fix(wiki): parseFrontmatterBlock must not treat comments or indented lines as keys

Third review round on PR #126. Two real bugs in the rewrite from the
previous commit:

1. The comment guard the sibling api package's frontmatter parser has
   (strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "#")) was dropped in this reimplementation.
   A frontmatter comment containing a colon got cut at the colon and
   re-rendered with collapsed internal whitespace.
2. Worse: an indented YAML block-list item containing a colon (e.g. a
   title with a subtitle inside an aliases: list) was misparsed as a
   top-level key/value pair -- strings.Cut doesn't know a line is a
   continuation just because TrimSpace(key) happens to be non-empty.
   Re-rendering then stripped the line's indentation, de-indenting it
   out of the list it belonged to. refreshOwned re-renders this block on
   essentially every non-skipped ingest, so this was the normal path,
   not an edge case.

Checked whether the sibling api/frontmatter.go has the same list-item gap:
it does (same strings.Cut-then-TrimSpace shape, no indentation check) --
not a regression introduced here, a pre-existing latent defect shared
with the package this was modeled on. Filed separately rather than fixed
here (out of scope for this PR, needs its own review).

Fixed by checking indentation BEFORE calling Cut at all -- a line
starting with a space or tab is a continuation line, full stop,
regardless of what it contains -- and restoring the comment guard
verbatim from the sibling.

Flip-tested both guards independently: removing either one turns its
corresponding new test red in isolation; the other stays green,
confirming they're independent fixes, not one masking the other.

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

.context/mcp.json

@@ -7,6 +7,29 @@
     "supervisor": {
       "url": "http://localhost:3200/mcp",
       "description": "Hyperguild SDO — skill workers (tdd, retrospective), brain tools (brain_query, brain_write), session logging, tier detection"
+    },
+    "brain": {
+      "type": "http",
+      "url": "https://koala.tail30472e.ts.net:8443/mcp",
+      "headers": {
+        "Authorization": "Bearer ${BRAIN_MCP_TOKEN}"
+      }
+    },
+    "gitea": {
+      "_comment": "gitea-mcp authenticates by PASS-THROUGH: the bearer is a Gitea PAT it validates against Gitea and then acts as. GITEA_MCP_TOKEN -- which this entry used until 2026-09-08 -- 401s against it, so every harness synced from this file had a dead gitea server and no signal saying so. Probed 2026-09-08: GITEA_MCP_TOKEN 401, DMABE_GITEA_API_TOKEN 200, on both the public and the Serve URL.",
+      "type": "http",
+      "url": "https://koala.tail30472e.ts.net:8446/mcp",
+      "headers": {
+        "Authorization": "Bearer ${DMABE_GITEA_API_TOKEN}"
+      }
+    },
+    "infra": {
+      "_comment": "The bearer is belt-and-braces: this endpoint answers 200 with or without it, since Serve already limits reach to the tailnet. Sending it anyway means the day the server starts enforcing is not the day every harness breaks.",
+      "type": "http",
+      "url": "https://koala.tail30472e.ts.net:8444/mcp",
+      "headers": {
+        "Authorization": "Bearer ${INFRA_MCP_TOKEN}"
+      }
     }
   }
 }

.context/system-prompt.txt

@@ -53,14 +53,30 @@ These rules apply to every task across every project, regardless of harness.
    logical change (one tool, one fix, one test) with passing tests. Main is always
    deployable. Never create long-lived feature branches.
 
-   **Exception — parallel agents on same repo:** If another agent is known to be
+   **The PR trigger is RISK, not concurrency.** `risk/low` work commits straight to
-   actively working on the same repo simultaneously, create a short-lived branch
+   main with CI as the gate — that is most work and is unchanged. `risk/medium` and
-   (`agent/<description>`), finish the task, and merge to main within the same
+   above opens a PR, even solo, even with nobody waiting to review it. This mirrors
-   session. Do not leave agent branches open between sessions.
+   the tiered merge model in `assessor-loop`
+   `method/transfer-to-a-regulated-organisation.md` §4.1, so the estate practises
+   what it sells instead of merging everything on green and claiming otherwise.
 
-   **Exception — external contributor or client four-eyes requirement:** Use
+   **Concurrency is NOT a reason to branch.** Measured 2026-08-29 across three real
-   PR flow only when a human reviewer outside the project is required. Document
+   collisions between parallel sessions: two were not branching problems at all — a
-   the reason in PROJECT.md.
+   generated artifact written to the same path by both (branching turns that into a
+   merge conflict on a 33k-line JSON), and uncommitted work in a shared checkout
+   (a per-session worktree fixes it) — and the third was an ordinary non-fast-forward
+   push resolved by rebase in seconds. Use a worktree per session on shared repos and
+   timestamp generated artifacts. Do not reach for a branch.
+
+   Branch+PR flow carries documented costs on solo repos: merging auto-closes gated
+   issues, review comments live on a thread separate from the issue's, and a
+   merged-and-deleted branch cannot be amended (brain:
+   `gitea-pr-merge-autoclose-and-review-comment-footguns`). Those are the price of
+   the `risk/medium`+ lane — paid deliberately, not incurred by accident.
+
+   **Exception — external contributor or client four-eyes requirement:** Use PR flow
+   when a human reviewer outside the project is required. Document the reason in
+   PROJECT.md.
 
 6. **Close the loop — every substantive task ends with the same ritual.** Shipping
    the code is not the end of the task; capturing it is. Run this unprompted:
@@ -78,6 +94,26 @@ These rules apply to every task across every project, regardless of harness.
    - Surface the brain entries and issue numbers in the closing summary so the
      trail is auditable.
 
+   **Chat is not a durable store. Never rely on Mathias remembering anything.**
+   Every gap, caveat, risk, open question and next step must land in one of four
+   places before the turn ends: **the brain**, **a repo** (code, docs, ADR),
+   **a tracker issue**, or **a plan file**. A finding stated only in conversation is
+   lost the moment the session closes — and this estate has repeatedly proved that a
+   remembered convention is an unreliable control.
+
+   This applies hardest to what is tempting to leave as a closing remark: "worth
+   knowing X isn't enforced yet", "this is a convention, not a gate", "we should
+   revisit Y". Those are exactly the items that need a locator. If it is worth
+   saying in a summary, it is worth writing where it can be found again without you.
+
+## CAD sprint patterns
+
+Two CAD sprint archetypes (defs: brain `wiki/homelab/decisions/continuous-agentic-development-cad-concept-2026-06-16`):
+- **Inception Sprint** — birth a new repo. Oath-gated close; tag only once every clause holds. Brain: `.../inception-sprint-and-oath`.
+- **Sweep Sprint** — clear an existing backlog. Parallel read-only research per issue → sequential one-issue-per-commit execution. Brain: `.../sweep-sprint-and-oath`.
+
+Shared: decisions that are yours, not the agent's, surface as `DECISION NEEDED` (question/options/recommendation/blocks) — ask live if you're present, else comment and wait, never act past it. Live-breaking regressions get `git revert`, never forward-fixed; host-network work skips even read-only research (solo, synchronous, you present). Rule 6's closing ritual only fires once every Oath clause genuinely holds — blocked = descoped-and-tracked, never marked done.
+
 ## Default stack
 
 | Layer | Default | Fallback | Last resort |
@@ -88,7 +124,7 @@ These rules apply to every task across every project, regardless of harness.
 | Containers | Docker Compose (dev), k3s (prod) | — | — |
 | DB | PostgreSQL + sqlc | SQLite | — |
 | Search | pgvector (vector), BM25 | Qdrant (when >1M vectors or hybrid retrieval) | — |
-| Logging | slog (structured) | — | — |
+| Logging | slog (structured) | stdlib `logging` w/ structured `extra=` (or structlog) | — |
 | Testing | Table-driven, testify | — | — |
 | Agents (Go) | google.golang.org/adk + pkg/litellm adapter | — | — |
 
@@ -97,7 +133,12 @@ Exploratory: Rust, Zig — I'll tell you when I want these.
 ## Code conventions
 
 - **Go style**: golines, gofumpt, golangci-lint
-- **Errors**: `fmt.Errorf("operation: %w", err)` — never naked, never log-and-return
+- **Python style** (fallback language): ruff (format+lint, one tool), mypy --strict (non-negotiable,
+  matches Go's static typing discipline), pytest + pytest-cov (table-driven via
+  `@pytest.mark.parametrize`), uv (venv+deps+lock, one tool), pydantic-settings (typed env-var config
+  — same principle as Go's typed structs), src-layout + `pyproject.toml` only (no `setup.py`)
+- **Errors**: `fmt.Errorf("operation: %w", err)` — never naked, never log-and-return.
+  Python: `raise X from e` (exception chaining, same principle) — never bare `except`, never silent `pass`
 - **Naming**: stdlib conventions, no stuttering
 - **Architecture**: prefer stdlib over frameworks, constructor injection, env-var config parsed into typed structs
 - **Git**: conventional commits (`feat:`, `fix:`, `chore:`), commit directly to main,
@@ -135,10 +176,10 @@ Three machines on Tailscale:
 |---------|------|-----------|
 | koala | GPU inference, heavy compute | RTX 5070, runs k3s + llama-swap + shared postgres18/pgvector |
 | iguana | Services, builds | M2 Ultra Mac |
-| flamingo | Daily driver, edge | Mac mini, ~/dev is here |
+| flamingo | Daily driver, edge | Apple Silicon Mac, ~/dev is here |
 
 - **Model routing**: LiteLLM in front of llama-swap (local) + cloud APIs (when permitted)
-- **Orchestration**: k3s cluster across all three machines
+- **Orchestration**: k3s on koala only — single control-plane node, no workers (verified 2026-08-30). iguana and flamingo are on the tailnet but are not cluster members
 - **Networking**: Tailscale mesh
 
 ## Project landscape
@@ -234,10 +275,11 @@ When working on a project tagged with a client name:
 
 ## Harness-agnostic principles
 
-This context is designed to work with any AI coding tool:
+Supported harnesses (2026-09-01) — Cursor and Aider were dropped; do not
-- Claude Code, Cursor, Aider, Open WebUI, Charmbracelet Mods/Crush
+re-add adapters for them:
-- Pi Coding Agent, Mistral Vibe, Antigravity
+- Claude Code, Antigravity, OpenCode, Mistral Vibe, Crush, Pi Coding Agent
-- Any tool that accepts a system prompt or reads a markdown context file
+- Open WebUI, Charmbracelet Mods, or any tool that takes a system prompt string
+- Any other tool that reads `AGENTS.md`, which is the de facto convention
 
 The canonical source is always `.context/AGENT.md` (root) and `.context/PROJECT.md` (per-project).
 Derived files are committed (see *How context propagates* below) so a `git pull` on any host yields full agent context with no setup.
@@ -249,15 +291,29 @@ Canonical sources of truth:
 - Project: `<repo>/.context/PROJECT.md` (per-repo)
 
 Derived files (committed, regenerated by `task context:sync`):
-- `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `.cursorrules`, `.aider.conventions.md`,
+- `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `.context/system-prompt.txt`
-  `.context/system-prompt.txt`
+
+Repos still carrying `.cursorrules`, `.aider.conventions.md` or
+`.aider.conf.yml` are stale: nothing regenerates them. Delete them the next time
+you touch the repo, along with their entries in that repo's `task check`
+assertion.
 
 Workflow:
 1. Edit a canonical file. Run `task context:sync`. Commit canonical and
    derived together. Push.
-2. On any other host, `git pull` brings both. Claude Code (tree-walking)
+2. On any other host, `git pull` brings both. Which file a harness reads does
-   uses `CLAUDE.md`; Crush / Pi / Antigravity (cwd-only) use `AGENTS.md`;
+   NOT split cleanly by lookup strategy, so do not reason from the strategy:
-   Cursor uses `.cursorrules`; Aider uses `.aider.conventions.md`.
+   - `CLAUDE.md` — Claude Code (walks up the tree)
+   - `AGENTS.md` — Crush, Pi, Antigravity (cwd-only), OpenCode (project root,
+     global at `~/.config/opencode/AGENTS.md`), and Mistral Vibe, which **walks
+     up** from cwd and takes the first `AGENTS.md` it finds
+     (user-level `~/.vibe/AGENTS.md`)
+   - `.context/system-prompt.txt` — Open WebUI, Mods, raw API calls; not read by
+     any harness, it is for pasting
+
+   Vibe tree-walks for `AGENTS.md`, so "tree-walkers use CLAUDE.md" is false.
+   Each repo's `AGENTS.md` embeds the canonical and is the first one found from
+   inside that repo, so this works — but by construction, not by luck.
 3. `task check` runs `context:sync` then asserts `git status --porcelain`
    is empty over the derived files (catches both modified-tracked drift
    and missing-untracked adapters). A drift fails the check with a
@@ -268,7 +324,20 @@ unconditionally on every host, every harness.
 
 ## Engineering Skills
 
-Shared engineering skills live in the **`mathias/skills`** repo (`git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills`). Clone it to `~/dev/skills/` and run `SKILLS_CHECKOUT_DIR="$PWD" bash install.sh` there to wire every skill into your harnesses (Claude Code, Crush, Antigravity, Mistral Vibe) as native, on-demand skills. (Use `install.sh`, not `task install` — the latter is currently broken, skills#7.) Load at task start — not "on demand" but on schedule, before writing code. Browse `~/dev/skills/SKILLS_INDEX.md` for the full list.
+Shared engineering skills live in the **`mathias/skills`** repo (`git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills`). Load at task start — not "on demand" but on schedule, before writing code. Browse `SKILLS_INDEX.md` for the full list.
+
+**Claude Code** installs the repo as a plugin from the marketplace the same repo hosts. That path also carries the `secret-guard` and `pre-task-ritual` hooks and the brain/gitea/infra MCP servers, which symlinks cannot:
+
+```
+/plugin marketplace add https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills.git
+/plugin install skills@mathias
+```
+
+Skills are **namespaced** under Claude Code: load `tdd` as `skills:tdd`. The trigger table below uses bare names — prefix them.
+
+**Crush, Pi and OpenCode** have no plugin system and are wired by `install.sh` as one directory symlink per harness via `~/.agents/skills`. Do not clone the checkout into `~/dev`: that folder is iCloud-shared between the Macs and spans two path roots (`/Users/mathias` vs `/home/mathias` on koala), so a checkout there is a git working tree with two concurrent writers, and any absolute symlink stored in it is broken on one side by construction (skills#23). Leave `SKILLS_CHECKOUT_DIR` at its host-local default.
+
+Check a host with `task doctor` in the skills repo; it also runs automatically at session start via the plugin.
 
 **Skill trigger table — load before starting, not after getting stuck:**
 

.dispatch-allow

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

.env.example

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # Supervisor MCP server
 SUPERVISOR_PORT=3200
 SUPERVISOR_CONFIG_DIR=./config/supervisor
-SUPERVISOR_MODELS_FILE=./config/models.yaml
 
 # LiteLLM gateway (iguana)
 LITELLM_BASE_URL=http://iguana:4000

.gitea/workflows/cd.yml

@@ -45,12 +45,32 @@ jobs:
           set -e
           trap 'rm -rf /tmp/infra-update; rm -f ~/.ssh/infra_deploy_key' EXIT
           IMAGE_TAG="${{ github.sha }}"
+          # infra#311: github.sha is never empty in practice, but the manifest
+          # patch below is the same shape that took Flux down estate-wide on
+          # 2026-08-25 -- an empty tag yields `image: <repo>:`, which is invalid
+          # YAML and fails the ENTIRE Kustomization, not just this app. The
+          # assert costs nothing and removes the class.
+          [ -n "${IMAGE_TAG:-}" ] || { echo "IMAGE_TAG is empty - refusing to patch"; exit 1; }
           mkdir -p ~/.ssh
           echo "${{ secrets.INFRA_DEPLOY_KEY }}" > ~/.ssh/infra_deploy_key
           chmod 600 ~/.ssh/infra_deploy_key
-          printf 'Host git.d-ma.be\n  HostName 127.0.0.1\n  Port 30022\n  StrictHostKeyChecking no\n' >> ~/.ssh/config
+          # In-cluster DNS to gitea's SSH NodePort service, not 127.0.0.1:30022
-
+          # (that only worked when act_runner ran on koala's bare host network;
-          GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i ~/.ssh/infra_deploy_key -o IdentitiesOnly=yes" \
+          # from inside the containerized runner's own pod netns, loopback
+          # never reaches the host — "Connection refused", found 2026-07-27).
+          #
+          # Pass as -o overrides on the ssh invocation itself, NOT appended to
+          # ~/.ssh/config: $HOME (/data) is a PVC that persists across job
+          # runs on this runner (same "workspace not ephemeral" class as
+          # brain: act-runner-host-executor-tmp-persists), so an appended
+          # line here would pile up duplicate `Host git.d-ma.be` blocks
+          # across every run — ssh_config is first-match-wins, so a stale
+          # entry from an earlier failed run would silently shadow this
+          # fix forever (exactly what happened once already: this fix's
+          # own first attempt got appended AFTER an already-stale entry
+          # and lost). CLI -o options always win regardless of file state,
+          # so this step is safe to re-run any number of times.
+          GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i ~/.ssh/infra_deploy_key -o IdentitiesOnly=yes -o HostName=gitea-ssh-nodeport.gitea.svc.cluster.local -o Port=22 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no" \
             git clone "${INFRA_REPO}" /tmp/infra-update
 
           cd /tmp/infra-update
@@ -61,11 +81,19 @@ jobs:
           git config user.email "cd-bot@d-ma.be"
           git config user.name "CD Bot"
           git add "k3s/apps/supervisor/ingestion-deployment.yaml"
+          # Idempotent: `git commit` exits 1 on an empty index, so a run that
+          # finds the bump already applied failed the whole job and rang the
+          # CI-red alarm for a deploy that was fine (hyperguild#118). Two
+          # sources of a no-op run: a manual re-run, and the tag-push CI run
+          # that used to shadow the branch-push one for the same sha.
+          if git diff --cached --quiet; then
+            echo "Infra already at ${IMAGE_TAG} — nothing to commit"
+          else
             git commit -m "chore(deploy): ingestion → ${IMAGE_TAG}"
             GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i ~/.ssh/infra_deploy_key -o IdentitiesOnly=yes" \
               git push
-
             echo "Infra repo updated: ingestion → ${IMAGE_TAG}"
+          fi
 
       - name: Trigger Flux reconcile (immediate)
         run: |

.gitea/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@ name: CI
 
 "on":
   push:
+    # Branch only. A `v*` tag here points at a commit main already tested, so
+    # the tag push re-ran the whole gate and — because cd.yml keys off "CI
+    # succeeded" — triggered a SECOND full image build and deploy for the same
+    # sha. That second deploy then died on "nothing to commit" (hyperguild#118).
+    # Nothing consumes a tag-triggered run: there is no release workflow, and
+    # cd.yml reads github.sha, not the tag.
     branches: [main]
-    tags: ["v*"]
   pull_request:
     branches: [main]
 

.githooks/pre-commit

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Pre-commit secret scan for the hyperguild repo.
+#
+# task check -> security:gitleaks enforces this in CI, but CI is after the
+# push. This catches a staged secret before it ever leaves the machine --
+# the infra#39 rotation pass found exactly this class of leak (a printed
+# credential, committed, archived into git) and there was no local gate to
+# have caught it. Mirrors infra's own .githooks/pre-commit (infra#326).
+#
+# Enable once per clone:   git config core.hooksPath .githooks
+# Bypass if absolutely needed: git commit --no-verify
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+GITLEAKS="$(command -v gitleaks || true)"
+if [[ -z "$GITLEAKS" && -x "$(go env GOPATH 2>/dev/null)/bin/gitleaks" ]]; then
+  GITLEAKS="$(go env GOPATH)/bin/gitleaks"
+fi
+
+if [[ -z "$GITLEAKS" ]]; then
+  echo "⚠ gitleaks not installed — skipping local secret scan (CI still enforces it)."
+  echo "  Install: go install github.com/zricethezav/gitleaks/v8@latest"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "→ Scanning staged changes for secrets..."
+if ! "$GITLEAKS" protect --staged --redact --config .gitleaks.toml >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "  ✗ gitleaks found a secret in the staged changes."
+  echo "    Review with: gitleaks protect --staged --redact --config .gitleaks.toml -v"
+  echo "    If it is a false positive, allowlist it in .gitleaks.toml or add a"
+  echo "    '# gitleaks:allow' comment. Do NOT --no-verify a real secret."
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "  ✓ no staged secrets"

.gitleaks.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+# gitleaks config for the hyperguild repo (infra#39 — leak prevention pass,
+# Phase 3 checklist item: "gitleaks pre-commit hook in infra AND hyperguild").
+#
+# Ported from mathias/infra's .gitleaks.toml (2026-08-04) — same homelab
+# token-shape rules, minus the SOPS/searxng allowlists infra needed (this
+# repo doesn't use SOPS).
+
+title = "hyperguild gitleaks config"
+
+[extend]
+useDefault = true
+
+# --- Homelab-specific rules -------------------------------------------------
+
+[[rules]]
+id = "homelab-static-bearer"
+description = "Homelab MCP/LLM static bearer or API key assigned a long literal value"
+regex = '''(?i)\b(DMABE_[A-Z0-9_]+|[A-Z0-9_]*MCP_TOKEN|ROUTING_MCP_TOKEN|INFRA_MCP_TOKEN|BRAIN_MCP_TOKEN|GITEA_MCP_TOKEN|LITELLM_MASTER_KEY|LITELLM_SALT_KEY|DMABE_LLMAPI_KEY|BRAIN_PG_DSN)\s*[:=]\s*['"]?([A-Za-z0-9/_+.\-]{16,})['"]?'''
+keywords = ["dmabe_", "mcp_token", "litellm_master_key", "litellm_salt_key", "llmapi_key", "brain_pg_dsn"]
+[[rules.allowlists]]
+description = "Env indirection is not a literal secret"
+regexes = [
+  '''os\.environ''',
+  '''valueFrom''',
+  '''secretKeyRef''',
+  '''\$\{?[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*\}?''',
+  '''REDACTED''',
+  '''<[A-Z_]+>''',
+]
+
+[[rules]]
+id = "homelab-authorization-bearer"
+description = "Hardcoded Authorization: Bearer header"
+regex = '''(?i)authorization['"]?\s*[:=]\s*['"]?bearer\s+([A-Za-z0-9/_+.\-=]{16,})'''
+keywords = ["authorization", "bearer"]
+[[rules.allowlists]]
+description = "Env indirection is not a literal secret"
+regexes = [
+  '''\$\{?[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*\}?''',
+  '''os\.environ''',
+  '''REDACTED''',
+  '''<[A-Z_]+>''',
+]
+
+# --- Global allowlist: claudewatcher's own scrubber test fixtures ------------
+# ingestion/internal/claudewatcher/{scrubber,watcher}_test.go deliberately
+# contain fake secret-shaped literals to test that the scrubber detects and
+# redacts them. Verified 2026-08-04: all 9 findings here are test fixtures
+# (github-pat, jwt, generic-api-key, homelab-authorization-bearer rules) plus
+# 1 doc finding that was gitleaks matching the literal placeholder word
+# "REDACTED" in a plan doc — not a real secret in either case.
+[[allowlists]]
+description = "claudewatcher scrubber test fixtures — deliberately fake secrets"
+paths = [
+  '''ingestion/internal/claudewatcher/scrubber_test\.go$''',
+  '''ingestion/internal/claudewatcher/watcher_test\.go$''',
+]
+
+# infra#344: the allowlist that used to sit here is gone, and so is the reason
+# for it. It suppressed docs/superpowers/plans/2026-04-22-phase4-attempt-wiring.md
+# on the stated grounds that "extracted Secret == 'REDACTED' exactly ... the
+# placeholder text itself, not a real credential" (verified 2026-08-04). That was
+# not what the file contained: line 1054 carried a real 40-char hex Gitea PAT in
+# an `Authorization: token ...` header. Confirmed dead by side-effect — GET
+# /api/v1/user with it returns 401 — and redacted in that file, so there is now
+# nothing to allowlist.
+#
+# The `paths` entry also made the block far broader than its description: gitleaks
+# ORs global allowlist clauses and ignores `condition = "AND"`, so the whole file
+# was immune, not just lines matching /REDACTED/. A live token added to that doc
+# would have been suppressed on the strength of a note about a different value.

.gitleaksignore

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Historical gitleaks findings, dispositioned (infra#326 / infra#317).
+#
+# WHY THIS FILE AND NOT .gitleaks.toml:
+# This is a finding in git HISTORY, surfaced by the full-history audit
+# (`task security:gitleaks:history`). The working-tree scan that gates commits
+# (`task security:gitleaks`, the pre-commit hook, CI) is clean. Suppressing by
+# PATH in .gitleaks.toml would also blind the working-tree scan for that file
+# forever; a fingerprint pins one finding in one commit, so a NEW secret in the
+# same file still fires.
+#
+# History is not rewritten here, so the remediation for a real leak is
+# ROTATION -- making the committed value worthless -- never scrubbing.
+#
+# Dispositioned 2026-08-29. Re-check with: task security:gitleaks:history
+
+# --- Real credential, ALREADY DEAD -------------------------------------------
+# A Gitea PAT pasted into a CD-watching command in a planning doc
+# (`Authorization: token <40-hex>`, last_eight 3105a670).
+#
+# Verified dead 2026-08-29: authenticating against
+# GET https://git.d-ma.be/api/v1/user with this exact value returns 401, so the
+# committed token no longer grants anything. It was almost certainly invalidated
+# by the early-August rotation of the `mathias` PATs (the same rotation whose
+# fan-out caused infra#260, where CI copies of the old value kept failing).
+#
+# No rotation action outstanding. Kept as a fingerprint rather than removed from
+# history because history cannot be rewritten here.
+#
+# The generalisable lesson is recorded separately: a credential printed into a
+# doc/transcript is permanent, so the only remedy is rotating it -- which in
+# this case had already happened for unrelated reasons, by luck rather than by
+# the leak being noticed.
+c9310b1079478bf4430b0a2dfb25445d7ccc9b59:docs/superpowers/plans/2026-04-22-phase4-attempt-wiring.md:curl-auth-header:1053

AGENTS.md

@@ -48,14 +48,30 @@ These rules apply to every task across every project, regardless of harness.
    logical change (one tool, one fix, one test) with passing tests. Main is always
    deployable. Never create long-lived feature branches.
 
-   **Exception — parallel agents on same repo:** If another agent is known to be
+   **The PR trigger is RISK, not concurrency.** `risk/low` work commits straight to
-   actively working on the same repo simultaneously, create a short-lived branch
+   main with CI as the gate — that is most work and is unchanged. `risk/medium` and
-   (`agent/<description>`), finish the task, and merge to main within the same
+   above opens a PR, even solo, even with nobody waiting to review it. This mirrors
-   session. Do not leave agent branches open between sessions.
+   the tiered merge model in `assessor-loop`
+   `method/transfer-to-a-regulated-organisation.md` §4.1, so the estate practises
+   what it sells instead of merging everything on green and claiming otherwise.
 
-   **Exception — external contributor or client four-eyes requirement:** Use
+   **Concurrency is NOT a reason to branch.** Measured 2026-08-29 across three real
-   PR flow only when a human reviewer outside the project is required. Document
+   collisions between parallel sessions: two were not branching problems at all — a
-   the reason in PROJECT.md.
+   generated artifact written to the same path by both (branching turns that into a
+   merge conflict on a 33k-line JSON), and uncommitted work in a shared checkout
+   (a per-session worktree fixes it) — and the third was an ordinary non-fast-forward
+   push resolved by rebase in seconds. Use a worktree per session on shared repos and
+   timestamp generated artifacts. Do not reach for a branch.
+
+   Branch+PR flow carries documented costs on solo repos: merging auto-closes gated
+   issues, review comments live on a thread separate from the issue's, and a
+   merged-and-deleted branch cannot be amended (brain:
+   `gitea-pr-merge-autoclose-and-review-comment-footguns`). Those are the price of
+   the `risk/medium`+ lane — paid deliberately, not incurred by accident.
+
+   **Exception — external contributor or client four-eyes requirement:** Use PR flow
+   when a human reviewer outside the project is required. Document the reason in
+   PROJECT.md.
 
 6. **Close the loop — every substantive task ends with the same ritual.** Shipping
    the code is not the end of the task; capturing it is. Run this unprompted:
@@ -73,6 +89,26 @@ These rules apply to every task across every project, regardless of harness.
    - Surface the brain entries and issue numbers in the closing summary so the
      trail is auditable.
 
+   **Chat is not a durable store. Never rely on Mathias remembering anything.**
+   Every gap, caveat, risk, open question and next step must land in one of four
+   places before the turn ends: **the brain**, **a repo** (code, docs, ADR),
+   **a tracker issue**, or **a plan file**. A finding stated only in conversation is
+   lost the moment the session closes — and this estate has repeatedly proved that a
+   remembered convention is an unreliable control.
+
+   This applies hardest to what is tempting to leave as a closing remark: "worth
+   knowing X isn't enforced yet", "this is a convention, not a gate", "we should
+   revisit Y". Those are exactly the items that need a locator. If it is worth
+   saying in a summary, it is worth writing where it can be found again without you.
+
+## CAD sprint patterns
+
+Two CAD sprint archetypes (defs: brain `wiki/homelab/decisions/continuous-agentic-development-cad-concept-2026-06-16`):
+- **Inception Sprint** — birth a new repo. Oath-gated close; tag only once every clause holds. Brain: `.../inception-sprint-and-oath`.
+- **Sweep Sprint** — clear an existing backlog. Parallel read-only research per issue → sequential one-issue-per-commit execution. Brain: `.../sweep-sprint-and-oath`.
+
+Shared: decisions that are yours, not the agent's, surface as `DECISION NEEDED` (question/options/recommendation/blocks) — ask live if you're present, else comment and wait, never act past it. Live-breaking regressions get `git revert`, never forward-fixed; host-network work skips even read-only research (solo, synchronous, you present). Rule 6's closing ritual only fires once every Oath clause genuinely holds — blocked = descoped-and-tracked, never marked done.
+
 ## Default stack
 
 | Layer | Default | Fallback | Last resort |
@@ -83,7 +119,7 @@ These rules apply to every task across every project, regardless of harness.
 | Containers | Docker Compose (dev), k3s (prod) | — | — |
 | DB | PostgreSQL + sqlc | SQLite | — |
 | Search | pgvector (vector), BM25 | Qdrant (when >1M vectors or hybrid retrieval) | — |
-| Logging | slog (structured) | — | — |
+| Logging | slog (structured) | stdlib `logging` w/ structured `extra=` (or structlog) | — |
 | Testing | Table-driven, testify | — | — |
 | Agents (Go) | google.golang.org/adk + pkg/litellm adapter | — | — |
 
@@ -92,7 +128,12 @@ Exploratory: Rust, Zig — I'll tell you when I want these.
 ## Code conventions
 
 - **Go style**: golines, gofumpt, golangci-lint
-- **Errors**: `fmt.Errorf("operation: %w", err)` — never naked, never log-and-return
+- **Python style** (fallback language): ruff (format+lint, one tool), mypy --strict (non-negotiable,
+  matches Go's static typing discipline), pytest + pytest-cov (table-driven via
+  `@pytest.mark.parametrize`), uv (venv+deps+lock, one tool), pydantic-settings (typed env-var config
+  — same principle as Go's typed structs), src-layout + `pyproject.toml` only (no `setup.py`)
+- **Errors**: `fmt.Errorf("operation: %w", err)` — never naked, never log-and-return.
+  Python: `raise X from e` (exception chaining, same principle) — never bare `except`, never silent `pass`
 - **Naming**: stdlib conventions, no stuttering
 - **Architecture**: prefer stdlib over frameworks, constructor injection, env-var config parsed into typed structs
 - **Git**: conventional commits (`feat:`, `fix:`, `chore:`), commit directly to main,
@@ -130,10 +171,10 @@ Three machines on Tailscale:
 |---------|------|-----------|
 | koala | GPU inference, heavy compute | RTX 5070, runs k3s + llama-swap + shared postgres18/pgvector |
 | iguana | Services, builds | M2 Ultra Mac |
-| flamingo | Daily driver, edge | Mac mini, ~/dev is here |
+| flamingo | Daily driver, edge | Apple Silicon Mac, ~/dev is here |
 
 - **Model routing**: LiteLLM in front of llama-swap (local) + cloud APIs (when permitted)
-- **Orchestration**: k3s cluster across all three machines
+- **Orchestration**: k3s on koala only — single control-plane node, no workers (verified 2026-08-30). iguana and flamingo are on the tailnet but are not cluster members
 - **Networking**: Tailscale mesh
 
 ## Project landscape
@@ -229,10 +270,11 @@ When working on a project tagged with a client name:
 
 ## Harness-agnostic principles
 
-This context is designed to work with any AI coding tool:
+Supported harnesses (2026-09-01) — Cursor and Aider were dropped; do not
-- Claude Code, Cursor, Aider, Open WebUI, Charmbracelet Mods/Crush
+re-add adapters for them:
-- Pi Coding Agent, Mistral Vibe, Antigravity
+- Claude Code, Antigravity, OpenCode, Mistral Vibe, Crush, Pi Coding Agent
-- Any tool that accepts a system prompt or reads a markdown context file
+- Open WebUI, Charmbracelet Mods, or any tool that takes a system prompt string
+- Any other tool that reads `AGENTS.md`, which is the de facto convention
 
 The canonical source is always `.context/AGENT.md` (root) and `.context/PROJECT.md` (per-project).
 Derived files are committed (see *How context propagates* below) so a `git pull` on any host yields full agent context with no setup.
@@ -244,15 +286,29 @@ Canonical sources of truth:
 - Project: `<repo>/.context/PROJECT.md` (per-repo)
 
 Derived files (committed, regenerated by `task context:sync`):
-- `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `.cursorrules`, `.aider.conventions.md`,
+- `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `.context/system-prompt.txt`
-  `.context/system-prompt.txt`
+
+Repos still carrying `.cursorrules`, `.aider.conventions.md` or
+`.aider.conf.yml` are stale: nothing regenerates them. Delete them the next time
+you touch the repo, along with their entries in that repo's `task check`
+assertion.
 
 Workflow:
 1. Edit a canonical file. Run `task context:sync`. Commit canonical and
    derived together. Push.
-2. On any other host, `git pull` brings both. Claude Code (tree-walking)
+2. On any other host, `git pull` brings both. Which file a harness reads does
-   uses `CLAUDE.md`; Crush / Pi / Antigravity (cwd-only) use `AGENTS.md`;
+   NOT split cleanly by lookup strategy, so do not reason from the strategy:
-   Cursor uses `.cursorrules`; Aider uses `.aider.conventions.md`.
+   - `CLAUDE.md` — Claude Code (walks up the tree)
+   - `AGENTS.md` — Crush, Pi, Antigravity (cwd-only), OpenCode (project root,
+     global at `~/.config/opencode/AGENTS.md`), and Mistral Vibe, which **walks
+     up** from cwd and takes the first `AGENTS.md` it finds
+     (user-level `~/.vibe/AGENTS.md`)
+   - `.context/system-prompt.txt` — Open WebUI, Mods, raw API calls; not read by
+     any harness, it is for pasting
+
+   Vibe tree-walks for `AGENTS.md`, so "tree-walkers use CLAUDE.md" is false.
+   Each repo's `AGENTS.md` embeds the canonical and is the first one found from
+   inside that repo, so this works — but by construction, not by luck.
 3. `task check` runs `context:sync` then asserts `git status --porcelain`
    is empty over the derived files (catches both modified-tracked drift
    and missing-untracked adapters). A drift fails the check with a
@@ -263,7 +319,20 @@ unconditionally on every host, every harness.
 
