source checkout's RDD integration installs Gentle AI only into its private `.gentle-ai/` directory. Darwin and Linux use pinned release assets with asset and executable SHA-256 verification (signed archives for source pin `v4.1.1`; raw prerelease binaries only under a prerelease pin). Windows x64 and arm64 build the exact `v4.1.1` source tag with a local Go 1.25.10+ toolchain, a sealed Go environment, `GOTOOLCHAIN=local`, and `GOSUMDB=sum.golang.org`; it does not download Go automatically (the [installation wizard](install-wizard.md#pinned-go) can put its own pinned Go first on PATH for that build). Go runs in a short private directory under the system temp directory, never inside the package, because a deep pnpm store path pushes Go's working directories past MAX_PATH; a failed build prints its whole cause chain with the failing command's output tail. Windows provenance is Go-toolchain plus SumDB evidence and postinstall tamper detection, **not** Authenticode or protection against a malicious joint binary-and-manifest replacement. Package-private locks coordinate cooperative concurrent or crashed installers; their tombstones fail closed. A malicious same-user process with write access to package-private `node_modules` is outside that protocol because it can already replace package code, binary, or manifest, and portable Node has no pathname-delete CAS. It never uses `PATH` or a global `gentle-ai` installation. For development or offline installs only, set `GENTLE_PI_SKIP_GENTLE_AI_INSTALL=1`; native review operations then fail closed with an actionable `package-local-binary-missing` error. To recover explicitly, if `GENTLE_PI_SKIP_GENTLE_AI_INSTALL` is set, remove or unset it before changing to the installed `gentle-pi` package directory. Then run `node scripts/install-gentle-ai.mjs`. This invokes the package-owned installer without relying on a global binary or npm configuration change. A missing binary can result from skipped lifecycle scripts, but does not prove that lifecycle scripts were disabled.
+The source checkout's RDD integration installs Gentle AI only into its private `.gentle-ai/` directory. Darwin and Linux use pinned release assets with asset and executable SHA-256 verification (signed archives for source pin `v4.3.1`; raw prerelease binaries only under a prerelease pin). Windows x64 and arm64 build the exact `v4.3.1` source tag with a local Go 1.25.10+ toolchain, a sealed Go environment, `GOTOOLCHAIN=local`, and `GOSUMDB=sum.golang.org`; it does not download Go automatically (the [installation wizard](install-wizard.md#pinned-go) can put its own pinned Go first on PATH for that build). Go runs in a short private directory under the system temp directory, never inside the package, because a deep pnpm store path pushes Go's working directories past MAX_PATH; a failed build prints its whole cause chain with the failing command's output tail. Windows provenance is Go-toolchain plus SumDB evidence and postinstall tamper detection, **not** Authenticode or protection against a malicious joint binary-and-manifest replacement. Package-private locks coordinate cooperative concurrent or crashed installers; their tombstones fail closed. A malicious same-user process with write access to package-private `node_modules` is outside that protocol because it can already replace package code, binary, or manifest, and portable Node has no pathname-delete CAS. It never uses `PATH` or a global `gentle-ai` installation. For development or offline installs only, set `GENTLE_PI_SKIP_GENTLE_AI_INSTALL=1`; native review operations then fail closed with an actionable `package-local-binary-missing` error. To recover explicitly, if `GENTLE_PI_SKIP_GENTLE_AI_INSTALL` is set, remove or unset it before changing to the installed `gentle-pi` package directory. Then run `node scripts/install-gentle-ai.mjs`. This invokes the package-owned installer without relying on a global binary or npm configuration change. A missing binary can result from skipped lifecycle scripts, but does not prove that lifecycle scripts were disabled.
 
 Recommended companion packages, into the standalone `gentle-shell` home:
 
@@ -305,7 +312,7 @@ gentle-shell self-uninstall [--dry-run] [--yes] [--include-shared]
 | Flag | Effect |
 | --- | --- |
 | `--link` | Home is your own pi home: `GENTLE_SHELL_USER_PI_HOME` when a Gentle Shell session recorded it (so `--link` run from inside an isolated session reaches your original pi, not the isolated home), otherwise `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` or `~/.pi/agent`. Reuses your existing pi sign-ins, models, and chats; never writes to its `settings.json`. |
-| `--isolated` | Home is `GENTLE_SHELL_HOME` or `~/.gentle-shell/agent`. No credential seeding. Default when nothing else is configured. |
+| `--isolated` | Home is `GENTLE_SHELL_HOME` or `~/.gentle-shell/agent`, with its own settings in `~/.gentle-shell/gentle-ai` ([config home](#config-home)); a custom `GENTLE_SHELL_HOME` outside a `.gentle-shell` folder keeps `~/.pi/gentle-ai`. No credential seeding. Default when nothing else is configured. |
 | `--home <path>` | Home is the given directory. |
 | `--package-root <dir>` | Force this directory as the gentle-pi package to load, taking over from any conflicting package the target `settings.json` already declares (see "Loading the package" below). |
 | `--help`, `-h` | Print usage (flags, commands, env vars) and exit 0. |
@@ -314,17 +321,64 @@ gentle-shell self-uninstall [--dry-run] [--yes] [--include-shared]
 
 `--link`, `--isolated`, and `--home` are mutually exclusive; combining two is a usage error, as is `--home` or `--home=` with an empty value. Effective-home precedence: an explicit flag wins, then the persisted `home` subcommand choice, then the `--isolated` default. Every argument gentle-shell does not recognize — `--mode rpc`, `-p "..."`, etc. — is forwarded to pi unchanged.
 
+### Config home
+
+Gentle Shell keeps its settings (profiles, models, banner, vim, permission mode
+and the other `/gentle:*` preferences) in one config home. Every reader uses the
+same rule, in this order:
+
+1. A bundled install: `<prefix>/config/gentle-ai`.
+2. `GENTLE_PI_CONFIG_HOME`, when set and not empty.
+3. The isolated home (`--isolated`, the default) at `<dir>/.gentle-shell/agent`:
+   the `gentle-ai` folder next to it, `~/.gentle-shell/gentle-ai` by default. The
+   launcher tells Pi through `GENTLE_SHELL_CONFIG_HOME`.
+4. Otherwise `~/.pi/gentle-ai`: `--link`, a custom `--home <path>`, a custom
+   `GENTLE_SHELL_HOME` outside a `.gentle-shell` folder (its parent may be any
+   folder, such as your home, so Gentle Shell never claims a `gentle-ai` folder
+   there), and gentle-pi installed inside Pi (Path B).
+
+So a standalone install and a Pi install with gentle-pi no longer share one
+store. Wherever this document names `~/.pi/gentle-ai` for a user setting, the
+isolated home uses `~/.gentle-shell/gentle-ai` instead.
+
+**First launch after the move.** When `~/.gentle-shell/gentle-ai` does not exist
+yet, the launcher creates it (mode `0700`) and copies the regular files from
+`~/.pi/gentle-ai` into it once, printing one line that names both folders. It
+never overwrites, never changes or deletes the source (Pi still uses it), and
+skips symbolic links and subfolders. A failed copy is reported and the launch
+continues. Once the folder exists, nothing is copied again. With an explicit
+`GENTLE_PI_CONFIG_HOME` nothing is copied.
+
+**Files that stay in `~/.pi/gentle-ai`.** The main channel's install-level state
+(`channel.json`, `dev-binary.json`, `main/` and `tools/go`) is written by the
+installer and `gentle-shell upgrade`, outside any session, so it keeps
+`GENTLE_PI_CONFIG_HOME` or `~/.pi/gentle-ai` for every home and is not copied.
+Gentle AI runs that Gentle Shell starts from the isolated home get the same
+folder the bundled way (`GENTLE_AI_PI_CONFIG_DIR`, plus `GENTLE_PI_CONFIG_HOME`
+set to its parent for Gentle AI 4.0.0). A Gentle AI release that ignores both
+still writes `persona.json` to `~/.pi/gentle-ai`, so `setup` restores both
+persona files.
+
 ### `home` subcommand and `~/.gentle-shell/config.json`
 
 `gentle-shell home` alone prints the effective mode and directory (`<mode> <dir>`) without persisting anything. `gentle-shell home link`, `gentle-shell home isolated`, or `gentle-shell home <path>` persists that choice to `~/.gentle-shell/config.json` as `{"home": "link" | "isolated" | "<path>"}`, so a later plain `gentle-shell` picks it up; a flag on a given invocation still overrides the persisted config without rewriting it.
 
