docs: define hierarchy and document forms

.agents/notes/implemented/process/2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.i18n.yaml

@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 # side as of the last confirmed-consistent state. Both languages carry equal authority;
 # after editing either side, bring the other along and re-record with:
 #   pnpm run verify-translation-pairing --write .agents/notes/implemented/process/2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.md
-2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.md: a52c40a9a147fd39fdec4c61079822f1b1115227
-2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.zh.md: c26efe0e06d73ff0bd5608c7f44d54ebbe373bed
+2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.md: e7b3421d09a1ae5ab9a9373e8040832c1b0d4b97
+2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.zh.md: 3e372f975943e8e4868aa6a386361ba324ef7109

.agents/notes/implemented/process/2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Agent Note: Documentation tiers, budgets, and the ceiling gate
+# Agent Note: Documentation structure, tiers, and budgets
 
 Status: implemented
 
@@ -6,13 +6,14 @@ English | [中文](2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.zh.md)
 
 ## Problem
 
-Standing docs accumulated repeated rules, retold incidents, duplicated package maps, and stale Agent Note summaries despite existing writing guidance. Because review alone did not prevent that growth, the repository needed a mechanical budget alongside its documentation taxonomy.
+Standing docs accumulated repeated rules, retold incidents, duplicated package maps, and stale Agent Note summaries despite existing writing guidance. That guidance also did not define how a document's place in the hierarchy limits its scope or how ordered teaching differs from lookup-oriented material. Because review alone did not prevent that growth, the repository needed a mechanical budget alongside its documentation taxonomy.
 
 ## Decision
 
-- **A tier taxonomy with one home per fact.** [docs/AGENTS.md](../../../../docs/AGENTS.md) is the documentation standard: it assigns every Markdown tier a single job (standing orders, system map, type catalog, decision records, incident stories, how-tos, per-package contracts, generated catalogs, workflows), forbids restating a fact outside its home tier (link instead), and carries the slop checklist used when writing or reviewing any doc.
+- **Structure follows the documentation tree.** [docs/AGENTS.md](../../../../docs/AGENTS.md) is the documentation standard: a document owns detail about its subject, summarizes only the purpose, responsibility, and high-level behavior of direct children, and links to deeper owners. [Agent Notes](../../README.md) remain outside this structural contract. Every human-facing document is a tutorial with an ordered outcome or a reference with an explicit lookup scope; a [postmortem](../../../../docs/postmortem/README.md) is an incident-scoped reference whose chronology records evidence. Tutorials introduce concepts in prerequisite order for the reader's starting knowledge.
+- **A tier taxonomy with one home per fact.** The standard assigns every Markdown tier one job, forbids restating a fact outside its home tier, and carries the slop checklist used when writing or reviewing any doc.
 - **A narrow, hard budget gate.** [scripts/verify-doc-budgets.ts](../../../../scripts/verify-doc-budgets.ts) joins `doc-sync`: every doc listed in [scripts/doc-budgets.manifest.json](../../../../scripts/doc-budgets.manifest.json) must stay under its word ceiling (`wc -w` semantics, whole file), and a budgeted file that is missing fails the gate so a rename cannot silently orphan its budget. Scope is deliberately only the accretion-prone standing docs — the root and subtree `AGENTS.md` files, `architecture.md`, `packages/README.md`, and the standing policy docs they evict content into (`docs/testing.md`, `docs/defensive-patterns.md`). Reference docs, Agent Notes, and package READMEs are unbudgeted: length is legitimate there when every row is a fact, and review plus the slop checklist govern them.
-- **Ceilings are an enforcement frontier that ratchets.** A ceiling sits at least 5% above the doc's current size — working headroom, so routine wording edits pass while real growth still trips the gate — and ratchets down, keeping that margin, as the doc is brought to its target budget (root `AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,500 words; `architecture.md` ≤ 1,800; subtree `AGENTS.md` ≤ 600; `packages/README.md` ≤ 600). When the gate goes red the fix is to relocate or condense per the taxonomy; raising a ceiling is permitted only with explicit justification in the PR description, the manifest diff being the reviewable act.
+- **Ceilings are an enforcement frontier that ratchets.** A doc at or below its target keeps at least 5% headroom as its ceiling ratchets down; a doc above target keeps a frozen ceiling that prevents growth until it reaches the target (root `AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,600 words; `architecture.md` ≤ 1,800; subtree `AGENTS.md` ≤ 600 except `packages/AGENTS.md` ≤ 650 and `docs/AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,250; `packages/README.md` ≤ 600). When the gate goes red, relocate or condense; raise a ceiling only with explicit PR justification.
 - **A thin workflow skill, contracts in docs.** [.agents/skills/dsh-doc-standards](../../../skills/dsh-doc-standards/SKILL.md) carries the placement/audit/red-gate workflow and defers to the standard as its source of truth, the same split as [dsh-translate-docs](../../../skills/dsh-translate-docs/SKILL.md) over the i18n contract.
 
