test(410): an exactly-one-owner guard replaces the tests that required every surface to repeat itself (#4033)

Step 6 of milestone 410 "One owner per piece of guidance". CI now keeps the
shape decision #4027 set, so the next feature cannot quietly add a copy.

tests/test_guidance_ownership.py, 33 topics, each with an owner, markers, a
statement distinctive to the owner's full wording, and optional index markers:
- test_every_topic_is_stated_by_its_owner: markers and statement on the owner
- test_no_topic_is_stated_in_full_off_its_owner: the statement appears on no
  other session surface (index, adapter static text and commands, live
  context, other skills). Tool docstrings are not scanned; a contract may
  elaborate the reflex that calls it.
- test_the_index_names_each_reflex_it_points_at: _INSTRUCTIONS keeps a
  one-line pointer for each session-start reflex
- shared_with declares the one deliberate sharing: the note-check question
  lives in create_note and in using-scribe for two different moments,
  already pinned by test_verification_guidance_survives
- test_the_ownership_guards_can_fail shows each guard turning red (rule 167)
- the process topic now keys on get_process's "follow the returned body";
  it had been passing on an unrelated "verbatim" in two other tools

tests/test_instruction_surfaces_agree.py keeps only what ownership cannot
enforce: the fold budget, rules-bind-names-preferences, and using-scribe's
pointer to reporting-back. Retired: the every-session-start-surface ask and
absence tests, the Systems and snippet owner pins (now registry topics), and
the SessionStart-without-ask test (#2497's shape). The push has carried no
rules since milestone 394, and requiring the ask beside every mention of it
would force a copy. The module docstring records where each protection went.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

tests/test_guidance_ownership.py

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-"""Every piece of agent guidance has one owner — and none of it is lost on the way there.
+"""Every piece of agent guidance has exactly one owner that states it.
 
 WHY THIS EXISTS (milestone 410, decision #4027)
 
@@ -8,29 +8,36 @@ the server builds, the `using-scribe` skill, and tool docstrings. An earlier
 design (#2494) made that deliberate — insurance against any one surface failing
 silently — and the copies drifted apart instead (#2497, #4022).
 
-Decision #4027 replaced the redundancy with ownership: the server orients, the
-skills hold the depth, and each client adapter holds only its own timing and
-conventions. This module is the registry that decision is enforced from.
+Decision #4027 replaced the redundancy with ownership: the server orients with
+a short index, the skills hold the depth, tool docstrings hold each tool's
+contract, and each client adapter holds only its own timing and conventions.
+This module is the registry that decision is enforced from.
 
-WHAT IT PINS NOW, AND WHAT COMES LATER
+WHAT IT PINS
 
-Step 1 — the LOSS GUARD. Every topic below must still be stated on at least one
-surface a session actually receives. Milestone 410's later steps delete copies;
-this is what stops the last copy of a topic going with them.
+1. OWNERS STATE THEIR TOPIC. Every topic's markers and its distinctive
+   statement appear on its owner — so moving or trimming text cannot drop a
+   topic without failing here.
+2. NOWHERE ELSE STATES IT IN FULL. The statement — a phrase distinctive to
+   the owner's full wording — must not appear on any other session surface
+   (the index, the adapter's static text and commands, the live context, the
+   other skills). A topic legitimately stated in two places at two different
+   moments declares that in `shared_with`, with the reason beside it.
+3. THE INDEX NAMES THE SESSION-START REFLEXES. `_INSTRUCTIONS` is the one
+   surface every MCP client receives, so each reflex it indexes keeps its
+   `index` markers there — a one-line pointer, not a copy.
 
-Step 6 will add the OWNERSHIP guard: a topic's full statement on its `owner`
-and nowhere else. The `owner` column is recorded here from the start so the
-registry is written once, but nothing asserts it yet — during the moves a
-topic is legitimately in several places at once.
+WHAT IT CANNOT SEE
 
-MARKERS ARE PHRASES, NOT WORDS
+A copy reworded so it no longer contains the statement phrase passes. The
+guard catches the ordinary way duplication happens — pasting a paragraph
+into a second surface — not a determined paraphrase. Tool docstrings are not
+scanned for copies: a tool's contract may elaborate the reflex that calls it.
 
