diff --git a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index a486db8..b0fd4a3 100644
--- a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "scribe",
   "description": "Scribe system-of-record for Claude Code: MCP tools over your notes/tasks/projects/rules, a session-start push channel that surfaces your always-on rules + active-project context, process-skills (writing-plans, systematic-debugging, verification, brainstorming, reusing-code), and your saved Scribe Processes auto-surfaced as skills (/scribe:sync). Replaces superpowers + file-memory with one app-backed plugin.",
-  "version": "0.1.21",
+  "version": "0.1.22",
   "author": { "name": "Bryan Van Deusen" },
   "mcpServers": {
     "scribe": {
diff --git a/plugin/hooks/scribe_prior_art.sh b/plugin/hooks/scribe_prior_art.sh
index 1b79998..027315b 100755
--- a/plugin/hooks/scribe_prior_art.sh
+++ b/plugin/hooks/scribe_prior_art.sh
@@ -48,16 +48,9 @@ case "$file_path" in
     exit 0 ;;
 esac
 
-url=${SCRIBE_URL:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_OPTION_API_ENDPOINT:-}}
-token=${SCRIBE_TOKEN:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_OPTION_API_TOKEN:-}}
-# Guard against an unexpanded ${...} placeholder arriving as a literal.
-case "$url"   in *'${'*) url="" ;;  esac
-case "$token" in *'${'*) token="" ;; esac
-# Unconfigured install → silent. Prior-art recall is pure enrichment.
-[ -n "$url" ] && [ -n "$token" ] || exit 0
-
 # Snippet locations are recorded repo-relative, so send a repo-relative path —
-# an absolute one would simply match nothing.
+# an absolute one would simply match nothing. Resolved BEFORE the config gate
+# because the local arm below needs the repo root and needs no server at all.
 lookup_dir=$(dirname -- "$file_path" 2>/dev/null || true)
 [ -d "$lookup_dir" ] || lookup_dir=${event_cwd:-${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-$PWD}}
 repo_root=$(git -C "$lookup_dir" rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || true)
@@ -68,6 +61,84 @@ if [ -n "$repo_root" ]; then
   esac
 fi
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# ARM 1 — BY NAME, LOCALLY (#2280). Does a definition of this already exist?
+#
+# The other two arms ask Scribe what was RECORDED. Scribe has never read a line
+# of the codebase, so a helper nobody thought to record is invisible to them —
+# which is how `.btn-primary` came to be defined four times, in four scoped
+# stylesheets, already diverged. It was never a snippet, so no threshold and no
+# query rewrite could ever have surfaced it.
+#
+# This arm closes that by asking the only question the record cannot answer,
+# in the only place that can: the hook already runs on the developer's machine,
+# inside the repo, holding the code about to be written. No index, no storage,
+# no staleness, and no server — it deliberately runs even on an install that
+# has never configured Scribe.
+#
+# Definition-shaped patterns only. Grepping for bare occurrences would match
+# every CALL site and drown the real finding — and a hint that is mostly noise
+# is one people learn to skip, which is worse than none.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+local_lines=""
+if [ -n "$repo_root" ] && [ -n "$code" ]; then
+  # kind<TAB>name for each thing this payload DEFINES.
+  names=$(printf '%s' "$code" | awk '
+    match($0, /^[[:space:]]*\.[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9_-]*[[:space:]]*[,{]/) {
+      t = $0; sub(/^[[:space:]]*\./, "", t); sub(/[[:space:]]*[,{].*$/, "", t);
+      if (t != "") print "css\t" t; next }
+    match($0, /^[[:space:]]*(export[[:space:]]+)?(default[[:space:]]+)?(async[[:space:]]+)?function[[:space:]]+[A-Za-z_$][A-Za-z0-9_$]*/) {
+      t = $0; sub(/^.*function[[:space:]]+/, "", t); sub(/[^A-Za-z0-9_$].*$/, "", t);
+      if (t != "") print "sym\t" t; next }
+    match($0, /^[[:space:]]*(export[[:space:]]+)?class[[:space:]]+[A-Za-z_$][A-Za-z0-9_$]*/) {
+      t = $0; sub(/^.*class[[:space:]]+/, "", t); sub(/[^A-Za-z0-9_$].*$/, "", t);
+      if (t != "") print "sym\t" t; next }
+    match($0, /^[[:space:]]*(async[[:space:]]+)?def[[:space:]]+[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*/) {
+      t = $0; sub(/^.*def[[:space:]]+/, "", t); sub(/[^A-Za-z0-9_].*$/, "", t);
+      if (t != "") print "sym\t" t; next }
+    match($0, /^[[:space:]]*(export[[:space:]]+)?(const|let)[[:space:]]+[A-Za-z_$][A-Za-z0-9_$]*[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*(async[[:space:]]*)?[(<]/) {
+      t = $0; sub(/^[[:space:]]*(export[[:space:]]+)?(const|let)[[:space:]]+/, "", t);
+      sub(/[^A-Za-z0-9_$].*$/, "", t);
+      if (t != "") print "sym\t" t; next }
+  ' 2>/dev/null | sort -u | head -12) || names=""
+
+  while IFS=$'\t' read -r kind name; do
+    [ -n "${name:-}" ] || continue
+    case "$kind" in
+      css) pat="^[[:space:]]*\.${name}[[:space:]]*[,{]" ;;
+      *)   pat="(function|class|def)[[:space:]]+${name}[^A-Za-z0-9_]|(const|let)[[:space:]]+${name}[[:space:]]*=" ;;
+    esac
+    # -I skips binaries; :(exclude) drops the file being written, which would
+    # otherwise always match itself on an Edit.
+    hits=$(git -C "$repo_root" grep -I -l -E -e "$pat" -- . ":(exclude)${rel_path}" 2>/dev/null | head -4) || hits=""
+    [ -n "$hits" ] || continue
+    count=$(printf '%s\n' "$hits" | grep -c . 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+    label=$([ "$kind" = css ] && printf '.%s' "$name" || printf '%s' "$name")
+    files=$(printf '%s' "$hits" | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's/ $//')
+    local_lines="${local_lines}> - \`${label}\` is already defined in ${count} other file(s): ${files}"$'\n'
+  done <<< "$names"
+fi
+
+local_context=""
+if [ -n "$local_lines" ]; then
+  local_context="> Already defined elsewhere in this repo — check before adding another copy (\`git grep\` shown; this is a nudge, not a gate):"$'\n'"${local_lines}"
+fi
+
+url=${SCRIBE_URL:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_OPTION_API_ENDPOINT:-}}
+token=${SCRIBE_TOKEN:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_OPTION_API_TOKEN:-}}
+# Guard against an unexpanded ${...} placeholder arriving as a literal.
+case "$url"   in *'${'*) url="" ;;  esac
+case "$token" in *'${'*) token="" ;; esac
+# Unconfigured install → the recorded-prior-art arms are skipped, but the local
+# arm above already ran and may have something to say.
+if [ -z "$url" ] || [ -z "$token" ]; then
+  if [ -n "$local_context" ]; then
+    jq -n --arg c "$local_context" \
+      '{hookSpecificOutput: {hookEventName: "PreToolUse", additionalContext: $c}}'
+  fi
+  exit 0
+fi
+
 # Cap the code sent as the semantic query. The embedder truncates at its own
 # token limit well before this, so a bigger slice buys no extra signal — and the
 # payload has to stay a GET (a read-scoped API key cannot POST, and every other
@@ -110,20 +181,32 @@ if [ -n "$session_id" ]; then
   fi
 fi
 
