docs(mcp): document checkClaimEnvelope's accepted v1 gap

Round 7's review found an 8th bypass in the same "value hidden from the
extractor" family as round 6, inside the fold logic round 7's own fix had
just added (a blank line interrupting a folded continuation) — the second
distinct gap found on the first alternate shape tried against that fix.

Decision (Mathias, via the running sweep session): ship this PR's rounds
1-7 as v1 rather than continue incremental patches past the point of
diminishing returns. Every bypass found across all 7 rounds requires the
caller to already hold brain_edit write access and to deliberately
construct a specific malformed-YAML shape with knowledge of this exact
gap — narrow and low-likelihood next to another patch cycle. The real fix
(one shared, tested, encoding-normalized frontmatter parser, replacing the
three independent hand-rolled implementations this bug class keeps
surfacing in) is tracked separately as hyperguild#138.

Document the boundary directly on checkClaimEnvelope so the next person
reading this function knows what's covered and what's a deliberate,
recorded trade-off rather than an unnoticed gap.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

README.md

@@ -100,8 +100,39 @@ 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.
+Two fields are **generator-owned** and do get refreshed on a revise:
+`last_updated` and `source_hash`. Everything else on disk wins. The boundary is
+an explicit allowlist, so a field nobody has thought about stays human-owned.
+
+### Disagreement is reported, not resolved
+
+When the fresh extraction produces a *different version* of a section that
+already exists, the on-disk version still wins — but the run now says so:
+
+```
+wiki/sources/shape-up.md: source now disagrees on section "Summary" — on-disk version kept
+```
+
+That line lands in `log.md` with the rest of the run's warnings. Without it, "the
+source is unchanged" and "the source changed its mind and we ignored it" look
+identical from the outside.
+
+This is deliberately **textual** disagreement, not semantic contradiction: cheap,
+deterministic, no model on the write path. Deciding whether a disagreement is a
+genuine contradiction stays with the Judge-gated `brain-enrich` pass, which is
+approval-gated by design. Detection here, adjudication there.
+
+## Re-ingesting an unchanged source is skipped
+
+Ingest stores `source_hash` — sha256 of the ingested **body**, frontmatter
+excluded — on the source page. A later ingest of the same source compares it
+first and skips extraction entirely when it matches, reporting the skip rather
+than doing it silently.
+
+Body-only is deliberate: a re-crawl that stamps a new fetch date has not changed
+the source, and treating that as drift would re-extract the corpus every time a
+crawler ran. A missing or unreadable hash always means "extract" — a missed skip
+costs one extraction, a wrong skip loses an update.
 
 ## Phase 1 tools (available now)
 

cmd/hyperguild/README.md

@@ -55,18 +55,21 @@ Flags:
 - `--limit N` — max results (default 5)
 - `--json` — emit the raw response envelope
 
-### `hyperguild brain write <type> <slug>`
+### `hyperguild brain write <wing> <hall> <slug>`
 
-Reads markdown from stdin, writes a knowledge entry.
+Reads markdown from stdin, writes it to `brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/<slug>.md`
+with `wing`/`hall`/`created_at` frontmatter injected (there is no legacy
+`brain/knowledge/` fallback — ADR-0012 / #79, both wing and hall are
+required).
 
 ```bash
-$ cat <<EOF | hyperguild brain write knowledge example-lesson
+$ cat <<EOF | hyperguild brain write homelab facts example-lesson
 # Example lesson
 
 ## Lesson
 ...
 EOF
-knowledge/example-lesson.md
+wiki/homelab/facts/example-lesson.md
 ```
 
 ### `hyperguild brain pass-rate <skill>`

cmd/hyperguild/brain.go

@@ -60,13 +60,14 @@ func runBrainWrite(ctx context.Context, args []string, stdin io.Reader, stdout,
 	if err := fs.Parse(args); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("parse flags: %w", err)
 	}
-	if fs.NArg() < 2 {
-		return errors.New("type and slug required (e.g. brain write knowledge my-slug)")
+	if fs.NArg() < 3 {
+		return errors.New("wing, hall and slug required (e.g. brain write homelab facts my-slug)")
 	}
-	kind := fs.Arg(0)
-	slug := fs.Arg(1)
+	wing := fs.Arg(0)
+	hall := fs.Arg(1)
+	slug := fs.Arg(2)
 
-	res, err := newBrainClient().Write(ctx, kind, slug, stdin)
+	res, err := newBrainClient().Write(ctx, wing, hall, slug, stdin)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}

cmd/hyperguild/brain_test.go

@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func TestRunBrainWrite_Success(t *testing.T) {
 	var out, errBuf bytes.Buffer
 	err := runBrain(
 		context.Background(),
-		[]string{"write", "knowledge", "test-slug"},
+		[]string{"write", "homelab", "facts", "test-slug"},
 		strings.NewReader("# Test\n\nSome body content.\n"),
 		&out, &errBuf,
 	)
@@ -111,9 +111,9 @@ func TestRunBrainWrite_Success(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestRunBrainWrite_MissingArgs(t *testing.T) {
 	var out, errBuf bytes.Buffer
-	err := runBrain(context.Background(), []string{"write", "knowledge"}, strings.NewReader("x"), &out, &errBuf)
+	err := runBrain(context.Background(), []string{"write", "homelab"}, strings.NewReader("x"), &out, &errBuf)
 	assert.Error(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "type and slug required")
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "wing, hall and slug required")
 }
 
 func TestRunBrainWrite_BackendError(t *testing.T) {
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func TestRunBrainWrite_BackendError(t *testing.T) {
 	var out, errBuf bytes.Buffer
 	err := runBrain(
 		context.Background(),
-		[]string{"write", "knowledge", "bad slug"},
+		[]string{"write", "homelab", "facts", "bad slug"},
 		strings.NewReader("body"),
 		&out, &errBuf,
 	)
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ func TestRunBrainWrite_EmptyStdin(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Setenv("BRAIN_URL", srv.URL)
 
 	var out, errBuf bytes.Buffer
-	err := runBrain(context.Background(), []string{"write", "knowledge", "empty"}, strings.NewReader(""), &out, &errBuf)
+	err := runBrain(context.Background(), []string{"write", "homelab", "facts", "empty"}, strings.NewReader(""), &out, &errBuf)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, 0, gotLen, "empty stdin should produce empty content payload")
 }

cmd/hyperguild/http.go

@@ -84,16 +84,17 @@ type WriteResult struct {
 	Path string `json:"path"`
 }
 
-func (c *brainClient) Write(ctx context.Context, kind, slug string, content io.Reader) (*WriteResult, error) {
+func (c *brainClient) Write(ctx context.Context, wing, hall, filename string, content io.Reader) (*WriteResult, error) {
 	body, err := io.ReadAll(content)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("read content: %w", err)
 	}
 	payload, err := json.Marshal(struct {
-		Type    string `json:"type"`
-		Slug    string `json:"slug"`
+		Wing     string `json:"wing"`
+		Hall     string `json:"hall"`
+		Filename string `json:"filename"`
 		Content  string `json:"content"`
-	}{Type: kind, Slug: slug, Content: string(body)})
+	}{Wing: wing, Hall: hall, Filename: filename, Content: string(body)})
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("marshal payload: %w", err)
 	}

cmd/hyperguild/http_test.go

@@ -65,23 +65,25 @@ func TestBrainClient_Write_Success(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, http.MethodPost, r.Method)
 		body, _ := io.ReadAll(r.Body)
 		var got struct {
-			Type    string `json:"type"`
-			Slug    string `json:"slug"`
+			Wing     string `json:"wing"`
+			Hall     string `json:"hall"`
+			Filename string `json:"filename"`
 			Content  string `json:"content"`
 		}
 		require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(body, &got))
-		assert.Equal(t, "knowledge", got.Type)
-		assert.Equal(t, "find-h", got.Slug)
+		assert.Equal(t, "homelab", got.Wing)
+		assert.Equal(t, "facts", got.Hall)
+		assert.Equal(t, "find-h", got.Filename)
 		assert.Equal(t, "# body\n", got.Content)
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"path":"knowledge/find-h.md"}`))
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"path":"wiki/homelab/facts/find-h.md"}`))
 	}))
 	defer srv.Close()
 
 	c := &brainClient{baseURL: srv.URL, http: srv.Client()}
-	res, err := c.Write(context.Background(), "knowledge", "find-h", strings.NewReader("# body\n"))
+	res, err := c.Write(context.Background(), "homelab", "facts", "find-h", strings.NewReader("# body\n"))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "knowledge/find-h.md", res.Path)
+	assert.Equal(t, "wiki/homelab/facts/find-h.md", res.Path)
 }
 
 func TestBrainClient_PassRate_Success(t *testing.T) {

docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-03-hyperguild-cli-design.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Three needs converge on a single small Go binary:
 
 - [ ] `hyperguild tier` returns the same `tier.Info` that `internal/tier.Detect` produces for the same probe URLs, in < 3 s under all three tier conditions, with both human-readable and `--json` output.
 - [ ] `hyperguild brain query <topic>` returns BM25 results from the brain HTTP REST `/query` endpoint, exit 0 on success and non-zero on transport failure.
-- [ ] `hyperguild brain write <type> <slug>` reads markdown content from stdin, posts to `/write` with the type and slug, and creates `brain/knowledge/<slug>.md`. A round-trip (`hyperguild brain query <slug>` immediately after) finds the entry.
+- [ ] `hyperguild brain write <wing> <hall> <slug>` reads markdown content from stdin, posts to `/write` with wing/hall/filename, and creates `brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/<slug>.md`. A round-trip (`hyperguild brain query <slug>` immediately after) finds the entry. (Updated post-ADR-0012/#79: the legacy `<type> <slug>` shape and the `brain/knowledge/` fallback were removed; wing and hall are now required.)
 - [ ] `hyperguild mode <cloud|client-local|sovereign>` writes a parseable JSON file at the target path with the per-mode `mcpServers` entries; `jq -e .mcpServers` succeeds on the output.
 - [ ] All commands print usage on `--help`, exit 2 on unknown flags, exit non-zero on operational errors.
 - [ ] `task check` passes (lint + test + vet) on each task and on the merged branch.
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Three needs converge on a single small Go binary:
 
 - **`brain` subcommand calls the HTTP REST API.** Two nested subcommands:
   - `brain query <topic>` issues `POST /query` with JSON body `{query, limit}` (default `--limit 5`), prints results in human-readable form by default and with `--json` for machine consumption.
-  - `brain write <type> <slug>` reads stdin, posts `POST /write` with JSON body `{type, slug, content}`, prints the resulting path on success.
+  - `brain write <wing> <hall> <slug>` reads stdin, posts `POST /write` with JSON body `{wing, hall, filename, content}`, prints the resulting path on success. (Updated post-ADR-0012/#79: wing and hall are required, replacing the old `<type> <slug>` shape and the `brain/knowledge/` legacy fallback.)
   Rationale: HTTP REST is simpler than MCP framing for a CLI. Per CLAUDE.md, the REST endpoints are documented as the official non-MCP interface.
 
 - **`mode <name>` writes a per-mode `.mcp.json` template.** Defaults to writing `./.mcp.json` (cwd); accepts `--out <path>`. Per-mode bodies:

ingestion/internal/api/frontmatter.go

@@ -40,6 +40,15 @@ func parseFrontmatter(src string) (frontmatter, string) {
 	body := rest[end+len("\n---\n"):]
 
 	for _, line := range strings.Split(block, "\n") {
+		// An indented line is a continuation (a YAML block-list item, a
+		// wrapped value) never a top-level key, regardless of whether it
+		// happens to contain a colon — "  - 'Chapter 3: The Reckoning'" is
+		// not a key named "- 'Chapter 3" (hyperguild#128). Checked before
+		// Cut so a colon inside one never reaches the key/value path.
+		if line != "" && (line[0] == ' ' || line[0] == '\t') {
+			fm.lines = append(fm.lines, fmLine{raw: line})
+			continue
+		}
 		key, val, ok := strings.Cut(line, ":")
 		key = strings.TrimSpace(key)
 		if !ok || key == "" || strings.HasPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(line), "#") {
@@ -83,9 +92,19 @@ func (f *frontmatter) render() string {
 	var b strings.Builder
 	b.WriteString("---\n")
 	for _, l := range f.lines {
-		if l.key == "" {
+		switch {
+		case l.key == "":
 			b.WriteString(l.raw)
-		} else {
+		case l.value == "":
+			// A key with nothing after the colon (the YAML block-list
+			// shape: "aliases:" followed by indented "- item" lines on
+			// their own raw lines) must stay bare — "key: " with a
+			// trailing space is a different byte sequence than the
+			// original, and this type's whole purpose (see the package
+			// doc) is a byte-preserving round-trip.
+			b.WriteString(l.key)
+			b.WriteByte(':')
+		default:
 			b.WriteString(l.key)
 			b.WriteString(": ")
 			b.WriteString(l.value)

ingestion/internal/api/frontmatter_test.go

@@ -59,3 +59,37 @@ func TestFrontmatterRenderRoundTrips(t *testing.T) {
 	fm, _ := parseFrontmatter(src)
 	assert.Equal(t, src, fm.render())
 }
+
+func TestParseFrontmatterIndentedListItemWithColonIsNotMisparsedAsKey(t *testing.T) {
+	// hyperguild#128: an indented YAML block-list item that happens to
+	// contain a colon (e.g. a title with a subtitle) is a continuation
+	// line, never a top-level key — strings.Cut doesn't know that just
+	// because TrimSpace(key) happens to be non-empty. Misparsing it as a
+	// key/value pair and re-rendering strips its indentation, de-indenting
+	// it out of the list it belongs to. Same bug class already found and
+	// fixed in the sibling internal/wiki package's parseFrontmatterBlock
+	// (hyperguild#126 review round 3) — this package was the original the
+	// reimplementation was modeled on and had the gap too.
+	src := "---\naliases:\n  - 'Chapter 3: The Reckoning'\ntitle: 'X'\n---\nbody\n"
+	fm, _ := parseFrontmatter(src)
+	fm.set("updated_at", "2026-09-23T00:00:00Z")
+
+	out := fm.render()
+	assert.Contains(t, out, "  - 'Chapter 3: The Reckoning'",
+		"the indented list item must survive verbatim, not get re-emitted as a de-indented fake key")
+	assert.NotContains(t, out, "\n- 'Chapter 3",
+		"must not be split into a fake key/value pair at column 0 (as opposed to surviving indented, asserted above)")
+}
+
+func TestFrontmatterRenderEmptyValueKeyStaysBareNoTrailingSpace(t *testing.T) {
+	// Companion to the indented-list-item fix: "aliases:" (a key with
+	// nothing after the colon, the YAML block-list header) must round-trip
+	// bare, not as "aliases: " with a trailing space — a different byte
+	// sequence than the original, breaking this type's whole reason for
+	// being a line-preserving view rather than a YAML re-marshal.
+	// render() returns only the frontmatter block (see
+	// TestFrontmatterRenderRoundTrips), no trailing body.
+	src := "---\naliases:\n  - one\n  - two\n---\n"
+	fm, _ := parseFrontmatter(src)
+	assert.Equal(t, src, fm.render())
+}

