diff --git a/.agents/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md b/.agents/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
index bc979dca..f175e5ba 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
+++ b/.agents/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
@@ -100,11 +100,22 @@ skill covers all of it, scoped down by what the maintainer actually asks for.
    report a timeout separately from a completed run's own conclusion, the tag or version it
    produced. A run that fails, times out, or never starts is reported, never silently retried.
 7. In the hub, when the chosen scope includes a release, bring this checkout to the merged
-   content: `git fetch origin main`, then `git checkout -B main origin/main` to force the local
-   `main` to the fetched tip regardless of what it pointed to before. `skills_install.py` stamps
-   and installs from whatever this checkout's HEAD already is, so a plain `git checkout main`
-   would leave a local `main` that already existed pointing at its old, pre-fetch commit, and
-   skip the refresh silently. Only then run `python3 scripts/skills_install.py --report`, then
+   content without discarding or mixing in anything local. First assert `git status --porcelain`
+   is empty, and stop and report rather than proceeding over any uncommitted content, tracked or
+   not, since `skills_install.py` installs from whatever ends up on disk and a leftover local file
+   would ride along into the install silently. Then `git fetch origin main`, `git checkout main`
+   (or `git checkout -b main origin/main` the first time this checkout carries no local `main` at
+   all, `checkout` rather than `switch` since the fleet's own `git` floor is undeclared and
+   `checkout` needs no minimum version for this), and `git merge --ff-only origin/main`.
+   `checkout` still refuses a `main` checked out in another worktree, and `--ff-only` refuses
+   anything but a clean fast-forward, so either stops and reports on top of what the preflight
+   already ruled out, per Repository Boundaries and Write Safety. `--ff-only` does not fail when
+   local `main` is already ahead of `origin/main`, since a strict superset needs no fast-forward
+   and reports up to date, so assert `git rev-parse main` equals `git rev-parse origin/main`
+   afterward and stop and report on a mismatch, a local-only commit this checkout never pushed is
+   exactly the case a bare "up to date" would hide. `skills_install.py` stamps and installs from
+   whatever this checkout's HEAD already is, so running it against a stale, unrefreshed, or
+   locally-diverged `main` skips the refresh silently. Only then run `python3 scripts/skills_install.py --report`, then
    `python3 scripts/skills_install.py` to install, and confirm `--report` now reads current,
    regardless of whether step 5 or 6 dispatched, skipped, or failed a release, this step is gated
    only on the chosen scope, never on the release outcome. This refreshes only the machine running
diff --git a/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/.source-digest b/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/.source-digest
index 687e0260..6db97af8 100644
--- a/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/.source-digest
+++ b/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/.source-digest
@@ -1 +1 @@
-c766251ed9f8b42d
+4259e0af969b1580
diff --git a/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md b/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
index bc979dca..f175e5ba 100644
--- a/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
+++ b/.claude-plugin/fleet-skills/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
@@ -100,11 +100,22 @@ skill covers all of it, scoped down by what the maintainer actually asks for.
    report a timeout separately from a completed run's own conclusion, the tag or version it
    produced. A run that fails, times out, or never starts is reported, never silently retried.
 7. In the hub, when the chosen scope includes a release, bring this checkout to the merged
-   content: `git fetch origin main`, then `git checkout -B main origin/main` to force the local
-   `main` to the fetched tip regardless of what it pointed to before. `skills_install.py` stamps
-   and installs from whatever this checkout's HEAD already is, so a plain `git checkout main`
-   would leave a local `main` that already existed pointing at its old, pre-fetch commit, and
-   skip the refresh silently. Only then run `python3 scripts/skills_install.py --report`, then
+   content without discarding or mixing in anything local. First assert `git status --porcelain`
+   is empty, and stop and report rather than proceeding over any uncommitted content, tracked or
+   not, since `skills_install.py` installs from whatever ends up on disk and a leftover local file
+   would ride along into the install silently. Then `git fetch origin main`, `git checkout main`
+   (or `git checkout -b main origin/main` the first time this checkout carries no local `main` at
+   all, `checkout` rather than `switch` since the fleet's own `git` floor is undeclared and
+   `checkout` needs no minimum version for this), and `git merge --ff-only origin/main`.
