ptr727 · ptr727 · Aug 29, 2026 · Aug 29, 2026 · Aug 29, 2026 · Aug 29, 2026
diff --git a/.agents/skills/resync-a-repo/SKILL.md b/.agents/skills/resync-a-repo/SKILL.md
@@ -49,21 +49,27 @@ Preserve the evidence RESYNC.md section 2 requires, and do not leave the finding
 
 ## Apply, in this order
 
-1. **The instruction set first.** `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim sections, then
-   `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`, including the `AGENTS.md` skill-dependency pointer paragraph
-   (naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live) as one more verbatim
-   unit carried in this same step, not a separate pass. **Before any verbatim re-vendor in this
-   step, run the `carried-instruction-file-guard` skill's distinctive-phrase probe against the
-   target file, every time, without exception.** This is not advisory language to weigh against
-   how routine the diff looks, a diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the
-   AGENTS.md-overwrite incident took. Do not proceed to the re-vendor until the probe has run and
-   any local addition it finds has a destination, per that skill's own procedure.
+1. **The instruction set first.** `CLAUDE.md`, then `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim
+   sections, then `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`, including the `AGENTS.md` skill-dependency
+   pointer paragraph (naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live) as
+   one more verbatim unit carried in this same step, not a separate pass. `CLAUDE.md` is the
+   single `@AGENTS.md`-import file that gets `AGENTS.md` into a Claude Code session's context at
+   all, a separate baseline entry from `AGENTS.md` itself, so carrying one without the other
+   still leaves that provider unconfigured. **Before touching `AGENTS.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md`,
+   `CODESTYLE.md`, or `WORKFLOW.md` in this step, run the `carried-instruction-file-guard`
+   skill's distinctive-phrase probe against the target file, every time, without exception,
+   regardless of whether the update is a verbatim re-vendor or an intent-fidelity edit.** This is not advisory language to weigh against how routine
+   the diff looks, a diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the AGENTS.md-overwrite
+   incident took. Do not proceed to the re-vendor until the probe has run and any local addition
+   it finds has a destination, per that skill's own procedure. `CLAUDE.md` is outside that
+   guard's scope: it carries no mixed or repo-specific content by design, so its re-vendor is an
+   ordinary verbatim-fidelity copy, no probe needed.
 2. **Deletions second, before any re-vendor.** Only a `retire` disposition in
    `spec/divergences.json` authorizes removing a file, and the removal is swept tree-wide, per
    RESYNC.md section 4, before the deletion counts as done.
-3. **Verbatim re-vendors** for everything the probe in step 1 cleared. A finding classified
-   modified rather than stale gets its diff read before being overwritten, since it may be an
-   improvement the hub should adopt instead of a mistake to erase.
+3. **Verbatim re-vendors** for `CLAUDE.md` and everything else the probe in step 1 cleared. A
+   finding classified modified rather than stale gets its diff read before being overwritten,
+   since it may be an improvement the hub should adopt instead of a mistake to erase.
 4. **Interface workflows.** Honor the named contract, required jobs, the ruleset-bound check name,
    the artifact-name handoff, rather than copying bytes.
 5. **Settings, rulesets, and secrets.** Run

diff --git a/.agents/skills/standup-a-repo/SKILL.md b/.agents/skills/standup-a-repo/SKILL.md
@@ -51,10 +51,13 @@ maintainer can supply what section 0A lists.
    section 2, then write or repair its `registry/repos.json` entry and confirm it with
    `spec/validate.py`.
 
