[twilightsaurus]

Changes

• Stop claiming SSH readiness when installation uses --no-start.
• Distinguish fresh install-only completion from preservation on upgrades.
• Preserve the existing truthful retained-Direct completion: no new token and no fresh public authentication verification.
• Reconcile installation docs and Slice 26 status, keeping live acceptance pending.

No provisioning, credential, or service behavior changes.

Verification

• Actual modified installer: 12/12 isolated smoke scenarios passed across SSH, install-only, omitted-mode upgrades, and fresh/retained Direct; credential and service-state preservation checked where promised.
• Installer fixture tests: 5 passed.
• npm run check: passed (protocol 64, desktop 168, relay 1086, shared adapter 31, Mudlet 32, TinyFugue 113; lint, typing, e2e and production build).
• Final shell syntax, documentation references and Markdown formatting checks passed.

Evidence limits

Smoke runtime, systemd and public-edge boundaries were fixture doubles. No real-systemd, public-connectivity, native-desktop, or live Slice 26 acceptance claims. No release version selected or changed.