feat(mcp): add brain_read + brain_edit, contained to the sync source (brain#4)

brain_read returns a note verbatim; brain_edit is str_replace with an
exactly-once match. Both operate on INGEST_BRAIN_DIR, which is the pod's
mount of /var/lib/supervisor/brain — the tree brain-sync commits from, so
an edit reaches gitea on the next cycle rather than landing somewhere the
sync cannot see it (brain#2).

An adversarial design review before implementation changed three things,
each of which would otherwise have shipped:

1. Governance files are NOT in the model-facing tool. The original plan
   allowed root *.md so CLAUDE.md had an MCP path at all — the absence of
   one is what pushed a session to edit via the gitea REST API on
   2026-06-16 and wedge the sync. But brain content is ingested from the
   outside world, reaches a model's context via brain_query, and that
   model would hold the editor: one poisoned page could rewrite the
   CLAUDE.md a .dispatch-allow agent later loads as instructions. Worse,
   brain-sync merges with --strategy-option=ours, so the live tree wins
   against a human's corrective push on exactly the conflicting lines.
   CLAUDE.md now goes through brain_edit_root: de-surfaced from
   tools/list (the brain_index precedent, ADR-0012 rule 4) and gated on
   the local static principal, so a claude.ai-origin session is refused.
   The two scopes are disjoint — the privileged door has the smaller reach.

2. Reads needed the same allowlist, and brain_get already lacked it.
   api.ReadNote resolves any brain-relative path and parseFrontmatter
   returns the whole file when there is no fence, so brain_get reads
   verbatim session transcripts under archive/ (up to 500 KB, never
   BM25-indexed, so nobody thinks of them as reachable). A test proves
   the exposure was live; the same Resolve now gates brain_get.

3. Canonicalise before allowlisting. A prefix check on the raw argument
   accepts knowledge/../.git/hooks/post-commit, which Clean collapses to
   a git hook that brain-sync executes inside a pod holding the Gitea
   push credentials. Traversal, symlink escape, dotfiles, .git/, archive/,
   sessions/ and raw/ are refused by a static backstop that does not
   depend on the allowlist being right. There were no traversal tests in
   this repo before.

Also from the review: overlapping match counting (bytes.Count says "aa"
occurs once in "aaa", so a Count-based uniqueness check accepts an
ambiguous edit); UTF-8 validation on both sides, because encoding/json
substitutes U+FFFD and would hand back bytes the file does not contain,
making every derived old_str unmatchable; refusal while .git/MERGE_HEAD
or index.lock exists, since an edit racing brain-sync's merge is either
hard-reset away or committed as a wrongly resolved conflict; flock plus a
per-path mutex with the read taken inside the lock, because two pods
share the hostPath during a RollingUpdate and uniqueness evaluated
against a stale read loses an update while reporting success; same-dir
*.tmp + rename + chmod 0644 + fsync of file and parent; and reindex only
when the edit touches frontmatter, since BM25 walks live and embeddings
are mtime-driven.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01BeAp5LTscnz2W7Ubt4eJ6m

.dispatch-allow

@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# Presence of this file marks this repo as opt-in for headless dispatch.
-# See dispatch#3.

README.md

@@ -5,11 +5,6 @@ Instead of letting Claude Code do whatever it wants, hyperguild enforces structu
 workflows (TDD red/green/refactor), logs every session, and accumulates learnings
 into a searchable brain.
 
-**This repo is also where `brain-mcp` lives** — the MCP server at
-`brain-mcp.d-ma.be` that `brain_query`, `brain_write`, `brain_read`, `brain_edit`
-and `capture` are served from. It is not a separate deployable; see
-[Where brain-mcp lives](#where-brain-mcp-lives).
-
 ## Hypothesis
 
 > We believe routing skill tasks through local models, backed by brain context,
@@ -25,7 +20,7 @@ usage, the fast-model routing path should be reconsidered.
 
 **hyperguild = Claude Code + MCP.** This is a supervisor for Claude Code sessions specifically.
 For multi-agent orchestration (OpenCode + LiteLLM, executor/reviewer pipelines), see
-[agentsquad](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/agentsquad) — a separate harness for a different
+[agentsquad](http://gitea.d-ma.be/mathias/agentsquad) — a separate harness for a different
 orchestration model. Skills (mathias/skills) are shared between both.
 
 ## How it works
@@ -49,60 +44,6 @@ brain/
 └── knowledge/      — legacy flat notes (migration pending: hyperguild#22)
 ```
 
-## Where brain-mcp lives
-
-`brain-mcp` is served from **`ingestion/internal/mcp`** in this repo, at
-**`brain-mcp.d-ma.be`**. It is a component *inside* the `ingestion` service, not
-a standalone deployable — one pod in the `supervisor` namespace serves the MCP
-endpoint, the REST API, and the claudewatcher together.
-
-| You are looking for | It is here |
-|---|---|
-| The MCP tool surface (`brain_query`, `brain_write`, `brain_read`, `brain_edit`, `capture`, …) | `ingestion/internal/mcp` |
-| The HTTP/REST API (`/query`, `/write`, `/ingest`) | `ingestion/internal/api` |
-| Session ingestion from Claude Code transcripts | `ingestion/internal/claudewatcher` |
-| The brain *content* (notes, wings, halls) | [`mathias/brain`](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/brain) — a separate repo |
-| Deployment manifests | `config/supervisor` |
-
-### Why it is not its own repo
-
-Asked and decided in [#91](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/issues/91)
-(part 2). `internal/mcp` imports 17 of ingestion's other internal packages and
-has exactly one importer — it is the MCP facade over the service's own
-internals, so "move it out" resolves to renaming `ingestion`, publishing 17
-packages as a shared library, or maintaining a shim. The discoverability problem
-that prompted the question is answered by naming it here instead.
-
-Full reasoning, including the reversal trigger: brain
-`wiki/hyperguild/decisions/brain-mcp-stays-in-ingestion-fix-discoverability-by-name`.
-
-## Ingest revises, it does not overwrite
-
-Re-ingesting a source **merges into the page already on disk** rather than
-replacing it. Previously the write was unconditional, so a second ingest of the
-same source discarded everything accumulated since — including hand-written
-sections.