 ## Engineering Skills
 
-Shared engineering skills live in the **`mathias/skills`** repo (`git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills`). Clone it to `~/dev/skills/` and run `SKILLS_CHECKOUT_DIR="$PWD" bash install.sh` there to wire every skill into your harnesses (Claude Code, Crush, Antigravity, Mistral Vibe) as native, on-demand skills. (Use `install.sh`, not `task install` — the latter is currently broken, skills#7.) Load at task start — not "on demand" but on schedule, before writing code. Browse `~/dev/skills/SKILLS_INDEX.md` for the full list.
+Shared engineering skills live in the **`mathias/skills`** repo (`git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills`). Load at task start — not "on demand" but on schedule, before writing code. Browse `SKILLS_INDEX.md` for the full list.
+
+**Claude Code** installs the repo as a plugin from the marketplace the same repo hosts. That path also carries the `secret-guard` and `pre-task-ritual` hooks and the brain/gitea/infra MCP servers, which symlinks cannot:
+
+```
+/plugin marketplace add https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills.git
+/plugin install skills@mathias
+```
+
+Skills are **namespaced** under Claude Code: load `tdd` as `skills:tdd`. The trigger table below uses bare names — prefix them.
+
+**Crush, Pi and OpenCode** have no plugin system and are wired by `install.sh` as one directory symlink per harness via `~/.agents/skills`. Do not clone the checkout into `~/dev`: that folder is iCloud-shared between the Macs and spans two path roots (`/Users/mathias` vs `/home/mathias` on koala), so a checkout there is a git working tree with two concurrent writers, and any absolute symlink stored in it is broken on one side by construction (skills#23). Leave `SKILLS_CHECKOUT_DIR` at its host-local default.
+
+Check a host with `task doctor` in the skills repo; it also runs automatically at session start via the plugin.
 
 **Skill trigger table — load before starting, not after getting stuck:**
 

Procfile

@@ -1,2 +1 @@
 ingestion: cd ingestion && INGEST_BRAIN_DIR=../brain INGEST_PORT=3300 INGEST_WATCH_INTERVAL=30 go run ./cmd/server/
-supervisor: SUPERVISOR_CONFIG_DIR=./config/supervisor SUPERVISOR_MODELS_FILE=./config/models.yaml SUPERVISOR_SESSIONS_DIR=./brain/sessions INGEST_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3300 INGEST_SVC_URL=http://localhost:3300 go run ./cmd/supervisor/

README.md

@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ Instead of letting Claude Code do whatever it wants, hyperguild enforces structu
 workflows (TDD red/green/refactor), logs every session, and accumulates learnings
 into a searchable brain.
 
+**This repo is also where `brain-mcp` lives** — the MCP server at
+`brain-mcp.d-ma.be` that `brain_query`, `brain_write`, `brain_read`, `brain_edit`
+and `capture` are served from. It is not a separate deployable; see
+[Where brain-mcp lives](#where-brain-mcp-lives).
+
 ## Hypothesis
 
 > We believe routing skill tasks through local models, backed by brain context,
@@ -20,7 +25,7 @@ usage, the fast-model routing path should be reconsidered.
 
 **hyperguild = Claude Code + MCP.** This is a supervisor for Claude Code sessions specifically.
 For multi-agent orchestration (OpenCode + LiteLLM, executor/reviewer pipelines), see
-[agentsquad](http://gitea.d-ma.be/mathias/agentsquad) — a separate harness for a different
+[agentsquad](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/agentsquad) — a separate harness for a different
 orchestration model. Skills (mathias/skills) are shared between both.
 