ingestion/internal/api/handler.go

@@ -54,8 +54,6 @@ type queryRequest struct {
 type writeRequest struct {
 	Content    string `json:"content"`
 	Filename   string `json:"filename,omitempty"`
-	Type       string `json:"type,omitempty"`
-	Domain     string `json:"domain,omitempty"`
 	Wing       string `json:"wing,omitempty"`
 	Hall       string `json:"hall,omitempty"`
 	SourceType string `json:"source_type,omitempty"` // "external" opts a hall=facts entry out of the internal default
@@ -110,17 +108,13 @@ func (h *Handler) Query(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 // WriteNoteOptions configures how a brain note is written.
 //
-// When both Wing and Hall are non-empty, the note routes into the
-// structured wiki at brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/<slug>.md and gets
-// wing/hall/created_at injected into its YAML frontmatter.
-//
-// When either is empty, the note falls back to brain/knowledge/<filename>
-// with optional type/domain frontmatter (legacy behaviour).
+// Wing and Hall are both required: the note routes into the structured
+// wiki at brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/<slug>.md and gets wing/hall/created_at
+// injected into its YAML frontmatter. There is no other valid destination
+// (the legacy brain/knowledge/ fallback was removed — ADR-0012 / #79).
 type WriteNoteOptions struct {
 	Content    string
 	Filename   string
-	Type       string
-	Domain     string
 	Wing       string
 	Hall       string
 	SourceType string // "internal" marks a first-party observation (e.g. claudewatcher) that needs no external citation
@@ -132,6 +126,9 @@ func WriteNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 	if opts.Content == "" {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("content is required")
 	}
+	if opts.Wing == "" || opts.Hall == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("wing and hall are required")
+	}
 
 	// In the primitive, not in a caller: POST /write reaches here directly,
 	// without the BrainStore, and a gate one door wide is not a gate.
@@ -143,14 +140,8 @@ func WriteNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 	}
 	opts.Content = clean
 
-	if opts.Wing != "" && opts.Hall != "" {
 	return writeHallNote(brainDir, opts)
 }
-	if opts.Wing != "" || opts.Hall != "" {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("wing and hall must be set together")
-	}
-	return writeLegacyNote(brainDir, opts)
-}
 
 // writeHallNote routes a note into brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/ and injects
 // wing/hall/created_at frontmatter.
@@ -207,9 +198,6 @@ func writeHallNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "%s: %s\n", key, fallback)
 		}
 	}
-	writeField("type", opts.Type)
-	writeField("domain", opts.Domain)
-
 	sourceType := opts.SourceType
 	if sourceType == "" && opts.Hall == "facts" {
 		// Most hall=facts entries are first-party (an eval/benchmark the
@@ -300,53 +288,7 @@ func splitFrontmatter(content string) (fields []frontmatterField, body string) {
 	return fields, body
 }
 
-// writeLegacyNote preserves the original brain/knowledge/ behaviour for
-// callers that have not adopted the wing/hall taxonomy.
-func writeLegacyNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
-	filename := opts.Filename
-	if filename == "" {
-		filename = fmt.Sprintf("%s-auto.md", time.Now().UTC().Format("2006-01-02-150405"))
-	}
-
-	rawDir := filepath.Join(brainDir, "knowledge")
-	if err := os.MkdirAll(rawDir, 0o755); err != nil {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("create raw dir: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	finalContent := opts.Content
-	if opts.Type != "" || opts.Domain != "" {
-		var fm strings.Builder
-		fm.WriteString("---\n")
-		if opts.Type != "" {
-			fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "type: %s\n", opts.Type)
-		}
-		if opts.Domain != "" {
-			fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "domain: %s\n", opts.Domain)
-		}
-		fm.WriteString("---\n")
-		finalContent = fm.String() + opts.Content
-	}
-
-	if strings.ContainsAny(filename, `/\`) {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid filename")
-	}
-	base := filepath.Base(filename)
-	if base == "." || base == ".." || base == "" {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid filename")
-	}
-	if !strings.HasSuffix(base, ".md") {
-		base += ".md"
-	}
-	dest := filepath.Join(rawDir, base)
-	if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(finalContent), 0o644); err != nil {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("write: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	rel, _ := filepath.Rel(brainDir, dest)
-	return filepath.ToSlash(rel), nil
-}
-
-// Write handles POST /write — write raw content to brain/knowledge/.
+// Write handles POST /write — write a note into brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/.
 func (h *Handler) Write(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	var req writeRequest
 	if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&req); err != nil {
@@ -359,11 +301,11 @@ func (h *Handler) Write(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		writeError(w, http.StatusBadRequest, err.Error())
 		return
 	}
-	if req.Wing != "" && req.Hall != "" {
+	// WriteNote errors out above unless both are set, so this always runs —
+	// no legacy fallback path left to guard against.
 	if err := brain.BuildWingIndex(h.brainDir, req.Wing); err != nil {
 		h.logger.Warn("auto-index failed", "wing", req.Wing, "err", err)
 	}
-	}
 	writeJSON(w, map[string]string{"path": relPath})
 }
 

ingestion/internal/api/handler_test.go

@@ -65,11 +65,13 @@ func TestQuery_ReturnsResults(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NotEmpty(t, results)
 }
 
-func TestWrite_CreatesKnowledgeFile(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWrite_CreatesWikiFile(t *testing.T) {
 	dir, h := setup(t)
 	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
 		"content":  "# Test note\n\nSome content.",
-		"filename": "test-note.md",
+		"filename": "test-note",
+		"wing":     "homelab",
+		"hall":     "facts",
 	})
 	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/write", bytes.NewReader(body))
 	rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
@@ -81,11 +83,25 @@ func TestWrite_CreatesKnowledgeFile(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(rec.Body.Bytes(), &resp))
 	assert.NotEmpty(t, resp["path"])
 
-	content, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge", "test-note.md"))
+	content, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "homelab", "facts", "test-note.md"))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "Some content.")
 }
 
+// TestWrite_RequiresWingAndHall is the HTTP-contract counterpart of
+// TestWriteNote_RequiresWingAndHall: a caller (e.g. the MCP brain_write
+// handler) that omits wing/hall gets a 400, not a silent legacy write.
+func TestWrite_RequiresWingAndHall(t *testing.T) {
+	_, h := setup(t)
+	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"content": "no destination"})
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/write", bytes.NewReader(body))
+	rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
+	h.Write(rec, req)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusBadRequest, rec.Code)
+}
+
 func TestQuery_RequiresQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	_, h := setup(t)
 	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"limit": 5})
@@ -97,27 +113,6 @@ func TestQuery_RequiresQuery(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusBadRequest, rec.Code)
 }
 
-func TestWrite_IncludesFrontmatterWhenTypeProvided(t *testing.T) {
-	dir, h := setup(t)
-	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
-		"content":  "Some learning.",
-		"filename": "typed-note.md",
-		"type":     "concept",
-		"domain":   "software",
-	})
-	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/write", bytes.NewReader(body))
-	rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
-
-	h.Write(rec, req)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, rec.Code)
-	content, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge", "typed-note.md"))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "type: concept")
-	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "domain: software")
-	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "Some learning.")
-}
-
 func TestWriteNote_HallRouteIncludesSourceTypeWhenSet(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
 
@@ -126,7 +121,6 @@ func TestWriteNote_HallRouteIncludesSourceTypeWhenSet(t *testing.T) {
 		Filename:   "session-koala-abc",
 		Wing:       "claude-sessions",
 		Hall:       "facts",
-		Type:       "source",
 		SourceType: "internal",
 	})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -210,37 +204,95 @@ func TestWriteNote_HallRouteMergesExistingFrontmatterInsteadOfStacking(t *testin
 	assert.Contains(t, body, "# Body")
 }
 
-func TestWriteNote_HallRouteExistingTypeWinsOverOptsType(t *testing.T) {
+// TestWriteNote_RequiresWingAndHall pins the post-legacy-removal contract
+// (hyperguild#79 / ADR-0012): with the knowledge/ fallback gone, wing+hall
+// is the only valid destination, so omitting either is a caller error, not
+// a silent fallback.
+func TestWriteNote_RequiresWingAndHall(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		wing string
+		hall string
+	}{
+		{"neither set", "", ""},
+		{"wing only", "homelab", ""},
+		{"hall only", "", "facts"},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			dir := t.TempDir()
-
-	rel, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
-		Content:  "---\ntype: hypothesis\n---\n\nBody.\n",
-		Filename: "note",
-		Wing:     "agentsquad",
-		Hall:     "decisions",
-		Type:     "decision", // should lose to content's own "type: hypothesis"
+			_, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+				Content: "body",
+				Wing:    tc.wing,
+				Hall:    tc.hall,
 			})
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-
-	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "type: hypothesis")
-	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "type: decision")
+			require.Error(t, err)
+			assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "wing and hall are required")
+		})
+	}
 }
 
 func TestWrite_GeneratesFilenameIfAbsent(t *testing.T) {
 	dir, h := setup(t)
-	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"content": "auto name"})
+	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
+		"content": "auto name",
+		"wing":    "homelab",
+		"hall":    "facts",
+	})
 	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/write", bytes.NewReader(body))
 	rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
 
 	h.Write(rec, req)
 
 	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, rec.Code)
-	entries, _ := os.ReadDir(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge"))
-	// +1 because setup already wrote tdd.md
-	assert.Len(t, entries, 2)
-	assert.True(t, strings.HasSuffix(entries[1].Name(), ".md"))
+	entries, err := os.ReadDir(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "homelab", "facts"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, entries, 1)
+	assert.True(t, strings.HasSuffix(entries[0].Name(), ".md"))
+}
+
+// TestWrite_CLIPayloadRoundTrips exercises the real Handler.Write (not a
+// hand-rolled mock) over an actual HTTP round trip, POSTing the exact JSON
+// envelope cmd/hyperguild's brainClient.Write sends: {wing, hall, filename,
+// content}. cmd/hyperguild lives in a separate Go module from ingestion
+// (no shared go.work), so a Go-level test can't import brainClient
+// directly — this test instead pins the wire contract from the server
+// side and proves a real `hyperguild brain write <wing> <hall> <slug>`
+// invocation writes a real file with real frontmatter under wiki/<wing>/<hall>/.
+// A prior version of this contract test on the client side (in
+// cmd/hyperguild/http_test.go) used only an httptest.NewServer with a
+// hand-rolled mock body, so it stayed green through a regression where the
+// server required wing/hall but the client never sent them (hyperguild#79
+// PR review).
+func TestWrite_CLIPayloadRoundTrips(t *testing.T) {
+	dir, h := setup(t)
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(h.Write))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	payload, err := json.Marshal(struct {
+		Wing     string `json:"wing"`
+		Hall     string `json:"hall"`
+		Filename string `json:"filename"`
+		Content  string `json:"content"`
+	}{Wing: "homelab", Hall: "facts", Filename: "cli-roundtrip", Content: "# CLI roundtrip\n\nReal write.\n"})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	resp, err := http.Post(srv.URL+"/write", "application/json", bytes.NewReader(payload)) //nolint:noctx
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer resp.Body.Close() //nolint:errcheck
+
+	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, resp.StatusCode)
+	var out struct {
+		Path string `json:"path"`
+	}
+	require.NoError(t, json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&out))
+	assert.Equal(t, "wiki/homelab/facts/cli-roundtrip.md", out.Path)
+
+	written, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "homelab", "facts", "cli-roundtrip.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(written), "wing: homelab")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(written), "hall: facts")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(written), "Real write.")
 }
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ingestion/internal/api/promote.go

@@ -145,6 +145,68 @@ func PromoteNote(brainDir string, opts PromoteOptions) (string, error) {
 	return relSlash, nil
 }
 
+// RejectOptions identifies a raw note to reject and why.
+type RejectOptions struct {
+	Filename string // basename in brain/raw/
+	Reason   string // optional
+}
+
+// RejectNote records a human decision not to promote a brain/raw/ note,
+// without silently losing it: it stamps rejected_at (+ reject_reason when
+// given) into frontmatter and moves the file to brain/raw/rejected/, using
+// the same write-then-delete safety PromoteNote uses — the source survives
+// any write failure — and the same basename-only filename validation.
+//
+// A rejected note never entered the wiki, so no index rebuild or
+// auto-tunnel run: unlike PromoteNote, this is the end of the note's
+// journey, not the start of a new one. It stays out of ListPending's view
+// (raw/rejected/ is a subdirectory, and ListPending's os.ReadDir on raw/
+// does not recurse), so a rejected note is never re-surfaced as pending —
+// the human decision, once made, stays made, the same principle behind
+// this estate's "issue status is surfaced, not auto-closed, but once a
+// human decides, the decision is recorded" rule applied one level earlier.
+func RejectNote(brainDir string, opts RejectOptions) (string, error) {
+	base := filepath.Base(opts.Filename)
+	if base != opts.Filename || base == "." || base == ".." || strings.ContainsAny(opts.Filename, `/\`) {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid filename %q", opts.Filename)
+	}
+
+	src := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", base)
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(src)
+	if err != nil {
+		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("pending note %q does not exist in raw/", base)
+		}
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("read source: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	dest := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "rejected", base)
+	if _, statErr := os.Stat(dest); statErr == nil {
+		rel, _ := filepath.Rel(brainDir, dest)
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("a rejected note named %s already exists", filepath.ToSlash(rel))
+	}
+
+	fm, body := parseFrontmatter(string(raw))
+	fm.set("rejected_at", time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
+	if opts.Reason != "" {
+		fm.set("reject_reason", opts.Reason)
+	}
+
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("create rejected dir: %w", err)
+	}
+	// Write-then-delete: the source survives any write failure.
+	if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(fm.render()+body), 0o644); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("write rejected note: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.Remove(src); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("rejected note written but source removal failed: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	rel, _ := filepath.Rel(brainDir, dest)
+	return filepath.ToSlash(rel), nil
+}
+
 // excerpt returns the first n runes of s, trimmed, single-spaced.
 func excerpt(s string, n int) string {
 	s = strings.TrimSpace(s)