-
-The merge is deliberately asymmetric in the existing page's favour:
-
-| On the page | In the fresh extraction | Result |
-|---|---|---|
-| a section | the same section | **the on-disk version wins** |
-| — | a new section | added |
-| a bullet list (`Sources`, `Key Claims`, …) | more bullets | unioned, no duplicates |
-| an append section (`Open Questions`, `Updates`, …) | more lines | only genuinely new lines appended |
-| frontmatter | frontmatter | **the on-disk frontmatter wins** |
-
-So an extraction can add to a note but never silently rewrite what a human put
-there, which is what makes it safe to run on every ingest rather than behind a
-review gate.
-
-Re-ingesting unchanged content is **byte-identical** — no diff, so brain-sync
-does not commit noise that hides real edits.
-
-Known limitation: because the on-disk frontmatter wins, `last_updated` keeps its
-first-ingest date on a revised page.
-
 ## Phase 1 tools (available now)
 
 | Tool | What it does |
@@ -117,7 +58,7 @@ first-ingest date on a revised page.
 | `tier` | Returns the current connectivity tier (1=cloud, 2=LAN, 3=offline) |
 
 > **Note:** `tdd_red/green/refactor` and `spec` were retired in Plan 7 (2026-05-12).
-> They are now SKILL.md files in [mathias/skills](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills).
+> They are now SKILL.md files in [mathias/skills](http://gitea.d-ma.be/mathias/skills).
 
 ## Connect a project
 
@@ -206,7 +147,7 @@ The routing pod selects models per skill call based on historical pass rate:
 
 ## Open issues
 
-See [issues](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/issues) — key open items:
+See [issues](http://gitea.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/issues) — key open items:
 
 - **#25** — skills platform overhaul (audit first, then lazy loading + brain feedback loop)
 - **#24** — reduce context burn from skill listing

ingestion/cmd/server/main.go

@@ -144,16 +144,6 @@ func envInt(key string, fallback int) int {
 	return fallback
 }
 
-// buildNotifier returns the ntfy notifier, or a nil interface when
-// BRAIN_NTFY_URL is unset. A nil *interface* (not a typed-nil) is required so
-// DegradingSink/Reconcile and the governance observer skip it cleanly.
-func buildNotifier() audit.Notifier {
-	if n := audit.NewNtfyNotifier(os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_URL"), os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_TOKEN")); n != nil {
-		return n
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
 // buildAuditSink selects the capture audit sink. When BRAIN_LOKI_URL is
 // set it builds the classification-aware DegradingSink (loki central +
 // durable file buffer + optional ntfy) and starts the reconcile loop;
@@ -171,7 +161,12 @@ func buildAuditSink(ctx context.Context, brainDir string, logger *slog.Logger) c
 		logger.Error("capture audit buffer init", "err", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
-	notifier := buildNotifier()
+	// Keep notifier as a nil interface (not a typed-nil) when unconfigured
+	// so DegradingSink/Reconcile skip it cleanly.
+	var notifier audit.Notifier
+	if n := audit.NewNtfyNotifier(os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_URL"), os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_TOKEN")); n != nil {
+		notifier = n
+	}
 	reconcileInterval := time.Duration(envInt("BRAIN_AUDIT_RECONCILE_INTERVAL", 60)) * time.Second
 	audit.StartReconcile(ctx, central, buffer, notifier, reconcileInterval)
 	logger.Info("capture audit: loki+buffer sink", "loki", lokiURL, "reconcile_s", int(reconcileInterval.Seconds()))
@@ -495,13 +490,7 @@ func main() {
 		// the existing /mcp OAuth connector. mcpSrv is already wrapped above;
 		// WithCapture mutates the same instance, so the tool appears live.
 		mcpSrv.WithCapture(captureSvc, jwtValidator, mcpToken, "local-cli", resolver)
-		// hyperguild#97: a governance-file rewrite gets the same trail a
-		// capture already gets, plus an out-of-band alert. Wired here because
-		// brain_edit_root needs the capture plumbing anyway — that is what
-		// re-derives the static principal its gate checks.
-		mcpSrv.WithGovernanceObserver(auditSink, buildNotifier())
-		logger.Info("capture enabled (REST + MCP tool)", "sovereign_principals", len(sovereign),
-			"governance_observer", true)
+		logger.Info("capture enabled (REST + MCP tool)", "sovereign_principals", len(sovereign))
 	} else {
 		logger.Info("capture endpoint disabled (BRAIN_GITEA_TOKEN unset)")
 	}

ingestion/internal/api/handler.go

@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/claim"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/extract"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/pipeline"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/search"
@@ -153,24 +152,15 @@ func writeHallNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("create hall dir: %w", err)
+	}
+
 	existingFields, body := splitFrontmatter(opts.Content)
 	existingByKey := make(map[string]frontmatterField, len(existingFields))
 	for _, f := range existingFields {
 		existingByKey[f.key] = f
 	}
-
-	// Validate the claim-property envelope BEFORE creating the directory, so a
-	// rejected write leaves nothing behind — not even an empty hall dir
-	// (brain#21). Fail closed: a value outside the enum is worse than an absent
-	// one, because a lint skips what it cannot parse and the note then reads as
-	// classified while nothing acts on it.
-	if err := claim.ValidateEnvelope(scalarValues(existingFields)); err != nil {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("claim envelope: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755); err != nil {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("create hall dir: %w", err)
-	}
 	emitted := make(map[string]bool, 6)
 
 	var fm strings.Builder
@@ -228,25 +218,6 @@ func writeHallNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 	return filepath.ToSlash(rel), nil
 }
 
-// scalarValues flattens frontmatter fields to key -> scalar value for
-// validation. Multi-line values (lists, nested blocks) yield the text after
-// the colon on the first line, which is empty for a list — correct here,
-// since every claim-property field is a scalar enum.
-func scalarValues(fields []frontmatterField) map[string]string {
-	out := make(map[string]string, len(fields))
-	for _, f := range fields {
-		if len(f.lines) == 0 {
-			continue
-		}
-		_, value, found := strings.Cut(f.lines[0], ":")
-		if !found {
-			continue
-		}
-		out[f.key] = strings.TrimSpace(value)
-	}
-	return out
-}
-
 // frontmatterField is one top-level YAML key from a frontmatter block,
 // along with its raw line and any indented continuation lines (e.g. a
 // bulleted list value spanning multiple lines).

ingestion/internal/api/handler_test.go

@@ -440,60 +440,3 @@ func TestIngestPath_Directory(t *testing.T) {
 	require.True(t, ok, "pages must be an array")
 	assert.NotEmpty(t, pagesSlice)
 }
-
-// --- brain#21: claim-property envelope on the write path -------------------
-
-func TestWriteNote_PreservesClaimEnvelopeVerbatim(t *testing.T) {
-	// writeHallNote already passes unknown keys through; this pins that
-	// behaviour for the envelope specifically, so a future refactor of the
-	// merge loop cannot silently drop it.
