refactor(work-items)!: drop the .work-item-tracker.json discovery fallback

.changes/autonomy/refactor-work-items-drop-json-fallback-6632485e.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+bump: major
+---
+
+### Removed
+
+- The prerequisite resolver (`skills/setup/scripts/resolve-prerequisites.mjs`) no longer reads a repo-root `.work-item-tracker.json`. The tracker need is present only when `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml` sets a `tracker` mapping; otherwise it is absent, and routines that need the tracker resolve `unsupported`. The absent detail names `/work-items:setup apply` as the fix, and names the JSON file when one is present.
+
+### Changed
+
+- The prerequisite-resolution reference and the backlog-readiness, duplicate-detection, issue-triage and pr-queue-tending routines name only the YAML binding.

.changes/plugin-quality/refactor-work-items-drop-json-fallback-3413e338.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+bump: patch
+---
+
+### Changed
+
+- The audit skill's session-mode reference reads role labels only from the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, matching the work-items seam, which no longer reads a repo-root `.work-item-tracker.json`.

.changes/source-control/refactor-work-items-drop-json-fallback-a72963b9.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+bump: major
+---
+
+### Removed
+
+- The babysit scripts no longer read role labels from a repo-root `.work-item-tracker.json`. `babysit_tracker_binding.py` reads only the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`; `LEGACY_PATH` is gone and `PATHS` holds only that file, so the merge-skip cache key no longer covers the JSON file. A repository bound only by the JSON file gets the default role labels. Fix: run `/work-items:setup apply`, which copies the binding into `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`.
+
+### Changed
+
+- The babysit-loop skill, the babysit safety reference and the pull-request create reference no longer describe a JSON binding.

.changes/work-items/refactor-work-items-drop-json-fallback-59140d30.md

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+bump: major
+---
+
+### Removed
+
+- The tracker seam no longer reads a repo-root `.work-item-tracker.json`. The binding is only the `tracker` mapping of `<home>/work-items.yaml` (or a file `WORK_ITEM_TRACKER_BINDING` names). A repository bound only by the JSON file now gets exit `3` from every seam verb. **Fix: run `/work-items:setup apply`**, which copies the JSON binding and its `.work-item-tracker.local.json` personal override under `tracker:` in `<home>/work-items.yaml` and `<home>/work-items.local.yaml`, and leaves the JSON files in place.
+- The one-line `notice:` the seam printed when it read the JSON file is gone.
+
+### Changed
+
+- With no binding, the seam's exit `3` message (`wit_no_binding_reason` in `lib/binding.sh`) says why and names `/work-items:setup apply`: a repo-root `.work-item-tracker.json` that no longer binds, a `work-items.yaml` with no `tracker` mapping, a root where no convention home applies, or a missing `WORK_ITEM_TRACKER_BINDING` file. A broken convention-home pointer names `/work-items:setup check` instead, and missing shared resolver copies name a plugin reinstall. The jira, gitea and linear seeds and the onboard-adapter template print the same message.
+- `/work-items:setup check` reports a binding that exists only in `.work-item-tracker.json` as FAIL, remediation `/work-items:setup apply`, instead of INFO.
+- The seam contract, setup skill, README, schema and the skill bodies that resolve role labels no longer describe a JSON fallback.