-4. **The instruction set, before authoring anything.** STANDUP.md section 1A: carry `AGENTS.md`,
-   `GOVERNANCE.md`, `CODESTYLE.md`, `WORKFLOW.md` and `AUDIT.md`, adapted rather than cloned for
-   the ones that describe a repo, plus `.markdownlint-cli2.jsonc` and `cspell.json`. Read
-   `CODESTYLE.md` and the `GOVERNANCE.md` documentation-style rules before writing any repo
+4. **The instruction set, before authoring anything.** STANDUP.md section 1A: carry `CLAUDE.md`,
+   `AGENTS.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md`, `CODESTYLE.md`, `WORKFLOW.md` and `AUDIT.md`, adapted rather
+   than cloned for the ones that describe a repo, plus `.markdownlint-cli2.jsonc` and
+   `cspell.json`. `CLAUDE.md` is the fixed, verbatim `@AGENTS.md`-import file that gets
+   `AGENTS.md` into a Claude Code session's context at all, a separate baseline entry from
+   `AGENTS.md` itself, so carrying one without the other still leaves that provider unconfigured.
+   Read `CODESTYLE.md` and the `GOVERNANCE.md` documentation-style rules before writing any repo
    content of your own, the same window-closes shape as signing in step 1.
 
 5. **Capture the source, if one exists.** STANDUP.md section 1B, only when the repo's content

diff --git a/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/.source-digest b/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/.source-digest
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2044c888625ec970
+79146733e388bff5
diff --git a/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/resync-a-repo/SKILL.md b/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/resync-a-repo/SKILL.md
@@ -49,21 +49,27 @@ Preserve the evidence RESYNC.md section 2 requires, and do not leave the finding
 
 ## Apply, in this order
 
-1. **The instruction set first.** `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim sections, then
-   `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`, including the `AGENTS.md` skill-dependency pointer paragraph
-   (naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live) as one more verbatim
-   unit carried in this same step, not a separate pass. **Before any verbatim re-vendor in this
-   step, run the `carried-instruction-file-guard` skill's distinctive-phrase probe against the
-   target file, every time, without exception.** This is not advisory language to weigh against
-   how routine the diff looks, a diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the
-   AGENTS.md-overwrite incident took. Do not proceed to the re-vendor until the probe has run and
-   any local addition it finds has a destination, per that skill's own procedure.
+1. **The instruction set first.** `CLAUDE.md`, then `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim
+   sections, then `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`, including the `AGENTS.md` skill-dependency
+   pointer paragraph (naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live) as
+   one more verbatim unit carried in this same step, not a separate pass. `CLAUDE.md` is the
+   single `@AGENTS.md`-import file that gets `AGENTS.md` into a Claude Code session's context at
+   all, a separate baseline entry from `AGENTS.md` itself, so carrying one without the other
+   still leaves that provider unconfigured. **Before touching `AGENTS.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md`,
+   `CODESTYLE.md`, or `WORKFLOW.md` in this step, run the `carried-instruction-file-guard`
+   skill's distinctive-phrase probe against the target file, every time, without exception,
+   regardless of whether the update is a verbatim re-vendor or an intent-fidelity edit.** This is not advisory language to weigh against how routine
+   the diff looks, a diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the AGENTS.md-overwrite
+   incident took. Do not proceed to the re-vendor until the probe has run and any local addition
+   it finds has a destination, per that skill's own procedure. `CLAUDE.md` is outside that
+   guard's scope: it carries no mixed or repo-specific content by design, so its re-vendor is an
+   ordinary verbatim-fidelity copy, no probe needed.
 2. **Deletions second, before any re-vendor.** Only a `retire` disposition in
    `spec/divergences.json` authorizes removing a file, and the removal is swept tree-wide, per
    RESYNC.md section 4, before the deletion counts as done.
-3. **Verbatim re-vendors** for everything the probe in step 1 cleared. A finding classified
-   modified rather than stale gets its diff read before being overwritten, since it may be an
-   improvement the hub should adopt instead of a mistake to erase.
+3. **Verbatim re-vendors** for `CLAUDE.md` and everything else the probe in step 1 cleared. A
+   finding classified modified rather than stale gets its diff read before being overwritten,
+   since it may be an improvement the hub should adopt instead of a mistake to erase.
 4. **Interface workflows.** Honor the named contract, required jobs, the ruleset-bound check name,
    the artifact-name handoff, rather than copying bytes.
 5. **Settings, rulesets, and secrets.** Run

diff --git a/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/standup-a-repo/SKILL.md b/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/standup-a-repo/SKILL.md
@@ -51,10 +51,13 @@ maintainer can supply what section 0A lists.
    section 2, then write or repair its `registry/repos.json` entry and confirm it with
    `spec/validate.py`.
 