 ## How it works
@@ -44,6 +49,73 @@ brain/
 └── knowledge/      — legacy flat notes (migration pending: hyperguild#22)
 ```
 
+## Where brain-mcp lives
+
+`brain-mcp` is served from **`ingestion/internal/mcp`** in this repo, at
+**`brain-mcp.d-ma.be`**. It is a component *inside* the `ingestion` service, not
+a standalone deployable — one pod in the `supervisor` namespace serves the MCP
+endpoint, the REST API, and the claudewatcher together.
+
+| You are looking for | It is here |
+|---|---|
+| The MCP tool surface (`brain_query`, `brain_write`, `brain_read`, `brain_edit`, `capture`, …) | `ingestion/internal/mcp` |
+| The HTTP/REST API (`/query`, `/write`, `/ingest`) | `ingestion/internal/api` |
+| Session ingestion from Claude Code transcripts | `ingestion/internal/claudewatcher` |
+| The brain *content* (notes, wings, halls) | [`mathias/brain`](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/brain) — a separate repo |
+| Deployment manifests | `config/supervisor` |
+
+### Why it is not its own repo
+
+Asked and decided in [#91](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/issues/91)
+(part 2). `internal/mcp` imports 17 of ingestion's other internal packages and
+has exactly one importer — it is the MCP facade over the service's own
+internals, so "move it out" resolves to renaming `ingestion`, publishing 17
+packages as a shared library, or maintaining a shim. The discoverability problem
+that prompted the question is answered by naming it here instead.
+
+Full reasoning, including the reversal trigger: brain
+`wiki/hyperguild/decisions/brain-mcp-stays-in-ingestion-fix-discoverability-by-name`.
+
+## Ingest revises, it does not overwrite
+
+Re-ingesting a source **merges into the page already on disk** rather than
+replacing it. Previously the write was unconditional, so a second ingest of the
+same source discarded everything accumulated since — including hand-written
+sections.
+
+The merge is deliberately asymmetric in the existing page's favour:
+
+| On the page | In the fresh extraction | Result |
+|---|---|---|
+| a section | the same section | **the on-disk version wins** |
+| — | a new section | added |
+| a bullet list (`Sources`, `Key Claims`, …) | more bullets | unioned, no duplicates |
+| an append section (`Open Questions`, `Updates`, …) | more lines | only genuinely new lines appended |
+| frontmatter | frontmatter | **the on-disk frontmatter wins** |
+
+So an extraction can add to a note but never silently rewrite what a human put
+there, which is what makes it safe to run on every ingest rather than behind a
+review gate.
+
+Re-ingesting unchanged content is **byte-identical** — no diff, so brain-sync
+does not commit noise that hides real edits.
+
+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.
+
+## 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)
 
 | Tool | What it does |
@@ -58,7 +130,7 @@ brain/
 | `tier` | Returns the current connectivity tier (1=cloud, 2=LAN, 3=offline) |
 
 > **Note:** `tdd_red/green/refactor` and `spec` were retired in Plan 7 (2026-05-12).
-> They are now SKILL.md files in [mathias/skills](http://gitea.d-ma.be/mathias/skills).
+> They are now SKILL.md files in [mathias/skills](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/skills).
 
 ## Connect a project
 
@@ -147,7 +219,7 @@ The routing pod selects models per skill call based on historical pass rate:
 
 ## Open issues
 
-See [issues](http://gitea.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/issues) — key open items:
+See [issues](https://git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/issues) — key open items:
 
 - **#25** — skills platform overhaul (audit first, then lazy loading + brain feedback loop)
 - **#24** — reduce context burn from skill listing

Taskfile.yml

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ tasks:
   # ── Development ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
   start:
-    desc: Start ingestion + supervisor (requires goreman — go install github.com/mattn/goreman@latest)
+    desc: Start ingestion (requires goreman — go install github.com/mattn/goreman@latest)
     cmds:
       - goreman start
 
@@ -32,11 +32,6 @@ tasks:
       - lsof -ti:3200 | xargs kill -9 2>/dev/null || true
       - echo "hyperguild stopped"
 
-  supervisor:dev:
-    desc: Run supervisor MCP server (development)
-    cmds:
-      - go run ./cmd/supervisor
-
   hyperguild:dev:
     desc: Run hyperguild CLI from source (e.g. task hyperguild:dev -- tier)
     cmds:
@@ -67,14 +62,9 @@ tasks:
   build:
     desc: Build all binaries
     cmds:
-      - task: supervisor:build
+      - task: hyperguild:build
       - task: ingestion:build
 
-  supervisor:build:
-    desc: Build supervisor binary
-    cmds:
-      - go build -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w -X main.version={{.VERSION}}" -o bin/supervisor ./cmd/supervisor
-
   ingestion:build:
     desc: Build ingestion server binary
     dir: ingestion
@@ -84,10 +74,28 @@ tasks:
   # ── Quality ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
   check:
-    desc: Run all checks (context freshness + lint + test + vet) across all modules
+    desc: Run all checks (context freshness + lint + test + vet + build) across all modules
     cmds:
-      - task: context:sync
+      # Context sync is skipped under CI, matching dma-cli, gitea-mcp, and the
+      # rest of the estate. It is not a preference: context-sync.sh walks UP
+      # the tree for the canonical .context/AGENT.md, which lives in local-dev
+      # and does not exist on a CI runner. Without this guard, the script
+      # silently falls back to "project context only" and regenerates AGENTS.md
+      # and .context/system-prompt.txt shorter than their committed, correct
+      # versions -- so the drift assertion fails every CI run for a purely
+      # environmental reason, not real drift. Verified, not assumed: this is
+      # exactly what was happening here (AGENTS.md 430 lines committed vs. an
+      # 82-line regeneration on the runner).
+      #
+      # The cost is real and worth stating: drift is therefore only ever caught
+      # on a developer machine, or by infra's estate-wide context-sync-drift
+      # CronJob (ADR-0019), which does have canonical access and is the actual
+      # enforcement mechanism now.
       - cmd: |
+          if [ -n "${CI:-}" ]; then
+            echo "✓ context sync: skipped in CI (no canonical AGENT.md on the runner)"
+          else
+            bash scripts/context-sync.sh
             drift=$(git status --porcelain -- AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md .context/system-prompt.txt 2>/dev/null)
             if [ -n "$drift" ]; then
               echo "ERROR: derived adapters drifted from canonical context." >&2
@@ -98,15 +106,58 @@ tasks:
               exit 1
             fi
             echo "✓ context: canonical and adapters are in sync"
+          fi
       - task: lint
       - task: test
       - task: vet
+      # `build` is in the gate deliberately (hyperguild#120). vet and test walk
+      # ./... , which enumerates the packages that EXIST — so a build target
+      # naming a DELETED package is invisible to both. `task build` pointed at
+      # ./cmd/supervisor for months after that directory was removed, and CI
+      # stayed green the whole time because nothing in check ever built.
+      - task: build
+      - task: security:gitleaks
+
+  # ── Security ─────────────────────────────────────────────
+  security:gitleaks:
+    desc: Scan the working tree for secrets (gitleaks, fail-closed; skipped if gitleaks absent)
+    dir: '{{.ROOT_DIR}}'
+    cmds:
+      - |
+        GL="$(command -v gitleaks || true)"
+        [ -z "$GL" ] && [ -x "$(go env GOPATH 2>/dev/null)/bin/gitleaks" ] && GL="$(go env GOPATH)/bin/gitleaks"
+        if [ -z "$GL" ]; then
+          echo "⚠ gitleaks not installed — skipping secret scan (CI enforces it)."
+          echo "  Install: go install github.com/zricethezav/gitleaks/v8@latest"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+        "$GL" detect --no-git --redact --config .gitleaks.toml --source .
+
+  security:gitleaks:history:
+    desc: "One-time FULL-HISTORY secret audit (infra#39 rotation pass; not a per-push gate)"
+    dir: '{{.ROOT_DIR}}'
+    cmds:
+      - |
+        GL="$(command -v gitleaks || true)"
+        [ -z "$GL" ] && [ -x "$(go env GOPATH 2>/dev/null)/bin/gitleaks" ] && GL="$(go env GOPATH)/bin/gitleaks"
+        if [ -z "$GL" ]; then
+          echo "gitleaks not installed: go install github.com/zricethezav/gitleaks/v8@latest" >&2
+          exit 2
+        fi
+        echo "Scanning FULL git history (redacted). Known historical leaks are expected"
+        echo "until the infra#39 rotation pass completes — triage against the rotation list."
+        "$GL" detect --redact --config .gitleaks.toml
 
   lint:
     cmds:
       - golangci-lint run ./...
       - cd ingestion && golangci-lint run ./...
 
+  lint:frontmatter:
+    desc: Report brain notes whose YAML frontmatter does not parse (BRAIN=path, FIX=1 repairs in place)
+    cmds:
+      - cd ingestion && go run ./cmd/frontmatterlint {{if .FIX}}-fix{{end}} {{.BRAIN | default "../../brain"}}
+
   test:
     cmds:
       - go test -race -count=1 ./...
@@ -118,19 +169,6 @@ tasks:
       - govulncheck ./... || true
       - cd ingestion && go vet ./...
 
-  supervisor:test:smoke:
-    desc: Smoke test supervisor via MCP (requires start running)
-    cmds:
-      - |
-        curl -s -X POST http://localhost:${SUPERVISOR_PORT:-3200}/mcp \
-          -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-          -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' | jq .
-
-  smoke:routing:
-    desc: Boot the routing pod against live LiteLLM + brain and verify _routing logs land
-    cmds:
-      - bash scripts/smoke-routing.sh
-
   # ── Git / Release ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
   tag:

cmd/hyperguild/tier.go

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"os"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/tier"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/tier"
 )
 
 const defaultAnthropicProbe = "https://api.anthropic.com"

config/models.yaml

@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-# Model selection — first entry per skill is used.
-# Override per-call by passing model in the MCP tool args.
-# Model names come from LiteLLM /v1/models (host/name format).
-
-default_chain:
-  - iguana/qwen3-coder-next
-
-skills:
-  tdd:
-    chain:
-      - koala/qwen3-coder-30b
-  review:
-    chain:
-      - iguana/devstral
-  debug:
-    chain:
-      - iguana/deepseek-r1-14b
-  spec:
-    chain:
-      - koala/phi4-14b
-  retrospective:
-    chain:
-      - iguana/qwen3-coder-next
-  trainer:
-    chain:
-      - iguana/qwen3-coder-next

docs/superpowers/plans/2026-04-22-phase4-attempt-wiring.md

@@ -1051,7 +1051,7 @@ git push
 ```bash
 # Poll until complete (replace RUN_ID with the new run):
 curl -s "https://gitea.d-ma.be/api/v1/repos/mathias/hyperguild/actions/runs?limit=2" \
-  -H "Authorization: token 736a8c36adcc6ecb41fff56e5ae4d0eb3105a670" \
+  -H "Authorization: token <REDACTED-dead-gitea-pat-infra#344>" \
   | python3 -c "import sys,json; [print(r['id'],r['status'],r.get('conclusion','—')) for r in json.load(sys.stdin)['workflow_runs']]"
 ```
 

go.mod

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-module github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor
+module git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild
 
 go 1.26.1
 

ingestion/cmd/frontmatterlint/main.go

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+// Command frontmatterlint reports markdown notes whose YAML frontmatter does
+// not parse, and optionally repairs the ones that only need quoting.
+//
+//	go run ./cmd/frontmatterlint ../../brain          # report
+//	go run ./cmd/frontmatterlint -fix ../../brain     # repair in place
+//
+// Exit codes: 0 clean (or everything repaired), 1 findings remain, 2 the scan
+// itself failed.
+package main
+
+import (
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/frontmatter"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	fix := flag.Bool("fix", false, "repair files that quoting can rescue, in place")
+	flag.Parse()
+
+	root := "."
+	if flag.NArg() > 0 {
+		root = flag.Arg(0)
+	}
+
+	findings, err := frontmatter.Scan(root, *fix)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "frontmatterlint:", err)
+		os.Exit(2)
+	}
+
+	var unresolved int
+	for _, f := range findings {
+		if f.Repaired {
+			fmt.Printf("repaired  %s\n", f.Path)
+			continue
+		}
+		unresolved++
+		fmt.Printf("BROKEN    %s: %v\n", f.Path, f.Err)
+	}
+
+	if unresolved > 0 {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "\n%d file(s) with unparseable frontmatter", unresolved)
+		if !*fix {
+			fmt.Fprint(os.Stderr, " — re-run with -fix")
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("✓ frontmatter: %d file(s) repaired, none broken\n", len(findings))
+}

ingestion/cmd/server/main.go

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/pipeline"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/reranker"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/search"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/startupretry"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/vectorstore"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/watcher"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/webhook"
@@ -143,6 +144,16 @@ func envInt(key string, fallback int) int {
 	return fallback
 }
 
+// buildNotifier returns the ntfy notifier, or a nil interface when
+// BRAIN_NTFY_URL is unset. A nil *interface* (not a typed-nil) is required so
+// DegradingSink/Reconcile and the governance observer skip it cleanly.
+func buildNotifier() audit.Notifier {
+	if n := audit.NewNtfyNotifier(os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_URL"), os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_TOKEN")); n != nil {
+		return n
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // buildAuditSink selects the capture audit sink. When BRAIN_LOKI_URL is
 // set it builds the classification-aware DegradingSink (loki central +
 // durable file buffer + optional ntfy) and starts the reconcile loop;
@@ -160,12 +171,7 @@ func buildAuditSink(ctx context.Context, brainDir string, logger *slog.Logger) c
 		logger.Error("capture audit buffer init", "err", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
-	// Keep notifier as a nil interface (not a typed-nil) when unconfigured
+	notifier := buildNotifier()
-	// so DegradingSink/Reconcile skip it cleanly.
-	var notifier audit.Notifier
-	if n := audit.NewNtfyNotifier(os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_URL"), os.Getenv("BRAIN_NTFY_TOKEN")); n != nil {
-		notifier = n
-	}
 	reconcileInterval := time.Duration(envInt("BRAIN_AUDIT_RECONCILE_INTERVAL", 60)) * time.Second
 	audit.StartReconcile(ctx, central, buffer, notifier, reconcileInterval)
 	logger.Info("capture audit: loki+buffer sink", "loki", lokiURL, "reconcile_s", int(reconcileInterval.Seconds()))
@@ -230,6 +236,11 @@ func main() {
 			fallbackModel := envOr("BRAIN_LLM_FALLBACK_MODEL", "gemma4:31b")
 			router.Fallback = llm.New(fallbackURL, "", fallbackModel, timeout)
 		}
+		if tertiaryURL := os.Getenv("BRAIN_LLM_TERTIARY_URL"); tertiaryURL != "" {
+			tertiaryModel := envOr("BRAIN_LLM_TERTIARY_MODEL", "gemini-2.5-flash")
+			tertiaryKey := os.Getenv("GEMINI_API_KEY")
+			router.Tertiary = llm.New(tertiaryURL, tertiaryKey, tertiaryModel, timeout)
+		}
 		answerComplete = router.Complete
 		logger.Info("brain answer LLM configured", "primary", primaryURL, "model", primaryModel)
 	}
@@ -314,6 +325,36 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	// Built before the watcher, the graph backfill and session ingestion, and
+	// retried rather than fatal (#83). Two separate reasons:
+	//
+	//   - On a cold cluster boot this pod can beat dex to serving and gets a
+	//     502 from ingress. Nothing is misconfigured; it simply started first.
+	//     Exiting there meant CrashLoopBackOff redoing the backfill on every
+	//     attempt, with exponential backoff stretching the brain outage.
+	//   - Constructing it first means a genuine config error (wrong issuer,
+	//     bad audience) fails in seconds instead of after all that work.
+	//
+	// The budget stays bounded: retrying forever would turn a misconfiguration
+	// into a process that looks alive and never serves.
+	jwtValidator, err := startupretry.Do(ctx,
+		startupretry.Policy{Attempts: 8, Base: time.Second, Max: 30 * time.Second},
+		func(ctx context.Context) (*chassisauth.JWTValidator, error) {
+			v, err := chassisauth.NewJWTValidator(ctx, os.Getenv("DEX_ISSUER_URL"), os.Getenv("MCP_AUDIENCE"))
+			if err != nil {
+				logger.Warn("oidc discovery not ready, retrying", "err", err)
+			}
+			return v, err
+		})
+	if err != nil {
+		logger.Error("build jwt validator", "err", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	if jwtValidator != nil {
+		logger.Info("jwt auth enabled", "issuer", os.Getenv("DEX_ISSUER_URL"))
+	}
+
 	if watchInterval > 0 {
 		watcher.Start(ctx, watcher.Config{
 			BrainDir: brainDir,
@@ -355,6 +396,29 @@ func main() {
 		}
 		host := envOr("CLAUDE_INGEST_HOST", systemHostname())
 		interval := time.Duration(envInt("CLAUDE_INGEST_INTERVAL", 60)) * time.Second
+
+		// Project directories excluded from ingestion entirely, as globs
+		// against the project directory name — e.g.
+		// "*cobalt-dingo*,*claude-worktrees-bridge-cse*".
+		//
+		// This is a veto list, deliberately named as one. It complements the
+		// client-name scrubber rather than replacing it: the scrubber drops
+		// individual TURNS whose content matches, while this never opens a
+		// project's files at all. Sessions working on live company financials
+		// are excluded here because their content is confidential in ways no
+		// pattern reliably recognises, and their learnings are captured
+		// deliberately through the session-close ritual instead.
+		//
+		// Caveat worth knowing: a project directory is derived from the
+		// session's WORKING DIRECTORY, not from the repositories it touches.
+		// A session run from ~/dev that happens to read a skipped repo will
+		// NOT be excluded by this. The scrubber remains the control for
+		// content; this is a control for whole workspaces.
+		skipProjects := splitList(os.Getenv("CLAUDE_INGEST_SKIP_PROJECTS"))
+		if len(skipProjects) > 0 {
+			logger.Info("claudewatcher: projects excluded from ingestion", "patterns", skipProjects)
+		}
+
 		sink := &claudeSink{brainDir: brainDir, logger: logger}
 		go func() {
 			if err := claudewatcher.Watch(ctx, claudewatcher.Config{
@@ -364,6 +428,7 @@ func main() {
 				Sink:         sink,
 				Cursors:      cursorStore,
 				Logger:       logger,
+				SkipProjects: skipProjects,
 			}); err != nil && err != context.Canceled {
 				logger.Error("claudewatcher exited", "err", err)
 			}
@@ -418,15 +483,6 @@ func main() {
 	if webhookHandler != nil {
 		mux.Handle("POST /webhooks/brain-sync", webhookHandler)
 	}
-	jwtValidator, err := chassisauth.NewJWTValidator(ctx, os.Getenv("DEX_ISSUER_URL"), os.Getenv("MCP_AUDIENCE"))
-	if err != nil {
-		logger.Error("build jwt validator", "err", err)
-		os.Exit(1)
-	}
-	if jwtValidator != nil {
-		logger.Info("jwt auth enabled", "issuer", os.Getenv("DEX_ISSUER_URL"))
-	}
-
 	// Resource-metadata URL is only emitted on 401 when Dex OAuth is
 	// configured. Static-Bearer-only deployments leave this empty so
 	// clients never see an OAuth challenge.
@@ -457,12 +513,8 @@ func main() {
 			os.Exit(1)
 		}
 		auditSink := buildAuditSink(ctx, brainDir, logger)
-		// The Gitea client also satisfies SummaryWriter (#66): session
-		// summaries are written to mathias/ai-sessions over the same API
-		// token. nil only if a future tracker impl lacks file writes.
-		summaryWriter, _ := tracker.(capture.SummaryWriter)
 		captureSvc := capture.NewService(
-			mcpSrv.BrainStore(), tracker, summaryWriter, classCfg, auditSink)
+			mcpSrv.BrainStore(), tracker, classCfg, auditSink)
 		sovereign := splitList(os.Getenv("BRAIN_CAPTURE_SOVEREIGN_PRINCIPALS"))
 		resolver := capturehttp.NewOriginResolver(sovereign)
 		captureH := capturehttp.New(captureSvc, jwtValidator, mcpToken, "local-cli", resolver)
@@ -472,7 +524,13 @@ func main() {
 		// the existing /mcp OAuth connector. mcpSrv is already wrapped above;
 		// WithCapture mutates the same instance, so the tool appears live.
 		mcpSrv.WithCapture(captureSvc, jwtValidator, mcpToken, "local-cli", resolver)
-		logger.Info("capture enabled (REST + MCP tool)", "sovereign_principals", len(sovereign))
+		// hyperguild#97: a governance-file rewrite gets the same trail a
+		// capture already gets, plus an out-of-band alert. Wired here because
+		// brain_edit_root needs the capture plumbing anyway — that is what
+		// re-derives the static principal its gate checks.
+		mcpSrv.WithGovernanceObserver(auditSink, buildNotifier())
+		logger.Info("capture enabled (REST + MCP tool)", "sovereign_principals", len(sovereign),
+			"governance_observer", true)
 	} else {
 		logger.Info("capture endpoint disabled (BRAIN_GITEA_TOKEN unset)")
 	}

ingestion/internal/api/handler.go

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/claim"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/extract"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/pipeline"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/search"
@@ -132,6 +133,16 @@ func WriteNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("content is 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.
+	// BrainStore still calls the strip itself to report Ref.Unlinked; the
+	// second pass is a no-op on already-clean content.
+	clean, _, err := brain.StripUnresolvedLinks(brainDir, opts.Content)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	opts.Content = clean
+
 	if opts.Wing != "" && opts.Hall != "" {
 		return writeHallNote(brainDir, opts)
 	}
@@ -152,21 +163,53 @@ func writeHallNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
+	existingFields, body := splitFrontmatter(opts.Content)
+	existingByKey := make(map[string]frontmatterField, len(existingFields))
+	for _, f := range existingFields {
+		existingByKey[f.key] = f
+	}
+
+	// Validate the claim-property envelope BEFORE creating the directory, so a
+	// rejected write leaves nothing behind — not even an empty hall dir
+	// (brain#21). Fail closed: a value outside the enum is worse than an absent
+	// one, because a lint skips what it cannot parse and the note then reads as
+	// classified while nothing acts on it.
+	if err := claim.ValidateEnvelope(scalarValues(existingFields)); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("claim envelope: %w", err)
+	}
+
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dest), 0o755); err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("create hall dir: %w", err)
 	}
+	emitted := make(map[string]bool, 6)
 
 	var fm strings.Builder
 	fm.WriteString("---\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "wing: %s\n", brain.Sanitise(opts.Wing))
 	fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "hall: %s\n", opts.Hall)
 	fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "created_at: %s\n", time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
-	if opts.Type != "" {
+	emitted["wing"], emitted["hall"], emitted["created_at"] = true, true, true
-		fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "type: %s\n", opts.Type)
+
+	// writeField merges one key: opts.Content's own value (if the note already
+	// carries this field in its own frontmatter) always wins over the fallback,
+	// so promotion/extraction-step metadata survives verbatim instead of being
+	// shadowed by a second, stacked frontmatter block (#86).
+	writeField := func(key, fallback string) {
+		emitted[key] = true
+		if f, ok := existingByKey[key]; ok {
+			for _, line := range f.lines {
+				fm.WriteString(line)
+				fm.WriteString("\n")
 			}
-	if opts.Domain != "" {
+			return
-		fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "domain: %s\n", opts.Domain)
 		}
+		if fallback != "" {
+			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
@@ -175,18 +218,88 @@ func writeHallNote(brainDir string, opts WriteNoteOptions) (string, error) {
 		// citation-needing entry (brain-gardener#7).
 		sourceType = "internal"
 	}
-	if sourceType != "" {
+	writeField("source_type", sourceType)
-		fmt.Fprintf(&fm, "source_type: %s\n", sourceType)
+
+	for _, f := range existingFields {
+		if emitted[f.key] {
+			continue
+		}
+		for _, line := range f.lines {
+			fm.WriteString(line)
+			fm.WriteString("\n")
+		}
 	}
 	fm.WriteString("---\n")
 
-	if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(fm.String()+opts.Content), 0o644); err != nil {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(fm.String()+body), 0o644); err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("write: %w", err)
 	}
 	rel, _ := filepath.Rel(brainDir, dest)
 	return filepath.ToSlash(rel), nil
 }
 
+// scalarValues flattens frontmatter fields to key -> scalar value for
+// validation. Multi-line values (lists, nested blocks) yield the text after
+// the colon on the first line, which is empty for a list — correct here,
+// since every claim-property field is a scalar enum.
+func scalarValues(fields []frontmatterField) map[string]string {
+	out := make(map[string]string, len(fields))
+	for _, f := range fields {
+		if len(f.lines) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		_, value, found := strings.Cut(f.lines[0], ":")
+		if !found {
+			continue
+		}
+		out[f.key] = strings.TrimSpace(value)
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// frontmatterField is one top-level YAML key from a frontmatter block,
+// along with its raw line and any indented continuation lines (e.g. a
+// bulleted list value spanning multiple lines).
+type frontmatterField struct {
+	key   string
+	lines []string
+}
+
+// splitFrontmatter splits a leading "---\n...\n---\n" YAML block out of
+// content, returning its top-level fields in original order and the
+// remaining body. If content has no leading frontmatter block, fields is
+// nil and body is content unchanged.
+func splitFrontmatter(content string) (fields []frontmatterField, body string) {
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(content, "---\n") {
+		return nil, content
+	}
+
+	lines := strings.Split(content, "\n")
+	i := 1
+	var cur *frontmatterField
+	for ; i < len(lines); i++ {
+		line := lines[i]
+		if strings.TrimSpace(line) == "---" {
+			i++
+			break
+		}
+		if line != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(line, " ") && !strings.HasPrefix(line, "\t") {
+			if cur != nil {
+				fields = append(fields, *cur)
+			}
+			key, _, _ := strings.Cut(line, ":")
+			cur = &frontmatterField{key: strings.TrimSpace(key), lines: []string{line}}
+		} else if cur != nil {
+			cur.lines = append(cur.lines, line)
+		}
+	}
+	if cur != nil {
+		fields = append(fields, *cur)
+	}
+	body = strings.Join(lines[i:], "\n")
+	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) {
@@ -345,11 +458,19 @@ func (h *Handler) Ingest(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	writeJSON(w, ingestResponse{Pages: pages, Warnings: warnings})
 }
 
-// supportedExtensions lists file extensions that IngestPath will process.
+// isSupportedExtension reports whether IngestPath will process ext.
-var supportedExtensions = map[string]bool{
+// .docx/.xlsx/.pptx/.png/.jpg/.jpeg require docmark (ADR-0013) and are only
-	".md":  true,
+// supported when DOCMARK_URL is configured — checked per-call (not cached at
-	".txt": true,
+// package init) so it reflects the environment at request time.
-	".pdf": true,
+func isSupportedExtension(ext string) bool {
+	switch ext {
+	case ".md", ".txt", ".pdf":
+		return true
+	case ".docx", ".xlsx", ".pptx", ".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg":
+		return os.Getenv("DOCMARK_URL") != ""
+	default:
+		return false
+	}
 }
 
 // IngestPath handles POST /ingest-path — ingest a file or directory.
@@ -382,7 +503,7 @@ func (h *Handler) IngestPath(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 				return nil
 			}
 			ext := strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(path))
-			if !supportedExtensions[ext] {
+			if !isSupportedExtension(ext) {
 				return nil
 			}
 			content, readErr := extract.Text(path)
@@ -410,7 +531,7 @@ func (h *Handler) IngestPath(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		}
 	} else {
 		ext := strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(req.Path))
-		if !supportedExtensions[ext] {
+		if !isSupportedExtension(ext) {
 			writeError(w, http.StatusBadRequest, fmt.Sprintf("unsupported file extension: %s", ext))
 			return
 		}

ingestion/internal/api/handler_test.go

@@ -186,6 +186,48 @@ func TestWriteNote_HallRouteOmitsSourceTypeForNonFactsHalls(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "source_type")
 }
 
+func TestWriteNote_HallRouteMergesExistingFrontmatterInsteadOfStacking(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	rel, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+		Content:  "---\ntitle: act_runner host-executor\ntags: [gitea-actions, act_runner]\n---\n\n# Body\n\nSome content.\n",
+		Filename: "act-runner-host-executor",
+		Wing:     "homelab",
+		Hall:     "failures",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	body := string(got)
+
+	// exactly one frontmatter block: only two "---" delimiter lines total
+	assert.Equal(t, 2, strings.Count(body, "---\n"), "expected a single merged frontmatter block, not stacked blocks")
+	assert.Contains(t, body, "wing: homelab")
+	assert.Contains(t, body, "hall: failures")
+	assert.Contains(t, body, "title: act_runner host-executor")
+	assert.Contains(t, body, "tags: [gitea-actions, act_runner]")
+	assert.Contains(t, body, "# Body")
+}
+
+func TestWriteNote_HallRouteExistingTypeWinsOverOptsType(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"
+	})
+	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")
+}
+
 func TestWrite_GeneratesFilenameIfAbsent(t *testing.T) {
 	dir, h := setup(t)
 	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"content": "auto name"})
@@ -398,3 +440,102 @@ func TestIngestPath_Directory(t *testing.T) {
 	require.True(t, ok, "pages must be an array")
 	assert.NotEmpty(t, pagesSlice)
 }
+
+// --- brain#21: claim-property envelope on the write path -------------------
+
+func TestWriteNote_PreservesClaimEnvelopeVerbatim(t *testing.T) {
+	// writeHallNote already passes unknown keys through; this pins that
+	// behaviour for the envelope specifically, so a future refactor of the
+	// merge loop cannot silently drop it.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	rel, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+		Content: "---\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nA durable claim.\n",
+		Wing:    "homelab",
+		Hall:    "decisions",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "half_life: durable")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "applies: universal")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "claim_provenance: asserted")
+}
+
+func TestWriteNote_RejectsInvalidClaimEnvelopeAndWritesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	// Fail closed: a value outside the enum must not land. A lint skips what
+	// it cannot parse, so an unvalidated write produces a note that reads as
+	// classified while nothing acts on it.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	_, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+		Content:  "---\nhalf_life: forever\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\n\nBody.\n",
+		Filename: "bad-envelope",
+		Wing:     "homelab",
+		Hall:     "facts",
+	})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "half_life")
+
+	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/bad-envelope.md"))
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(statErr), "a rejected write must leave no file behind")
+}
+
+func TestWriteNote_RejectsClaimFieldWithoutProvenance(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+
+	_, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+		Content:  "---\napplies: homelab\n---\n\nBody.\n",
+		Filename: "no-provenance",
+		Wing:     "homelab",
+		Hall:     "facts",
+	})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "claim_provenance")
+
+	_, statErr := os.Stat(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/no-provenance.md"))
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(statErr))
+}
+
+// The HTTP POST /write door reaches WriteNote directly, without the
+// BrainStore, so the unresolved-wikilink strip has to live in the primitive
+// or that door stays ungated.
+func TestWriteNote_UnwrapsUnresolvedWikilinks(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	_, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+		Content: "# Target\n\nbody\n", Filename: "target", Wing: "a", Hall: "facts",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	rel, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+		Content:  "See [[target]] and [[gitea-ci]].\n",
+		Filename: "src", Wing: "a", Hall: "facts",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "[[target]]")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "and gitea-ci.")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "[[gitea-ci]]")
+}
+
+func TestUpdateNote_UnwrapsUnresolvedWikilinks(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	_, err := api.WriteNote(dir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
+		Content: "old\n", Filename: "n", Wing: "a", Hall: "facts",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	rel, _, _, err := api.UpdateNote(dir, api.UpdateNoteOptions{
+		Wing: "a", Hall: "facts", Slug: "n",
+		Content: "Related: [[secret-hygiene]].\n", Reason: "r",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "Related: secret-hygiene.")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "[[secret-hygiene]]")
+}

ingestion/internal/api/ingestpath_docmark_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+// ingestion/internal/api/ingestpath_docmark_test.go
+package api_test
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestIngestPath_DocxUnsupportedWhenDocmarkNotConfigured(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_URL", "")
+	_, h := setup(t)
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	f := filepath.Join(dir, "doc.docx")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(f, []byte("fake docx"), 0o644))
+
+	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"path": f, "source": "test-doc", "dry_run": true})
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/ingest-path", bytes.NewReader(body))
+	rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
+	h.IngestPath(rec, req)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusBadRequest, rec.Code, rec.Body.String())
+}
+
+func TestIngestPath_DocxSupportedWhenDocmarkConfigured(t *testing.T) {
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":{"content":[{"type":"text","text":"# Converted Doc"}]}}`))
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_URL", srv.URL+"/mcp")
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_BEARER_TOKEN", "tok")
+
+	_, h := setup(t)
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	f := filepath.Join(dir, "doc.docx")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(f, []byte("fake docx"), 0o644))
+
+	body, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"path": f, "source": "test-doc", "dry_run": true})
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/ingest-path", bytes.NewReader(body))
+	rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
+	h.IngestPath(rec, req)
+
+	require.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, rec.Code, rec.Body.String())
+	var resp map[string]any
+	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(rec.Body.Bytes(), &resp))
+	pages, ok := resp["pages"].([]any)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	assert.NotEmpty(t, pages)
+}

ingestion/internal/api/update.go

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/claim"
 )
 
 // ContentHash returns the lowercase hex sha256 of b. It is the note's
@@ -64,6 +65,14 @@ func UpdateNote(brainDir string, opts UpdateNoteOptions) (relPath, contentHash,
 		return "", "", "", fmt.Errorf("content is required")
 	}
 
+	// Same reason as WriteNote: the strip belongs in the primitive so every
+	// door inherits it.
+	clean, _, err := brain.StripUnresolvedLinks(brainDir, opts.Content)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", "", "", err
+	}
+	opts.Content = clean
+
 	var rel string
 	if opts.Path != "" {
 		rel = opts.Path
@@ -90,14 +99,47 @@ func UpdateNote(brainDir string, opts UpdateNoteOptions) (relPath, contentHash,
 	}
 	priorHash = ContentHash(prior)
 
+	// A caller may lead opts.Content with its own frontmatter fence to set or
+	// change fields on supersede (e.g. the claim envelope). Split it off
+	// before it reaches the body — left un-split, it would render as a
+	// second, inert `---`-fenced block of literal text rather than taking
+	// effect, and any claim-envelope fields inside it would reach disk
+	// unvalidated (hyperguild#111: the same rule that guards note birth in
+	// writeHallNote must guard a change to the same fields).
+	contentFM, contentBody := parseFrontmatter(opts.Content)
+
 	fm, _ := parseFrontmatter(string(prior))
+	for _, l := range contentFM.lines {
+		if l.key != "" {
+			fm.set(l.key, l.value)
+		}
+	}
 	fm.set("updated_at", time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
 	fm.set("supersedes", priorHash)
 	if opts.Reason != "" {
 		fm.set("supersede_reason", opts.Reason)
 	}
 
-	out := []byte(fm.render() + opts.Content)
+	// Validate the envelope AFTER the merge, against the full field set that
+	// is about to reach disk — not just the caller's fragment. Validating the
+	// fragment alone would miss a caller that supersedes claim_provenance to
+	// empty while half_life/applies survive untouched from the prior note:
+	// each side looks individually fine, but the merged result is an
+	// unprovenanced envelope, which is the exact laundering this check
+	// exists to catch. (Caught in review before merge, not filed after —
+	// worth being honest about in the history: this second pass was the
+	// actual fix; the first one validated the wrong document.)
+	envelope := make(map[string]string, len(fm.lines))
+	for _, l := range fm.lines {
+		if l.key != "" {
+			envelope[l.key] = l.value
+		}
+	}
+	if err := claim.ValidateEnvelope(envelope); err != nil {
+		return "", "", "", fmt.Errorf("claim envelope: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	out := []byte(fm.render() + contentBody)
 	if err := os.WriteFile(abs, out, 0o644); err != nil {
 		return "", "", "", fmt.Errorf("write: %w", err)
 	}

ingestion/internal/api/update_test.go

@@ -52,6 +52,114 @@ func TestUpdateNoteSupersedesAndStamps(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, s, "supersede_reason: facts changed")
 }
 
+func TestUpdateNoteRejectsInvalidEnvelopeAndWritesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	// hyperguild#111: WriteNote validates the claim envelope before create;
+	// UpdateNote didn't before supersede, so the same rule must hold on
+	// change as on birth, fail-closed, nothing written on rejection.
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	original := "---\nwing: jepa-fx\nhall: facts\ncreated_at: 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z\n---\n# Old\n\nold body\n"
+	rel := seedNote(t, brainDir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/val-vol.md", original)
+
+	_, _, _, err := UpdateNote(brainDir, UpdateNoteOptions{
+		Path:    rel,
+		Content: "---\nhalf_life: forever\n---\n# New\n\nnew body\n",
+	})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "claim envelope")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, original, string(got), "rejected update must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestUpdateNoteRejectsAppliesWithoutProvenance(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	original := "---\nwing: jepa-fx\nhall: facts\n---\nold\n"
+	rel := seedNote(t, brainDir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/val-vol.md", original)
+
+	_, _, _, err := UpdateNote(brainDir, UpdateNoteOptions{
+		Path:    rel,
+		Content: "---\napplies: universal\n---\nnew\n",
+	})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "claim envelope")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, original, string(got))
+}
+
+func TestUpdateNoteAcceptsValidEnvelopeAndMergesIntoFrontmatter(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	rel := seedNote(t, brainDir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/val-vol.md",
+		"---\nwing: jepa-fx\nhall: facts\ncreated_at: 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z\n---\nold\n")
+
+	_, _, _, err := UpdateNote(brainDir, UpdateNoteOptions{
+		Path:    rel,
+		Content: "---\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\nnew body\n",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	s := string(got)
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "half_life: durable")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "applies: universal")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "claim_provenance: asserted")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "wing: jepa-fx", "prior fields survive")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "new body")
+	assert.Equal(t, 2, strings.Count(s, "---\n"),
+		"exactly one open+close fence pair — the caller's own fence must not leak in as a second, inert block")
+}
+
+func TestUpdateNoteRejectsClearingProvenanceWhileEnvelopeSurvives(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in review, not written speculatively: validating only the
+	// caller's fragment (rather than the merged result) let a caller blank
+	// out claim_provenance alone while half_life/applies survived from the
+	// prior note untouched — each side looks fine on its own, the merged
+	// envelope on disk is the unprovenanced one the whole check exists to
+	// catch.
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	original := "---\nwing: jepa-fx\nhall: facts\nhalf_life: durable\napplies: universal\nclaim_provenance: asserted\n---\nold\n"
+	rel := seedNote(t, brainDir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/val-vol.md", original)
+
+	_, _, _, err := UpdateNote(brainDir, UpdateNoteOptions{
+		Path:    rel,
+		Content: "---\nclaim_provenance: \n---\nnew body\n",
+	})
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "claim envelope")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, original, string(got), "rejected update must leave the note byte-identical")
+}
+
+func TestUpdateNoteWithoutEnvelopeFieldsIsUnchangedFromToday(t *testing.T) {
+	// Regression pin: plain fence-less content (the common case) must behave
+	// exactly as it did before the envelope-merge fix.
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	rel := seedNote(t, brainDir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/val-vol.md",
+		"---\nwing: jepa-fx\nhall: facts\ncreated_at: 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z\ncustom: keep-me\n---\n# Old\n\nold body\n")
+
+	relPath, hash, priorHash, err := UpdateNote(brainDir, UpdateNoteOptions{
+		Path:    rel,
+		Content: "# New\n\nnew body\n",
+		Reason:  "facts changed",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, rel, relPath)
+	assert.NotEmpty(t, hash)
+	assert.NotEqual(t, hash, priorHash)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, filepath.FromSlash(rel)))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	s := string(got)
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "# New")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "custom: keep-me")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "supersedes: "+priorHash)
+}
+
 func TestUpdateNoteResolvesByWingHallSlug(t *testing.T) {
 	brainDir := t.TempDir()
 	seedNote(t, brainDir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/val-vol.md",

ingestion/internal/brain/linkcheck.go

@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+package brain
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// wikilinkRE matches [[target]] and [[target|Display Text]].
+var wikilinkRE = regexp.MustCompile(`\[\[([^\]|]+)(?:\|([^\]]*))?\]\]`)
+
+// fencedCodeRE and inlineCodeRE mark the regions where a [[...]] is a
+// syntax example rather than a link. Same exclusion brain-gardener's audit
+// applies on the read side, so the write gate and the audit agree on what
+// counts as a link at all.
+var (
+	fencedCodeRE = regexp.MustCompile("(?s)```.*?```")
+	inlineCodeRE = regexp.MustCompile("`[^`\n]*`")
+)
+
+// StripUnresolvedLinks unwraps every [[wikilink]] in content whose target
+// resolves to no entry under knowledge/ or wiki/, leaving the link's display
