fix(authoritative-text-rules,bug-to-contract,code-review-gate,codex-contract-test-review,codex-plan-review,codex-review,copilot-review,diff-root,done-check,finding-to-audit,finding-triage,gate-miss-to-issue,gh-body-audit,gh-body-conventions,implement,quality-list,review-pipeline,stage-commit-push,todo-check): drop rationale that changes no executor action

[ultimatile]

Summary

The skill bodies a reviewed change passes through carried sentences that explain a rule without changing what the executing agent does: a second statement of a rule the same file already makes, a clause naming the benefit or consequence of an instruction, a note on what another skill owns. Each one is read on every run and is a second place for the rule to drift. This removes 67 of them from 19 SKILL.md files; no instruction is reworded.

Closes #252

Changes

• Four rules are no longer repeated inside their own file. review-pipeline's Rules list does not restate the merge prohibition its merge-gate section gives, done-check's output section does not restate the dual-lane rendering rule its merge step gives, code-review-gate's telemetry note does not restate the waiver rule under Exhaustion, and finding-to-audit's closing list does not restate the routing of execution-dependent checks.
• Trailing clauses that named an instruction's benefit ("to preserve formatting", "for reliable retrieval"), the consequence of not following it, or the mechanism that consumes its result are gone from stage-commit-push, diff-root, done-check, gh-body-audit, gh-body-conventions, finding-triage, copilot-review, codex-contract-test-review, codex-plan-review, todo-check, and gate-miss-to-issue.
• quality-list and authoritative-text-rules say that runners apply their items by reference and read the index, without the sentences spelling out that a change therefore propagates.
• review-pipeline and implement no longer tell an editor not to restate done-check's gate, and done-check no longer says where its own prohibition and its own exceptions are stated.
• bug-to-contract and finding-to-audit open on their procedure: the "a single fix prevents one bug" line is gone from both.
• codex-contract-test-review and codex-plan-review explain the blocks their prompt templates hold, and no longer list two blocks the templates leave out.
• metadata.version is 2026.10.10.

The spans are quoted one by one in #252, each beside the sentence that still carries its action. Six more follow from that list: codex-plan-review, implement, and todo-check held the same clauses in the same words, and they went with their copies.

Verification

• pre-commit run --files $(git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD), which covers the 19 skill files and .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, reports the mdformat hook as Passed.
• Every deletion was applied by exact-match replacement that checks how many times the span occurs before editing; all 67 matched their expected count.
• A search of every Markdown, shell, Python, and TSV file under skills/, plus README.md and CLAUDE.md, finds none of the 67 removed spans.
• The 16 sentences Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252 lists as deliberately kept are each still present.

Notes

• This does not remove every sentence that reads as rationale. A sentence stays when it is how the executor recognises that a case applies, when it is the reason a procedure exists and nothing else in the file states it, or when a neighbouring clause refers to it; Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252 names the 16 that were considered and kept on those grounds.
• The 16 SKILL.md files outside this set are not swept.

Plan-vs-actual delta

• All 61 deletions Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252 lists landed as written, with only the punctuation each one forces.
• Scope grew by six deletions in three files Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252 placed out of scope: codex-plan-review, implement, and todo-check. Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252 deferred four spans there as copies of deleted text. A review of the branch reported that codex-contract-test-review had lost clauses codex-plan-review still carried word for word, leaving the two skills disagreeing, so the copies were removed in this change instead of later. Two of the six are not among the four Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252 names: the "to prevent stdin hanging" tail in codex-plan-review and the "the subagent reads the item files itself" tail in todo-check, each the same clause as one deleted from its sibling.
• Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252's first acceptance criterion counts 61 deletions in 16 files; the diff holds 67 in 19. Its other three hold as written: no removed span remains in the file it was removed from, every sentence on its kept list is still present, and the formatter passes.
• Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252's open question, whether applying every deletion together strands a reference, resolved to no: each section a deletion touched reads correctly in the committed text.
• Sixteen SKILL.md files stay unswept, down from the 18 Track 2: redundant-why removal across the review-pipeline skills #252 sets aside.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

The deletions preserve operative requirements, and no unresolved blocking issues remain.

0 open findings

What changed in this PR

Removes redundant rationale and repeated rules from 19 workflow skills, reducing instruction overhead while preserving executor actions, as requested in #252.

Changes:

• Removes explanatory clauses and duplicate guidance.
• Preserves operative instructions and workflow safeguards.
• Bumps the plugin version to 2026.10.10.

File	Description
skills/​todo-check/​SKILL.md	Trims prompt-composition rationale.
skills/​stage-commit-push/​SKILL.md	Removes routing and formatting explanations.
skills/​review-pipeline/​SKILL.md	Removes repeated gates and explanatory clauses.
skills/​quality-list/​SKILL.md	Trims propagation and lane explanations.
skills/​implement/​SKILL.md	Removes redundant gate-maintenance guidance.
skills/​gh-body-conventions/​SKILL.md	Trims rendering and evidence-check rationale.
skills/​gh-body-audit/​SKILL.md	Removes audit-context explanations.
skills/​gate-miss-to-issue/​SKILL.md	Trims proposal-ownership commentary.
skills/​finding-triage/​SKILL.md	Removes redundant disposition explanations.
skills/​finding-to-audit/​SKILL.md	Removes repeated promotion principles.
skills/​done-check/​SKILL.md	Trims audit rationale and repeated output rules.
skills/​diff-root/​SKILL.md	Removes explanations behind retained root rules.
skills/​copilot-review/​SKILL.md	Trims script-flow explanations.
skills/​codex-review/​SKILL.md	Removes reviewer-context rationale.
skills/​codex-plan-review/​SKILL.md	Trims template and command rationale.
skills/​codex-contract-test-review/​SKILL.md	Trims template and command rationale.
skills/​code-review-gate/​SKILL.md	Removes repeated waiver guidance.
skills/​bug-to-contract/​SKILL.md	Removes repeated contract-test rationale.
skills/​authoritative-text-rules/​SKILL.md	Trims propagation and scope explanations.
.claude-plugin/​marketplace.json	Updates version to 2026.10.10.

🧠 Review effort: Balanced

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