-	dir := t.TempDir()
-
-	rel, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
-		Content: "---\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nA durable claim.\n",
-		Wing:    "homelab",
-		Hall:    "decisions",
-	})
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-
-	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "half_life: durable")
-	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "applies: universal")
-	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted")
-}
-
-func TestWriteNote_RejectsInvalidClaimEnvelopeAndWritesNothing(t *testing.T) {
-	// Fail closed: a value outside the enum must not land. A lint skips what
-	// it cannot parse, so an unvalidated write produces a note that reads as
-	// classified while nothing acts on it.
-	dir := t.TempDir()
-
-	_, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
-		Content:  "---\nhalf_life: forever\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nBody.\n",
-		Filename: "bad-envelope",
-		Wing:     "homelab",
-		Hall:     "facts",
-	})
-	require.Error(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "half_life")
-
-	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/bad-envelope.md"))
-	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(statErr), "a rejected write must leave no file behind")
-}
-
-func TestWriteNote_RejectsClaimFieldWithoutProvenance(t *testing.T) {
-	dir := t.TempDir()
-
-	_, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
-		Content:  "---\napplies: homelab\n---\n\nBody.\n",
-		Filename: "no-provenance",
-		Wing:     "homelab",
-		Hall:     "facts",
-	})
-	require.Error(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "claim_provenance")
-
-	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/no-provenance.md"))
-	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(statErr))
-}

ingestion/internal/claim/claim.go

@@ -1,98 +0,0 @@
-// Package claim validates the claim-property frontmatter that says when and
-// where a note's claim holds, and who decided that (brain#21).
-//
-// Two families were designed together and land separately. This is the
-// applicability envelope:
-//
-//	half_life:        volatile | seasonal | durable   — how fast it decays
-//	applies:          local | homelab | universal     — how widely it holds
-//	claim_provenance: asserted | inferred             — who set the above
-//
-// The strength family (confidence, contested) follows once the ingest-time
-// contradiction detector exists to populate it.
-//
-// Why the envelope is validated rather than merely accepted: a value outside
-// the enum is worse than an absent one. A lint skips what it cannot parse, so
-// the note reads as classified while nothing acts on it — the field becomes
-// decoration that suppresses the very review it was added to trigger.
-//
-// Why `applies` and not `scope`: `scope:` has been in use since brain#5 for
-// glossary terms (`homelab-core`, `project:<repo>`) — a disjoint value space
-// on the same key. The shipped schema keeps the name; this one takes another.
-package claim
-
-import (
-	"fmt"
-	"strings"
-)
-
-// Field names, exported so writers and lints agree on the spelling.
-const (
-	FieldHalfLife   = "half_life"
-	FieldApplies    = "applies"
-	FieldProvenance = "claim_provenance"
-)
-
-var (
-	halfLives   = []string{"volatile", "seasonal", "durable"}
-	appliesTo   = []string{"local", "homelab", "universal"}
-	provenances = []string{"asserted", "inferred"}
-)
-
-// ValidateEnvelope checks the envelope fields of one note's frontmatter.
-//
-// Absent fields are valid: the envelope is opt-in for new writes, and a
-// corpus-wide backfill is deliberately out of scope (brain#21) — inferring
-// 1113 notes' properties in bulk has the same failure mode as the extraction
-// pass that produced 28 wrong wikilinks out of 67.
-func ValidateEnvelope(fm map[string]string) error {
-	halfLife, hasHalfLife := present(fm, FieldHalfLife)
-	applies, hasApplies := present(fm, FieldApplies)
-	prov, hasProv := present(fm, FieldProvenance)
-
-	if hasHalfLife {
-		if err := oneOf(FieldHalfLife, halfLife, halfLives); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	if hasApplies {
-		if err := oneOf(FieldApplies, applies, appliesTo); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	if hasProv {
-		if err := oneOf(FieldProvenance, prov, provenances); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-
-	// The field and its provenance travel together or not at all. A value
-	// whose author is unknown cannot be trusted differently from one Mathias
-	// asserted, which is how an inferred guess hardens into accepted fact.
-	switch {
-	case (hasHalfLife || hasApplies) && !hasProv:
-		return fmt.Errorf("%s is required when %s or %s is set",
-			FieldProvenance, FieldHalfLife, FieldApplies)
-	case hasProv && !hasHalfLife && !hasApplies:
-		return fmt.Errorf("%s is set but neither %s nor %s is",
-			FieldProvenance, FieldHalfLife, FieldApplies)
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
-// present reports a trimmed field value and whether it was set to anything
-// non-empty. A key written with an empty value is treated as absent rather
-// than as an error: that is a caller emitting a placeholder, not asserting.
-func present(fm map[string]string, key string) (string, bool) {
-	v := strings.TrimSpace(fm[key])
-	return v, v != ""
-}
-
-func oneOf(field, value string, allowed []string) error {
-	for _, a := range allowed {
-		if a == value {
-			return nil
-		}
-	}
-	return fmt.Errorf("%s: %q is not one of %s", field, value, strings.Join(allowed, ", "))
-}

ingestion/internal/claim/claim_test.go

@@ -1,89 +0,0 @@
-// Package claim_test covers the claim-property envelope (brain#21).
-package claim_test
-
-import (
-	"testing"
-
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/claim"
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
-)
-
-func TestValidateEnvelope(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		name    string
-		fm      map[string]string
-		wantErr string
-	}{
-		{
-			name: "absent is fine — the fields are opt-in on new writes",
-			fm:   map[string]string{"wing": "homelab", "hall": "facts"},
-		},
-		{
-			name: "complete envelope with provenance",
-			fm: map[string]string{
-				"half_life": "durable", "applies": "universal", "claim_provenance": "asserted",
-			},
-		},
-		{
-			name: "inferred provenance is equally valid — it just must be stated",
-			fm: map[string]string{
-				"half_life": "volatile", "applies": "local", "claim_provenance": "inferred",
-			},
-		},
-		{
-			// A value nobody can act on is worse than no value: a lint
-			// silently skips it, so the note looks classified and isn't.