+// text (or its target) as plain prose. It returns the rewritten content and
+// the sorted, de-duplicated targets it unwrapped.
+//
+// WHY UNWRAP RATHER THAN REJECT THE WRITE
+// Agents write [[...]] around anything that feels related — a skill name, a
+// repo, an agent-local memory file — and none of those are brain entries.
+// Every one of those becomes a permanent [high] broken-link finding that no
+// deterministic Fixer can repair, because there is no target to repoint to:
+// the brain-audit digest grew from 19 to 63 high findings between 2026-08-26
+// and 2026-09-16, and 53 of the 63 were exactly this. Rejecting the write
+// instead would push the failure onto claudewatcher's unattended ingest path,
+// where a refused write is a lost learning. Unwrapping keeps the author's
+// words, keeps the write, and keeps the graph honest.
+//
+// An empty corpus (no knowledge/ or wiki/ yet, or a misconfigured brainDir)
+// returns content unchanged: nothing resolving is a bootstrap state, not
+// evidence that every target was invented.
+func StripUnresolvedLinks(brainDir, content string) (string, []string, error) {
+	index, err := entryIndex(brainDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+	if len(index) == 0 {
+		return content, nil, nil
+	}
+
+	code := codeSpans(content)
+	stripped := map[string]struct{}{}
+
+	var b strings.Builder
+	last := 0
+	for _, m := range wikilinkRE.FindAllStringSubmatchIndex(content, -1) {
+		start, end := m[0], m[1]
+		if overlaps(start, end, code) {
+			continue
+		}
+		target := strings.TrimSpace(content[m[2]:m[3]])
+		if _, ok := index[linkKey(target)]; ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		display := target
+		if m[4] >= 0 {
+			if d := strings.TrimSpace(content[m[4]:m[5]]); d != "" {
+				display = d
+			}
+		}
+		b.WriteString(content[last:start])
+		b.WriteString(display)
+		last = end
+		stripped[target] = struct{}{}
+	}
+	if last == 0 {
+		return content, nil, nil
+	}
+	b.WriteString(content[last:])
+
+	targets := make([]string, 0, len(stripped))
+	for t := range stripped {
+		targets = append(targets, t)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(targets)
+	return b.String(), targets, nil
+}
+
+// linkedTrees are the two trees that hold linkable entries — the same pair
+// package notes admits under ScopeNotes. Duplicated rather than imported
+// because that list is unexported there and this is a read-only mirror.
+var linkedTrees = []string{"knowledge", "wiki"}
+
+// entryIndex maps every form a wikilink may name an entry by — its bare slug
+// and its path form (wiki/<wing>/<hall>/<slug>.md -> wing/hall/slug) — to a
+// present marker. Mirrors brain-gardener's resolver so an accepted link is
+// one the audit will also resolve.
+func entryIndex(brainDir string) (map[string]struct{}, error) {
+	index := map[string]struct{}{}
+	for _, dir := range linkedTrees {
+		root := filepath.Join(brainDir, dir)
+		if _, err := os.Stat(root); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			continue
+		} else if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("stat %s: %w", dir, err)
+		}
+		err := filepath.WalkDir(root, func(path string, d os.DirEntry, err error) error {
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if d.IsDir() || !strings.HasSuffix(path, ".md") {
+				return nil
+			}
+			rel, err := filepath.Rel(brainDir, path)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			rel = filepath.ToSlash(rel)
+			index[strings.TrimSuffix(filepath.Base(rel), ".md")] = struct{}{}
+			index[strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimSuffix(rel, ".md"), "wiki/")] = struct{}{}
+			return nil
+		})
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("walk %s: %w", dir, err)
+		}
+	}
+	return index, nil
+}
+
+// linkKey normalises a link target for index lookup: an exact path form is
+// tried as written, and anything else falls back to its final segment.
+func linkKey(target string) string {
+	return strings.TrimSuffix(target, ".md")
+}
+
+// codeSpans returns the byte ranges of fenced blocks and inline code spans.
+func codeSpans(content string) [][2]int {
+	var spans [][2]int
+	for _, m := range fencedCodeRE.FindAllStringIndex(content, -1) {
+		spans = append(spans, [2]int{m[0], m[1]})
+	}
+	for _, m := range inlineCodeRE.FindAllStringIndex(content, -1) {
+		spans = append(spans, [2]int{m[0], m[1]})
+	}
+	return spans
+}
+
+// overlaps reports whether [start,end) intersects any span.
+func overlaps(start, end int, spans [][2]int) bool {
+	for _, s := range spans {
+		if start < s[1] && end > s[0] {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}

ingestion/internal/brain/linkcheck_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+package brain_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// seedCorpus writes the two entries every linkcheck case resolves against.
+func seedCorpus(t *testing.T, dir string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/real-entry.md",
+		"---\nwing: homelab\nhall: facts\ntitle: 'Real entry'\n---\n\nbody.\n")
+	seedNote(t, dir, "knowledge/legacy-entry.md",
+		"---\ntitle: 'Legacy entry'\n---\n\nbody.\n")
+}
+
+func TestStripUnresolvedLinks(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		body     string
+		want     string
+		stripped []string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "bare slug that resolves is kept",
+			body: "See [[real-entry]] for the rule.",
+			want: "See [[real-entry]] for the rule.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "path-style target that resolves is kept",
+			body: "See [[homelab/facts/real-entry]].",
+			want: "See [[homelab/facts/real-entry]].",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "knowledge/ entry resolves by bare slug",
+			body: "See [[legacy-entry]].",
+			want: "See [[legacy-entry]].",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "unresolvable target is unwrapped to plain text",
+			body:     "Related: [[secret-hygiene]].",
+			want:     "Related: secret-hygiene.",
+			stripped: []string{"secret-hygiene"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "unresolvable aliased target keeps its display text",
+			body:     "Related: [[feedback_check_host_not_assume|check the host]].",
+			want:     "Related: check the host.",
+			stripped: []string{"feedback_check_host_not_assume"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "link inside a fenced code block is left alone",
+			body: "Syntax:\n\n```\n[[wing/hall/slug]]\n```\n",
+			want: "Syntax:\n\n```\n[[wing/hall/slug]]\n```\n",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "link inside an inline code span is left alone",
+			body: "Write `[[wing/hall/slug]]` to link.",
+			want: "Write `[[wing/hall/slug]]` to link.",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "every unresolvable target is reported once, sorted",
+			body:     "[[zeta-gap]] and [[alpha-gap]] and [[zeta-gap]] again.",
+			want:     "zeta-gap and alpha-gap and zeta-gap again.",
+			stripped: []string{"alpha-gap", "zeta-gap"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			dir := t.TempDir()
+			seedCorpus(t, dir)
+
+			got, stripped, err := brain.StripUnresolvedLinks(dir, tc.body)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.want, got)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.stripped, stripped)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestStripUnresolvedLinks_MissingBrainDirIsNotAGate(t *testing.T) {
+	// A brain dir with no knowledge//wiki/ tree yet must not turn every link
+	// into an unresolved one — an empty corpus is a bootstrap state, not
+	// evidence that the author invented the target.
+	got, stripped, err := brain.StripUnresolvedLinks(t.TempDir(), "See [[real-entry]].")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "See [[real-entry]].", got)
+	assert.Nil(t, stripped)
+}

ingestion/internal/brain/tunnel.go

@@ -54,11 +54,24 @@ func DetectTunnels(brainDir, content string) ([]TunnelCandidate, error) {
 			return nil
 		}
 		title, _ := readTitleAndCreated(path, strings.TrimSuffix(d.Name(), ".md"))
-		needle := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(title))
+		title = strings.TrimSpace(title)
-		if needle == "" {
+		if title == "" {
 			return nil
 		}
-		idx := strings.Index(lowerContent, needle)
+
+		// A one-word title has to match the prose case-exactly. Matched
+		// case-insensitively, it links every entry that happens to use the
+		// word: "WRONG" (wiki/telos/decisions/wrong.md) collected 185 inbound
+		// See-also links and "Status" 136, making the two most-linked nodes in
+		// the graph artifacts of the English language rather than references.
+		// Multi-word titles keep the case-insensitive match — "risk tier
+		// middleware" in prose is a real mention however it is capitalised,
+		// and a three-word collision is not an accident.
+		haystack, needle := lowerContent, strings.ToLower(title)
+		if isSingleWord(title) {
+			haystack, needle = content, title
+		}
+		idx := strings.Index(haystack, needle)
 		if idx == -1 {
 			return nil
 		}
@@ -69,7 +82,7 @@ func DetectTunnels(brainDir, content string) ([]TunnelCandidate, error) {
 		out = append(out, TunnelCandidate{
 			TargetPath:  filepath.ToSlash(rel),
 			MatchedTerm: title,
-			Exact:       isWholeWord(lowerContent, idx, len(needle)),
+			Exact:       isWholeWord(haystack, idx, len(needle)),
 		})
 		return nil
 	})
@@ -79,6 +92,11 @@ func DetectTunnels(brainDir, content string) ([]TunnelCandidate, error) {
 	return out, nil
 }
 
+// isSingleWord reports whether title is one whitespace-free token.
+func isSingleWord(title string) bool {
+	return !strings.ContainsAny(title, " \t")
+}
+
 // isWholeWord reports whether the substring at [idx, idx+n) in s is
 // bounded by non-alphanumeric characters (or string edges).
 func isWholeWord(s string, idx, n int) bool {

ingestion/internal/brain/tunnel_test.go

@@ -102,16 +102,29 @@ func TestDetectTunnels_ExactTitleMatch(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestDetectTunnels_FuzzyMatch(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
-	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/x/facts/routing.md",
+	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/x/facts/routing-table.md",
-		"---\ntitle: Routing\n---\nbody.\n")
+		"---\ntitle: 'Routing Table'\n---\nbody.\n")
 
 	// Substring of title appears in content, but not as a whole word.
-	candidates, err := brain.DetectTunnels(dir, "rerouting handles failover")
+	candidates, err := brain.DetectTunnels(dir, "the routing tables were rebuilt")
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.Len(t, candidates, 1)
 	assert.False(t, candidates[0].Exact, "substring-only match should be fuzzy")
 }
 
+// A one-word title whose only appearance is lowercase inside another word is
+// not even a candidate: it would fill the review file with English rather than
+// with references.
+func TestDetectTunnels_SingleWordSubstringIsNotACandidate(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/x/facts/routing.md",
+		"---\ntitle: Routing\n---\nbody.\n")
+
+	candidates, err := brain.DetectTunnels(dir, "rerouting handles failover")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Empty(t, candidates)
+}
+
 func TestDetectTunnels_NoFrontmatterFallsBackToSlug(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
 	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/x/facts/widget-flags.md", "# widget flags\n\nbody.\n")
@@ -126,20 +139,21 @@ func TestDetectTunnels_NoFrontmatterFallsBackToSlug(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestAutoTunnel_FuzzyGoesToCandidatesFile(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
-	// Existing note in a different wing whose title is "Routing".
+	// Existing note in a different wing whose title is "Routing Table".
-	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/other/facts/routing.md",
+	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/other/facts/routing-table.md",
-		"---\nwing: other\nhall: facts\ntitle: Routing\n---\nbody.\n")
+		"---\nwing: other\nhall: facts\ntitle: 'Routing Table'\n---\nbody.\n")
-	// Source note in another wing whose body mentions "rerouting" (substring match only).
+	// Source note in another wing whose body mentions "routing tables"
+	// (substring match only — the title is not there as a whole word).
 	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/new.md",
-		"---\nwing: jepa-fx\nhall: facts\n---\nrerouting traffic\n")
+		"---\nwing: jepa-fx\nhall: facts\n---\nrouting tables rebuilt\n")
 
 	require.NoError(t, brain.AutoTunnel(dir,
-		"wiki/jepa-fx/facts/new.md", "rerouting traffic"))
+		"wiki/jepa-fx/facts/new.md", "routing tables rebuilt"))
 
 	// Source must not get auto-linked (fuzzy).
 	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/new.md"))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "[[other/facts/routing]]")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "[[other/facts/routing-table]]")
 
 	// Candidates file must list the pair.
 	matches, err := filepath.Glob(filepath.Join(dir, "raw", "tunnel-candidates-*.md"))
@@ -148,7 +162,7 @@ func TestAutoTunnel_FuzzyGoesToCandidatesFile(t *testing.T) {
 	body, err := os.ReadFile(matches[0])
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Contains(t, string(body), "wiki/jepa-fx/facts/new.md")
-	assert.Contains(t, string(body), "wiki/other/facts/routing.md")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(body), "wiki/other/facts/routing-table.md")
 	assert.Contains(t, string(body), "Routing")
 }
 
@@ -175,3 +189,35 @@ func TestWriteTunnel_AppendsToExistingSeeAlso(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, s, "[[a/facts/old]]")
 	assert.Contains(t, s, "[[b/facts/y]]")
 }
+
+// A one-word title matched case-insensitively links every entry that happens
+// to use that word. Live cost before this rule: 185 entries auto-linked to
+// wiki/telos/decisions/wrong.md (title "WRONG") and 136 to .../status.md,
+// making the two most-linked nodes in the graph pure artifacts.
+func TestDetectTunnels_SingleWordTitleNeedsAnExactCaseMatch(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/telos/decisions/wrong.md",
+		"---\nwing: telos\nhall: decisions\ntitle: WRONG\n---\n# WRONG\n\nRetired beliefs.\n")
+
+	got, err := brain.DetectTunnels(dir, "The obvious fix was to reject the write. Wrong here.")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	for _, c := range got {
+		assert.False(t, c.Exact, "a lowercase prose word must not auto-link a one-word title: %+v", c)
+	}
+
+	got, err = brain.DetectTunnels(dir, "The beliefs listed under WRONG were retired.")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, got, 1)
+	assert.True(t, got[0].Exact, "the title's own casing appearing in prose is a real reference")
+}
+
+func TestDetectTunnels_MultiWordTitleStaysCaseInsensitive(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	seedNote(t, dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/risk-tier.md",
+		"---\nwing: homelab\nhall: facts\ntitle: 'Risk Tier Middleware'\n---\nbody\n")
+
+	got, err := brain.DetectTunnels(dir, "We rebuilt the risk tier middleware last week.")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, got, 1)
+	assert.True(t, got[0].Exact)
+}

ingestion/internal/brainstore/store.go

@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ func (s *Store) WithGraph(g graphsync.Store) *Store {
 
 // Write creates a brain note and returns its read-after-write handle.
 func (s *Store) Write(ctx context.Context, n capture.Note) (capture.Ref, error) {
+	content, unlinked, err := brain.StripUnresolvedLinks(s.brainDir, n.Content)
+	if err != nil {
+		return capture.Ref{}, err
+	}
+	n.Content = content
+
 	relPath, err := api.WriteNote(s.brainDir, api.WriteNoteOptions{
 		Content:  n.Content,
 		Filename: n.Filename,
@@ -57,13 +63,19 @@ func (s *Store) Write(ctx context.Context, n capture.Note) (capture.Ref, error)
 	s.indexInGraph(ctx, "brain_write", relPath)
 
 	_, _, hash, _ := api.ReadNote(s.brainDir, relPath)
-	return capture.Ref{ID: relPath, Path: relPath, ContentHash: hash}, nil
+	return capture.Ref{ID: relPath, Path: relPath, ContentHash: hash, Unlinked: unlinked}, nil
 }
 
 // Update supersedes an existing note in place. slug may be a bare slug
 // (resolved against n.Wing/n.Hall) or a full brain-relative path (when it
 // contains a slash). It never creates — a missing target is an error.
 func (s *Store) Update(ctx context.Context, slug string, n capture.Note) (capture.Ref, error) {
+	content, unlinked, err := brain.StripUnresolvedLinks(s.brainDir, n.Content)
+	if err != nil {
+		return capture.Ref{}, err
+	}
+	n.Content = content
+
 	opts := api.UpdateNoteOptions{Content: n.Content, Reason: n.Reason}
 	if strings.Contains(slug, "/") {
 		opts.Path = slug
@@ -80,7 +92,7 @@ func (s *Store) Update(ctx context.Context, slug string, n capture.Note) (captur
 	}
 	s.indexInGraph(ctx, "brain_update", relPath)
 
-	return capture.Ref{ID: relPath, Path: relPath, ContentHash: hash, Superseded: true}, nil
+	return capture.Ref{ID: relPath, Path: relPath, ContentHash: hash, Superseded: true, Unlinked: unlinked}, nil
 }
 
 // Get fetches a note by id/path — the read-after-write confirmation

ingestion/internal/brainstore/store_test.go

@@ -83,3 +83,45 @@ func TestStoreGetRoundTripsHash(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, "a", note.Frontmatter["wing"])
 	assert.Contains(t, note.Body, "# Body")
 }
+
+func TestStoreWriteUnwrapsUnresolvedWikilinks(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	s := brainstore.New(dir)
+	_, err := s.Write(context.Background(), capture.Note{
+		Content: "# Target\n\nbody\n", Filename: "target", Wing: "a", Hall: "facts",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	ref, err := s.Write(context.Background(), capture.Note{
+		Content:  "See [[target]] and [[secret-hygiene]].\n",
+		Filename: "src", Wing: "a", Hall: "facts",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, []string{"secret-hygiene"}, ref.Unlinked)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/a/facts/src.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "[[target]]")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "and secret-hygiene.")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "[[secret-hygiene]]")
+}
+
+func TestStoreUpdateUnwrapsUnresolvedWikilinks(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	s := brainstore.New(dir)
+	_, err := s.Write(context.Background(), capture.Note{
+		Content: "old\n", Filename: "n", Wing: "a", Hall: "facts",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	ref, err := s.Update(context.Background(), "n", capture.Note{
+		Content: "Related: [[cad-babysit]].\n", Wing: "a", Hall: "facts", Reason: "r",
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, []string{"cad-babysit"}, ref.Unlinked)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/a/facts/n.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(got), "Related: cad-babysit.")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(got), "[[cad-babysit]]")
+}

ingestion/internal/capture/entities.go

@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 // Package capture is the Clean-Architecture use-case for the uniform
 // capture capability (issue #49/#51): persist a finished session's
-// valuable output — insights → brain, action items → Gitea tickets,
+// valuable output — insights → brain, action items → Gitea tickets —
-// optional summary → ai-sessions — with one invocation, identical core
+// with one invocation, identical core behaviour across every harness.
-// behaviour across every harness.
 //
 // This package is pure orchestration. It depends only on ports
 // (interfaces) and plain entities — no HTTP, no live Gitea, no embedding
@@ -83,19 +82,11 @@ type Ticket struct {
 	Body   string
 }
 
-// Summary is an optional session summary bound for ai-sessions.
-type Summary struct {
-	Title        string
-	Body         string
-	ReposTouched []string
-}
-
 // CaptureInput is the whole capture request.
 type CaptureInput struct {
 	Context  CaptureContext
 	Insights []Insight
 	Tickets  []Ticket
-	Summary  *Summary
 	DryRun   bool
 }
 
@@ -117,12 +108,6 @@ type TicketResult struct {
 	OK     bool   `json:"ok"`
 }
 
-// SummaryResult is the summary outcome in the receipt.
-type SummaryResult struct {
-	Path string `json:"path,omitempty"`
-	OK   bool   `json:"ok"`
-}
-
 // ItemError pins a failure to a specific request item for the partial
 // receipt. Item is a stable locator like "insight[1]" or "ticket[0]".
 type ItemError struct {
@@ -136,7 +121,6 @@ type ItemError struct {
 type CaptureReceipt struct {
 	Insights                []InsightResult `json:"insights"`
 	Tickets                 []TicketResult  `json:"tickets"`
-	Summary                 *SummaryResult  `json:"summary,omitempty"`
 	Errors                  []ItemError     `json:"errors"`
 	EffectiveClassification string          `json:"effective_classification,omitempty"`
 	DryRun                  bool            `json:"dry_run"`

ingestion/internal/capture/ports.go

@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ type Ref struct {
 	Path        string
 	ContentHash string
 	Superseded  bool
+	// Unlinked names the [[wikilink]] targets the store unwrapped to plain
+	// text because they resolve to no entry. Reported rather than rejected:
+	// see brain.StripUnresolvedLinks for why the write still lands.
+	Unlinked []string
 }
 
 // StoredNote is a brain note fetched by Get: the read-after-write
@@ -69,11 +73,6 @@ type IssueTracker interface {
 	CommentIssue(ctx context.Context, repo string, number int, body string) (IssueRef, error)
 }
 
-// SummaryWriter is the ai-sessions summary port.
-type SummaryWriter interface {
-	WriteFile(ctx context.Context, repo, path, content string) error
-}
-
 // ClassificationPolicy derives a target's sensitivity (model C). The
 // "stricter wins" combination of declared vs derived is use-case policy
 // and lives in the service, so the port stays minimal. Satisfied by

ingestion/internal/capture/service.go

@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@ package capture
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"crypto/sha256"
-	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -16,20 +14,17 @@ import (
 type Service struct {
 	brain  BrainStore
 	issues IssueTracker
-	summaries SummaryWriter
 	policy ClassificationPolicy
 	audit  AuditSink
 
-	// now is the clock, injectable for deterministic summary paths and
+	// now is the clock, injectable for deterministic audit timestamps in
-	// audit timestamps in tests.
+	// tests.
 	now func() time.Time
 }
 
-// NewService constructs a Service from its ports. summaries may be nil
+// NewService constructs a Service from its ports.
-// when no summary persistence is wired; a CaptureInput with a Summary
+func NewService(b BrainStore, tr IssueTracker, p ClassificationPolicy, a AuditSink) *Service {
-// then fails that item rather than panicking.
+	return &Service{brain: b, issues: tr, policy: p, audit: a, now: time.Now}
-func NewService(b BrainStore, tr IssueTracker, sw SummaryWriter, p ClassificationPolicy, a AuditSink) *Service {
-	return &Service{brain: b, issues: tr, summaries: sw, policy: p, audit: a, now: time.Now}
 }
 
 var validActions = map[string]bool{"create": true, "close": true, "comment": true}
@@ -88,7 +83,7 @@ func (s *Service) Capture(ctx context.Context, in CaptureInput) (CaptureReceipt,
 		declared, _ = classification.ParseLevel(in.Context.Classification)
 	}
 
-	effective, securityEvents := s.resolveClassification(declared, in)
+	effective, securityEvents, escalators := s.resolveClassification(declared, in)
 
 	// Server-derived origin governs the I1 gate; a caller-asserted harness
 	// label that names a different zone is descriptive-only and logged as a
@@ -112,8 +107,8 @@ func (s *Service) Capture(ctx context.Context, in CaptureInput) (CaptureReceipt,
 			Items:                   nil, // refused before any write
 			SecurityEvents:          append(securityEvents, "I1 refusal: confidential capture via us-nexus origin"),
 		}, AuditCentral)
-		return CaptureReceipt{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: effective classification confidential through %s origin",
+		return CaptureReceipt{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: effective classification confidential through %s origin (%s)",
-			ErrSovereigntyRefused, in.Context.Origin)
+			ErrSovereigntyRefused, in.Context.Origin, escalationReason(escalators))
 	}
 
 	receipt := CaptureReceipt{
@@ -131,9 +126,6 @@ func (s *Service) Capture(ctx context.Context, in CaptureInput) (CaptureReceipt,
 		for _, tk := range in.Tickets {
 			receipt.Tickets = append(receipt.Tickets, TicketResult{Repo: tk.Repo, Action: tk.Action, Number: tk.Number, OK: true})
 		}
-		if in.Summary != nil {
-			receipt.Summary = &SummaryResult{Path: s.summaryPath(in.Context, in.Summary), OK: true}
-		}
 		return receipt, nil
 	}
 
@@ -169,16 +161,6 @@ func (s *Service) Capture(ctx context.Context, in CaptureInput) (CaptureReceipt,
 		landed = append(landed, fmt.Sprintf("ticket:%s#%d", tk.Repo, res.Number))
 	}
 
-	if in.Summary != nil {
-		res, err := s.persistSummary(ctx, in.Context, in.Summary)
-		receipt.Summary = &res
-		if err != nil {
-			receipt.Errors = append(receipt.Errors, ItemError{Item: "summary", Error: err.Error()})
-		} else {
-			landed = append(landed, "summary:"+res.Path)
-		}
-	}
-
 	// I5: persist the request-level audit record of exactly what landed,
 	// using the outcome reserved before the writes. AuditBuffered surfaces
 	// the degraded (locally-buffered) state on the receipt.
@@ -239,15 +221,28 @@ func (s *Service) validate(in CaptureInput) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// resolveClassification computes the effective level (stricter of
+// resolveClassification computes the effective level (stricter of declared
-// declared and every target's derived level) and collects a security
+// and every target's derived level), collects a security event whenever the
-// event whenever the caller under-declared relative to a target floor.
+// caller under-declared relative to a target floor, and names the targets
-func (s *Service) resolveClassification(declared classification.Level, in CaptureInput) (classification.Level, []string) {
+// that carry the strictest level.
+//
+// That third return is what makes an I1 refusal actionable. A caller sending
+// twenty tickets gets one refusal; without the offending target it cannot
+// tell which repo tripped the gate, and infra#265 shows what happens next —
+// the caller concluded the tickets ARRAY was broken, built a fallback of
+// twenty individual calls, and filed a bug against the wrong thing.
+func (s *Service) resolveClassification(declared classification.Level, in CaptureInput) (classification.Level, []string, []string) {
 	effective := declared
 	var events []string
+	derivedFor := map[string]classification.Level{}
+	var order []string
 	consider := func(kind classification.TargetKind, name string) {
 		derived := s.policy.Derive(classification.Target{Kind: kind, Name: name})
 		effective = classification.Stricter(effective, derived)
+		if _, seen := derivedFor[name]; !seen {
+			derivedFor[name] = derived
+			order = append(order, name)
+		}
 		if declared < derived {
 			events = append(events, fmt.Sprintf("classification under-declared: declared=%s target=%s(%s) derived=%s",
 				declared, name, kindString(kind), derived))
@@ -259,12 +254,28 @@ func (s *Service) resolveClassification(declared classification.Level, in Captur
 	for _, tk := range in.Tickets {
 		consider(classification.RepoTarget, tk.Repo)
 	}
-	if in.Summary != nil {
+
-		for _, repo := range in.Summary.ReposTouched {
+	// Only targets that actually reach the effective level are named: at
-			consider(classification.RepoTarget, repo)
+	// twenty tickets, listing the innocent ones is noise that hides the one
+	// that matters.
+	var escalators []string
+	for _, name := range order {
+		if derivedFor[name] == effective && effective > declared {
+			escalators = append(escalators, name)
 		}
 	}
-	return effective, events
+	return effective, events, escalators
+}
+
+// escalationReason renders why the effective classification landed where it
+// did, for an operator reading a refusal. Naming the caller's own declaration
+// matters as much as naming a target: "you asked for this" and "a repo you
+// touched required it" call for different fixes.
+func escalationReason(escalators []string) string {
+	if len(escalators) == 0 {
+		return "declared by the caller; no target required it"
+	}
+	return "required by: " + strings.Join(escalators, ", ")
 }
 
 func (s *Service) persistInsight(ctx context.Context, ins Insight) (InsightResult, string, error) {
@@ -309,60 +320,6 @@ func (s *Service) persistTicket(ctx context.Context, tk Ticket) (TicketResult, e
 	return res, nil
 }
 
-func (s *Service) persistSummary(ctx context.Context, c CaptureContext, sum *Summary) (SummaryResult, error) {
-	if s.summaries == nil {
-		return SummaryResult{OK: false}, fmt.Errorf("no summary writer configured")
-	}
-	path := s.summaryPath(c, sum)
-	content := s.renderSummary(c, sum)
-	repo := "ai-sessions"
-	if err := s.summaries.WriteFile(ctx, repo, path, content); err != nil {
-		return SummaryResult{Path: path, OK: false}, err
-	}
-	return SummaryResult{Path: path, OK: true}, nil
-}
-
-// summaryPath builds summaries/<harness>/<YYYY-MM>/<date>-<slug>-<ref8>.md.
-// The ref8 disambiguator is derived from the session_ref (or the title
-// when no ref is present) so distinct sessions never collide.
-func (s *Service) summaryPath(c CaptureContext, sum *Summary) string {
-	t := s.now().UTC()
-	slug := brain.Sanitise(sum.Title)
-	if slug == "" {
-		slug = "summary"
-	}
-	seed := c.SessionRef
-	if seed == "" {
-		seed = sum.Title + sum.Body
-	}
-	sum8 := shortHash(seed)
-	return fmt.Sprintf("summaries/%s/%s/%s-%s-%s.md",
-		brain.Sanitise(c.Harness), t.Format("2006-01"), t.Format("2006-01-02"), slug, sum8)
-}
-
-// renderSummary stamps fidelity + session metadata into frontmatter so the
-// richer-fidelity-supersedes-thinner collision rule has the data it needs.
-func (s *Service) renderSummary(c CaptureContext, sum *Summary) string {
-	var b strings.Builder
-	b.WriteString("---\n")
-	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "title: %s\n", sum.Title)
-	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "harness: %s\n", c.Harness)
-	if c.SessionRef != "" {
-		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "session_ref: %s\n", c.SessionRef)
-	}
-	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "fidelity: %s\n", c.Fidelity)
-	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "captured_at: %s\n", s.now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
-	if len(sum.ReposTouched) > 0 {
-		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "repos_touched: [%s]\n", strings.Join(sum.ReposTouched, ", "))
-	}
-	b.WriteString("---\n\n")
-	b.WriteString(sum.Body)
-	if !strings.HasSuffix(sum.Body, "\n") {
-		b.WriteByte('\n')
-	}
-	return b.String()
-}
-
 func kindString(k classification.TargetKind) string {
 	if k == classification.RepoTarget {
 		return "repo"
@@ -381,8 +338,3 @@ func firstLine(s string) string {
 	}
 	return s
 }
-
-func shortHash(s string) string {
-	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(s))
-	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])[:8]
-}

ingestion/internal/capture/service_test.go

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package capture
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -59,12 +60,18 @@ type fakeTracker struct {
 	closed   []int
 	comments []int
 	err      error
+	// failOnTitle makes CreateIssue fail for one specific title, so a
+	// partial-failure receipt can be exercised without failing every item.
+	failOnTitle string
 }
 
 func (f *fakeTracker) CreateIssue(_ context.Context, repo, title, _ string) (IssueRef, error) {
 	if f.err != nil {
 		return IssueRef{}, f.err
 	}
+	if f.failOnTitle != "" && title == f.failOnTitle {
+		return IssueRef{}, errors.New("tracker refused this one")
+	}
 	f.created = append(f.created, repo+":"+title)
 	return IssueRef{Repo: repo, Number: 100 + len(f.created), URL: "https://git/" + repo + "/issues/x"}, nil
 }
@@ -85,24 +92,11 @@ func (f *fakeTracker) CommentIssue(_ context.Context, repo string, number int, _
 	return IssueRef{Repo: repo, Number: number}, nil
 }
 
-type fakeSummary struct {
-	paths   []string
-	content []string
-	err     error
-}
-
-func (f *fakeSummary) WriteFile(_ context.Context, _, path, content string) error {
-	if f.err != nil {
-		return f.err
-	}
-	f.paths = append(f.paths, path)
-	f.content = append(f.content, content)
-	return nil
-}
-
 // fakePolicy derives from an explicit map; default Internal so tests pin
 // behaviour without depending on the real defaulting.
-type fakePolicy struct{ tags map[string]classification.Level }
+type fakePolicy struct {
+	tags map[string]classification.Level
+}
 
 func (p fakePolicy) Derive(t classification.Target) classification.Level {
 	if lvl, ok := p.tags[t.Name]; ok {
@@ -135,8 +129,8 @@ func (f *fakeAudit) Record(_ context.Context, e AuditEntry, _ AuditOutcome) erro
 
 // --- helpers ---
 
-func newSvc(b BrainStore, tr IssueTracker, sw SummaryWriter, p ClassificationPolicy, a AuditSink) *Service {
+func newSvc(b BrainStore, tr IssueTracker, p ClassificationPolicy, a AuditSink) *Service {
-	s := NewService(b, tr, sw, p, a)
+	s := NewService(b, tr, p, a)
 	s.now = func() time.Time { return time.Date(2026, 6, 22, 12, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC) }
 	return s
 }
@@ -151,7 +145,7 @@ func TestCaptureHappyPath(t *testing.T) {
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
 	tr := &fakeTracker{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
-	svc := newSvc(b, tr, nil, fakePolicy{}, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
 
 	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context: baseCtx(),
@@ -180,7 +174,7 @@ func TestCaptureHappyPath(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestCaptureSupersedeNotDuplicate(t *testing.T) {
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
-	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, nil, fakePolicy{}, &fakeAudit{})
+	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, fakePolicy{}, &fakeAudit{})
 
 	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context:  baseCtx(),
@@ -197,7 +191,7 @@ func TestCaptureValidationFailClosed(t *testing.T) {
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
 	tr := &fakeTracker{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
-	svc := newSvc(b, tr, nil, fakePolicy{}, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
 
 	_, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context: baseCtx(),
@@ -216,7 +210,7 @@ func TestCaptureValidationFailClosed(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestCaptureValidationRejectsBadTicket(t *testing.T) {
-	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, nil, fakePolicy{}, &fakeAudit{})
+	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, fakePolicy{}, &fakeAudit{})
 	_, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context: baseCtx(),
 		Tickets: []Ticket{{Repo: "hyperguild", Action: "frobnicate"}}, // bad action
@@ -239,7 +233,7 @@ func TestCapturePartialFailureBestEffort(t *testing.T) {
 	}}
 	tr := &fakeTracker{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
-	svc := newSvc(b, tr, nil, fakePolicy{}, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
 
 	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context: baseCtx(),
@@ -264,7 +258,7 @@ func TestCaptureDryRunWritesNothing(t *testing.T) {
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
 	tr := &fakeTracker{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
-	svc := newSvc(b, tr, nil, fakePolicy{}, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
 
 	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context:  baseCtx(),
@@ -287,7 +281,7 @@ func TestCaptureStricterClassificationWins(t *testing.T) {
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
 	pol := fakePolicy{tags: map[string]classification.Level{"client-seb": classification.Confidential}}
-	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, nil, pol, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, pol, au)
 
 	ctx := baseCtx()
 	ctx.Classification = "internal"
@@ -306,7 +300,7 @@ func TestCaptureCallerRaisingSensitivityHonoured(t *testing.T) {
 	// Caller declares confidential; target internal → effective confidential, NOT a security event.
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
 	pol := fakePolicy{tags: map[string]classification.Level{"hyperguild": classification.Internal}}
-	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, nil, pol, au)
+	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, pol, au)
 
 	ctx := baseCtx()
 	ctx.Classification = "confidential"
@@ -319,26 +313,6 @@ func TestCaptureCallerRaisingSensitivityHonoured(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Empty(t, au.entries[0].SecurityEvents, "raising sensitivity is honoured, not flagged")
 }
 
-func TestCaptureSummaryPathAndFidelity(t *testing.T) {
-	sw := &fakeSummary{}
-	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, sw, fakePolicy{}, &fakeAudit{})
-
-	ctx := baseCtx()
-	ctx.Fidelity = "transcript-parse"
-	ctx.SessionRef = "abc123def456"
-	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
-		Context: ctx,
-		Summary: &Summary{Title: "Session Wrap", Body: "did stuff", ReposTouched: []string{"hyperguild"}},
-	})
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	require.NotNil(t, rec.Summary)
-	assert.True(t, rec.Summary.OK)
-	require.Len(t, sw.paths, 1)
-	assert.True(t, strings.HasPrefix(sw.paths[0], "summaries/claude-code/2026-06/"), "path: %s", sw.paths[0])
-	assert.Contains(t, sw.paths[0], "session-wrap")
-	assert.Contains(t, sw.content[0], "fidelity: transcript-parse", "fidelity stamped in frontmatter")
-}
-
 // --- I1 sovereignty gate (#53) ---
 
 func TestCaptureRefusesConfidentialViaUSNexus(t *testing.T) {
@@ -346,7 +320,7 @@ func TestCaptureRefusesConfidentialViaUSNexus(t *testing.T) {
 	tr := &fakeTracker{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
 	pol := fakePolicy{tags: map[string]classification.Level{"client-seb": classification.Confidential}}
-	svc := newSvc(b, tr, nil, pol, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, pol, au)
 
 	ctx := baseCtx()
 	ctx.Classification = "confidential"
@@ -368,7 +342,7 @@ func TestCaptureRefusesConfidentialViaUSNexus(t *testing.T) {
 func TestCaptureAllowsConfidentialViaSovereign(t *testing.T) {
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
 	pol := fakePolicy{tags: map[string]classification.Level{"client-seb": classification.Confidential}}
-	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, nil, pol, &fakeAudit{})
+	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, pol, &fakeAudit{})
 
 	ctx := baseCtx()
 	ctx.Classification = "confidential"
@@ -387,7 +361,7 @@ func TestCaptureAssertedLabelIgnoredAndLogged(t *testing.T) {
 	// us-nexus; confidential ⇒ refused, and the discrepancy is a security event.
 	au := &fakeAudit{}
 	pol := fakePolicy{tags: map[string]classification.Level{"client-seb": classification.Confidential}}
-	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, nil, pol, au)
+	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, pol, au)
 
 	ctx := baseCtx()
 	ctx.Harness = "sovereign-soil" // asserted
@@ -407,7 +381,7 @@ func TestCaptureAssertedLabelIgnoredAndLogged(t *testing.T) {
 func TestCaptureInternalViaUSNexusAllowed(t *testing.T) {
 	// us-nexus origin is fine for non-confidential data.
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
-	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, nil, fakePolicy{}, &fakeAudit{})
+	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, fakePolicy{}, &fakeAudit{})
 	ctx := baseCtx()
 	ctx.Origin = ZoneUSNexus // internal classification, so gate doesn't fire
 	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
@@ -426,7 +400,7 @@ func TestCaptureRefusesWhenAuditReserveFails(t *testing.T) {
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
 	tr := &fakeTracker{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{reserveErr: errors.New("central sink unreachable")}
-	svc := newSvc(b, tr, nil, fakePolicy{}, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
 
 	_, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context:  baseCtx(),
@@ -443,7 +417,7 @@ func TestCaptureFlagsLocallyBufferedAudit(t *testing.T) {
 	// proceeds and the receipt flags the degraded audit state.
 	b := &fakeBrain{}
 	au := &fakeAudit{reserveMode: AuditBuffered}
-	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, nil, fakePolicy{}, au)
+	svc := newSvc(b, &fakeTracker{}, fakePolicy{}, au)
 
 	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context:  baseCtx(),
@@ -458,7 +432,7 @@ func TestCaptureFlagsLocallyBufferedAudit(t *testing.T) {
 func TestCaptureDryRunSkipsAuditGate(t *testing.T) {
 	// dry_run must not even probe the audit sink (writes nothing anywhere).
 	au := &fakeAudit{reserveErr: errors.New("would refuse")}
-	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, nil, fakePolicy{}, au)
+	svc := newSvc(&fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, fakePolicy{}, au)
 
 	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
 		Context:  baseCtx(),
@@ -469,3 +443,98 @@ func TestCaptureDryRunSkipsAuditGate(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.True(t, rec.DryRun)
 	assert.Empty(t, au.entries)
 }
+
+// ---- hyperguild#91 part 1 -------------------------------------------------
+//
+// The reported symptom was "capture with a tickets array fails" (infra#265:
+// 20 tickets errored, 5 errored, caller fell back to 20 individual
+// issue_create calls). The array was never the failing dimension — every
+// ticket targeted a client repo, and the I1 gate refuses that through a
+// us-nexus origin at ANY length. The refusal did not say which target
+// escalated the classification, so it read as a malfunction.
+
+func TestCapture_TicketsArrayWorksAtLengthOne(t *testing.T) {
+	b, tr, au := &fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, &fakeAudit{}
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
+
+	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
+		Context: baseCtx(),
+		Tickets: []Ticket{{Repo: "hyperguild", Action: "create", Title: "one", Body: "b"}},
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, rec.Tickets, 1)
+	assert.True(t, rec.Tickets[0].OK)
+	assert.Len(t, tr.created, 1)
+	assert.Empty(t, rec.Errors)
+}
+
+func TestCapture_TicketsArrayWorksAtLengthMany(t *testing.T) {
+	b, tr, au := &fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, &fakeAudit{}
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
+
+	in := CaptureInput{Context: baseCtx()}
+	for i := range 20 {
+		in.Tickets = append(in.Tickets, Ticket{
+			Repo: "hyperguild", Action: "create", Title: fmt.Sprintf("t%02d", i), Body: "b",
+		})
+	}
+
+	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), in)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, rec.Tickets, 20, "one receipt entry per ticket")
+	for i, r := range rec.Tickets {
+		assert.True(t, r.OK, "ticket %d failed: %+v", i, rec.Errors)
+	}
+	assert.Len(t, tr.created, 20)
+	assert.Empty(t, rec.Errors)
+}
+
+func TestCapture_OneFailingTicketDoesNotSinkTheRest(t *testing.T) {
+	// infra#265 asked explicitly: "if ticket 3 of 5 fails, what happened to
+	// 1 and 2?" They land, and the receipt says so per item.
+	b, au := &fakeBrain{}, &fakeAudit{}
+	tr := &fakeTracker{failOnTitle: "boom"}
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, fakePolicy{}, au)
+
+	rec, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
+		Context: baseCtx(),
+		Tickets: []Ticket{
+			{Repo: "hyperguild", Action: "create", Title: "ok-1", Body: "b"},
+			{Repo: "hyperguild", Action: "create", Title: "boom", Body: "b"},
+			{Repo: "hyperguild", Action: "create", Title: "ok-3", Body: "b"},
+		},
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err, "a per-item failure is a partial receipt, not a call error")
+	require.Len(t, rec.Tickets, 3)
+	assert.True(t, rec.Tickets[0].OK)
+	assert.False(t, rec.Tickets[1].OK)
+	assert.True(t, rec.Tickets[2].OK)
+	require.Len(t, rec.Errors, 1)
+	assert.Contains(t, rec.Errors[0].Item, "ticket[1]")
+}
+
+func TestCapture_I1RefusalNamesWhatEscalatedTheClassification(t *testing.T) {
+	// The actual defect behind infra#265. Without the offending target in
+	// the message, a caller with 20 tickets cannot tell which repo tripped
+	// the gate — and reasonably concludes the array itself is broken.
+	b, tr, au := &fakeBrain{}, &fakeTracker{}, &fakeAudit{}
+	pol := fakePolicy{tags: map[string]classification.Level{"trucker-ecommerce": classification.Confidential}}
+	svc := newSvc(b, tr, pol, au)
+
+	ctx := baseCtx()
+	ctx.Origin = ZoneUSNexus
+	_, err := svc.Capture(context.Background(), CaptureInput{
