instar 1.3.497 → 1.3.498

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "instar",
-  "version": "1.3.497",
+  "version": "1.3.498",
   "description": "Coherence infrastructure for self-evolving AI agents — on the Claude Code or Codex subscription you already have.",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "dist/index.js",

package/skills/instar-dev/SKILL.md

@@ -97,7 +97,8 @@ The review must answer each of the following in writing. "No issue identified" i
 4. **Signal vs authority compliance** — does this hold blocking authority with brittle logic, or does it produce a signal that feeds a smart gate? (Required reference: `docs/signal-vs-authority.md`.)
 5. **Interactions** — does it shadow another check, get shadowed by one, double-fire, race with adjacent cleanup?
 6. **External surfaces** — does it change anything visible to other agents, other users, other systems? Does it depend on timing, conversation state, or runtime conditions we can't fully control?
-7. **Rollback cost** — if this turns out wrong in production, what's the back-out? Hot-fix release? Data migration? Agent state repair?
+7. **Multi-machine posture (Cross-Machine Coherence)** — when this agent runs on MORE than one machine, what is this feature's posture: replicated (name the replication path) / proxied-on-read (name the merged read) / machine-local BY DESIGN (with the reason)? A silent single-machine-only assumption is the defect this question exists to catch (~20 features shipped machine-blind before it was added — 2026-06-12 audit, topic 13481). Also: user-facing notices need one-voice gating; durable state must not strand on topic transfer; generated URLs must survive machine boundaries.
+8. **Rollback cost** — if this turns out wrong in production, what's the back-out? Hot-fix release? Data migration? Agent state repair?
 
 ### Phase 4.5 — No-deferrals check (enforced in pre-commit)
 

package/skills/instar-dev/templates/side-effects-artifact.md

@@ -101,7 +101,36 @@
 
 ---
 
-## 7. Rollback cost
+## 7. Multi-machine posture (Cross-Machine Coherence)
+
+**When this agent runs on MORE THAN ONE machine, what is this feature's posture?**
+Declare exactly one, with the reason. "I didn't think about multi-machine" is the
+defect this section exists to catch — ~20 features shipped machine-blind before this
+question was added (2026-06-12 audit, topic 13481; the converged
+MULTI-MACHINE-SEAMLESSNESS-SPEC is the cleanup bill).
+
+- **replicated** — the state/behavior follows the agent across machines (name the
+  replication path: coherence-journal kind, secret-sync, heartbeat field, …).
+- **proxied-on-read** — machine-local state served pool-wide via a merged/scoped read
+  (name the read: `?scope=pool`, mesh relay, …).
+- **machine-local BY DESIGN** — give the reason it SHOULD differ per machine
+  (machine-specific truths, security boundary, pure per-machine observability).
+  "By design" without a reason is not an answer.
+- **single-machine-only assumption** — NOT a valid posture for new features. If the
+  feature breaks or duplicates when a second machine exists (double notices, stranded
+  state, dashboard blindness, broken links), that is a finding to resolve before
+  shipping, not a posture to declare.
+
+Also answer explicitly: does it emit user-facing notices (one-voice gating needed?),
+hold durable state (does it strand on topic transfer?), or generate URLs (do they
+survive machine boundaries?).
+
+[Specific. "Machine-local by design: the reap-log is a per-machine audit trail; the
+pool-wide question is answered by a proxied-on-read merged view." Not abstractions.]
+
+---
+
+## 8. Rollback cost
 
