diff --git a/.fork/customizations.yaml b/.fork/customizations.yaml
index e319ae085ab3..9c9fa23841a2 100644
--- a/.fork/customizations.yaml
+++ b/.fork/customizations.yaml
@@ -56,12 +56,24 @@
     Fork Workflow section pointing to .fork/AGENTS.md, which defines the
     branch model (work from custom, never touch main) and the placement
     ladder for fork changes.
+    CLAUDE.md is a Tier-4 inline edit the fork owns outright, and it
+    deliberately diverges from the blob upstream ships. Upstream's committed
+    symlink target carries a trailing newline, so it names a file that cannot
+    exist and CLAUDE.md resolves to nothing — upstream fixed that in 5e13f5357
+    and reintroduced it in 6891c77d3, so it recurs. The fork's blob is the
+    9-byte target with no newline. Resolve any sync conflict on CLAUDE.md by
+    keeping the fork's side; taking upstream's restores the bug and silently
+    strips the rules from every Claude agent. It is the one Tier-4 edit that
+    cannot carry the usual begin/end fence comments: a symlink's blob is its
+    target verbatim, so a comment marker inside it would break the very link
+    the marker exists to describe. The watch entry is the whole fence.
   tier: 4
   files:
     - .fork/AGENTS.md
   shadows: []
   watch:
     - AGENTS.md
+    - CLAUDE.md
   verify:
     - apps/web/src/__fork_guards__/forkWorkflowDocs.test.ts
 
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index c3170642553f..47dc3e3d863c 120000
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -1 +1 @@
-AGENTS.md
+AGENTS.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/web/src/__fork_guards__/forkWorkflowDocs.test.ts b/apps/web/src/__fork_guards__/forkWorkflowDocs.test.ts
index 773b02340278..49d625749394 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/__fork_guards__/forkWorkflowDocs.test.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/__fork_guards__/forkWorkflowDocs.test.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,13 @@
  * AGENTS.md is upstream-owned, so an upstream rewrite could silently drop the
  * fenced Fork Workflow section in a "clean" sync — and with it, every future
  * agent's knowledge of the branch rules. Fail loudly instead.
+ *
+ * CLAUDE.md is watched for the same reason and owned by the fork: its blob
+ * deliberately differs from upstream's, which carries a trailing newline that
+ * breaks the link. Never resolve a sync conflict on it by taking upstream.
  */
 
+import * as NodeChildProcess from "node:child_process";
 import * as NodeFS from "node:fs";
 import * as NodePath from "node:path";
 import * as NodeURL from "node:url";
@@ -26,9 +31,47 @@ describe("fork guard: fork-workflow-docs", () => {
   });
 
   it("keeps CLAUDE.md aliased to AGENTS.md so Claude agents get the same rules", () => {
-    const link = NodeFS.lstatSync(NodePath.join(repoRoot, "CLAUDE.md"));
-    expect(link.isSymbolicLink()).toBe(true);
-    // The committed symlink blob carries a trailing newline in its target.
-    expect(NodeFS.readlinkSync(NodePath.join(repoRoot, "CLAUDE.md")).trim()).toBe("AGENTS.md");
+    // Assert the committed object, not the working tree. What an agent gets
+    // is whatever the clone materializes from this blob, and a checkout with
+    // core.symlinks=false writes a regular file instead — so a working-tree
+    // check reds against a perfectly correct commit. The blob is also where
+    // the bug lives: no trim, because a symlink's target is its blob
+    // verbatim, and a trailing newline aims it at a filename that cannot
+    // exist. That is exactly the state the old `.trim()` assertion
+    // normalized away, holding its value while upstream fixed the newline in
+    // 5e13f5357 and reintroduced it in 6891c77d3.
+    const lsTree = NodeChildProcess.execSync("git ls-tree HEAD -- CLAUDE.md", {
+      cwd: repoRoot,
+      encoding: "utf8",
+    });
+    expect(lsTree.split(/\s+/u)[0]).toBe("120000");
+    const target = NodeChildProcess.execSync("git cat-file -p HEAD:CLAUDE.md", {
+      cwd: repoRoot,
+      encoding: "utf8",
+    });
+    expect(target).toBe("AGENTS.md");
+  });
+
+  it("resolves CLAUDE.md to the rules rather than merely pointing at them", () => {
+    // The promise in the manifest is that an agent opening CLAUDE.md learns
+    // the fork rules. That is a statement about what reading it produces, not
+    // about how the link is spelled, so read through it. This covers what the
+    // committed-blob check above cannot: a conflicted or dirty working tree,
+    // where HEAD still holds the fork's good blob.
+    const claudePath = NodePath.join(repoRoot, "CLAUDE.md");
+    if (!NodeFS.lstatSync(claudePath).isSymbolicLink()) {
+      // core.symlinks=false checkout — git wrote the target as a regular
+      // file. Read-through is not a property this checkout can have, and the
+      // commit is still correct, so assert the fallback shape rather than a
+      // false red.
+      expect(NodeFS.readFileSync(claudePath, "utf8")).toBe("AGENTS.md");
+      return;
+    }
+    // Precondition, so a broken link fails as an assertion rather than an
+    // ENOENT thrown out of readFileSync.
+    expect(NodeFS.existsSync(claudePath)).toBe(true);
+    const claude = NodeFS.readFileSync(claudePath, "utf8");
+    const agents = NodeFS.readFileSync(NodePath.join(repoRoot, "AGENTS.md"), "utf8");
+    expect(claude).toBe(agents);
   });
 });