docs/contracts/config-cascade/README.md

@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ its conformance cell.
 | `code-tidying` | no-floor | `.claude/tidy-lanes/<lane>.md` | team only | team only; residual wholesale if no `## Merge semantics` | per-section when declared | declared deviation; no user-global or `*.local.*` personal override (#723). Team layer over a bundled default. A project lane declaring `## Merge semantics` merges per-section with its bundled lane (`Scope` per-section override, watch-for patterns additive, per `docs-prose` #701 and `shell-tooling` #724). Residual deviation: a project lane that declares nothing still resolves project-only wholesale, the first-match fallback retained in #701 so unmigrated consumer lanes keep working, undeclared at the layer that takes it. Personal variation is limited to lane names the team does not track, an uncommitted `.claude/tidy-lanes/<lane>.md` never added to the index; gitignoring a path the team already tracks does not make it personal |
 | `code-metrics` | no-floor | `docs/conventions/code-metrics.yaml` (ADR 0064; schema `plugins/code-metrics/schemas/code-metrics.schema.json`) | all three | later layer | per-key | conforms (per-key override, declared because every value is a scalar or a closed list: `scope.exclude` and `lanes.<lane>.collectors.<measure>` replace whole), except declared divergences from "Resolution algorithm": (1) the root is `git rev-parse --show-toplevel`, else the working directory, and `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR` is not read (`plugins/code-metrics/scripts/resolve-config.py:221-234`; step 1); (2) no home-root or same-file classification of the team and personal override paths (`resolve-config.py:236-252`; step 2). The team layer is the docs file alone: the retired `.claude` team file of earlier releases is never read (`resolve-config.py:244-252`), and `/code-metrics:setup check` reports it. A layer outside the YAML subset reads as absent, and a value of the wrong shape is dropped by file, key and value and resolves from a valid higher layer, else the bundled default, never a lower layer; neither stops the run (`resolve-config.py:133-165,273-297`; ADR 0064 Decision 7). Unknown keys inert. Keys owned by [`plugins/code-metrics/reference/config.md`](../../../plugins/code-metrics/reference/config.md). Written (team layer only, carrying every declared key of a retired `.claude` file) by `/code-metrics:setup apply`; read by every audit skill. The consumer's `.claude/ecosystems/<lane>.yaml` files are a separate convention (ecosystem-commands); this surface does not absorb them. **Claim:** the plugin implements this row with the declared divergences above. **Basis:** `plugins/code-metrics/reference/config.md` "Layers and merge form" and the cited `resolve-config.py` lines. **As of:** 2026-11-02. **Recheck:** when that section adds a layer, changes merge form, or starts owning an ecosystem-commands key |
 | `repo-fleet-hygiene` | no-floor | `.claude/repo-fleet-hygiene.conf` | user-global + team | `--config` then team then user-global | whole-file, no per-key | declared deviation; whole-file precedence (explicit `--config` > team > user-global fallback), no per-key merge, no personal override layer (#1099) |
-| `work-items` | no-floor | the `tracker` mapping of `<home>/work-items.yaml`; the legacy `.work-item-tracker.json` (repo root) while a repository is not migrated | team + personal override | personal override on the allowlist | per-key personal override | declared deviation ([ADR 0015](../../adr/0015-bind-the-tracker-at-repo-root-with-an-allowlisted-personal-overlay.md)): layers live at the repo root, not under `.claude/`; personal override (`.work-item-tracker.local.json`) merges per-key over a deny-by-default allowlist (lease TTL, jira/linear/gitea auth identity, `docs`); deliberately no user-global layer, since a cross-repo personal rung would reopen the per-user provider trap the allowlist forecloses. Anchors at the repo root (`CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`, else git toplevel), no CWD climb. The personal override's gitignore line is outside the `.claude/**/*.local.*` one-liner, so `/work-items:setup apply` appends it, announced, a declared exception to the recommend default (ADR 0015) |
+| `work-items` | no-floor | the `tracker` mapping of `<home>/work-items.yaml` | team + personal override | personal override on the allowlist | per-key personal override | declared deviation ([ADR 0015](../../adr/0015-bind-the-tracker-at-repo-root-with-an-allowlisted-personal-overlay.md), superseded by ADR 0075): layers live in the convention home, not under `.claude/`; personal override (`<home>/work-items.local.yaml`) merges per-key over a deny-by-default allowlist (lease TTL, jira/linear/gitea auth identity, `docs`); deliberately no user-global layer, since a cross-repo personal rung would reopen the per-user provider trap the allowlist forecloses. Anchors at the repo root (`CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`, else git toplevel), no CWD climb. The personal override's gitignore line is outside the `.claude/**/*.local.*` one-liner, so `/work-items:setup apply` appends it, announced, a declared exception to the recommend default (ADR 0015) |
 | `work-items` (recurring schedule) | no-floor | `.github/recurring-schedule.json` | team only | team only | single-layer | declared deviation ([ADR 0042](../../adr/0042-ratify-consumer-config-location-outliers-in-place.md)): the schedule lives under `.github/`, not `.claude/`, tracked and team-shared with no user-global layer and no personal override. Written by `track add` and `track recheck`; read by `track audit`, `done`, `due`, `search` and `stats`, by `work` candidate discovery, and by `setup`, which also writes it; anchors at `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`, else git toplevel. Separate from the tracker binding row above |
 | `work-items` (settings keys) | any-layer-wins | team: `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml` (schema `plugins/work-items/schemas/work-items.schema.json`); per user: the plugin's `userConfig` option of the same name | `userConfig` + team | team; `true` in any layer for the five `bug_path.fix_gate` floors (policy floor) | per-key | conforms to the [location axis](#location-of-the-team-layer-a-docs-convention-file-or-claudename) ([ADR 0064](../../adr/0064-home-plugin-customization-in-docs-conventions-yaml.md)), with the layer order of its Decision 8: the manifest default, then `userConfig`, then the team file; no `~/.claude` file and no personal override. Keys are `triage_repro_count`, `triage_objection_window_hours` and `ai_disclaimer`; `triage_cluster` (signature-cluster defaults) has the team layer only. A value outside a key's range is named with its file, key and value, and that layer is dropped; the key then takes its manifest default, never a lower layer. This repository's file sets `ai_disclaimer: false`. The triage keys are read by `/work-items:triage` only, through `skills/triage/scripts/parse-concern-value.sh` from the repository root, or at a pinned ref under `--config-ref`; the `/work-items:work-loop` admission gate reads the window's end from the marker comment triage posts, not the file. `ai_disclaimer` is read through the same script by each lane that follows `plugins/work-items/reference/ai-disclaimer.md`. `bug_path.fix_gate` (team file only, no `userConfig` option) is read by `/work-items:work` through the same script with `--ref origin/<default-branch>`, so a branch cannot loosen it; its floor keys `confirmed_repro`, `evidence_reviewed`, `no_fix_artifact`, `no_human_claim` and `root_cause_evidenced` default `true`, and a `false` is named and ignored, while `before_after_runnable`, `budget_minutes` and `scope` are plain keys. Hand-edited, since `/work-items:setup apply` does not write this file yet |
 | `guardrails` | no-floor | team: `docs/conventions/guardrails.yaml` (schema `plugins/guardrails/schemas/guardrails.schema.json`) | team only, over the plugin default | team | per-key | declared deviation: one key, `fix_request_post` (`block` default, `allow`), read by `hooks/block-fix-request-post.sh` from the session's repository (the payload's cwd) at its local `origin/HEAD`, never the working tree or index, and applied whichever repository the post targets; no personal override and no `userConfig` value of the key (the guard's `block_fix_request_post_enabled` switch stays a separate per-user escape). A value other than `allow` or `block`, or a file that does not parse, is named and keeps `block` |