-A topic is "stated" when ALL of its markers appear on one surface — so a
-topic's markers must travel together, and a lone common word never counts
-(BINDING_CLAIMS in test_instruction_surfaces_agree explains the false alarm a
-bare word raises). Tool names are the preferred marker: they change only when
-the tool does. Reword a topic deliberately and update its markers in the same
-commit; the failure message names which marker went missing where.
+MARKERS AND STATEMENTS ARE PHRASES, NOT WORDS
+
+Reword a topic deliberately and update its markers/statement in the same
+commit; each failure message names the topic, the surface and the phrase.
 """
 from __future__ import annotations
 
@@ -42,7 +49,7 @@ ROOT = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
 
 
 def _norm(text: str) -> str:
-    # Whitespace-flattened and lowercased: prose is hard-wrapped, so a marker
+    # Whitespace-flattened and lowercased: prose is hard-wrapped, so a phrase
     # can straddle a line break without the guidance having changed.
     return " ".join(text.split()).lower()
 
@@ -62,7 +69,7 @@ def _live_session_context_source() -> str:
 def delivered_surfaces() -> dict[str, str]:
     """Every surface a session receives as guidance, by label.
 
-    The one definition of "delivered" for this module and its successors:
+    The one definition of "delivered" for this module:
       - `instructions` — the MCP server's `_INSTRUCTIONS` (every MCP client)
       - `docstrings`   — the MCP tool modules (tool descriptions, every client)
       - `skill:<name>` — each bundled Agent Skill
@@ -85,99 +92,155 @@ def delivered_surfaces() -> dict[str, str]:
     return {label: _norm(text) for label, text in surfaces.items()}
 
 
+# Not scanned for copies (see the module docstring).
+NOT_COPY_SCANNED = frozenset({"docstrings"})
+
+
 class Topic(NamedTuple):
     key: str
-    owner: str  # a label from delivered_surfaces(); asserted from step 6
-    markers: tuple[str, ...]
+    owner: str                     # a label from delivered_surfaces()
+    markers: tuple[str, ...]       # what the topic is about; all on the owner
+    statement: str                 # distinctive to the owner's full wording
+    index: tuple[str, ...] = ()    # required in _INSTRUCTIONS, if it indexes this
+    shared_with: tuple[str, ...] = ()  # other surfaces allowed the statement, with a reason
 