+`gentle-shell [--isolated | --home <path>] home import-pi [--dry-run]` copies your pi sign-ins into a separate home instead of sharing them with `--link`. The source is your own pi home, resolved like `--link` (`GENTLE_SHELL_USER_PI_HOME`, then `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`, then `~/.pi/agent`); the target is the resolved home (a flag, then the persisted choice, then the isolated default). It copies only:
+
+- `auth.json`, written with mode `0600`, and `mcp.json`, with its source mode, each only when the target has no such file;
+- `defaultProvider`, `defaultModel` and `defaultThinkingLevel` from the source `settings.json`, each only when the target `settings.json` lacks that key. Every other target key stays as it was; the file is rewritten atomically, and only when a key is added.
+
+It never overwrites, never follows a symbolic link, never copies `packages`, `extensions`, `theme`, `npmCommand`, caches (`mcp-cache.json`, `mcp-npx-cache.json`), `AGENTS.md` or sessions, and never writes to the source. A target that does not exist yet (or is empty) is first set up exactly as a first launch would ([first run](#first-run-in-an-isolated-or-custom-home)), so the imported files never make it look foreign and the next launch still provisions it. It prints one line per item (`copied`, `already present, kept`, `not found`, `skipped: <reason>`, `failed: <reason>`) and a summary; `--dry-run` prints the same plan and writes nothing. It exits 0 when it succeeds or has nothing to do, 1 when a write fails (items already copied stay) or when the target is your pi home itself (`--link`, or a `--home` pointing at it), and 2 on any other argument. Running it again is safe.
+
+Tradeoff: `--link` shares one credential store with pi; `import-pi` duplicates it. A provider that rotates refresh tokens on use may sign out whichever copy refreshes second; run `/login` again in that home.
+
 ### Managing packages
 
 `gentle-shell install npm:<pkg>`, `gentle-shell remove ...`, `gentle-shell list`, `gentle-shell update ...`, `gentle-shell config`, and `gentle-shell auth ...` run pi's own commands against the resolved home — the `--isolated` home by default, or your own pi home with `--link`. A launcher flag before the subcommand (`--link`, `--isolated`, `--home <path>`) still selects which home the subcommand runs against. Running `gentle-shell install npm:gentle-pi` inside the isolated home is unnecessary: the launcher already loads the Gentle Shell package itself (see "Loading the package" below).
 
 `gentle-shell list` and extension updates follow that same home selection. `gentle-shell update --extensions-only` preserves Pi's extension-only command; `--extensions`, package targets, and model updates also stay with Pi.
 
-`gentle-shell update` updates the selected Pi through its verified npm or pnpm global owner, avoiding Pi's self-update refusal for pnpm v11 linked stores. Ownership requires successful global listing JSON, an exact canonical listed package-root/CLI match, and binding to the selected runtime. An adjacent peer (the launcher's `bundled` runtime) is supplied by the exact listed `gentle-pi` package: that Shell package is reinstalled at its current version so the manager re-resolves the peer, and a separate global Pi is never the target, because updating it leaves the peer a Shell install runs unchanged. A `PATH` or `GENTLE_SHELL_PI` runtime is supplied only by its own listed global Pi package; when that executable is a package-manager shim (pnpm's POSIX shim, a `.cmd`), Shell follows the single `dist/bundle/cli.js` it names, relative to the shim's directory, and refuses shims naming none or several. Pi and Shell are never installed together in a comma group, and unrelated packages are never reinstalled. Merely residing under `PNPM_HOME` proves nothing. Adjacent peers resolve where the package manager places them: nested under the Shell package (npm), beside it in pnpm's linked store, or in the global group's own `node_modules`. npm source/link entries are rejected. pnpm updates additionally require that the actual old global group contains only the target top-level package: aggregated listings may contain other, separate groups, but shared groups are rejected because pnpm can remove the whole old group. Unknown, malformed, failed, or ambiguous ownership refuses before installation; update source checkouts and other unsupported layouts with their supplying package manager.
+`gentle-shell update` updates the selected Pi through its verified npm or pnpm global owner, avoiding Pi's self-update refusal for pnpm v11 linked stores. Ownership requires successful global listing JSON, an exact canonical listed package-root/CLI match, and binding to the selected runtime. An adjacent peer (the launcher's `bundled` runtime) is supplied by the exact listed `gentle-pi` package: that Shell package is reinstalled at its current version so the manager re-resolves the peer (a main-channel `<version>-main.<sha12>` Shell, which is never published, from the tarball `gentle-shell upgrade --channel main` packed under `<config home>/main/packages/` (an absolute `GENTLE_PI_CONFIG_HOME`, else `~/.pi/gentle-ai`; a relative override is refused), refusing without installation when it is missing and naming `gentle-shell upgrade --channel release` then `--channel main` as the rebuild path), and a separate global Pi is never the target, because updating it leaves the peer a Shell install runs unchanged. A `PATH` or `GENTLE_SHELL_PI` runtime is supplied only by its own listed global Pi package; when that executable is a package-manager shim (pnpm's POSIX shim, a `.cmd`), Shell follows the single `dist/bundle/cli.js` it names, relative to the shim's directory, and refuses shims naming none or several. Pi and Shell are never installed together in a comma group, and unrelated packages are never reinstalled. Merely residing under `PNPM_HOME` proves nothing. Adjacent peers resolve where the package manager places them: nested under the Shell package (npm), beside it in pnpm's linked store, or in the global group's own `node_modules`. npm source/link entries are rejected. pnpm updates additionally require that the actual old global group contains only the target top-level package: aggregated listings may contain other, separate groups, but shared groups are rejected because pnpm can remove the whole old group. Unknown, malformed, failed, or ambiguous ownership refuses before installation; update source checkouts and other unsupported layouts with their supplying package manager.
 
 After a successful install, Shell reads the supplied Pi version back from a fresh global listing and reports it, naming the previous version when it changed. An unchanged pnpm result also names pnpm's `minimumReleaseAge` setting: pnpm installs only releases older than that age (pnpm 11 defaults to 4320 minutes), so a very recent Pi release is picked up once it is old enough; Shell reports the rule rather than overriding it. Both the listing and the install run from the system temporary directory, so a project's `packageManager` pin in the current directory never changes which pnpm answers. When the version cannot be read back, the output says so and points at `gentle-shell --version`.
 