 **If this turns out wrong in production, what's the back-out?**
 

package/skills/spec-converge/SKILL.md

@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ The skill spawns reviewers in parallel:
 - **Security.** Attack surfaces, leaks, privilege escalation, auth on endpoints, prompt injection vectors, rotation races.
 - **Scalability/performance.** Hot-path cost, concurrent writes, memory churn, fail-open semantics, hook latency.
 - **Adversarial.** Misbehaving-session scenarios — bad-entry poisoning, self-reinforcing loops, stale claims, authority ambiguity, kind gaming.
-- **Integration/deployment.** Migration, backup/restore, multi-machine, config knobs, dashboard surface, rollback.
+- **Integration/deployment.** Migration, backup/restore, multi-machine, config knobs, dashboard surface, rollback. **Multi-machine posture (Cross-Machine Coherence — mandatory check):** every feature/state surface the spec introduces must declare its posture when the agent runs on more than one machine — replicated (named replication path) / proxied-on-read (named merged read) / machine-local BY DESIGN (with the reason). A spec whose features silently assume a single machine is a MATERIAL finding: ~20 features shipped machine-blind before this check existed (2026-06-12 audit, topic 13481; MULTI-MACHINE-SEAMLESSNESS-SPEC is the cleanup bill). Probe specifically: user-facing notices (one-voice gating?), durable state (strands on topic transfer?), generated URLs (survive machine boundaries?).
 - **Decision-Completeness.** (Autonomy Principle 2 — `docs/specs/AUTONOMY-PRINCIPLES-ENFORCEMENT-SPEC.md` Piece 2.) Enumerates every point where the building agent would have to **stop mid-run and ask the user**. Each must be either **frontloaded** into a `## Frontloaded Decisions` section or explicitly tagged **cheap-to-change-after** because the work ships behind a named dark/dry-run/read-only phase. The reviewer **CONTESTS every cheap tag** — it independently asserts reversibility, and a closed non-cheap taxonomy overrides any tag: anything touching **durable external side-effects, money, identity, or a published/user-visible interface is NEVER cheap**, regardless of a "ships dark" label. A contested tag the reviewer rejects is a **material finding that blocks convergence**. Prompt: `templates/reviewer-decision-completeness.md`. Applies to ALL specs through this skill (D7) — no size gate, no per-spec override (D11; the rejected `disposition: override` escape hatch would reopen the exact skip-hatch Principle 2 closes).
 - **Lessons-aware.** Loads the canonical Instar Design Principles + Lessons Learned index (`docs/INSTAR-DESIGN-PRINCIPLES-AND-LESSONS.md`) plus the running agent's local `.instar/memory/feedback_*.md` entries, then checks the spec for (a) direct contradictions of documented principles/lessons, (b) applicable lessons the spec fails to engage with, (c) behavioral lessons violated by agent-facing surfaces the spec proposes, and **(d) FOUNDATION/SUBSYSTEM AUDIT — the design the spec TESTS, EXTENDS, or BUILDS ON, not just the spec's own surface: does that foundation violate a known standard or repeat a known mistake?** The audit MUST reach one layer below the spec boundary. A spec can be internally clean while faithfully testing or extending a flawed foundation — e.g. a test-harness spec that correctly proves a permission gate which *itself* holds brittle blocking authority in violation of Signal-vs-Authority, or an extension spec built on a subsystem with an unaddressed gap. Taking the underlying subsystem "as given" is exactly how a standards violation survives review: the spec passes, the foundation's flaw is never weighed. When the foundation is flawed, the finding is "this spec is sound but the subsystem it depends on violates standard X / repeats mistake Y — surface it before building on/around it." Catches the "Phase 2" anti-pattern, the spec-converge-pre-auth-circular failure mode (see `feedback_spec_converge_pre_auth_circular`), and the foundation-not-audited gap (the Slack-permission-gate brittle-enum-as-authority that the harness convergence cleared because it audited only the harness, 2026-06-09).
 