+		Context: ctx,
+		Tickets: []Ticket{
+			{Repo: "hyperguild", Action: "create", Title: "fine", Body: "b"},
+			{Repo: "trucker-ecommerce", Action: "create", Title: "client work", Body: "b"},
+		},
+	})
+
+	require.ErrorIs(t, err, ErrSovereigntyRefused)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "trucker-ecommerce",
+		"the refusal must name the target that escalated the classification")
+	assert.NotContains(t, err.Error(), "hyperguild",
+		"only the offending target, or the message is noise at 20 tickets")
+	assert.Empty(t, tr.created, "refused before any write")
+}

ingestion/internal/capturehttp/handler.go

@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@ type request struct {
 	Context  contextBody   `json:"context"`
 	Insights []insightBody `json:"insights"`
 	Tickets  []ticketBody  `json:"tickets"`
-	Summary  *summaryBody  `json:"summary,omitempty"`
 	DryRun   bool          `json:"dry_run"`
 }
 
@@ -82,12 +81,6 @@ type ticketBody struct {
 	Body   string `json:"body,omitempty"`
 }
 
-type summaryBody struct {
-	Title        string   `json:"title"`
-	Body         string   `json:"body"`
-	ReposTouched []string `json:"repos_touched,omitempty"`
-}
-
 // ServeHTTP authenticates, derives origin, runs the use-case, and maps the
 // result to an HTTP status.
 func (h *Handler) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
@@ -183,11 +176,6 @@ func (b request) toInput() capture.CaptureInput {
 			Repo: t.Repo, Action: t.Action, Number: t.Number, Title: t.Title, Body: t.Body,
 		})
 	}
-	if b.Summary != nil {
-		in.Summary = &capture.Summary{
-			Title: b.Summary.Title, Body: b.Summary.Body, ReposTouched: b.Summary.ReposTouched,
-		}
-	}
 	return in
 }
 
@@ -204,9 +192,6 @@ func statusFor(rec capture.CaptureReceipt) int {
 	for _, t := range rec.Tickets {
 		count(&ok, &fail, t.OK)
 	}
-	if rec.Summary != nil {
-		count(&ok, &fail, rec.Summary.OK)
-	}
 	switch {
 	case fail == 0:
 		return http.StatusOK

ingestion/internal/capturehttp/handler_test.go

@@ -38,9 +38,11 @@ func (f fakeTracker) CreateIssue(context.Context, string, string, string) (captu
 	}
 	return capture.IssueRef{Repo: "hyperguild", Number: 1, URL: "https://git/1"}, nil
 }
+
 func (fakeTracker) CloseIssue(context.Context, string, int, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{}, nil
 }
+
 func (fakeTracker) CommentIssue(context.Context, string, int, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{}, nil
 }
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ func newHandler(t *testing.T, v capturehttp.Validator, tr capture.IssueTracker,
 	t.Helper()
 	cfg, err := classification.Load(t.TempDir())
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(t.TempDir()), tr, nil, cfg, audit.NewSlogSink(nil))
+	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(t.TempDir()), tr, cfg, audit.NewSlogSink(nil))
 	return capturehttp.New(svc, v, staticTok, "local-cli", capturehttp.NewOriginResolver(sovereign))
 }
 
@@ -183,6 +185,7 @@ type refusingAudit struct{}
 func (refusingAudit) Reserve(context.Context, classification.Level) (capture.AuditOutcome, error) {
 	return 0, errors.New("central audit sink unreachable")
 }
+
 func (refusingAudit) Record(context.Context, capture.AuditEntry, capture.AuditOutcome) error {
 	return nil
 }
@@ -190,7 +193,7 @@ func (refusingAudit) Record(context.Context, capture.AuditEntry, capture.AuditOu
 func TestAuditUnavailableIs503(t *testing.T) {
 	cfg, err := classification.Load(t.TempDir())
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(t.TempDir()), fakeTracker{}, nil, cfg, refusingAudit{})
+	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(t.TempDir()), fakeTracker{}, cfg, refusingAudit{})
 	h := capturehttp.New(svc, nil, staticTok, "local-cli", capturehttp.NewOriginResolver(nil))
 
 	rr := do(t, h, "Bearer "+staticTok, internalReq())

ingestion/internal/claim/claim.go

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

ingestion/internal/claim/claim_test.go

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

ingestion/internal/claudewatcher/skip_projects_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,231 @@
+package claudewatcher
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"log/slog"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// recordingHandler captures log records so a test can assert that a file was
+// never even attempted — the absence of a read error is the evidence.
+type recordingHandler struct {
+	mu      sync.Mutex
+	records []string
+}
+
+func (h *recordingHandler) Enabled(context.Context, slog.Level) bool { return true }
+
+func (h *recordingHandler) Handle(_ context.Context, r slog.Record) error {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	var sb strings.Builder
+	sb.WriteString(r.Message)
+	r.Attrs(func(a slog.Attr) bool {
+		sb.WriteString(" " + a.Key + "=" + a.Value.String())
+		return true
+	})
+	h.records = append(h.records, sb.String())
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (h *recordingHandler) WithAttrs([]slog.Attr) slog.Handler { return h }
+func (h *recordingHandler) WithGroup(string) slog.Handler      { return h }
+
+func (h *recordingHandler) contains(substr string) bool {
+	h.mu.Lock()
+	defer h.mu.Unlock()
+	for _, r := range h.records {
+		if strings.Contains(r, substr) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func session(t *testing.T, root, project, id string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := filepath.Join(root, project)
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755))
+	return writeSession(t, dir, id, []string{
+		`{"type":"user","sessionId":"` + id + `","message":"a prompt"}`,
+		`{"type":"assistant","sessionId":"` + id + `","message":{"content":[{"type":"text","text":"an answer"}]}}`,
+	})
+}
+
+// A named project is not ingested, and its neighbours still are.
+func TestSkipProjects_skipsTheNamedProjectOnly(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev-AGENTS-cobalt-dingo", "skipped")
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev", "kept")
+
+	sink := &memSink{}
+	require.NoError(t, TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir:  tmp,
+		Host:         "koala",
+		Sink:         sink,
+		SkipProjects: []string{"-home-mathias-dev-AGENTS-cobalt-dingo"},
+	}))
+
+	require.Len(t, sink.batches, 1)
+	assert.Equal(t, "kept", sink.batches[0].SessionID)
+	assert.Equal(t, "-home-mathias-dev", sink.batches[0].ProjectID)
+}
+
+// Globs are necessary, not a convenience. A project directory is derived from
+// the session's WORKING DIRECTORY, so a git worktree produces an ephemeral
+// name like "-home-mathias-dev--claude-worktrees-bridge-cse-017xoC...". An
+// exact-match list could never keep up with those.
+func TestSkipProjects_globMatchesEphemeralWorktreeNames(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev--claude-worktrees-bridge-cse-017xoCEcrc35", "worktree")
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev", "kept")
+
+	sink := &memSink{}
+	require.NoError(t, TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir:  tmp,
+		Host:         "koala",
+		Sink:         sink,
+		SkipProjects: []string{"*claude-worktrees-bridge-cse*"},
+	}))
+
+	require.Len(t, sink.batches, 1)
+	assert.Equal(t, "kept", sink.batches[0].SessionID)
+}
+
+// The point of skipping at the directory walk: the file is never OPENED, so
+// its content never enters this process. Proven by making it unreadable — a
+// skipped file produces no read error because nothing tried to read it, while
+// the same file in a non-skipped project does.
+func TestSkipProjects_theFileIsNeverOpened(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	path := session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev-AGENTS-cobalt-dingo", "unreadable")
+	require.NoError(t, os.Chmod(path, 0o000))
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = os.Chmod(path, 0o644) })
+
+	rec := &recordingHandler{}
+	sink := &memSink{}
+	require.NoError(t, TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir:  tmp,
+		Host:         "koala",
+		Sink:         sink,
+		Logger:       slog.New(rec),
+		SkipProjects: []string{"*cobalt-dingo*"},
+	}))
+
+	assert.Empty(t, sink.batches)
+	assert.False(t, rec.contains("file failed"),
+		"a skipped file must not even be attempted")
+}
+
+// The control test for the one above: without the skip, the unreadable file IS
+// attempted and fails. Otherwise the assertion above could pass for the wrong
+// reason.
+func TestSkipProjects_withoutTheSkipTheSameFileIsAttempted(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	path := session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev-AGENTS-cobalt-dingo", "unreadable")
+	require.NoError(t, os.Chmod(path, 0o000))
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = os.Chmod(path, 0o644) })
+
+	rec := &recordingHandler{}
+	require.NoError(t, TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir: tmp,
+		Host:        "koala",
+		Sink:        &memSink{},
+		Logger:      slog.New(rec),
+	}))
+
+	assert.True(t, rec.contains("file failed"),
+		"the unreadable file must fail when not skipped — otherwise the skip test proves nothing")
+}
+
+// Patterns match the project directory NAME, not the whole path. A temp
+// directory or a home directory component must not accidentally match and
+// silently disable ingestion.
+func TestSkipProjects_matchesTheProjectNameNotTheFullPath(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev", "kept")
+
+	sink := &memSink{}
+	require.NoError(t, TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir: tmp,
+		Host:        "koala",
+		Sink:        sink,
+		// tmp is somewhere under /tmp; this must not match the project name.
+		SkipProjects: []string{"*tmp*"},
+	}))
+
+	require.Len(t, sink.batches, 1, "a path component outside the project name must not match")
+}
+
+// An unparseable pattern must stop the watcher rather than be ignored. A
+// silently dropped skip rule means ingesting what was meant to be excluded,
+// which is the failure that cannot be noticed after the fact.
+func TestSkipProjects_invalidPatternRefusesToRun(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev", "kept")
+
+	sink := &memSink{}
+	err := TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir:  tmp,
+		Host:         "koala",
+		Sink:         sink,
+		SkipProjects: []string{"[unclosed"},
+	})
+
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "[unclosed")
+	assert.Empty(t, sink.batches, "nothing may be ingested while a skip rule is broken")
+}
+
+func TestSkipProjects_emptyListChangesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev", "kept")
+
+	sink := &memSink{}
+	require.NoError(t, TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir: tmp, Host: "koala", Sink: sink, SkipProjects: nil,
+	}))
+
+	require.Len(t, sink.batches, 1)
+}
+
+// The difference between SkipDir and filtering after the walk, made
+// observable: an unreadable skipped directory must not disturb anything.
+//
+// Without SkipDir, WalkDir reads the directory's entries, gets a permission
+// error, and that error aborts the ENTIRE walk — so one skipped project with
+// awkward permissions would silently stop ingesting every other project.
+// Returning SkipDir means its contents are never listed at all.
+//
+// Added after a mutation test showed the earlier assertions could not tell the
+// two implementations apart.
+func TestSkipProjects_anUnreadableSkippedDirDoesNotBreakTheWalk(t *testing.T) {
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	session(t, tmp, "-home-mathias-dev", "kept")
+
+	blocked := filepath.Join(tmp, "-home-mathias-dev-AGENTS-cobalt-dingo")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(blocked, 0o755))
+	_ = writeSession(t, blocked, "secret", []string{
+		`{"type":"user","sessionId":"secret","message":"should never be read"}`,
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, os.Chmod(blocked, 0o000))
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = os.Chmod(blocked, 0o755) })
+
+	sink := &memSink{}
+	require.NoError(t, TickOnce(context.Background(), Config{
+		SessionsDir:  tmp,
+		Host:         "koala",
+		Sink:         sink,
+		SkipProjects: []string{"*cobalt-dingo*"},
+	}))
+
+	require.Len(t, sink.batches, 1, "an unreadable skipped directory must not abort the walk")
+	assert.Equal(t, "kept", sink.batches[0].SessionID)
+}

ingestion/internal/claudewatcher/watcher.go

@@ -45,6 +45,25 @@ type Config struct {
 	Sink        Sink
 	Cursors     *CursorStore
 	Logger      *slog.Logger
+
+	// SkipProjects excludes whole project directories from ingestion, as
+	// filepath.Match globs tested against the project directory NAME (the
+	// basename, e.g. "-home-mathias-dev"), not the full path.
+	//
+	// Globs rather than exact names because a project directory is derived
+	// from the session's working directory, so a git worktree yields an
+	// ephemeral name like
+	// "-home-mathias-dev--claude-worktrees-bridge-cse-017xoC..." that no
+	// exact-match list could keep up with.
+	//
+	// Matching directories are skipped during the directory WALK, so their
+	// files are never opened and their content never enters this process —
+	// which is a stronger property than filtering it out afterwards.
+	//
+	// An unparseable pattern stops the watcher. A silently dropped skip rule
+	// means ingesting what was meant to be excluded, and that is not
+	// noticeable after the fact.
+	SkipProjects []string
 }
 
 // Watch runs the polling loop until ctx is cancelled. Returns ctx.Err()
@@ -68,6 +87,9 @@ func Watch(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) error {
 	if cfg.Logger == nil {
 		cfg.Logger = slog.Default()
 	}
+	if err := validateSkipPatterns(cfg.SkipProjects); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	cfg.Logger.Info("claudewatcher: started",
 		"sessions_dir", cfg.SessionsDir,
 		"host", cfg.Host,
@@ -91,7 +113,7 @@ func Watch(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) error {
 // runTick is one polling pass. Exposed (lowercase) for tests via
 // TickOnce.
 func runTick(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) {
-	files, err := listSessionFiles(cfg.SessionsDir)
+	files, err := listSessionFiles(cfg.SessionsDir, cfg.SkipProjects, cfg.Logger)
 	if err != nil {
 		cfg.Logger.Warn("claudewatcher: list session files", "err", err)
 		return
@@ -119,17 +141,52 @@ func TickOnce(ctx context.Context, cfg Config) error {
 	if cfg.Logger == nil {
 		cfg.Logger = slog.Default()
 	}
+	if err := validateSkipPatterns(cfg.SkipProjects); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	runTick(ctx, cfg)
 	return nil
 }
 
-func listSessionFiles(root string) ([]string, error) {
+// validateSkipPatterns rejects a pattern filepath.Match cannot parse.
+//
+// Checked up front rather than per file: a bad pattern that only failed at
+// match time would be reported once per session file per tick, and — worse —
+// filepath.Match returns an error alongside a false match, so the directory
+// would be ingested while the log complained.
+func validateSkipPatterns(patterns []string) error {
+	for _, p := range patterns {
+		if _, err := filepath.Match(p, "probe"); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid skip-project pattern %q: %w", p, err)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// skipProject reports whether a project directory name matches any pattern.
+func skipProject(name string, patterns []string) bool {
+	for _, p := range patterns {
+		// The error case is already excluded by validateSkipPatterns.
+		if ok, _ := filepath.Match(p, name); ok {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func listSessionFiles(root string, skip []string, log *slog.Logger) ([]string, error) {
 	var out []string
 	err := filepath.WalkDir(root, func(path string, d os.DirEntry, walkErr error) error {
 		if walkErr != nil {
 			return walkErr
 		}
 		if d.IsDir() {
+			// SkipDir, so nothing inside is even listed. The files are never
+			// opened and their content never reaches this process.
+			if path != root && skipProject(d.Name(), skip) {
+				log.Info("claudewatcher: project skipped by configuration", "project", d.Name())
+				return filepath.SkipDir
+			}
 			return nil
 		}
 		if !strings.HasSuffix(path, ".jsonl") {

ingestion/internal/extract/docmark.go

@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+// ingestion/internal/extract/docmark.go
+package extract
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// docmarkRequest is a JSON-RPC 2.0 tools/call request for docmark's
+// convert_to_markdown tool.
+type docmarkRequest struct {
+	JSONRPC string `json:"jsonrpc"`
+	ID      int    `json:"id"`
+	Method  string `json:"method"`
+	Params  struct {
+		Name      string `json:"name"`
+		Arguments struct {
+			ContentBase64 string `json:"content_base64"`
+			Filename      string `json:"filename"`
+		} `json:"arguments"`
+	} `json:"params"`
+}
+
+type docmarkResponse struct {
+	Result *struct {
+		Content []struct {
+			Type string `json:"type"`
+			Text string `json:"text"`
+		} `json:"content"`
+		IsError bool `json:"isError"`
+	} `json:"result"`
+	Error *struct {
+		Message string `json:"message"`
+	} `json:"error"`
+}
+
+// extractViaDocmark converts path (PDF/DOCX/XLSX/PPTX/image) to Markdown by
+// calling the docmark MCP server with a single self-contained tools/call
+// request (docmark runs stateless_http -- no initialize handshake or session
+// ID needed). DOCMARK_URL must be set (e.g.
+// http://docmark.docmark.svc.cluster.local:3001/mcp); DOCMARK_BEARER_TOKEN
+// is docmark's static bearer (network is docmark's primary auth boundary,
+// this is defense-in-depth — ADR-0013).
+func extractViaDocmark(path string) (string, error) {
+	url := os.Getenv("DOCMARK_URL")
+	if url == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("extractViaDocmark: DOCMARK_URL is not set")
+	}
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("read %s: %w", path, err)
+	}
+
+	var reqBody docmarkRequest
+	reqBody.JSONRPC = "2.0"
+	reqBody.ID = 1
+	reqBody.Method = "tools/call"
+	reqBody.Params.Name = "convert_to_markdown"
+	reqBody.Params.Arguments.ContentBase64 = base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(raw)
+	reqBody.Params.Arguments.Filename = fileBase(path)
+
+	payload, err := json.Marshal(reqBody)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("marshal docmark request: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	httpReq, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, url, bytes.NewReader(payload))
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("build docmark request: %w", err)
+	}
+	httpReq.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+	httpReq.Header.Set("Accept", "application/json, text/event-stream")
+	if tok := os.Getenv("DOCMARK_BEARER_TOKEN"); tok != "" {
+		httpReq.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+tok)
+	}
+
+	client := &http.Client{Timeout: 60 * time.Second}
+	resp, err := client.Do(httpReq)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("call docmark: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()
+
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("read docmark response: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("docmark: HTTP %d: %s", resp.StatusCode, string(body))
+	}
+
+	jsonBody := body
+	if data := sseDataPayload(body); data != nil {
+		jsonBody = data
+	}
+
+	var out docmarkResponse
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(jsonBody, &out); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("decode docmark response: %w", err)
+	}
+	if out.Error != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("docmark: %s", out.Error.Message)
+	}
+	if out.Result == nil || len(out.Result.Content) == 0 {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("docmark: empty response")
+	}
+	text := out.Result.Content[0].Text
+	if out.Result.IsError {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("docmark: %s", text)
+	}
+	return text, nil
+}
+
+// sseDataPayload extracts the JSON payload from an SSE-framed response body
+// ("event: message\r\ndata: {...}\r\n\r\n"). docmark's Streamable-HTTP
+// transport frames every response this way (Content-Type: text/event-stream)
+// regardless of stateless_http — that flag removes the session/initialize
+// requirement, not the SSE wire framing. Returns nil if body isn't SSE-framed
+// (e.g. a plain-JSON response, kept as a fallback for forward-compatibility).
+func sseDataPayload(body []byte) []byte {
+	const prefix = "data: "
+	for _, line := range bytes.Split(body, []byte("\n")) {
+		line = bytes.TrimRight(line, "\r")
+		if bytes.HasPrefix(line, []byte(prefix)) {
+			return bytes.TrimPrefix(line, []byte(prefix))
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// fileBase returns the final path segment (like filepath.Base, kept local to
+// avoid importing path/filepath just for this one call).
+func fileBase(path string) string {
+	for i := len(path) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+		if path[i] == '/' || path[i] == '\\' {
+			return path[i+1:]
+		}
+	}
+	return path
+}

ingestion/internal/extract/docmark_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
+// ingestion/internal/extract/docmark_test.go
+package extract
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// mcpToolResult mirrors the shape of docmark's JSON-RPC tools/call response.
+type mcpToolResult struct {
+	JSONRPC string `json:"jsonrpc"`
+	ID      int    `json:"id"`
+	Result  *struct {
+		Content []struct {
+			Type string `json:"type"`
+			Text string `json:"text"`
+		} `json:"content"`
+		IsError bool `json:"isError"`
+	} `json:"result,omitempty"`
+	Error *struct {
+		Message string `json:"message"`
+	} `json:"error,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// writeMCPResponse mirrors docmark's REAL response framing (empirically
+// confirmed against the live server): Content-Type: text/event-stream,
+// body is SSE-framed ("event: message\r\ndata: {...}\r\n\r\n"), not bare
+// JSON -- inherent to MCP Streamable-HTTP, independent of stateless_http.
+func writeMCPResponse(w http.ResponseWriter, body mcpToolResult) {
+	payload, _ := json.Marshal(body)
+	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/event-stream")
+	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+	_, _ = w.Write([]byte("event: message\r\ndata: "))
+	_, _ = w.Write(payload)
+	_, _ = w.Write([]byte("\r\n\r\n"))
+}
+
+func TestExtractViaDocmark_Success(t *testing.T) {
+	var gotAuth, gotAccept string
+	var gotBody map[string]any
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		gotAuth = r.Header.Get("Authorization")
+		gotAccept = r.Header.Get("Accept")
+		b, _ := io.ReadAll(r.Body)
+		_ = json.Unmarshal(b, &gotBody)
+		writeMCPResponse(w, mcpToolResult{
+			JSONRPC: "2.0", ID: 1,
+			Result: &struct {
+				Content []struct {
+					Type string `json:"type"`
+					Text string `json:"text"`
+				} `json:"content"`
+				IsError bool `json:"isError"`
+			}{
+				Content: []struct {
+					Type string `json:"type"`
+					Text string `json:"text"`
+				}{{Type: "text", Text: "# Converted\n\nhello"}},
+			},
+		})
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_URL", srv.URL+"/mcp")
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_BEARER_TOKEN", "test-token-123")
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	path := filepath.Join(dir, "doc.docx")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(path, []byte("fake docx bytes"), 0o644))
+
+	got, err := extractViaDocmark(path)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "# Converted\n\nhello", got)
+	assert.Equal(t, "Bearer test-token-123", gotAuth)
+	assert.Contains(t, gotAccept, "application/json")
+	params, _ := gotBody["params"].(map[string]any)
+	require.NotNil(t, params)
+	assert.Equal(t, "convert_to_markdown", params["name"])
+	args, _ := params["arguments"].(map[string]any)
+	require.NotNil(t, args)
+	assert.Equal(t, "doc.docx", args["filename"])
+	assert.NotEmpty(t, args["content_base64"])
+}
+
+func TestExtractViaDocmark_NotConfigured(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_URL", "")
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	path := filepath.Join(dir, "doc.docx")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(path, []byte("x"), 0o644))
+
+	_, err := extractViaDocmark(path)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "DOCMARK_URL")
+}
+
+func TestExtractViaDocmark_ToolErrorSurfacesMessage(t *testing.T) {
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		writeMCPResponse(w, mcpToolResult{
+			JSONRPC: "2.0", ID: 1,
+			Result: &struct {
+				Content []struct {
+					Type string `json:"type"`
+					Text string `json:"text"`
+				} `json:"content"`
+				IsError bool `json:"isError"`
+			}{
+				Content: []struct {
+					Type string `json:"type"`
+					Text string `json:"text"`
+				}{{Type: "text", Text: "unsupported format for 'doc.docx'"}},
+				IsError: true,
+			},
+		})
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_URL", srv.URL+"/mcp")
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_BEARER_TOKEN", "tok")
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	path := filepath.Join(dir, "doc.docx")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(path, []byte("x"), 0o644))
+
+	_, err := extractViaDocmark(path)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "unsupported format")
+}
+
+func TestExtractViaDocmark_HTTPErrorSurfaces(t *testing.T) {
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusUnauthorized)
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte("unauthorized"))
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_URL", srv.URL+"/mcp")
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_BEARER_TOKEN", "wrong")
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	path := filepath.Join(dir, "doc.docx")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(path, []byte("x"), 0o644))
+
+	_, err := extractViaDocmark(path)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "401")
+}
+
+func TestText_RoutesDocxXlsxPptxImagesToDocmark(t *testing.T) {
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		writeMCPResponse(w, mcpToolResult{
+			JSONRPC: "2.0", ID: 1,
+			Result: &struct {
+				Content []struct {
+					Type string `json:"type"`
+					Text string `json:"text"`
+				} `json:"content"`
+				IsError bool `json:"isError"`
+			}{
+				Content: []struct {
+					Type string `json:"type"`
+					Text string `json:"text"`
+				}{{Type: "text", Text: "converted"}},
+			},
+		})
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_URL", srv.URL+"/mcp")
+	t.Setenv("DOCMARK_BEARER_TOKEN", "tok")
+
+	for _, ext := range []string{".docx", ".xlsx", ".pptx", ".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg"} {
+		t.Run(ext, func(t *testing.T) {
+			dir := t.TempDir()
+			path := filepath.Join(dir, "f"+ext)
+			require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(path, []byte("x"), 0o644))
+			got, err := Text(path)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			assert.Equal(t, "converted", got)
+		})
+	}
+}

ingestion/internal/extract/extract.go

@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 // Text reads the file at path and returns its plain-text content.
-// Supported extensions: .md, .txt (passthrough), .pdf (via pdftotext).
+// Supported extensions: .md, .txt (passthrough), .pdf (via pdftotext),
+// .docx/.xlsx/.pptx/.png/.jpg/.jpeg (via docmark, ADR-0013 -- requires
+// DOCMARK_URL to be set; see docmark.go).
 func Text(path string) (string, error) {
 	ext := strings.ToLower(fileExt(path))
 	switch ext {
@@ -20,6 +22,8 @@ func Text(path string) (string, error) {
 		return string(b), nil
 	case ".pdf":
 		return extractPDF(path)
+	case ".docx", ".xlsx", ".pptx", ".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg":
+		return extractViaDocmark(path)
 	default:
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("unsupported file extension: %s", ext)
 	}

ingestion/internal/frontmatter/frontmatter.go

@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+// Package frontmatter lints and repairs the YAML frontmatter block of a
+// markdown note.
+//
+// Notes written directly — hand-authored, or promoted from brain/raw/ — do not
+// pass through pipeline.BuildPages, so nothing quotes their scalars. A title
+// containing an unescaped ": " then produces a block that yaml.Unmarshal
+// rejects with "mapping values are not allowed here", and every consumer that
+// reads frontmatter silently skips the note.
+//
+// Fix is deliberately conservative: it only adds quoting, never reorders or
+// rewrites, and it refuses to return a document that still does not parse.
+package frontmatter
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+)
+
+const fence = "---"
+
+// Lint reports whether doc's frontmatter block parses as YAML.
+//
+// A document with no frontmatter block, or with an unterminated one, is not an
+// error: there is nothing claiming to be YAML.
+func Lint(doc []byte) error {
+	b, ok := block(doc)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var v any
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(b, &v); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("frontmatter: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Fix quotes unquoted scalars whose value breaks YAML parsing and returns the
+// repaired document.
+//
+// It returns (doc, false, nil) when the document already parses, and
+// (doc, false, err) when quoting cannot rescue it — an unfixable document is
+// always returned byte-identical, never half-repaired.
+func Fix(doc []byte) ([]byte, bool, error) {
+	if err := Lint(doc); err == nil {
+		return doc, false, nil
+	}
+
+	b, ok := block(doc)
+	if !ok {
+		// Lint only fails when there is a block, so this is unreachable in
+		// practice; return the original rather than guess.
+		return doc, false, nil
+	}
+
+	fixed := quoteScalars(b)
+	if bytes.Equal(fixed, b) {
+		return doc, false, fmt.Errorf("frontmatter: not repairable by quoting: %w", Lint(doc))
+	}
+
+	var v any
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(fixed, &v); err != nil {
+		return doc, false, fmt.Errorf("frontmatter: quoting did not repair the block: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	_, rest, _ := split(doc)
+	out := []byte(fence + "\n")
+	out = append(out, fixed...)
+	out = append(out, []byte(fence)...)
+	out = append(out, rest...)
+	return out, true, nil
+}
+
+// mappingLine matches "key: value" at any indentation, capturing the prefix so
+// it can be re-emitted untouched.
+//
+// Sequence items ("- value") are deliberately not handled: "- foo: bar" is
+// valid YAML, so a document containing one does not reach Fix in the first
+// place. See the Lint table for why that gap is left open.
+var mappingLine = regexp.MustCompile(`^(\s*[A-Za-z_][\w.-]*:[ \t]+)(\S.*)$`)
+
+// quoteScalars single-quotes every unquoted scalar value in the block that
+// contains a colon. Values that are already quoted, or that carry YAML syntax
+// this package has no business rewriting, are left alone.
+func quoteScalars(block []byte) []byte {
+	lines := strings.Split(string(block), "\n")
+	for i, line := range lines {
+		m := mappingLine.FindStringSubmatch(line)
+		if m == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		prefix, value := m[1], m[2]
+		if !needsQuoting(value) {
+			continue
+		}
+		lines[i] = prefix + "'" + strings.ReplaceAll(value, "'", "''") + "'"
+	}
+	return []byte(strings.Join(lines, "\n"))
+}
+
+// needsQuoting reports whether a scalar value has to be quoted to load as the
+// string it plainly is.
+//
+// The test is YAML's own parser rather than a pattern: ask whether the value
+// stands alone as the right-hand side of a mapping. Heuristics get this wrong
+// in both directions — `title: "Foo" — bar` opens with a quote but is not
+// quoted, and a value may contain a colon inside quotes and be perfectly fine.
+//
+// Anything that already parses is left alone, whatever it parses into — a flow
+// collection, a number, a bool. It is not broken, and quoting would change its
+// type.
+func needsQuoting(value string) bool {
+	if strings.HasPrefix(value, "|") || strings.HasPrefix(value, ">") {
+		return false // block scalar; its content is not parsed as YAML
+	}
+	var probe map[string]any
+	return yaml.Unmarshal([]byte("v: "+value+"\n"), &probe) != nil
+}
+
+// block returns the raw YAML between the opening and closing fences.
+func block(doc []byte) ([]byte, bool) {
+	b, _, ok := split(doc)
+	return b, ok
+}
+
+// split returns the frontmatter block and everything from the closing fence
+// onward (the closing fence itself excluded, its trailing newline included).
+func split(doc []byte) (block, rest []byte, ok bool) {
+	s := string(doc)
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(s, fence+"\n") {
+		return nil, nil, false
+	}
+	body := s[len(fence)+1:]
+
+	idx := strings.Index(body, "\n"+fence)
+	if idx < 0 {
+		return nil, nil, false
+	}
+	return []byte(body[:idx+1]), []byte(body[idx+1+len(fence):]), true
+}

ingestion/internal/frontmatter/frontmatter_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+// ingestion/internal/frontmatter/frontmatter_test.go
+package frontmatter
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+)
+
+func TestLint(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		doc     string
+		wantErr bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "no frontmatter block is not an error",
+			doc:  "# Just a heading\n\nSome body text.\n",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "quoted title parses",
+			doc:  "---\ntitle: 'Headless dispatch runs: Bash is denied'\n---\n\nbody\n",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "plain title parses",
+			doc:  "---\ntitle: A simple title\nwing: homelab\n---\n\nbody\n",
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "unquoted colon in title does not parse",
+			doc:     "---\ntitle: Headless dispatch runs: Bash is denied — use gitea MCP\nwing: homelab\n---\n\nbody\n",
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+		{
+			// Known gap, deliberately not fixed here: this parses, but the
+			// item becomes map[string]any{"Headless dispatch": "denied"}
+			// rather than a string. It is a silent type corruption, not a
+			// parse failure, so repairing it would rewrite documents that
+			// currently load — out of scope for a lint about broken YAML.
+			name: "unquoted colon in a list item parses as a mapping, not an error",
+			doc:  "---\ntitle: Fine\naliases:\n  - Headless dispatch: denied\n---\n\nbody\n",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "unterminated frontmatter is not treated as frontmatter",
+			doc:  "---\ntitle: no closing fence\n\nbody\n",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			err := Lint([]byte(tt.doc))
+			if tt.wantErr {
+				require.Error(t, err)
+				return
+			}
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFix(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		doc         string
+		wantChanged bool
+		wantKey     string
+		wantValue   string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:        "quotes an unquoted title containing a colon",
+			doc:         "---\ntitle: Headless dispatch runs: Bash is denied — use gitea MCP\nwing: homelab\n---\n\nbody\n",
+			wantChanged: true,
+			wantKey:     "title",
+			wantValue:   "Headless dispatch runs: Bash is denied — use gitea MCP",
+		},
+		{
+			// Parses already (see the Lint table), so Fix must leave it alone
+			// rather than rewrite a document that loads.
+			name:        "leaves a colon-bearing list item alone because it already parses",
+			doc:         "---\ntitle: Fine\naliases:\n  - Headless dispatch: denied\n---\n\nbody\n",
+			wantChanged: false,
+			wantKey:     "title",
+			wantValue:   "Fine",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "escapes an embedded single quote when quoting",
+			doc:         "---\ntitle: Don't do this: it breaks\n---\n\nbody\n",
+			wantChanged: true,
+			wantKey:     "title",
+			wantValue:   "Don't do this: it breaks",
+		},
+		{
+			// The value opens with a double quote and then keeps going after
+			// the closing one, so YAML reads it as a quoted scalar followed by
+			// junk. Treating "starts with a quote" as "already quoted" leaves
+			// this broken forever.
+			name:        "quotes a value that only looks quoted",
+			doc:         "---\ntitle: \"Evaluation Driven Generation\" — a TDD-style scaffold\ntags: [a, b]\n---\n\nbody\n",
+			wantChanged: true,
+			wantKey:     "title",
+			wantValue:   "\"Evaluation Driven Generation\" — a TDD-style scaffold",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "leaves an already-valid document untouched",
+			doc:         "---\ntitle: 'Already quoted: fine'\nwing: homelab\n---\n\nbody\n",
+			wantChanged: false,
+			wantKey:     "title",
+			wantValue:   "Already quoted: fine",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "leaves a document with no frontmatter untouched",
+			doc:         "# Heading\n\nbody: with a colon\n",
+			wantChanged: false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got, changed, err := Fix([]byte(tt.doc))
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.wantChanged, changed)
+
+			if !tt.wantChanged {
+				assert.Equal(t, tt.doc, string(got), "unchanged docs must be returned byte-identical")
+			}
+
+			// Whatever came back must parse — that is the whole point.
+			require.NoError(t, Lint(got), "Fix must not return a document that still fails to parse")
+
+			if tt.wantKey == "" {
+				return
+			}
+			block, ok := block(got)
+			require.True(t, ok)
+			var m map[string]any
+			require.NoError(t, yaml.Unmarshal(block, &m))
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.wantValue, m[tt.wantKey], "the value must survive quoting unchanged")
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFix_LeavesStructuredValuesStructured(t *testing.T) {
+	// Only the broken scalar may be touched. A flow sequence on a neighbouring
+	// line still has to load as a sequence afterwards, not as a string.
+	doc := "---\ntitle: Broken: here\ntags: [prompting, llm]\ncount: 3\n---\n\nbody\n"
+
+	got, changed, err := Fix([]byte(doc))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.True(t, changed)
+
+	b, ok := block(got)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	var m map[string]any
+	require.NoError(t, yaml.Unmarshal(b, &m))
+
+	assert.Equal(t, "Broken: here", m["title"])
+	assert.Equal(t, []any{"prompting", "llm"}, m["tags"])
+	assert.Equal(t, 3, m["count"])
+}
+
+func TestFix_PreservesBodyExactly(t *testing.T) {
+	body := "\nThe body has: colons, 'quotes', and\n---\na horizontal rule.\n"
+	doc := "---\ntitle: Broken: title\n---" + body
+
+	got, changed, err := Fix([]byte(doc))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.True(t, changed)
+	assert.True(t, len(got) > 0)
+
+	_, rest, ok := split([]byte(doc))
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	_, gotRest, ok := split(got)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	assert.Equal(t, string(rest), string(gotRest), "the body must not be touched")
+}
+
+func TestFix_RefusesToReturnAnUnparseableResult(t *testing.T) {
+	// A frontmatter block that quoting cannot rescue: the structure itself is
+	// broken, not a scalar. Fix must return the original and an error rather
+	// than a half-repaired document.
+	doc := "---\ntitle: fine\n\tbad: tab-indented mapping\n  - stray list item\n---\n\nbody\n"
+
+	got, changed, err := Fix([]byte(doc))
+	require.Error(t, err)
+	assert.False(t, changed)
+	assert.Equal(t, doc, string(got), "an unfixable document must come back byte-identical")
+}

ingestion/internal/frontmatter/scan.go

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+// ingestion/internal/frontmatter/scan.go
+package frontmatter
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io/fs"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+)
+
+// Finding is one markdown file whose frontmatter does not parse.
+type Finding struct {
+	Path     string // relative to the scanned root
+	Err      error  // why it does not parse, or why the repair was refused
+	Repaired bool   // true only when fix was requested and the file was rewritten
+}
+
+// Scan walks root for *.md files whose frontmatter fails to parse.
+//
+// With fix set, each finding that quoting can rescue is rewritten in place;
+// anything quoting cannot rescue is reported and left byte-identical. A file
+// that cannot be read or decoded is reported as a finding rather than aborting
+// the walk — one poisoned note must not hide the other findings.
+func Scan(root string, fix bool) ([]Finding, error) {
+	var found []Finding
+
+	err := filepath.WalkDir(root, func(path string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if d.IsDir() || !strings.EqualFold(filepath.Ext(path), ".md") {
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		rel, relErr := filepath.Rel(root, path)
+		if relErr != nil {
+			rel = path
+		}
+
+		doc, readErr := os.ReadFile(path)
+		if readErr != nil {
+			found = append(found, Finding{Path: rel, Err: readErr})
+			return nil
+		}
+		if !utf8.Valid(doc) {
+			found = append(found, Finding{Path: rel, Err: fmt.Errorf("not valid UTF-8")})
+			return nil
+		}
+		if lintErr := Lint(doc); lintErr == nil {
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		if !fix {
+			found = append(found, Finding{Path: rel, Err: Lint(doc)})
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		repaired, changed, fixErr := Fix(doc)
+		if fixErr != nil || !changed {
+			found = append(found, Finding{Path: rel, Err: fixErr})
+			return nil
+		}
+		if writeErr := writeFilePreservingMode(path, repaired); writeErr != nil {
+			found = append(found, Finding{Path: rel, Err: writeErr})
+			return nil
+		}
+		found = append(found, Finding{Path: rel, Repaired: true})
+		return nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("scan %s: %w", root, err)
+	}
+	return found, nil
+}
+
+func writeFilePreservingMode(path string, content []byte) error {
+	mode := fs.FileMode(0o644)
+	if info, err := os.Stat(path); err == nil {
+		mode = info.Mode().Perm()
+	}
+	return os.WriteFile(path, content, mode)
+}

ingestion/internal/frontmatter/scan_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+// ingestion/internal/frontmatter/scan_test.go
+package frontmatter
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func writeTree(t *testing.T, files map[string]string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	root := t.TempDir()
+	for name, content := range files {
+		path := filepath.Join(root, name)
+		require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(path), 0o755))
+		require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(path, []byte(content), 0o644))
+	}
+	return root
+}
+
+const (
+	brokenDoc = "---\ntitle: Broken: title here\nwing: homelab\n---\n\nbody\n"
+	validDoc  = "---\ntitle: 'Fine: quoted'\n---\n\nbody\n"
+)
+
+func TestScan_ReportsOnlyBrokenFiles(t *testing.T) {
+	root := writeTree(t, map[string]string{
+		"wiki/a/broken.md": brokenDoc,
+		"wiki/a/valid.md":  validDoc,
+		"wiki/b/plain.md":  "# no frontmatter\n\nbody: with colon\n",
+		"wiki/a/notes.txt": brokenDoc, // not markdown — must be ignored
+	})
+
+	found, err := Scan(root, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	require.Len(t, found, 1)
+	assert.Equal(t, "wiki/a/broken.md", found[0].Path)
+	assert.False(t, found[0].Repaired)
+	assert.Error(t, found[0].Err)
+
+	// Dry run must not touch the file.
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, "wiki/a/broken.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, brokenDoc, string(got))
+}
+
+func TestScan_FixWritesRepairedFilesAndLeavesTheRestAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	root := writeTree(t, map[string]string{
+		"wiki/a/broken.md": brokenDoc,
+		"wiki/a/valid.md":  validDoc,
+	})
+
+	found, err := Scan(root, true)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, found, 1)
+	assert.True(t, found[0].Repaired)
+	assert.NoError(t, found[0].Err)
+
+	repaired, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, "wiki/a/broken.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.NoError(t, Lint(repaired), "the repaired file must parse")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(repaired), "title: 'Broken: title here'")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(repaired), "wing: homelab", "untouched keys must survive")
+
+	untouched, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, "wiki/a/valid.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, validDoc, string(untouched))
+
+	// Second pass finds nothing — the repair is idempotent and complete.
+	again, err := Scan(root, true)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Empty(t, again)
+}
+
+func TestScan_ReportsUnfixableWithoutWriting(t *testing.T) {
+	unfixable := "---\ntitle: fine\n\tbad: tab-indented\n  - stray\n---\n\nbody\n"
+	root := writeTree(t, map[string]string{"wiki/x.md": unfixable})
+
+	found, err := Scan(root, true)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, found, 1)