 ## Alternatives considered
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ Standing docs accumulated repeated rules, retold incidents, duplicated package m
 
 ## Consequences
 
-- Adding to a budgeted doc now requires displacement: relocate the addition to its taxonomy home with a pointer, or condense existing prose to pay for it. Growth without pruning fails CI.
-- The bring-under-target rewrites land as stacked follow-ups that ratchet the manifest down as they merge; until each lands, its doc's frozen ceiling only prevents further growth.
+- Adding to a budgeted doc requires displacement: relocate the addition to its taxonomy home with a pointer, or condense existing prose to pay for it. Growth without pruning fails CI.
+- Structural review starts with ownership and document form before sentence-level editing, so lower-level detail moves to its owner instead of being polished in the wrong place.
+- Budgeted docs that remain above target cannot grow; reaching the target restores the 5% working headroom.
 - Word count is a crude proxy accepted deliberately: it cannot judge quality, but it forces the relocation decision at exactly the moment content is being added, which is when the author has the context to place it correctly.

.agents/notes/implemented/process/2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.zh.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Agent Note: 文档分层、预算与上限门禁
+# Agent Note: 文档结构、层级与预算
 
 Status: implemented
 
@@ -6,14 +6,15 @@ Status: implemented
 
 ## 问题
 
-尽管已有写作指导，常设文档仍不断累积重复规则、反复讲述的事故、重复的包映射，以及陈旧的 Agent Note 摘要。仅靠评审无法阻止这种增长，因此仓库需要在文档分类体系之外再配一套可自动执行的预算。
+尽管已有写作指导，常设文档仍不断累积重复规则、反复讲述的事件、重复的包（package）映射，以及陈旧的 Agent Note（agent 决策记录）摘要。该指导也未明确文档在层级中的位置如何限定其内容范围，以及按顺序引导读者学习的内容与面向查阅的材料有何不同。仅靠评审无法阻止这种增长，因此仓库需要在文档分类之外再配一套机械预算。
 