@@ -332,9 +386,9 @@ Prefix-bundled installations keep their existing `gentle-shell upgrade` route fo
 
 ### `setup` subcommand
 
-**Bundled Engram safety:** a fresh state uses the checksum-pinned Engram 3.4.0: before Pi starts, Shell provisions the new store's identity with that core and records it, so later launches keep using it, and a store Shell did not provision is never adopted. A running server is reused only through Engram's exact `GET /compatibility` ready contract, or when it is Shell's own store with the recorded `/health` instance and the exact bundled core version. Anything else (foreign or unknown data, provenance mismatch, a newer schema in the database header, a token-protected or unknown server) disables memory with an explanation of the missing safety evidence and backup precautions (matching versions or updating alone do not prove compatibility), and Shell points `ENGRAM_BIN` at its own guard (`bin/engram-guard`), which fails before any store access for every gentle-engram from 0.4.1 on, whichever Pi route loaded it. No compatibility is inferred from versions. An explicit `ENGRAM_BIN` or `ENGRAM_URL` is never replaced and bypasses the guard. Every launch also pins `npm:gentle-engram@0.4.2` through Pi's own `install` command and verifies `engram.startupPolicy: 1`; a failed check is reported and Shell still starts. See [bundled startup safety](bundled-install.md#engram-startup-safety) for the full rules and known limits.
+**Bundled Engram safety:** Shell shares the global Engram server on `127.0.0.1:7437`, like other agents' hooks. A running server is reused only through Engram's exact `GET /compatibility` ready contract; when nothing listens, Shell starts the checksum-pinned Engram 3.5.2 core as a detached `engram serve` (Engram's default port and `~/.engram`, no update check, no GitHub tokens) and waits up to 10 seconds for that same contract, so you never start the server yourself. An existing store does not disable memory by itself, whoever created it; only a database header from a newer Engram schema keeps Shell from starting its older core on it. Anything else (a server that does not verify, a token-protected or unknown server, a start that fails or never reports ready) disables memory for that launch with an explanation of the missing safety evidence and backup precautions (matching versions or updating alone do not prove compatibility); Shell never stops or replaces a listening server. Shell always points `ENGRAM_BIN` at its own guard (`bin/engram-guard`), which fails before any store access for every gentle-engram from 0.4.1 on, whichever Pi route loaded it, so memory reaches the store only through the verified server's `ENGRAM_URL`. No compatibility is inferred from versions. An explicit `ENGRAM_BIN` or `ENGRAM_URL` is never replaced and bypasses the guard. Every launch also pins `npm:gentle-engram@0.4.2` through Pi's own `install` command and verifies `engram.startupPolicy: 1`; a failed check is reported and Shell still starts. See [bundled startup safety](bundled-install.md#engram-startup-safety) for the full rules and known limits.
 
-The memory decision never skips or fails bundled setup: it always publishes the verified core, runs Gentle AI and pins the companion, then only selects the Engram environment (core or guard) for setup children and the launched Pi. `--dry-run` installs nothing. Non-bundled setup keeps the existing behavior described below.
+The memory decision never skips or fails bundled setup: it always publishes the verified core, runs Gentle AI and pins the companion, then only selects the Engram environment (the guard as `ENGRAM_BIN`, plus `ENGRAM_URL` when memory is allowed) for setup children and the launched Pi. `--dry-run` installs nothing. Non-bundled setup keeps the existing behavior described below.
 
 `gentle-shell setup` provisions the resolved home — the same home selection as any other invocation, `--isolated` by default, or `--link`/`--home <path>` when given before `setup` — with the same companion packages a regular `gentle-ai install --agent pi` installs into a Pi agent home: `npm:gentle-pi`, `npm:gentle-engram`, `npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-ask-user-question`, `npm:pi-web-access`, `npm:pi-btw`, plus running `pi-engram init`. It never touches `~/.pi/agent` unless you pass `--link`.
 
@@ -348,11 +402,13 @@ with `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` and `GENTLE_PI_AGENT_HOME` set to the resolved home,
 
 Requires the package-local gentle-ai pin at v3.6.0 or newer — the pin that adds `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` support to `gentle-ai install`. `setup` enforces this before spawning anything: an older pinned gentle-ai ignores that variable and would silently install into `~/.pi/agent` instead of the target home, so `setup` exits 1 with `gentle-shell: setup needs the package-local gentle-ai v3.6.0 or newer (pinned: <version>); this build cannot provision a home without touching ~/.pi/agent` instead of spawning it.
 
-gentle-ai's managed Pi stack always declares `npm:gentle-pi` itself in the home's `settings.json` as part of that install. Once gentle-ai exits 0, `setup` removes it again immediately: this launcher always loads its own gentle-pi (its own package root, or a take-over — see "Loading the package" below), never the one gentle-ai's stack just installed, so leaving that declaration in place would let the home drift onto whatever gentle-pi npm last installed — or, for a developer running from a source checkout, onto the published npm package — instead of the running launcher's own copy. `setup` also removes `npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-ask-user-question` the same way, if gentle-ai declared it: that package conflicts with gentle-pi's own first-party `ask_user_question` tool, and Pi refuses to load two providers for the same tool name (tracked upstream as gentle-ai #4820). `--dry-run` only reports both pending removals instead of running them. A home only ever keeps a `npm:gentle-pi` declaration — and so only ever stops getting the launcher's own injection (see "Loading the package" below) — when something puts it back after `setup` runs: a hand-edited `settings.json`, or `gentle-shell install npm:gentle-pi` run manually; in that case the home behaves like a regular Pi agent home with gentle-pi installed, and `gentle-shell update npm:gentle-pi` updates it like any other package.
+`setup` runs gentle-ai with `GENTLE_AI_PI_EXCLUDE_PACKAGES=npm:gentle-pi` (merged with any value you already set), so a Gentle AI that supports package exclusion (gentle-ai #5503) never installs the launcher-owned `npm:gentle-pi` at all. An older Gentle AI ignores the variable and its managed Pi stack declares `npm:gentle-pi` itself in the home's `settings.json` as part of that install. Once gentle-ai exits 0, `setup` removes any such declaration again immediately: this launcher always loads its own gentle-pi (its own package root, or a take-over — see "Loading the package" below), never the one gentle-ai's stack just installed, so leaving that declaration in place would let the home drift onto whatever gentle-pi npm last installed — or, for a developer running from a source checkout, onto the published npm package — instead of the running launcher's own copy. `setup` also removes `npm:@juicesharp/rpiv-ask-user-question` the same way, if gentle-ai declared it: that package conflicts with gentle-pi's own first-party `ask_user_question` tool, and Pi refuses to load two providers for the same tool name (tracked upstream as gentle-ai #4820). `--dry-run` only reports both pending removals instead of running them. A home only ever keeps a `npm:gentle-pi` declaration — and so only ever stops getting the launcher's own injection (see "Loading the package" below) — when something puts it back after `setup` runs: a hand-edited `settings.json`, or `gentle-shell install npm:gentle-pi` run manually; in that case the home behaves like a regular Pi agent home with gentle-pi installed, and `gentle-shell update npm:gentle-pi` updates it like any other package.
+
+**Configuring MCP servers**: `gentle-shell mcp <command>` runs Pi's own `mcp` command against the resolved home, so a standalone install configures MCP without a separate `pi` command. For example, `gentle-shell mcp add <name> -- <command> [args...]` adds a stdio server, `gentle-shell mcp add <name> --url <url>` adds a remote one, and `gentle-shell mcp list` shows what the home's `mcp.json` defines. Restart Gentle Shell to load new servers.
 
 **MCP migration**: Pi >= 0.99.0 provides built-in MCP; gentle-ai retires `pi-mcp-adapter` instead of installing it. After successful setup and package cleanup, Gentle Shell warns on stderr if `settings.json` still contains `"-builtin:mcp"`, `mcp.json` defines servers, and no active adapter remains. The warning names both files and the entry to remove. Setup never removes that entry or edits `mcp.json`: disabling MCP may be intentional. To enable those servers, remove only `"-builtin:mcp"` from `extensions` in the named `settings.json`, preserve other entries, and restart Pi. A declaration with `autoload: false` and no enabling extension patterns, an empty `extensions` list, or an ordinary `extensions: ["!**"]` filter without force-includes is inactive. Other nonempty filters require matching actual package resources, so setup reports uncertain adapter activity instead of silently treating the adapter as active. This read-only check also runs after automatic provisioning, but not during `--dry-run`. Errors encountered by the diagnostic produce an inspection warning without changing a successful setup's exit code; existing install and cleanup failures still propagate normally.
 