+	assert.False(t, found[0].Repaired)
+	assert.Error(t, found[0].Err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, "wiki/x.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, unfixable, string(got), "an unfixable file must be left exactly as it was")
+}
+
+func TestScan_ReportsUndecodableFilesInsteadOfFailingTheRun(t *testing.T) {
+	root := writeTree(t, map[string]string{"wiki/ok.md": validDoc})
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(root, "wiki/bad-bytes.md"),
+		[]byte{'-', '-', '-', '\n', 0xff, 0xfe, '\n', '-', '-', '-', '\n'}, 0o644))
+
+	found, err := Scan(root, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err, "one unreadable file must not abort the whole scan")
+	require.Len(t, found, 1)
+	assert.Equal(t, "wiki/bad-bytes.md", found[0].Path)
+}

ingestion/internal/llm/router.go

@@ -5,14 +5,18 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 )
 
-// Router calls Primary first; on any error falls back to Fallback.
+// Router calls Primary first; on any error falls back to Fallback, then to
-// Fallback may be nil, in which case primary errors are returned directly.
+// Tertiary. Fallback and Tertiary may each be nil — a nil tier is skipped and
+// the chain returns the errors accumulated so far.
 type Router struct {
 	Primary  *Client
 	Fallback *Client
+	Tertiary *Client
 }
 
-// Complete implements pipeline.CompleteFunc, routing through Primary then Fallback.
+// Complete implements pipeline.CompleteFunc, routing through Primary, then
+// Fallback, then Tertiary — trying each configured tier in order and
+// returning the first success.
 func (r *Router) Complete(ctx context.Context, system, user string) (string, error) {
 	out, err := r.Primary.Complete(ctx, system, user)
 	if err == nil {
@@ -22,8 +26,15 @@ func (r *Router) Complete(ctx context.Context, system, user string) (string, err
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("primary llm: %w", err)
 	}
 	out, err2 := r.Fallback.Complete(ctx, system, user)
-	if err2 != nil {
+	if err2 == nil {
+		return out, nil
+	}
+	if r.Tertiary == nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("primary llm: %w; fallback llm: %v", err, err2)
 	}
+	out, err3 := r.Tertiary.Complete(ctx, system, user)
+	if err3 != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("primary llm: %w; fallback llm: %v; tertiary llm: %v", err, err2, err3)
+	}
 	return out, nil
 }

ingestion/internal/llm/router_test.go

@@ -69,3 +69,78 @@ func TestRouter_NilFallback(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := r.Complete(context.Background(), "sys", "user")
 	assert.Error(t, err)
 }
+
+func TestRouter_FallsBackToTertiaryWhenPrimaryAndFallbackFail(t *testing.T) {
+	fail := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		http.Error(w, "unavailable", http.StatusServiceUnavailable)
+	}))
+	defer fail.Close()
+	tertiary := mockServer(t, "from-tertiary")
+	defer tertiary.Close()
+
+	r := &Router{
+		Primary:  New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+		Fallback: New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+		Tertiary: New(tertiary.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+	}
+	out, err := r.Complete(context.Background(), "sys", "user")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "from-tertiary", out)
+}
+
+func TestRouter_TertiaryNotCalledWhenFallbackSucceeds(t *testing.T) {
+	fail := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		http.Error(w, "unavailable", http.StatusServiceUnavailable)
+	}))
+	defer fail.Close()
+	fallback := mockServer(t, "from-fallback")
+	defer fallback.Close()
+	tertiary := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		t.Error("tertiary must not be called when fallback succeeds")
+	}))
+	defer tertiary.Close()
+
+	r := &Router{
+		Primary:  New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+		Fallback: New(fallback.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+		Tertiary: New(tertiary.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+	}
+	out, err := r.Complete(context.Background(), "sys", "user")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "from-fallback", out)
+}
+
+func TestRouter_AllThreeFail(t *testing.T) {
+	fail := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		http.Error(w, "err", http.StatusBadGateway)
+	}))
+	defer fail.Close()
+
+	r := &Router{
+		Primary:  New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+		Fallback: New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+		Tertiary: New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+	}
+	_, err := r.Complete(context.Background(), "sys", "user")
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "primary llm")
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "fallback llm")
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "tertiary llm")
+}
+
+func TestRouter_NilTertiary(t *testing.T) {
+	// Existing 2-tier deployments (no BRAIN_LLM_TERTIARY_URL) must keep working
+	// exactly as before — Tertiary is opt-in, not required.
+	fail := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		http.Error(w, "err", http.StatusBadGateway)
+	}))
+	defer fail.Close()
+
+	r := &Router{
+		Primary:  New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+		Fallback: New(fail.URL, "", "m", time.Second),
+	}
+	_, err := r.Complete(context.Background(), "sys", "user")
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.NotContains(t, err.Error(), "tertiary")
+}

ingestion/internal/mcp/handlers.go

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capture"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/extract"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/graphsync"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/notes"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/pipeline"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/search"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/session"
@@ -97,6 +98,8 @@ func (s *Server) tools() []map[string]any {
 				"slug":     str("optional target slug; defaults to filename minus date prefix"),
 			}),
 		},
+		noteToolDescriptors()[0],
+		noteToolDescriptors()[1],
 		{
 			"name":        "brain_tunnel",
 			"description": "Create an explicit bidirectional [[wikilink]] between two notes in different wings. Idempotent.",
@@ -105,13 +108,6 @@ func (s *Server) tools() []map[string]any {
 				"target": str("path of target note (must be in a different wing)"),
 			}),
 		},
-		{
-			"name":        "brain_index",
-			"description": "Regenerate _index.md (Map of Content) for one or all wings under brain/wiki/. Auto-called after brain_write with wing+hall.",
-			"inputSchema": schema([]string{}, map[string]any{
-				"wing": str("optional wing to index; if absent, rebuilds every wing"),
-			}),
-		},
 		{
 			"name":        "brain_ingest_raw",
 			"description": "Ingest pre-structured pages into the brain wiki, bypassing the LLM extraction step.",
@@ -237,6 +233,15 @@ type brainWriteArgs struct {
 	Hall     string `json:"hall,omitempty"`
 }
 
+// unlinkedNote explains the `unlinked` field to the caller that caused it.
+// The write landed; what is gone is the [[...]] around a target that names no
+// brain entry. Said here rather than only in a doc comment because the caller
+// is a model that will otherwise repeat it on the next write.
+const unlinkedNote = "these [[wikilink]] targets resolve to no brain entry, " +
+	"so they were unwrapped to plain text. Link only entries that exist " +
+	"(a filename under knowledge/ or wiki/); write the target entry first if " +
+	"you want the link, and keep skills, repos and agent-local memory files as prose."
+
 func (s *Server) brainWrite(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
 	var a brainWriteArgs
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
@@ -257,7 +262,12 @@ func (s *Server) brainWrite(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.Raw
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	return json.Marshal(map[string]string{"id": ref.ID, "path": ref.Path, "content_hash": ref.ContentHash})
+	out := map[string]any{"id": ref.ID, "path": ref.Path, "content_hash": ref.ContentHash}
+	if len(ref.Unlinked) > 0 {
+		out["unlinked"] = ref.Unlinked
+		out["unlinked_note"] = unlinkedNote
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(out)
 }
 
 type brainUpdateArgs struct {
@@ -301,9 +311,14 @@ func (s *Server) brainUpdate(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.Ra
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	return json.Marshal(map[string]any{
+	out := map[string]any{
 		"id": ref.ID, "path": ref.Path, "content_hash": ref.ContentHash, "superseded": ref.Superseded,
-	})
+	}
+	if len(ref.Unlinked) > 0 {
+		out["unlinked"] = ref.Unlinked
+		out["unlinked_note"] = unlinkedNote
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(out)
 }
 
 type brainGetArgs struct {
@@ -327,6 +342,15 @@ func (s *Server) brainGet(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMe
 	if target == "" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("id or path is required")
 	}
+	// Containment: the store resolves any brain-relative path, and
+	// parseFrontmatter returns the WHOLE file as body when there is no
+	// frontmatter fence — so without this, brain_get reads verbatim session
+	// transcripts under archive/ and sessions/, which BM25 never indexes and
+	// which nobody therefore thinks of as reachable. Same allowlist as
+	// brain_read (brain#4).
+	if _, err := notes.Resolve(s.brainDir, target, notes.ScopeNotes); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	note, err := s.store.Get(ctx, target)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err

ingestion/internal/mcp/pending_nudge.go

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+package mcp
+
+import (
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/api"
+)
+
+// pendingNudgeThreshold is how old a raw/ note has to be before brain_context
+// mentions the queue. Two weeks: long enough that a note written this sprint
+// does not nag, short enough that four items cannot sit unnoticed for three
+// months again (#82).
+const pendingNudgeThreshold = 14 * 24 * time.Hour
+
+// PendingNudge is the in-session reminder that the promote/reject queue has
+// items waiting. It is advisory: a count, an age, and how to look.
+type PendingNudge struct {
+	Pending    int    `json:"pending"`     // everything in the queue
+	Aging      int    `json:"aging"`       // those past the threshold
+	Oldest     string `json:"oldest"`      // filename of the oldest pending note
+	OldestDays int    `json:"oldest_days"` // its age, in whole days
+	Hint       string `json:"hint"`
+}
+
+// pendingNudge summarises the raw/ review queue, or returns nil when there is
+// nothing worth saying.
+//
+// The trigger is the missing half of the queue (#82): brain_pending has always
+// existed, and four real items still sat unreviewed from 2026-04-23 to
+// 2026-07-15 because nothing ever prompted anyone to call it. The system
+// should be what remembers the queue exists.
+//
+// Threshold-gated on purpose. A notice on every context call is one people
+// learn to skip, which reproduces the original failure with extra steps.
+//
+// It never promotes, rejects, or reorders anything. Age is a reason to ask a
+// human, not a verdict — an old note may be exactly right to promote once
+// someone finally looks at it.
+func pendingNudge(brainDir string, now time.Time, threshold time.Duration) *PendingNudge {
+	pending, err := api.ListPending(brainDir)
+	if err != nil || len(pending) == 0 {
+		// brain_context is a hot path; a broken queue degrades to silence
+		// rather than failing the call that asked for project context.
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	var aging int
+	var oldestName string
+	var oldestAge time.Duration
+
+	for _, p := range pending {
+		created, perr := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, p.CreatedAt)
+		if perr != nil {
+			continue // an unparseable timestamp is not evidence of age
+		}
+		age := now.Sub(created)
+		if age >= threshold {
+			aging++
+		}
+		if age > oldestAge {
+			oldestAge, oldestName = age, p.Filename
+		}
+	}
+
+	if aging == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return &PendingNudge{
+		Pending:    len(pending),
+		Aging:      aging,
+		Oldest:     oldestName,
+		OldestDays: int(oldestAge.Hours() / 24),
+		Hint:       "call brain_pending to review; nothing is promoted or rejected automatically",
+	}
+}

ingestion/internal/mcp/pending_nudge_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+package mcp
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// writePending drops a raw/ note whose created_at is age old.
+func writePending(t *testing.T, brainDir, name string, age time.Duration, now time.Time) {
+	t.Helper()
+	raw := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(raw, 0o755))
+	body := "---\ncreated_at: " + now.Add(-age).UTC().Format(time.RFC3339) + "\n---\n\nnote body\n"
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(raw, name), []byte(body), 0o644))
+}
+
+func TestPendingNudge_SilentWhenNothingIsPending(t *testing.T) {
+	// No queue, no nudge. A notice that fires every session is one people
+	// learn to skip, which is how the queue got ignored for three months in
+	// the first place (#82).
+	got := pendingNudge(t.TempDir(), time.Now(), 14*24*time.Hour)
+	assert.Nil(t, got)
+}
+
+func TestPendingNudge_SilentWhileEverythingIsBelowTheThreshold(t *testing.T) {
+	now := time.Now()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writePending(t, dir, "fresh.md", 2*24*time.Hour, now)
+
+	got := pendingNudge(dir, now, 14*24*time.Hour)
+	assert.Nil(t, got, "a two-day-old note is not aging")
+}
+
+func TestPendingNudge_ReportsCountAndOldestAgeOnceSomethingAges(t *testing.T) {
+	now := time.Now()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writePending(t, dir, "old.md", 100*24*time.Hour, now)
+	writePending(t, dir, "older.md", 120*24*time.Hour, now)
+	writePending(t, dir, "fresh.md", 1*24*time.Hour, now)
+
+	got := pendingNudge(dir, now, 14*24*time.Hour)
+	require.NotNil(t, got)
+
+	// All three are pending; the threshold decides whether to speak, not
+	// what to count. Someone opening the queue sees the whole queue.
+	assert.Equal(t, 3, got.Pending)
+	assert.Equal(t, 2, got.Aging)
+	assert.Equal(t, 120, got.OldestDays)
+	assert.Equal(t, "older.md", got.Oldest)
+}
+
+func TestPendingNudge_NeverDecidesAnything(t *testing.T) {
+	// Aging is a trigger to ask a human, never a verdict. The nudge must
+	// carry no action and must leave the queue exactly as it found it.
+	now := time.Now()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	writePending(t, dir, "ancient.md", 365*24*time.Hour, now)
+
+	before, err := os.ReadDir(filepath.Join(dir, "raw"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got := pendingNudge(dir, now, 14*24*time.Hour)
+	require.NotNil(t, got)
+
+	after, err := os.ReadDir(filepath.Join(dir, "raw"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Len(t, after, len(before), "the nudge must not promote or reject anything")
+	assert.Contains(t, got.Hint, "brain_pending", "the nudge should say how to look, not act")
+}
+
+func TestPendingNudge_SurvivesAnUnreadableQueue(t *testing.T) {
+	// brain_context is a hot path; a broken raw/ dir must degrade to silence
+	// rather than failing the whole context call.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "raw"), []byte("not a directory"), 0o644))
+
+	assert.NotPanics(t, func() {
+		assert.Nil(t, pendingNudge(dir, time.Now(), 14*24*time.Hour))
+	})
+}
+
+func TestBrainContext_CarriesTheNudgeWithoutFailingWhenTheQueueIsEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	// The wiring, not the summary: a nudge that never reaches a caller is the
+	// same as no nudge, and brain_context must still work with no queue.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	srv := NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	raw, err := srv.brainContext(context.Background(),
+		json.RawMessage(`{"project_root":"/home/mathias/dev/AGENTS/hyperguild"}`))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	var empty map[string]any
+	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(raw, &empty))
+	assert.NotContains(t, empty, "pending_review", "silence when nothing is aging")
+
+	writePending(t, dir, "ancient.md", 200*24*time.Hour, time.Now())
+
+	raw, err = srv.brainContext(context.Background(),
+		json.RawMessage(`{"project_root":"/home/mathias/dev/AGENTS/hyperguild"}`))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	var withQueue map[string]any
+	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(raw, &withQueue))
+	nudge, ok := withQueue["pending_review"].(map[string]any)
+	require.True(t, ok, "the nudge must reach the caller: %v", withQueue)
+	assert.Equal(t, float64(1), nudge["aging"])
+	assert.Equal(t, "ancient.md", nudge["oldest"])
+}

ingestion/internal/mcp/server.go

@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 // Package mcp implements an MCP HTTP handler for the ingestion service.
 // Exposed tools: brain_query, brain_write, brain_update, brain_get,
-// brain_pending, brain_promote, brain_index, brain_tunnel, brain_ingest,
+// brain_pending, brain_promote, brain_tunnel, brain_ingest,
 // brain_ingest_raw, brain_answer, brain_classify, brain_graph,
 // brain_context, session_log, and capture (the #55 relay tool, registered
 // only when WithCapture is set).
+//
+// brain_index dispatches but is deliberately absent from tools/list: it is
+// auto-called after every write, so surfacing it as a caller verb is
+// cognitive load with no decision behind it (ADR-0012 rule 4, #78). It stays
+// callable for maintenance — de-surfacing hides the verb, not the operation.
 package mcp
 
 import (
@@ -44,6 +49,8 @@ type rpcError struct {
 // Server handles MCP JSON-RPC over HTTP for the ingestion service.
 type Server struct {
 	brainDir  string
+	govAudit  capture.AuditSink
+	govNotify govNotifier
 	pipeline  pipeline.Config
 	llm       pipeline.CompleteFunc
 	answerLLM pipeline.CompleteFunc // nil = brain_answer and brain_classify unavailable
@@ -270,6 +277,15 @@ func (s *Server) handleCall(ctx context.Context, name string, args json.RawMessa
 		return s.brainPromote(ctx, args)
 	case "capture":
 		return s.brainCapture(ctx, args)
+	case "brain_read":
+		return s.brainRead(ctx, args)
+	case "brain_edit":
+		return s.brainEdit(ctx, args)
+	case "brain_edit_root":
+		// Dispatches but is intentionally absent from tools/list — see
+		// tools_notes.go for why a governance-file editor must not be
+		// discoverable by a model.
+		return s.brainEditRoot(ctx, args)
 	case "brain_index":
 		return s.brainIndex(ctx, args)
 	case "brain_tunnel":

ingestion/internal/mcp/server_test.go

@@ -59,11 +59,43 @@ func TestServerToolsList(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.ElementsMatch(t, []string{
 		"brain_query", "brain_write", "brain_update", "brain_get",
 		"brain_pending", "brain_promote",
-		"brain_index", "brain_tunnel",
+		"brain_read", "brain_edit",
+		"brain_tunnel",
 		"brain_ingest_raw", "brain_ingest",
 		"brain_answer", "brain_classify", "brain_graph", "brain_context",
 		"session_log",
 	}, names)
+
+	// brain_index is auto-called after every brain_write, so surfacing it as
+	// a caller verb is cognitive load with no decision behind it (ADR-0012
+	// rule 4, #78). The capability stays reachable — see the admin test below.
+	assert.NotContains(t, names, "brain_index")
+
+	// brain_edit_root is de-surfaced for a sharper reason than brain_index:
+	// brain content is ingested from the outside world and reaches a model's
+	// context, so a listed governance-file editor would be a durable
+	// prompt-injection path — one poisoned page rewriting the CLAUDE.md a
+	// .dispatch-allow agent later loads as instructions.
+	assert.NotContains(t, names, "brain_edit_root")
+}
+
+func TestBrainIndexStaysCallableForAdminUseAfterDeSurfacing(t *testing.T) {
+	// De-surfacing hides the verb from the model-facing list; it must not
+	// remove the operation. A maintenance caller still needs to rebuild a
+	// Map of Content by hand.
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(t.TempDir(), nil, nil, nil)
+
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/mcp", body(t, map[string]any{
+		"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 3, "method": "tools/call",
+		"params": map[string]any{"name": "brain_index", "arguments": map[string]any{}},
+	}))
+	rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	srv.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+
+	require.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, rr.Code)
+	var resp map[string]any
+	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(rr.Body.Bytes(), &resp))
+	assert.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "brain_index must still dispatch: %v", resp["error"])
 }
 
 func TestServerNotificationGetsNoBody(t *testing.T) {
@@ -102,9 +134,11 @@ type stubTracker struct{}
 func (stubTracker) CreateIssue(context.Context, string, string, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{}, nil
 }
+
 func (stubTracker) CloseIssue(context.Context, string, int, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{}, nil
 }
+
 func (stubTracker) CommentIssue(context.Context, string, int, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{}, nil
 }

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_capture.go

@@ -58,17 +58,13 @@ func captureToolDescriptor() map[string]any {
 			},
 			"insights": map[string]any{"type": "array", "items": insightItem},
 			"tickets":  map[string]any{"type": "array", "items": ticketItem},
-			"summary": map[string]any{"type": "object", "properties": map[string]any{
-				"title": str("summary title"), "body": str("summary body"),
-				"repos_touched": map[string]any{"type": "array", "items": map[string]any{"type": "string"}},
-			}},
 			"dry_run":  map[string]any{"type": "boolean", "description": "validate + return the would-be receipt, write nothing"},
 		},
 	}
 	b, _ := json.Marshal(schema)
 	return map[string]any{
 		"name":        "capture",
-		"description": "Persist a session's value uniformly: insights → brain (write or supersede), action items → Gitea tickets, optional summary → ai-sessions. The relay door for MCP-native harnesses. Origin is server-derived from your authenticated identity; confidential captures through a us-nexus surface are refused (I1). Returns a partial-aware receipt.",
+		"description": "Persist a session's value uniformly: insights → brain (write or supersede), action items → Gitea tickets. The relay door for MCP-native harnesses. Origin is server-derived from your authenticated identity; confidential captures through a us-nexus surface are refused (I1). Returns a partial-aware receipt.",
 		"inputSchema": json.RawMessage(b),
 	}
 }

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_capture_test.go

@@ -28,9 +28,11 @@ type capFakeTracker struct{}
 func (capFakeTracker) CreateIssue(context.Context, string, string, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{Repo: "hyperguild", Number: 1, URL: "https://git/1"}, nil
 }
+
 func (capFakeTracker) CloseIssue(context.Context, string, int, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{}, nil
 }
+
 func (capFakeTracker) CommentIssue(context.Context, string, int, string) (capture.IssueRef, error) {
 	return capture.IssueRef{}, nil
 }
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ func captureServer(t *testing.T, validator capturehttp.Validator, sovereign []st
 	brainDir := t.TempDir()
 	cfg, err := classification.Load(brainDir)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(brainDir), capFakeTracker{}, nil, cfg, audit.NewSlogSink(nil))
+	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(brainDir), capFakeTracker{}, cfg, audit.NewSlogSink(nil))
 	srv := mcp.NewServer(brainDir, nil, nil, nil)
 	srv.WithCapture(svc, validator, capStaticTok, "local-cli", capturehttp.NewOriginResolver(sovereign))
 	return srv, brainDir

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_context.go

@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/search"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/textutil"
 )
 
 // brainContextArgs is the input shape of brain_context. project_root is
@@ -155,17 +157,21 @@ func (s *Server) brainContext(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.R
 		entries = entries[:limit]
 	}
 
-	return json.Marshal(map[string]any{"entries": entries})
+	out := map[string]any{"entries": entries}
+	// The queue nudge rides along with a call the session already makes, so
+	// noticing an aging note costs nobody a decision to go looking (#82).
+	// Advisory only, and absent entirely when there is nothing to say.
+	if n := pendingNudge(s.brainDir, time.Now(), pendingNudgeThreshold); n != nil {
+		out["pending_review"] = n
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(out)
 }
 
 // truncateExcerpt clamps an already-stripped excerpt to maxLen characters
 // without re-running the frontmatter parser. The ellipsis suffix matches
 // the convention used in search.excerpt.
 func truncateExcerpt(s string, maxLen int) string {
-	if len(s) <= maxLen {
+	return textutil.Truncate(s, maxLen)
-		return s
-	}
-	return s[:maxLen] + "…"
 }
 
 // readExcerpt loads a doc relative to brainDir, strips its frontmatter,
@@ -185,10 +191,7 @@ func readExcerpt(brainDir, relPath string, maxLen int) string {
 	if len(parts) == 3 {
 		body = strings.TrimSpace(parts[2])
 	}
-	if len(body) > maxLen {
+	return textutil.Truncate(body, maxLen)
-		return body[:maxLen] + "…"
-	}
-	return body
 }
 
 // max1 returns the maximum of n and 1, used to guard against divide-by-zero

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_notes.go

@@ -0,0 +1,230 @@
+package mcp
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"log/slog"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capture"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/classification"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/notes"
+)
+
+// noteToolDescriptors are the model-facing halves of brain#4.
+//
+// brain_edit_root is deliberately absent: it dispatches but is not listed, the
+// same de-surfacing ADR-0012 rule 4 applies to brain_index (#78). Hiding the
+// verb matters here for a specific reason — brain content is ingested from the
+// outside world and reaches a model's context, so a listed governance-file
+// editor is a durable prompt-injection path: one poisoned page could rewrite
+// the CLAUDE.md that a .dispatch-allow agent later obeys. A human who knows
+// the tool exists can still call it; a model reading tools/list cannot
+// discover it.
+func noteToolDescriptors() []map[string]any {
+	str := func(d string) map[string]any { return map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": d} }
+	schema := func(required []string, props map[string]any) json.RawMessage {
+		b, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"type": "object", "required": required, "properties": props})
+		return b
+	}
+	return []map[string]any{
+		{
+			"name": "brain_read",
+			"description": "Return a note's raw markdown verbatim — no synthesis, no excerpting. " +
+				"Use this to obtain the exact text before brain_edit; never build old_str from a " +
+				"brain_query excerpt, which is truncated and normalised and will not match.",
+			"inputSchema": schema([]string{"path"}, map[string]any{
+				"path": str("brain-relative path under knowledge/ or wiki/, e.g. wiki/homelab/facts/x.md"),
+			}),
+		},
+		{
+			"name": "brain_edit",
+			"description": "Replace exactly one occurrence of old_str with new_str in a note, leaving " +
+				"every other byte identical. Fails loudly if old_str is absent or matches more than " +
+				"once — extend old_str until it is unique. Does NOT stamp updated_at or supersedes " +
+				"(brain_update does); it is a byte-level patch, not a metadata operation.",
+			"inputSchema": schema([]string{"path", "old_str", "new_str"}, map[string]any{
+				"path":    str("brain-relative path under knowledge/ or wiki/"),
+				"old_str": str("exact text to replace; must occur exactly once"),
+				"new_str": str("replacement text; empty string deletes old_str"),
+			}),
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+// --- hyperguild#97: governance-rewrite observability -----------------------
+
+// govNotifier raises an out-of-band alert. Declared here rather than importing
+// internal/audit so the MCP package keeps depending on capture alone.
+type govNotifier interface {
+	Notify(ctx context.Context, msg string) error
+}
+
+// WithGovernanceObserver attaches the audit sink and notifier that observe a
+// successful brain_edit_root. Both are optional; either may be nil.
+func (s *Server) WithGovernanceObserver(sink capture.AuditSink, n govNotifier) {
+	s.govAudit, s.govNotify = sink, n
+}
+
+type brainReadArgs struct {
+	Path string `json:"path"`
+}
+
+func (s *Server) brainRead(_ context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+	var a brainReadArgs
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
+	}
+	content, err := notes.Read(s.brainDir, a.Path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(map[string]any{"path": a.Path, "content": string(content)})
+}
+
+type brainEditArgs struct {
+	Path   string `json:"path"`
+	OldStr string `json:"old_str"`
+	NewStr string `json:"new_str"`
+}
+
+// brainEdit is the model-facing editor: notes only.
+//
+// Deliberately NOT audited (#97). A note edit is already fully reconstructible
+// from git history, which carries the same before/after bytes plus a diff.
+// Governance files get the extra trail because they change what later agents
+// obey — the asymmetry is about instruction-carrying content, not about how
+// hard the change is to reconstruct. Auditing every note edit would also bury
+// the rare governance record under routine traffic, which is how an alert
+// stops being read.
+func (s *Server) brainEdit(_ context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+	_, out, err := s.editWithScope(args, notes.ScopeNotes)
+	return out, err
+}
+
+// brainEditRoot edits a governance file (CLAUDE.md). De-surfaced AND gated on
+// the authenticated principal: only the static local-CLI token may call it, so
+// a claude.ai-origin session — the one that may have just read an untrusted
+// page — cannot rewrite the instructions later agents load.
+func (s *Server) brainEditRoot(ctx context.Context, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+	info, ok := ctx.Value(principalKey).(principalInfo)
+	if !ok || !info.viaStatic {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("brain_edit_root requires the local static principal; " +
+			"a governance file is not editable from a model-facing origin")
+	}
+	res, out, err := s.editWithScope(args, notes.ScopeRoot)
+	if err != nil {
+		// A refusal is not a rewrite. Recording or alerting on one would cry
+		// wolf, and the gate already logs its own denials.
+		return out, err
+	}
+	// A durable instruction rewrite should be loud, not silent.
+	slog.Warn("brain_edit_root applied", "principal", info.principal, "result", string(out))
+	s.observeGovernanceEdit(ctx, info.principal, res)
+	return out, err
+}
+
+// observeGovernanceEdit records and alerts on a rewrite that already landed.
+//
+// Best-effort by construction: the bytes are written and brain-sync will commit
+// them within the quarter hour, so failing the call here would report a
+// non-rewrite to the caller while the rewrite sits on disk. A failure to
+// observe is therefore logged at ERROR — the one case where the trail itself is
+// what broke, and the only remaining signal.
+func (s *Server) observeGovernanceEdit(ctx context.Context, principal string, res notes.Result) {
+	// Path and hashes only. The notification leaves the cluster for a phone
+	// via a third-party topic; a hash identifies the rewrite, the bytes would
+	// leak whatever was written into an instruction file.
+	msg := fmt.Sprintf("brain_edit_root applied\npath=%s\nprincipal=%s\nbefore=%s\nafter=%s",
+		res.Path, principal, res.PrevContentHash, res.ContentHash)
+
+	if s.govNotify != nil {
+		if err := s.govNotify.Notify(ctx, msg); err != nil {
+			slog.Error("brain_edit_root notify failed", "path", res.Path, "err", err)
+		}
+	}
+	if s.govAudit == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	// Internal, not Confidential: a governance file is not client data, and
+	// Confidential would make DegradingSink REFUSE to record while loki is
+	// down rather than buffer — losing exactly the record that matters most.
+	outcome, err := s.govAudit.Reserve(ctx, classification.Internal)
+	if err != nil {
+		slog.Error("brain_edit_root audit reserve failed", "path", res.Path, "err", err)
+		return
+	}
+	entry := capture.AuditEntry{
+		Timestamp:               time.Now().UTC(),
+		Principal:               principal,
+		Actor:                   "brain_edit_root",
+		Harness:                 "mcp",
+		EffectiveClassification: classification.Internal.String(),
+		Items:                   []string{res.Path},
+		SecurityEvents: []string{fmt.Sprintf(
+			"governance file rewritten: %s before=%s after=%s",
+			res.Path, res.PrevContentHash, res.ContentHash)},
+	}
+	if err := s.govAudit.Record(ctx, entry, outcome); err != nil {
+		slog.Error("brain_edit_root audit record failed", "path", res.Path, "err", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func (s *Server) editWithScope(args json.RawMessage, scope notes.Scope) (notes.Result, json.RawMessage, error) {
+	var a brainEditArgs
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(args, &a); err != nil {
+		return notes.Result{}, nil, fmt.Errorf("parse args: %w", err)
+	}
+	res, err := notes.Edit(s.brainDir, a.Path, a.OldStr, a.NewStr, scope)
+	if err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, notes.ErrDegenerate) && a.OldStr == "" {
+			// hyperguild#115: "old_str is empty" alone doesn't say whether the
+			// caller sent it empty or a hop between the caller and here lost
+			// it. Naming the raw argument byte count makes that distinguishable
+			// without a second investigation.
+			return notes.Result{}, nil, fmt.Errorf("%w (raw arguments were %d bytes)", err, len(args))
+		}
+		return notes.Result{}, nil, err
+	}
+
+	// Reindex only when the edit could have changed what the index reads.
+	// BuildWingIndex consumes title/created_at from the frontmatter block;
+	// BM25 walks the filesystem live and embeddings are mtime-driven, so an
+	// unconditional rebuild would buy nothing and dirty a second file —
+	// _index.md being precisely the class brain-sync already needs a bespoke
+	// conflict resolver for.
+	if wing := wingOf(res.Path); wing != "" && touchesFrontmatter(a.OldStr, a.NewStr) {
+		if ierr := brain.BuildWingIndex(s.brainDir, wing); ierr != nil {
+			// Best-effort, matching every other index hook here: the write
+			// already landed and will be committed, so failing the call would
+			// make the caller retry an edit whose old_str no longer exists.
+			res.ReindexError = ierr.Error()
+		}
+	}
+	out, merr := json.Marshal(res)
+	return res, out, merr
+}
+
+// wingOf returns the wing for a wiki path, or "" for knowledge/ and root.
+func wingOf(rel string) string {
+	parts := strings.Split(rel, "/")
+	if len(parts) < 3 || parts[0] != "wiki" {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return parts[1]
+}
+
+// touchesFrontmatter reports whether either side of the edit mentions a field
+// the wing index reads.
+func touchesFrontmatter(oldStr, newStr string) bool {
+	for _, s := range []string{oldStr, newStr} {
+		if strings.Contains(s, "title:") || strings.Contains(s, "created_at:") || strings.Contains(s, "---") {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}

ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_notes_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,320 @@
+// ingestion/internal/mcp/tools_notes_test.go
+package mcp_test
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/audit"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brainstore"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capture"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/capturehttp"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/classification"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/mcp"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// ---- brain#4: brain_read / brain_edit through the JSON-RPC surface --------
+
+func newBrainRepo(t *testing.T) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, ".git"), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts"), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md"),
+		[]byte("---\ntitle: 'n'\n---\n\nalpha\nbeta\n"), 0o644))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "CLAUDE.md"), []byte("# rules\n"), 0o644))
+	return dir
+}
+
+func call(t *testing.T, srv *mcp.Server, name string, args map[string]any) map[string]any {
+	t.Helper()
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/mcp", body(t, map[string]any{
+		"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/call",
+		"params": map[string]any{"name": name, "arguments": args},
+	}))
+	rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	srv.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+	var resp map[string]any
+	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(rr.Body.Bytes(), &resp))
+	return resp
+}
+
+func TestBrainReadAndEdit_RoundTripThroughJSONRPC(t *testing.T) {
+	// The Go functions are tested in internal/notes; this pins the transport,
+	// because a tool that works in-process and is unreachable over JSON-RPC
+	// is indistinguishable from a working one in a unit test.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_read", map[string]any{"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md"})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
+
+	resp = call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "beta", "new_str": "BETA",
+	})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "---\ntitle: 'n'\n---\n\nalpha\nBETA\n", string(got),
+		"only the matched bytes may change")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_EmptyOldStrErrorNamesRawArgumentBytes(t *testing.T) {
+	// hyperguild#115: a session reported "old_str is empty" with an old_str
+	// that, on their end, was never empty. The server-side path was
+	// unreachable to reproduce (verified separately: a fresh brain_edit call
+	// with real content round-trips cleanly), which points at something
+	// between a specific client and this call losing the field. The fix this
+	// issue actually asked for isn't a behavior change — old_str=="" must
+	// still refuse — it's that the refusal should say how many raw argument
+	// bytes it received, so "client sent empty" is distinguishable from
+	// "server received empty after some hop lost it" without a second
+	// session's worth of guessing.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "", "new_str": "BETA",
+	})
+	errMsg, ok := resp["error"].(map[string]any)["message"].(string)
+	require.True(t, ok, "%v", resp)
+	assert.Contains(t, errMsg, "old_str is empty")
+	assert.Contains(t, errMsg, "raw arguments were", "%v", errMsg)
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_RefusesGovernanceFilesFromTheModelFacingTool(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "brain_edit must not reach CLAUDE.md")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "CLAUDE.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "# rules\n", string(got))
+}
+
+func TestBrainEditRoot_RefusedWithoutTheLocalStaticPrincipal(t *testing.T) {
+	// No principal in context is the model-facing case (and the default in
+	// this test server): the privileged door must stay shut.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
+		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error")
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "CLAUDE.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "# rules\n", string(got), "governance file must be untouched")
+}
+
+func TestBrainGet_CannotReachSessionTranscripts(t *testing.T) {
+	// Pre-existing hole, not introduced here: api.ReadNote resolves any
+	// brain-relative path and parseFrontmatter returns the WHOLE file as body
+	// when there is no frontmatter fence. archive/ holds verbatim Claude
+	// session transcripts (up to 500 KB) that BM25 never indexes, so they are
+	// invisible to search and trivially readable by path — and CLAUDE.md
+	// documents the layout.
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, "archive/claude-sessions/koala"), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(
+		filepath.Join(dir, "archive/claude-sessions/koala/session-1.md"),
+		[]byte("verbatim transcript with tool output\n"), 0o644))
+
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_get", map[string]any{"path": "archive/claude-sessions/koala/session-1.md"})
+
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error", "brain_get must not read outside knowledge/ and wiki/")
+	assert.NotContains(t, string(mustJSON(t, resp)), "verbatim transcript")
+}
+
+func TestBrainGet_StillReadsNotes(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+
+	resp := call(t, srv, "brain_get", map[string]any{"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md"})
+	assert.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
+}
+
+func mustJSON(t *testing.T, v any) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+	b, err := json.Marshal(v)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	return b
+}
+
+// ---- hyperguild#97: a governance rewrite must be observed, not just gated ----
+
+// govSink captures audit records. Governance edits are rare, so the whole
+// history is kept and asserted on rather than sampled.
+type govSink struct {
+	entries  []capture.AuditEntry
+	outcomes []capture.AuditOutcome
+	recErr   error
+}
+
+func (s *govSink) Reserve(context.Context, classification.Level) (capture.AuditOutcome, error) {
+	return capture.AuditCentral, nil
+}
+
+func (s *govSink) Record(_ context.Context, e capture.AuditEntry, o capture.AuditOutcome) error {
+	s.entries = append(s.entries, e)
+	s.outcomes = append(s.outcomes, o)
+	return s.recErr
+}
+
+type govNotifier struct {
+	msgs []string
+	err  error
+}
+
+func (n *govNotifier) Notify(_ context.Context, msg string) error {
+	n.msgs = append(n.msgs, msg)
+	return n.err
+}
+
+// govServer wires capture (which is what re-derives the static principal) plus
+// the #97 observer, and returns the brain dir so the test can read the file.
+func govServer(t *testing.T) (*mcp.Server, string, *govSink, *govNotifier) {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := newBrainRepo(t)
+	cfg, err := classification.Load(dir)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	svc := capture.NewService(brainstore.New(dir), capFakeTracker{}, cfg, audit.NewSlogSink(nil))
+
+	srv := mcp.NewServer(dir, nil, nil, nil)
+	srv.WithCapture(svc, nil, capStaticTok, "local-cli", capturehttp.NewOriginResolver(nil))
+	sink, notifier := &govSink{}, &govNotifier{}
+	srv.WithGovernanceObserver(sink, notifier)
+	return srv, dir, sink, notifier
+}
+
+// authCall is call() with an Authorization header, so the static principal is
+// present and brain_edit_root's gate opens.
+func authCall(t *testing.T, srv *mcp.Server, authz, name string, args map[string]any) map[string]any {
+	t.Helper()
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/mcp", body(t, map[string]any{
+		"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/call",
+		"params": map[string]any{"name": name, "arguments": args},
+	}))
+	if authz != "" {
+		req.Header.Set("Authorization", authz)
+	}
+	rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	srv.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+	var resp map[string]any
+	require.NoError(t, json.Unmarshal(rr.Body.Bytes(), &resp))
+	return resp
+}
+
+func sha256hex(s string) string {
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(s))
+	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+}
+
+func TestBrainEditRoot_RecordsAnAuditEntryNamingPrincipalPathAndBothHashes(t *testing.T) {
+	// The gate proves a rewrite was ALLOWED. Only a record proves one HAPPENED
+	// — and brain-sync will commit it within 15 minutes authored `brain-sync`,
+	// so git history cannot tell it apart from routine note traffic.
+	srv, dir, sink, _ := govServer(t)
+
+	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
+		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
+	})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
+
+	require.Len(t, sink.entries, 1, "exactly one audit record per governance rewrite")
+	e := sink.entries[0]
+	assert.Equal(t, "local-cli", e.Principal)
+	assert.Contains(t, e.Items, "CLAUDE.md", "the record must name what was rewritten")
+
+	joined := strings.Join(e.SecurityEvents, " ")
+	assert.Contains(t, joined, sha256hex("# rules\n"), "before-hash must be recorded")
+	assert.Contains(t, joined, sha256hex("# rewritten\n"), "after-hash must be recorded")