 ## 决策
 
-- **每项事实只归属一处的层级分类体系。**[docs/AGENTS.md](../../../../docs/AGENTS.md) 是文档标准：它为每种 Markdown 层级分配单一职责（常设指令、系统图、类型目录、决策记录、事故叙事、操作指南、各包契约、生成的目录、工作流），禁止在事实归属层级之外重复陈述（应改为链接），并包含编写或评审任何文档时使用的赘余检查清单。
-- **范围窄且严格的预算门禁。**[scripts/verify-doc-budgets.ts](../../../../scripts/verify-doc-budgets.ts) 接入 `doc-sync`：[scripts/doc-budgets.manifest.json](../../../../scripts/doc-budgets.manifest.json) 列出的每份文档都不得超过其词数上限（采用 `wc -w` 语义，统计整个文件）；预算内文件缺失也会使门禁失败，使文件重命名无法悄然摆脱预算约束。范围刻意只涵盖容易膨胀的常设文档——根目录和子树中的 `AGENTS.md` 文件、`architecture.md`、`packages/README.md`，以及它们将内容移入的常设策略文档（`docs/testing.md`、`docs/defensive-patterns.md`）。参考文档、Agent Note 和包 README 不设预算：只要每一行都是事实，长度在这些位置就是合理的；评审和赘余检查清单负责约束它们。
-- **上限是会逐步收紧的执行红线。** 上限设定为文档当前词数的至少 105%（留出工作余量，使日常措辞调整能通过，而真正的膨胀仍会触发门禁），并随着文档被精简到目标预算而同步下调、保持该余量（根 `AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,500 词；`architecture.md` ≤ 1,800；子树 `AGENTS.md` ≤ 600；`packages/README.md` ≤ 600）。门禁变红时，修复方式是按分类体系迁移或压缩内容；只有在 PR（Pull Request）描述中给出明确理由时才允许提高上限，manifest（元数据清单）的 diff 本身就是可供评审的变更。
-- **精简的工作流 skill（技能），契约归文档。**[.agents/skills/dsh-doc-standards](../../../skills/dsh-doc-standards/SKILL.md) 承载文档放置、审计和门禁失败处理工作流，并以文档标准为真源，与 [dsh-translate-docs](../../../skills/dsh-translate-docs/SKILL.md) 和 i18n 契约之间的分工相同。
+- **结构遵循文档树。**[docs/AGENTS.md](../../../../docs/AGENTS.md) 是文档标准：文档负责承载其主题的详细内容，仅概述直接子项的目的、职责和高层行为，并链接到更深层内容的归属文档。[Agent Note](../../README.md) 仍不受这一结构契约约束。每份面向人的文档要么是按顺序引导读者达成结果的教程（tutorial），要么是查阅范围明确的参考文档（reference）；[事故复盘（postmortem）](../../../../docs/postmortem/README.md) 是范围限定于单个事件的参考文档，其时间线记录证据。教程结合读者的起始知识，按前置依赖顺序介绍概念。
+- **每项事实只归属一处的层级分类。**文档标准为每种 Markdown 层级分配单一职责，禁止在事实归属层级之外重复陈述，并包含编写或评审任何文档时使用的赘余检查清单。
+- **范围窄且严格的预算门禁。**[scripts/verify-doc-budgets.ts](../../../../scripts/verify-doc-budgets.ts) 接入 `doc-sync`：[scripts/doc-budgets.manifest.json](../../../../scripts/doc-budgets.manifest.json) 列出的每份文档都必须低于其字数上限（采用 `wc -w` 语义，统计整个文件）；预算内文件缺失也会使门禁失败，使重命名无法悄然遗落其预算。范围刻意只涵盖容易膨胀的常设文档——根目录和子树中的 `AGENTS.md` 文件、`architecture.md`、`packages/README.md`，以及它们将内容移入的常设策略文档（`docs/testing.md`、`docs/defensive-patterns.md`）。参考文档、Agent Note 和包 README 不设预算：只要每一行都是事实，长度在这些位置就是合理的；评审和赘余检查清单负责约束它们。
+- **上限是只进不退的执行红线。** 达到或低于目标的文档在上限逐步下调时保留至少 5% 的余量；高于目标的文档则维持冻结的上限，在达到目标之前不得增长（根 `AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,600 词；`architecture.md` ≤ 1,800；子树 `AGENTS.md` ≤ 600，但 `packages/AGENTS.md` ≤ 650、`docs/AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,250；`packages/README.md` ≤ 600）。门禁变红时，迁移或压缩内容；只有在 PR（Pull Request）描述中给出明确理由时才提高上限。
+- **精简的工作流 skill（技能），契约归文档。**[.agents/skills/dsh-doc-standards](../../../skills/dsh-doc-standards/SKILL.md) 承载放置/审计/红灯门禁工作流，并以文档标准为真源，与 [dsh-translate-docs](../../../skills/dsh-translate-docs/SKILL.md) 和 i18n 契约之间的分工相同。
 
 ## 曾考虑的替代方案
 
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ Status: implemented
 
 ## 后果
 
-- 向受预算约束的文档添加内容现在需要腾挪空间：将新增内容迁移到其分类体系归属地并留下链接，或压缩现有行文来腾出空间。只增不减会导致 CI 失败。
-- 精简到目标预算的重写以堆叠的后续 PR 落地，每次合并时同步下调 manifest 中的上限；在各自落地之前，文档冻结的上限仅阻止进一步膨胀。
-- 词数是一个粗糙的代理指标，这是有意接受的：它无法判断质量，但它在内容被添加的那一刻强制触发迁移决策，而那正是作者拥有足够上下文来正确放置内容的时刻。
+- 向受预算约束的文档添加内容需要置换：将新增内容迁移到其分类体系归属地并留下指针，或压缩现有行文来腾出空间。只增不减会导致 CI 失败。
+- 结构评审先检查归属关系和文档形式，再进行句子层面的编辑，使较低层级的细节迁移到其归属文档，而不是在错误的位置加以润色。
+- 仍高于目标的受预算约束文档不得增长；达到目标后，将恢复 5% 的工作余量。
+- 字数是一个粗糙的代理指标，这是有意接受的：它无法判断质量，但它在内容被添加的那一刻强制触发迁移决策，而那正是作者拥有足够上下文来正确放置内容的时刻。