-**Known limitation**: gentle-ai always writes its persona file to the shared `~/.pi/gentle-ai/persona.json` without honoring `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`, so the persona is shared across every home `gentle-shell setup` provisions, not per-home. `setup` keeps that file byte-identical across the run regardless — snapshotting it before spawning gentle-ai and restoring it afterward, in manual, `--dry-run`, and automatic first-run modes alike — because the pinned gentle-ai still writes the Pi persona outside `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`. gentle-ai also records the running binary's managed-asset digest in the shared `~/.gentle-ai/state.json` (`managed_asset_digest`), again regardless of `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`, so a `setup` run otherwise leaves the user's own (unrelated, on-`PATH`) gentle-ai reporting its managed assets as outdated and demanding `gentle-ai sync`. `setup` restores just that one field afterward, the same way and in the same modes — but never the whole file, since `state.json` also carries fields (like the installed-agents list) the pinned gentle-ai is meant to update, and it never creates or deletes `state.json` itself.
+**Known limitation**: the pinned gentle-ai writes its persona file to the shared `~/.pi/gentle-ai/persona.json` without honoring `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` (for the isolated home it may also write `~/.gentle-shell/gentle-ai/persona.json`; both are restored), so the persona is shared across every home `gentle-shell setup` provisions, not per-home. `setup` keeps that file byte-identical across the run regardless — snapshotting it before spawning gentle-ai and restoring it afterward, in manual, `--dry-run`, and automatic first-run modes alike — because the pinned gentle-ai still writes the Pi persona outside `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`. gentle-ai also records the running binary's managed-asset digest in the shared `~/.gentle-ai/state.json` (`managed_asset_digest`), again regardless of `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR`, so a `setup` run otherwise leaves the user's own (unrelated, on-`PATH`) gentle-ai reporting its managed assets as outdated and demanding `gentle-ai sync`. `setup` restores just that one field afterward, the same way and in the same modes — but never the whole file, since `state.json` also carries fields (like the installed-agents list) the pinned gentle-ai is meant to update, and it never creates or deletes `state.json` itself.
 
 **Test/development only**: `GENTLE_SHELL_GENTLE_AI_BIN` overrides which gentle-ai executable `setup` runs, bypassing the pinned package-local resolution. `GENTLE_SHELL_GENTLE_AI_PIN` overrides the pin version `setup` (and automatic first-run provisioning, below) checks against `MIN_SETUP_GENTLE_AI_VERSION` (3.6.0), independent of `GENTLE_SHELL_GENTLE_AI_BIN`. `GENTLE_SHELL_GENTLE_AI_INSTALLER` overrides the script path `setup` runs to self-heal a missing package-local binary, instead of the real `scripts/install-gentle-ai.mjs`. `GENTLE_SHELL_CONFIG` overrides the launcher config.json path (normally `<homedir>/.gentle-shell/config.json`), read and written by the `home` subcommand and by automatic first-run provisioning's marker. `GENTLE_SHELL_AUTO_SETUP_TIMEOUT_MS` overrides automatic first-run provisioning's 15-minute per-child timeout ceiling (manual `setup` never has one). All five exist for the test suite and for exercising a different gentle-ai build/pin/installer/config/timeout; end users never need them.
 
@@ -377,10 +433,12 @@ If none resolve, `gentle-shell` exits 1 naming all three options. Once a runtime
 | `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` | Read to resolve the `--link` home when `GENTLE_SHELL_USER_PI_HOME` is unset; also set on the pi child process to the effective home. |
 | `GENTLE_SHELL_USER_PI_HOME` | Set on the pi child process to your own pi home (recorded before isolating). Read back first to resolve the `--link` home and by `/gentle:stats`, so a nested `gentle-shell` keeps pointing at your original pi. |
 | `GENTLE_PI_AGENT_HOME` | Set on the pi child process to the effective home; gentle-pi's own home resolution reads it back. |
+| `GENTLE_SHELL_CONFIG_HOME` | Set on the pi child process only for the isolated home, to its config folder ([config home](#config-home)); removed for `--link`, `--home` and bundled launches. |
+| `GENTLE_PI_CONFIG_HOME` | Your own override of the config home for every mode except a bundled install; outranks the isolated home's folder. |
 | `GENTLE_SHELL_NO_AUTO_SETUP` | Set to `1` to skip automatic first-run provisioning (see "First run in an isolated or custom home" below). |
 | `ENGRAM_STARTUP_POLICY` | Bundled startup recomputes `allow` or `disabled` from safety evidence. Explicit empty/invalid values remain disabled; user `allow` does not override unknown data. Standalone provider behavior with the variable absent is unchanged. |
 | `ENGRAM_STARTUP_NOTICE` | Display-only recovery guidance; never executed. |
-| `ENGRAM_BIN`, `ENGRAM_URL`, `ENGRAM_PORT`, `ENGRAM_DATA_DIR`, `ENGRAM_DATABASE_URL` | Explicit selections are not probed by Shell and keep bundled memory disabled. An explicit `ENGRAM_BIN` or `ENGRAM_URL` is never replaced and bypasses the guard (an `ENGRAM_URL` alone still gets the verified core, or the guard, as `ENGRAM_BIN`); without them, bundled Shell sets `ENGRAM_BIN` (core or guard) and, for verified reuse, `ENGRAM_URL`. |
+| `ENGRAM_BIN`, `ENGRAM_URL`, `ENGRAM_PORT`, `ENGRAM_DATA_DIR`, `ENGRAM_DATABASE_URL`, `ENGRAM_SERVER_MODE` | Explicit selections are not probed by Shell and keep bundled memory disabled. An explicit `ENGRAM_BIN` or `ENGRAM_URL` is never replaced and bypasses the guard (an `ENGRAM_URL` alone still gets the verified core, or the guard, as `ENGRAM_BIN`); without them, bundled Shell sets `ENGRAM_BIN` to the guard and, for verified reuse, `ENGRAM_URL`. |
 
 ### Loading the package
 
@@ -529,7 +587,7 @@ refusals and exit codes: [Removing Gentle Shell](gentle-shell-uninstall.md).
 
 ### First run in an isolated or custom home
 
-The first time `gentle-shell` resolves to an isolated or `--home <path>` home that does not already exist, it creates the directory, writes `"tuiMode": "fullscreen"` and, unless the home's `settings.json` already declares one, `"theme": "Gentleman-Cute"` into its `settings.json`, writes a small ownership marker file at `<home>/.gentle-shell-home` (a one-line JSON object naming the `gentle-pi` version that created it), and prints one hint to stderr pointing at `--link`. A `--link` home is never bootstrapped this way — it is assumed to already exist as your pi agent home. Later runs against the same home skip the write and the hint. The default theme is also re-applied after automatic or manual setup if gentle-ai's own managed install wrote a different theme into a home that had none before that run; a home (or `--link`) that already declares its own theme is never touched.
+The first time `gentle-shell` resolves to an isolated or `--home <path>` home that does not already exist, it creates the directory, writes `"tuiMode": "fullscreen"` and, unless the home's `settings.json` already declares one, `"theme": "Gentleman-Cute"` into its `settings.json`, writes a small ownership marker file at `<home>/.gentle-shell-home` (a one-line JSON object naming the `gentle-pi` version that created it), and prints one hint to stderr pointing at `--link` (and at `gentle-shell home import-pi` when your pi home has an `auth.json`). A `--link` home is never bootstrapped this way — it is assumed to already exist as your pi agent home. Later runs against the same home skip the write and the hint. The default theme is also re-applied after automatic or manual setup if gentle-ai's own managed install wrote a different theme into a home that had none before that run; a home (or `--link`) that already declares its own theme is never touched.
 
 Right after that bootstrap, and on every later launch, a plain `gentle-shell` against an isolated or `--home <path>` home (never `--link`, and never a pi subcommand like `gentle-shell install/remove/list/...`) also runs the same flow as `gentle-shell setup` automatically before starting pi, so you never have to know `setup` exists. It runs when the home has never been provisioned, was provisioned with a gentle-ai pin different from the package-local pin this `gentle-pi` ships — for example after upgrading `gentle-pi` to a version pinned to a newer gentle-ai — or was provisioned by a different `gentle-pi` version than the one now running — for example after `npm i -g gentle-pi` upgrades the launcher itself, so the home re-syncs to match it. A completed run is recorded as `provisioned: {"<realpath of the home>": {"gentleAi": "<pin>", "gentlePi": "<running gentle-pi version>", "at": "<ISO timestamp>"}}` in the launcher's config.json (`~/.gentle-shell/config.json` by default, or `GENTLE_SHELL_CONFIG` when overridden — see "Environment variables" above), preserving every other key already in that file (including the persisted `home` mode and any other home's marker). A marker written before this `gentlePi` field existed always counts as needing provisioning too, so the very next launch backfills it.
 