 
-# The ownership map from milestone 410's body, one row per topic, plus the
-# topics once guarded as "displaced from _INSTRUCTIONS" (#2562), folded in so
-# there is one list. Retired topics (the surface-precedence tiebreaker) are
-# absent on purpose: nothing has to keep saying them.
+U = "skill:using-scribe"
+
 TOPICS: tuple[Topic, ...] = (
     # ── the working reflexes — owned by the using-scribe skill ──
-    Topic("scribe is the system of record; keep one copy", "skill:using-scribe", ("one copy",)),
-    Topic("orient: enter the project, check repo bindings", "skill:using-scribe",
-          ("enter_project", "list_repo_bindings")),
-    Topic("rules are retrieved; ask before a consequential act", "skill:using-scribe",
-          ('content_type="rule"', "nothing matched")),
-    Topic("rules bind, preferences guide and are kept current", "skill:using-scribe",
-          ("preference", "update_preference")),
-    Topic("recall before acting", "skill:using-scribe", ("recall before acting",)),
-    Topic("stay inside the active project's scope", "skill:using-scribe",
-          ("stay inside the active project", "cross-project")),
-    Topic("record as you go; honest status; fixes are issues", "skill:using-scribe",
-          ("add_task_log", "in_progress", 'kind="issue"')),
-    Topic("an id exists only once a create returns it", "skill:using-scribe",
-          ("exists only once a create", "{{ref:")),
-    Topic("tag records to systems as you write", "skill:using-scribe", ("system_ids", "create_system")),
-    Topic("answer the systems_hint at the moment of work", "skill:using-scribe", ("systems_hint",)),
-    Topic("a retrieved rule outranks a default habit", "skill:using-scribe", ("outranks a default habit",)),
-    Topic("log on completion and on a problem", "skill:using-scribe", ("hit or discover a problem",)),
-    Topic("the project's design system binds ui", "skill:using-scribe", ("resolve_design_system",)),
-    Topic("name the record, never just its number", "skill:using-scribe", ("name the record",)),
-    Topic("project inception is a decision", "skill:using-scribe", ("decide_project_inception",)),
-    Topic("where a new rule goes, and its trigger", "skill:using-scribe",
-          ("create_project_rule", "when_to_apply")),
-    Topic("a rule vs the other entities", "skill:using-scribe", ("standing instruction",)),
-    Topic("reference notes update in place; dev-logs don't", "skill:using-scribe", ("reference note",)),
+    Topic("scribe is the system of record; keep one copy", U, ("one copy",),
+          "let any existing local memory shrink", index=("one copy",)),
+    Topic("orient: enter the project, check repo bindings", U, ("enter_project", "list_repo_bindings"),
+          "returns the project plus the rules bound to the areas it works in",
+          index=("enter_project",)),
+    Topic("rules are retrieved; ask before a consequential act", U, ('content_type="rule"', "nothing matched"),
+          "an empty session is not evidence of an empty rulebook",
+          index=('content_type="rule"', "nothing matched")),
+    Topic("rules bind, preferences guide and are kept current", U, ("preference", "update_preference"),
+          "a preference is the one record you keep current yourself", index=("preferences guide",)),
+    Topic("recall before acting", U, ("recall before acting",), "for related prior work", index=("recall",)),
+    Topic("stay inside the active project's scope", U, ("stay inside the active project", "cross-project"),
+          "stay inside the active project's scope", index=("project_id",)),
+    Topic("record as you go; honest status; fixes are issues", U, ("add_task_log", "in_progress", 'kind="issue"'),
+          "fixes are issues, not work-logs", index=("add_task_log", 'kind="issue"')),
+    Topic("an id exists only once a create returns it", U, ("exists only once a create", "{{ref:"),
+          "exists only once a create call returns it", index=("create_records", "{{ref:n}}")),
+    Topic("tag records to systems as you write", U, ("system_ids", "create_system"),
+          "would someone investigating that subsystem want this record", index=("system_ids",)),
+    Topic("answer the systems_hint at the moment of work", U, ("systems_hint",),
+          "treat it as the tagging question asked at the moment of work"),
+    Topic("a retrieved rule outranks a default habit", U, ("outranks a default habit",),
+          "a retrieved rule outranks a default habit"),
+    Topic("log on completion and on a problem", U, ("hit or discover a problem",), "hit or discover a problem"),
+    Topic("the project's design system binds ui", U, ("resolve_design_system",),
