git:20260825.71f8fe9 to git:20260825.3230970

29 added, 19 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: cp-skill-ground

description: Ground one source-side claim by retaining the minimum verbatim quotes in its ingest, or declare that the pinned snapshot is required. Use when a note needs source support or when asked to retain quotes; never call cp-skill-ingest for that.

type: kb/types/instruction.md

user-invocable: true

- allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob, Bash, Skill

+ allowed-tools: Read, Edit, Write, Grep, Glob, Bash, Skill

context: fork

model: opus

argument-hint: "Target: <ingest path or canonical source URL>; Claim needed: <source-side proposition or question>"

---

# Ground a source-dependent claim

`$ARGUMENTS` supplies both inputs. Stop and ask if either is missing.

**Target:** exact repo-relative ingest path or canonical source URL.

**Claim needed:** source-side proposition or question. Do not include target

prose or a target-specific transfer argument.

- This skill may reuse or append verbatim quotes. It never edits the

- target artifact or interprets a paraphrase stored in an ingest as source

- support.

+ This skill may reuse or append verbatim quotes and is the only procedure

+ that writes an ingest's Quotes section. It never edits the target artifact,

+ never changes any other part of an ingest, and never interprets a paraphrase

+ stored in an ingest as source support.

## Procedure

1. Read the source collection and ingest type contracts.

2. Resolve one ingest. For a URL with no ingest, invoke `cp-skill-ingest` on the

exact URL and use its validated result. Stop on ambiguity.

3. Read the complete `## Quotes` section. Judge the requested source-side

proposition directly against its retained `Source extract (verbatim)`

values. Ignore the ingest's Summary, Connections Found, Extractable Value,

and Limitations as support.

- If the retained quotes are sufficient, return the ingest path and

`quotes sufficient` without mutation.

- If they are insufficient, continue. Do not infer the answer from an ingest

paraphrase or analysis.

4. Derive `kb/sources/.snapshots/<slug>.md` from

`kb/sources/<slug>.ingest.md`. Require that exact file to exist, require its

exact-byte SHA-256 to equal the ingest's `snapshot_sha256`, and require its

frontmatter `source` to equal the ingest's canonical `source`. Do not search

for a differently named checksum match. If any check fails, stop with the

literal re-ingest route:

- source checkout: `Read and execute kb/instructions/re-ingest.md with Target: <ingest-path>.`

- installed project: `Read and execute kb/commonplace/instructions/re-ingest.md with Target: <ingest-path>.`

5. Read enough of the primary snapshot to determine the source-side

proposition and its bounds. Stop if the source does not establish it or the

request depends on a secondary resource.

6. Choose the smallest sound retained form:

- If one or a few bounded excerpts let a later reviewer judge the

proposition without missing material context, construct one or more

adjacent quote items in this exact shape:

```markdown

- **Source extract (verbatim):** <exact supporting content>

- **Source location:** <human-resolvable locator for that extract>

```

Repeat the complete pair when support is non-contiguous. Line wrapping is

not non-contiguity: verbatim matching normalizes whitespace. Copy the

snapshot's text exactly and retain only the minimum passages needed for a

sound check.

- If sound checking depends on broad or distributed context that should not

be retained as a bounded set of quotes, do not append a substitute

paraphrase or an oversized extract. Return `snapshot required` and tell

the writer to include the exact marker `(snapshot required)` in the ingest

link text. The source claim must pass `semantic/grounding-alignment` while

the verified snapshot is present.

- 7. For the bounded-quotes route, invoke `cp-skill-ingest` with:

- ```yaml

- quote_append_request:

- ingest_path: <exact ingest path>

- snapshot_path: <name-paired, checksum-matching snapshot path>

- quotes: |-

- <one or more complete quote items>

- ```

- The ingest skill rechecks identity and checksum, verifies every verbatim

- quote, replaces the canonical empty sentence on a first append, and

- mechanically appends without changing incumbent quotes or other sections.

- It then validates. Do not write the ingest directly or repair a failed

- append outside that skill.

+ 7. For the bounded-quotes route, append the items yourself:

+ - Retain the ingest's complete incumbent bytes. Construct a candidate by

+ splicing only within the `## Quotes` section, using the incumbent file's

+ newline convention: when the section body is exactly

+ `No source quotes have been retained yet.`, replace only that sentence;

+ otherwise insert the new items after all incumbent items and before the

+ next level-two heading, adding only the separator newlines valid adjacent

+ items need. Preserve every incumbent item and every byte outside the

+ section. Do not merge, deduplicate, reorder, or reword anything.

+ - Recheck the paired paths, source identity, and checksum against the

+ current bytes, write the candidate once, then run

+ `commonplace-validate kb/sources/<slug>.ingest.md`. The validator resolves

+ each `Source extract (verbatim)` against the name-paired snapshot and

+ fails on one that does not occur; that check, not your own reading, is

+ the verification — an agent checking text it just transcribed confirms

+ its own copy. Earlier grounding runs produced false extracts by silently

+ repairing capture artifacts (line-break hyphenation, an inline footnote

+ marker, a LaTeX arrow); quote the snapshot's bytes as they are.

+ - Re-read the result and require the intended splice plus exact

+ preservation of all other bytes. If any post-write check or validation

+ fails, restore the retained incumbent bytes exactly, verify that

+ restoration, and report failure rather than leaving an invalid or partial

+ append. A `source quote` failure is about the item, not the splice: fix

+ the extract against the snapshot, never rewrite the file around it.

8. Return the ingest path and exactly one route: `quotes sufficient`, `quotes

added`, or `snapshot required`. For `quotes added`, also return the appended

quote texts. For `snapshot required`, repeat the exact link-text marker and

the requirement to run `semantic/grounding-alignment` before the source

claim lands.

Semantic uniqueness is not required. Similar, overlapping, or disputed exact

passages are never merged, rewritten, or deleted by this procedure.