@@ -598,8 +656,8 @@ Synthetic tests prove the observer's behavior, not the cause of issue #213. A ne
 
 ```text
 /gentle:status          Check package assets and global model config.
-/gentle:doctor          Run read-only diagnostics for assets, config, tools, and guards.
-/gentle:models             Assign global model/effort routing to packaged/custom agents.
+/gentle:doctor          Run read-only diagnostics for assets, config, tools, guards, and Herdr setup.
+/gentle:models             Assign global agent model/effort routing and choose a profile orchestrator.
 /gentle:profiles           Create, switch, and manage global agent-model profiles.
 /gentle:persona            Switch between gentleman and neutral persona modes.
 /gentle:background-subagents  Show or set the managed background-subagents policy, with its deciding source.
@@ -645,11 +703,11 @@ Size and uncertainty can call for scoped exploration or delegation within ODD. T
 | Trigger                                                                                                                     | Required behavior                                                             |
 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | Understanding needs more than the evidence budget (one parallel batch of at most 3 calls, ~10k tokens) or more than ~5 sequential lookups | Launch `scout`, `context-builder`, or the closest read-only mapping subagent; it returns a handoff of at most ~2k tokens with `path:line` evidence. Never force delegation for a small targeted question. |
-| A large (tracked) task                                                                                                      | Track it in the logbook; delegate a writer only for a reason (parallel units or context), never for size, file count, or a price ratio. |
-| A high-risk change                                                                                                          | Run an independent verifier after the change's own checks; otherwise the focused test and suite run inline. |
+| A large (tracked) task                                                                                                      | Track it in the logbook; delegate a writer only for a reason (parallel units or context), never for size, file count, or a price ratio. A parallel unit is one independent piece of behavior (its code, tests, and docs together) that needs several minutes of work; smaller or dependent changes stay inline. Each writer prompt names the existing helpers and invariants its unit must reuse. |
+| A change that touches a named high-risk item (assess `escalate`)                                                            | Run an independent verifier after the change's own checks; otherwise the focused test and suite run inline. A native high tier, a failed assessment, or the writer's model never adds one by itself. |
 | Commit, push, or PR after code changes                                                                                      | Follow the loaded native instruction, or ordinary repository policy when none is supplied. |
 | Wrong cwd, worktree/git accident, merge recovery, confusing test/env issue                                                  | Stop, preserve the affected scope, and investigate separately before resuming. |
-| Parent context past ~150k tokens | Pause and delegate the next bounded unit of work, or stop and explain the exact blocker. Keep command output bounded; a small task still runs its focused test and suite inline. |
+| The runtime signals the context backstop | Pause and delegate the next bounded unit that needs several steps (its reads, edits, and checks), or stop and explain the exact blocker. Single small edits and state checks stay inline; keep command output bounded; a small task still runs its focused test and suite inline. |
 
 The intended balanced loop for a bounded bugfix is:
 
@@ -661,6 +719,28 @@ parent git/status + clarify → one worker writes authorized fixes → focused v
 
 "Runtime-enforced" means an admission-time check inside one Pi process: when `subagent_run` or `subagent_continue` queues a bounded writer, it is rejected if a queued or running writer of the same parent process, in the same worktree, has an overlapping `## Allowed edit surfaces` entry. Writers are keyed by their canonical worktree root (the realpath of the Git worktree root, or the realpath of the cwd outside Git), so a subdirectory cwd, the root itself, and a symlinked spelling count as one worktree. It is not a write-time guard: it does not stop a writer from editing outside its declared surfaces, and separate Pi parent processes do not coordinate with each other. Overlap is conservative: an entry also covers everything under it, a whole-segment `**` covers any depth, while `**` inside a segment (for example `src/**.ts`) matches within that one segment, like minimatch. Entries compare in Unicode NFC. Entries with bracket classes, extglob groups, backslashes, or nested, unbalanced, or `/`-spanning braces overlap every other entry, and a wildcard never proves two entries disjoint when either contains non-ASCII characters. A quarantined writer whose process exit is unconfirmed keeps its surfaces until the exit is confirmed; a process that survives quarantine keeps both its surface claim and its concurrency slot until its exit is observed, which can last for the parent's lifetime. Any RDD-specific actor behavior belongs to the runtime instruction supplied by Gentle AI, not to this README.
 
+A second admission check stops small-task delegation: in the primary session, a `gentle-ai-worker` or `worker` launch is admitted only when its task or context has a line that starts with `Spec: odd/tasks/<feature>.md` and names a task `T<n>` later on that line (for example `, T2, S3` or the delegation card's `(read until "## Log"). Do T2; S3.`), where the document is a regular file under the writer root's `odd/tasks/` after resolving symlinks, or when the parent's measured context reaches the context backstop described below. Otherwise the launch is rejected with an instruction to write the unit inline. Judgment Day fix agents, read-only subagents, and continuations are not affected.
+
+A third admission check keeps the independent verifier for high-risk changes: in the primary session, a `gentle-ai-verify` launch is admitted only when its task or context has a declaration that starts a line (optionally as a list item) or a sentence (after `.`, `!` or `?` and a space) with `Risk:` and names a Task Size high-risk item first, in the form `Risk: item N` with N from 1 to 6 (several items are allowed, for example `Risk: item 2, item 3 (reason)`), or when it carries a feature-document task line the writer check above accepts, or when the parent's measured context reaches the context backstop. `Risk: none`, a mention inside a sentence, or no declaration is rejected with an instruction to run the change's focused test and suite inline, not to retry the launch, and never to add a Risk line or create a feature document only to get a verifier admitted. Subagent children, continuations, writers, Judgment Day agents, native review relays, and read-only explorers are not affected.
+
+Every subagent child runs with its own `TMPDIR` (also `TMP` and `TEMP` on Windows): a fresh `gaXXXXXX` directory created under the inherited temp directory (joined to the inherited value as given, never its real path), so scratch the child makes with `mktemp` stays out of the worktree. The runtime removes that directory and everything in it when the child ends, including a failed launch. A quarantined child, whose process exit is unconfirmed, keeps its directory under the system temp directory, because a surviving descendant may still use it; once its exit is proven, including a process group that ends after the child's own exit, the directory is removed and the slot is freed. Each continuation is a new child with a new directory.
+
+After a successful `git commit` run through `bash` in the primary session, the runtime appends one line to the tool result with the branch's authored changed lines since its merge base with the default branch (`origin/HEAD`, else `main` or `master`), counting additions plus deletions (a moved file counts only the lines the move changed) and excluding lock files and binary files, whatever characters their paths hold, and the commit count. The count runs in the directory of `git -C <dir>` under any `cd <dir>` that precedes the commit through `;`, `&&`, `||`, or a new line. Below about 400 lines it says how many remain; past them it says to apply the feature's delivery strategy before the next commit. Commits on the default branch, outside Git, or from subagents get no line, and neither do commits run as background jobs (their result arrives before the commit exists) or a count whose `git` query fails or times out. Only a `git` invocation that starts a shell command or segment is a commit; text that mentions `git commit` (an `echo`, a message) is not. The count runs asynchronously, so the parent stays responsive while `git` answers.
+
+The context backstop is measured, not estimated. Pi's `getContextUsage()` reports the parent's context tokens and the model's context window, and the backstop is `min(absolute cap, fraction × context window)`: 150,000 tokens and 0.15 by default, overridable with `GENTLE_PI_CONTEXT_BACKSTOP_TOKENS` (a positive number of tokens) and `GENTLE_PI_CONTEXT_BACKSTOP_FRACTION` (greater than 0, at most 1); invalid values keep the defaults. The cap holds for any model because carried context is paid again on every remaining turn whatever the provider; the fraction holds because answer quality and headroom depend on how full the window is, so a window reaches the backstop at 15% of its size until the cap applies (about 41k for a 272k window; the 150,000-token cap from a 1M window up). The 0.15 default comes from the bench: on a wide five-feature task, delegating at that point cost less and finished sooner, while small tasks never reached it. An unknown window leaves only the cap; unknown tokens (for example right after compaction, before the next response) never count as reaching it. In the primary session, the first tool result after the measured context reaches the backstop gets one appended notice with the measured tokens, the percent of the window, and the threshold, telling the parent to delegate the next bounded unit that needs several steps with a short handoff while single small edits and state checks stay inline. The tool output and structured content are kept and the error flag is never changed; a commit result carries the slice line first. The notice is sent once per crossing and re-armed when the measured context drops below the backstop again, for example after compaction. Subagents never get it. The writer and verifier admission checks above use the same threshold.
+
+### Session scratch and artifact ledger
+
+At primary session start the runtime creates a private `gpXXXXXX` directory under the inherited temp directory and points the Pi process's `TMPDIR` (also `TMP` and `TEMP` on Windows) at it, spelled as the inherited value joined with that name, never its real path, so every `mktemp` the model runs and every subagent's own `TMPDIR` land under it. Delegated children never create one. If the directory cannot be created, the session keeps the inherited `TMPDIR`. A reload keeps the same directory: Pi re-evaluates extension modules on reload, so the runtime recovers the live scratch from the ledger when it names this process, the directory passes the removal checks below, and `TMPDIR` still points into it. When a reload cannot recover it, the new scratch is not nested in the old one: the runtime uses the recorded `inherited` values of this process's ledger, else `TMPDIR` when it is not a `gpXXXXXX` directory, and the parent of that directory when it is. Startup never removes a scratch of its own process.