+   `checkout` still refuses a `main` checked out in another worktree, and `--ff-only` refuses
+   anything but a clean fast-forward, so either stops and reports on top of what the preflight
+   already ruled out, per Repository Boundaries and Write Safety. `--ff-only` does not fail when
+   local `main` is already ahead of `origin/main`, since a strict superset needs no fast-forward
+   and reports up to date, so assert `git rev-parse main` equals `git rev-parse origin/main`
+   afterward and stop and report on a mismatch, a local-only commit this checkout never pushed is
+   exactly the case a bare "up to date" would hide. `skills_install.py` stamps and installs from
+   whatever this checkout's HEAD already is, so running it against a stale, unrefreshed, or
+   locally-diverged `main` skips the refresh silently. Only then run `python3 scripts/skills_install.py --report`, then
    `python3 scripts/skills_install.py` to install, and confirm `--report` now reads current,
    regardless of whether step 5 or 6 dispatched, skipped, or failed a release, this step is gated
    only on the chosen scope, never on the release outcome. This refreshes only the machine running
diff --git a/.github/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md b/.github/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
index bc979dca..f175e5ba 100644
--- a/.github/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
+++ b/.github/skills/merge-and-release/SKILL.md
@@ -100,11 +100,22 @@ skill covers all of it, scoped down by what the maintainer actually asks for.
    report a timeout separately from a completed run's own conclusion, the tag or version it
    produced. A run that fails, times out, or never starts is reported, never silently retried.
 7. In the hub, when the chosen scope includes a release, bring this checkout to the merged
-   content: `git fetch origin main`, then `git checkout -B main origin/main` to force the local
-   `main` to the fetched tip regardless of what it pointed to before. `skills_install.py` stamps
-   and installs from whatever this checkout's HEAD already is, so a plain `git checkout main`
-   would leave a local `main` that already existed pointing at its old, pre-fetch commit, and
-   skip the refresh silently. Only then run `python3 scripts/skills_install.py --report`, then
+   content without discarding or mixing in anything local. First assert `git status --porcelain`
+   is empty, and stop and report rather than proceeding over any uncommitted content, tracked or
+   not, since `skills_install.py` installs from whatever ends up on disk and a leftover local file
+   would ride along into the install silently. Then `git fetch origin main`, `git checkout main`
+   (or `git checkout -b main origin/main` the first time this checkout carries no local `main` at
+   all, `checkout` rather than `switch` since the fleet's own `git` floor is undeclared and
+   `checkout` needs no minimum version for this), and `git merge --ff-only origin/main`.
+   `checkout` still refuses a `main` checked out in another worktree, and `--ff-only` refuses
+   anything but a clean fast-forward, so either stops and reports on top of what the preflight
+   already ruled out, per Repository Boundaries and Write Safety. `--ff-only` does not fail when
+   local `main` is already ahead of `origin/main`, since a strict superset needs no fast-forward
+   and reports up to date, so assert `git rev-parse main` equals `git rev-parse origin/main`
+   afterward and stop and report on a mismatch, a local-only commit this checkout never pushed is
+   exactly the case a bare "up to date" would hide. `skills_install.py` stamps and installs from
+   whatever this checkout's HEAD already is, so running it against a stale, unrefreshed, or
+   locally-diverged `main` skips the refresh silently. Only then run `python3 scripts/skills_install.py --report`, then
    `python3 scripts/skills_install.py` to install, and confirm `--report` now reads current,
    regardless of whether step 5 or 6 dispatched, skipped, or failed a release, this step is gated
    only on the chosen scope, never on the release outcome. This refreshes only the machine running