-4. **The instruction set, before authoring anything.** STANDUP.md section 1A: carry `AGENTS.md`,
-   `GOVERNANCE.md`, `CODESTYLE.md`, `WORKFLOW.md` and `AUDIT.md`, adapted rather than cloned for
-   the ones that describe a repo, plus `.markdownlint-cli2.jsonc` and `cspell.json`. Read
-   `CODESTYLE.md` and the `GOVERNANCE.md` documentation-style rules before writing any repo
+4. **The instruction set, before authoring anything.** STANDUP.md section 1A: carry `CLAUDE.md`,
+   `AGENTS.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md`, `CODESTYLE.md`, `WORKFLOW.md` and `AUDIT.md`, adapted rather
+   than cloned for the ones that describe a repo, plus `.markdownlint-cli2.jsonc` and
+   `cspell.json`. `CLAUDE.md` is the fixed, verbatim `@AGENTS.md`-import file that gets
+   `AGENTS.md` into a Claude Code session's context at all, a separate baseline entry from
+   `AGENTS.md` itself, so carrying one without the other still leaves that provider unconfigured.
+   Read `CODESTYLE.md` and the `GOVERNANCE.md` documentation-style rules before writing any repo
    content of your own, the same window-closes shape as signing in step 1.
 
 5. **Capture the source, if one exists.** STANDUP.md section 1B, only when the repo's content

diff --git a/.github/skills/resync-a-repo/SKILL.md b/.github/skills/resync-a-repo/SKILL.md
@@ -49,21 +49,27 @@ Preserve the evidence RESYNC.md section 2 requires, and do not leave the finding
 
 ## Apply, in this order
 
-1. **The instruction set first.** `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim sections, then
-   `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`, including the `AGENTS.md` skill-dependency pointer paragraph
-   (naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live) as one more verbatim
-   unit carried in this same step, not a separate pass. **Before any verbatim re-vendor in this
-   step, run the `carried-instruction-file-guard` skill's distinctive-phrase probe against the
-   target file, every time, without exception.** This is not advisory language to weigh against
-   how routine the diff looks, a diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the
-   AGENTS.md-overwrite incident took. Do not proceed to the re-vendor until the probe has run and
-   any local addition it finds has a destination, per that skill's own procedure.
+1. **The instruction set first.** `CLAUDE.md`, then `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim
+   sections, then `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`, including the `AGENTS.md` skill-dependency
+   pointer paragraph (naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live) as
+   one more verbatim unit carried in this same step, not a separate pass. `CLAUDE.md` is the
+   single `@AGENTS.md`-import file that gets `AGENTS.md` into a Claude Code session's context at
+   all, a separate baseline entry from `AGENTS.md` itself, so carrying one without the other
+   still leaves that provider unconfigured. **Before touching `AGENTS.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md`,
+   `CODESTYLE.md`, or `WORKFLOW.md` in this step, run the `carried-instruction-file-guard`
+   skill's distinctive-phrase probe against the target file, every time, without exception,
+   regardless of whether the update is a verbatim re-vendor or an intent-fidelity edit.** This is not advisory language to weigh against how routine
+   the diff looks, a diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the AGENTS.md-overwrite
+   incident took. Do not proceed to the re-vendor until the probe has run and any local addition
+   it finds has a destination, per that skill's own procedure. `CLAUDE.md` is outside that
+   guard's scope: it carries no mixed or repo-specific content by design, so its re-vendor is an
+   ordinary verbatim-fidelity copy, no probe needed.
 2. **Deletions second, before any re-vendor.** Only a `retire` disposition in
    `spec/divergences.json` authorizes removing a file, and the removal is swept tree-wide, per
    RESYNC.md section 4, before the deletion counts as done.
-3. **Verbatim re-vendors** for everything the probe in step 1 cleared. A finding classified
-   modified rather than stale gets its diff read before being overwritten, since it may be an
-   improvement the hub should adopt instead of a mistake to erase.
+3. **Verbatim re-vendors** for `CLAUDE.md` and everything else the probe in step 1 cleared. A
+   finding classified modified rather than stale gets its diff read before being overwritten,
+   since it may be an improvement the hub should adopt instead of a mistake to erase.
 4. **Interface workflows.** Honor the named contract, required jobs, the ruleset-bound check name,
    the artifact-name handoff, rather than copying bytes.
 5. **Settings, rulesets, and secrets.** Run