+# `|| true`, not `|| exit 0`: an unreachable instance must not discard a local
+# finding that needed no instance to produce.
 body=$(curl -fsS --max-time 5 \
   -H "Authorization: Bearer ${token}" \
-  "${url%/}/api/plugin/prior-art?path=${path_enc}&code=${code_enc}${repo_q}${exclude_q}" 2>/dev/null) || exit 0
-[ -n "$body" ] || exit 0
+  "${url%/}/api/plugin/prior-art?path=${path_enc}&code=${code_enc}${repo_q}${exclude_q}" 2>/dev/null) || body=""
 
-context=$(printf '%s' "$body" | jq -r '.context // empty' 2>/dev/null) || exit 0
-[ -n "$context" ] || exit 0
-
-# Remember what was surfaced so it isn't shown again this session.
-if [ -n "$idfile" ]; then
-  printf '%s' "$body" | jq -r '.note_ids[]? // empty' 2>/dev/null >> "$idfile" || true
+context=""
+if [ -n "$body" ]; then
+  context=$(printf '%s' "$body" | jq -r '.context // empty' 2>/dev/null) || context=""
+  # Remember what was surfaced so it isn't shown again this session.
+  if [ -n "$idfile" ] && [ -n "$context" ]; then
+    printf '%s' "$body" | jq -r '.note_ids[]? // empty' 2>/dev/null >> "$idfile" || true
+  fi
 fi
 
+# Local first. It answers "this already EXISTS", which is a stronger claim than
+# "this resembles something recorded" — and it is the one the recorded arms are
+# structurally unable to make.
+combined="$local_context"
+if [ -n "$context" ]; then
+  [ -n "$combined" ] && combined="${combined}"$'\n'
+  combined="${combined}${context}"
+fi
+[ -n "$combined" ] || exit 0
+
 # No permissionDecision: this is a nudge, not a gate. The write goes ahead.
-jq -n --arg c "$context" \
+jq -n --arg c "$combined" \
   '{hookSpecificOutput: {hookEventName: "PreToolUse", additionalContext: $c}}'
 exit 0