+	assert.NotZero(t, e.Timestamp)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "CLAUDE.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "# rewritten\n", string(got))
+}
+
+func TestBrainEditRoot_NotifiesWithPathAndHashesButNeverContent(t *testing.T) {
+	srv, _, _, notifier := govServer(t)
+
+	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
+		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
+	})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
+
+	require.Len(t, notifier.msgs, 1)
+	msg := notifier.msgs[0]
+	assert.Contains(t, msg, "CLAUDE.md")
+	assert.Contains(t, msg, "local-cli")
+	assert.Contains(t, msg, sha256hex("# rules\n"))
+	assert.Contains(t, msg, sha256hex("# rewritten\n"))
+
+	// The notification travels to a phone through a third-party topic. A hash
+	// identifies a rewrite; the bytes would leak whatever was written.
+	assert.NotContains(t, msg, "# rewritten", "no file content in the notification body")
+	assert.NotContains(t, msg, "# rules")
+}
+
+func TestBrainEditRoot_RefusedProducesNoRecordNoNotificationNoWrite(t *testing.T) {
+	srv, dir, sink, notifier := govServer(t)
+
+	// No Authorization header → no static principal → the gate stays shut.
+	resp := authCall(t, srv, "", "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
+		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "# rules", "new_str": "# rewritten",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error")
+
+	assert.Empty(t, sink.entries, "a refusal is not a rewrite — recording one would cry wolf")
+	assert.Empty(t, notifier.msgs)
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "CLAUDE.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "# rules\n", string(got))
+}
+
+func TestBrainEditRoot_FailedEditProducesNoRecordNoNotification(t *testing.T) {
+	// Authorised but no match: the door opened and nothing went through it.
+	srv, _, sink, notifier := govServer(t)
+
+	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit_root", map[string]any{
+		"path": "CLAUDE.md", "old_str": "absent-from-the-file", "new_str": "x",
+	})
+	require.Contains(t, resp, "error")
+
+	assert.Empty(t, sink.entries)
+	assert.Empty(t, notifier.msgs)
+}
+
+func TestBrainEdit_OnOrdinaryNotesIsNotAudited(t *testing.T) {
+	// The decided asymmetry (#97): note edits are covered by git history, which
+	// carries the same before/after bytes with a diff. Governance files get the
+	// extra trail because they change what later agents obey, not because they
+	// are harder to reconstruct.
+	srv, _, sink, notifier := govServer(t)
+
+	resp := authCall(t, srv, "Bearer "+capStaticTok, "brain_edit", map[string]any{
+		"path": "wiki/homelab/facts/n.md", "old_str": "beta", "new_str": "BETA",
+	})
+	require.NotContains(t, resp, "error", "%v", resp["error"])
+
+	assert.Empty(t, sink.entries, "note edits must not fill the governance audit trail")
+	assert.Empty(t, notifier.msgs)
+}

ingestion/internal/notes/edit.go

@@ -0,0 +1,282 @@
+package notes
+
+import (
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"syscall"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+)
+
+// maxNoteBytes caps what Read will hand back. Generous for knowledge/ and
+// wiki/ (the largest note today is far under it) and small enough that a
+// pathological file cannot flood a caller's context.
+const maxNoteBytes = 256 << 10
+
+// Errors callers distinguish.
+var (
+	ErrNoMatch    = errors.New("notes: old_str not found")
+	ErrAmbiguous  = errors.New("notes: old_str matches more than once")
+	ErrNotUTF8    = errors.New("notes: content is not valid UTF-8")
+	ErrGitBusy    = errors.New("notes: a git operation is in progress")
+	ErrTooLarge   = errors.New("notes: file exceeds the readable size limit")
+	ErrDegenerate = errors.New("notes: edit is degenerate")
+	ErrInConflict = errors.New("notes: file contains unresolved conflict markers")
+)
+
+// pathLocks serialises edits per file within this process. The flock below
+// covers the cross-process case (two pods share the hostPath during a rolling
+// update, and brain-fix/brain-enrich write the same tree).
+var pathLocks sync.Map // string -> *sync.Mutex
+
+// Result is what a successful edit reports.
+type Result struct {
+	Path string `json:"path"`
+	// PrevContentHash is the sha256 of the file as it was before this edit.
+	// Paired with ContentHash it identifies a rewrite in an audit trail or an
+	// alert without carrying any of the bytes (hyperguild#97).
+	PrevContentHash string `json:"prev_content_hash"`
+	ContentHash     string `json:"content_hash"`
+	BytesBefore     int    `json:"bytes_before"`
+	BytesAfter      int    `json:"bytes_after"`
+	ReindexError    string `json:"reindex_error,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// Read returns a note's bytes verbatim.
+//
+// No frontmatter parsing, no excerpting, no normalisation: the entire purpose
+// is to give a caller an exact basis for an edit. An excerpt from brain_query
+// would be truncated and normalised, and every old_str built from one would
+// miss.
+func Read(brainDir, path string) ([]byte, error) {
+	t, err := Resolve(brainDir, path, ScopeNotes)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return readContained(t)
+}
+
+// ReadScoped is Read for a caller already holding the privileged scope.
+func ReadScoped(brainDir, path string, scope Scope) ([]byte, error) {
+	t, err := Resolve(brainDir, path, scope)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return readContained(t)
+}
+
+func readContained(t Target) ([]byte, error) {
+	fi, err := os.Stat(t.Abs)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("notes: stat %s: %w", t.Rel, err)
+	}
+	if fi.Size() > maxNoteBytes {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s is %d bytes (limit %d)", ErrTooLarge, t.Rel, fi.Size(), maxNoteBytes)
+	}
+	b, err := os.ReadFile(t.Abs)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("notes: read %s: %w", t.Rel, err)
+	}
+	// The MCP response marshals this into a JSON string, and encoding/json
+	// substitutes U+FFFD for invalid UTF-8 — silently returning different
+	// bytes than the file holds, which defeats "verbatim" entirely.
+	if !utf8.Valid(b) {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrNotUTF8, t.Rel)
+	}
+	return b, nil
+}
+
+// Edit replaces exactly one occurrence of oldStr with newStr, in place.
+//
+// Fails loudly and writes nothing on: zero matches, more than one match
+// (counted with overlap), degenerate arguments, invalid UTF-8, a git operation
+// in flight, or unresolved conflict markers in the target.
+func Edit(brainDir, path, oldStr, newStr string, scope Scope) (Result, error) {
+	t, err := Resolve(brainDir, path, scope)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Result{}, err
+	}
+	if oldStr == "" {
+		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: old_str is empty", ErrDegenerate)
+	}
+	if oldStr == newStr {
+		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: old_str equals new_str", ErrDegenerate)
+	}
+	if !utf8.ValidString(newStr) {
+		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: new_str", ErrNotUTF8)
+	}
+	// brain#2 guard: refuse to write to a tree the sync does not commit from.
+	if err := assertSyncSource(brainDir); err != nil {
+		return Result{}, err
+	}
+	if err := assertGitIdle(brainDir); err != nil {
+		return Result{}, err
+	}
+
+	mu := lockFor(t.Abs)
+	mu.Lock()
+	defer mu.Unlock()
+
+	unlock, err := flockFile(t.Abs)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Result{}, err
+	}
+	defer unlock()
+
+	// Read INSIDE the lock: the match count must be evaluated against the
+	// bytes we are about to overwrite, or a concurrent edit is silently lost
+	// while both callers are told they succeeded.
+	before, err := readContained(t)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Result{}, err
+	}
+	if hasConflictMarkers(before) {
+		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrInConflict, t.Rel)
+	}
+
+	switch n := countOverlapping(string(before), oldStr); {
+	case n == 0:
+		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("%w in %s (0 matches)%s", ErrNoMatch, t.Rel, crlfHint(string(before), oldStr))
+	case n > 1:
+		return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("%w in %s (%d matches) — extend old_str until it is unique",
+			ErrAmbiguous, t.Rel, n)
+	}
+
+	after := strings.Replace(string(before), oldStr, newStr, 1)
+	if err := writeAtomic(t.Abs, []byte(after)); err != nil {
+		return Result{}, err
+	}
+
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(after))
+	prev := sha256.Sum256(before)
+	return Result{
+		Path:            t.Rel,
+		PrevContentHash: hex.EncodeToString(prev[:]),
+		ContentHash:     hex.EncodeToString(sum[:]),
+		BytesBefore:     len(before),
+		BytesAfter:      len(after),
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// countOverlapping counts occurrences allowing overlap. bytes.Count does not:
+// "aa" occurs once in "aaa" by its reckoning, so a Count-based uniqueness
+// check accepts an ambiguous edit as unique.
+func countOverlapping(s, sub string) int {
+	var n, from int
+	for {
+		i := strings.Index(s[from:], sub)
+		if i < 0 {
+			return n
+		}
+		n++
+		from += i + 1
+	}
+}
+
+// crlfHint reports whether the caller's old_str would have matched if line
+// endings agreed. It never normalises — that would break byte-identity — but
+// an opaque "no match" is unfixable from the caller's side, and a stripped \r
+// is the likeliest cause.
+func crlfHint(content, oldStr string) string {
+	if strings.Contains(content, "\r\n") && !strings.Contains(oldStr, "\r\n") {
+		if strings.Contains(strings.ReplaceAll(content, "\r\n", "\n"), oldStr) {
+			return " — the file uses CRLF line endings and old_str does not; include the \\r"
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+func hasConflictMarkers(b []byte) bool {
+	s := string(b)
+	return strings.Contains(s, "\n<<<<<<< ") || strings.HasPrefix(s, "<<<<<<< ")
+}
+
+// assertGitIdle refuses while brain-sync (or brain-fix, or a human) has a git
+// operation in flight. An edit landing between `git merge` and its abort is
+// either hard-reset away or committed as a wrongly resolved conflict — and the
+// caller was told it succeeded.
+func assertGitIdle(brainDir string) error {
+	for _, marker := range []string{"MERGE_HEAD", "REBASE_HEAD", "CHERRY_PICK_HEAD", "index.lock"} {
+		if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(brainDir, ".git", marker)); err == nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%w (.git/%s present) — retry after the sync settles", ErrGitBusy, marker)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func lockFor(abs string) *sync.Mutex {
+	v, _ := pathLocks.LoadOrStore(abs, &sync.Mutex{})
+	return v.(*sync.Mutex)
+}
+
+// flockFile takes an advisory lock covering other processes sharing the
+// hostPath — during a RollingUpdate two ingestion pods do.
+func flockFile(abs string) (func(), error) {
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(abs+".lock", os.O_CREATE|os.O_RDWR, 0o644)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("notes: lock %s: %w", filepath.Base(abs), err)
+	}
+	if err := syscall.Flock(int(f.Fd()), syscall.LOCK_EX); err != nil {
+		_ = f.Close()
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("notes: flock %s: %w", filepath.Base(abs), err)
+	}
+	return func() {
+		_ = syscall.Flock(int(f.Fd()), syscall.LOCK_UN)
+		_ = f.Close()
+		_ = os.Remove(abs + ".lock")
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// writeAtomic replaces the file via a same-directory temp + rename, then
+// fsyncs the directory so the rename survives a node crash.
+//
+// Same directory because a rename across the hostPath boundary fails with
+// EXDEV; the ".tmp" suffix because the tree's .gitignore already covers it, so
+// a leaked temp is not committed by `git add -A`.
+func writeAtomic(abs string, content []byte) error {
+	dir := filepath.Dir(abs)
+	tmp, err := os.CreateTemp(dir, filepath.Base(abs)+".*.tmp")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: temp file: %w", err)
+	}
+	tmpName := tmp.Name()
+	defer func() { _ = os.Remove(tmpName) }() // no-op once renamed
+
+	if _, err := tmp.Write(content); err != nil {
+		_ = tmp.Close()
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: write temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := tmp.Sync(); err != nil {
+		_ = tmp.Close()
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: sync temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := tmp.Close(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: close temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	// CreateTemp makes 0600; every other writer of this tree uses 0644 and
+	// other uids read it.
+	if err := os.Chmod(tmpName, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: chmod temp: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.Rename(tmpName, abs); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: rename: %w", err)
+	}
+	return fsyncDir(dir)
+}
+
+func fsyncDir(dir string) error {
+	d, err := os.Open(dir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: open dir: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer func() { _ = d.Close() }()
+	if err := d.Sync(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: fsync dir: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}

ingestion/internal/notes/edit_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,256 @@
+package notes
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func seed(t *testing.T, dir, rel, content string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	abs := filepath.Join(dir, rel)
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(abs), 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(abs, []byte(content), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return abs
+}
+
+func read(t *testing.T, abs string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	b, err := os.ReadFile(abs)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return string(b)
+}
+
+func TestRead_ReturnsVerbatimBytes(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	const body = "---\ntitle: 'x'\n---\n\nbody with  double  spaces\r\nand a CRLF line\nno trailing newline"
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/verbatim.md", body)
+
+	got, err := Read(dir, "knowledge/verbatim.md")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Read: %v", err)
+	}
+	if string(got) != body {
+		t.Errorf("Read returned %q, want the file byte-for-byte", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRead_RefusesNonUTF8RatherThanCorruptingIt(t *testing.T) {
+	// The response is marshalled into a JSON string, and encoding/json
+	// replaces invalid UTF-8 with U+FFFD. Returning it would mean every
+	// old_str the caller derives from that region can never match, and
+	// pasting it back would write the corruption to disk permanently.
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/bad.md", "ok \xff\xfe broken\n")
+
+	if _, err := Read(dir, "knowledge/bad.md"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Read accepted invalid UTF-8; it must refuse rather than silently substitute")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_ReplacesExactlyOnceAndLeavesEveryOtherByteAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	const body = "---\ntitle: 'x'\n---\n\nalpha\nbeta\ngamma\n"
+	abs := seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", body)
+
+	res, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "beta", "BETA", ScopeNotes)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Edit: %v", err)
+	}
+	want := strings.Replace(body, "beta", "BETA", 1)
+	if got := read(t, abs); got != want {
+		t.Errorf("file = %q, want %q", got, want)
+	}
+	if res.ContentHash == "" {
+		t.Error("result should carry a content hash for read-after-write confirmation")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_RefusesAmbiguousAndAbsentMatchesWithoutWriting(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	const body = "alpha\nalpha\n"
+	abs := seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", body)
+
+	cases := []struct{ name, old, want string }{
+		{"two matches", "alpha", "2"},
+		{"no match", "delta", "0"},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			_, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", tc.old, "x", ScopeNotes)
+			if err == nil {
+				t.Fatal("want a loud refusal")
+			}
+			if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), tc.want) {
+				t.Errorf("error must state the match count, got %v", err)
+			}
+			if got := read(t, abs); got != body {
+				t.Errorf("file changed on a refused edit: %q", got)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_CountsOverlappingMatches(t *testing.T) {
+	// bytes.Count counts NON-overlapping occurrences: "aa" in "aaa" is 1, so
+	// a Count-based uniqueness check calls an ambiguous edit unique.
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "aaa\n")
+
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "aa", "b", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("overlapping matches must be reported as ambiguous")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_RejectsDegenerateArguments(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\n")
+
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "", "x", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+		t.Error("empty old_str must be rejected")
+	}
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha", "alpha", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+		t.Error("a no-op edit must be rejected rather than burning a sync cycle")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_DeletionIsLegal(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	abs := seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "keep\ndrop\n")
+
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "drop\n", "", ScopeNotes); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Edit: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got := read(t, abs); got != "keep\n" {
+		t.Errorf("file = %q, want %q", got, "keep\n")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_ReportsWhenOnlyLineEndingsDiffer(t *testing.T) {
+	// The likeliest real failure: the caller's old_str lost its \r. Never
+	// normalise silently — that breaks byte-identity — but say so, because an
+	// opaque "no match" is unfixable from the caller's side.
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\r\nbeta\r\n")
+
+	_, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\nbeta", "x", ScopeNotes)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("want a refusal")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "line ending") {
+		t.Errorf("error should point at CRLF, got %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_RefusesWhileGitIsMidOperation(t *testing.T) {
+	// brain-sync runs `git merge -X ours origin/main`, and aborts on conflict
+	// with a hard reset. An edit landing inside that window is either erased
+	// or committed as a wrongly-resolved conflict, and the caller was told it
+	// succeeded.
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\n")
+
+	for _, marker := range []string{"MERGE_HEAD", "index.lock", "REBASE_HEAD"} {
+		t.Run(marker, func(t *testing.T) {
+			p := filepath.Join(dir, ".git", marker)
+			if err := os.WriteFile(p, []byte("x"), 0o644); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			defer func() { _ = os.Remove(p) }()
+
+			if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha", "beta", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+				t.Errorf("edit accepted while %s exists", marker)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_RefusesAFileHoldingConflictMarkers(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "<<<<<<< HEAD\nours\n=======\ntheirs\n>>>>>>> origin/main\n")
+
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "ours", "x", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("editing one side of an unresolved conflict must be refused")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_ConcurrentEditsBothApply(t *testing.T) {
+	// Read-modify-write with no lock loses one update AND reports success for
+	// both. old_str uniqueness does not protect against it: uniqueness is
+	// evaluated against the stale read.
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	abs := seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\nbeta\n")
+
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	errs := make([]error, 2)
+	for i, pair := range [][2]string{{"alpha", "ALPHA"}, {"beta", "BETA"}} {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func(i int, old, new string) {
+			defer wg.Done()
+			_, errs[i] = Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", old, new, ScopeNotes)
+		}(i, pair[0], pair[1])
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+
+	for i, err := range errs {
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("edit %d failed: %v", i, err)
+		}
+	}
+	if got := read(t, abs); got != "ALPHA\nBETA\n" {
+		t.Errorf("file = %q, want both edits applied", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_LeavesNoTemporaryFileBehind(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\n")
+
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha", "beta", ScopeNotes); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	entries, err := os.ReadDir(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		if e.Name() != "note.md" && e.Name() != "n.md" {
+			t.Errorf("stray file left in the tree: %q (git add -A would commit it)", e.Name())
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_PreservesReadableMode(t *testing.T) {
+	// Other uids write this tree (brain-fix, brain-enrich). os.CreateTemp
+	// yields 0600 and rename preserves it, which would break them silently.
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	abs := seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\n")
+
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha", "beta", ScopeNotes); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	fi, err := os.Stat(abs)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if fi.Mode().Perm() != 0o644 {
+		t.Errorf("mode = %v, want 0644", fi.Mode().Perm())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEdit_RefusesNonUTF8Replacement(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	seed(t, dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha\n")
+
+	if _, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/n.md", "alpha", "bad \xff", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("new_str with invalid UTF-8 must be refused, not written")
+	}
+}

ingestion/internal/notes/path.go

@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+// Package notes provides containment-checked read and surgical edit of brain
+// notes on the live tree that brain-sync commits from.
+//
+// Everything here is defensive for one reason: brain content is ingested from
+// the outside world, that content reaches a model's context via brain_query /
+// brain_context, and these primitives are callable by that model. A path bug
+// is therefore not a path bug — it is an outside author choosing a file.
+package notes
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// Scope is which part of the tree a caller is allowed to touch.
+type Scope int
+
+const (
+	// ScopeNotes is the model-facing scope: markdown under knowledge/ and
+	// wiki/ only.
+	ScopeNotes Scope = iota
+	// ScopeRoot admits the named governance files and NOTHING else. It exists so
+	// there is an MCP path to CLAUDE.md at all — the absence of one is what
+	// pushed a session to edit via the gitea REST API on 2026-06-16, which
+	// never reached the live tree and wedged brain-sync for hours. It is NOT
+	// reachable from the model-facing toolset; see tools_notes.go.
+	ScopeRoot
+)
+
+// rootFiles is an exact-name allowlist, deliberately not a "root *.md" glob.
+//
+// Two reasons. log.md is gitignored, so an edit to it applies to the live tree
+// and never reaches gitea — the exact shape of brain#2, admitted by a glob. And
+// a glob auto-admits whatever governance file appears next (AGENTS.md, a
+// bootstrap doc) with nobody reviewing that decision.
+var rootFiles = map[string]bool{"CLAUDE.md": true}
+
+// noteDirs are the two trees that hold notes.
+var noteDirs = []string{"knowledge/", "wiki/"}
+
+// deniedPrefixes are refused in every scope, independent of the allowlist.
+//
+// A static backstop rather than a consequence of the allowlist being right:
+// .git/hooks/post-commit is executed by brain-sync inside a pod holding the
+// Gitea push credentials, and archive/ + sessions/ hold verbatim session
+// transcripts that BM25 never indexes and so nobody thinks of as reachable.
+var deniedPrefixes = []string{".git/", "archive/", "sessions/", "raw/", "training-data/", ".obsidian/"}
+
+// Errors are sentinels so callers can distinguish a refusal from an I/O fault.
+var (
+	ErrOutsideBrain  = errors.New("notes: path escapes the brain dir")
+	ErrNotAllowed    = errors.New("notes: path is not editable through this tool")
+	ErrNotSyncSource = errors.New("notes: brain dir is not the sync source")
+)
+
+// Target is a resolved, contained path.
+type Target struct {
+	Rel string // brain-relative, cleaned
+	Abs string // absolute, symlink-checked
+}
+
+// Resolve canonicalises path, then checks it against the scope's allowlist,
+// then re-checks containment after symlink evaluation.
+//
+// Order matters and is the point: a prefix test on the raw argument accepts
+// "knowledge/../.git/hooks/post-commit", because Clean only collapses it
+// afterwards.
+func Resolve(brainDir, path string, scope Scope) (Target, error) {
+	// Note: the sync-source assertion lives on the WRITE path (Edit), not
+	// here. brain#2 was an edit landing where the sync could not commit it; a
+	// read from such a tree is merely a read.
+
+	// 1. Canonicalise. Rooting at "/" makes Clean collapse every ".." that
+	//    would otherwise escape, and ToSlash normalises separators first.
+	clean := strings.TrimPrefix(filepath.Clean("/"+filepath.ToSlash(path)), "/")
+	if clean == "" || clean == "." {
+		return Target{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: empty path", ErrNotAllowed)
+	}
+
+	// 2. Static denials, before any allowlist reasoning.
+	for _, d := range deniedPrefixes {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(clean+"/", d) {
+			return Target{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: %q is not note content", ErrNotAllowed, clean)
+		}
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(filepath.Base(clean), ".") {
+		return Target{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: dotfiles are not editable", ErrNotAllowed)
+	}
+
+	// 3. Scope allowlist.
+	if err := allow(clean, scope); err != nil {
+		return Target{}, err
+	}
+
+	// 4. Containment, lexically.
+	abs := filepath.Join(brainDir, filepath.FromSlash(clean))
+	if !within(brainDir, abs) {
+		return Target{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: %q", ErrOutsideBrain, path)
+	}
+
+	// 5. Containment again, after resolving symlinks. The tree is Syncthing
+	//    managed, so a link can appear without anyone adding one on purpose;
+	//    a symlinked note or directory would otherwise read and write outside
+	//    the brain entirely.
+	if err := assertNoSymlinkEscape(brainDir, abs); err != nil {
+		return Target{}, err
+	}
+
+	return Target{Rel: clean, Abs: abs}, nil
+}
+
+// allow enforces the scope's allowlist. The two scopes are DISJOINT, not
+// nested: the privileged root scope reaches governance files and nothing else,
+// so the tool that carries the higher privilege carries the smaller reach.
+func allow(clean string, scope Scope) error {
+	if scope == ScopeRoot {
+		if !rootFiles[clean] {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%w: %q is not a governance file", ErrNotAllowed, clean)
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+	if !isNotePath(clean) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: %q is outside knowledge/ and wiki/", ErrNotAllowed, clean)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func isNotePath(clean string) bool {
+	var inDir bool
+	for _, d := range noteDirs {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(clean, d) {
+			inDir = true
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if !inDir || filepath.Ext(clean) != ".md" {
+		return false
+	}
+	// _index.md is generated per wing, and brain-sync's conflict resolver
+	// deliberately resolves it in origin's favour — an edit here is reverted
+	// by design, so accepting one would be a lie.
+	return filepath.Base(clean) != "_index.md"
+}
+
+func within(root, abs string) bool {
+	rel, err := filepath.Rel(root, abs)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	return rel != ".." && !strings.HasPrefix(rel, ".."+string(filepath.Separator))
+}
+
+// assertNoSymlinkEscape resolves the deepest existing ancestor of abs and
+// requires it to still be inside brainDir. The file itself need not exist
+// (a create is legal); its directory chain must be real and contained.
+func assertNoSymlinkEscape(brainDir, abs string) error {
+	if fi, err := os.Lstat(abs); err == nil && fi.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink != 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: %q is a symlink", ErrNotAllowed, abs)
+	}
+
+	realRoot, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(brainDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("notes: resolve brain dir: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	dir := filepath.Dir(abs)
+	for {
+		resolved, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(dir)
+		if err == nil {
+			if !within(realRoot, resolved) {
+				return fmt.Errorf("%w: %q resolves outside the brain dir", ErrOutsideBrain, dir)
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+		if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return fmt.Errorf("notes: resolve %q: %w", dir, err)
+		}
+		parent := filepath.Dir(dir)
+		if parent == dir {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%w: no existing ancestor for %q", ErrOutsideBrain, abs)
+		}
+		dir = parent
+	}
+}
+
+// assertSyncSource refuses a brain dir that is not a git working tree.
+//
+// brain#2 was an edit landing on a directory the sync does not commit from.
+// That cannot be prevented by review — a wrong INGEST_BRAIN_DIR in a future
+// manifest reintroduces it while every unit test still passes — so it is
+// asserted at runtime, the same check brain-sync itself makes before running.
+func assertSyncSource(brainDir string) error {
+	if fi, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(brainDir, ".git")); err != nil || !fi.IsDir() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: %q has no .git, so an edit there would never be committed",
+			ErrNotSyncSource, brainDir)
+	}
+	return nil
+}

ingestion/internal/notes/path_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+package notes
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// newBrain lays out a tree shaped like the live one: a git dir, note dirs,
+// and the non-note areas that must never be reachable.
+func newBrain(t *testing.T) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	for _, d := range []string{
+		".git/hooks", "knowledge", "wiki/homelab/facts", "archive/claude-sessions/koala",
+		"sessions", "raw", ".obsidian",
+	} {
+		if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, d), 0o755); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	write := func(p, s string) {
+		t.Helper()
+		if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, p), []byte(s), 0o644); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	write("CLAUDE.md", "# instructions\n")
+	write("log.md", "ignored scratch\n")
+	write("knowledge/note.md", "# note\n")
+	write("wiki/homelab/facts/f.md", "# fact\n")
+	write("wiki/homelab/_index.md", "# index\n")
+	write("archive/claude-sessions/koala/session-1.md", "verbatim transcript\n")
+	write("sessions/s.jsonl", "{}\n")
+	write(".git/hooks/post-commit", "#!/bin/sh\n")
+	return dir
+}
+
+func TestResolve_AcceptsNotePaths(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	for _, p := range []string{"knowledge/note.md", "wiki/homelab/facts/f.md"} {
+		got, err := Resolve(dir, p, ScopeNotes)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Resolve(%q): %v", p, err)
+			continue
+		}
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(got.Abs, dir) {
+			t.Errorf("Resolve(%q).Abs = %q, want inside %q", p, got.Abs, dir)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestResolve_RefusesEscapesAndNonNoteAreas(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+
+	// Canonicalisation must happen BEFORE the allowlist check. A prefix test
+	// on the raw argument accepts every one of these: "knowledge/..%2f" style
+	// inputs collapse to .git, and .git/hooks/post-commit is executed by
+	// brain-sync inside a pod holding the Gitea push credentials.
+	refuse := []string{
+		"knowledge/../.git/hooks/post-commit",
+		"wiki/../.git/config",
+		"./knowledge/../.git/config",
+		"knowledge//../.git/config",
+		"../../etc/passwd",
+		"/etc/passwd",
+		".git/config",
+		"archive/claude-sessions/koala/session-1.md", // verbatim transcripts
+		"sessions/s.jsonl",
+		"raw/x.md",
+		".obsidian/workspace.json",
+		"log.md",                 // gitignored: an edit here would never sync (brain#2)
+		"wiki/homelab/_index.md", // generated; brain-sync resolves it in origin's favour
+		"knowledge/note.txt",     // not markdown
+		"CLAUDE.md",              // root file — not reachable in the notes scope
+	}
+	for _, p := range refuse {
+		if _, err := Resolve(dir, p, ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("Resolve(%q) = nil error, want refusal", p)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestResolve_RootScopeAdmitsOnlyNamedFiles(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+
+	if _, err := Resolve(dir, "CLAUDE.md", ScopeRoot); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("Resolve(CLAUDE.md, ScopeRoot): %v", err)
+	}
+	// log.md is the reason this is an exact-name list and not "root *.md":
+	// it is gitignored, so an edit would apply locally and never reach gitea.
+	for _, p := range []string{"log.md", "AGENTS.md", "knowledge/note.md", ".git/config"} {
+		if _, err := Resolve(dir, p, ScopeRoot); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("Resolve(%q, ScopeRoot) = nil error, want refusal", p)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestResolve_RefusesSymlinkedTargets(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := newBrain(t)
+	outside := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "secret.md")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(outside, []byte("secret\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// The tree is Syncthing-managed, so a symlink can appear without anyone
+	// adding one deliberately. Containment must survive it.
+	if err := os.Symlink(outside, filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge/link.md")); err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("symlinks unavailable: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := Resolve(dir, "knowledge/link.md", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+		t.Error("Resolve followed a symlink out of the brain dir")
+	}
+
+	if err := os.Symlink(filepath.Dir(outside), filepath.Join(dir, "wiki/escape")); err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("symlinks unavailable: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := Resolve(dir, "wiki/escape/secret.md", ScopeNotes); err == nil {
+		t.Error("Resolve followed a symlinked directory out of the brain dir")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestResolve_RefusesWhenTheTreeIsNotTheSyncSource(t *testing.T) {
+	// brain#2 was "wrote to a directory the sync does not commit from". No
+	// code review prevents that recurring — a wrong INGEST_BRAIN_DIR in a
+	// future manifest reintroduces it and every unit test still passes. So
+	// assert the property at runtime, the way brain-sync itself does.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge"), 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge/note.md"), []byte("x"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// Reads are fine anywhere; the guard belongs to writes.
+	if _, err := Resolve(dir, "knowledge/note.md", ScopeNotes); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Resolve should not require .git for a read: %v", err)
+	}
+	_, err := Edit(dir, "knowledge/note.md", "x", "y", ScopeNotes)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Edit accepted a tree with no .git — the write would never be committed")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "sync source") {
+		t.Errorf("error should name the cause, got %v", err)
+	}
+}

ingestion/internal/pipeline/build.go

@@ -76,6 +76,18 @@ 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))
+		}
+		if rp.Author != "" {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "author: %s\n", yamlScalar(rp.Author))
+		}
+		if rp.Published != "" {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "published: %s\n", yamlScalar(rp.Published))
+		}
 	case "concept":
 		if rp.Domain != "" {
 			fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "domain: %s\n", yamlScalar(rp.Domain))

ingestion/internal/pipeline/build_test.go

@@ -154,6 +154,52 @@ func TestBuildPages_EntityNoSubtype(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, pages[0].Content, "title: 'Basecamp'")
 }
 
+func TestBuildPages_SourcePageCarriesSourceAuthorPublished(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := []RawPage{
+		{
+			Title:     "Ornith",
+			Type:      "source",
+			Subtype:   "article",
+			Content:   "## Summary\n\nAn agentic coding model.\n",
+			Source:    "https://example.com/ornith",
+			Author:    "Jane Doe",
+			Published: "2026-07-20",
+		},
+	}
+	pages, warnings := BuildPages(raw, "ornith", "2026-07-26")
+	require.Len(t, pages, 1)
+	assert.Empty(t, warnings)
+
+	p := pages[0]
+	assert.Contains(t, p.Content, "source: 'https://example.com/ornith'")
+	assert.Contains(t, p.Content, "author: 'Jane Doe'")
+	assert.Contains(t, p.Content, "published: '2026-07-20'")
+}
+
+func TestBuildPages_SourcePageOmitsSourceAuthorPublishedWhenEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := []RawPage{
+		{Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book", Content: "## Summary\n\nA book.\n"},
+	}
+	pages, _ := BuildPages(raw, "shape-up", "2026-04-23")
+	require.Len(t, pages, 1)
+	assert.NotContains(t, pages[0].Content, "source:")
+	assert.NotContains(t, pages[0].Content, "author:")
+	assert.NotContains(t, pages[0].Content, "published:")
+}
+
+func TestBuildPages_ConceptPageIgnoresSourceAuthorPublished(t *testing.T) {
+	// source/author/published are source-note-only metadata; a concept page
+	// shouldn't carry them even if somehow set on the RawPage.
+	raw := []RawPage{
+		{Title: "Betting", Type: "concept", Content: "## Definition\n\nFoo.\n", Source: "x", Author: "y", Published: "z"},
+	}
+	pages, _ := BuildPages(raw, "src", "2026-04-23")
+	require.Len(t, pages, 1)
+	assert.NotContains(t, pages[0].Content, "source:")
+	assert.NotContains(t, pages[0].Content, "author:")
+	assert.NotContains(t, pages[0].Content, "published:")
+}
+
 func TestBuildPages_EmptyTitleSkippedWithWarning(t *testing.T) {
 	raw := []RawPage{
 		{Title: "", Type: "concept", Content: "## Definition\n\nFoo.\n"},

ingestion/internal/pipeline/links.go

@@ -51,6 +51,21 @@ func buildTitleMap(pages []wiki.Page, inventory map[wiki.PageType][]wiki.Entry)
 	return m
 }
 
+// pathStylePrefixes are known root prefixes the LLM extraction step
+// sometimes bakes into a wikilink target instead of emitting a clean
+// wing/hall/slug path (or bare title). Stripping them repairs the link
+// in place — see hyperguild#87.
+var pathStylePrefixes = []string{"wing:", "wiki/"}
+
+func stripPathStylePrefix(displayName string) (string, bool) {
+	for _, prefix := range pathStylePrefixes {
+		if stripped, ok := strings.CutPrefix(displayName, prefix); ok {
+			return stripped, true
+		}
+	}
+	return displayName, false
+}
+
 func canonicalizeContent(content string, titleToSlug map[string]string) (string, []string) {
 	var warnings []string
 	result := plainLinkRE.ReplaceAllStringFunc(content, func(match string) string {
@@ -59,12 +74,17 @@ func canonicalizeContent(content string, titleToSlug map[string]string) (string,
 			return match
 		}
 		displayName := sub[1]
-		slug, ok := titleToSlug[strings.ToLower(displayName)]
+
-		if !ok {
+		if slug, ok := titleToSlug[strings.ToLower(displayName)]; ok {
+			return "[[" + slug + "|" + displayName + "]]"
+		}
+
+		if stripped, hadPrefix := stripPathStylePrefix(displayName); hadPrefix {
+			return "[[" + stripped + "]]"
+		}
+
 		warnings = append(warnings, fmt.Sprintf("unknown wikilink: [[%s]]", displayName))
 		return match
-		}
-		return "[[" + slug + "|" + displayName + "]]"
 	})
 	return result, warnings
 }

ingestion/internal/pipeline/links_test.go

@@ -102,6 +102,53 @@ func TestCanonicalizeLinks_CurrentBatchPagesResolved(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, got[0].Content, "[[betting|Betting]]")
 }
 
+func TestCanonicalizeLinks_StripsWingColonPrefix(t *testing.T) {
+	pages := []wiki.Page{
+		{
+			Path:    "wiki/homelab/failures/act-runner-host-mode-container-needs-node-and-libatomic.md",
+			Content: "---\ntitle: 'act_runner host-mode'\n---\n\nSee [[wing:homelab/failures/rootless-buildah-act-runner-run-containers-denied]].\n",
+		},
+	}
+	got, warnings := CanonicalizeLinks(pages, map[wiki.PageType][]wiki.Entry{})
+	require.Len(t, got, 1)
+	assert.Empty(t, warnings)
+	assert.Contains(t, got[0].Content, "[[homelab/failures/rootless-buildah-act-runner-run-containers-denied]]")
+	assert.NotContains(t, got[0].Content, "wing:")
+}
+
+func TestCanonicalizeLinks_StripsWikiSlashPrefix(t *testing.T) {
+	pages := []wiki.Page{
+		{
+			Path:    "wiki/agentsquad/hypotheses/council-consolidation-standalone-deliberation-service.md",
+			Content: "---\ntitle: 'council consolidation'\n---\n\nSee [[wiki/agentsquad/decisions/autoresearch-council-sibling-pipe]].\n",
+		},
+	}
+	got, warnings := CanonicalizeLinks(pages, map[wiki.PageType][]wiki.Entry{})
+	require.Len(t, got, 1)
+	assert.Empty(t, warnings)
+	assert.Contains(t, got[0].Content, "[[agentsquad/decisions/autoresearch-council-sibling-pipe]]")
+	assert.NotContains(t, got[0].Content, "wiki/agentsquad/decisions/autoresearch-council-sibling-pipe]]\n\n") // no leftover wiki/ prefix
+	assert.NotContains(t, got[0].Content, "[[wiki/")
+}
+
+func TestCanonicalizeLinks_TitleLookupStillTakesPriorityOverPrefixStrip(t *testing.T) {
+	// A plain link that resolves via the title map must still use the
+	// normal slug|Display form, not fall through to prefix-strip repair.
+	pages := []wiki.Page{
+		{
+			Path:    "wiki/sources/shape-up.md",
+			Content: "---\ntitle: 'Shape Up'\n---\n\nSee [[Betting]].\n",
+		},
+	}
+	inventory := map[wiki.PageType][]wiki.Entry{
+		wiki.PageTypeConcept: {{Slug: "betting", Title: "Betting"}},
+	}
+	got, warnings := CanonicalizeLinks(pages, inventory)
+	require.Len(t, got, 1)
+	assert.Empty(t, warnings)
+	assert.Contains(t, got[0].Content, "[[betting|Betting]]")
+}
+
 func TestCanonicalizeLinks_MultipleLinksInOnePage(t *testing.T) {
 	pages := []wiki.Page{
 		{

ingestion/internal/pipeline/parse.go

@@ -15,6 +15,18 @@ type RawPage struct {
 	Subtype string `json:"subtype"` // entity: person|company|tool|model|framework|technology; source: article|pdf|book|video|note|project
 	Domain  string `json:"domain"`
 	Content string `json:"content"` // Markdown body only — no frontmatter
+
+	// Source, Author, Published are deterministic passthrough from the raw
+	// 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:"-"`
 }
 
 // ParseRawPages parses LLM output as a JSON array of RawPage objects.
@@ -98,6 +110,66 @@ func repairJSON(s string) string {
 	return b.String()
 }
 
+// sourceMeta is source/author/published pulled from the raw ingested
+// content's own frontmatter — deterministic passthrough, never LLM output.
+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
+// "---\n...\n---" YAML block in raw ingested content. Only these three flat
+// scalar keys are recognised; anything else in the block is ignored. Returns
+// a zero-value sourceMeta if content has no frontmatter block.
+func parseContentFrontmatter(content string) sourceMeta {
+	var meta sourceMeta
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(content, "---\n") && !strings.HasPrefix(content, "---\r\n") {
+		return meta
+	}
+
+	lines := strings.Split(content, "\n")
+	for _, line := range lines[1:] {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(line) == "---" {
+			break
+		}
+		key, val, ok := strings.Cut(line, ":")
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		key = strings.TrimSpace(key)
+		val = strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(val), `"'`)
+		switch key {
+		case "source":
+			meta.Source = val
+		case "author":
