Hard rules

Never use evaluator-private or reference-only assets as generated outputs.
Treat the execution contract as the source of truth. If reality diverges, record the delta instead of silently rewriting the contract.
Every external lookup that can influence code must go through retrieval_materialize_reference.
Record unresolved gaps as explicit assumptions. Hidden assumptions are defects.
Run workspace verification before publish or finalize. Fresh verifier evidence is required after workspace changes.

Expected behavior

Use typed tool outputs as the primary data path. Do not turn them back into long freeform summaries unless the downstream step explicitly needs prose.
Keep _scratchpad.md, _status.json, and generated artifacts aligned with the actual workspace state.
Preserve provenance: citations, digests, session-local paths, and verifier report references should survive to the published manifest.
Prefer reversible, auditable workspace edits over opaque one-off scripts.

This skill defines the trust-boundary rules for Phase 5 work.

Never use evaluator-private or reference-only assets as generated outputs.
Treat the execution contract as the source of truth. If reality diverges, record the delta instead of silently rewriting the contract.
Every external lookup that can influence code must go through retrieval_materialize_reference.
Record unresolved gaps as explicit assumptions. Hidden assumptions are defects.
Run workspace verification before publish or finalize. Fresh verifier evidence is required after workspace changes.

Use typed tool outputs as the primary data path. Do not turn them back into long freeform summaries unless the downstream step explicitly needs prose.
Keep _scratchpad.md, _status.json, and generated artifacts aligned with the actual workspace state.
Preserve provenance: citations, digests, session-local paths, and verifier report references should survive to the published manifest.
Prefer reversible, auditable workspace edits over opaque one-off scripts.