.agents/skills/dsh-doc-standards/SKILL.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: dsh-doc-standards
-description: 'Use when writing, moving, reviewing, or auditing documentation in the deepseek-harness repo — choosing where content belongs, trimming doc slop, responding to a verify-doc-budgets gate failure, or requests like "improve the docs", "audit the docs for slop", "where should this be documented", "this doc is too long".'
+description: 'Use when writing, moving, reviewing, or auditing documentation in the deepseek-harness repo — choosing hierarchy and detail, separating tutorials from references, checking tutorial progression, trimming doc slop, responding to a verify-doc-budgets failure, or requests like "improve the docs", "audit the docs", "where should this be documented", or "this doc is too long".'
 ---
 
 # Applying the DeepSeek Harness Documentation Standard
@@ -9,24 +9,32 @@ The contract lives in [docs/AGENTS.md](../../../docs/AGENTS.md). This workflow c
 
 ## Sources of truth (read, don't re-summarize)
 
-- [docs/AGENTS.md](../../../docs/AGENTS.md) — the taxonomy ("one home per fact"), budgets, slop checklist.
+- [docs/AGENTS.md](../../../docs/AGENTS.md) — hierarchy, tutorial/reference forms, taxonomy, budgets, and slop checklist.
 - [.agents/notes/README.md](../../notes/README.md) — when a decision earns an Agent Note, how to file it, and what goes inside one (the header block, per-lifecycle skeleton, and Alternatives-considered mandate, gated by `verify-agent-note-format`); [docs/postmortem/README.md](../../../docs/postmortem/README.md) — when an incident earns a postmortem.
 - [docs/i18n/README.md](../../../docs/i18n/README.md) — the bilingual pairing contract; editing either side of a pair obligates the counterpart in the same change.
 - Root [AGENTS.md](../../../AGENTS.md) — the standing orders whose budget discipline this skill protects.
 - [Archived Agent Notes](../../notes/archived/AGENTS.md) — frozen historical snapshots excluded from editorial maintenance and evolving documentation gates.
 
-## Placing content
+## Review structure before prose
 
-Run the placement test in the standard's taxonomy table, then check the constraints that make a placement expensive or wrong:
+Apply the standard's authoring order to every human-facing document in scope. Do not apply this structural pass to Agent Notes. Classify a postmortem as a reference scoped to one incident; preserve the chronological evidence required by its contract without treating chronology as a teaching sequence.
+
+1. Locate the document in the repository and navigation trees. State its own subject and identify its direct children.
+2. Set the detail boundary. Keep full detail about the document's subject, summarize direct children by purpose, responsibility, and high-level behavior, and move deeper explanations to their owning descendants with links. Treat test infrastructure as descendant-owned unless it is the document's subject.
+3. Classify the document from its intended use, not its path or title. A tutorial must lead through ordered work to an observable outcome; a reference must support lookup within an explicit scope without requiring sequential reading.
+4. For a tutorial, privately classify the starting reader and concepts as beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Trace each concept to its prerequisites, reorder premature material, and move optional advanced detail to a later tutorial or reference.
+5. Split substantial mixed forms. Keep a small secondary form only behind a clear structural boundary.
+
+Then check constraints that make placement expensive or wrong:
 
 - Paired docs (`pnpm run verify-translation-pairing --list`) cost a zh counterpart update and a `--write` re-record on every edit — prefer an unpaired home for content that will churn.
 - Generated catalogs are never hand-edited; if the fact belongs there, change the generator's source.
 - Before renaming or moving any doc, grep for inbound references: `verify-md-links` catches Markdown links, `verify-doc-refs` catches `docs/*.md` citations in TypeScript comments, but nothing catches heading-anchor fragments — grep `#the-heading` across the repo yourself (one anchor is hardcoded in `scripts/gen-cordis-catalog.ts`).
 - A move is atomic: remove from the old home, add to the new home, and fix every inbound link in the same change.
 