diff --git a/.github/skills/standup-a-repo/SKILL.md b/.github/skills/standup-a-repo/SKILL.md
@@ -51,10 +51,13 @@ maintainer can supply what section 0A lists.
    section 2, then write or repair its `registry/repos.json` entry and confirm it with
    `spec/validate.py`.
 
-4. **The instruction set, before authoring anything.** STANDUP.md section 1A: carry `AGENTS.md`,
-   `GOVERNANCE.md`, `CODESTYLE.md`, `WORKFLOW.md` and `AUDIT.md`, adapted rather than cloned for
-   the ones that describe a repo, plus `.markdownlint-cli2.jsonc` and `cspell.json`. Read
-   `CODESTYLE.md` and the `GOVERNANCE.md` documentation-style rules before writing any repo
+4. **The instruction set, before authoring anything.** STANDUP.md section 1A: carry `CLAUDE.md`,
+   `AGENTS.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md`, `CODESTYLE.md`, `WORKFLOW.md` and `AUDIT.md`, adapted rather
+   than cloned for the ones that describe a repo, plus `.markdownlint-cli2.jsonc` and
+   `cspell.json`. `CLAUDE.md` is the fixed, verbatim `@AGENTS.md`-import file that gets
+   `AGENTS.md` into a Claude Code session's context at all, a separate baseline entry from
+   `AGENTS.md` itself, so carrying one without the other still leaves that provider unconfigured.
+   Read `CODESTYLE.md` and the `GOVERNANCE.md` documentation-style rules before writing any repo
    content of your own, the same window-closes shape as signing in step 1.
 
 5. **Capture the source, if one exists.** STANDUP.md section 1B, only when the repo's content

diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Claude Code Entry Point
+
+@AGENTS.md
+
+Claude Code reads `CLAUDE.md`, not `AGENTS.md`, so the import line above is what gets this
+repository's rules into a Claude Code session at all. See `AGENTS.md` for what is authoritative
+and why. This file carries no rule of its own, and adds none beyond the import line.
diff --git a/GOVERNANCE.md b/GOVERNANCE.md
@@ -300,6 +300,7 @@ Every repo's GitHub repository details (the About panel) follow a fixed conventi
 ## Repository Layout
 
 - [`AGENTS.md`](./AGENTS.md): the agent entry point, carrying context and delegation rules plus the map to the sections below.
+- [`CLAUDE.md`](./CLAUDE.md): imports `AGENTS.md`, since Claude Code reads `CLAUDE.md` and never `AGENTS.md` on its own. Carries no rule of its own.
 - [`GOVERNANCE.md`](./GOVERNANCE.md), [`CODESTYLE.md`](./CODESTYLE.md), [`WORKFLOW.md`](./WORKFLOW.md), [`AUDIT.md`](./AUDIT.md): the governance and audit docs. This file is the cross-cutting-rules authority.
 - [`spec/`](./spec/): the machine-readable ground truth, covering project-type requirements, the file/section baseline, secrets, the host tool contract and its floors, and the preferred README structure.
 - [`registry/repos.json`](./registry/repos.json): the fleet registry, holding every project, its type(s), and its status.

diff --git a/RESYNC.md b/RESYNC.md
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ python3 spec/fidelity_honesty.py --report       # regenerate reports/divergences
 
 The order is load-bearing. Each step below either changes the rules the later steps are judged against, or removes something a later step would otherwise refresh.
 
