/printing-press-polish

Polish a generated CLI so it passes verification and is ready to publish.

The retro improves the Printing Press. Polish improves the generated CLI. This skill runs in a forked context (context: fork) so its diagnostic and fix loop doesn't pollute the caller — the diagnostic spam, fix iterations, and re-diagnose noise stay scoped to the polish session, and the caller receives a clean summary.

/printing-press-polish redfin
/printing-press-polish redfin-pp-cli
/printing-press-polish "$PRESS_LIBRARY/redfin"

When to run

After any /printing-press generation, especially when:

• The shipcheck verdict is ship-with-gaps
• The verify pass rate is below 80%
• The scorecard is below 85
• You want the CLI publish-ready in one pass

Can also be run standalone on any CLI in $PRESS_LIBRARY/.

Setup

# min-binary-version: 4.0.0

PRESS_HOME="${PRINTING_PRESS_HOME:-$HOME/printing-press}"
PRESS_LIBRARY="$PRESS_HOME/library"

_pp_check_disk_space() {
  _pp_disk_warn_kb="${PRINTING_PRESS_DISK_WARN_KB:-3145728}"
  _pp_disk_fail_kb="${PRINTING_PRESS_DISK_FAIL_KB:-524288}"
  case "$_pp_disk_warn_kb$_pp_disk_fail_kb" in
    ""|*[!0-9]*) return 0 ;;
  esac

  _pp_disk_path="$PRESS_HOME"
  while [ ! -e "$_pp_disk_path" ] && [ "$_pp_disk_path" != "/" ]; do
    _pp_disk_path="$(dirname "$_pp_disk_path")"
  done

  _pp_disk_avail_kb="$(df -Pk "$_pp_disk_path" 2>/dev/null | awk 'BEGIN {
    if ((getline header) <= 0 || (getline record) <= 0) exit
    field_count = split(record, fields)
    if (field_count >= 4) print fields[4]
  }')"
  case "$_pp_disk_avail_kb" in
    ""|*[!0-9]*) return 0 ;;
  esac

  if [ "$_pp_disk_avail_kb" -lt "$_pp_disk_fail_kb" ]; then
    echo ""
    echo "[setup-error] Critically low disk space on the Printing Press workspace volume."
    echo "PRESS_DISK_PATH=$_pp_disk_path"
    echo "PRESS_DISK_AVAIL_KB=$_pp_disk_avail_kb"
    echo "PRESS_DISK_FAIL_KB=$_pp_disk_fail_kb"
    echo "Free disk space or set PRINTING_PRESS_HOME to a volume with more room, then re-run this skill."
    echo ""
    return 1
  fi

  if [ "$_pp_disk_avail_kb" -lt "$_pp_disk_warn_kb" ]; then
    echo ""
    echo "[low-disk] Printing Press workspace volume is low on free space."
    echo "PRESS_DISK_PATH=$_pp_disk_path"
    echo "PRESS_DISK_AVAIL_KB=$_pp_disk_avail_kb"
    echo "PRESS_DISK_WARN_KB=$_pp_disk_warn_kb"
    echo "This flow may need several GiB for generated files, Go build cache, module downloads, or repository clones."
    echo ""
  fi
}
_pp_check_disk_space || { return 1 2>/dev/null || exit 1; }

# Mid-pipeline callers may pass printing_press_bin: <abs-path> in the args
# bundle. Prefer it so forked polish runs keep using the parent skill's
# preflight-selected binary instead of re-resolving through PATH.
PRINTING_PRESS_BIN="${PRINTING_PRESS_BIN:-}"
if [ -z "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" ] && [ -n "${ARGUMENTS:-}" ]; then
  PRINTING_PRESS_BIN="$(printf '%s\n' "$ARGUMENTS" | sed -nE 's/^[[:space:]]*printing_press_bin:[[:space:]]*(.+)$/\1/p' | head -1)"
fi
if [ -z "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" ]; then
  PRINTING_PRESS_BIN="$(command -v cli-printing-press 2>/dev/null || true)"
fi

if [ -z "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" ]; then
  echo "cli-printing-press binary not found."
  echo "Install with:  go install github.com/mvanhorn/cli-printing-press/v4/cmd/cli-printing-press@latest"
  return 1 2>/dev/null || exit 1
fi
if ! command -v go >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo ""
  echo "[setup-error] Go toolchain not found."
  echo ""
  echo "This Printing Press flow runs Go-based build or validation commands."
  echo "Install Go 1.26.6 or newer from https://go.dev/dl/, then verify with:"
  echo "  go version"
  echo "Then re-run this skill."
  echo ""
  return 1 2>/dev/null || exit 1
fi
echo "PRINTING_PRESS_BIN=$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN"