package/src/data/builtin-manifest.json

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
   "$schema": "./builtin-manifest.schema.json",
   "schemaVersion": 1,
-  "generatedAt": "2026-06-12T21:39:24.602Z",
-  "instarVersion": "1.3.497",
+  "generatedAt": "2026-06-12T22:17:19.275Z",
+  "instarVersion": "1.3.498",
   "entryCount": 201,
   "entries": {
     "hook:session-start": {
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
       "domain": "identity",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/session-start.sh",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:dangerous-command-guard": {
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/dangerous-command-guard.sh",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:grounding-before-messaging": {
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/grounding-before-messaging.sh",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:compaction-recovery": {
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
       "domain": "identity",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/compaction-recovery.sh",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:external-operation-gate": {
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/external-operation-gate.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:deferral-detector": {
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/deferral-detector.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:self-stop-guard": {
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
       "domain": "coherence",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/self-stop-guard.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:post-action-reflection": {
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
       "domain": "evolution",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/post-action-reflection.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:external-communication-guard": {
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/external-communication-guard.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:scope-coherence-collector": {
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
       "domain": "coherence",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/scope-coherence-collector.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:scope-coherence-checkpoint": {
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@
       "domain": "coherence",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/scope-coherence-checkpoint.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:free-text-guard": {
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/free-text-guard.sh",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:claim-intercept": {
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@
       "domain": "coherence",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/claim-intercept.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:claim-intercept-response": {
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@
       "domain": "coherence",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/claim-intercept-response.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:stop-gate-router": {
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/stop-gate-router.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "hook:auto-approve-permissions": {
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@
       "domain": "safety",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
       "installedPath": ".instar/hooks/instar/auto-approve-permissions.js",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "job:health-check": {
@@ -1554,7 +1554,7 @@
       "type": "subsystem",
       "domain": "updates",
       "sourcePath": "src/core/PostUpdateMigrator.ts",
-      "contentHash": "9d579207a3dfe3648f298c9274abd0e9ecada3fa0d0b896bcc6fb9cbac0d67c1",
+      "contentHash": "a909f0a1078bd61ce110cee9f691a717430714af40eb83bb49d86b31450372b7",
       "since": "2025-01-01"
     },
     "subsystem:scheduler": {

package/upgrades/1.3.498.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Upgrade Guide — vNEXT
+
+<!-- assembled-by: assemble-next-md -->
+<!-- bump: patch -->
+
+## What Changed
+
+Root-cause fix for "how did ~20 features ship incompatible with the seamless
+multi-machine goal?" (operator question, 2026-06-12 topic 13481): no review surface
+ever asked. Now three do —
+
+1. The instar-dev side-effects template gains mandatory **§7 Multi-machine posture**:
+   every change declares replicated (named path) / proxied-on-read (named read) /
+   machine-local BY DESIGN (with the reason). A silent single-machine assumption is a
+   finding, not a posture. (Rollback cost renumbered §7→§8.)
+2. spec-converge's integration/deployment reviewer charter makes the same check
+   mandatory at spec time — a machine-blind spec is a MATERIAL finding that blocks
+   convergence.
+3. The Cross-Machine Coherence constitution article's "Applied through" is widened to
+   name these gates (per-feature posture rule), giving the Standards Enforcement
+   Coverage audit a verifiable surface.
+
+Deployed agents receive the updated skill content via a new PostUpdateMigrator
+migration (`migrateMultiMachinePostureReviewDimension`) — marker-sniffed,
+fingerprint-guarded (operator-customized files left untouched + reported), idempotent,
+following the migrateSpecConvergeFoundationAudit pattern.
+
+## What to Tell Your User
+
+- "The development process that builds my features now has a mandatory checkpoint: every new feature must declare, in writing, how it behaves when I run on more than one machine — it travels with me, it's readable from any machine, or it deliberately belongs to one machine for a stated reason. This is the structural fix for the batch of features that previously assumed a single machine."
+
+## Summary of New Capabilities
+
+| Capability | How to Use |
+|-----------|-----------|
+| Multi-machine posture is a mandatory review dimension | Automatic — enforced in the side-effects template + spec-converge reviews; deployed agents receive the updated review docs on their next update |
+
+## Evidence
+
+- `tests/unit/PostUpdateMigrator-mmPostureReviewDimension.test.ts` — 4 tests: bundled
+  sources really carry the marker; stock installed copies upgraded + idempotent;
+  customized copies untouched + reported; missing files skipped silently.
+- `tsc --noEmit` clean; affected suites green.
+- Side-effects artifact: `upgrades/side-effects/multi-machine-posture-review-dimension.md`.
+- Plain-English overview: `docs/eli16/multi-machine-posture-review-dimension.md`.
+
+## What Changed for the Review Process
+
+This change's own side-effects artifact answers the new question about itself
+(machine-local by design: per-machine installed skill content kept current by each
+machine's update cycle) — the gate is dogfooded on the PR that introduces it.