docs/contracts/loop-lane/README.md

@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ App installed on that repository only: a machine user is a `User` and would pass
 
 A lane escalates by creating or labeling a tracker item that carries the **`needs-human` role
 label**, resolved through the consumer's tracker binding (`config.role_labels` of the `tracker`
-mapping in `<home>/work-items.yaml`, else of the legacy `.work-item-tracker.json`) and
+mapping in `<home>/work-items.yaml`) and
 never compared as a string literal
 ([`label-taxonomy.md`](../../../plugins/work-items/reference/label-taxonomy.md#canonical-roles) owns
 the canonical roles and the resolution). A machine-marked bot comment discriminates a
@@ -1147,8 +1147,7 @@ offer to persist the answer; the headless path never waits on one.
 
 **Lane-editable config and the four sandbox conditions.** Every local lane reads some config at run
 time that the lane's own process could edit (audited in #7680). work-loop and attend-queue read
-the tracker binding (`docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`'s `tracker` mapping, else the legacy
-`.work-item-tracker.json`) from the checkout, including the role labels that
+the tracker binding (`docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`'s `tracker` mapping) from the checkout, including the role labels that
 admission matches on. The triage step they run reads `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml` and
 `docs/conventions/pr-pipeline.yaml` from the working tree when no `--config-ref` is given, and
 both lanes read that `work-items.yaml` for `ai_disclaimer` the same way. The
@@ -1498,8 +1497,9 @@ binding resolves from the same root the tracker seam uses.
 
 ```bash
 root="${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)}"
-L=$({ yq -o=json -e '.tracker' "$root/docs/conventions/work-items.yaml" 2>/dev/null || cat "$root/.work-item-tracker.json"; } |
-  jq -r '.config.role_labels["human-gated"] // "needs-human"' 2>/dev/null || echo needs-human)
+L=$(yq -o=json -e '.tracker' "$root/docs/conventions/work-items.yaml" 2>/dev/null |
+  jq -r '.config.role_labels["human-gated"] // empty' 2>/dev/null)
+L=${L:-needs-human}
 gh issue edit <n> -R "$R" --add-label "$L"
 gh issue comment <n> -R "$R" --body "Parked by operator: <reason>."
 ```

plugins/autonomy/reference/prerequisite-resolution.md

@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ presence-gated with a documented fallback per the marketplace's seam-phrasing co
 |---|---|---|
 | Ecosystems | Toolchain seam (when the `toolchain` plugin is installed), reading *resolved* consumer state **with resolution-rung provenance**: consume only consumer-authored or repo-inferred rungs; an ecosystem present but `enabled: false` is not configured; uncommitted user-global and `.local.yaml` layers report unresolvable; **reject the seam's bundled-default rung** as repository evidence | Inference from the repo's own build files; never another plugin's bundled defaults |
 | MCP enablement | Config-audit surface (when the sibling config-audit plugin is installed; marketplace id in README, since this `reference/` surface may not name vendors) | Report `.mcp.json` presence only; name enablement as unprobeable in provenance |
-| Tracker | Work-item tracker seam: the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, else the legacy `.work-item-tracker.json`, plus the bound adapter's `capabilities.json` (when the `work-items` plugin is installed) | Treat tracker-dependent prerequisites as unestablished (`unknown`) |
+| Tracker | Work-item tracker seam: the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, plus the bound adapter's `capabilities.json` (when the `work-items` plugin is installed) | Treat tracker-dependent prerequisites as unestablished (`unknown`) |
 | Substrates, schedulers, observability | Autonomy setup skill's own discovery slices | Same plugin, no gate |
 | Configured-surface enumeration | Each surface's own presence in the repo | Never by reading the config-cascade registry table (a conformance ledger, not a runtime inventory) |
 | Ownerless signals (CI-config presence, flag-SDK presence) | Probes owned by this contract | N/A |