-## Auditing the corpus
+## Audit the corpus
 
-The audit is a hunt for the standard's slop checklist, cheapest probes first. Verify and fetch the PR's live base, then run `pnpm --silent run change-scope --base <verified-base-ref>` to identify committed and dirty paths before applying semantic judgment. After a retarget or base merge, rerun the report and repeat the audit for prose introduced by the new base rather than relying on the earlier result.
+After the structural pass, hunt the standard's slop checklist with the cheapest probes first. Verify and fetch the PR's live base, then run `pnpm --silent run change-scope --base <verified-base-ref>` to identify committed and dirty paths before applying semantic judgment. After a retarget or base merge, rerun the report and audit prose introduced by the new base.
 
 1. Measure: `pnpm run verify-doc-budgets --list`, then `git ls-files '*.md' ':(exclude)vendor/**' | xargs wc -w | sort -rn | head -30` to spot unbudgeted outliers.
 2. Hunt narrated history: `rg -n "no longer|used to|previously|was moved|renamed" --glob '*.md' --glob '*.ts' --glob '!vendor/**'` and keep only contrasts against a live alternative. Keep the vendor exclusion last so include globs cannot override it.

docs/AGENTS.md

@@ -1,10 +1,20 @@
 # AGENTS.md — The documentation standard
 
-This file defines Markdown tiers, writing rules, and `verify-doc-budgets` ceilings. Use [dsh-doc-standards](../.agents/skills/dsh-doc-standards/SKILL.md) for placement and validation, and [dsh-prose-standard](../.agents/skills/dsh-prose-standard/SKILL.md) for required coverage and editorial judgment; the [doc-tiers Agent Note](../.agents/notes/implemented/process/2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.md) owns rationale.
+This file defines document structure, Markdown tiers, writing rules, and `verify-doc-budgets` ceilings. Use [dsh-doc-standards](../.agents/skills/dsh-doc-standards/SKILL.md) for placement and validation, and [dsh-prose-standard](../.agents/skills/dsh-prose-standard/SKILL.md) for required coverage and editorial judgment; the [doc-tiers Agent Note](../.agents/notes/implemented/process/2026-07-04-doc-tiers-and-budgets.md) owns rationale.
+
+## Document structure
+
+These rules apply to human-facing documentation; [Agent Notes](../.agents/notes/README.md) remain outside their scope. A [postmortem](postmortem/README.md) is an incident-scoped reference; chronology records evidence, not a teaching sequence. A document's subject and tree position fix its scope: describe its own subject at appropriate detail, describe direct children only by purpose, responsibility, and high-level behavior, and link to the owning descendant for lower-level detail. Document type does not widen that scope. A reference may be exhaustive only about its own subject. Testing mechanisms, fixtures, and harnesses belong at the lowest owning level; higher documents link there.
+
+Classify every in-scope document as a tutorial or reference. A tutorial follows an ordered path to an outcome and introduces only what each step needs. A reference defines a lookup scope and describes current behavior without depending on a teaching sequence. Separate substantial tutorial and reference content; use a clear structural boundary when either part is small.
+
+Before writing a tutorial, privately classify the reader's starting knowledge and each concept as beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Establish prerequisites before dependent concepts, increase difficulty gradually, and move unnecessary advanced material to a later tutorial or reference.
+
+Author in this order: locate the document in the tree; set its permitted detail; choose tutorial or reference; for a tutorial, order concepts by prerequisite and difficulty; relocate descendant-owned detail; replace lower-level explanations with links to their owners.
 
 ## The tier taxonomy: one home per fact
 
-Each fact has one home: the tier whose job it is. Elsewhere, link to that home; `verify-md-links` keeps links resolving while duplicated prose drifts.
+Each fact has one home: the tier whose job it is. Elsewhere, link to that home.
 