+
+The runtime records the session in a ledger outside Engram: `<config home>/scratch/<session id>.json` (the config home is `GENTLE_PI_CONFIG_HOME` when set), written atomically (temp file, then rename) with private permissions. It holds `version`, `sessionId`, `pid`, `processStartedAt` and `processStartToken` of the owning process (the start token is the OS's own record of when the process started: the start tick from `/proc/<pid>/stat` on Linux, the `ps -o lstart=` text on macOS and the BSDs; absent on Windows or when it cannot be read), `cwd`, `tempRoot` (the real temp directory the scratch was created directly under), `inherited` (the temp variables before the session changed them, restored at shutdown), `scratchDir`, and `artifacts`: each clone or worktree as `kind` (`clone` or `worktree`), its real `path`, the `command` that created it, and `recordedAt`. Before a foreground `bash` command in the primary session runs, the runtime resolves the destination of `git clone ... [<dir>]` (git's default directory name when omitted) and the path of `git worktree add ... <path>` against the command's `cd` segments and `git -C`; after the command succeeds it records each one that did not exist before the command and is a directory afterwards, so a fallback such as `git clone URL dir || (cd dir && git pull)` over an existing clone records nothing. The session directory, the home directory, the config home, and their ancestors are never recorded.
+
+Cleanup is automatic for scratch only. At session shutdown (other than a reload) the runtime removes its scratch dir, restores the inherited `TMPDIR`, and deletes the ledger when no artifacts remain. The `TMPDIR` of a live or quarantined subagent (still running, or its exit not yet confirmed) stays, with the scratch dir around it, while the rest of the scratch is removed; the ledger then keeps the scratch for a later startup sweep. At the next primary session start it sweeps ledgers of ended sessions, whose owning process is not alive or has a start token other than the one its ledger recorded (the OS may reuse a pid; tokens are compared as recorded, never through the wall clock, so a clock step cannot make a live session look ended), and whose ledger is older than one hour. When the ledger has no start token or the current one cannot be read, as on Windows, a live pid counts as the ledger's process. The sweep removes their scratch dirs and keeps their artifact entries for the command. A scratch dir is removed only when it is the exact real directory its ledger recorded, lies directly under the temp root its ledger recorded (a temp root inside the home directory only when it is the current session's own), is named `gpXXXXXX`, is a directory rather than a symlink, and belongs to the current user; removal never follows symlinks, and a scratch dir that holds a recorded artifact is kept. The name carries no session id, so a scratch dir recorded by the ledger of a live session (its owning process alive with the start token its ledger recorded, or the current session) is never removed through another session's ledger, by the sweep or by `clean`, and neither is a directory that holds one.
+
+The names are short because Unix socket paths created under `TMPDIR` are limited to 104 bytes on macOS, including the terminating NUL (108 on Linux), and a macOS real path adds `/private`. With a 48-byte inherited `TMPDIR` such as `/var/folders/xx/<30 characters>/T`, a subagent's `TMPDIR` is 66 bytes, which leaves room for a 32-byte socket name such as Python multiprocessing's `pymp-XXXXXXXX/listener-XXXXXXXX` (98 of at most 103 bytes).
+
+`/gentle:scratch list` shows the session's scratch dir with its size and every recorded artifact of this and ended sessions; ledgers of other live sessions are not shown. `/gentle:scratch clean` removes ended sessions' scratch dirs and empties this session's (keeping subagent scratch, the scratch of other live sessions, and entries with anything changed in the last minute before the command started, which a running command may be using) without asking. After one confirmation that lists them and warns that ignored files inside them are deleted too, it removes recorded worktrees and clones with no uncommitted changes and no unpushed commits (every commit of a clone is on a remote; a detached worktree's commits are on a branch); a clone that has linked worktrees other than prunable ones is kept as "has linked worktrees", since removing it would orphan them; the others are reported with the reason and kept. Worktrees are removed with `git worktree remove` and then pruned; clones with a recursive delete of the recorded path only, refused when the path is now a symlink or no longer the recorded Git root. Without a UI, `clean` removes scratch only and reports the artifacts.
+
 ### Review authority recovery and reset safety
 
 Legacy pre-graph authority is never migrated. `gentle_review inspect` reports an exact repository-bound destructive reset challenge for legacy corruption; after that fresh interactive authorization, RESET and RECOVER_LOCK route to the audited native `gentle-ai review reclaim` operation and RECOVER routes to native `gentle-ai review recover`, so every destructive transition is executed and audited by the native authority store. Native inputs the request did not carry return a `native-input-required` envelope instead of being invented. Existing graph-v1 ordinary lineages remain readable and gate-validatable but are read-only; Judgment Day remains mutable on graph-v1.
@@ -730,7 +810,7 @@ flowchart TD
 
 VALIDATE is informational. Commit, push, PR, and release commands follow ordinary repository policy; RDD never authorizes, rewrites, consumes review state for, or blocks them. Dangerous-command safety and destructive-review consent remain independent.
 
-For the source checkout, native contract pairing is exact: this adapter resolves only the integrity-verified package-local Gentle AI v4.1.1 executable, independently hashes it, then negotiates `gentle-ai.review-integration/v2` outside the repository. Capabilities are cached by that executable digest. Every START, target status, FINALIZE, and validate request passes the same contract identifier. Negotiated envelopes decode exactly against the vendored schemas; `recover` routes only the provider-selected `action_disposition`, and optional additions require a future compatible schema/minor that the provider explicitly advertises and the consumer negotiates.
+For the source checkout, native contract pairing is exact: this adapter resolves only the integrity-verified package-local Gentle AI v4.3.1 executable, independently hashes it, then negotiates `gentle-ai.review-integration/v2` outside the repository. Capabilities are cached by that executable digest. Every START, target status, FINALIZE, and validate request passes the same contract identifier. Negotiated envelopes decode exactly against the vendored schemas; `recover` routes only the provider-selected `action_disposition`, and optional additions require a future compatible schema/minor that the provider explicitly advertises and the consumer negotiates.
 
 Contract `/v2` replaces the Base64 `candidate_diff` reviewer transport of `/v1` with immutable `base_tree`/`candidate_tree` plus an ordered `changed_path_manifest` and never an inline patch. `gentle-pi` negotiates `/v2` only, with no dual-lane fallback; the cutover landed as one atomic commit against gentle-ai v2.2.2 (tracked by the `migrate-review-integration-v2` change), and the `/v1` schemas stay packaged because the `/v2` schemas `$ref` into their fragments. This provider contract version is unrelated to Pi's own internal "compact-v2" review-authority naming used below — the shared digit is coincidental, not a version pairing.
 
@@ -740,7 +820,7 @@ Candidate views materialize tracked Git symlinks from their frozen blobs even wh
 
 On POSIX, if START rejects a group- or world-accessible `.git/gentle-ai/candidate-views` parent, Pi reports `candidate-owner-parent-privacy` before native START. When a sanitized probe shows the filesystem cannot represent private POSIX modes (for example WSL DrvFS mounts without `metadata`), Pi instead reports `candidate-owner-parent-chmod-ineffective` with guidance to move the Git common directory to a POSIX-metadata filesystem or enable metadata support. Inspect that parent's ownership and permissions and correct them out of band before retrying; Pi does not change them automatically. Other owner-preparation failures retain a generic diagnostic rather than exposing filesystem errors.
 
-Once the source checkout's pinned gentle-ai runtime (currently v4.1.1) has written review authority, rollback MUST preserve every native store and receipt and MUST NOT run a downgraded binary against that repository. Disable the Pi route or roll forward to a compatible authority-aware release instead; deleting authority data or reinstalling an older binary is not a rollback path.
+Once the source checkout's pinned gentle-ai runtime (currently v4.3.1) has written review authority, rollback MUST preserve every native store and receipt and MUST NOT run a downgraded binary against that repository. Disable the Pi route or roll forward to a compatible authority-aware release instead; deleting authority data or reinstalling an older binary is not a rollback path.
 
 ### FINALIZE wrapper input
 
@@ -810,6 +890,8 @@ An ordinary `gentle_review` START input may carry the agent lens selection: `{"m
 
 Review outcomes and receipt state are informational; commit, push, pull-request, and release delivery follow ordinary repository policy. No one-shot command authorization, publication-target revalidation, or receipt gate is required for delivery, and Pi does not inspect RDD mode or native authority to decide a Bash delivery command.
 
+When grouped review capture returns `native-status-failed`, a decoded native failure is preserved as `native_failure`, including its phase, code, retry policy, and optional cause/context. `replayability` and `next_action` expose the provider's guidance; they do not trigger a retry. Group progress and mutation reporting still describe reviewers already prepared/submitted. Untyped errors retain their message-only behavior; raw process stdout/stderr and arbitrary error fields are not exposed.
+
 Dangerous-command safety remains independent and authoritative. Destructive-review-maintenance consent remains separate from delivery. Review operations and informational VALIDATE perform no commit, push, pull-request, release, or publication operation.
 
 The Pi host relay bounds each locked-down reviewer subprocess by materialized prompt size rather than by one fixed number: a 15-minute floor plus 15 minutes per mebibyte of prompt, clamped to a 2-hour ceiling. Set `GENTLE_PI_REVIEW_RELAY_PI_TIMEOUT_MS` to a positive decimal to replace that derived bound with your own; malformed values are ignored and the same 2-hour ceiling still applies, so no configuration turns a foreground finalize into an unbounded child process. A reviewer killed by the bound reports `pi-host-relay-timeout` with the elapsed time and the limit it was measured against, and it explicitly does not ask you to relaunch the identical slot — that would re-spend the model tokens to reach the same wall. Reviewer results admitted earlier in the same finalize stay admitted and are not re-run.
@@ -955,7 +1037,9 @@ Startup and reload materialize saved non-empty routing, but never treat a saved
 
 Inside `/gentle:models`, press `x` to export the saved routing to `~/.pi/gentle-ai/models.export.json`, or `r` to restore from that file after confirmation. Export uses a versioned envelope and restore writes the normal `models.json` shape before applying routing to agents.
 