+			meta.Author = val
+		case "published":
+			meta.Published = val
+		}
+	}
+	return meta
+}
+
+// applySourceMeta deterministically overwrites Source/Author/Published on
+// every "source"-type page with meta — the LLM never controls these fields.
+func applySourceMeta(pages []RawPage, meta sourceMeta) {
+	for i := range pages {
+		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
+	}
+}
+
 func stripFences(s string) string {
 	for _, prefix := range []string{"```json\n", "```json\r\n", "```\n", "```\r\n"} {
 		if strings.HasPrefix(s, prefix) {

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/.
@@ -43,6 +50,18 @@ 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
+	}
+
 	chunks := Chunk(content, cfg.ChunkSize)
 
 	var allRaw []RawPage
@@ -59,6 +78,10 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, brainDir, content, source string, dryR
 		allWarnings = append(allWarnings, warnings...)
 	}
 
+	meta := parseContentFrontmatter(content)
+	meta.BodyHash = bodyHash
+	applySourceMeta(allRaw, meta)
+
 	return buildAndWrite(allRaw, sourceSlug, date, brainDir, source, inventory, allWarnings, dryRun)
 }
 
@@ -94,7 +117,11 @@ 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)
 			}
-			if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(page.Content), 0o644); err != nil {
+			content, err := reviseOrCreate(dest, page)
+			if err != nil {
+				return Result{}, err
+			}
+			if err := os.WriteFile(dest, []byte(content), 0o644); err != nil {
 				return Result{}, fmt.Errorf("write %s: %w", page.Path, err)
 			}
 		}
@@ -113,6 +140,75 @@ 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[:])
+}
+
+// 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 {
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, "wiki", "sources", sourceSlug+".md"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(string(raw), "\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.
+//
+// This is the compile half of compile-on-ingest. Before it, the write was an
+// unconditional os.WriteFile, so re-ingesting a source replaced its page
+// wholesale and discarded everything accumulated since — including human edits
+// (hyperguild#43: "re-ingest overwrites wholesale").
+//
+// The merge is deliberately asymmetric in the existing page's favour:
+// wiki.Merge keeps the on-disk frontmatter and the on-disk version of any
+// section both sides carry, adds sections only the extraction produced, and
+// unions bullet lists. So a freshly extracted page can add to a note but never
+// silently rewrite what a human put there — which is what makes it safe to run
+// this on every ingest rather than behind a review gate.
+//
+// Known limitation: because the on-disk frontmatter wins, `last_updated` keeps
+// its first-ingest date on a revised page. Left deliberately — the alternative
+// is this function editing frontmatter it does not own, and no lint reads that
+// field today.
+func reviseOrCreate(dest string, page wiki.Page) (string, error) {
+	existing, err := os.ReadFile(dest)
+	switch {
+	case os.IsNotExist(err):
+		return page.Content, nil
+	case err != nil:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("read existing %s: %w", page.Path, err)
+	}
+	return wiki.Merge(wiki.Page{Path: page.Path, Content: string(existing)}, page).Content, nil
+}
+
 // mergeAll deduplicates pages by path, merging content from later occurrences.
 func mergeAll(pages []wiki.Page) []wiki.Page {
 	order := make([]string, 0, len(pages))

ingestion/internal/pipeline/pipeline_test.go

@@ -130,6 +130,40 @@ func TestRun_MergesDuplicatePaths(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "[[Baz]]")
 }
 
+func TestRun_ThreadsSourceAuthorPublishedFromContentFrontmatter(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := t.TempDir()
+	for _, sub := range []string{"wiki/concepts", "wiki/entities", "wiki/sources"} {
+		require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(brainDir, sub), 0o755))
+	}
+
+	llmResponse := mustJSON([]RawPage{{
+		Title:   "Ornith",
+		Type:    "source",
+		Subtype: "article",
+		Content: "## Summary\n\nAn agentic coding model.\n",
+	}})
+
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{
+			"choices": []map[string]any{{"message": map[string]any{"content": llmResponse}}},
+		})
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	cfg := Config{Complete: llm.New(srv.URL, "", "m", 30*time.Second).Complete}
+	rawContent := "---\nsource: https://example.com/ornith\nauthor: Jane Doe\npublished: 2026-07-20\n---\n\nAn agentic coding model that runs on your laptop.\n"
+
+	result, err := Run(context.Background(), cfg, brainDir, rawContent, "ornith", false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, result.Pages, 1)
+
+	content, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(brainDir, "wiki", "sources", "ornith.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "source: 'https://example.com/ornith'")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "author: 'Jane Doe'")
+	assert.Contains(t, string(content), "published: '2026-07-20'")
+}
+
 func mustJSON(v any) string {
 	b, err := json.Marshal(v)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -137,3 +171,125 @@ func mustJSON(v any) string {
 	}
 	return string(b)
 }
+
+// --- B1: compile-on-ingest — revise the existing page, never clobber it -----
+
+func TestRunRaw_MergesIntoAnExistingPageInsteadOfOverwritingIt(t *testing.T) {
+	// Before this, buildAndWrite did an unconditional os.WriteFile: re-ingesting
+	// a source replaced its page wholesale, discarding anything accumulated
+	// since — including human edits. hyperguild#43 recorded the symptom as
+	// "re-ingest overwrites wholesale".
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	page := filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(page), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(page, []byte(`---
+title: 'Shape Up'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+A book about shaping product work.
+
+## My Take
+
+Read this before the next planning cycle.
+`), 0o644))
+
+	_, err := RunRaw(dir, "shape-up", []RawPage{{
+		Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book", Domain: "product-strategy",
+		Content: "## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n## Key Claims\n\n- Appetite beats estimation.\n",
+	}}, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(page)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	s := string(got)
+
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "## My Take", "a section the extraction never saw must survive the merge")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "Read this before the next planning cycle.")
+	assert.Contains(t, s, "Appetite beats estimation.", "newly extracted material must still land")
+}
+
+func TestRunRaw_ReIngestingUnchangedContentIsByteIdentical(t *testing.T) {
+	// Compile-on-ingest runs on every ingest, so "nothing changed" must produce
+	// no diff at all. Otherwise every re-ingest dirties the tree, brain-sync
+	// commits it, and the git history fills with noise that hides real edits.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	raw := []RawPage{{
+		Title: "Shape Up", Type: "source", Subtype: "book", Domain: "product-strategy",
+		Content: "## Summary\n\nA book about shaping product work.\n\n## Open Questions\n\n- Does appetite scale?\n",
+	}}
+
+	_, err := RunRaw(dir, "shape-up", raw, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	first, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	_, err = RunRaw(dir, "shape-up", raw, false)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	second, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "shape-up.md"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, string(first), string(second),
+		"re-ingesting unchanged content must leave the page byte-identical")
+}
+
+// --- #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")
+}
+
+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")
+}

ingestion/internal/search/search.go

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/brain"
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/textutil"
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/vectorstore"
 )
 
@@ -427,8 +428,5 @@ func excerpt(content string, maxLen int) string {
 	if len(parts) == 3 {
 		body = strings.TrimSpace(parts[2])
 	}
-	if len(body) > maxLen {
+	return textutil.Truncate(body, maxLen)
-		return body[:maxLen] + "…"
-	}
-	return body
 }

ingestion/internal/startupretry/startupretry.go

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+// Package startupretry retries a startup dependency that may not be serving
+// yet, instead of exiting on its first failure.
+//
+// It exists for the cold-boot ordering race (#83): on a cluster restart the
+// ingestion pod can reach OIDC discovery before dex is answering, gets a 502
+// from ingress, and dies — after having already connected postgres, backfilled
+// the graph and ingested session batches, all of which the restart redoes.
+// Nothing is misconfigured in that scenario; the pod simply started first.
+//
+// The budget is bounded on purpose. Retrying forever would turn a genuine
+// misconfiguration (wrong issuer URL, bad audience) into a process that looks
+// healthy and never serves, which is harder to diagnose than a crash loop.
+package startupretry
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Policy bounds the retry: at most Attempts calls, with the delay doubling
+// from Base and capped at Max.
+type Policy struct {
+	Attempts int           // total calls, including the first; < 1 means 1
+	Base     time.Duration // delay before the second attempt
+	Max      time.Duration // ceiling for the doubling delay
+}
+
+// Do calls fn until it succeeds, the attempt budget is spent, or ctx ends.
+//
+// The returned error wraps the last failure, so callers keep the diagnosis
+// they would have had without the retry.
+func Do[T any](ctx context.Context, p Policy, fn func(context.Context) (T, error)) (T, error) {
+	var zero T
+
+	attempts := p.Attempts
+	if attempts < 1 {
+		attempts = 1
+	}
+
+	delay := p.Base
+	var lastErr error
+
+	for i := range attempts {
+		if err := ctx.Err(); err != nil {
+			return zero, fmt.Errorf("startupretry: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		v, err := fn(ctx)
+		if err == nil {
+			return v, nil
+		}
+		lastErr = err
+
+		if i == attempts-1 {
+			break
+		}
+
+		if delay <= 0 {
+			delay = time.Second
+		}
+		if p.Max > 0 && delay > p.Max {
+			delay = p.Max
+		}
+
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return zero, fmt.Errorf("startupretry: %w", ctx.Err())
+		case <-time.After(delay):
+		}
+		delay *= 2
+	}
+
+	return zero, fmt.Errorf("startupretry: gave up after %d attempts: %w", attempts, lastErr)
+}

ingestion/internal/startupretry/startupretry_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+// ingestion/internal/startupretry/startupretry_test.go
+package startupretry
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func fastPolicy(attempts int) Policy {
+	return Policy{Attempts: attempts, Base: time.Millisecond, Max: 2 * time.Millisecond}
+}
+
+func TestDo_ReturnsImmediatelyOnFirstSuccess(t *testing.T) {
+	calls := 0
+	got, err := Do(context.Background(), fastPolicy(5), func(context.Context) (string, error) {
+		calls++
+		return "ready", nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Do: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got != "ready" {
+		t.Errorf("got %q, want %q", got, "ready")
+	}
+	if calls != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("calls = %d, want 1", calls)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_SurvivesTransientFailuresThenSucceeds(t *testing.T) {
+	// The observed cold-boot race: dex is not serving yet, ingress answers
+	// 502 for the first few attempts, then discovery works.
+	calls := 0
+	got, err := Do(context.Background(), fastPolicy(5), func(context.Context) (string, error) {
+		calls++
+		if calls < 4 {
+			return "", errors.New("oidc discovery: status 502")
+		}
+		return "ready", nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Do returned %v — a transient 502 must not be fatal", err)
+	}
+	if got != "ready" {
+		t.Errorf("got %q, want %q", got, "ready")
+	}
+	if calls != 4 {
+		t.Errorf("calls = %d, want 4", calls)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_GivesUpAfterTheAttemptBudgetAndReportsTheLastError(t *testing.T) {
+	// A genuinely broken issuer must still fail — retrying forever would turn
+	// a config error into a silent hang, which is worse than crash-looping.
+	last := errors.New("oidc discovery: status 404")
+	calls := 0
+
+	_, err := Do(context.Background(), fastPolicy(3), func(context.Context) (string, error) {
+		calls++
+		return "", last
+	})
+
+	if !errors.Is(err, last) {
+		t.Fatalf("err = %v, want it to wrap the last failure", err)
+	}
+	if calls != 3 {
+		t.Errorf("calls = %d, want 3 (the attempt budget)", calls)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_StopsPromptlyWhenTheContextIsCancelled(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	calls := 0
+
+	done := make(chan struct{})
+	var err error
+	go func() {
+		defer close(done)
+		_, err = Do(ctx, Policy{Attempts: 100, Base: 50 * time.Millisecond, Max: time.Second},
+			func(context.Context) (string, error) {
+				calls++
+				if calls == 1 {
+					cancel()
+				}
+				return "", errors.New("still down")
+			})
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case <-done:
+	case <-time.After(2 * time.Second):
+		t.Fatal("Do did not return after context cancellation")
+	}
+	if !errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
+		t.Errorf("err = %v, want context.Canceled", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDo_BacksOffAndIsCappedByMax(t *testing.T) {
+	var delays []time.Duration
+	p := Policy{Attempts: 5, Base: 10 * time.Millisecond, Max: 25 * time.Millisecond}
+
+	last := time.Now()
+	_, _ = Do(context.Background(), p, func(context.Context) (string, error) {
+		now := time.Now()
+		delays = append(delays, now.Sub(last))
+		last = now
+		return "", errors.New("down")
+	})
+
+	// delays[0] is the first call (no wait); the rest are the sleeps.
+	if len(delays) != 5 {
+		t.Fatalf("attempts = %d, want 5", len(delays))
+	}
+	if delays[1] >= delays[2] {
+		t.Errorf("backoff is not growing: %v then %v", delays[1], delays[2])
+	}
+	for i, d := range delays[1:] {
+		if d > 2*p.Max {
+			t.Errorf("delay %d = %v, exceeds the Max cap %v with slack", i+1, d, p.Max)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPolicy_ZeroValueStillMakesOneAttempt(t *testing.T) {
+	// A caller that forgets to configure the policy must not silently get a
+	// no-op that returns a nil validator and a nil error.
+	calls := 0
+	_, err := Do(context.Background(), Policy{}, func(context.Context) (string, error) {
+		calls++
+		return "", errors.New("down")
+	})
+
+	if calls != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("calls = %d, want 1", calls)
+	}
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Error("err = nil, want the failure surfaced")
+	}
+}

ingestion/internal/textutil/truncate.go

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+// Package textutil holds small text helpers shared across the ingestion
+// service.
+package textutil
+
+import "unicode/utf8"
+
+// Ellipsis marks a value that was cut short.
+const Ellipsis = "…"
+
+// Truncate shortens s to at most limit CHARACTERS, appending an ellipsis when
+// anything was dropped.
+//
+// It exists because four call sites did `s[:limit] + "…"` (#93). Both halves
+// of that are byte operations: len() counts bytes and a slice cuts bytes, so
+// on Swedish text — where å ä ö are two bytes and an em dash is three — the
+// cut lands mid-character and leaves an orphaned lead byte. The result is
+// invalid UTF-8.
+//
+// That failed loudly in exactly one place, wiki/index.md, which is written
+// raw to disk and then rejected by every strict decoder. The other three fed
+// MCP responses, where encoding/json silently substitutes U+FFFD — so those
+// had been quietly eating the last character of truncated excerpts with no
+// error anywhere.
+//
+// The marker is appended only when content was actually dropped: an ellipsis
+// on complete text is a lie about the content.
+func Truncate(s string, limit int) string {
+	if limit <= 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	if utf8.RuneCountInString(s) <= limit {
+		return s
+	}
+
+	// Walk runes rather than converting to []rune: the input can be a whole
+	// note body, and this runs on the read path.
+	count := 0
+	for i := range s {
+		if count == limit {
+			return s[:i] + Ellipsis
+		}
+		count++
+	}
+	return s + Ellipsis
+}

ingestion/internal/textutil/truncate_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+// ingestion/internal/textutil/truncate_test.go
+package textutil_test
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/textutil"
+)
+
+func TestTruncate_ShortStringsAreUntouched(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, s := range []string{"", "kort", "räv", "a — b"} {
+		if got := textutil.Truncate(s, 100); got != s {
+			t.Errorf("Truncate(%q, 100) = %q, want it unchanged", s, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTruncate_NeverCutsInsideACharacter(t *testing.T) {
+	// The property, not an example: whatever the limit, the result must be
+	// valid UTF-8. Byte-slicing Swedish text (å ä ö) or an em dash produces
+	// an orphaned lead byte, which is what corrupted wiki/index.md (#93).
+	s := strings.Repeat("räv — ål — ökäd ", 20)
+
+	for limit := 0; limit <= len(s)+5; limit++ {
+		got := textutil.Truncate(s, limit)
+		if !utf8.ValidString(got) {
+			t.Fatalf("Truncate(s, %d) produced invalid UTF-8: %q", limit, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTruncate_CountsCharactersNotBytes(t *testing.T) {
+	// "räv" is 4 bytes, 3 runes. A byte-based limit of 3 would cut inside the
+	// "ä"; a rune-based one returns it whole.
+	if got := textutil.Truncate("räv", 3); got != "räv" {
+		t.Errorf("Truncate(\"räv\", 3) = %q, want the whole word", got)
+	}
+
+	got := textutil.Truncate("räven springer", 5)
+	if utf8.RuneCountInString(got) != 6 { // 5 runes + the ellipsis
+		t.Errorf("Truncate(...) = %q, want 5 runes plus the marker", got)
+	}
+	if !strings.HasSuffix(got, "…") {
+		t.Errorf("Truncate(...) = %q, want it marked as truncated", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTruncate_MarksOnlyWhenSomethingWasDropped(t *testing.T) {
+	// An ellipsis on text that was not cut is a lie about the content.
+	if got := textutil.Truncate("räv", 10); strings.HasSuffix(got, "…") {
+		t.Errorf("Truncate(%q, 10) = %q, want no truncation marker", "räv", got)
+	}
+	if got := textutil.Truncate("räv", 3); strings.HasSuffix(got, "…") {
+		t.Errorf("exact-length input must not be marked: %q", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTruncate_NonPositiveLimitYieldsNothingRatherThanPanicking(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, limit := range []int{0, -1, -100} {
+		if got := textutil.Truncate("räven", limit); got != "" {
+			t.Errorf("Truncate(_, %d) = %q, want empty", limit, got)
+		}
+	}
+}

ingestion/internal/vectorstore/pg_test.go

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 // reachable database.
 //
 // To run:
+//
 //	BRAIN_PG_TEST_DSN='postgres://brain_app:pwd@127.0.0.1:5432/brain' \
 //	go test ./internal/vectorstore/... -run Integration
 func dsn(t *testing.T) string {

ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher.go

@@ -74,6 +74,13 @@ func processDir(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, date string) []error {
 			return nil
 		}
 
+		// AutoTunnel's own fuzzy-match human-review queue, not source
+		// material to extract (hyperguild#88) — same exclusion as
+		// api.ListPending already applies when listing raw/ for promotion.
+		if strings.HasPrefix(d.Name(), "tunnel-candidates-") {
+			return nil
+		}
+
 		// Skip files that have already been processed or permanently failed.
 		if _, err := os.Stat(path + ".processed"); err == nil {
 			return nil

ingestion/internal/watcher/watcher_test.go

@@ -229,3 +229,49 @@ func TestProcessDir_SkipsSubdirs(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err = os.Stat(failedFile)
 	assert.NoError(t, err, "failed subdir file should be untouched")
 }
+
+// TestProcessDir_SkipsTunnelCandidateFiles guards against hyperguild#88:
+// AutoTunnel's own human-review queue (brain/raw/tunnel-candidates-*.md)
+// must never be re-ingested as if it were external source material — doing
+// so fed the raw "(term: X)" log entries back through the LLM extraction
+// pipeline, which then legitimately (from its own perspective) surfaced
+// [[X]] as a wikilink for any term that happened to match a real page
+// title, however generic (e.g. "mission").
+func TestProcessDir_SkipsTunnelCandidateFiles(t *testing.T) {
+	brainDir := setupBrainDir(t)
+
+	tunnelFile := filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "tunnel-candidates-2026-07-19.md")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(tunnelFile, []byte(
+		"# Tunnel candidates 2026-07-19\n\n- `wiki/homelab/decisions/foo.md` ↔ `wiki/telos/decisions/mission.md` (term: \"mission\")\n",
+	), 0o644))
+
+	var completeCalls int
+	completeFn := func(ctx context.Context, system, user string) (string, error) {
+		completeCalls++
+		raw := pipeline.RawPage{Title: "Should not be written", Type: "source", Subtype: "article", Content: "## Summary\n\nx.\n"}
+		b, _ := json.Marshal([]pipeline.RawPage{raw})
+		return string(b), nil
+	}
+
+	cfg := Config{
+		BrainDir: brainDir,
+		Interval: time.Hour, // not used; we call processDir directly
+		Pipeline: pipeline.Config{
+			Complete:  completeFn,
+			ChunkSize: 0,
+			Schema:    "# Schema\nThree page types.",
+		},
+	}
+
+	date := time.Now().UTC().Format("2006-01-02")
+	errs := processDir(context.Background(), cfg, date)
+	assert.Empty(t, errs)
+
+	assert.Zero(t, completeCalls, "tunnel-candidates file must never reach the LLM extraction pipeline")
+
+	// File must be left alone in raw/ — not moved to processed/, no marker written.
+	_, err := os.Stat(tunnelFile + ".processed")
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(err), "tunnel-candidates file should not get a .processed marker")
+	_, err = os.Stat(filepath.Join(brainDir, "raw", "processed", date, "tunnel-candidates-2026-07-19.md"))
+	assert.True(t, os.IsNotExist(err), "tunnel-candidates file should not be copied to processed/")
+}

ingestion/internal/wiki/index.go

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/textutil"
 )
 
 // RebuildIndex writes brain/wiki/index.md from the current wiki contents.
@@ -62,10 +64,7 @@ func pageFirstSentence(brainDir string, e Entry) string {
 		if line == "" || strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") {
 			continue
 		}
-		if len(line) > 100 {
+		return textutil.Truncate(line, 100)
-			return line[:100] + "…"
-		}
-		return line
 	}
 	return ""
 }

ingestion/internal/wiki/merge.go

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package wiki
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -29,12 +30,16 @@ type section struct {
 }
 
 // Merge combines two Page values with the same path.
-// Frontmatter is taken from a. Sections are merged by strategy:
+// Frontmatter is taken from a. The preamble (content before the first ##
-// bullet sections union unique lines, append sections concatenate,
+// heading) is taken from a — same "on-disk wins" default every unlisted
-// all others keep a's version. Sections in b not present in a are appended.
+// named section gets, kept as a separate field rather than a section with
+// an empty heading so it can never collide with one (see parseSections).
+// Sections are merged by strategy: bullet sections union unique lines,
+// append sections concatenate, all others keep a's version. Sections in b
+// not present in a are appended.
 func Merge(a, b Page) Page {
-	fmA, secsA := parseSections(a.Content)
+	fmA, preambleA, secsA := parseSections(a.Content)
-	_, secsB := parseSections(b.Content)
+	fmB, _, secsB := parseSections(b.Content)
 
 	idx := make(map[string]int, len(secsA))
 	for i, s := range secsA {
@@ -53,14 +58,168 @@ func Merge(a, b Page) Page {
 		case bulletSections[sB.heading]:
 			secsA[i].content = mergeBullets(sA.content, sB.content)
 		case appendSections[sB.heading]:
-			secsA[i].content = strings.TrimRight(sA.content, "\n") + "\n\n" + strings.TrimLeft(sB.content, "\n")
+			secsA[i].content = appendNew(sA.content, sB.content)
 		}
 	}
 
-	return Page{Path: a.Path, Content: rebuildContent(fmA, secsA)}
+	return Page{Path: a.Path, Content: rebuildContent(refreshOwned(fmA, fmB), preambleA, secsA)}
 }
 
-func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter string, sections []section) {
+// 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
+// before the first `## ` heading), and its `## `-headed sections.
+//
+// The preamble is returned separately rather than as a section with an
+// empty heading — a section keyed by heading=="" would collide with a
+// literal degenerate `## ` (marker, no title text; strings.TrimPrefix also
+// yields ""), which is a distinct, addressable section a page can genuinely
+// have, not the same thing as "no heading yet." Two entries sharing one key
+// in Merge's idx map means one of them silently loses lookup visibility —
+// found in review as real, reproducible data loss, not a hypothetical.
+func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter, preamble string, sections []section) {
 	lines := strings.Split(markdown, "\n")
 	i := 0
 
@@ -78,6 +237,22 @@ func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter string, sections []section) {
 		frontmatter = fmt.Sprintf("---\n%s\n---\n", strings.Join(fmLines, "\n"))
 	}
 
+	// Everything before the first `## ` heading — an intro paragraph, or, if
+	// the page has no headings at all, the entire body — is ordinary content,
+	// not something this parser is entitled to drop (hyperguild#103 review:
+	// dropping it meant Merge, one caller up, would silently replace the
+	// whole on-disk body with the fresh extraction whenever a page didn't
+	// follow the ## convention — exactly the class of bug this file exists
+	// to prevent).
+	var preambleLines []string
+	for ; i < len(lines); i++ {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(lines[i], "## ") {
+			break
+		}
+		preambleLines = append(preambleLines, lines[i])
+	}
+	preamble = strings.Join(preambleLines, "\n")
+
 	var cur *section
 	for ; i < len(lines); i++ {
 		line := lines[i]
@@ -96,24 +271,85 @@ func parseSections(markdown string) (frontmatter string, sections []section) {
 	return
 }
 
-func rebuildContent(frontmatter string, sections []section) string {
+// rebuildContent serialises sections back into a page.
+//
+// Each section body is normalised to exactly one trailing newline and no
+// leading blank line. Without that, a section keeps whatever blank lines it was
+// parsed with and this function adds its own, so every merge pass grows the page
+// by a blank line — invisible in a diff viewer, fatal to byte-stability. Compile-on-ingest
+// merges on every run, so "merging changes nothing when nothing changed" has to
+// hold at the byte level, not just the content level.
+func rebuildContent(frontmatter, preamble string, sections []section) string {
 	var sb strings.Builder
 	sb.WriteString(frontmatter)
+	if body := strings.Trim(preamble, "\n"); body != "" {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "\n%s\n", body)
+	}
 	for _, sec := range sections {
-		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "\n## %s\n\n%s", sec.heading, sec.content)
+		body := strings.Trim(sec.content, "\n")
+		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "\n## %s\n\n%s\n", sec.heading, body)
 	}
 	return sb.String()
 }
 
+// canonicalLine collapses a line to its comparison key: internal whitespace
+// runs (a re-extraction's bullet spacing, tabs vs spaces, trailing spaces)
+// must not make the same logical line look new. strings.Fields already
+// trims and splits on any whitespace run, so joining it back with single
+// spaces is exactly "same words, same order, whitespace-insensitive."
+func canonicalLine(line string) string {
+	return strings.Join(strings.Fields(line), " ")
+}
+
+// appendNew concatenates the lines of b that a does not already carry.
+//
+// Append sections used to concatenate wholesale, which is correct exactly once.
+// Compile-on-ingest merges a freshly extracted page into the one already on
+// disk, so an unchanged source re-ingested would grow "Open Questions" and
+// "Updates" on every run until the page is unreadable — and the drift guard
+// that would otherwise catch it (hashing the source body) does not exist yet,
+// so idempotency has to hold here rather than upstream.
+//
+// Line-level rather than block-level: the common case is a re-ingest carrying
+// one genuinely new line alongside several it already has. A block-level
+// "skip if identical" would duplicate the old lines every time that happened.
+//
+// The cost is that a line repeated verbatim on purpose collapses to one. For
+// these sections — questions, updates, evolving notes — a repeat is noise
+// rather than signal, and the failure is conservative: the page stops growing
+// instead of growing wrongly.
+func appendNew(a, b string) string {
+	seen := make(map[string]bool)
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(a, "\n") {
+		if c := canonicalLine(line); c != "" {
+			seen[c] = true
+		}
+	}
+
+	var add []string
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(b, "\n") {
+		c := canonicalLine(line)
+		if c == "" || seen[c] {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[c] = true
+		add = append(add, line)
+	}
+	if len(add) == 0 {
+		return a // nothing new — leave the section byte-identical
+	}
+	return strings.TrimRight(a, "\n") + "\n\n" + strings.Join(add, "\n") + "\n"
+}
+
 func mergeBullets(a, b string) string {
 	seen := make(map[string]bool)
 	var lines []string
 	for _, line := range strings.Split(a+b, "\n") {
-		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		c := canonicalLine(line)
-		if trimmed == "" || seen[trimmed] {
+		if c == "" || seen[c] {
 			continue
 		}
-		seen[trimmed] = true
+		seen[c] = true
 		lines = append(lines, line)
 	}
 	return strings.Join(lines, "\n") + "\n"

ingestion/internal/wiki/merge_test.go

@@ -53,3 +53,282 @@ func TestMerge_KeepsFrontmatterFromA(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "title: A")
 	assert.NotContains(t, got.Content, "title: B")
 }
+
+// --- hyperguild#103 review: a page with content outside any `## ` section ---
+// must never lose that content on merge. parseSections used to only capture
+// text between `## ` headings — anything before the first heading (a common,
+// ordinary shape for a hand-written note: an intro paragraph before the first
+// section) or, worse, an entire page with no `## ` headings at all (a legacy
+// note, a stub, any hand-edit that doesn't follow the section convention)
+// vanished silently. Merge would then fill the page entirely from the fresh
+// extraction — the opposite of "never silently rewrite what a human put
+// there," the guarantee this whole file exists to provide.
+
+func TestMerge_PreservesOnDiskContentWithNoSectionHeadings(t *testing.T) {
+	a := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\nJust some free text a human wrote. No section headings at all.\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Definition\n\nFresh extraction's take.\n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b)
+	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "Just some free text a human wrote",
+		"on-disk content with no ## headings must survive the merge, not be replaced wholesale by the fresh extraction")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_DegenerateEmptyHeadingDoesNotCollideWithPreamble(t *testing.T) {
+	// Second review pass on #103: representing the preamble as a section with
+	// heading=="" collides with a literal `## ` (marker, no title text) —
+	// strings.TrimPrefix("## ", "## ") is also "". `a` has only a preamble
+	// (no degenerate heading of its own); `b` introduces a genuinely new
+	// degenerate `## ` section. Because both key to "", Merge's idx thinks
+	// b's section "already exists" in a (it's really just a's unrelated
+	// preamble) and never adds it — b's section vanishes from the output
+	// entirely, not merged, not kept, not appended.
+	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\nAn intro paragraph.\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## \n\nA genuinely new degenerate section's body.\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b)
+	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "An intro paragraph.", "a's own preamble must survive")
+	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "A genuinely new degenerate section's body.",
+		"b's degenerate section is new content, not a collision with a's unrelated preamble — it must not be silently dropped")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_PreservesPreambleBeforeFirstHeading(t *testing.T) {
+	a := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\nAn intro paragraph before the first heading.\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "wiki/x.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Definition\n\nA thing.\n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b)
+	assert.Contains(t, got.Content, "An intro paragraph before the first heading",
+		"text before the first ## heading is ordinary page content, not something the parser is entitled to drop")
+}
+
+// --- hyperguild#103 review: dedup must be whitespace-insensitive -----------
+// Page content is produced by an LLM per run, so byte-identical re-extraction
+// of "the same" logical line is not guaranteed — different bullet spacing or
+// trailing whitespace on an otherwise-identical line must still dedup, or
+// idempotency only holds when the extractor happens to reproduce whitespace
+// exactly, which is not a real guarantee.
+
+func TestMerge_AppendSectionDedupsAcrossWhitespaceVariants(t *testing.T) {
+	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Open Questions\n\n- Does this converge?\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Open Questions\n\n-   Does this converge?  \n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b)
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(got.Content, "Does this converge?"),
+		"same logical line with different whitespace must dedup, not duplicate")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_BulletSectionDedupsAcrossWhitespaceVariants(t *testing.T) {
+	a := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Related Concepts\n\n- [[bar|Bar]]\n"}
+	b := Page{Path: "p.md", Content: "---\ntitle: X\n---\n\n## Related Concepts\n\n-  [[bar|Bar]]\n"}
+
+	got := Merge(a, b)
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(got.Content, "[[bar|Bar]]"),
+		"same logical bullet with different whitespace must dedup, not duplicate")
+}
+
+// --- brain#21/B1: merging must be safe to run again -------------------------
+
+func TestMerge_AppendSectionDoesNotDuplicateContentAlreadyPresent(t *testing.T) {
+	// Compile-on-ingest merges a freshly extracted page into the one already
+	// on disk. Bullet sections union, so they are naturally idempotent — but
+	// append sections concatenate, so re-ingesting an unchanged source would
+	// grow "Open Questions" on every run until the page is unreadable.
+	page := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: X
+---
+
+## Open Questions
+
+- Does this converge?
+`}
+
+	once := Merge(page, page)
+	twice := Merge(once, page)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, strings.Count(once.Content, "Does this converge?"),
+		"merging a page with itself must not duplicate an append section")
+	assert.Equal(t, once.Content, twice.Content,
+		"merge must be idempotent — a third pass may not keep growing the page")
+}
+
+func TestMerge_AppendSectionStillAccumulatesGenuinelyNewContent(t *testing.T) {
+	// The dedup must not turn append sections into keep-a-only sections:
+	// new material is exactly what compile-on-ingest exists to add.
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: X
+---
+
+## Open Questions
+
+- Does this converge?
+`}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: X
+---
+
+## Open Questions
+
+- What happens under load?
+`}
+
+	got := Merge(existing, fresh).Content
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "Does this converge?", "existing question must survive")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "What happens under load?", "new question must be added")
+}
+
+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)
+}
+
+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)
+}

internal/auth/jwt_test.go

@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/auth"
 	"github.com/lestrrat-go/jwx/v2/jwa"
 	"github.com/lestrrat-go/jwx/v2/jwk"
 	"github.com/lestrrat-go/jwx/v2/jwt"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/auth"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/auth/protected_resource_test.go

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/auth"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/auth"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/brain/client_test.go

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/brain"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/brain"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/config/config.go

@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ type Config struct {
 	LiteLLMBaseURL string // LITELLM_BASE_URL, default http://iguana:4000
 	LiteLLMAPIKey  string // LITELLM_API_KEY
 	ConfigDir      string // SUPERVISOR_CONFIG_DIR, default ./config/supervisor
-	ModelsFile     string // SUPERVISOR_MODELS_FILE, default <ConfigDir>/../models.yaml
 	IngestBaseURL  string // INGEST_BASE_URL, default http://localhost:3300
 	IngestSvcURL   string // INGEST_SVC_URL — base URL for brain_ingest (/ingest, /ingest-path)
 	KBRetrievalURL string // KB_RETRIEVAL_URL — base URL for brain_search
@@ -23,7 +22,6 @@ func Load() (Config, error) {
 		LiteLLMAPIKey:  os.Getenv("LITELLM_API_KEY"),
 		ConfigDir:      envOr("SUPERVISOR_CONFIG_DIR", "./config/supervisor"),
 	}
-	cfg.ModelsFile = envOr("SUPERVISOR_MODELS_FILE", cfg.ConfigDir+"/../models.yaml")
 	cfg.IngestBaseURL = envOr("INGEST_BASE_URL", "http://localhost:3300")
 	cfg.IngestSvcURL = envOr("INGEST_SVC_URL", "")
 	cfg.KBRetrievalURL = envOr("KB_RETRIEVAL_URL", "")

internal/config/config_test.go

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package config_test
 import (
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/config"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/config"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/config/models.go

@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-package config
-
-import (
-	"fmt"
-	"os"
-
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
-)
-
-type skillChain struct {
-	Chain []string `yaml:"chain"`
-}
-
-type modelsFile struct {
-	DefaultChain []string              `yaml:"default_chain"`
-	Skills       map[string]skillChain `yaml:"skills"`
-}
-
-type Models struct {
-	data modelsFile
-}
-
-func LoadModels(path string) (Models, error) {
-	raw, err := os.ReadFile(path)
-	if err != nil {
-		return Models{}, fmt.Errorf("load models: %w", err)
-	}
-	var f modelsFile
-	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(raw, &f); err != nil {
-		return Models{}, fmt.Errorf("parse models: %w", err)
-	}
-	return Models{data: f}, nil
-}
-
-// ModelFor returns the primary model to use for a skill.
-// If override is non-empty, it is returned directly.
-// Falls back to default_chain[0] when the skill has no explicit entry.
-func (m Models) ModelFor(skill, override string) string {
-	if override != "" {
-		return override
-	}
-	if sc, ok := m.data.Skills[skill]; ok && len(sc.Chain) > 0 {
-		return sc.Chain[0]
-	}
-	if len(m.data.DefaultChain) > 0 {
-		return m.data.DefaultChain[0]
-	}
-	return ""
-}

internal/config/models_test.go

@@ -1,53 +0,0 @@
-package config_test
-
-import (
-	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
-	"testing"
-
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/config"
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
-)
-
-const testYAML = `
-default_chain:
-  - ollama/qwen3-coder-30b-tuned
-  - claude-sonnet-4-6
-
-skills:
-  review:
-    chain:
-      - ollama/devstral-tuned
-      - ollama/gemma4
-      - claude-sonnet-4-6
-  spec:
-    chain:
-      - ollama/phi4
-      - claude-opus-4-6
-`
-
-func writeModels(t *testing.T, content string) string {
-	t.Helper()
-	f := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "models.yaml")
-	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(f, []byte(content), 0644))
-	return f
-}
-
-func TestModelsModelForSkillWithEntry(t *testing.T) {
-	m, err := config.LoadModels(writeModels(t, testYAML))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "ollama/devstral-tuned", m.ModelFor("review", ""))
-}
-
-func TestModelsModelForDefaultFallback(t *testing.T) {
-	m, err := config.LoadModels(writeModels(t, testYAML))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "ollama/qwen3-coder-30b-tuned", m.ModelFor("trainer", ""))
-}
-
-func TestModelsModelForCallerOverride(t *testing.T) {
-	m, err := config.LoadModels(writeModels(t, testYAML))
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "claude-opus-4-6", m.ModelFor("review", "claude-opus-4-6"))
-}

internal/config/routing_test.go

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package config_test
 import (
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/config"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/config"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/exec/litellm_test.go

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
-	iexec "github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/exec"
+	iexec "git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/exec"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/githubclient/client_test.go

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/githubclient"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/githubclient"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/mcp/server.go

@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/auth"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/auth"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/registry"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/registry"
 )
 
 type request struct {

internal/mcp/server_test.go

@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/mcp"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/mcp"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/registry"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/registry"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/mcpclient/client_test.go

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/mcpclient"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/mcpclient"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/registry/registry_test.go

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/registry"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/registry"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ func (s stubSkill) Tools() []registry.ToolDef {
 		InputSchema: json.RawMessage(`{"type":"object","properties":{}}`),
 	}}
 }
+
 func (s stubSkill) Handle(ctx context.Context, tool string, args json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
 	return json.RawMessage(`{"ok":true}`), nil
 }

internal/session/history_test.go

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/session"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/session"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/session/session_test.go

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/session"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/session"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/skills/brain/handlers_test.go

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/skills/brain"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/skills/brain"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )

internal/skills/brain/skill.go

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ package brain
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/registry"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/registry"
 )
 
 // Config holds brain skill configuration.

internal/skills/org/handlers_test.go

@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"testing"
 
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/skills/org"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/skills/org"
-	"github.com/mathiasbq/supervisor/internal/tier"
+	"git.d-ma.be/mathias/hyperguild/internal/tier"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )