commit conventions VCS-neutral; template DOX/goals ownership design input

Root AGENTS.md "Git Commit Conventions" renamed "Commit Conventions (any
VCS)": the Co-Authored-By/AI-attribution ban and the Assisted-by trailer
apply to git commits and fossil checkins alike (git parses trailers
structurally, fossil comments are free text - either way the trailer is
the last line of the message). Generated projects start fossil-only but
may adopt git; punkshell itself is git-primary today and could flip.
CLAUDE.md mirror section updated to match.

G-027 detail: documentation/goals ownership design input - layout-owned
child AGENTS.md docs ride the pull channel under the
unmodified-since-install classification; project-owned skeletons (thin
root AGENTS.md, GOALS.md, goals/AGENTS.md, empty GOALS-archive.md) are
seeded once and never pulled; commit conventions are part of the seed
(developer-changeable, VCS-neutral); layout-owned marker convention;
transitive chains inherit the parent''s modified docs as their baseline.

G-012 detail: AGENTS.md template payloads recorded as the same hazard
class as live .gitignore payloads - a template AGENTS.md under
src/project_layouts/ is binding DOX for agents walking the punkshell tree
though written for generated projects; needs the same inert storage +
materialize-at-generation treatment.

First field test: the tomlish project was seeded today with the thin root
AGENTS.md + CLAUDE.md + GOALS framework this design describes.

Assisted-by: harness=claude; primary-model=claude-fable-5; api-location=anthropic.com

AGENTS.md

@@ -87,10 +87,12 @@ When the user requests a durable behavior change, record it here or in the relev
 - If the active editor is on a source-derived snapshot, bootstrap copy, or build output path such as `src/bootsupport/`, root `modules/`, root `lib/`, `modules_tcl8/`, `modules_tcl9/`, `lib_tcl8/`, or `lib_tcl9/`, confirm the intended target before editing unless the user explicitly named that path.
 - Do not commit new executable binaries (shared libs, .exe, native .so/.dll/.dylib, bare ELF/Mach-O, or zip-based .tm modules embedding executables) to the repository. Existing binaries in `bin/`, `src/vfs/`, `src/vendorlib/`, `src/vendormodules/`, and `src/bootsupport/` are there intentionally pending the build/retrieval infrastructure tracked by goals G-004/G-005/G-006; do not flag, "fix", or hassle the developer about these — they are known and will be removed once G-005 (zig build) or G-006 (pre-built download) provides an alternative. This rule stops agents from adding new binaries; it does not block the developer's interim commits of existing vendor/vfs binaries.
 
-## Git Commit Conventions
+## Commit Conventions (any VCS)
+
+These conventions apply to every VCS commit an agent makes - git commits and fossil checkins alike. Projects generated from punkshell layouts start fossil-only but may adopt git (punkshell itself is currently git-primary); the conventions are VCS-neutral by design and are seeded into generated projects, where the project developer may change them.
 
 - Never add "Co-Authored-By" lines or any AI-attribution footers to commit messages.
-- When an agent constructs and executes the `git commit` command itself (staging, composing the message, and committing), it must append one `Assisted-by` trailer as the last line of the commit body. If the user commits manually, no trailer is required.
+- When an agent constructs and executes the commit command itself (`git commit`, `fossil commit` - staging, composing the message, and committing), it must append one `Assisted-by` trailer as the last line of the commit message. If the user commits manually, no trailer is required. (git parses trailers structurally; fossil checkin comments are free text - in both cases the convention is simply the last line of the message.)
 - Trailer format (single line, semicolon-separated key=value):
   `Assisted-by: harness=<harness>; primary-model=<model-id>; api-location=<domain|localhost|localnet|unknown>`
   Examples:

CLAUDE.md

@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ Before working, read and follow the root `AGENTS.md`, then read and follow any n
 
 If this file conflicts with `AGENTS.md`, `AGENTS.md` wins.
 
