git:20260816.d958232 to git:20260905.a02a795

---

name: edit-contract

description: Create a spine card and edit contract before a substantive chapter edit, and escalate after three failed revision attempts on the same issue.

allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep

---

# /edit-contract — Bounded Chapter Edits

One file per contract at `contracts/{chapter}-{slug}.md`. No other ledgers.

## When to use

Before a substantive edit (rewriting more than one paragraph, changing what a

section claims, restructuring). Not for typo fixes or single-sentence edits.

## Contract file format

```markdown

# Edit Contract: {chapter} — {short goal}

## Spine card

- Section role: {what this section must keep doing in the argument}

- Core claim (must not broaden): {one sentence}

- Sources in scope: {list; their roles — support / background / challenge}

- Forbidden: {claims that must NOT appear; scope that must NOT leak in}

## Scope

- May change: {files/sections}

- Must not change: {adjacent sections, quoted spans, other chapters}

## Attempts

- [ ] Attempt 1: {date} — {outcome: accepted / revise / rejected, one line why}

- [ ] Attempt 2: …

- [ ] Attempt 3: …

```

## Workflow

1. Draft the contract from the user's request and the current section; show

it; the user approves or amends it **in conversation** before any edit.

2. Make the edit within Scope. After the edit, restate in one short table:

what changed, whether the core claim broadened (quote before/after if it

did), and whether anything Forbidden appeared.

3. Record the attempt line. The user's accept/revise/reject decision in

conversation is the gate — the file records it, it does not grant it.

## Three-strike escalation

After **three recorded failed attempts on the same contract** (not before —

a single "this is unclear" is feedback, not an escalation trigger): stop

patching. Diagnose which it is — underspecified request, wrong scope (needs

section-level restructure, not a patch), evidence gap (the claim wants

support the sources cannot give), or drifted spine — and offer: (a) rewrite

the contract, (b) escalate scope deliberately, (c) drop the change. Do not

produce a fourth patch under the old contract.

## Constraints

1. One contract file per edit goal; append-only Attempts.

2. Never edit outside Scope; never touch quoted spans.

3. In P0 this discipline is advisory prose; the P1 guard enforces Scope and

the attempt count from the session log. Do not describe it as enforced.

4. No emoji. British English.