ingestion/internal/api/promote_test.go

@@ -119,3 +119,85 @@ func TestPromoteRebuildsWingIndex(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err, "wing _index regenerated")
 	assert.Contains(t, string(idx), "x", "promoted note appears in the index")
 }
+
+// --- RejectNote (hyperguild#81) ---------------------------------------------
+
+func TestRejectHappyPath(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md",
+		"---\ncreated_at: 2026-04-23T13:20:07Z\n---\n# Sentiment scrape\n\nbody.\n")
+
+	rel, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{
+		Filename: "2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md", Reason: "generic scrape, not homelab-relevant",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "raw/rejected/2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md", rel)
+
+	// Source removed from the pending queue.
+	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "raw", "2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md"))
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(statErr), "source removed from raw/ after reject")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	s := string(got)
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "created_at: 2026-04-23T13:20:07Z", "original created_at preserved")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "rejected_at:")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "reject_reason: generic scrape, not homelab-relevant")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "# Sentiment scrape", "body preserved for later reference")
+
+	// Rejected notes never entered the wiki, and are no longer pending.
+	pending, err := ListPending(dir)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Empty(t, pending)
+}
+
+func TestRejectWithoutReason(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "2026-06-01-x.md", "body\n")
+	rel, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{Filename: "2026-06-01-x.md"})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	got, _ := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "reject_reason:", "no reason given, none stamped")
+}
+
+func TestRejectMissingSourceErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := RejectNote(t.TempDir(), RejectOptions{Filename: "ghost.md"})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestRejectRejectsTraversalFilename(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := RejectNote(t.TempDir(), RejectOptions{Filename: "../escape.md"})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestRejectCollisionNoOverwrite(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	dest := filepath.Join(dir, "raw", "rejected", "x.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(dest, []byte("EXISTING\n"), 0o644))
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "x.md", "NEW\n")
+
+	_, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{Filename: "x.md"})
+	require.Error(t, err, "collision must error, not overwrite")
+
+	got, _ := os.ReadFile(dest)
+	assert.Equal(t, "EXISTING\n", string(got), "target not overwritten")
+	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "raw", "x.md"))
+	assert.NoError(t, statErr, "source preserved on collision (atomic: no delete without write)")
+}
+
+func TestRejectedNotesAreNotListedAsPendingAgain(t *testing.T) {
+	// ListPending already skips tunnel-candidates-*.md; confirm raw/rejected/
+	// (a subdirectory) doesn't leak into the top-level pending listing either
+	// — os.ReadDir on raw/ doesn't recurse, but pin it so a future change to
+	// ListPending can't silently start surfacing rejected notes as pending
+	// again.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writeRaw(t, dir, "2026-06-01-x.md", "body\n")
+	_, err := RejectNote(dir, RejectOptions{Filename: "2026-06-01-x.md"})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	pending, err := ListPending(dir)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Empty(t, pending, "a rejected note must not still appear as pending")
+}

ingestion/internal/brainstore/store.go

@@ -51,8 +51,6 @@ func (s *Store) Write(ctx context.Context, n capture.Note) (capture.Ref, error)
 	relPath, err := api.WriteNote(s.brainDir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
 		Content:  n.Content,
 		Filename: n.Filename,
-		Type:     n.Type,
-		Domain:   n.Domain,
 		Wing:     n.Wing,
 		Hall:     n.Hall,
 	})

ingestion/internal/capture/ports.go

@@ -31,17 +31,14 @@ type StoredNote struct {
 	Body        string
 }
 
-// Note is the brain-write payload. It carries both the wing/hall taxonomy
-// and the legacy type/domain fields so a single BrainStore serves both
-// capture insights and the existing MCP brain_write surface. Reason is
+// Note is the brain-write payload: wing+hall are the only routing fields
+// (the legacy type/domain params were removed — ADR-0012 / #79). Reason is
 // the supersede rationale, used only by Update.
 type Note struct {
 	Content  string
 	Filename string
 	Wing     string
 	Hall     string
-	Type     string
-	Domain   string
 	Reason   string
 }
 

ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers.go

@@ -53,14 +53,12 @@ func (s *Server) tools() []map[string]any {
 		},
 		{
 			"name":        "brain_write",
-			"description": "Write a markdown note to the brain. With wing+hall set, routes to brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/ with wing/hall/created_at frontmatter; otherwise writes to brain/knowledge/ (legacy).",
-			"inputSchema": schema([]string{"content"}, map[string]any{
+			"description": "Write a markdown note to brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/ with wing/hall/created_at frontmatter. Both wing and hall are required.",
+			"inputSchema": schema([]string{"content", "wing", "hall"}, map[string]any{
 				"content":  str("markdown content"),
 				"filename": str("optional filename or slug"),
-				"type":     str("optional frontmatter type (legacy)"),
-				"domain":   str("optional frontmatter domain (legacy)"),
-				"wing":     str("optional topic domain, e.g. jepa-fx"),
-				"hall":     enum("optional memory type (requires wing)", halls...),
+				"wing":     str("topic domain, e.g. jepa-fx"),
+				"hall":     enum("memory type", halls...),
 			}),
 		},
 		{
@@ -98,6 +96,14 @@ func (s *Server) tools() []map[string]any {
 				"slug":     str("optional target slug; defaults to filename minus date prefix"),
 			}),
 		},
+		{
+			"name":        "brain_reject",
+			"description": "Reject a brain/raw/ note: stamps rejected_at (+ reject_reason if given) into frontmatter and moves it to brain/raw/rejected/ — never deleted outright, and never re-surfaced by brain_pending. The third option alongside promote/leave-pending; a human decision, never automatic. Returns {path}.",
+			"inputSchema": schema([]string{"filename"}, map[string]any{
+				"filename": str("basename in brain/raw/, e.g. 2026-04-23-fed-sentiment-scrape.md"),
+				"reason":   str("optional; why this isn't worth promoting"),
+			}),
+		},
 		noteToolDescriptors()[0],
 		noteToolDescriptors()[1],
 		{
@@ -227,8 +233,6 @@ func (s *Server) brainQuery(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.Raw
 type brainWriteArgs struct {
 	Content  string `json:"content"`
 	Filename string `json:"filename,omitempty"`
-	Type     string `json:"type,omitempty"`
-	Domain   string `json:"domain,omitempty"`
 	Wing     string `json:"wing,omitempty"`
 	Hall     string `json:"hall,omitempty"`
 }
@@ -254,8 +258,6 @@ func (s *Server) brainWrite(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.Raw
 	ref, err := s.store.Write(ctx, capture.Note{
 		Content:  a.Content,
 		Filename: a.Filename,
-		Type:     a.Type,
-		Domain:   a.Domain,
 		Wing:     a.Wing,
 		Hall:     a.Hall,
 	})
@@ -395,6 +397,26 @@ func (s *Server) brainPromote(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.R
 	return json.Marshal(map[string]string{"path": relPath})
 }
 
+type brainRejectArgs struct {
+	Filename string `json:"filename"`
+	Reason   string `json:"reason,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// brainReject records a decision not to promote a raw/ note (api.RejectNote:
+// frontmatter-stamp + move to raw/rejected/). No graph indexing — a rejected
+// note never entered the wiki, so there's nothing to index.
+func (s *Server) brainReject(_ context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+	var a brainRejectArgs
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
+	}
+	relPath, err := api.RejectNote(s.brainDir, api.RejectOptions{Filename: a.Filename, Reason: a.Reason})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(map[string]string{"path": relPath})
+}
+
 // indexInGraph is a best-effort wrapper around graphsync.IndexDoc that
 // logs failures but never propagates them — the underlying write/ingest
 // has already succeeded and the graph is an augmentation, not a

ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers_test.go

@@ -51,25 +51,50 @@ func TestBrainQueryReturnsResults(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, text, "tdd.md")
 }
 
-func TestBrainWriteCreatesFile(t *testing.T) {
+// TestBrainWriteIgnoresLegacyTypeAndDomainParams pins the post-#79 contract:
+// domain/type were removed from the schema and the handler's arg struct, so
+// a caller that still sends them (the old MCP surface) gets a normal wing+
+// hall write with no error and no effect from the stale fields — silently
+// dropped by json.Unmarshal, not rejected. Only content in its OWN
+// frontmatter (unrelated to these params) can set type/domain, per
+// TestWriteNote_HallRouteMergesExistingFrontmatterInsteadOfStacking in the
+// api package.
+func TestBrainWriteIgnoresLegacyTypeAndDomainParams(t *testing.T) {
 	brainDir := t.TempDir()
 	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
 
 	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_write", map[string]any{
 		"content":  "# Test\n\nbody",
-		"filename": "test.md",
+		"filename": "test",
+		"wing":     "homelab",
+		"hall":     "facts",
 		"type":     "note",
 		"domain":   "personal",
 	})
 	require.Nil(t, resp["error"])
 
-	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, "knowledge", "test.md"))
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, "wiki", "homelab", "facts", "test.md"))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "type: note")
-	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "domain: personal")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "type: note")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "domain: personal")
 	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "# Test")
 }
 
+// TestBrainWriteRequiresWingAndHall is the MCP-tool-call counterpart of
+// api.TestWriteNote_RequiresWingAndHall: the legacy brain/knowledge/
+// fallback is gone, so a caller omitting either param gets a tool error,
+// not a silent legacy write.
+func TestBrainWriteRequiresWingAndHall(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_write", map[string]any{
+		"content":  "x",
+		"filename": "no-destination",
+	})
+	require.NotNil(t, resp["error"])
+}
+
 func TestBrainWriteWingHallRoutesToWiki(t *testing.T) {
 	brainDir := t.TempDir()
 	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
@@ -208,30 +233,11 @@ func TestBrainTunnelRejectsMissing(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NotNil(t, resp["error"])
 }
 
-func TestBrainWriteRejectsTraversal(t *testing.T) {
-	brainDir := t.TempDir()
-	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
-
-	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_write", map[string]any{
-		"content":  "x",
-		"filename": "../escape.md",
-	})
-	require.NotNil(t, resp["error"])
-}
-
-func TestBrainWriteAcceptsDoubleDotInName(t *testing.T) {
-	brainDir := t.TempDir()
-	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
-
-	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_write", map[string]any{
-		"content":  "x",
-		"filename": "notes..draft.md",
-	})
-	require.Nil(t, resp["error"])
-
-	_, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(brainDir, "knowledge", "notes..draft.md"))
-	require.NoError(t, err, "filename with embedded .. should be allowed")
-}
+// Filename traversal/sanitisation on the wiki route is covered directly
+// against brain.NotePath/Sanitise in internal/brain/path_test.go
+// (TestNotePath_SanitisesWingAndSlug, TestSanitise) — those tests exercised
+// the now-deleted brain/knowledge/ legacy path's own separate filename
+// validation, which had no equivalent once that path was removed (#79).
 
 func TestBrainIngestRawDryRun(t *testing.T) {
 	brainDir := t.TempDir()
@@ -390,3 +396,38 @@ func TestBrainPromoteInvalidHallErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	_, srcErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(raw, "x.md"))
 	assert.NoError(t, srcErr, "source untouched on validation error")
 }
+
+func TestBrainRejectMovesToRejectedSubdir(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	raw := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(raw, 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(raw, "2026-04-23-scrape.md"),
+		[]byte("---\ncreated_at: 2026-04-23T13:20:07Z\n---\n# Scrape\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_reject", map[string]any{
+		"filename": "2026-04-23-scrape.md", "reason": "generic scrape, not homelab-relevant",
+	})
+	require.Nil(t, resp["error"], "got: %v", resp["error"])
+	text := resp["result"].(map[string]any)["content"].([]any)[0].(map[string]any)["text"].(string)
+	assert.Contains(t, text, "raw/rejected/2026-04-23-scrape.md")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw/rejected/2026-04-23-scrape.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "reject_reason: generic scrape, not homelab-relevant")
+
+	_, srcErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(raw, "2026-04-23-scrape.md"))
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(srcErr), "source removed from raw/")
+
+	// A rejected note must not still show up as pending.
+	pendingResp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_pending", map[string]any{})
+	pendingText := pendingResp["result"].(map[string]any)["content"].([]any)[0].(map[string]any)["text"].(string)
+	assert.Contains(t, pendingText, `"pending":[]`)
+}
+
+func TestBrainRejectMissingSourceErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
+	resp := toolCall(t, srv, "brain_reject", map[string]any{"filename": "ghost.md"})
+	require.NotNil(t, resp["error"])
+}

ingestion/internal/mcp/server.go

@@ -275,6 +275,8 @@ func (s *Server) handleCall(ctx context.Context, name string, args json.RawMessa
 		return s.brainPending(ctx, args)
 	case "brain_promote":
 		return s.brainPromote(ctx, args)
+	case "brain_reject":
+		return s.brainReject(ctx, args)
 	case "capture":
 		return s.brainCapture(ctx, args)
 	case "brain_read":

ingestion/internal/mcp/server_test.go

@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func TestServerToolsList(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	assert.ElementsMatch(t, []string{
 		"brain_query", "brain_write", "brain_update", "brain_get",
-		"brain_pending", "brain_promote",
+		"brain_pending", "brain_promote", "brain_reject",
 		"brain_read", "brain_edit",
 		"brain_tunnel",
 		"brain_ingest_raw", "brain_ingest",

