Before Merge

• Have you updated stale docs?
• Are there any broken reference paths?
• Does manuscript or docs still contain absolute-path references?
• Is the verify script aligned with the actual repo state?
• Is wording normalized against docs/glossary.md as the source of truth?
• Are the canonical spellings of Prompt Contract, Progress Note, and verification harness stable?
• If the diff touches an approval boundary, does Evidence / Approval name the approver and the decision inputs?
• Is the needs-human-approval wording aligned with sample-repo/docs/harness/done-criteria.md?
• Are verify log, trace, and evidence bundle used as separate terms rather than mixed together?
• Have you confirmed that the evidence used in review comes from the current run?
• Have you avoided leaving artifacts that still require redaction or privacy handling untouched?
• Does each chapter's Source Notes / Further Reading stay aligned with manuscript-en/backmatter/00-source-notes.md?
• Does manuscript-en/backmatter/00-source-notes.md cover CH01 through CH12 without omissions?
• Are Output Contract report fields normalized to Goal, Scope and Non-goals, Changed Files, Verification, Evidence / Approval, and Remaining Gaps?
• Are local verify, CI, and evidence terms consistent across chapters and checklists?

Weekly Cleanup

• Are there any orphaned task briefs?
• Are stale Progress Notes still lingering?
• Is AI slop accumulating as stale docs or unused artifacts?
• Are trace or evidence references left stale or expired?
• Are multiple artifacts now explaining the same thing under different names?
• Are owners and cadence for repo hygiene and entropy cleanup still explicit?
• Did only one of source notes, reading guide, or index seed change and create backmatter drift?

Escalate When

• the source of truth conflicts
• stale artifacts are spreading across multiple chapters or tasks
• cleanup is no longer enough and structural rework is required