 | Tier | Job | Does NOT belong there |
 |---|---|---|
@@ -12,17 +22,15 @@ Each fact has one home: the tier whose job it is. Elsewhere, link to that home;
 | Subtree `AGENTS.md` (`packages/`, `examples/`, `docs/`, `.agents/notes/`) | Orders specific to that subtree | Repo-wide rules the root file already carries |
 | [architecture.md](architecture.md) | The system map: services, the loop, extension seams — read before changing `packages/` | Type shapes (→ core-data-structures), per-package detail (→ package READMEs), decision rationale (→ Agent Notes), implementation-status annotations |
 | [core-data-structures/](core-data-structures/core.md) | The type catalog: literal shapes and semantics of the spine and seam vocabulary | Behavior narration (→ architecture.md) |
-| [Agent Notes](../.agents/notes/README.md) | Active decision records: the why, what-was-given-up, and concise verification contract; `implemented/` notes describe shipped reality in present tense | Migration plans, acceptance-task checklists, fixture walkthroughs, and spec-speak ("should…") once the decision has shipped; archived notes are frozen history, never current authority |
+| [Agent Notes](../.agents/notes/README.md) | Decision records under their own lifecycle contract | Migration plans, checklists, and spec-speak once implemented; archived notes are frozen history |
 | [postmortem/](postmortem/README.md) | Incident stories — the only tier where war-story narrative belongs | — |
 | [cookbook/](cookbook/adding-a-package.md) | Step-by-step how-tos with numbered verify steps | Design rationale (→ the Agent Note each guide links) |
 | [user/](user/index.md) | Product-facing guides published by the documentation website | Generated reference tables, contributor procedures, decision history |
-| Package README | The per-package contract: config, semantics, limitations, extension points, and [Model Experience](cookbook/adding-a-package.md#4-write-the-package-readme) | JSDoc restatement, generated-catalog restatement (event/tool tables), other packages' concerns |
-| [development.md](development.md) | First-stop contributor onboarding: local setup, daily workflow, and CI shape at summary level; a bilingual pair under the [i18n contract](i18n/README.md) | Runtime/version rationale (→ Agent Notes), gate-by-gate enumerations that drift from `package.json` scripts |
+| Package README | Per-package config, semantics, limitations, extension points, and [Model Experience](cookbook/adding-a-package.md#4-write-the-package-readme) | JSDoc or catalog restatement, other packages' concerns |
+| [development.md](development.md) | Contributor onboarding: setup, daily workflow, and CI shape at summary level | Runtime rationale (→ Agent Notes), drifting gate inventories |
 | Generated catalogs: [cordis events](cordis-catalog/events.md), [cordis services](cordis-catalog/services.md), [Cordis core API](cordis-catalog/core/context.md), [tool-catalog](tool-catalog.md), [config-catalog](config-catalog.md), [persistence-catalog](persistence-catalog.md), [module-graph.md](module-graph.md) | Exhaustive enumerations regenerated from source, freshness-gated | Hand edits of any kind |
 | Skills (`.agents/skills/`) | Reusable workflows and specialized decision standards | Product and runtime contracts (→ docs or source) |
 
-Placement: bugs → postmortems; rationale → Agent Notes; procedures → cookbooks; type shapes → core data; package contracts → READMEs; standing orders → root `AGENTS.md` with a rationale link.
-
 ## Writing rules
 
 - **Document current state, not change history.** Avoid "previously/now/no longer", PRs, commits, and stack positions in durable prose; name the live mechanism. Put change stories in commits, PRs, Agent Notes, or postmortems.
@@ -31,7 +39,7 @@ Placement: bugs → postmortems; rationale → Agent Notes; procedures → cookb
 - **Fenced `ts` blocks must compile** (`doc-typecheck`); a pasted type declaration and its original JSDoc use ` ```ts type-equiv `, while a body-stripped public class declaration uses ` ```ts public-api `; register either in the manifest so neither can drift ([mechanics](development.md#documenting-types-verbatim-ts-type-equiv)).
 - **The [core-data-structures catalog](core-data-structures/core.md) updates in the same change** that reshapes a documented type. `verify-type-equiv` catches drifted pastes, not never-documented new types ([what counts as core](core-data-structures/core.md#what-counts-as-core)).
 - **Bilingual pairs update together**: editing either side obligates the counterpart and a re-record in the same change ([i18n contract](i18n/README.md)).
-- **Comments and JSDoc state complete contracts, not reasoning transcripts.** Preserve behavior, conditions, timing, modality, exceptions, consequences, and non-obvious orientation; delete implementation narration, test walkthroughs, review analysis, and code restatement. Keep the local contract and link to its owning rationale. Use [dsh-prose-standard](../.agents/skills/dsh-prose-standard/SKILL.md) for required coverage, decision rules, and examples.
+- **Comments and JSDoc state complete contracts, not reasoning transcripts.** Preserve behavior, timing, modality, exceptions, consequences, and non-obvious orientation; delete narration, test walkthroughs, review analysis, and code restatement. Keep the local contract and link its rationale. Use [dsh-prose-standard](../.agents/skills/dsh-prose-standard/SKILL.md) for details.
 - Your audience is professional programmers. Prefer concise and straight-forward English over metaphor. Do not overuse words like "gate", "vocabulary", "surface", "seams".
 
