diff --git a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index 0eb3307..80f298a 100644
--- a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "scribe",
   "description": "Scribe for Claude Code: connects the scribe MCP server, adds the hooks that deliver live project state and relevant records at the right moment, ships the shared client-neutral Scribe skills (using-scribe, writing-plans, reporting-back, systematic-debugging, verification, brainstorming, reusing-code, shape-accounting), and syncs your saved Scribe Processes as skills (/scribe:sync).",
-  "version": "2026.09.21.0253",
+  "version": "2026.09.21.0300",
   "author": {
     "name": "Bryan Van Deusen"
   },
diff --git a/src/scribe/mcp/server.py b/src/scribe/mcp/server.py
index 2163ef4..dfe1f4f 100644
--- a/src/scribe/mcp/server.py
+++ b/src/scribe/mcp/server.py
@@ -34,42 +34,37 @@ from quart import Quart
 # for space before the ownership split (milestones 317, 333, 409) is in
 # decision #4027 and the notes it supersedes.
 _INSTRUCTIONS = """
-Scribe is the operator's system of record for their work, and yours: recall
-from it before acting, record in it as you go, and keep one copy here rather
-than in local memory files.
+Scribe is the operator's system of record, and yours: recall before acting,
+record as you go, keep one copy here rather than in local memory files.
 
-Every reflex below is stated in full in the using-scribe skill (if your
-client reads Agent Skills) and in each tool's description. The index:
+Each reflex is stated in full in the using-scribe skill (if your client reads
+Agent Skills) and each tool's description. The index:
 - ORIENT: enter_project(id) loads the project, open work, Systems and design
   system. An `inception` key: ask what it inherits, then
   decide_project_inception.
 - RULES: nothing preloads; a rule arrives when your work matches it. Before a
-  consequential act — or before handing work back unsure you may finish it —
-  what_might_apply("what you are about to do"): fifty ranked
-  candidates, no bar. search(content_type="rule") reads one you already
-  suspect. Silence means nothing matched, not none. Rules bind; preferences
-  guide and you keep them current; lessons inform.
-- MISSED: a rule that missed you is a trigger to fix, not a
-  floor to move (retrieval_telemetry).
-- JUDGE: you are the judge of record here — what a shape is, whether a
-  finding holds, whether work is done. Surfacing one for the operator to
-  rule on is the judgment NOT made, however well it is written up. Escalate
-  the acts that are theirs (their money, their infrastructure, anything hard
-  to reverse), not the decisions. Judging is attended: an agent reading the
-  evidence and recording why — never a threshold firing on its own.
+  consequential act, what_might_apply("what you are about to do") — fifty
+  ranked, no bar. search(content_type="rule") reads one you suspect. Silence
+  means nothing matched, not none. Rules bind; preferences guide and you keep
+  them current; lessons inform.
+- MISSED: a rule that missed you is a trigger to fix, not a floor to move
+  (retrieval_telemetry).
+- JUDGE: you are the judge of record — what a shape is, whether a finding
+  holds, whether work is done. Surfacing one for them to rule on is the
+  judgment not made. Escalate their acts, not your decisions.
 - RECALL: search before acting, scoped with the active project_id.
 - RECORD: create_task; a fix is kind="issue". add_task_log as you go; status
-  in_progress on start, done on finish. Tag system_ids as you write.
-- PLAN work with an arc: find the existing plan first
+  in_progress on start, done on finish. Tag system_ids.
+- PLAN with an arc: find the existing plan first
   (search(content_type="milestone")) and add steps to it; else
-  start_planning(steps=[...]). The plan is a milestone, each step a task.
-- IDS exist only once a create returns them. Records that cite each other go
+  start_planning(steps=[...]).
+- IDS exist only once a create returns them. Records citing each other go
   through create_records, writing {{ref:N}} for the Nth record.
 - REUSE: search snippets before building; create_snippet what you build.
 - UI: the project's design system binds; resolve_design_system before
   hand-writing a value.
-- REPORT back from the `placement` a task write returns: where the work sits,
-  what changed, what needs the operator, what comes next.
+- REPORT from the `placement` a task write returns: where it sits, what
+  changed, what needs them, what next.
 
 Creates are duplicate-gated: a near-match returns the existing id to update.
 shared:true records are another user's suggestion, not settled practice.