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_notes.go

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capture"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/claim"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/classification"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/notes"
 )
@@ -179,6 +180,20 @@ func (s *Server) editWithScope(args json.RawMessage, scope notes.Scope) (notes.R
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
 		return notes.Result{}, nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
 	}
+
+	// hyperguild#123: brain_write/brain_update both validate the claim
+	// envelope before writing (hyperguild#111: "same rules when a note
+	// changes as when it's born"); brain_edit didn't — a byte-level string
+	// replace has no frontmatter awareness at all, so it could rewrite an
+	// existing half_life:/applies:/claim_provenance: line straight past the
+	// validator entirely. Scoped to notes only (governance files have no
+	// claim-envelope concept).
+	if scope == notes.ScopeNotes {
+		if verr := checkClaimEnvelope(s.brainDir, a.Path, a.OldStr, a.NewStr); verr != nil {
+			return notes.Result{}, nil, fmt.Errorf("claim envelope: %w", verr)
+		}
+	}
+
 	res, err := notes.Edit(s.brainDir, a.Path, a.OldStr, a.NewStr, scope)
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, notes.ErrDegenerate) && a.OldStr == "" {
@@ -228,3 +243,163 @@ func touchesFrontmatter(oldStr, newStr string) bool {
 	}
 	return false
 }
+
+// checkClaimEnvelope previews what old_str->new_str would produce — the
+// exact strings.Replace(before, oldStr, newStr, 1) formula notes.Edit
+// itself uses internally — and validates the resulting frontmatter's claim
+// envelope before the real edit is allowed to run. Fail-closed: an invalid
+// result blocks the edit entirely, the same posture writeHallNote/UpdateNote
+// already apply on create/supersede.
+//
+// Gated on old_str appearing within the note's frontmatter BLOCK, not on
+// old_str/new_str mentioning a claim-envelope field NAME — found in review:
+// a field-name-substring gate misses a value-only edit like
+// "asserted"->"guessed" on a claim_provenance line, which never mentions
+// the field name at all. That is exactly the shape of edit a minimal,
+// natural diff produces, so a field-name gate was closing the issue in
+// name only. Checking block containment instead means any edit that
+// couldn't possibly touch the frontmatter (its target text only exists in
+// the body) is still skipped cheaply, while nothing inside the fence can
+// slip through unvalidated regardless of which token it targets.
+//
+// This does not replicate notes.Edit's uniqueness/CRLF/conflict-marker
+// checks — if old_str is absent or ambiguous, this preview may not match
+// what Edit ultimately does, but Edit independently and correctly rejects
+// those cases at write time regardless of what this function decides, so
+// the only thing riding on this preview's accuracy is the envelope check
+// itself, not write safety.
+// checkClaimEnvelope previews what old_str->new_str would produce and
+// validates the resulting claim envelope before the real edit runs
+// (hyperguild#123). Seven review rounds closed every plausible bypass in the
+// fence-detection family (field-name substring, block-containment,
+// fence-stripping, CRLF, UTF-8 BOM) and the first instance of a
+// value-extraction gap (a folded YAML block scalar hiding a value behind an
+// empty inline colon).
+//
+// Known, accepted v1 gap: frontmatterScalars's block-scalar fold is a
+// best-effort approximation, not a YAML parser — a blank line interrupting a
+// folded continuation, or other contrived multi-line YAML shapes not yet
+// probed (block-scalar indicators `|`/`>`, inline comments on a key line,
+// quoted multi-line values), can still hide an invalid value from
+// ValidateEnvelope. Accepted deliberately rather than chased indefinitely:
+// every bypass found so far requires the caller to already hold brain_edit
+// write access and to deliberately construct a specific malformed-YAML shape
+// with knowledge of this exact gap — a narrow, low-likelihood threat next to
+// the diminishing returns of another incremental patch round. The real fix
+// (a shared, tested, encoding-normalized frontmatter parser used by all
+// three independent implementations in this codebase) is tracked separately
+// as hyperguild#138, not bolted on here piece by piece.
+func checkClaimEnvelope(brainDir, path, oldStr, newStr string) error {
+	if oldStr == "" {
+		// hyperguild#115: strings.Replace treats "" as matching position 0,
+		// which would make an empty old_str look like an edit that inserts
+		// text before the fence — a degenerate-input case that belongs to
+		// notes.Edit's own "old_str is empty" refusal, not to the envelope
+		// check.
+		return nil
+	}
+	before, err := notes.Read(brainDir, path)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Let notes.Edit itself produce the real error (missing file, etc.)
+		// — this function's job is the envelope, not read failures.
+		return nil
+	}
+	// No gate on where old_str falls relative to the frontmatter fence:
+	// round 2 found that requiring old_str to be fully contained in the
+	// extracted block was itself bypassable by an old_str disambiguated
+	// across the closing "---" into the body. Simpler and bypass-proof:
+	// always compute what the edit would produce and validate that
+	// resulting state's envelope. A body-only edit leaves the frontmatter
+	// (and thus the validation outcome) unchanged, so this is a no-op for
+	// the common case and fail-closed for every case that touches the
+	// envelope, regardless of how old_str is phrased.
+	_, hadFence := frontmatterBlock(string(before))
+	after := strings.Replace(string(before), oldStr, newStr, 1)
+	_, hasFence := frontmatterBlock(after)
+	if hadFence && !hasFence {
+		// Round 3: an edit that drops the closing fence degrades `after`
+		// to "unfenced" — frontmatterScalars then sees an empty map and
+		// ValidateEnvelope({}) is nil by design (absent fields are valid),
+		// so an invalid value would otherwise land with zero error while
+		// also corrupting the note's structure. A previously-fenced note
+		// must stay fenced, full stop.
+		return fmt.Errorf("edit would remove the frontmatter fence")
+	}
+	return claim.ValidateEnvelope(frontmatterScalars(after))
+}
+
+// frontmatterBlock returns the raw text between doc's opening and closing
+// `---` fences, or ok=false if doc has no (properly closed) fence.
+func frontmatterBlock(doc string) (block string, ok bool) {
+	// Round 4 found a note with CRLF fence lines ("---\r\n") silently
+	// defeats HasPrefix(doc, "---\n") on the precondition read — not an
+	// adversarial old_str/new_str, just an encoding difference — which
+	// makes checkClaimEnvelope no-op entirely. Round 5 found the same
+	// mechanism one layer earlier: a leading UTF-8 BOM (a live, plausible
+	// byte sequence — Notepad's default "UTF-8" save and PowerShell's
+	// pre-v6 Out-File/Set-Content both emit one) defeats the same prefix
+	// check before CRLF normalization even applies. Strip both, here, so
+	// every caller (hadFence/hasFence detection and frontmatterScalars)
+	// agrees regardless of encoding.
+	doc = strings.TrimPrefix(doc, "\xef\xbb\xbf")
+	doc = strings.ReplaceAll(doc, "\r\n", "\n")
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(doc, "---\n") {
+		return "", false
+	}
+	rest := doc[len("---\n"):]
+	end := strings.Index(rest, "\n---\n")
+	if end < 0 {
+		return "", false
+	}
+	return rest[:end], true
+}
+
+// frontmatterScalars extracts top-level "key: value" scalar pairs from
+// doc's leading fence block, for the claim-envelope check only — not a
+// general frontmatter parser. Indented lines (YAML block-list items,
+// wrapped values) are skipped rather than misparsed as keys, same fix as
+// hyperguild#126/#128 in the sibling packages this mirrors.
+func frontmatterScalars(doc string) map[string]string {
+	out := map[string]string{}
+	block, ok := frontmatterBlock(doc)
+	if !ok {
+		return out
+	}
+	lines := strings.Split(block, "\n")
+	for i := 0; i < len(lines); i++ {
+		line := lines[i]
+		if line != "" && (line[0] == ' ' || line[0] == '\t') {
+			continue
+		}
+		key, val, ok := strings.Cut(line, ":")
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		val = strings.TrimSpace(val)
+		if val == "" {
+			// Round 6: a colon with nothing after it is ambiguous — it can
+			// be a genuinely empty/omitted value, or the start of a YAML
+			// block scalar whose real value lives on the indented
+			// continuation line(s) that follow (e.g. "half_life:\n
+			// durable"). Treating the latter as absent let an edit smuggle
+			// an invalid value straight past ValidateEnvelope: the field
+			// read as unset while the disk actually carried a value. Fold
+			// the continuation in as a best-effort join so oneOf() still
+			// sees it. A genuinely empty value (no indented line follows)
+			// still folds to "", preserving present()'s existing
+			// placeholder-not-assertion contract.
+			var cont []string
+			for i+1 < len(lines) {
+				next := lines[i+1]
+				if next == "" || (next[0] != ' ' && next[0] != '\t') {
+					break
+				}
+				cont = append(cont, strings.TrimSpace(next))
+				i++
+			}
+			val = strings.Join(cont, " ")
+		}
+		out[strings.TrimSpace(key)] = val
+	}
+	return out
+}

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_notes_test.go

@@ -93,6 +93,243 @@ func TestBrainEdit_EmptyOldStrErrorNamesRawArgumentBytes(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, errMsg, "raw arguments were", "%v", errMsg)
 }
 
+func TestBrainEdit_RejectsAnInvalidClaimEnvelopeWrittenViaStringReplace(t *testing.T) {
+	// hyperguild#123: brain_write/brain_update both validate the claim
+	// envelope (half_life/applies/claim_provenance) before writing —
+	// brain_edit didn't, even though it's the one live, model-facing path
+	// that can rewrite an existing envelope line directly via raw string
+	// replace, no parsing involved. "same rules when a note changes as when
+	// it's born" (hyperguild#111's own framing) applies here too.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "claim_provenance: asserted", "new_str": "claim_provenance: guessed",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted", "rejected edit must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_RejectsAValueOnlyEditThatBreaksTheEnvelope(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in review: the original gate (touchesClaimEnvelope) checked
+	// whether old_str/new_str mention the FIELD NAME — but a minimal diff
+	// (the natural shape of any real edit, model-generated or human) can
+	// target just the VALUE token and never mention the field name at all.
+	// "asserted" -> "guessed" on a claim_provenance line walked straight
+	// past the field-name substring check and wrote an invalid enum value
+	// with no error — the exact bypass #123 was supposed to close, closed
+	// in name only.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "asserted", "new_str": "guessed",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted", "rejected edit must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_RejectsAnOldStrThatCrossesTheClosingFence(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in round-2 review: the position-based gate required old_str to
+	// be fully CONTAINED in the extracted frontmatter block (which excludes
+	// both "---" fence lines). An old_str disambiguated by extending past
+	// the closing fence into the body — a natural choice, since notes.Edit
+	// requires old_str to be unique in the file — fails that containment
+	// test, so checkClaimEnvelope skips validation entirely while
+	// notes.Edit still applies the replace verbatim. Same invalid-enum
+	// outcome as the original two bypasses, reached a third way.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path":    "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md",
+		"old_str": "asserted\n---\n\nbody",
+		"new_str": "guessed\n---\n\nbody",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted", "rejected edit must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_RejectsAnEditThatRemovesTheClosingFence(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in round-3 review: checkClaimEnvelope always validates the
+	// resulting frontmatter of `after` — but an edit whose new_str drops
+	// the closing "---" degrades `after` to "unfenced" in the same call.
+	// frontmatterBlock(after) then returns ok=false, frontmatterScalars
+	// returns an empty map, and claim.ValidateEnvelope({}) is nil by
+	// design (absent fields are valid) — so an invalid enum value lands on
+	// disk with zero error, and the note is left permanently unfenced.
+	// Structural fix: a note that had a valid fence before the edit must
+	// still have one after, or the edit is rejected outright.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path":    "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md",
+		"old_str": "claim_provenance: asserted\n---\n",
+		"new_str": "claim_provenance: not-a-real-value\n",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted\n---\n", "rejected edit must leave the note byte-identical, fence intact")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_RejectsAnInvalidEnvelopeOnACRLFFencedNote(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in round-4 review: frontmatterBlock's fence detection matches
+	// the literal byte sequence "---\n" / "\n---\n". A note whose fence
+	// lines use CRLF ("---\r\n") fails strings.HasPrefix(doc, "---\n") on
+	// the BEFORE read, so hadFence is false — not because the fence is
+	// missing, but because \r sits in front of every \n. hadFence&&!hasFence
+	// can then never fire, frontmatterScalars falls back to an empty map,
+	// and claim.ValidateEnvelope({}) is nil by design. No adversarial
+	// old_str/new_str crafting needed: encoding alone silently disables the
+	// whole envelope check for this note. Zero CRLF-fenced notes exist in
+	// the live corpus today, but nothing in the code prevents one.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\r\ntitle: 'n'\r\nhalf_life: durable\r\napplies: universal\r\nclaim_provenance: asserted\r\n---\r\n\r\nbody\r\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "asserted", "new_str": "guessed",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted", "rejected edit must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_RejectsAnInvalidEnvelopeOnABOMPrefixedNote(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in round-5 review: the same "encoding property empties
+	// frontmatterScalars's map" mechanism as the CRLF bypass, one layer
+	// earlier — a leading UTF-8 BOM (EF BB BF) defeats
+	// strings.HasPrefix(doc, "---\n") exactly like CRLF did, before that
+	// prefix is even reached. Notepad's default "UTF-8" save and
+	// PowerShell's pre-v6 Out-File/Set-Content both emit a BOM, so this is
+	// a live, plausible authoring path, not an exotic one — same severity
+	// and same one-line cost as the CRLF fix, fixed the same way rather
+	// than deferred to hyperguild#138.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("\xef\xbb\xbf---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "asserted", "new_str": "guessed",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted", "rejected edit must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_RejectsAFoldedScalarThatHidesAnInvalidValue(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in round-6 review: a different mechanism from the encoding
+	// family (rounds 1-6 were all about fence detection; this is the field
+	// extractor). old_str="half_life: durable", new_str="half_life:\n
+	// garbage-value" turns the field into a YAML block-scalar shape: the
+	// top-level line is now "half_life:" with an empty inline value, and
+	// the real value lives on the indented continuation line that follows.
+	// frontmatterScalars's indentation guard skips that continuation line
+	// outright, so the field reads as present-with-empty-value —
+	// present()'s own contract then treats that as absent (a placeholder,
+	// not an assertion) — and claim.ValidateEnvelope never sees the
+	// invalid value at all. No encoding quirk needed: one ordinary
+	// brain_edit call smuggles an out-of-enum value straight past the
+	// check the field was supposed to be validated by.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path":    "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md",
+		"old_str": "half_life: durable",
+		"new_str": "half_life:\n  garbage-value",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "half_life: durable", "rejected edit must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_AllowsAValidClaimEnvelopeEdit(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nbody\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "half_life: durable", "new_str": "half_life: seasonal",
+	})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "half_life: seasonal")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_UnrelatedEditsSkipTheEnvelopeCheckEntirely(t *testing.T) {
+	// The gate only engages when old_str/new_str actually mention an
+	// envelope field name — an ordinary body edit on a note that happens to
+	// carry a valid envelope must not pay for (or be affected by) a check
+	// that has nothing to do with it.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	note := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(note,
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nold body\n"), 0o644))
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "old body", "new_str": "new body",
+	})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(note)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "new body")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEditRoot_GovernanceFilesAreNeverEnvelopeChecked(t *testing.T) {
+	// CLAUDE.md has no claim-envelope concept at all — the check must be
+	// scoped to notes (ScopeNotes), never applied on the governance path.
+	srv, _, _, _ := govServer(t)
+
+	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
+		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "half_life: durable",
+	})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp)
+}
+
 func TestBrainEdit_RefusesGovernanceFilesFromTheModelFacingTool(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
 	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)

ingestion/internal/pipeline/build.go

@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ func buildFrontmatter(rp RawPage, date string) string {
 		}
 		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "date_ingested: %s\n", date)
 		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "last_updated: %s\n", date)
+		if rp.SourceHash != "" {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "source_hash: %s\n", rp.SourceHash)
+		}
 		if rp.Source != "" {
 			fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "source: %s\n", yamlScalar(rp.Source))
 		}

ingestion/internal/pipeline/parse.go

@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ type RawPage struct {
 	// ingested content's own frontmatter (see parseContentFrontmatter) — never
 	// set by the LLM. json:"-" keeps them immune to same-named keys the LLM
 	// might emit. Only meaningful for Type == "source".
+	// SourceHash is sha256 of the ingested BODY (frontmatter excluded), stamped
+	// so the next ingest of the same source can tell "unchanged" from "edited"
+	// without re-running extraction (#105).
+	SourceHash string `json:"-"`
 	Source     string `json:"-"`
 	Author     string `json:"-"`
 	Published  string `json:"-"`
@@ -112,6 +116,11 @@ type sourceMeta struct {
 	Source    string
 	Author    string
 	Published string
+	// BodyHash is sha256 of the content with any leading frontmatter removed.
+	// Body-only on purpose: a re-crawl that stamps a new fetch date has not
+	// changed the source, and treating that as drift would re-extract the
+	// whole corpus every time a crawler ran (#105).
+	BodyHash string
 }
 