_pp_semver_lt() {
  if [ -z "${PP_SEMVER_A:-}" ] || [ -z "${PP_SEMVER_B:-}" ]; then
    echo "[setup-error] semver comparison inputs are missing." >&2
    return 2
  fi
  awk -v a="${PP_SEMVER_A:-}" -v b="${PP_SEMVER_B:-}" 'BEGIN {
    split(a, x, "."); split(b, y, ".")
    for (i = 1; i <= 3; i++) {
      if ((x[i] + 0) < (y[i] + 0)) exit 0
      if ((x[i] + 0) > (y[i] + 0)) exit 1
    }
    exit 1
  }'
}

_pp_go_version_norm() {
  printf '%s\n' "${PP_GO_VERSION_INPUT:-}" | sed -nE 's/.*go([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)(\.([0-9]+))?.*/\1.\2.\4/p' | sed -E 's/\.$/.0/'
}

_pp_check_go_currency() {
  _pp_go_installed="$(PP_GO_VERSION_INPUT="$(go env GOVERSION 2>/dev/null)" _pp_go_version_norm)"
  _pp_go_required="$(PP_GO_VERSION_INPUT="$(go version "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" 2>/dev/null)" _pp_go_version_norm)"
  PP_SEMVER_A="$_pp_go_installed"
  PP_SEMVER_B="$_pp_go_required"
  if [ -z "$_pp_go_installed" ] || [ -z "$_pp_go_required" ] || ! _pp_semver_lt; then
    return 0
  fi

  echo ""
  if [ "${GOTOOLCHAIN:-auto}" = "local" ]; then
    echo "[setup-error] Go $_pp_go_required or newer is required by this cli-printing-press binary (installed: $_pp_go_installed)."
    echo "GOTOOLCHAIN=local disables automatic toolchain downloads, so later Go quality gates would fail."
    echo "Install Go $_pp_go_required or newer from https://go.dev/dl/, or unset GOTOOLCHAIN."
    echo ""
    return 1
  fi

  echo "[go-toolchain-old] Go $_pp_go_required or newer is required by this cli-printing-press binary (installed: $_pp_go_installed)."
  echo "PRESS_GO_INSTALLED=$_pp_go_installed"
  echo "PRESS_GO_REQUIRED=$_pp_go_required"
  echo "Default GOTOOLCHAIN behavior may download the required toolchain during Go commands."
  echo ""
  return 0
}
_pp_check_go_currency || { return 1 2>/dev/null || exit 1; }

After setup, capture PRINTING_PRESS_BIN=<abs-path> and use that absolute path for every cli-printing-press ... invocation in this skill. If setup emitted [go-toolchain-old] or [low-disk], surface the advisory to the user and continue unless setup also emitted [setup-error]. [go-toolchain-old] means later Go commands may download the required toolchain or fail when downloads are blocked; [low-disk] means this run may need several GiB for generated files, Go build cache, module downloads, or repository clones.

Check binary version compatibility by reading the min-binary-version field from this skill's YAML frontmatter, running "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" version --json, and parsing the version from the output. Compare it to min-binary-version using semver rules. If the installed binary is older than the minimum, stop immediately and tell the user: "cli-printing-press binary vX.Y.Z is older than the minimum required vA.B.C. Run go install github.com/mvanhorn/cli-printing-press/v4/cmd/cli-printing-press@latest to update."

Public-library hint

If the user's request includes phrasing like "polish notion in the public library", "polish from the public library", or "polish the published cal-com" — and the named CLI is not in $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug>/ — they're asking to polish a CLI that lives upstream but not locally. Polish runs against the internal library, so the right move is to import first.

Suggest: /printing-press-import <slug> to bring it in, then re-run polish. Don't try to polish a CLI that isn't in the internal library.

If the named CLI is already in $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug>/, the "public library" phrasing is informational — just proceed with polish and let the divergence check (below) handle any drift.