+          "building ui: the project's design system binds", index=("resolve_design_system",)),
+    Topic("name the record, never just its number", U, ("name the record",),
+          "a bare id reads as complete to you and as homework to them"),
+    Topic("project inception is a decision", U, ("decide_project_inception",),
+          "starting a project: decide what it inherits", index=("decide_project_inception",)),
+    Topic("where a new rule goes, and its trigger", U, ("create_project_rule", "when_to_apply"),
+          "whichever home it gets"),
+    Topic("a rule vs the other entities", U, ("standing instruction",), "first ask whether it's a rule at all"),
+    Topic("reference notes update in place; dev-logs don't", U, ("reference note",),
+          "state updates in place; chronicles don't"),
     # ── process arcs — owned by their skills ──
-    Topic("plan in a milestone, steps created together", "skill:writing-plans", ("start_planning", "{{ref:")),
+    Topic("plan in a milestone, steps created together", "skill:writing-plans", ("start_planning", "{{ref:"),
+          "a milestone earns its place when the work has an arc", index=("start_planning",)),
     Topic("reuse recorded shapes; record at first build", "skill:reusing-code",
-          ("create_snippet", "when_to_use", "first build", "second copy")),
-    Topic("report back where the work stands", "skill:reporting-back", ("reporting-back", "placement")),
+          ("create_snippet", "when_to_use", "first build", "second copy"),
+          "prior art offered beside a write is not noise", index=("create_snippet",)),
+    Topic("report back where the work stands", "skill:reporting-back", ("reporting-back", "placement"),
+          "take the placement from the record", index=("placement",)),
     # ── per-tool contracts and in-band behaviour — owned by the server ──
-    Topic("closing a task cues the report", "docstrings", ("report_back",)),
-    Topic("a note that asserts a fact carries its check", "docstrings", ("verify_with", "expires_when")),
-    Topic("supersession demotes, never hides", "docstrings", ("supersedes",)),
-    Topic("deletes are recoverable from the trash", "docstrings", ("deleted_batch_id",)),
-    Topic("creates are duplicate-gated", "docstrings", ("near-duplicate",)),
-    Topic("shared records are another user's suggestion", "docstrings", ("shared: true",)),
-    Topic("stored processes are followed verbatim", "docstrings", ("stored processes", "verbatim")),
-    Topic("a project is never guessed", "docstrings", ("never guessing a project",)),
-    Topic("an unbound repo gets a bind hint", "live", ("bind_repo",)),
+    Topic("closing a task cues the report", "docstrings", ("report_back",), "reporting this to the operator?"),
+    Topic("a note that asserts a fact carries its check", "docstrings", ("verify_with", "expires_when"),
+          "could this note become false without anyone editing it",
+          # Stated at two different moments on purpose: the tool contract is
+          # read when the field is about to be filled, the skill while deciding
+          # what to write at all (test_verification_guidance_survives pins both).
+          shared_with=(U,)),
+    Topic("supersession demotes, never hides", "docstrings", ("supersedes",),
+          "it simply stops competing with this one"),
+    Topic("deletes are recoverable from the trash", "docstrings", ("deleted_batch_id",), "deleted_batch_id"),
+    Topic("creates are duplicate-gated", "docstrings", ("near-duplicate",), "bypass the near-duplicate gate",
+          index=("duplicate-gated",)),
+    Topic("shared records are another user's suggestion", "docstrings", ("shared: true",),
+          "belongs to another user", index=("shared:true",)),
+    Topic("stored processes are followed as written", "docstrings", ("get_process",), "follow the returned body"),
+    Topic("a project is never guessed", "docstrings", ("never guessing a project",), "never guessing a project"),
+    Topic("an unbound repo gets a bind hint", "live", ("bind_repo",), "isn't mapped to a scribe project"),
     # ── the Claude Code adapter's own conventions ──
-    Topic("compact at clean seams", "static", ("/compact",)),
-    Topic("stored processes sync into local skills", "commands", ("scribe-proc-",)),
-    Topic("say so when scribe's tools are unavailable", "static", ("tools are unavailable",)),
+    Topic("compact at clean seams", "static", ("/compact",), "compact at clean seams"),
+    Topic("stored processes sync into local skills", "commands", ("scribe-proc-",), "regenerate the local skill stubs"),
+    Topic("say so when scribe's tools are unavailable", "static", ("tools are unavailable",),
+          "rather than silently falling back to local notes"),
 )
 