plugins/autonomy/reference/routines/backlog-readiness-check.md

@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ need before the meeting discovers it.
 Refinement-time discovery is the toil addressed: backlog sessions burn shared meeting time
 finding out an item is not ready: acceptance criteria missing, fields absent, scope
 unclear. The check does the recurring pre-refinement pass and annotates each item with what
-is missing, so refinement starts from ready-or-annotated items instead of live archaeology.
+is missing, so refinement starts from ready-or-annotated items and nobody re-investigates
+missing details during the meeting.
 
 ## Trigger and cadence
 
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ Single-posture identity: `backlog-readiness-check` (bare class token).
 | Connector entitlements | none. Access is `repo`, so the connector branch of [Access to prerequisites](../routines.md#access-to-prerequisites) does not apply |
 | Connector entitlement rung | n/a (no connector). For `prod` / `product` / `org` / `ext`, entitlement binds at the [Org binding layer](../binding-seam.md#resolution-ladder) |
 | `executor_class` merge cap | cited from [executor surface classes](../trigger-dispatch.md#executor-surface-classes). None: `executor_class` is deprecated and caps nothing. Merge policy for this identity is n/a (`C1`) |
-| Repo needs | tracker binding via the work-item tracker seam (the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, else the legacy `.work-item-tracker.json`, + adapter `capabilities.json`); a deterministic repo-file probe that finds those files absent is `unsupported`; `unknown` only when the work-item seam cannot establish the fact (composition fallback) |
+| Repo needs | tracker binding via the work-item tracker seam (the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, + adapter `capabilities.json`); a deterministic repo-file probe that finds those files absent is `unsupported`; `unknown` only when the work-item seam cannot establish the fact (composition fallback) |
 
 ## Admission and escalation
 

plugins/autonomy/reference/routines/duplicate-detection-sweep.md

@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ Single-posture identity: `duplicate-detection-sweep` (bare class token).
 | Connector entitlements | none. Access is `repo`, so the connector branch of [Access to prerequisites](../routines.md#access-to-prerequisites) does not apply |
 | Connector entitlement rung | n/a (no connector). For `prod` / `product` / `org` / `ext`, entitlement binds at the [Org binding layer](../binding-seam.md#resolution-ladder) |
 | `executor_class` merge cap | cited from [executor surface classes](../trigger-dispatch.md#executor-surface-classes). None: `executor_class` is deprecated and caps nothing. Merge policy for this identity is n/a (`C1`) |
-| Repo needs | tracker binding via the work-item tracker seam (the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, else the legacy `.work-item-tracker.json`, + adapter `capabilities.json`); a deterministic repo-file probe that finds those files absent is `unsupported`; `unknown` only when the work-item seam cannot establish the fact (composition fallback) |
+| Repo needs | tracker binding via the work-item tracker seam (the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, + adapter `capabilities.json`); a deterministic repo-file probe that finds those files absent is `unsupported`; `unknown` only when the work-item seam cannot establish the fact (composition fallback) |
 
 ## Admission and escalation
 

plugins/autonomy/reference/routines/issue-triage-sweep.md

@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Single-posture identity: `issue-triage-sweep` (bare class token).
 | Connector entitlements | none. Access is `repo`, so the connector branch of [Access to prerequisites](../routines.md#access-to-prerequisites) does not apply |
 | Connector entitlement rung | n/a (no connector). For `prod` / `product` / `org` / `ext`, entitlement binds at the [Org binding layer](../binding-seam.md#resolution-ladder) |
 | `executor_class` merge cap | cited from [executor surface classes](../trigger-dispatch.md#executor-surface-classes). None: `executor_class` is deprecated and caps nothing. Merge policy for this identity is n/a (`C1`) |
-| Repo needs | tracker binding via the work-item tracker seam (the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, else the legacy `.work-item-tracker.json`, + adapter `capabilities.json`); a deterministic repo-file probe that finds those files absent is `unsupported`; `unknown` only when the work-item seam cannot establish the fact (composition fallback) |
+| Repo needs | tracker binding via the work-item tracker seam (the `tracker` mapping of `docs/conventions/work-items.yaml`, + adapter `capabilities.json`); a deterministic repo-file probe that finds those files absent is `unsupported`; `unknown` only when the work-item seam cannot establish the fact (composition fallback) |
 
 ## Admission and escalation