diff --git a/src/aelfrice/directive_detector.py b/src/aelfrice/directive_detector.py
index 305915f14..09cce1194 100644
--- a/src/aelfrice/directive_detector.py
+++ b/src/aelfrice/directive_detector.py
@@ -89,6 +89,35 @@
     re.IGNORECASE,
 )
 
+# Path A intent-prefix filter (issue #374, ratified 2026-05-07). Imperative
+# coding-task verbs in head position read as one-shot session tasks
+# ("Refactor X so it never blocks", "Add a test that ensures …"), not durable
+# rules. They short-circuit to False even when a downstream imperative-verb
+# match would otherwise fire.
+_CODING_TASK_PREFIX_VERBS: tuple[str, ...] = (
+    "refactor", "add", "implement", "write", "create", "update",
+    "fix", "make", "build", "remove", "rename", "extract",
+    "merge", "split", "move", "delete",
+)
+_CODING_TASK_PREFIX_PATTERN = re.compile(
+    r"^\s*(?:" + "|".join(_CODING_TASK_PREFIX_VERBS) + r")\b",
+    re.IGNORECASE,
+)
+
+# Rule-marker connectives — re-enable directive classification when a
+# coding-task prefix is present but the sentence still encodes a durable rule
+# ("Refactor X so it never blocks as a rule"). Empty per the #374 ratification:
+# the prefix always wins on first iteration; expand only with corpus evidence.
+_RULE_MARKER_CONNECTIVES: tuple[str, ...] = ()
+_RULE_MARKER_PATTERN: re.Pattern[str] | None = (
+    re.compile(
+        r"\b(?:" + "|".join(re.escape(c) for c in _RULE_MARKER_CONNECTIVES) + r")\b",
+        re.IGNORECASE,
+    )
+    if _RULE_MARKER_CONNECTIVES
+    else None
+)
+
 
 def detect_directive(text: str) -> bool:
     """Return True if `text` reads as a durable imperative directive.
@@ -98,7 +127,8 @@ def detect_directive(text: str) -> bool:
       2. Questions (leading interrogative or trailing '?') → False.
       3. Reported-speech / habitual narration ("I never X when Y") → False.
       4. Hedged statements ("maybe", "I think", …) → False.
-      5. Otherwise: True iff any imperative verb appears.
+      5. Coding-task imperative prefix without a rule-marker connective → False.
+      6. Otherwise: True iff any imperative verb appears.
     """
     if not text or not text.strip():
         return False
@@ -111,4 +141,7 @@ def detect_directive(text: str) -> bool:
         return False
     if _HEDGE_PATTERN.search(stripped):
         return False
+    if _CODING_TASK_PREFIX_PATTERN.match(stripped):
+        if _RULE_MARKER_PATTERN is None or not _RULE_MARKER_PATTERN.search(stripped):
+            return False
     return _VERB_PATTERN.search(stripped) is not None
diff --git a/tests/test_directive_detector.py b/tests/test_directive_detector.py
index ec21c1527..14c7045e0 100644
--- a/tests/test_directive_detector.py
+++ b/tests/test_directive_detector.py
@@ -45,3 +45,50 @@ def test_directive_positives(text: str) -> None:
 )
 def test_directive_negatives(text: str) -> None:
     assert detect_directive(text) is False
+
+
+# Path A: head-position coding-task prefix short-circuits to False even when
+# a downstream imperative verb would otherwise fire. Each row embeds a verb
+# from the imperative bank ("never", "ensure", "must", "only", "avoid", …)
+# so the test would pass under the old detector if Path A weren't applied —
+# making the test load-bearing for the new branch.
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "text",
+    [
+        "Refactor X so it never blocks",
+        "Add a test that ensures the gate fires",
+        "Implement the parser so it must reject empty input",
+        "Write a guard that always returns False on the empty case",
+        "Create a wrapper that should not propagate exceptions",
+        "Update the README so it only mentions the public API",
+        "Fix the pre-push hook to avoid bypassing on rebase",
+        "Make the worker shutdown ensure no half-flushed batches",
+        "Build a fixture that requires the v0.1 corpus path",
+        "Remove the dead branch before merging",
+        "Rename _emit so it cannot collide with _emit_core",
+        "Extract the helper unless the call site needs inlining",
+        "Merge the two threads after the gate passes",
+        "Split the test so each case must check exactly one signal",
+        "Move the docstring before the type annotations",
+        "Delete the cache whenever the schema bumps",
+    ],
+)
+def test_directive_coding_task_prefix_short_circuits(text: str) -> None:
+    assert detect_directive(text) is False
+
+
+# Regression: leading deontic anchors and durable rules where the head verb
+# is NOT in the coding-task bank still classify True. The prefix filter is
+# case-insensitive but positional, and only fires on the head verb.
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "text",
+    [
+        "always update the changelog before tagging",
+        "never delete a worktree without releasing the claim first",
+        "must rename the temp file before commit",
+        "only merge after the gate passes",
+        "before merging, ensure CI is green",
+    ],
+)
+def test_directive_prefix_filter_does_not_swallow_rules(text: str) -> None:
+    assert detect_directive(text) is True