 
-def missing_topics(topics, surfaces: dict[str, str]) -> list[str]:
-    """Topics no single surface states in full — with the nearest miss named.
-
-    Pure, so the guard's ability to fail is itself testable.
-    """
-    missing = []
-    for topic in topics:
-        markers = [m.lower() for m in topic.markers]
-        if any(all(m in text for m in markers) for text in surfaces.values()):
-            continue
-        partial = {
-            label: [m for m in markers if m not in text]
-            for label, text in surfaces.items()
-            if any(m in text for m in markers)
-        }
-        missing.append(f"{topic.key!r} — markers {topic.markers}; nearest: {partial or 'nowhere'}")
-    return missing
+def owner_gaps(topics, surfaces: dict[str, str]) -> list[str]:
+    """Topics whose owner no longer carries every marker and the statement."""
+    gaps = []
+    for t in topics:
+        text = surfaces.get(t.owner, "")
+        absent = [p for p in (*t.markers, t.statement) if p.lower() not in text]
+        if absent:
+            elsewhere = [label for label, other in surfaces.items() if t.statement.lower() in other]
+            gaps.append(f"{t.key!r} on {t.owner}: missing {absent}; statement found on {elsewhere or 'nothing'}")
+    return gaps
 
 
-def test_no_guidance_topic_has_fallen_off_every_surface():
-    missing = missing_topics(TOPICS, delivered_surfaces())
-    assert not missing, (
-        "these guidance topics are no longer stated in full on ANY delivered "
-        "surface:\n  " + "\n  ".join(missing) + "\nMilestone 410 moves guidance "
-        "to one owner per topic (decision #4027); a move that deletes a copy "
-        "must leave the topic stated on its owner. If the topic was reworded on "
-        "purpose, update its markers here in the same commit."
+def copies(topics, surfaces: dict[str, str]) -> list[str]:
+    """Topics whose full statement also appears on a surface that doesn't own it."""
+    found = []
+    for t in topics:
+        allowed = {t.owner, *t.shared_with}
+        extra = [label for label, text in surfaces.items()
+                 if label not in NOT_COPY_SCANNED and label not in allowed and t.statement.lower() in text]
+        if extra:
+            found.append(f"{t.key!r} (owner {t.owner}) is also stated on {extra}")
+    return found
+
+
+def index_gaps(topics, surfaces: dict[str, str]) -> list[str]:
+    text = surfaces.get("instructions", "")
+    return [f"{t.key!r}: {[m for m in t.index if m.lower() not in text]}"
+            for t in topics if any(m.lower() not in text for m in t.index)]
+
+
+def test_every_topic_is_stated_by_its_owner():
+    gaps = owner_gaps(TOPICS, delivered_surfaces())
+    assert not gaps, (
+        "these topics are no longer stated in full by their owner:\n  "
+        + "\n  ".join(gaps) + "\nEvery guidance topic has one owner (decision "
+        "#4027). If the text moved on purpose, move the topic's owner here in the "
+        "same commit; if it was reworded, update its markers and statement."
     )
 
 
-def test_every_owner_is_a_surface_that_exists():
+def test_no_topic_is_stated_in_full_off_its_owner():
+    found = copies(TOPICS, delivered_surfaces())
+    assert not found, (
+        "guidance stated in full on a surface that doesn't own it:\n  "
+        + "\n  ".join(found) + "\nOne owner per topic (decision #4027): replace "
+        "the copy with a one-line pointer to the owner. If both places genuinely "
+        "need it at different moments, declare it in `shared_with` with the reason."
+    )
+
+
+def test_the_index_names_each_reflex_it_points_at():
+    gaps = index_gaps(TOPICS, delivered_surfaces())
+    assert not gaps, (
+        f"_INSTRUCTIONS no longer carries the index line for: {gaps}. It is the "
+        f"one guidance surface every MCP client receives; keep a one-line pointer "
+        f"per session-start reflex (see the comment above _INSTRUCTIONS)."
+    )
+
+
+def test_every_owner_and_sharer_is_a_surface_that_exists():
     labels = set(delivered_surfaces())
-    unknown = [(t.key, t.owner) for t in TOPICS if t.owner not in labels]
-    assert not unknown, f"owners that name no delivered surface: {unknown}"
+    unknown = [(t.key, s) for t in TOPICS for s in (t.owner, *t.shared_with) if s not in labels]
+    assert not unknown, f"owners or sharers that name no delivered surface: {unknown}"
 
 
 def test_topic_keys_are_unique():
@@ -185,20 +248,24 @@ def test_topic_keys_are_unique():
     assert len(keys) == len(set(keys))
 
 
-def test_the_loss_guard_can_fail():
-    """Rule 167: a guard that cannot fail protects nothing.
-
-    A topic whose markers are split across two surfaces is NOT stated — the
-    phrases have to travel together — and one whose marker is nowhere is
-    reported with 'nowhere'.
-    """
-    surfaces = {"a": "enter_project here", "b": "list_repo_bindings there"}
-    split = Topic("split", "a", ("enter_project", "list_repo_bindings"))
-    absent = Topic("absent", "a", ("no such phrase",))
-    whole = Topic("whole", "a", ("enter_project",))
-    reported = missing_topics((split, absent, whole), surfaces)
-    assert len(reported) == 2
-    assert reported[0].startswith("'split'") and "nowhere" in reported[1]
+def test_the_ownership_guards_can_fail():
+    """Rule 167: each guard is shown turning red once."""
+    surfaces = {
+        "instructions": "use the widget",
+        "docstrings": "the widget owner statement lives here",
+        "skill:a": "widget owner statement lives here, and widget tool",
+        "skill:b": "a pasted copy: widget owner statement lives here",
+        "static": "",
+    }
+    topic = Topic("widget", "skill:a", ("widget tool",), "widget owner statement lives here",
+                  index=("use the widget", "not in the index"))
+    moved = topic._replace(owner="static")
+    assert owner_gaps((topic,), surfaces) == []
+    assert owner_gaps((moved,), surfaces) and "missing" in owner_gaps((moved,), surfaces)[0]
+    # skill:b pasted it; docstrings are not scanned for copies.
+    assert copies((topic,), surfaces) == ["'widget' (owner skill:a) is also stated on ['skill:b']"]
+    assert copies((topic._replace(shared_with=("skill:b",)),), surfaces) == []
+    assert index_gaps((topic,), surfaces) == ["'widget': ['not in the index']"]
 