 ## Wordcount Budgets
@@ -44,20 +52,18 @@ When the gate goes red:
 2. **Condense** content that belongs here but can be shorter.
 3. **Raise** the ceiling only when the words truly need the space; justify the manifest diff in the PR. A too-low ceiling is a budget bug.
 
-Ceilings are guardrails, not reduction targets. Retain at least 5% headroom; lower a ceiling only when the document's durable contract still has room, and raise it when necessary content would otherwise be deleted. Targets: root `AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,600 words; `architecture.md` ≤ 1,800; each subtree `AGENTS.md` ≤ 600, except `packages/AGENTS.md` ≤ 650 and this file ≤ 1,250; `packages/README.md` ≤ 600. Review and the slop checklist govern unbudgeted tiers.
+Ceilings are guardrails, not reduction targets. At or below target, retain at least 5% headroom; above target, freeze the ceiling until relocation or condensation brings the document under target. Lower a ceiling only when the contract still has room, and raise it when content would otherwise be deleted. Targets: root `AGENTS.md` ≤ 1,600 words; `architecture.md` ≤ 1,800; subtree `AGENTS.md` ≤ 600, except `packages/AGENTS.md` ≤ 650 and this file ≤ 1,250; `packages/README.md` ≤ 600. Review governs unbudgeted tiers.
 
 ## The slop checklist
 
 Hunt these in any doc; the [dsh-doc-standards](../.agents/skills/dsh-doc-standards/SKILL.md) skill runs this list as an audit:
 
 - The same rule stated in more than one home. Grep a distinctive phrase; keep one home, convert the rest to links.
-- Narrated history: "previously", "now", "no longer", "used to", "renamed", "was moved", references to PRs or commits. State the current fact; the why belongs in an Agent Note, the story in a postmortem or git.
-- A war story told inline where a one-line rule plus a postmortem/Agent Note link would do.
+- Narrated history or war stories: "previously", "now", "no longer", "used to", "renamed", "was moved", PRs, or commits. State the current fact; link an Agent Note or postmortem when needed.
 - Implementation-status annotations in prose or diagrams ("implemented!", "future: …"). Status rots; the repo layout and package manifests carry it.
-- Hand-restating a generated catalog or JSDoc: event tables, tool arg tables, method signatures. Link instead.
-- Hand-maintained inventories of tests, packages, or implementation status when the tree or a generator is authoritative.
+- Hand-restated catalogs, JSDoc, or inventories of tests, packages, and status when source or a generator is authoritative.
 - Reasoning transcripts: step-by-step implementation narration, proof of obvious branches, test walkthroughs, or rejected local alternatives. Keep the resulting contract or durable rationale; delete the path used to derive it.
-- The same rationale repeated beside sibling methods. State it once at the owning seam or shared helper.
+- Rationale repeated beside sibling methods instead of once at the owning seam or helper.
 - Paragraph walls: one paragraph carrying several rules and parenthetical asides. Split it, or demote the detail to the linked home.
 - Emphasis inflation: bold, CAPS, or "critically" everywhere means nothing stands out. Reserve emphasis for the clause that changes behavior.
 - Spec-speak in `implemented/` Agent Notes: "should", migration plans, acceptance checklists. An implemented Agent Note describes what is, per the [implemented-note instructions](../.agents/notes/implemented/AGENTS.md).

scripts/doc-budgets.manifest.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "AGENTS.md": 1775,
-  "docs/AGENTS.md": 1150,
+  "docs/AGENTS.md": 1320,
   "docs/architecture.md": 2160,
   "docs/cordis-primer.md": 600,
   "docs/defensive-patterns.md": 550,