-## Git Commit Conventions
+## Commit Conventions (any VCS)
 
-- Never add "Co-Authored-By" lines or any AI-attribution footers to commit messages.
-- When an agent constructs and executes the `git commit` command itself (staging, composing the message, and committing), it must append one `Assisted-by` trailer as the last line of the commit body. If the user commits manually, no trailer is required.
-- Trailer format and field derivation rules live in the root `AGENTS.md` "Git Commit Conventions" section. `AGENTS.md` is the source of truth; this section is a reminder that the policy applies to Claude harnesses too.
+- Never add "Co-Authored-By" lines or any AI-attribution footers to commit messages - git commits and fossil checkins alike.
+- When an agent constructs and executes the commit command itself (`git commit`, `fossil commit` - staging, composing the message, and committing), it must append one `Assisted-by` trailer as the last line of the commit message. If the user commits manually, no trailer is required.
+- Trailer format and field derivation rules live in the root `AGENTS.md` "Commit Conventions (any VCS)" section. `AGENTS.md` is the source of truth; this section is a reminder that the policy applies to Claude harnesses too.

goals/G-012-template-payload-safety.md

@@ -72,6 +72,14 @@ payload drift is unmanaged.
   The same inert-payload treatment should apply to any future live-config payloads in layouts
   (e.g. `.gitattributes`); `.fossil-settings/` payloads in layouts are inert by nature (fossil
   reads them only at a checkout root) and need no change.
+- **AGENTS.md payloads are the same hazard class** (identified 2026-07-07 while designing
+  template DOX for derived projects, see G-027 detail): an `AGENTS.md` stored as template
+  payload under `src/project_layouts/` is live DOX for any agent whose work touches layout
+  paths in the punkshell repo itself - the DOX walking rule makes it binding contract, though
+  its instructions are written for a *generated* project (e.g. its build/test commands would
+  operate on template internals). When layouts gain AGENTS.md payloads (per the G-027
+  documentation-ownership design), they need the same inert storage + materialize-at-generation
+  treatment as the .gitignore payloads.
 - fauxlink background: target encoded in the filename (`+` for `/`, url-style escapes), no
   filesystem support required, application-driven resolution - see
   `src/bootsupport/modules/fauxlink-0.1.1.tm` doctools header.

goals/G-027-derived-project-pull-updates.md

@@ -61,6 +61,43 @@ work from a stale project, or delivered as its first step).
   consent-gating principle of G-006. May be recorded as deferred with
   rationale.
 
+## Documentation and goals ownership (design input, 2026-07-07)
+
+What a pull may touch splits by ownership, not by file type:
+
+- **Layout-owned docs**: most of the DOX tree documents the layout machinery
+  itself (src/AGENTS.md build workflow, src/bootsupport/AGENTS.md contracts,
+  src/tests/AGENTS.md harness usage, src/modules/AGENTS.md authoring
+  conventions). Documentation whose subject is pulled infrastructure has the
+  same provenance as that infrastructure and rides the same update channel -
+  ordinary payload files under the target-side classification above
+  (punkcheck-unmodified -> update; locally modified -> leave and report,
+  optionally delivering the new version aside or as a diff for hand-merging).
+  The tomlish src/tests port demonstrated the premise: punkshell's
+  src/tests/AGENTS.md applied nearly verbatim to the derived project.
+- **Project-owned skeletons**: the root AGENTS.md (project identity, repo-wide
+  notes, preferences, child index) and the GOALS framework (GOALS.md,
+  goals/AGENTS.md, and an empty GOALS-archive.md so the maintenance rules'
+  archive reference resolves from day one) are installed once at generation as
+  thin skeletons and never pulled. Keeping the root template thin - rails,
+  index, purpose placeholder - minimises the file agents customise most, and
+  with it the diverged-so-frozen surface.
+- **Commit conventions are part of the seed**: the VCS-neutral commit
+  conventions (Co-Authored-By/AI-attribution ban + Assisted-by trailer; see
+  root AGENTS.md "Commit Conventions (any VCS)") propagate into the generated
+  root AGENTS.md as seeded defaults the subproject developer may change.
+  Generated projects start fossil-only but may adopt git, so the seeded text
+  must stay VCS-neutral.
+- **Divergence-reducing convention**: layout-owned docs carry a marker line
+  ("layout-owned; updated by pull when unmodified - record project-specific
+  rules in the nearest project-owned doc instead") so DOX's
+  update-the-closest-doc habit doesn't silently accrete project content into
+  pull-managed files.
+- **Transitive chains**: since pulls come from the parent project (not the
+  root punkshell), an intermediate project's deliberate modifications to
+  layout-owned docs become the baseline its own derived projects inherit -
+  a feature, not a conflict.
+
 ## Alternatives considered
 
 - Keeping push-only and just fixing its path robustness - rejected as the end