package/upgrades/side-effects/multi-machine-posture-review-dimension.md

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# Side-Effects Review — Multi-machine posture review dimension (Cross-Machine Coherence widening)
+
+**Trigger:** operator question, 2026-06-12 topic 13481 ("we have developed so many
+features that have gaps … is it the constitution or our enforcement?"). The audit
+answer: both, but chiefly enforcement — NO review surface ever asked the multi-machine
+question, so ~20 features shipped machine-blind.
+**Change:** (1) side-effects template gains mandatory §7 "Multi-machine posture"
+(replicated / proxied-on-read / machine-local-by-design-with-reason; single-machine
+assumption is a finding, not a posture); (2) the matching Phase-4 question in the
+instar-dev SKILL; (3) a mandatory posture check in spec-converge's
+integration/deployment reviewer charter; (4) the Cross-Machine Coherence article's
+"Applied through" widened to name these gates (so the conformance audit can verify
+them); (5) PostUpdateMigrator migration delivering the updated skill content to
+deployed agents (Migration Parity, "updating existing skill content" — pattern copy of
+migrateSpecConvergeFoundationAudit: marker-sniffed, fingerprint-guarded, idempotent,
+customized files untouched).
+
+## 1. Over-block
+The new review question blocks nothing programmatically — it is a required SECTION in
+a review document and a reviewer charter line. The cost it adds is one honest
+paragraph per change. A genuinely machine-agnostic change answers "machine-local by
+design: <reason>" in one line. No legitimate change becomes unshippable.
+
+## 2. Under-block
+The question is willpower-adjacent until the conformance audit verifies the section's
+presence (the registry now names the gates, which is what the Standards Enforcement
+Coverage audit reads). A reviewer can still write a lazy posture answer — the
+spec-converge integration reviewer's charter makes a silent single-machine assumption
+a MATERIAL finding, which is the structural counterweight. Programmatic
+section-presence checking in the pre-commit gate is a natural ratchet if lazy answers
+show up (the registry text gives it a home).
+
+## 3. Level-of-abstraction fit
+Right layer: the defect was a missing QUESTION at review time, so the fix adds the
+question to both review surfaces (side-effects + spec-converge) and anchors it in the
+constitution article those surfaces trace to. Not duplicated logic — one rule, named
+in the registry, asked at the two existing chokepoints.
+
+## 4. Signal vs authority compliance
+No new blocking authority. The template/charter additions are review-content
+requirements; the only "block" is the existing spec-converge materiality bar, which is
+already the convergence mechanism. The migration is a content patch with no decision
+logic.
+
+## 5. Interactions
+- The migration follows the established skill-content-update pattern and runs once
+  (marker check). It cannot fight installBuiltinSkills (which never overwrites).
+- Renumbering Rollback cost §7→§8 in the template: existing committed artifacts are
+  unaffected (the pre-commit gate checks artifact existence/coverage, not section
+  numbering).
+- The spec-converge charter addition extends the integration reviewer's prompt
+  composition; no phase logic changes.
+
+## 6. External surfaces
+None outside the install base. Deployed agents receive updated skill files on their
+next update via the migration; operator-customized files are left untouched and
+reported in the migration result.
+
+## 7. Multi-machine posture (Cross-Machine Coherence)
+**machine-local BY DESIGN, with reason** — these are agent-installed skill/template
+files: each machine's install legitimately carries its own copy at its own installed
+version, kept current per machine by PostUpdateMigrator on that machine's update
+cycle. Version skew between machines is bounded by the existing update train (drift
+promoter). No user-facing notices, no durable runtime state, no generated URLs.
+(This section is itself the new question, answered — dogfooded on its own PR.)
+
+## 8. Rollback cost
+Revert the template/SKILL/registry edits and ship; the migration is marker-gated so a
+reverted bundle simply stops patching (already-patched agents keep the question — a
+benign residue: it asks reviewers for one honest paragraph). No data, no config, no
+runtime behavior.
+
+## Second-pass review
+Not required — no block/allow decisions, no session lifecycle, no
+gate/sentinel/watchdog runtime surface (docs/skills content + a content-patch
+migration following an established pattern).