 // parseContentFrontmatter extracts source/author/published from a leading
@@ -154,6 +163,7 @@ func applySourceMeta(pages []RawPage, meta sourceMeta) {
 		if pages[i].Type != "source" {
 			continue
 		}
+		pages[i].SourceHash = meta.BodyHash
 		pages[i].Source = meta.Source
 		pages[i].Author = meta.Author
 		pages[i].Published = meta.Published

ingestion/internal/pipeline/pipeline.go

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package pipeline
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -26,6 +28,11 @@ type Config struct {
 type Result struct {
 	Pages    []string // relative paths written (or would-be written in dry-run)
 	Warnings []string
+	// Skipped reports that the source was byte-identical to the last ingest,
+	// so no extraction ran and nothing was written. Reported rather than
+	// silent: a run that does nothing must say so, or "the pipeline is fine"
+	// and "the pipeline stopped working" look the same (#105, #107).
+	Skipped bool
 }
 
 // Run ingests content and writes structured wiki pages to brainDir/wiki/.
@@ -43,13 +50,32 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, brainDir, content, source string, dryR
 
 	sourceSlug := wiki.Slug(source)
 	date := time.Now().UTC().Format("2006-01-02")
+
+	// Drift check BEFORE any extraction: an unchanged source costs a full LLM
+	// pass over every chunk to produce a result that merges to nothing (#105).
+	// The merge is already idempotent (#103), so this is cost and signal, not
+	// correctness — which is why it is safe for it to be an early return.
+	bodyHash := hashBody(content)
+	if !dryRun && bodyHash != "" && bodyHash == storedSourceHash(brainDir, sourceSlug) {
+		return Result{Skipped: true, Warnings: []string{
+			fmt.Sprintf("source %q unchanged since last ingest (hash %s) — extraction skipped", source, bodyHash[:12]),
+		}}, nil
+	}
+
+	// The source's own page path is deterministic (sourceSlug, computed above)
+	// even before extraction runs, unlike a concept/entity page's path, which
+	// only exists once the model has produced a title. So page-aware
+	// extraction (#106) is scoped to the source page: it's the one page every
+	// chunk's prompt can be given in advance.
+	existingPage := readSourcePage(brainDir, sourceSlug)
+
 	chunks := Chunk(content, cfg.ChunkSize)
 
 	var allRaw []RawPage
 	var allWarnings []string
 
 	for _, chunk := range chunks {
-		userPrompt := BuildPrompt(schema, source, chunk, inventory)
+		userPrompt := BuildPrompt(schema, source, chunk, inventory, existingPage)
 		output, err := cfg.Complete(ctx, systemPrompt, userPrompt)
 		if err != nil {
 			return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("LLM call: %w", err)
@@ -59,7 +85,9 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, brainDir, content, source string, dryR
 		allWarnings = append(allWarnings, warnings...)
 	}
 
-	applySourceMeta(allRaw, parseContentFrontmatter(content))
+	meta := parseContentFrontmatter(content)
+	meta.BodyHash = bodyHash
+	applySourceMeta(allRaw, meta)
 
 	return buildAndWrite(allRaw, sourceSlug, date, brainDir, source, inventory, allWarnings, dryRun)
 }
@@ -96,10 +124,18 @@ 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)
+			content, conflicts, err := reviseOrCreate(dest, page)
 			if err != nil {
 				return Result{}, err
 			}
+			for _, heading := range conflicts {
+				// Reported, not resolved. The on-disk version stands; whether
+				// the disagreement is a genuine contradiction is the
+				// Judge-gated enrich pass's call, not the write path's.
+				warnings = append(warnings, fmt.Sprintf(
+					"%s: source now disagrees on section %q — on-disk version kept",
+					page.Path, heading))
+			}
 			if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(content), 0o644); err != nil {
 				return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("write %s: %w", page.Path, err)
 			}
@@ -119,6 +155,51 @@ func buildAndWrite(rawPages []RawPage, sourceSlug, date, brainDir, source string
 	return Result{Pages: written, Warnings: warnings}, nil
 }
 
+// hashBody returns sha256 of content with any leading frontmatter block
+// removed, or "" for empty content.
+//
+// Body-only on purpose: a re-crawl that stamps a new fetch date has not changed
+// the source, and treating that as drift would re-extract the corpus every time
+// a crawler ran (#105).
+func hashBody(content string) string {
+	body := content
+	if strings.HasPrefix(body, "---\n") {
+		if _, rest, found := strings.Cut(body[4:], "\n---"); found {
+			body = strings.TrimPrefix(rest, "\n")
+		}
+	}
+	if strings.TrimSpace(body) == "" {
+		return ""
+	}
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(body))
+	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+}
+
+// readSourcePage returns the full on-disk content of the source page at
+// wiki/sources/<sourceSlug>.md, or "" when it doesn't exist yet.
+func readSourcePage(brainDir, sourceSlug string) string {
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, "wiki", "sources", sourceSlug+".md"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return string(raw)
+}
+
+// storedSourceHash reads source_hash from the source page a previous ingest
+// wrote, or "" when there is no such page or no such field.
+//
+// Absence always means "extract". That is the fail-safe direction: a missed
+// skip costs one extraction, while a wrong skip loses an update silently — and
+// silence is the failure mode this repo keeps paying for.
+func storedSourceHash(brainDir, sourceSlug string) string {
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(readSourcePage(brainDir, sourceSlug), "\n") {
+		if key, value, found := strings.Cut(line, ":"); found && strings.TrimSpace(key) == "source_hash" {
+			return strings.TrimSpace(value)
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 // 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.
 //
@@ -138,15 +219,16 @@ func buildAndWrite(rawPages []RawPage, sourceSlug, date, brainDir, source string
 // 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) {
+func reviseOrCreate(dest string, page wiki.Page) (string, []string, error) {
 	existing, err := os.ReadFile(dest)
 	switch {
 	case os.IsNotExist(err):
-		return page.Content, nil
+		return page.Content, nil, nil
 	case err != nil:
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("read existing %s: %w", page.Path, err)
+		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("read existing %s: %w", page.Path, err)
 	}
-	return wiki.Merge(wiki.Page{Path: page.Path, Content: string(existing)}, page).Content, nil
+	merged, conflicts := wiki.MergeReport(wiki.Page{Path: page.Path, Content: string(existing)}, page)
+	return merged.Content, conflicts, nil
 }
 
 // mergeAll deduplicates pages by path, merging content from later occurrences.

ingestion/internal/pipeline/pipeline_test.go

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -233,3 +234,192 @@ func TestRunRaw_ReIngestingUnchangedContentIsByteIdentical(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, string(first), string(second),
 		"re-ingesting unchanged content must leave the page byte-identical")
 }
+
+// --- #105: source drift — an unchanged re-ingest must not re-extract --------
+
+func TestRun_SkipsExtractionWhenTheSourceIsUnchanged(t *testing.T) {
+	// #103 made a re-ingest harmless (byte-identical merge). It is still not
+	// free: the full LLM extraction runs over every chunk to produce a result
+	// that merges to nothing. This is the cost half.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	var calls int
+	cfg := Config{Complete: func(_ context.Context, _, _ string) (string, error) {
+		calls++
+		return `[{"title":"Shape Up","type":"source","subtype":"book","domain":"product","content":"## Summary\n\nA book.\n"}]`, nil
+	}}
+
+	content := "---\nsource: https://example.com/shape-up\n---\n\nThe body of the article.\n"
+
+	first, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, content, "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, 1, calls, "first ingest must extract")
+	assert.False(t, first.Skipped)
+
+	second, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, content, "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, calls, "unchanged content must not be extracted again")
+	assert.True(t, second.Skipped, "the skip must be reported, not silent")
+}
+
+func TestRun_ReExtractsWhenTheSourceBodyChanged(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	var calls int
+	cfg := Config{Complete: func(_ context.Context, _, _ string) (string, error) {
+		calls++
+		return `[{"title":"Shape Up","type":"source","subtype":"book","domain":"product","content":"## Summary\n\nA book.\n"}]`, nil
+	}}
+
+	_, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, "---\nsource: x\n---\n\nversion one\n", "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	_, err = Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, "---\nsource: x\n---\n\nversion two — the source was edited\n", "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, 2, calls, "changed content must be re-extracted")
+}
+
+// --- #106: page-aware extraction — the model sees the page it is revising --
+
+func TestRun_ExistingSourcePageIsIncludedInTheExtractionPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	// #103 made the merge asymmetric (on-disk wins); #106 is the other half —
+	// the extraction itself gets to see what's already there instead of
+	// producing a page blind and letting the merge reconcile it afterwards.
+	// This only proves the existing page reaches the prompt; the byte-identical
+	// guarantee for an echoed-back revision is a separate test below.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	for _, sub := range []string{"wiki/concepts", "wiki/entities", "wiki/sources"} {
+		require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, sub), 0o755))
+	}
+
+	seeded := "---\ntitle: 'Shape Up'\n---\n\n## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- Appetite beats estimation.\n"
+	page := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(page, []byte(seeded), 0o644))
+
+	var gotPrompt string
+	cfg := Config{Complete: func(_ context.Context, _, user string) (string, error) {
+		gotPrompt = user
+		return mustJSON([]RawPage{{
+			Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book",
+			Content: "## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n",
+		}}), nil
+	}}
+
+	// Deliberately does not mention "Appetite beats estimation." — that phrase
+	// can only reach the prompt via the existing on-disk page, not the source
+	// content, so its presence proves the page was threaded through.
+	content := "A short editorial update to the book's listing. No new claims here."
+	_, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, content, "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.Contains(t, gotPrompt, "Appetite beats estimation.",
+		"the existing page's content must be visible to the extraction prompt")
+	assert.Contains(t, gotPrompt, "revis", "the prompt must ask for a revision, not a fresh page")
+}
+
+func TestRun_NewSourceHasNoExistingPageInThePrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	// The other side of the same behavior: a source with no page on disk yet
+	// must not get an "existing page" section injected into its prompt at all.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	for _, sub := range []string{"wiki/concepts", "wiki/entities", "wiki/sources"} {
+		require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, sub), 0o755))
+	}
+
+	var gotPrompt string
+	cfg := Config{Complete: func(_ context.Context, _, user string) (string, error) {
+		gotPrompt = user
+		return mustJSON([]RawPage{{
+			Title: "New Thing", Type: "source", Subtype: "article",
+			Content: "## Summary\n\nBrand new.\n",
+		}}), nil
+	}}
+
+	_, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, "Brand new content.", "new-thing", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.NotContains(t, gotPrompt, "Current page",
+		"a source with no page on disk yet must not get a revision section in its prompt")
+}
+
+func TestRun_RevisionEchoingExistingPageStaysByteIdentical(t *testing.T) {
+	// The issue's explicit risk: a model given the current page will sometimes
+	// echo it back verbatim. That must not duplicate content or otherwise
+	// perturb the page — the deterministic merge is still the backstop.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	for _, sub := range []string{"wiki/concepts", "wiki/entities", "wiki/sources"} {
+		require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, sub), 0o755))
+	}
+
+	seeded := "---\ntitle: 'Shape Up'\n---\n\n## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- Appetite beats estimation.\n"
+	page := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(page, []byte(seeded), 0o644))
+
+	cfg := Config{Complete: func(_ context.Context, _, _ string) (string, error) {
+		return mustJSON([]RawPage{{
+			Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book",
+			Content: "## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- Appetite beats estimation.\n",
+		}}), nil
+	}}
+
+	content := "A short editorial update to the book's listing. No new claims here."
+	result, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, content, "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.False(t, result.Skipped)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(page)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	want := "---\ntitle: 'Shape Up'\nlast_updated: " + time.Now().UTC().Format("2006-01-02") +
+		"\nsource_hash: " + hashBody(content) + "\n---\n\n" +
+		"## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n" +
+		"## Key Claims\n\n- Appetite beats estimation.\n"
+	assert.Equal(t, want, string(got),
+		"a revision pass that echoes the existing page back must not duplicate or alter its content")
+}
+
+func TestRun_FrontmatterOnlyChangeIsNotDrift(t *testing.T) {
+	// The hash covers the body, so re-fetching a page whose metadata moved
+	// (a re-crawl stamping a new date) is not treated as the source changing.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	var calls int
+	cfg := Config{Complete: func(_ context.Context, _, _ string) (string, error) {
+		calls++
+		return `[{"title":"Shape Up","type":"source","subtype":"book","domain":"product","content":"## Summary\n\nA book.\n"}]`, nil
+	}}
+
+	_, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, "---\nsource: x\nfetched: monday\n---\n\nsame body\n", "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	_, err = Run(context.Background(), cfg, dir, "---\nsource: x\nfetched: tuesday\n---\n\nsame body\n", "shape-up", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, calls, "only the body counts as the source")
+}
+
+func TestRunRaw_ReportsWhenTheSourceDisagreesWithWhatIsOnDisk(t *testing.T) {
+	// The on-disk version still wins — that is what makes unattended ingest
+	// safe. But the run must say that the source now claims something else,
+	// or a changed source is indistinguishable from an unchanged one.
+	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
+
+Appetite is fixed, scope is variable.
+`), 0o644))
+
+	res, err := RunRaw(dir, "shape-up", []RawPage{{
+		Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book", Domain: "product",
+		Content: "## Summary\n\nAppetite is negotiable and scope is fixed.\n",
+	}}, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(page)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "Appetite is fixed", "on-disk version wins")
+
+	joined := strings.Join(res.Warnings, " ")
+	assert.Contains(t, joined, "Summary", "the disagreeing section must be named")
+	assert.Contains(t, joined, "shape-up", "and the page it happened on")
+}

ingestion/internal/pipeline/prompt.go

@@ -22,8 +22,18 @@ Each element must have exactly these fields:
 Wikilinks in content: [[Display Name]] — just the display name, no slug, no pipe separator.
 Only link to pages listed in the inventory or pages you are creating in this response.`
 