-Press `u` to save global agent routing like `ctrl+s`, then capture that routing plus this session's orchestrator model and thinking level in the current profile. If this session has no model, `u` falls back to the orchestrator defaults in `settings.json`; it never changes those defaults. `/gentle:profiles` `s` follows the same rule for the orchestrator: the live session when available, the `settings.json` defaults otherwise. The panel names the profile `u` targets: the profile this repository pins when a pin wins, otherwise the globally active profile. When no profiles store exists yet, `u` seeds it with a `current` profile the way `/gentle:profiles` does on first open; when the store exists but nothing is active and nothing is pinned, the global save still happens and the panel points you to `/gentle:profiles`.
+The `orchestrator` row selects the model and thinking effort that `u` will store in the current profile. Its initial choice is the target profile's saved entry, or **leave untouched** if that profile has no orchestrator key. Without an existing target profile, it uses the live session model and effort, falling back to `settings.json` when no live model exists; changing the row never switches the live session. Choose **leave untouched** in its model picker, or press `i` on the row, to store no `orchestrator` key—even when replacing a profile that previously carried one. Select a model before editing effort. **Set all agents** never changes this row.
+
+Press `u` to save global agent routing like `ctrl+s`, then snapshot that routing and the explicit orchestrator choice into the current profile. `ctrl+s` saves only agent routing: it neither updates a profile nor applies the chosen orchestrator. Both keys leave orchestrator defaults and the live model/effort unchanged; applying a profile with no orchestrator key preserves both. Custom-model, export and restore reopens retain the choice; exports/restores remain saved-agent-routing operations. `/gentle:profiles` `s` remains unchanged: it captures the live session model/effort when available, the `settings.json` defaults otherwise. The panel names the profile `u` targets: the profile this repository pins when a pin wins, otherwise the globally active profile. When no profiles store exists yet, `u` seeds it with a `current` profile the way `/gentle:profiles` does on first open; when the store exists but nothing is active and nothing is pinned, the global save still happens and the panel points you to `/gentle:profiles`.
 
 Config shape (per agent):
 
@@ -998,7 +1082,7 @@ Profiles are named, switchable snapshots of the global agent-model routing from
 | `pgup`/`pgdn`, `ctrl+j`/`ctrl+k` | Scroll the detail pane by a page.                                |
 | `esc`   | Close.                                                                 |
 
-Selecting a profile with Enter does not write `profiles.json`, `models.json`, Pi's global `settings.json`, agent frontmatter, `subagents.json`, or repository pins. Other open sessions keep their own bindings and live orchestrators. The session binding overrides pins and global routing as a complete snapshot, including reviewer routing; omitted roles do not fall back to another profile. The binding lasts in the current process (including `/reload`); resuming in another process requires selecting it again.
+Selecting a profile with Enter does not write `profiles.json`, `models.json`, Pi's global `settings.json`, agent frontmatter, `subagents.json`, or repository pins. Other open sessions keep their own bindings and live orchestrators. The session binding overrides pins and global routing as a complete snapshot, including reviewer routing; omitted roles do not fall back to another profile. The binding lasts in the current process (including `/reload`); resuming in another process requires selecting it again. Re-selecting re-copies the profile definition from `profiles.json`; later edits to `subagents.json` or agent frontmatter never reach a bound session, in that session or through a re-selection.
 
 Applying a profile with `a` writes `~/.pi/gentle-ai/models.json`, then reconciles agent frontmatter and `subagents.json` the same way `/gentle:models` does. A profile is a complete snapshot: every discoverable agent it omits returns to inherit, so routing materialized by a previous profile, by `/gentle:models`, or by a migration never survives a switch silently. The active profile is persisted so `/gentle:profiles` reopens with the applied profile marked.
 
@@ -1116,6 +1200,8 @@ The notice appears once per distinct change: further launches stay quiet until t
 
 **Subagent children** never freeze, compare, or warn: their model comes from the parent's launch.
 
+**Task card layer token.** Every agents task card shows which layer supplied the launch's model, right after the model itself (for example `nan/glm5.3 · binding`): `binding` (selected in this session), `frozen:local` / `frozen:repo` / `frozen:global` (the startup snapshot and its origin), `pin:local` / `pin:repo` (a repository pin won), `declaration` (a non-Git repository declaration won), `profile` (the globally active profile routing), `definition` (the agent's own frontmatter), or `default` (Pi's default model). This makes staleness visible: a launch through a frozen session keeps showing its frozen token even after the editable layers below it change on disk.
+
 **Current limits.** The frozen profile is kept in memory for the life of the Pi process, so `/reload` keeps it. Resuming a session in a new process (`--resume`, `--continue`, `--session`), `/new`, and `/fork` freeze again from the defaults current at that moment, and the drift notice memory starts empty, so a pending change is announced once more. Persisting the frozen profile in the session file is planned.
 
 ## Commands
@@ -1123,7 +1209,7 @@ The notice appears once per distinct change: further launches stay quiet until t
 | Command                          | What it does                                                        |
 | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | `/gentle:status`              | Shows package assets and global model config status. |
-| `/gentle:doctor`              | Runs read-only diagnostics for assets, model/persona config, memory tools, and safety guards. |
+| `/gentle:doctor`              | Runs read-only diagnostics for assets, model/persona config, memory tools, safety guards, and (inside Herdr) the task-summary sidebar setup. |
 | `/gentle:models`                 | Opens global model + effort assignment UI. Press `x` to export, `r` to restore saved routing, and `u` to save routing and capture the session in the current profile. |
 | `/gentle:profiles`               | Opens global agent-model profiles: apply live, create, snapshot, duplicate, rename, delete, export, and import. |
 | `/gentle:commands`               | Opens the command palette (default `alt+k`): a curated, grouped menu (Configuration, Session, Diagnostics, Skills) of registered Gentle commands; search and run by label. |
@@ -1134,6 +1220,7 @@ The notice appears once per distinct change: further launches stay quiet until t
 | `/gentle:vim`                   | Shows or sets opt-in prompt Vim mode (`status\|enable\|disable`); no argument opens a selector. |
 | `/gentle:telemetry`              | Shows or changes the local Gentle AI telemetry trigger (`status\|enable\|disable\|preview`).  |
 | `/gentle:review-mode`            | Shows or sets the receipt-driven development mode (`status\|enable\|disable`); user-initiated only, Pi automation never toggles it. |
+| `/gentle:scratch`               | Lists (`list`, the default) or cleans (`clean`) this session's scratch dir and the clones and worktrees recorded by this and ended sessions; see [Session scratch and artifact ledger](#session-scratch-and-artifact-ledger). |
 | `/gentle:status-timing`          | Arms timing for the next authorized STATUS-bearing tool call, clears it, or manually shows the last summary (`enable\|disable\|show`). Off by default, session-only, no native invocation. |
 | `/gentle:banner`                 | Configures startup banner rose, text logo, and color preset.        |
 | `/gentle:toggle-rose`            | Toggles the startup rose.                                           |
@@ -1164,6 +1251,8 @@ With the policy `on`, `subagent_run` defaults to `mode: "background"` at the run
 
 Background delegation is off unless you turn it on. The policy is user-owned: only an explicit `/gentle:background-subagents enable` or `disable` writes it, and Pi automation never toggles it.
 
+An agent whose explicit `tools` frontmatter includes `bash_background` fails before spawn when the effective background-subagents policy is `off`, in either task or background mode. Admission resolves policy at dispatch using the request's environment and config home, including queued tasks. The error names the policy file, the exact opt-in shape `{"schema":"gentle-pi.background-subagents/v1","policy":"on"}`, and `/gentle:background-subagents enable|disable|status`. Agents without explicit tools are unchanged; the child missing-tools check remains the backstop for other names. Policy `on` passes this admission check only: it does not implement child background tools (future Slices 2–3).
+
 ```text
 /gentle:background-subagents           Report the effective policy, the deciding source, and the resolved capability.
 /gentle:background-subagents enable    Write "on" to the global file.
@@ -1316,8 +1405,11 @@ To opt out:
 | `contracts/review-integration/v2/` | Byte-identical provider schemas and conformance fixtures for contract `review-integration/v2` (immutable `base_tree`/`candidate_tree`, ordered `changed_path_manifest`, no inline candidate diff), hash-checked before packaging. |
 | `extensions/startup-banner.ts` | Shows and configures the startup intro, color presets, and compact runtime panel.     |
 | `extensions/skill-registry.ts` | Maintains `.atl/skill-registry.md` from project/user skills and closes file watchers on shutdown.          |
+| `extensions/codegraph-tools.ts` | Runs workspace-scoped CodeGraph init/query/explore and keeps `.codegraph/` out of git through the worktree's local `info/exclude` (never a tracked file). |
+| `contracts/review-provider-contract-mirror/` | Verified mirror of the Gentle AI provider contract bundle: the `orchestration/pi.md` review execution contract and the `routing/pi.md` ODD steps. Refresh it only with `node scripts/mirror-provider-contract.mjs --bundle <local archive or tree>`; `pnpm run check:provider-contract` checks it offline against its lock. |
 | `assets/orchestrator.md`       | Parent-session orchestration contract (always-on core).                                                    |
-| `assets/orchestrator-delegation.md` | Lazy-loaded delegation and routing detail, including the mirrored gentle-ai canon; indexes the per-mechanism modules below. |
+| `assets/orchestrator-delegation.md` | Lazy-loaded delegation card read when the parent delegates: the mirrored gentle-ai triggers, handoff, launch, and Key Learnings rules. |
+| `assets/orchestrator-delegation-reference.md` | Lazy-loaded delegation reference read only when named: per-action table, Work Routing Ladder, background policy, runtime bindings, canonical workflows. |
 | `assets/orchestrator-tracking.md` | Lazy-loaded large-task ODD tracking: authorization, research, checks and consent, phase signaling, RDD assess, delivery. |
 | `assets/orchestrator-verification.md` | Lazy-loaded Verification rule, native risk tiers, and writer verification contract. |
 | `assets/orchestrator-writer.md` | Lazy-loaded allowed edit surfaces and Judgment Day fix dispatch. |

