Step 1 — Verify Readiness

Nothing below runs until this exits 0:

KS=.tessl/plugins/jbaruch/coding-policy/skills/release/; [ -d "$KS" ] || KS="$HOME/$KS"; [ -d "$KS" ] || case "$(git config --get remote.origin.url)" in git@github.com:jbaruch/coding-policy|git@github.com:jbaruch/coding-policy.git|https://github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy|https://github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy.git|ssh://git@github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy|ssh://git@github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy.git) KS=skills/release/ ;; *) echo "coding-policy skill not found: run tessl install jbaruch/coding-policy" >&2; exit 1 ;; esac
bash "$KS/check-leftovers.sh" --release

Exit 0 clears this readiness gate. Read others and attention even on exit 0. Preserve unrelated work and record its path, evidence, consequence and required owner decision in the existing task report or standalone conversation. Continue this release without committing, stashing, ignoring or deleting that work. Exit 1 blocks on blocking; resolve only the selected checkout's authorized work and re-run. Exit 2 is a usage or tool-state error, never a verdict. The scope and observation contract live in skills/release/check-leftovers.sh (header). The repository-wide inspection mode is not a release prerequisite.

For an explicit existing-pr <GitHub PR URL> invocation, run from the PR's source checkout. Before running its tests, bind the requested PR to that checkout:

KS=.tessl/plugins/jbaruch/coding-policy/skills/release/; [ -d "$KS" ] || KS="$HOME/$KS"; [ -d "$KS" ] || case "$(git config --get remote.origin.url)" in git@github.com:jbaruch/coding-policy|git@github.com:jbaruch/coding-policy.git|https://github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy|https://github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy.git|ssh://git@github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy|ssh://git@github.com/jbaruch/coding-policy.git) KS=skills/release/ ;; *) echo "coding-policy skill not found: run tessl install jbaruch/coding-policy" >&2; exit 1 ;; esac
python3 "$KS/existing-pr.py" "<explicit PR URL>" .

Exit 0 returns the selection's repository, PR number, URL, source branch/head, base and draft status. Retain it for Step 2. Exit 1 refuses the selection; exit 2 requires repairing the read route or tools. Resolve the diagnostic and repeat this check before continuing; never fall back to creating another PR. The read-only contract is owned by skills/release/existing-pr.py (docstring). The caller prepares the source checkout; this helper neither clones nor switches it. Without the explicit existing-PR argument, follow the normal new-PR path.

• Confirm you're on a feature branch (not main/master)
• Run the test suite — all tests must pass
• Run the linter — no warnings or errors
• Self-audit the diff against every governing rule or skill whose domain covers the touched paths (e.g., auto-loaded prose in rules/ or skills/ → rules/context-writing-style.md; new scripts → rules/script-delegation.md and rules/testing-standards.md)
• Grep the diff for the literal markers each governing rule or skill names:
  • banned connectives because, therefore, since, etc. per rules/context-writing-style.md
  • the outer-boundary-process-contract token per rules/error-handling.md
• Run any local check the rule or skill prescribes:
  • bash -n <script> must exit 0 on shell scripts
  • the script's own fixture test must pass
• The policy reviewer is a backstop, not the first read
• If anything fails, fix it before proceeding