-// BuildPrompt constructs the user prompt for a single chunk.
-func BuildPrompt(schema, source, content string, inventory map[wiki.PageType][]wiki.Entry) string {
+// BuildPrompt constructs the user prompt for a single chunk. existingPage is
+// the full current content (frontmatter + body) of the source's own wiki page
+// when one already exists on disk, or "" for a source being ingested for the
+// first time. When non-empty, the model is asked to revise that page rather
+// than write a fresh one — see hyperguild#106. The deterministic merge in
+// wiki.Merge remains the backstop regardless of what the model returns: an
+// on-disk section the model doesn't touch survives untouched, and a section
+// it does touch only takes effect where Merge's strategy allows the fresh
+// side to change anything (bullet union, append) — never for an ordinary
+// section, so the model proposing a revision is never how a page gets
+// overwritten.
+func BuildPrompt(schema, source, content string, inventory map[wiki.PageType][]wiki.Entry, existingPage string) string {
 	var sb strings.Builder
 
 	fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "Today's date is %s.\n\n", time.Now().UTC().Format("2006-01-02"))
@@ -49,6 +59,18 @@ func BuildPrompt(schema, source, content string, inventory map[wiki.PageType][]w
 		sb.WriteString("\n")
 	}
 
+	if existingPage != "" {
+		sb.WriteString("## Current page for this source — revise it, don't restart\n\n")
+		sb.WriteString("This source has already been ingested and has the wiki page shown below.\n")
+		sb.WriteString("You are revising that page, not writing a fresh one:\n")
+		sb.WriteString("  - Add sections or claims the source below supports that this page doesn't have yet.\n")
+		sb.WriteString("  - Strengthen a claim where the source gives more detail, evidence, or nuance than what's already there.\n")
+		sb.WriteString("  - Leave unchanged whatever the source doesn't affect — reuse the existing wording verbatim rather than paraphrasing it, so an unchanged claim is recognized as unchanged.\n")
+		sb.WriteString("  - A merge step keeps this page's on-disk content for any section you don't return, so it's fine to omit a section you aren't revising.\n\n")
+		sb.WriteString(existingPage)
+		sb.WriteString("\n\n")
+	}
+
 	sb.WriteString("## Non-negotiable rules\n\n")
 	sb.WriteString("1. Output ONLY a valid JSON array — no prose, no fences.\n")
 	sb.WriteString("2. Fields: title, type, subtype (if applicable), domain (if applicable), content.\n")

ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher.go

@@ -59,10 +59,16 @@ func processDir(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, date string) []error {
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		// Skip processed/ and failed/ subdirectories entirely.
+		// Skip processed/, failed/, and rejected/ subdirectories entirely.
+		// rejected/ (hyperguild#81, brain_reject) holds notes a human already
+		// looked at and declined — walking into it would run the extraction
+		// pipeline over a note and publish it to the wiki, the exact opposite
+		// of the human's decision. The whole reason RejectNote moves a note
+		// there instead of leaving it in raw/ was to keep it out of every
+		// path that treats raw/ as "awaiting processing" — this is that path.
 		if d.IsDir() {
 			name := d.Name()
-			if name == "processed" || name == "failed" {
+			if name == "processed" || name == "failed" || name == "rejected" {
 				return filepath.SkipDir
 			}
 			return nil

ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher_test.go

@@ -176,15 +176,20 @@ func TestDeriveSource(t *testing.T) {
 func TestProcessDir_SkipsSubdirs(t *testing.T) {
 	brainDir := setupBrainDir(t)
 
-	// Create processed/ and failed/ subdirs with files inside.
-	for _, sub := range []string{"processed/2026-04-22", "failed"} {
+	// Create processed/, failed/, and rejected/ subdirs with files inside.
+	for _, sub := range []string{"processed/2026-04-22", "failed", "rejected"} {
 		require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", sub), 0o755))
 	}
 
 	processedFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "processed", "2026-04-22", "old-file.md")
 	failedFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "failed", "broken-file.md")
+	// hyperguild#81/#133: a human already declined this note via brain_reject.
+	// If the watcher walks into rejected/, it re-ingests and publishes it to
+	// the wiki — the exact opposite of the human's decision.
+	rejectedFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "rejected", "declined-file.md")
 	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(processedFile, []byte("old"), 0o644))
 	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(failedFile, []byte("broken"), 0o644))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(rejectedFile, []byte("---\nrejected_at: 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z\n---\ndeclined"), 0o644))
 
 	// Also place a valid file in raw/ root that should be processed.
 	validFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "valid.md")
@@ -223,11 +228,13 @@ func TestProcessDir_SkipsSubdirs(t *testing.T) {
 	// Complete should have been called exactly once (for valid.md, not for files in subdirs).
 	assert.Len(t, processedSources, 1, "only the file in raw/ root should be processed")
 
-	// Files in processed/ and failed/ must remain untouched.
+	// Files in processed/, failed/, and rejected/ must remain untouched.
 	_, err := os.Stat(processedFile)
 	assert.NoError(t, err, "processed subdir file should be untouched")
 	_, err = os.Stat(failedFile)
 	assert.NoError(t, err, "failed subdir file should be untouched")
+	_, err = os.Stat(rejectedFile)
+	assert.NoError(t, err, "rejected subdir file should be untouched, never re-ingested")
 }
 
 // TestProcessDir_SkipsTunnelCandidateFiles guards against hyperguild#88:

ingestion/internal/wiki/merge.go

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package wiki
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -36,32 +37,259 @@ type section struct {
 // 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.
+// Merge discards any disagreement silently; prefer MergeReport where the
+// caller can act on it.
 func Merge(a, b Page) Page {
-	fmA, preambleA, secsA := parseSections(a.Content)
-	_, _, secsB := parseSections(b.Content)
-
-	idx := make(map[string]int, len(secsA))
-	for i, s := range secsA {
-		idx[s.heading] = i
+	page, _ := MergeReport(a, b)
+	return page
 }
 
+// MergeReport is Merge, plus the headings of sections where b carried a
+// different version of a section a already had — and lost.
+//
+// That loss is the property which makes ingest safe to run unattended (#103):
+// a regenerating writer can add to a note but never rewrite it. But the
+// discarded text is also a signal, and until now it went in the bin: the source
+// now says something different about a section we already hold. Nobody could
+// tell "the source is unchanged" from "the source changed its mind and we
+// ignored it".
+//
+// Deliberately NOT a semantic contradiction check. This reports textual
+// disagreement, which is cheap, deterministic, and needs no model on the write
+// path. Deciding whether a disagreement is a genuine contradiction stays with
+// the Judge-gated enrich pass that already exists (brain-gardener#175), which
+// is approval-gated by design — detection here, adjudication there.
+func MergeReport(a, b Page) (Page, []string) {
+	fmA, preambleA, secsA := parseSections(a.Content)
+	fmB, _, secsB := parseSections(b.Content)
+
+	var conflicts []string
+
+	// Sections in secsA sharing a normalized heading (pre-existing corpus
+	// drift — "## Notes" and "## NOTES" both already on disk, the exact
+	// pattern this normalization exists to catch going forward, found in
+	// review of PR #130/#132) are matched to b's occurrences of that same
+	// heading POSITIONALLY: b's 1st occurrence of the key pairs with a's
+	// 1st, b's 2nd with a's 2nd, and so on. A single "last write wins" (or
+	// even "first write wins") map from key to one index would instead
+	// route every one of b's occurrences to the SAME on-disk section —
+	// which either freezes every duplicate but one (never receiving
+	// updates again) or, worse, compares mismatched pairs and reports a
+	// disagreement between two sections that were never supposed to be
+	// compared, false-positiving on the plain self-merge case a revision
+	// pass produces when the model echoes a page back unchanged (found in
+	// review of PR #132).
+	byKey := make(map[string][]int, len(secsA))
+	for i, s := range secsA {
+		key := normalizeHeading(s.heading)
+		byKey[key] = append(byKey[key], i)
+	}
+	cursor := make(map[string]int, len(byKey))
+
 	for _, sB := range secsB {
-		i, exists := idx[sB.heading]
-		if !exists {
-			idx[sB.heading] = len(secsA)
+		key := normalizeHeading(sB.heading)
+		indices := byKey[key]
+		pos := cursor[key]
+		cursor[key] = pos + 1
+
+		if pos >= len(indices) {
+			// b has more occurrences of this heading than a does (including
+			// the case where a has none at all) — the extra is new content,
+			// appended as its own section and registered so a THIRD
+			// occurrence of the same heading in b pairs with this one
+			// rather than appending yet another duplicate.
+			byKey[key] = append(byKey[key], len(secsA))
 			secsA = append(secsA, sB)
 			continue
 		}
+		i := indices[pos]
 		sA := secsA[i]
 		switch {
-		case bulletSections[sB.heading]:
+		case bulletSectionsNorm[key]:
 			secsA[i].content = mergeBullets(sA.content, sB.content)
-		case appendSections[sB.heading]:
+		case appendSectionsNorm[key]:
 			secsA[i].content = appendNew(sA.content, sB.content)
+		default:
+			// a wins — but say that b disagreed, rather than dropping it mute.
+			if canonicalBlock(sA.content) != canonicalBlock(sB.content) {
+				conflicts = append(conflicts, sB.heading)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	return Page{Path: a.Path, Content: rebuildContent(fmA, preambleA, secsA)}
+	return Page{Path: a.Path, Content: rebuildContent(refreshOwned(fmA, fmB), preambleA, secsA)}, conflicts
+}
+
+// normalizeHeading returns the key Merge uses to decide "is this the same
+// section" — trimmed and case-folded, so "Key Claims" and "Key claims" match
+// (hyperguild#106: heading casing drift must not fork a section). It is used
+// only for that comparison; the on-disk section's original heading text
+// (secsA[i].heading, untouched here) is what actually gets written out, so a
+// human's heading casing is never silently rewritten by a merge.
+func normalizeHeading(h string) string {
+	return strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(h))
+}
+
+// bulletSectionsNorm and appendSectionsNorm are bulletSections/appendSections
+// keyed by normalizeHeading instead of exact text, so a section's merge
+// strategy (union bullets, append) is chosen by the same normalized identity
+// Merge uses to match it — otherwise a heading that matched an on-disk
+// section (case-insensitively) could still fail the exact-string strategy
+// lookup and silently fall through to "keep a's version," dropping b's
+// content instead of unioning or appending it.
+var bulletSectionsNorm = normalizeSet(bulletSections)
+var appendSectionsNorm = normalizeSet(appendSections)
+
+func normalizeSet(names map[string]bool) map[string]bool {
+	out := make(map[string]bool, len(names))
+	for k := range names {
+		out[normalizeHeading(k)] = true
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// generatorOwned names the frontmatter fields the ingest pipeline may refresh
+// on a page it is revising. Everything else on disk wins.
+//
+// #103 made the on-disk frontmatter win wholesale, which is what stops a
+// regenerating writer from overwriting human-set metadata — a title someone
+// fixed, or the claim-property envelope (brain#21). The cost was that fields
+// the generator legitimately owns froze at their first-ingest values: when it
+// last ran, and what it last saw.
+//
+// An explicit allowlist rather than a carve-out: the ownership boundary is
+// nameable, and a field nobody has thought about stays human-owned by default,
+// which is the safe direction.
+var generatorOwned = map[string]bool{
+	"last_updated": true,
+	"source_hash":  true,
+}
+
+// fmLine is one line of a frontmatter block: a parsed key/value pair, or a
+// raw line (blank, comment, or anything else that isn't a simple "key:
+// value") kept verbatim. Same shape as api.frontmatter's fmLine — this
+// package doesn't import that one (it's unexported there, and a's/b's
+// frontmatter here always arrives as a string, not a parsed struct), so the
+// small, already-proven set()-appends-if-absent behavior is reproduced
+// locally rather than string-index surgery reinvented per call site.
+type fmLine struct {
+	key, value, raw string
+}
+
+// parseFrontmatterBlock parses a "---\n...\n---\n" fenced block (the shape
+// parseSections produces) into an ordered line list. A block with no
+// opening/closing fence — including the empty string, a page with no
+// frontmatter at all — returns nil, ok=false: there is nothing to update in
+// place, only something to potentially create.
+func parseFrontmatterBlock(block string) (lines []fmLine, ok bool) {
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(block, "---\n") {
+		return nil, false
+	}
+	rest := block[len("---\n"):]
+	end := strings.Index(rest, "\n---\n")
+	if end < 0 {
+		return nil, false
+	}
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(rest[:end], "\n") {
+		// An indented line is a continuation (a YAML block-list item, a
+		// wrapped value) never a top-level key, regardless of whether it
+		// happens to contain a colon — "  - 'Chapter 3: The Reckoning'"
+		// is not a key named "- 'Chapter 3". Checked before Cut so a
+		// colon inside one never reaches the key/value path at all.
+		if line != "" && (line[0] == ' ' || line[0] == '\t') {
+			lines = append(lines, fmLine{raw: line})
+			continue
+		}
+		key, val, found := strings.Cut(line, ":")
+		key = strings.TrimSpace(key)
+		if !found || key == "" || strings.HasPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(line), "#") {
+			lines = append(lines, fmLine{raw: line})
+			continue
+		}
+		lines = append(lines, fmLine{key: key, value: strings.TrimSpace(val)})
+	}
+	return lines, true
+}
+
+// setLine updates key's value in place if lines already has it, or appends
+// a new entry if it doesn't — the one behavior the original refreshOwned
+// got wrong (PR #126 review, round 2: it only ever updated in place).
+func setLine(lines []fmLine, key, value string) []fmLine {
+	for i := range lines {
+		if lines[i].key == key {
+			lines[i].value = value
+			return lines
+		}
+	}
+	return append(lines, fmLine{key: key, value: value})
+}
+
+func renderFrontmatterBlock(lines []fmLine) string {
+	if len(lines) == 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	var sb strings.Builder
+	sb.WriteString("---\n")
+	for _, l := range lines {
+		switch {
+		case l.key == "":
+			sb.WriteString(l.raw)
+		case l.value == "":
+			// A key with nothing after the colon (the YAML block-list shape:
+			// "aliases:" followed by indented "- item" lines on their own
+			// raw lines) must stay bare — "key: " with a trailing space
+			// is a different, if invisible, byte sequence, and this file's
+			// whole purpose is byte-stability across an unrelated merge.
+			sb.WriteString(l.key)
+			sb.WriteByte(':')
+		default:
+			sb.WriteString(l.key)
+			sb.WriteString(": ")
+			sb.WriteString(l.value)
+		}
+		sb.WriteByte('\n')
+	}
+	sb.WriteString("---\n")
+	return sb.String()
+}
+
+// refreshOwned returns a's frontmatter with the generator-owned fields taken
+// from b where b supplies them. Fields absent from b keep a's value, so a
+// generator that stops emitting a field cannot blank it.
+//
+// A field b supplies that a doesn't have yet — every page ingested before
+// this mechanism existed has no source_hash line at all — is appended, not
+// dropped (round 1 of review: dropping it silently meant source_hash never
+// populated for the pre-existing corpus). If a has no frontmatter fence at
+// all, one is created to hold the new fields rather than splicing raw
+// "key: value" text into the body (round 2: that corrupted the page and the
+// fields would duplicate on every subsequent merge, since unfenced text
+// isn't recognized as frontmatter by parseSections on the next pass).
+func refreshOwned(a, b string) string {
+	bLines, _ := parseFrontmatterBlock(b)
+	bVals := make(map[string]string)
+	for _, l := range bLines {
+		if l.key != "" && generatorOwned[l.key] {
+			bVals[l.key] = l.value
+		}
+	}
+	if len(bVals) == 0 {
+		return a
+	}
+
+	aLines, _ := parseFrontmatterBlock(a) // ok==false (no fence) -> aLines nil, same as "start fresh"
+
+	// Sorted for a deterministic, byte-stable result when more than one
+	// field is appended in the same call — map iteration order isn't.
+	keys := make([]string, 0, len(bVals))
+	for k := range bVals {
+		keys = append(keys, k)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(keys)
+	for _, k := range keys {
+		aLines = setLine(aLines, k, bVals[k])
+	}
+	return renderFrontmatterBlock(aLines)
 }
 