 
 # ── The skills are client-neutral (milestone 410 step 2) ────────────────

tests/test_instruction_surfaces_agree.py

@@ -1,39 +1,35 @@
-"""The instruction surfaces must agree on how a rule reaches a session.
+"""What the instruction surfaces must say that one owner per topic cannot enforce.
 
-WHY THIS EXISTS
+WHY THIS FILE IS SMALLER THAN IT WAS
 
-Rule #119 makes the instruction surfaces the SPECIFICATION for product
-behaviour — there is no other place the "load the operator's rules" obligation
-is written down, and no code path enforces it. So a surface that states it
-differently isn't a documentation slip; it is the product behaving differently.
+Until milestone 410 this file pinned REDUNDANCY: every session-start surface —
+the MCP `_INSTRUCTIONS`, the plugin's static context, the `using-scribe` skill —
+had to restate how a rule reaches a session, what an empty session means, the
+Systems reflex and the snippet-recording triggers. That was the design #2494
+chose after #2497 (two surfaces disagreeing about who loads the rules) and
+#2198 (every hook silently inert): say it everywhere, so no single failure
+loses it.
 
-That happened (#2497). `_INSTRUCTIONS` said the SessionStart hook "is the
-bridge" for getting rules into a session, while the `using-scribe` skill said to
-pull them yourself and treat any push as a bonus. An agent weighting the first
-would reasonably skip the pull.
+Decision #4027 replaced that with ownership, and tests/test_guidance_ownership.py
+now enforces it: every topic stated in full by exactly one owner, with a
+one-line pointer in the server's index. The tests that required every surface
+to repeat itself were retired there, because they enforced the very duplication
+that drifted (#4022). What they protected is still protected:
+  - "state how to ask for a rule" / "say an empty session is not an empty
+    rulebook" → the rules topic: owned by using-scribe, indexed in
+    `_INSTRUCTIONS` with both phrases;
+  - the Systems reflex and the snippet-recording triggers → their topics'
+    markers, required on their owners;
+  - "never name the SessionStart push without stating the ask" (#2497's exact
+    shape) → retired outright. Since milestone 394 the push carries no rules,
+    so naming it can no longer imply rules were handled, and requiring every
+    surface that mentions it to restate the ask would force a copy.
 
-#2198 is the case where that is wrong: every plugin hook was silently inert for
-an extended period, and nothing announced it. An agent trusting the push would
-have run with no binding rules and no signal — while those rules govern branch,
-commit, push and other hard-to-reverse actions.
+WHAT STAYS HERE
 
-The asymmetry is the whole argument, and it is what these tests pin: asking
-when a rule had already arrived costs one redundant call; not asking when
-nothing arrived costs the operator's rules entirely.
-
-MILESTONE 394 SHARPENED IT RATHER THAN RETIRING IT. There is no longer a
-resident set to pull, so "no rule in front of me" went from a rare and
-suspicious state to the ordinary state of most turns. The instruction that
-used to be supplementary — go and ask — is now the only route a rule has, and
-the surfaces must additionally say what an EMPTY session means, or a session
-reads silence as permission on nearly every turn.
-
-WHAT THIS DOES NOT DO
-
-It cannot tell whether two surfaces contradict each other in prose generally —
-that needs a reader. It pins the instructions whose absence is known to be
-load-bearing, and the specific shape the #2497 defect took: naming the push
-without also stating how to ask.
+Properties of a CLAIM rather than of who owns a topic: the index fits the
+fold; a surface that says rules bind also names what does not; using-scribe
+still sends a session to the reporting-back skill.
 """
 from __future__ import annotations
 