-			name:    "unknown half_life value",
-			fm:      map[string]string{"half_life": "forever", "claim_provenance": "asserted"},
-			wantErr: `half_life: "forever" is not one of volatile, seasonal, durable`,
-		},
-		{
-			name:    "unknown applies value",
-			fm:      map[string]string{"applies": "galaxy", "claim_provenance": "asserted"},
-			wantErr: `applies: "galaxy" is not one of local, homelab, universal`,
-		},
-		{
-			// brain#21: a value a model inferred must never be
-			// indistinguishable from one Mathias asserted. Writing the field
-			// without saying who set it is exactly that laundering.
-			name:    "envelope field without provenance",
-			fm:      map[string]string{"half_life": "durable"},
-			wantErr: "claim_provenance is required when half_life or applies is set",
-		},
-		{
-			name:    "applies without provenance",
-			fm:      map[string]string{"applies": "homelab"},
-			wantErr: "claim_provenance is required when half_life or applies is set",
-		},
-		{
-			name:    "unknown provenance value",
-			fm:      map[string]string{"half_life": "durable", "claim_provenance": "probably"},
-			wantErr: `claim_provenance: "probably" is not one of asserted, inferred`,
-		},
-		{
-			// Provenance alone says who set fields that aren't there.
-			name:    "provenance without any envelope field",
-			fm:      map[string]string{"claim_provenance": "asserted"},
-			wantErr: "claim_provenance is set but neither half_life nor applies is",
-		},
-		{
-			// The glossary wing has used scope: homelab-core since #5. The
-			// envelope deliberately does NOT claim that key (brain#21).
-			name: "glossary scope is untouched",
-			fm:   map[string]string{"scope": "homelab-core", "term": "koala"},
-		},
-	}
-
-	for _, tt := range tests {
-		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			err := claim.ValidateEnvelope(tt.fm)
-			if tt.wantErr == "" {
-				assert.NoError(t, err)
-				return
-			}
-			require.Error(t, err)
-			assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), tt.wantErr)
-		})
-	}
-}

ingestion/internal/mcp/server.go

@@ -49,8 +49,6 @@ type rpcError struct {
 // Server handles MCP JSON-RPC over HTTP for the ingestion service.
 type Server struct {
 	brainDir  string
-	govAudit  capture.AuditSink
-	govNotify govNotifier
 	pipeline  pipeline.Config
 	llm       pipeline.CompleteFunc
 	answerLLM pipeline.CompleteFunc // nil = brain_answer and brain_classify unavailable

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_notes.go

@@ -6,11 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log/slog"
 	"strings"
-	"time"
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capture"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/classification"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/notes"
 )
 
@@ -55,20 +52,6 @@ func noteToolDescriptors() []map[string]any {
 	}
 }
 
-// --- hyperguild#97: governance-rewrite observability -----------------------
-
-// govNotifier raises an out-of-band alert. Declared here rather than importing
-// internal/audit so the MCP package keeps depending on capture alone.
-type govNotifier interface {
-	Notify(ctx context.Context, msg string) error
-}
-
-// WithGovernanceObserver attaches the audit sink and notifier that observe a
-// successful brain_edit_root. Both are optional; either may be nil.
-func (s *Server) WithGovernanceObserver(sink capture.AuditSink, n govNotifier) {
-	s.govAudit, s.govNotify = sink, n
-}
-
 type brainReadArgs struct {
 	Path string `json:"path"`
 }
@@ -92,17 +75,8 @@ type brainEditArgs struct {
 }
 
 // brainEdit is the model-facing editor: notes only.
-//
-// Deliberately NOT audited (#97). A note edit is already fully reconstructible
-// from git history, which carries the same before/after bytes plus a diff.
-// Governance files get the extra trail because they change what later agents
-// obey — the asymmetry is about instruction-carrying content, not about how
-// hard the change is to reconstruct. Auditing every note edit would also bury
-// the rare governance record under routine traffic, which is how an alert
-// stops being read.
 func (s *Server) brainEdit(_ context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	_, out, err := s.editWithScope(args, notes.ScopeNotes)
-	return out, err
+	return s.editWithScope(args, notes.ScopeNotes)
 }
 
 // brainEditRoot edits a governance file (CLAUDE.md). De-surfaced AND gated on
@@ -115,72 +89,22 @@ func (s *Server) brainEditRoot(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("brain_edit_root requires the local static principal; " +
 			"a governance file is not editable from a model-facing origin")
 	}
-	res, out, err := s.editWithScope(args, notes.ScopeRoot)
-	if err != nil {
-		// A refusal is not a rewrite. Recording or alerting on one would cry
-		// wolf, and the gate already logs its own denials.
-		return out, err
-	}
+	out, err := s.editWithScope(args, notes.ScopeRoot)
+	if err == nil {
 		// A durable instruction rewrite should be loud, not silent.
 		slog.Warn("brain_edit_root applied", "principal", info.principal, "result", string(out))
-	s.observeGovernanceEdit(ctx, info.principal, res)
+	}
 	return out, err
 }
 
-// observeGovernanceEdit records and alerts on a rewrite that already landed.
-//
-// Best-effort by construction: the bytes are written and brain-sync will commit
-// them within the quarter hour, so failing the call here would report a
-// non-rewrite to the caller while the rewrite sits on disk. A failure to
-// observe is therefore logged at ERROR — the one case where the trail itself is
-// what broke, and the only remaining signal.
-func (s *Server) observeGovernanceEdit(ctx context.Context, principal string, res notes.Result) {
-	// Path and hashes only. The notification leaves the cluster for a phone
-	// via a third-party topic; a hash identifies the rewrite, the bytes would
-	// leak whatever was written into an instruction file.
-	msg := fmt.Sprintf("brain_edit_root applied\npath=%s\nprincipal=%s\nbefore=%s\nafter=%s",
-		res.Path, principal, res.PrevContentHash, res.ContentHash)
-
-	if s.govNotify != nil {
-		if err := s.govNotify.Notify(ctx, msg); err != nil {
-			slog.Error("brain_edit_root notify failed", "path", res.Path, "err", err)
-		}
-	}
-	if s.govAudit == nil {
-		return
-	}
-	// Internal, not Confidential: a governance file is not client data, and
-	// Confidential would make DegradingSink REFUSE to record while loki is
-	// down rather than buffer — losing exactly the record that matters most.