 // parseSections splits markdown into its frontmatter, its preamble (content
@@ -156,6 +384,21 @@ func canonicalLine(line string) string {
 	return strings.Join(strings.Fields(line), " ")
 }
 
+// canonicalBlock applies canonicalLine per line of a multi-line section body
+// — the same whitespace-insensitivity appendNew/mergeBullets already give a
+// single line, extended to a whole section for MergeReport's disagreement
+// check (found in review, PR #129: comparing raw strings.TrimSpace only
+// tolerated leading/trailing whitespace, not a re-extraction's mid-line
+// spacing, which every other comparison in this file already tolerates).
+func canonicalBlock(block string) string {
+	lines := strings.Split(block, "\n")
+	out := make([]string, len(lines))
+	for i, l := range lines {
+		out[i] = canonicalLine(l)
+	}
+	return strings.Join(out, "\n")
+}
+
 // appendNew concatenates the lines of b that a does not already carry.
 //
 // Append sections used to concatenate wholesale, which is correct exactly once.

ingestion/internal/wiki/merge_test.go

@@ -174,3 +174,335 @@ title: X
 	assert.Contains(t, got, "Does this converge?", "existing question must survive")
 	assert.Contains(t, got, "What happens under load?", "new question must be added")
 }
+
+func TestMerge_GeneratorOwnedFrontmatterFieldsAreRefreshed(t *testing.T) {
+	// #103 made on-disk frontmatter win wholesale, which is what protects
+	// human-set fields from a regenerating writer. The cost was that fields the
+	// generator legitimately owns — when it last ran, what it last saw — froze
+	// at their first-ingest values. An explicit owned-set is the boundary:
+	// named fields the generator may refresh, everything else human-owned.
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+last_updated: 2026-01-01
+source_hash: aaaa
+half_life: durable
+claim_provenance: asserted
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Original.
+`}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'Renamed by the model'
+last_updated: 2026-08-22
+source_hash: bbbb
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Rewritten by the model.
+`}
+
+	got := Merge(existing, fresh).Content
+
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "last_updated: 2026-08-22", "generator owns last_updated")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "source_hash: bbbb", "generator owns source_hash")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "title: 'X'", "a human-set title must survive regeneration")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "half_life: durable", "the claim envelope must survive regeneration")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "claim_provenance: asserted")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "Original.", "an existing section still wins over the model's rewrite")
+	assert.NotContains(t, got, "Renamed by the model")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_GeneratorOwnedFieldsAreAppendedWhenAPageNeverHadThemBefore(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in review of PR #126: refreshOwned only replaced a generator-owned
+	// line that already existed in a's frontmatter — it never appended one a
+	// didn't have. Every page ingested before this feature shipped has no
+	// source_hash line at all, so on its first re-ingest after deploy, the
+	// fresh hash was silently dropped and the skip-on-unchanged feature this
+	// PR exists to build would never engage for the entire pre-existing
+	// corpus, permanently, with nothing telling anyone.
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Original.
+`}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'Renamed by the model'
+last_updated: 2026-08-22
+source_hash: bbbb
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Rewritten by the model.
+`}
+
+	got := Merge(existing, fresh).Content
+
+	// Exact frontmatter block, not Contains: the second review round found
+	// that a substring check doesn't prove the fields landed inside a valid
+	// fence, in the right order, or that the fence itself wasn't corrupted —
+	// two independent mutations (closeIdx targeting the wrong fence, reversed
+	// sort) both survived a Contains-only version of this test.
+	want := "---\ntitle: 'X'\nlast_updated: 2026-08-22\nsource_hash: bbbb\n---\n\n## Summary\n\nOriginal.\n"
+	assert.Equal(t, want, got)
+}
+
+func TestMerge_GeneratorOwnedFieldsCreateAFrontmatterBlockWhenThePageHadNoneAtAll(t *testing.T) {
+	// Second review round on PR #126: when a has no frontmatter fence at all,
+	// the append fallback spliced raw, unfenced "key: value" lines straight
+	// into the body -- worse than the original bug, because the next
+	// parseSections call wouldn't recognize them as frontmatter (they don't
+	// start with `---`), so they'd be absorbed as ordinary preamble text and
+	// re-duplicate on every subsequent merge instead of updating in place.
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: "## Summary\n\nOriginal.\n"}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+last_updated: 2026-08-22
+source_hash: bbbb
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Rewritten by the model.
+`}
+
+	got := Merge(existing, fresh).Content
+
+	want := "---\nlast_updated: 2026-08-22\nsource_hash: bbbb\n---\n\n## Summary\n\nOriginal.\n"
+	assert.Equal(t, want, got)
+}
+
+func TestMerge_GeneratorOwnedFieldsMixedReplaceAndAppend(t *testing.T) {
+	// a already has last_updated (replace in place) but not source_hash
+	// (append) -- the two code paths in the same call, together.
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+last_updated: 2026-01-01
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Original.
+`}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+last_updated: 2026-08-22
+source_hash: bbbb
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Rewritten by the model.
+`}
+
+	got := Merge(existing, fresh).Content
+
+	want := "---\ntitle: 'X'\nlast_updated: 2026-08-22\nsource_hash: bbbb\n---\n\n## Summary\n\nOriginal.\n"
+	assert.Equal(t, want, got)
+}
+
+// --- hyperguild#106: heading casing drift must not fork a section ----------
+// Page-aware extraction asks the model to revise the page it's given, but
+// nothing guarantees the model reproduces a heading's exact on-disk casing
+// ("Key Claims" vs "Key claims"). Without normalizing the match key, that
+// drift silently creates a near-duplicate section instead of updating the
+// original — the failure mode #106 exists to close.
+
+func TestMerge_HeadingCaseDriftMatchesSameSection(t *testing.T) {
+	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- Appetite beats estimation.\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Key claims\n\n- New pattern holds under load.\n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b).Content
+
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(got, "## Key"),
+		"casing drift in the heading must not create a second section")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "Appetite beats estimation.")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "New pattern holds under load.",
+		"the differently-cased section's content must still be unioned in")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "## Key Claims",
+		"the on-disk heading's original casing must be preserved in the output")
+	assert.NotContains(t, got, "## Key claims",
+		"the fresh extraction's heading casing must not overwrite the on-disk display text")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_HeadingWhitespaceDriftMatchesSameSection(t *testing.T) {
+	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Open Questions \n\n- Does appetite scale?\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n##  Open Questions\n\n- What about remote teams?\n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b).Content
+
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(got, "## Open Questions"),
+		"surrounding whitespace drift in the heading must not create a second section")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "Does appetite scale?")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "What about remote teams?")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_PreExistingCaseDuplicateHeadingsRouteToTheFirstOccurrence(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in review of PR #130: normalizeHeading's idx map is built by
+	// iterating secsA with idx[normalizeHeading(s.heading)] = i -- last
+	// write wins. Before heading normalization existed, two on-disk
+	// sections differing only by case (real, pre-existing corpus drift --
+	// the exact pattern #106 itself cites) never collided, since idx keyed
+	// on the exact string. After normalization they collide, and every
+	// fresh update silently, deterministically routes to whichever
+	// duplicate happens to appear LAST in the file -- the first one is
+	// frozen forever, never receiving updates again, with nothing to say
+	// so. A Contains-only check doesn't catch this: nothing is literally
+	// deleted, a bullet just lands under the wrong of two still-present
+	// headings. Assert it lands under the FIRST occurrence instead —
+	// deterministic and matches "earliest is canonical," same reasoning
+	// as every other on-disk-wins default in this file.
+	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- claim one\n\n## KEY CLAIMS\n\n- claim two\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- claim one\n- fresh claim\n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b).Content
+
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "## Key Claims\n\n- claim one\n- fresh claim\n",
+		"the fresh bullet must land in the first-occurrence section, not silently route to the last duplicate")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "## KEY CLAIMS\n\n- claim two\n",
+		"the second duplicate is untouched by this update, not merged into or overwritten")
+}
+
+func TestMergeReport_SelfMergeOfPreExistingDuplicateHeadingsReportsNoConflict(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in review of PR #132: first-occurrence-wins routes ALL of b's
+	// occurrences of a normalized heading to a's FIRST occurrence, not to
+	// their own positional counterpart. So merging a page against itself
+	// (or an echoed-back copy, exactly what #106's revision prompt can
+	// produce) pairs b's second "## NOTES" against a's first "## Notes" —
+	// different content, same normalized key — and MergeReport wrongly
+	// reports a disagreement where none exists. Fixed by pairing
+	// positionally: b's Nth occurrence of a normalized heading matches a's
+	// Nth occurrence, not always the first.
+	page := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Notes\n\nFirst note.\n\n## NOTES\n\nSecond note.\n"}
+
+	_, conflicts := MergeReport(page, page)
+	assert.Empty(t, conflicts, "merging a page with pre-existing duplicate headings against itself must report no conflicts")
+}
+
+func TestMergeReport_DuplicateHeadingsPairPositionallyNotAllToFirst(t *testing.T) {
+	// Companion case: b has genuinely different content in its second
+	// occurrence of the normalized heading — that must compare against a's
+	// second occurrence (and report if they disagree), not against a's
+	// first (which would either false-positive if a's first differs, or
+	// false-negative-mask a real disagreement in the second pair).
+	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Notes\n\nFirst note.\n\n## NOTES\n\nSecond note.\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Notes\n\nFirst note.\n\n## NOTES\n\nSecond note, revised.\n"}
+
+	_, conflicts := MergeReport(a, b)
+	assert.Equal(t, []string{"NOTES"}, conflicts,
+		"only the second occurrence, which actually disagrees, is reported")
+}
+
+func TestRefreshOwned_CommentLinesSurviveUnmangled(t *testing.T) {
+	// Third review round on PR #126: parseFrontmatterBlock dropped the
+	// sibling api package's comment guard (strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "#")).
+	// Without it, a comment line containing a colon gets cut at the colon
+	// and re-rendered with collapsed whitespace instead of surviving
+	// verbatim.
+	a := "---\n#see also:   https://x/y\ntitle: 'X'\n---\n"
+	b := "---\nsource_hash: bbbb\n---\n"
+
+	got := refreshOwned(a, b)
+	assert.Equal(t, "---\n#see also:   https://x/y\ntitle: 'X'\nsource_hash: bbbb\n---\n", got)
+}
+
+func TestRefreshOwned_IndentedListItemsWithColonsAreNotMisparsedAsKeys(t *testing.T) {
+	// Same round: an indented YAML block-list item that happens to contain a
+	// colon (e.g. a title with a subtitle) is a continuation line, never a
+	// top-level key, regardless of what strings.Cut finds in it. Misparsing
+	// it as a key/value pair and re-rendering strips its indentation,
+	// de-indenting it out of the list it belongs to -- and refreshOwned
+	// re-renders this block on essentially every non-skipped ingest, so this
+	// is the normal path, not an edge case.
+	a := "---\naliases:\n  - 'Chapter 3: The Reckoning'\ntitle: 'X'\n---\n"
+	b := "---\nsource_hash: bbbb\n---\n"
+
+	got := refreshOwned(a, b)
+	assert.Equal(t, "---\naliases:\n  - 'Chapter 3: The Reckoning'\ntitle: 'X'\nsource_hash: bbbb\n---\n", got)
+}
+
+func TestMerge_ReportsSectionsWhereTheFreshVersionWasDiscarded(t *testing.T) {
+	// The asymmetry that makes ingest safe (on-disk wins) also throws away a
+	// real signal: the source now says something different about a section we
+	// already have. Today that disagreement is silently discarded, so nobody
+	// can tell "the source is unchanged" from "the source changed its mind and
+	// we ignored it".
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Appetite is fixed, scope is variable.
+
+## Method
+
+Six-week cycles.
+`}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Appetite is negotiable and scope is fixed.
+
+## Method
+
+Six-week cycles.
+`}
+
+	got, conflicts := MergeReport(existing, fresh)
+
+	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "Appetite is fixed", "on-disk version still wins")
+	assert.NotContains(t, got.Content, "negotiable")
+	assert.Equal(t, []string{"Summary"}, conflicts,
+		"only the section that actually disagreed is reported")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_ReportsNothingWhenTheFreshVersionAgrees(t *testing.T) {
+	page := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Appetite is fixed, scope is variable.
+`}
+
+	_, conflicts := MergeReport(page, page)
+	assert.Empty(t, conflicts, "identical content is not a disagreement")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_ReportsNothingForInternalWhitespaceVariantsOnly(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in review of PR #129: the conflict comparison used raw
+	// strings.TrimSpace, which only tolerates LEADING/TRAILING whitespace —
+	// unlike appendNew/mergeBullets, which already canonicalize internal
+	// whitespace runs too (#103: a re-extraction's spacing isn't guaranteed
+	// byte-stable). A mid-line double-space from re-extraction would
+	// false-positive as a "disagreement" here even though every other
+	// whitespace-sensitive comparison in this file already tolerates it.
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Appetite  is fixed,   scope is variable.
+`}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Appetite is fixed, scope is variable.
+`}
+
+	_, conflicts := MergeReport(existing, fresh)
+	assert.Empty(t, conflicts, "internal whitespace differences alone are not a disagreement")
+}