@@ -41,50 +37,6 @@ import pathlib
 
 ROOT = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
 
-# THE PULL IS NOW THE ASK (milestone 394). This was `list_always_on_rules`,
-# the call that fetched the resident set. There is no resident set and no such
-# call: a rule reaches a session by retrieval, and the only thing a session can
-# DO about a rule it has not been handed is go looking for one.
-#
-# So the two halves this file used to pin separately — "pull the resident set"
-# and "and retrieve the conditional ones too" — have collapsed into one
-# instruction, and it is the load-bearing one rather than the supplementary
-# one it used to be.
-ASK = 'content_type="rule"'
-
-# A surface must also say what an EMPTY session means, which is the half that
-# is newly dangerous. Under residency, "no rule in front of me" was rare and
-# suspicious. Under retrieval it is the ordinary state of most turns, so a
-# session that reads it as "there is no rule" is wrong on nearly every turn
-# rather than occasionally — the #3720 defect at session scale.
-#
-# Claim phrases, not a single word, for the reason BINDING_CLAIMS gives below:
-# a bare "matched" or "silence" appears in prose that is not making this claim
-# at all. A surface passes by asserting the distinction however it words it.
-ABSENCE_CLAIMS = (
-    "nothing matched",
-    "is not the same as \"there is no rule",
-    "never \"there is no rule",
-    "silence is not absence",
-    "not evidence there is none",
-)
-
-# The surfaces that STATE the rules reflex. Hand-written because "who owns
-# this?" is an editorial fact, not a derivable one — but each entry is asserted
-# to EXIST, so a move or rename fails loudly here instead of quietly dropping
-# that surface from the check.
-#
-# Since milestone 410 (decision #4027) that is the owner and the index, not
-# every surface a session loads: `using-scribe` states the reflex in full and
-# the server's `_INSTRUCTIONS` gives it one line for every MCP client. The
-# Claude Code adapter's static context used to be a third copy; it now points
-# at the skill instead, and tests/test_guidance_ownership.py keeps the topic
-# from falling off.
-SESSION_START_SURFACES = (
-    ROOT / "src" / "scribe" / "mcp" / "server.py",
-    ROOT / "plugin" / "skills" / "using-scribe" / "SKILL.md",
-)
-
 
 def _all_surfaces() -> list[tuple[str, str]]:
     """(label, text) for every file a SESSION loads as instructions.
@@ -105,54 +57,6 @@ def _all_surfaces() -> list[tuple[str, str]]:
     return found
 
 
-def test_every_session_start_surface_states_the_ask():
-    """Retrieval is the only delivery, so asking is the only recourse."""
-    missing = []
-    for path in SESSION_START_SURFACES:
-        assert path.exists(), (
-            f"{path.relative_to(ROOT)} is gone — it was one of the surfaces "
-            f"carrying the rules instruction. If it moved, update "
-            f"SESSION_START_SURFACES; if it was retired, check the instruction "
-            f"still lives somewhere a fresh session reads."
-        )
-        if ASK not in path.read_text():
-            missing.append(str(path.relative_to(ROOT)))
-    assert not missing, (
-        f"these surfaces never tell the agent how to ask for a rule "
-        f"({ASK}): {missing}. Nothing is pushed and nothing is resident, so a "
-        f"surface that omits this leaves a session with no way to reach a rule "
-        f"it was not handed — bound by nothing (#2198, #2497, milestone 394)."
-    )
-
-
-def test_every_session_start_surface_says_an_empty_session_is_not_an_empty_rulebook():
-    """The half that got dangerous when residency went away.
-
-    Under the old model a session opened holding every applicable rule, so
-    "nothing is in front of me" was a rare state and a suspicious one. Under
-    retrieval it is the NORMAL state of most turns. A surface that describes
-    where rules come from, without also saying what their absence means, leaves
-    a session reading silence as permission — on nearly every turn rather than
-    occasionally.
-
-    That is #3720's defect ("absence reads as non-existence") moved from a
-    readout to the session itself, and this milestone is what makes every
-    session start in the absent state.
-    """
-    missing = []
-    for path in SESSION_START_SURFACES:
-        text = path.read_text().lower()
-        if not any(c.lower() in text for c in ABSENCE_CLAIMS):
-            missing.append(str(path.relative_to(ROOT)))
-    assert not missing, (
-        f"these surfaces say how a rule arrives but never what it means when "
-        f"none does: {missing}. 'No rule arrived' means 'nothing matched', "
-        f"never 'there is no rule' — and only one of those has been checked. "
-        f"Say it however you like; one of {ABSENCE_CLAIMS} is what this looks "
-        f"for."
-    )
-
-
 def _instructions_text() -> str:
     """The _INSTRUCTIONS literal from server.py, as the client would see it."""
     import re
@@ -180,71 +84,6 @@ def test_instructions_fit_the_fold():
     )
 