package/docs/session-profile-format.md

@@ -37,3 +37,29 @@ does not establish persistence. The newest profile-family entry is terminal:
 Replay neither appends nor publishes bindings and never applies a model or
 thinking level. A subsequent disk-reader slice supplies corroboration; this
 codec alone cannot establish it.
+
+## Disk corroboration
+
+`readSessionProfileDisk(source)` in `lib/session-profile-disk-reader.ts` is the
+stateless synchronous check that supplies the corroboration replay requires.
+It reads the session's public active branch and its JSONL file, selects the
+newest profile-family entry on the branch (excluding caller-supplied known
+failed append IDs), and admits it only when the record on disk is identical.
+It performs no writes, fallback policy, caching, ancestry repair or fsync, and
+a missing file is conservative: it never restores a profile found only in
+memory.
+
+The result is the decoder result plus `entryIndex` and `lineNumber`, or
+`indeterminate` with one reason: `missing-source`, `invalid-candidate-metadata`,
+`unreadable-file`, `source-changed`, `invalid-record`,
+`session-header-mismatch`, `duplicate-id`, `missing-header`,
+`selected-record-missing`, `selected-record-mismatch`, or
+`unserializable-source` (exported as `DiskProfileIndeterminateReason`).
+Reasons never carry record contents.
+
+Malformed JSON lines are skipped, matching Pi's session parser, so a file Pi
+opens never becomes permanently indeterminate here; `lineNumber` still counts
+physical lines. A malformed selected record is therefore
+`selected-record-missing`. `missing-header` means no line parsed at all (an
+empty, all-blank or all-malformed file). Pi writes no byte order mark, so a
+BOM-prefixed header line is skipped as malformed like any other.