-	outcome, err := s.govAudit.Reserve(ctx, classification.Internal)
-	if err != nil {
-		slog.Error("brain_edit_root audit reserve failed", "path", res.Path, "err", err)
-		return
-	}
-	entry := capture.AuditEntry{
-		Timestamp:               time.Now().UTC(),
-		Principal:               principal,
-		Actor:                   "brain_edit_root",
-		Harness:                 "mcp",
-		EffectiveClassification: classification.Internal.String(),
-		Items:                   []string{res.Path},
-		SecurityEvents: []string{fmt.Sprintf(
-			"governance file rewritten: %s before=%s after=%s",
-			res.Path, res.PrevContentHash, res.ContentHash)},
-	}
-	if err := s.govAudit.Record(ctx, entry, outcome); err != nil {
-		slog.Error("brain_edit_root audit record failed", "path", res.Path, "err", err)
-	}
-}
-
-func (s *Server) editWithScope(args json.RawMessage, scope notes.Scope) (notes.Result, json.RawMessage, error) {
+func (s *Server) editWithScope(args json.RawMessage, scope notes.Scope) (json.RawMessage, error) {
 	var a brainEditArgs
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
-		return notes.Result{}, nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
 	}
 	res, err := notes.Edit(s.brainDir, a.Path, a.OldStr, a.NewStr, scope)
 	if err != nil {
-		return notes.Result{}, nil, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	// Reindex only when the edit could have changed what the index reads.
@@ -197,8 +121,7 @@ func (s *Server) editWithScope(args json.RawMessage, scope notes.Scope) (notes.R
 			res.ReindexError = ierr.Error()
 		}
 	}
-	out, merr := json.Marshal(res)
-	return res, out, merr
+	return json.Marshal(res)
 }
 
 // wingOf returns the wing for a wiki path, or "" for knowledge/ and root.

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_notes_test.go

@@ -2,22 +2,13 @@
 package mcp_test
 
 import (
-	"context"
-	"crypto/sha256"
-	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
-	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/audit"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brainstore"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capture"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capturehttp"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/classification"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/mcp"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -134,164 +125,3 @@ func mustJSON(t *testing.T, v any) []byte {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	return b
 }
-
-// ---- hyperguild#97: a governance rewrite must be observed, not just gated ----
-
-// govSink captures audit records. Governance edits are rare, so the whole
-// history is kept and asserted on rather than sampled.
-type govSink struct {
-	entries  []capture.AuditEntry
-	outcomes []capture.AuditOutcome
-	recErr   error
-}
-
-func (s *govSink) Reserve(context.Context, classification.Level) (capture.AuditOutcome, error) {
-	return capture.AuditCentral, nil
-}
-
-func (s *govSink) Record(_ context.Context, e capture.AuditEntry, o capture.AuditOutcome) error {
-	s.entries = append(s.entries, e)
-	s.outcomes = append(s.outcomes, o)
-	return s.recErr
-}
-
-type govNotifier struct {
-	msgs []string
-	err  error
-}
-
-func (n *govNotifier) Notify(_ context.Context, msg string) error {
-	n.msgs = append(n.msgs, msg)
-	return n.err
-}
-
-// govServer wires capture (which is what re-derives the static principal) plus
-// the #97 observer, and returns the brain dir so the test can read the file.
-func govServer(t *testing.T) (*mcp.Server, string, *govSink, *govNotifier) {
-	t.Helper()
-	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
-	cfg, err := classification.Load(dir)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(dir), capFakeTracker{}, cfg, audit.NewSlogSink(nil))
-
-	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
-	srv.WithCapture(svc, nil, capStaticTok, "local-cli", capturehttp.NewOriginResolver(nil))
-	sink, notifier := &govSink{}, &govNotifier{}
-	srv.WithGovernanceObserver(sink, notifier)
-	return srv, dir, sink, notifier
-}
-
-// authCall is call() with an Authorization header, so the static principal is
-// present and brain_edit_root's gate opens.
-func authCall(t *testing.T, srv *mcp.Server, authz, name string, args map[string]any) map[string]any {
-	t.Helper()
-	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/mcp", body(t, map[string]any{
-		"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/call",
-		"params": map[string]any{"name": name, "arguments": args},
-	}))
-	if authz != "" {
-		req.Header.Set("Authorization", authz)
-	}
-	rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
-	srv.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
-	var resp map[string]any
-	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(rr.Body.Bytes(), &resp))
-	return resp
-}
-
-func sha256hex(s string) string {
-	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(s))
-	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
-}
-
-func TestBrainEditRoot_RecordsAnAuditEntryNamingPrincipalPathAndBothHashes(t *testing.T) {
-	// The gate proves a rewrite was ALLOWED. Only a record proves one HAPPENED
-	// — and brain-sync will commit it within 15 minutes authored `brain-sync`,
-	// so git history cannot tell it apart from routine note traffic.
-	srv, dir, sink, _ := govServer(t)
-
-	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
-		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
-	})
-	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
-
-	require.Len(t, sink.entries, 1, "exactly one audit record per governance rewrite")
-	e := sink.entries[0]
-	assert.Equal(t, "local-cli", e.Principal)
-	assert.Contains(t, e.Items, "CLAUDE.md", "the record must name what was rewritten")
-
-	joined := strings.Join(e.SecurityEvents, " ")
-	assert.Contains(t, joined, sha256hex("# rules\n"), "before-hash must be recorded")
-	assert.Contains(t, joined, sha256hex("# rewritten\n"), "after-hash must be recorded")
-	assert.NotZero(t, e.Timestamp)
-
-	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "CLAUDE.md"))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "# rewritten\n", string(got))
-}
-
-func TestBrainEditRoot_NotifiesWithPathAndHashesButNeverContent(t *testing.T) {
-	srv, _, _, notifier := govServer(t)
-
-	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
-		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
-	})
-	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
-
-	require.Len(t, notifier.msgs, 1)
-	msg := notifier.msgs[0]
-	assert.Contains(t, msg, "CLAUDE.md")
-	assert.Contains(t, msg, "local-cli")
-	assert.Contains(t, msg, sha256hex("# rules\n"))
-	assert.Contains(t, msg, sha256hex("# rewritten\n"))
-
-	// The notification travels to a phone through a third-party topic. A hash
-	// identifies a rewrite; the bytes would leak whatever was written.
-	assert.NotContains(t, msg, "# rewritten", "no file content in the notification body")
-	assert.NotContains(t, msg, "# rules")
-}
-
-func TestBrainEditRoot_RefusedProducesNoRecordNoNotificationNoWrite(t *testing.T) {
-	srv, dir, sink, notifier := govServer(t)
-
-	// No Authorization header → no static principal → the gate stays shut.