 
-def test_the_systems_reflex_is_stated_by_its_owner():
-    """Write-time tagging guidance must be stated as a reflex, not only per tool.
-
-    #2562's behavioral finding: with the guidance only in tool descriptions,
-    sessions filed records untagged. The tag-as-you-write reflex was pinned on
-    the static context then; since milestone 410 its owner is using-scribe
-    (decision #4027), with the in-band `systems_hint` as the half that fires on
-    its own.
-    """
-    owner = (ROOT / "plugin" / "skills" / "using-scribe" / "SKILL.md").read_text()
-    for needle in ("system_ids", "create_system", "systems_hint"):
-        assert needle in owner, (
-            f"plugin/skills/using-scribe/SKILL.md no longer mentions "
-            f"{needle} — the Systems tagging reflex must be stated by its "
-            f"owner, not only in tool descriptions (#2562)."
-        )
-
-
-def test_the_snippet_recording_triggers_are_stated_by_their_owner():
-    """The pattern-library recording model must be stated, by name.
-
-    #2664's behavioral finding: recording guidance as a trailing clause of the
-    reuse bullet converted zero times outside snippet-minded sessions. The
-    2026-08-16 ruling (decision #2686) then replaced the reactive model
-    entirely: every shape is recorded at FIRST build — no "will it recur?"
-    judgment — and second-copy consolidation is only the backstop. All three
-    elements must stay stated: the tool, the first-build trigger, and the
-    backstop. Since milestone 410 the owner is the reusing-code skill.
-    """
-    owner = " ".join((ROOT / "plugin" / "skills" / "reusing-code" / "SKILL.md").read_text().split())
-    for needle in ("create_snippet", "first build", "second copy"):
-        assert needle in owner, (
-            f"plugin/skills/reusing-code/SKILL.md no longer states the "
-            f"snippet-recording model ({needle!r}) — record-every-shape-at-"
-            f"first-build with second-copy consolidation as the backstop must "
-            f"be stated by its owner (#2664, decision #2686)."
-        )
-
-
-# The "displaced from _INSTRUCTIONS" topics (#2562) used to be listed here with
-# their own delivered-surface check. They are folded into the one topic registry
-# in tests/test_guidance_ownership.py (milestone 410), which covers every topic
-# of the ownership map and defines "delivered surface" once.
-
-
-def test_no_surface_names_the_push_without_stating_the_ask():
-    """The exact shape #2497 took.
-
-    Mentioning the SessionStart hook is fine and often useful. Mentioning it
-    *instead of* the pull is the defect: it reads as "this is handled", and the
-    surface that says so is the one an agent has least reason to doubt.
-    """
-    offenders = [
-        label for label, text in _all_surfaces()
-        if "SessionStart" in text and ASK not in text
-    ]
-    assert not offenders, (
-        f"these surfaces describe the SessionStart push but never state how to "
-        f"ask: {offenders}. The push is a delivery optimisation, not the "
-        f"bridge — it can be absent without saying so, and since milestone 394 "
-        f"it carries no rules at all. Name it if it helps, but say how to ask "
-        f"({ASK}) regardless."
-    )
-
-
 # ── force: a surface that says rules bind must say what does not ────────
 #
 # Added with the preference kind (milestone 399). Before it, "rules bind" was