-1. **The instruction set first.** `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim sections, then `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`. `AGENTS.md`'s skill-dependency pointer paragraph, naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live, carries as one more verbatim unit in this same step, not a separate pass. These are the rules for producing every other file, so carrying them last means everything touched beforehand was judged against the previous revision. This is the same closing-window shape as [`STANDUP.md`][standup] section 1A, and the cost of getting it wrong is rework proportional to how much was changed first. **Run the `carried-instruction-file-guard` skill's distinctive-phrase probe before any verbatim re-vendor in this step, every time, without exception.** A diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the AGENTS.md-overwrite incident took, so the probe is not weighed against how routine the request sounds, it runs regardless. `resync-a-repo` packages this whole step, and the rest of this section, as a Skill for a hub-context session driving the resync.
+1. **The instruction set first.** `CLAUDE.md`, then `AGENTS.md` and `GOVERNANCE.md` verbatim sections, then `CODESTYLE.md` and `WORKFLOW.md`. `CLAUDE.md` is the single `@AGENTS.md`-import file that gets `AGENTS.md` into a Claude Code session's context at all, so a repo carrying `AGENTS.md` without it is still a partial carry for that provider even though `spec/files.json` lists them as separate entries. `AGENTS.md`'s skill-dependency pointer paragraph, naming `scripts/skills_install.py` and where the fleet's Skills live, carries as one more verbatim unit in this same step, not a separate pass. These are the rules for producing every other file, so carrying them last means everything touched beforehand was judged against the previous revision. This is the same closing-window shape as [`STANDUP.md`][standup] section 1A, and the cost of getting it wrong is rework proportional to how much was changed first. **Run the `carried-instruction-file-guard` skill's distinctive-phrase probe before touching `AGENTS.md`, `GOVERNANCE.md`, `CODESTYLE.md`, or `WORKFLOW.md` in this step, every time, without exception, regardless of whether the update is a verbatim re-vendor or an intent-fidelity edit.** A diff that looks routine is exactly the shape the AGENTS.md-overwrite incident took, so the probe is not weighed against how routine the request sounds, it runs regardless. `CLAUDE.md` is outside that guard's scope entirely, the same as any file the guard was never written to cover: it carries no mixed or repo-specific content by design, so its own re-vendor is an ordinary verbatim-fidelity copy, no probe needed. `resync-a-repo` packages this whole step, and the rest of this section, as a Skill for a hub-context session driving the resync.
 2. **Deletions second, before any re-vendor.** A `hub-only:` finding names a file the hub hosts rather than carries, and its remedy removes the file. Doing it after the re-vendors means refreshing a copy that is about to be deleted, which is wasted work that also reads as a deliberate update in the diff. See section 4, which is the whole of what deletion means here.
 3. **Verbatim re-vendors.** Copy the current hub canonical down, whole file or the one named `## heading` region. A finding classified **stale** matches a past hub revision and needs no judgment. One classified **modified** matches no revision, so the repository changed fixed content and the change is read before it is overwritten, since it may be an improvement the hub should adopt instead.
    Run `python3 scripts/carry.py check <Repo> --target /path/to/worktree` for manifest-owned trees. Read each modified-file diff and every extra path before running the same command with `apply`. The tree declaration supplies the prune authority, so the carried-instruction-file guard does not apply to this fully owned content.