-	resp := authCall(t, srv, "", "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
-		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
-	})
-	require.Contains(t, resp, "error")
-
-	assert.Empty(t, sink.entries, "a refusal is not a rewrite — recording one would cry wolf")
-	assert.Empty(t, notifier.msgs)
-	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "CLAUDE.md"))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "# rules\n", string(got))
-}
-
-func TestBrainEditRoot_FailedEditProducesNoRecordNoNotification(t *testing.T) {
-	// Authorised but no match: the door opened and nothing went through it.
-	srv, _, sink, notifier := govServer(t)
-
-	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
-		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "absent-from-the-file", "new_str": "x",
-	})
-	require.Contains(t, resp, "error")
-
-	assert.Empty(t, sink.entries)
-	assert.Empty(t, notifier.msgs)
-}
-
-func TestBrainEdit_OnOrdinaryNotesIsNotAudited(t *testing.T) {
-	// The decided asymmetry (#97): note edits are covered by git history, which
-	// carries the same before/after bytes with a diff. Governance files get the
-	// extra trail because they change what later agents obey, not because they
-	// are harder to reconstruct.
-	srv, _, sink, notifier := govServer(t)
-
-	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
-		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "beta", "new_str": "BETA",
-	})
-	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
-
-	assert.Empty(t, sink.entries, "note edits must not fill the governance audit trail")
-	assert.Empty(t, notifier.msgs)
-}

ingestion/internal/notes/edit.go

@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@ var pathLocks sync.Map // string -> *sync.Mutex
 // Result is what a successful edit reports.
 type Result struct {
 	Path         string `json:"path"`
-	// PrevContentHash is the sha256 of the file as it was before this edit.
-	// Paired with ContentHash it identifies a rewrite in an audit trail or an
-	// alert without carrying any of the bytes (hyperguild#97).
-	PrevContentHash string `json:"prev_content_hash"`
 	ContentHash  string `json:"content_hash"`
 	BytesBefore  int    `json:"bytes_before"`
 	BytesAfter   int    `json:"bytes_after"`
@@ -153,10 +149,8 @@ func Edit(brainDir, path, oldStr, newStr string, scope Scope) (Result, error) {
 	}
 
 	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(after))
-	prev := sha256.Sum256(before)
 	return Result{
 		Path:        t.Rel,
-		PrevContentHash: hex.EncodeToString(prev[:]),
 		ContentHash: hex.EncodeToString(sum[:]),
 		BytesBefore: len(before),
 		BytesAfter:  len(after),

ingestion/internal/pipeline/pipeline.go

@@ -96,11 +96,7 @@ func buildAndWrite(rawPages []RawPage, sourceSlug, date, brainDir, source string
 			if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755); err != nil {
 				return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("mkdir for %s: %w", page.Path, err)
 			}
-			content, err := reviseOrCreate(dest, page)
-			if err != nil {
-				return Result{}, err
-			}
-			if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(content), 0o644); err != nil {
+			if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(page.Content), 0o644); err != nil {
 				return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("write %s: %w", page.Path, err)
 			}
 		}
@@ -119,36 +115,6 @@ func buildAndWrite(rawPages []RawPage, sourceSlug, date, brainDir, source string
 	return Result{Pages: written, Warnings: warnings}, nil
 }
 
-// reviseOrCreate returns the bytes to write for one extracted page: merged into
-// whatever is already on disk, or the page as-is when the path is new.
-//
-// This is the compile half of compile-on-ingest. Before it, the write was an
-// unconditional os.WriteFile, so re-ingesting a source replaced its page
-// wholesale and discarded everything accumulated since — including human edits
-// (hyperguild#43: "re-ingest overwrites wholesale").
-//
-// The merge is deliberately asymmetric in the existing page's favour:
-// wiki.Merge keeps the on-disk frontmatter and the on-disk version of any
-// section both sides carry, adds sections only the extraction produced, and
-// unions bullet lists. So a freshly extracted page can add to a note but never
-// silently rewrite what a human put there — which is what makes it safe to run
-// this on every ingest rather than behind a review gate.
-//
-// Known limitation: because the on-disk frontmatter wins, `last_updated` keeps
-// its first-ingest date on a revised page. Left deliberately — the alternative
-// is this function editing frontmatter it does not own, and no lint reads that
-// field today.
-func reviseOrCreate(dest string, page wiki.Page) (string, error) {
-	existing, err := os.ReadFile(dest)
-	switch {
-	case os.IsNotExist(err):
-		return page.Content, nil
-	case err != nil:
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("read existing %s: %w", page.Path, err)
-	}
-	return wiki.Merge(wiki.Page{Path: page.Path, Content: string(existing)}, page).Content, nil
-}
-
 // mergeAll deduplicates pages by path, merging content from later occurrences.
 func mergeAll(pages []wiki.Page) []wiki.Page {
 	order := make([]string, 0, len(pages))

ingestion/internal/pipeline/pipeline_test.go

@@ -171,65 +171,3 @@ func mustJSON(v any) string {
 	}
 	return string(b)
 }
-
-// --- B1: compile-on-ingest — revise the existing page, never clobber it -----
-
-func TestRunRaw_MergesIntoAnExistingPageInsteadOfOverwritingIt(t *testing.T) {
-	// Before this, buildAndWrite did an unconditional os.WriteFile: re-ingesting
-	// a source replaced its page wholesale, discarding anything accumulated
-	// since — including human edits. hyperguild#43 recorded the symptom as
-	// "re-ingest overwrites wholesale".
-	dir := t.TempDir()
-	page := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md")
-	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(page), 0o755))
-	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(page, []byte(`---
-title: 'Shape Up'
----
-
-## Summary
-
-A book about shaping product work.
-
-## My Take
-
-Read this before the next planning cycle.
-`), 0o644))
-
-	_, err := RunRaw(dir, "shape-up", []RawPage{{
-		Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book", Domain: "product-strategy",
-		Content: "## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- Appetite beats estimation.\n",
-	}}, false)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-
-	got, err := os.ReadFile(page)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	s := string(got)
-
-	assert.Contains(t, s, "## My Take", "a section the extraction never saw must survive the merge")
-	assert.Contains(t, s, "Read this before the next planning cycle.")
-	assert.Contains(t, s, "Appetite beats estimation.", "newly extracted material must still land")
-}
-
-func TestRunRaw_ReIngestingUnchangedContentIsByteIdentical(t *testing.T) {
-	// Compile-on-ingest runs on every ingest, so "nothing changed" must produce
-	// no diff at all. Otherwise every re-ingest dirties the tree, brain-sync
-	// commits it, and the git history fills with noise that hides real edits.