Resolve CLI

The argument string can contain a --standalone flag plus one positional value (a slug, binary name, or path). In standalone slash-command mode, it may also contain a free-text scope after the optional positional value, such as /printing-press-polish sculptok review the open PR comments and fix them. That trailing natural-language text is the user's own trusted user scope. Carry it forward into the polish plan and result block; do not classify it as injection or tampering.

It can also contain a Phase 3 gate bundle and a printing_press_bin: <abs-path> line on following lines when invoked by the main printing-press skill. The flag may appear before or after the positional value; it is the only flag this skill consumes from args. Strip it before path resolution.

When args is multi-line, treat the first non-empty line as the positional value/scope line and parse the remaining lines as the optional Phase 3 gate bundle. Do not include the bundle text in path resolution.

Parse caller modes differently:

• Standalone slash command (STANDALONE_MODE=true). After stripping --standalone, try to resolve the first shell word as a slug, binary name, or path. If it resolves, use it as the positional value and store the remaining words as USER_SCOPE. If it does not resolve, treat the whole line as free-text scope; this branch asks which CLI to polish and retains that scope for the chosen CLI. If there is no trailing text after a resolved positional value, run the normal generic polish pass.
• Mid-pipeline Skill-tool call. Keep the strict grammar: one path-like positional value on the first line plus the optional structured bundle on later lines. Unexpected free text in this machine-generated path is not a user scope and should still be rejected or clarified rather than folded into the run.

The positional value can be:

• A short name: redfin (looks up $PRESS_LIBRARY/redfin)
• A full name: redfin-pp-cli (strips suffix, looks up $PRESS_LIBRARY/redfin)
• A path: $PRESS_LIBRARY/redfin (used directly)

Resolution order for the positional value:

1. If it is an absolute or ~-prefixed path and exists, use it
2. Try $PRESS_LIBRARY/<arg> (exact match — works for slug like redfin)
3. If it has -pp-cli suffix, strip it and try $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug> (e.g., redfin-pp-cli → redfin)
4. Fuzzy search: ls $PRESS_LIBRARY/ | grep -i <arg> for close matches

Caller scenarios and the --standalone flag. Polish has two callers; they invoke it through different mechanisms, and the Publish Offer at the end of this skill fires only when STANDALONE_MODE is true. Determine STANDALONE_MODE from the caller mode and the flag, not from the resolved path.

• Standalone (user-invoked, /printing-press-polish redfin). Invoked via the slash command. Treat as STANDALONE_MODE=true unconditionally — the slash-command form is the publish-intent surface, even when the user omits the flag. The arg is a slug or binary name; resolution lands on $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug>/. This is the published copy and the right target.
• Mid-pipeline (main printing-press skill Phase 5.5, hold-path "Polish to retry"). Invoked via the Skill tool with args: "$CLI_WORK_DIR". The arg is an absolute path to ~/printing-press/.runstate/.../runs/.../working/<api>-pp-cli/; resolution must hit rule 1. STANDALONE_MODE=false by default — main SKILL owns the publish flow on this path, so polish defers. Do not paraphrase the arg to the slug — Phase 5.5 fires before the working CLI is promoted, so $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug>/ either doesn't exist or holds the prior run's stale CLI.
• Skill-tool standalone override. A non-slash caller that genuinely wants polish to publish must opt in explicitly by including --standalone in args (e.g., args: "--standalone $PRESS_LIBRARY/redfin"). Without that token, polish never publishes from a Skill-tool invocation — even if the resolved path happens to live under $PRESS_LIBRARY/. The flag is the contract; the path is not.

This caller-mode-driven gate replaces the older path-substring heuristic (*.runstate/*). The heuristic broke when the main SKILL's Phase 5.5/5.6 ordering inverted, or when polish was invoked from a non-.runstate scratch layout: polish would see a $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug>/ path, conclude "standalone," and fire its Publish Offer (fork, global git config, public PR) inside a mid-pipeline run. The flag is unambiguous and the safer default is no-publish.

Phase 3 gate bundle

Mid-pipeline callers pass these fields after the CLI path in args:

phase3_transcendence_rows_planned: <planned>
phase3_transcendence_rows_built: <built>
phase3_transcendence_rows_missing:
  - <manifest row name or command>
prior_sub60_reprint: <true|false>
partial_transcendence_override: <none or build-log note path>

Parse the bundle before diagnostics and keep the values available for ship logic. Missing bundle fields mean "no forced Phase 3 hold"; they do not block standalone polish. If prior_sub60_reprint: true, phase3_transcendence_rows_missing contains any row, and partial_transcendence_override is empty or none, polish must emit ship_recommendation: hold even if the local diagnostics are otherwise clean. Add the missing rows to remaining_issues so the parent skill can show the specific gate that blocked promotion.

