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---
name: ca-chore
description: Sanctioned lane for non-behavioral work — docs-only edits, dependency bumps, reverts. Type-scaled gates; no TDD demanded of prose.
argument-hint: "<docs|deps|revert> <description or SHA>"
---
# $ca-chore — non-behavioral change lane
The sanctioned path for work that has no behavioral surface to test-drive. Three types, each with
the gates that fit it — and nothing it doesn't need. Everything still exits through `commit-gate`
(classification `docs` / `chore` / `revert`) and lands via branch/PR.
## Types
**docs** — README, comments, CHANGELOG, `.codearbiter/` prose, typo fixes.
- Gates: secrets scan over the diff; diff review (no behavioral code change smuggled in);
anti-slop copy pass on any user-facing doc in the change; `commit-gate`.
- **Anti-slop copy pass** — for any user-facing doc the change touches (repo-root community docs
and `docs/**`; not codeArbiter's own framework bodies), load
`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/includes/anti-slop-design/INDEX.md`, then `core.md` and the
`medium-documents` leaf (§7.A.1), and run the §3.A em-dash ban and the §3.B copy self-audit over
the authored prose before `commit-gate`. The `H-13` PostToolUse reminder surfaces §3.A separator
dashes as you write, so the pass is a confirmation, not a discovery.
- No `tdd` — prose has no failing test to write.
**deps** — bump an existing dependency's version (manifest + lockfile together, never one without
the other).
- Gates: dispatch `dependency-reviewer` (same vetting as `$ca-add-dep` — license, provenance,
supply chain, changelog of the bump); full test suite green after the bump; `commit-gate`.
- A bump that requires code changes to adopt is not a chore — route the code change through
`$ca-feature` or `$ca-fix`.
**revert** — back out a named commit.
- Gates: `git revert <SHA>` (never hand-edited backout); full suite green after the revert; the
commit message references the reverted SHA and the reason; `commit-gate`.
- No new regression test demanded — the revert restores already-tested behavior. If the revert is
fixing a defect the suite missed, open `$ca-fix` afterward to pin it.
## Flow
1. Classify `$ARGUMENTS` into one of the three types. Anything with a behavioral code change beyond
a mechanical revert is NOT a chore — redirect to `$ca-feature` or `$ca-fix` and stop.
2. Run the type's gates above.
3. Exit through `commit-gate` with the matching classification, then
`finishing-a-development-branch` as usual.
## Hard gate
MUST reject a change containing behavioral code (beyond the revert itself) — that is `$ca-feature`
or `$ca-fix` territory. MUST keep manifest and lockfile changes in the same commit for `deps`.
MUST run the full suite for `deps` and `revert`. MUST run the anti-slop copy pass on any user-facing
doc a `docs` change authors or edits. Never skips `commit-gate`.
## When NOT to use
- Any new or changed behavior → `$ca-feature` / `$ca-fix`.
- Adding a NEW dependency → `$ca-add-dep`.
- Restructuring code → `$ca-refactor`.