-	dir := t.TempDir()
-	raw := []RawPage{{
-		Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book", Domain: "product-strategy",
-		Content: "## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n## Open Questions\n\n- Does appetite scale?\n",
-	}}
-
-	_, err := RunRaw(dir, "shape-up", raw, false)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	first, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md"))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-
-	_, err = RunRaw(dir, "shape-up", raw, false)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	second, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md"))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, string(first), string(second),
-		"re-ingesting unchanged content must leave the page byte-identical")
-}

ingestion/internal/wiki/merge.go

@@ -29,16 +29,12 @@ type section struct {
 }
 
 // Merge combines two Page values with the same path.
-// Frontmatter is taken from a. The preamble (content before the first ##
-// heading) is taken from a — same "on-disk wins" default every unlisted
-// named section gets, kept as a separate field rather than a section with
-// an empty heading so it can never collide with one (see parseSections).
-// Sections are merged by strategy: bullet sections union unique lines,
-// append sections concatenate, all others keep a's version. Sections in b
-// not present in a are appended.
+// Frontmatter is taken from a. Sections are merged by strategy:
+// bullet sections union unique lines, append sections concatenate,
+// all others keep a's version. Sections in b not present in a are appended.
 func Merge(a, b Page) Page {
-	fmA, preambleA, secsA := parseSections(a.Content)
-	_, _, secsB := parseSections(b.Content)
+	fmA, secsA := parseSections(a.Content)
+	_, secsB := parseSections(b.Content)
 
 	idx := make(map[string]int, len(secsA))
 	for i, s := range secsA {
@@ -57,24 +53,14 @@ func Merge(a, b Page) Page {
 		case bulletSections[sB.heading]:
 			secsA[i].content = mergeBullets(sA.content, sB.content)
 		case appendSections[sB.heading]:
-			secsA[i].content = appendNew(sA.content, sB.content)
+			secsA[i].content = strings.TrimRight(sA.content, "\n") + "\n\n" + strings.TrimLeft(sB.content, "\n")
 		}
 	}
 
-	return Page{Path: a.Path, Content: rebuildContent(fmA, preambleA, secsA)}
+	return Page{Path: a.Path, Content: rebuildContent(fmA, secsA)}
 }
 
-// parseSections splits markdown into its frontmatter, its preamble (content
-// before the first `## ` heading), and its `## `-headed sections.
-//
-// The preamble is returned separately rather than as a section with an
-// empty heading — a section keyed by heading=="" would collide with a
-// literal degenerate `## ` (marker, no title text; strings.TrimPrefix also
-// yields ""), which is a distinct, addressable section a page can genuinely
-// have, not the same thing as "no heading yet." Two entries sharing one key
-// in Merge's idx map means one of them silently loses lookup visibility —
-// found in review as real, reproducible data loss, not a hypothetical.
-func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter, preamble string, sections []section) {
+func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter string, sections []section) {
 	lines := strings.Split(markdown, "\n")
 	i := 0
 
@@ -92,22 +78,6 @@ func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter, preamble string, sections []se
 		frontmatter = fmt.Sprintf("---\n%s\n---\n", strings.Join(fmLines, "\n"))
 	}
 
-	// Everything before the first `## ` heading — an intro paragraph, or, if
-	// the page has no headings at all, the entire body — is ordinary content,
-	// not something this parser is entitled to drop (hyperguild#103 review:
-	// dropping it meant Merge, one caller up, would silently replace the
-	// whole on-disk body with the fresh extraction whenever a page didn't
-	// follow the ## convention — exactly the class of bug this file exists
-	// to prevent).
-	var preambleLines []string
-	for ; i < len(lines); i++ {
-		if strings.HasPrefix(lines[i], "## ") {
-			break
-		}
-		preambleLines = append(preambleLines, lines[i])
-	}
-	preamble = strings.Join(preambleLines, "\n")
-
 	var cur *section
 	for ; i < len(lines); i++ {
 		line := lines[i]
@@ -126,85 +96,24 @@ func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter, preamble string, sections []se
 	return
 }
 
-// rebuildContent serialises sections back into a page.
-//
-// Each section body is normalised to exactly one trailing newline and no
-// leading blank line. Without that, a section keeps whatever blank lines it was
-// parsed with and this function adds its own, so every merge pass grows the page
-// by a blank line — invisible in a diff viewer, fatal to byte-stability. Compile-on-ingest
-// merges on every run, so "merging changes nothing when nothing changed" has to
-// hold at the byte level, not just the content level.
-func rebuildContent(frontmatter, preamble string, sections []section) string {
+func rebuildContent(frontmatter string, sections []section) string {
 	var sb strings.Builder
 	sb.WriteString(frontmatter)
-	if body := strings.Trim(preamble, "\n"); body != "" {
-		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "\n%s\n", body)
-	}
 	for _, sec := range sections {
-		body := strings.Trim(sec.content, "\n")
-		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "\n## %s\n\n%s\n", sec.heading, body)
+		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "\n## %s\n\n%s", sec.heading, sec.content)
 	}
 	return sb.String()
 }
 
-// canonicalLine collapses a line to its comparison key: internal whitespace
-// runs (a re-extraction's bullet spacing, tabs vs spaces, trailing spaces)
-// must not make the same logical line look new. strings.Fields already
-// trims and splits on any whitespace run, so joining it back with single
-// spaces is exactly "same words, same order, whitespace-insensitive."
-func canonicalLine(line string) string {
-	return strings.Join(strings.Fields(line), " ")
-}
-
-// appendNew concatenates the lines of b that a does not already carry.
-//
-// Append sections used to concatenate wholesale, which is correct exactly once.
-// Compile-on-ingest merges a freshly extracted page into the one already on
-// disk, so an unchanged source re-ingested would grow "Open Questions" and
-// "Updates" on every run until the page is unreadable — and the drift guard
-// that would otherwise catch it (hashing the source body) does not exist yet,
-// so idempotency has to hold here rather than upstream.
-//
-// Line-level rather than block-level: the common case is a re-ingest carrying
-// one genuinely new line alongside several it already has. A block-level
-// "skip if identical" would duplicate the old lines every time that happened.
-//
-// The cost is that a line repeated verbatim on purpose collapses to one. For
-// these sections — questions, updates, evolving notes — a repeat is noise
-// rather than signal, and the failure is conservative: the page stops growing
-// instead of growing wrongly.