The lock-status check in the next code block is the safety net for the mid-pipeline scenario: if a build lock is held for this CLI (under either name form), polish refuses to run. cli-printing-press lock normalizes slug ↔ binary-name internally, so the check works regardless of which form the basename produces.

If no match or multiple matches, present via AskUserQuestion. Show at most 4 matches sorted by modification time (most recent first) with human-friendly relative timestamps (e.g., "generated 2 hours ago").

CLI_DIR="<resolved path>"
CLI_NAME="$(basename "$CLI_DIR")"
STANDALONE_MODE="<true|false>"  # true iff slash-command invocation or --standalone in args; default false for Skill-tool invocations

# Check if there's an active build lock — polish edits would be overwritten
# when the running build promotes to library.
_lock_json=$("$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" lock status --cli "$CLI_NAME" --json 2>/dev/null)
if echo "$_lock_json" | grep -q '"held".*true'; then
  if echo "$_lock_json" | grep -q '"stale".*true'; then
    echo "Warning: stale lock exists for $CLI_NAME (build may have crashed)."
    echo "Proceeding with polish. Run '$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN lock release --cli $CLI_NAME' to clear."
  else
    echo "An active build is in progress for $CLI_NAME."
    echo "Polish edits would be overwritten when the build promotes."
    echo "Wait for the build to finish, then run polish."
    exit 1
  fi
fi

# Verify it's a valid Go CLI
if [ ! -f "$CLI_DIR/go.mod" ]; then
  echo "Not a valid CLI directory: $CLI_DIR"
  exit 1
fi

echo "Polishing: $CLI_NAME"
echo "Location: $CLI_DIR"

Find spec and research dir

API_SLUG="${CLI_NAME%-pp-cli}"
SPEC_PATH=""
for f in "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$API_SLUG"/*/research/*.yaml "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$API_SLUG"/*/research/*.json "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$CLI_NAME"/*/research/*.yaml "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$CLI_NAME"/*/research/*.json; do
  if [ -f "$f" ]; then
    SPEC_PATH="$f"
    break
  fi
done

# Build the spec flag once. Empty when no spec was found — diagnostic
# commands accept a missing --spec and degrade gracefully.
SPEC_FLAG=""
if [ -n "$SPEC_PATH" ]; then
  SPEC_FLAG="--spec $SPEC_PATH"
fi

# Locate the research dir. dogfood's --research-dir triggers
# checkNovelFeatures, which writes novel_features_built back into
# research.json AND syncs the verified list into .printing-press.json.
# Without this flag, legacy CLIs whose manifest predates the
# novel_features schema fail publish-validate's transcendence gate.
#
# Two layouts to handle, keyed on $CLI_DIR path structure (NOT on the
# absence of a manuscripts entry — re-generating a previously-published
# API leaves stale manuscript entries from prior runs that would point
# scorecard at the wrong research.json):
#  1. Mid-pipeline polish (invoked from the main printing-press flow
#     before promote): $CLI_DIR is under $PRESS_RUNSTATE/.../runs/<id>/working/<cli>
#     (i.e. the path contains `.runstate/`), and research.json lives at
#     $PRESS_RUNSTATE/.../runs/<id>/research.json — $CLI_DIR's grandparent.
#  2. Post-promote (standalone polish): research.json lives at
#     manuscripts/<api>/<run-id>/research.json.
RESEARCH_DIR=""
MANIFEST_RUN_ID=""
if [ -f "$CLI_DIR/.printing-press.json" ]; then
  if command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    MANIFEST_RUN_ID="$(jq -r '.run_id // empty' "$CLI_DIR/.printing-press.json" 2>/dev/null || true)"
  fi
  if [ -z "$MANIFEST_RUN_ID" ]; then
    MANIFEST_RUN_ID="$(sed -nE 's/.*"run_id"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"([^"]+)".*/\1/p' "$CLI_DIR/.printing-press.json" | head -1)"
  fi
fi
case "$CLI_DIR" in
  *.runstate/*)
    _grandparent="$(dirname "$(dirname "$CLI_DIR")")"
    if [ -f "$_grandparent/research.json" ]; then
      RESEARCH_DIR="$_grandparent"
    fi
    ;;
  *)
    if [ -n "$MANIFEST_RUN_ID" ]; then
      for base in "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$API_SLUG" "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$CLI_NAME"; do
        if [ -f "$base/$MANIFEST_RUN_ID/research.json" ]; then
          RESEARCH_DIR="$base/$MANIFEST_RUN_ID"
          break
        fi
      done
    fi
    # Match publish package's fallback: API slug first, then CLI name, each
    # using the lexicographically latest run id when the manifest has none.
    if [ -z "$RESEARCH_DIR" ]; then
      for base in "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$API_SLUG" "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$CLI_NAME"; do
        if [ -d "$base" ]; then
          _latest="$(find "$base" -mindepth 2 -maxdepth 2 -name research.json -type f 2>/dev/null | sort | tail -1)"
          if [ -n "$_latest" ]; then
            RESEARCH_DIR="$(dirname "$_latest")"
            break
          fi
        fi
      done
    fi
    ;;
esac

