diff --git a/.squad/agents/scribe/charter.md b/.squad/agents/scribe/charter.md
index 0e45c24a6..0dbe6e3ad 100644
--- a/.squad/agents/scribe/charter.md
+++ b/.squad/agents/scribe/charter.md
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
 After substantial work:
 1. Log session to `.squad/log/{timestamp}-{topic}.md` (who, what, outcomes)
 2. Merge `.squad/decisions/inbox/` → `.squad/decisions.md`, delete inbox files
+   - **IMPORTANT — Date Format Mandate:** All merged entries MUST use the format `### YYYY-MM-DD: Topic` for decision headings.
+   - If an inbox file is missing a date, add today's date (`YYYY-MM-DD`).
+   - If an entry cannot be dated (missing context, ambiguous age), log a warning, skip it, and report.
 3. Deduplicate decisions.md by `### ` blocks (exact duplicates, overlapping topics)
 4. Propagate: append `📌 Team update` to affected agents' history.md
 5. Commit: cd to team root, `git add .squad/`, temp file, `git commit -F` (Windows: no `-C`, no `-m` newlines)
diff --git a/.squad/templates/scribe-charter.md b/.squad/templates/scribe-charter.md
index 9082faa45..743443b04 100644
--- a/.squad/templates/scribe-charter.md
+++ b/.squad/templates/scribe-charter.md
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ After every substantial work session:
 2. **Merge the decision inbox:**
    - Read all files in `.squad/decisions/inbox/`
    - APPEND each decision's contents to `.squad/decisions.md`
+   - **IMPORTANT — Date Format Mandate:** All merged entries MUST use the format `### YYYY-MM-DD: Topic` for decision headings.
+     - If an inbox file is missing a date, add today's date (`YYYY-MM-DD`).
+     - If an entry cannot be dated (missing context, ambiguous age), log a warning, skip it, and report.
    - Delete each inbox file after merging
 
 3. **Deduplicate and consolidate decisions.md:**
diff --git a/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts b/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts
index 6466879a9..5a33c2a5e 100644
--- a/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts
+++ b/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts
@@ -308,6 +308,33 @@ function cleanInbox(squadDir: string, dryRun: boolean): NapAction[] {
 
 // ─── Decision archival ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+/**
+ * Archive stale decision entries from `decisions.md` to `decisions-archive.md`.
+ *
+ * **Entry format:** Each entry starts with `### YYYY-MM-DD: Topic`. Entries
+ * without a parseable date are treated as undated and always preserved (they
+ * are typically foundational directives).
+ *
+ * **Invariant:** `entries_before === entries_kept + entries_archived` — no
+ * decision data is ever silently dropped.
+ *
+ * **Threshold:** The file must exceed {@link DECISION_THRESHOLD} (default
+ * 20 KB) before any archival is attempted. This constant is overridable via
+ * config in future iterations.
+ *
+ * **Archival strategy:**
+ * 1. *Age-based* — entries older than {@link DECISION_MAX_AGE_DAYS} are
+ *    archived first.
+ * 2. *Count-based fallback* — when no entries exceed the age limit but the
+ *    file still exceeds the threshold, the oldest dated entries are archived
+ *    until the remaining content fits within the budget.
+ *
+ * @param squadDir - Absolute path to the `.squad` directory.
+ * @param dryRun  - When `true`, calculates the action without writing to disk.
+ * @returns `null` when the file is under threshold, doesn't exist, or nothing
+ *   was archivable (e.g. only undated entries remain). Otherwise a
+ *   {@link NapAction} describing the archive operation and bytes saved.
+ */
 function archiveDecisions(squadDir: string, dryRun: boolean): NapAction | null {
   const decisionsFile = path.join(squadDir, 'decisions.md');
   if (!fs.existsSync(decisionsFile)) return null;