internal/skills/brain/handlers.go

@@ -1,182 +0,0 @@
-// internal/skills/brain/handlers.go
-package brain
-
-import (
-	"bytes"
-	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
-	"fmt"
-	"io"
-	"net/http"
-)
-
-// Handle dispatches brain tool calls.
-func (s *Skill) Handle(ctx context.Context, tool string, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	switch tool {
-	case "brain_query":
-		return s.query(ctx, args)
-	case "brain_write":
-		return s.write(ctx, args)
-	case "brain_ingest_raw":
-		return s.ingestRaw(ctx, args)
-	case "brain_ingest":
-		return s.ingest(ctx, args)
-	case "brain_search":
-		return s.search(ctx, args)
-	default:
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown brain tool: %s", tool)
-	}
-}
-
-type queryArgs struct {
-	Query string `json:"query"`
-	Limit int    `json:"limit,omitempty"`
-}
-
-func (s *Skill) query(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	var a queryArgs
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
-	}
-	if a.Query == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("query is required")
-	}
-	if a.Limit == 0 {
-		a.Limit = 5
-	}
-	return s.post(ctx, "/query", a)
-}
-
-type writeArgs struct {
-	Content  string `json:"content"`
-	Type     string `json:"type,omitempty"`
-	Domain   string `json:"domain,omitempty"`
-	Filename string `json:"filename,omitempty"`
-}
-
-func (s *Skill) write(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	var a writeArgs
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
-	}
-	if a.Content == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("content is required")
-	}
-	return s.post(ctx, "/write", a)
-}
-
-type ingestArgs struct {
-	Content string `json:"content,omitempty"`
-	Source  string `json:"source,omitempty"`
-	Path    string `json:"path,omitempty"`
-	DryRun  bool   `json:"dry_run,omitempty"`
-}
-
-func (s *Skill) ingest(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	var a ingestArgs
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
-	}
-	if s.cfg.IngestSvcURL == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("brain_ingest: INGEST_SVC_URL not configured")
-	}
-	if a.Path != "" && a.Content != "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("path and content+source are mutually exclusive: provide one or the other")
-	}
-	if a.Path != "" {
-		return s.postTo(ctx, s.cfg.IngestSvcURL+"/ingest-path", map[string]any{
-			"path":    a.Path,
-			"source":  a.Source,
-			"dry_run": a.DryRun,
-		})
-	}
-	if a.Content != "" && a.Source != "" {
-		return s.postTo(ctx, s.cfg.IngestSvcURL+"/ingest", map[string]any{
-			"content": a.Content,
-			"source":  a.Source,
-			"dry_run": a.DryRun,
-		})
-	}
-	return nil, fmt.Errorf("either content+source or path is required")
-}
-
-type ingestRawArgs struct {
-	Source string `json:"source"`
-	Pages  []any  `json:"pages"`
-	DryRun bool   `json:"dry_run,omitempty"`
-}
-
-func (s *Skill) ingestRaw(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	var a ingestRawArgs
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
-	}
-	if s.cfg.IngestSvcURL == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("brain_ingest_raw: INGEST_SVC_URL not configured")
-	}
-	if a.Source == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("source is required")
-	}
-	if len(a.Pages) == 0 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("pages is required and must be non-empty")
-	}
-	return s.postTo(ctx, s.cfg.IngestSvcURL+"/ingest-raw", map[string]any{
-		"source":  a.Source,
-		"pages":   a.Pages,
-		"dry_run": a.DryRun,
-	})
-}
-
-type searchArgs struct {
-	Query      string `json:"query"`
-	Collection string `json:"collection,omitempty"`
-	Limit      int    `json:"limit,omitempty"`
-}
-
-func (s *Skill) search(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	var a searchArgs
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
-	}
-	if a.Query == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("query is required")
-	}
-	if a.Limit == 0 {
-		a.Limit = 5
-	}
-	if s.cfg.KBRetrievalURL == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("brain_search: KB_RETRIEVAL_URL not configured")
-	}
-	return s.postTo(ctx, s.cfg.KBRetrievalURL+"/api/v1/search", a)
-}
-
-func (s *Skill) post(ctx context.Context, path string, body any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	return s.postTo(ctx, s.cfg.IngestBaseURL+path, body)
-}
-
-func (s *Skill) postTo(ctx context.Context, url string, body any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
-	b, err := json.Marshal(body)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("marshal request: %w", err)
-	}
-	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodPost, url, bytes.NewReader(b))
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("build request: %w", err)
-	}
-	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-
-	resp, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("call ingestion server: %w", err)
-	}
-	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
-
-	out, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("read response: %w", err)
-	}
-	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("ingestion server returned %d: %s", resp.StatusCode, out)
-	}
-	return json.RawMessage(out), nil
-}

internal/skills/brain/handlers_test.go

@@ -1,122 +0,0 @@
-// internal/skills/brain/handlers_test.go
-package brain_test
-
-import (
-	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
-	"net/http"
-	"net/http/httptest"
-	"testing"
-
-	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/skills/brain"
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
-)
-
-func TestHandle_BrainQuery_CallsIngestServer(t *testing.T) {
-	called := false
-	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		assert.Equal(t, "/query", r.URL.Path)
-		called = true
-		_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{
-			"results": []map[string]any{
-				{"path": "wiki/concepts/tdd.md", "title": "TDD", "excerpt": "Test-driven development.", "score": 3},
-			},
-		})
-	}))
-	defer srv.Close()
-
-	s := brain.New(brain.Config{IngestBaseURL: srv.URL})
-	args, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"query": "test driven development"})
-	out, err := s.Handle(context.Background(), "brain_query", args)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.True(t, called)
-
-	var result map[string]any
-	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(out, &result))
-	results := result["results"].([]any)
-	assert.Len(t, results, 1)
-}
-
-func TestHandle_BrainWrite_CallsIngestServer(t *testing.T) {
-	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		assert.Equal(t, "/write", r.URL.Path)
-		var body map[string]string
-		require.NoError(t, json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&body))
-		assert.Equal(t, "concept", body["type"])
-		assert.Equal(t, "# Test\n\nSome learning.", body["content"])
-		_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]string{"path": "raw/test.md"})
-	}))
-	defer srv.Close()
-
-	s := brain.New(brain.Config{IngestBaseURL: srv.URL})
-	args, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"content": "# Test\n\nSome learning.", "type": "concept"})
-	out, err := s.Handle(context.Background(), "brain_write", args)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	var result map[string]string
-	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(out, &result))
-	assert.Equal(t, "raw/test.md", result["path"])
-}
-
-func TestHandle_UnknownTool_ReturnsError(t *testing.T) {
-	s := brain.New(brain.Config{IngestBaseURL: "http://localhost:3300"})
-	_, err := s.Handle(context.Background(), "brain_unknown", nil)
-	assert.Error(t, err)
-}
-
-func TestIngest_RoutesToIngestPath(t *testing.T) {
-	var capturedPath string
-	var capturedBody map[string]any
-	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		capturedPath = r.URL.Path
-		require.NoError(t, json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&capturedBody))
-		_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{"pages": []string{"wiki/foo.md"}})
-	}))
-	defer srv.Close()
-
-	s := brain.New(brain.Config{IngestSvcURL: srv.URL})
-	args, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"path": "/tmp/some-file.md"})
-	out, err := s.Handle(context.Background(), "brain_ingest", args)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, "/ingest-path", capturedPath)
-	assert.Equal(t, "/tmp/some-file.md", capturedBody["path"])
-
-	var result map[string]any
-	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(out, &result))
-	pages := result["pages"].([]any)
-	assert.Len(t, pages, 1)
-}
-
-func TestIngest_RoutesToIngest(t *testing.T) {
-	var capturedPath string
-	var capturedBody map[string]any
-	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		capturedPath = r.URL.Path
-		require.NoError(t, json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&capturedBody))
-		_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{"pages": []string{"wiki/bar.md"}})
-	}))
-	defer srv.Close()
-
-	s := brain.New(brain.Config{IngestSvcURL: srv.URL})
-	args, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"content": "some content", "source": "my-source.md"})
-	out, err := s.Handle(context.Background(), "brain_ingest", args)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-
-	assert.Equal(t, "/ingest", capturedPath)
-	assert.Equal(t, "some content", capturedBody["content"])
-	assert.Equal(t, "my-source.md", capturedBody["source"])
-
-	var result map[string]any
-	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(out, &result))
-	pages := result["pages"].([]any)
-	assert.Len(t, pages, 1)
-}
-
-func TestIngest_MissingRequiredFields(t *testing.T) {
-	s := brain.New(brain.Config{IngestSvcURL: "http://localhost:3300"})
-	args, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{})
-	_, err := s.Handle(context.Background(), "brain_ingest", args)
-	require.Error(t, err)
-	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "either content+source or path is required")
-}

internal/skills/brain/skill.go

@@ -1,111 +0,0 @@
-// internal/skills/brain/skill.go
-package brain
-
-import (
-	"encoding/json"
-
-	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/registry"
-)
-
-// Config holds brain skill configuration.
-type Config struct {
-	IngestBaseURL  string // base URL of the ingestion HTTP server (brain_query, brain_write)
-	IngestSvcURL   string // base URL of the ingestion-svc HTTP server (brain_ingest)
-	KBRetrievalURL string // base URL of the kb-retrieval server (brain_search)
-}
-
-// Skill implements registry.Skill for brain_query and brain_write.
-type Skill struct {
-	cfg Config
-}
-
-// New constructs a brain Skill.
-func New(cfg Config) *Skill { return &Skill{cfg: cfg} }
-
-// Name returns the skill name used for routing.
-func (s *Skill) Name() string { return "brain" }
-
-// Tools returns the MCP tool definitions for brain_query and brain_write.
-func (s *Skill) Tools() []registry.ToolDef {
-	schema := func(required []string, props map[string]any) json.RawMessage {
-		b, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"type": "object", "required": required, "properties": props})
-		return b
-	}
-	str := map[string]any{"type": "string"}
-	num := map[string]any{"type": "integer"}
-
-	tools := []registry.ToolDef{
-		{
-			Name:        "brain_query",
-			Description: "BM25 full-text search across brain/knowledge/ and brain/wiki/ markdown files. Fast, no embeddings needed. Call before any significant task.",
-			InputSchema: schema([]string{"query"}, map[string]any{
-				"query": str,
-				"limit": num,
-			}),
-		},
-		{
-			Name:        "brain_write",
-			Description: "Write a raw knowledge note to brain/knowledge/ for later ingestion.",
-			InputSchema: schema([]string{"content"}, map[string]any{
-				"content":  str,
-				"type":     str,
-				"domain":   str,
-				"filename": str,
-			}),
-		},
-	}
-	if s.cfg.IngestSvcURL != "" {
-		tools = append(tools, registry.ToolDef{
-			Name: "brain_ingest_raw",
-			Description: "Ingest pre-structured pages into the brain wiki, bypassing the LLM extraction step. " +
-				"Use when you (the calling agent) have already extracted entities, concepts, and content from a source. " +
-				"Provide source (human-readable name) and pages (array of {title, type, subtype, domain, content} objects). " +
-				"The pipeline computes slugs, paths, frontmatter, wikilink canonicalization, and source back-references. " +
-				"Returns the list of wiki pages written.",
-			InputSchema: schema([]string{"source", "pages"}, map[string]any{
-				"source": map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "human-readable name for the source, e.g. 'shape-up-book'"},
-				"pages": map[string]any{
-					"type": "array",
-					"items": map[string]any{
-						"type":     "object",
-						"required": []string{"title", "type", "content"},
-						"properties": map[string]any{
-							"title":   map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "page title, e.g. 'Hash Encoding'"},
-							"type":    map[string]any{"type": "string", "enum": []string{"source", "concept", "entity"}, "description": "page type"},
-							"subtype": map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "entity: person|company|tool|model|framework|technology; source: article|pdf|book|video|note|project"},
-							"domain":  map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "knowledge domain, e.g. 'Machine Learning'"},
-							"content": map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "markdown body — no frontmatter, use [[Display Name]] for wikilinks"},
-						},
-					},
-				},
-				"dry_run": map[string]any{"type": "boolean"},
-			}),
-		})
-		tools = append(tools, registry.ToolDef{
-			Name: "brain_ingest",
-			Description: "Ingest content into the brain wiki (brain/wiki/). Calls an LLM to produce structured wiki pages. " +
-				"Use for substantial documents, articles, or knowledge worth structuring. " +
-				"Provide EITHER (a) path — absolute path to a file or directory, " +
-				"OR (b) content + source — raw text and a human-readable name. " +
-				"Providing both is an error. Returns the list of wiki pages written.",
-			InputSchema: schema([]string{}, map[string]any{
-				"content": map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "raw text to ingest; required when path is not set"},
-				"source":  map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "human-readable name for the content, e.g. 'shape-up-book'; required when path is not set"},
-				"path":    map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "absolute path to a file or directory to ingest; mutually exclusive with content+source"},
-				"dry_run": map[string]any{"type": "boolean"},
-			}),
-		})
-	}
-	if s.cfg.KBRetrievalURL != "" {
-		tools = append(tools, registry.ToolDef{
-			Name:        "brain_search",
-			Description: "Semantic vector search across the brain wiki using embeddings. Use when brain_query returns no results or you need conceptually-related results rather than keyword matches.",
-			InputSchema: schema([]string{"query"}, map[string]any{
-				"query":      str,
-				"collection": str,
-				"limit":      num,
-			}),
-		})
-	}
-	return tools
-}