-func appendNew(a, b string) string {
-	seen := make(map[string]bool)
-	for _, line := range strings.Split(a, "\n") {
-		if c := canonicalLine(line); c != "" {
-			seen[c] = true
-		}
-	}
-
-	var add []string
-	for _, line := range strings.Split(b, "\n") {
-		c := canonicalLine(line)
-		if c == "" || seen[c] {
-			continue
-		}
-		seen[c] = true
-		add = append(add, line)
-	}
-	if len(add) == 0 {
-		return a // nothing new — leave the section byte-identical
-	}
-	return strings.TrimRight(a, "\n") + "\n\n" + strings.Join(add, "\n") + "\n"
-}
-
 func mergeBullets(a, b string) string {
 	seen := make(map[string]bool)
 	var lines []string
 	for _, line := range strings.Split(a+b, "\n") {
-		c := canonicalLine(line)
-		if c == "" || seen[c] {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		if trimmed == "" || seen[trimmed] {
 			continue
 		}
-		seen[c] = true
+		seen[trimmed] = true
 		lines = append(lines, line)
 	}
 	return strings.Join(lines, "\n") + "\n"

ingestion/internal/wiki/merge_test.go

@@ -53,124 +53,3 @@ func TestMerge_KeepsFrontmatterFromA(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "title: A")
 	assert.NotContains(t, got.Content, "title: B")
 }
-
-// --- hyperguild#103 review: a page with content outside any `## ` section ---
-// must never lose that content on merge. parseSections used to only capture
-// text between `## ` headings — anything before the first heading (a common,
-// ordinary shape for a hand-written note: an intro paragraph before the first
-// section) or, worse, an entire page with no `## ` headings at all (a legacy
-// note, a stub, any hand-edit that doesn't follow the section convention)
-// vanished silently. Merge would then fill the page entirely from the fresh
-// extraction — the opposite of "never silently rewrite what a human put
-// there," the guarantee this whole file exists to provide.
-
-func TestMerge_PreservesOnDiskContentWithNoSectionHeadings(t *testing.T) {
-	a := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\nJust some free text a human wrote. No section headings at all.\n"}
-	b := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Definition\n\nFresh extraction's take.\n"}
-
-	got := Merge(a, b)
-	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "Just some free text a human wrote",
-		"on-disk content with no ## headings must survive the merge, not be replaced wholesale by the fresh extraction")
-}
-
-func TestMerge_DegenerateEmptyHeadingDoesNotCollideWithPreamble(t *testing.T) {
-	// Second review pass on #103: representing the preamble as a section with
-	// heading=="" collides with a literal `## ` (marker, no title text) —
-	// strings.TrimPrefix("## ", "## ") is also "". `a` has only a preamble
-	// (no degenerate heading of its own); `b` introduces a genuinely new
-	// degenerate `## ` section. Because both key to "", Merge's idx thinks
-	// b's section "already exists" in a (it's really just a's unrelated
-	// preamble) and never adds it — b's section vanishes from the output
-	// entirely, not merged, not kept, not appended.
-	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\nAn intro paragraph.\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
-	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## \n\nA genuinely new degenerate section's body.\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
-
-	got := Merge(a, b)
-	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "An intro paragraph.", "a's own preamble must survive")
-	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "A genuinely new degenerate section's body.",
-		"b's degenerate section is new content, not a collision with a's unrelated preamble — it must not be silently dropped")
-}
-
-func TestMerge_PreservesPreambleBeforeFirstHeading(t *testing.T) {
-	a := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\nAn intro paragraph before the first heading.\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
-	b := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
-
-	got := Merge(a, b)
-	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "An intro paragraph before the first heading",
-		"text before the first ## heading is ordinary page content, not something the parser is entitled to drop")
-}
-
-// --- hyperguild#103 review: dedup must be whitespace-insensitive -----------
-// Page content is produced by an LLM per run, so byte-identical re-extraction
-// of "the same" logical line is not guaranteed — different bullet spacing or
-// trailing whitespace on an otherwise-identical line must still dedup, or
-// idempotency only holds when the extractor happens to reproduce whitespace
-// exactly, which is not a real guarantee.
-
-func TestMerge_AppendSectionDedupsAcrossWhitespaceVariants(t *testing.T) {
-	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Open Questions\n\n- Does this converge?\n"}
-	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Open Questions\n\n-   Does this converge?  \n"}
-
-	got := Merge(a, b)
-	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(got.Content, "Does this converge?"),
-		"same logical line with different whitespace must dedup, not duplicate")
-}
-
-func TestMerge_BulletSectionDedupsAcrossWhitespaceVariants(t *testing.T) {
-	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Related Concepts\n\n- [[bar|Bar]]\n"}
-	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Related Concepts\n\n-  [[bar|Bar]]\n"}
-
-	got := Merge(a, b)
-	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(got.Content, "[[bar|Bar]]"),
-		"same logical bullet with different whitespace must dedup, not duplicate")
-}
-
-// --- brain#21/B1: merging must be safe to run again -------------------------
-
-func TestMerge_AppendSectionDoesNotDuplicateContentAlreadyPresent(t *testing.T) {
-	// Compile-on-ingest merges a freshly extracted page into the one already
-	// on disk. Bullet sections union, so they are naturally idempotent — but
-	// append sections concatenate, so re-ingesting an unchanged source would
-	// grow "Open Questions" on every run until the page is unreadable.
-	page := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
-title: X
----
-
-## Open Questions
-
-- Does this converge?
-`}
-
-	once := Merge(page, page)
-	twice := Merge(once, page)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(once.Content, "Does this converge?"),
-		"merging a page with itself must not duplicate an append section")
-	assert.Equal(t, once.Content, twice.Content,
-		"merge must be idempotent — a third pass may not keep growing the page")
-}
-
-func TestMerge_AppendSectionStillAccumulatesGenuinelyNewContent(t *testing.T) {
-	// The dedup must not turn append sections into keep-a-only sections:
-	// new material is exactly what compile-on-ingest exists to add.
-	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
-title: X
----
-
-## Open Questions
-
-- Does this converge?
-`}
-	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
-title: X
----
-
-## Open Questions
-
-- What happens under load?
-`}
-
-	got := Merge(existing, fresh).Content
-	assert.Contains(t, got, "Does this converge?", "existing question must survive")
-	assert.Contains(t, got, "What happens under load?", "new question must be added")
-}