# Use a bash array so the flag survives paths with spaces (e.g. when
# $HOME or $PRESS_RUNSTATE resolves through a path containing spaces).
RESEARCH_ARGS=()
if [ -n "$RESEARCH_DIR" ]; then
  RESEARCH_ARGS=(--research-dir "$RESEARCH_DIR")
fi

# pii-audit runs against the CLI dir, but publish package later copies the
# same run archive under .manuscripts/<run-id> before enforcing the PII gate.
# Pass the run dir here so polish sees the narrative manuscript files with
# the same relative paths publish will scan.
PII_ARGS=()
if [ -n "$RESEARCH_DIR" ]; then
  PII_ARGS=(--manuscripts-dir "$RESEARCH_DIR")
fi

Divergence check

Stop and run this step before Phase 1. Do not skip it. Do not proceed to diagnostics until you have completed the check and resolved any divergence.

The internal copy at $CLI_DIR can drift from the public library (mvanhorn/printing-press-library) copy if anyone edited the public repo directly after this CLI was last published. Polishing a stale internal copy and re-publishing later silently overwrites those public-only fixes — a real failure mode that shipped CLIs hit.

You must:

1. Locate the public library clone. Honor $PRINTING_PRESS_LIBRARY_PUBLIC if set; otherwise scan the user's filesystem however fits this platform. Validate every candidate by checking the git remote points at mvanhorn/printing-press-library — other directories may share the name (forks, accidental name collisions). If multiple valid clones exist, prefer the most recently modified; ask the user to disambiguate only if still unclear.

2. Locate this CLI inside the clone. find <clone>/library -type d -name "<api>-pp-cli" or equivalent.

3. Run diff -r <public-cli-dir> $CLI_DIR with these exclusions, all of which are expected to diverge after publish:

   • .printing-press-tools-polish.json (local ledger, not published)
   • .printing-press-pii-polish.json (local ledger, not published)
   • go.mod and go.sum — publish rewrites the module path from <api>-pp-cli to github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/<category>/<api>
   • All .go files where the only difference is the rewritten import path (the publish step propagates the new module path through every internal import). When inspecting .go diffs, scan for substantive changes — anything beyond the module-path prefix swap is real divergence.

   Concretely: diff -r --exclude=go.mod --exclude=go.sum --exclude=.printing-press-tools-polish.json --exclude=.printing-press-pii-polish.json <public-cli-dir> $CLI_DIR.

   Don't pass --exclude='<api>-pp-cli' or --exclude='<api>-pp-mcp' — those names match both the root-level binary files and the cmd/<api>-pp-cli/ and cmd/<api>-pp-mcp/ source directories. Excluding by binary name silently skips the entire cmd/ subtree, hiding real divergence in main.go. The "Only in $CLI_DIR: -pp-cli" line for the built binary is one row of expected output, not noise worth filtering at the cost of completeness.

4. Surface the result before continuing.

Outcomes:

• No clone found → user doesn't have public locally. State this explicitly ("public library not found locally; proceeding on internal as canonical") and continue.
• Clone found but doesn't contain this CLI → never published or under a different name. State this and continue.
• Found and diff is empty → in sync. State this and continue.
• Found and divergent → stop. Do not run Phase 1 diagnostics yet. List the divergent files for the user. Ask via AskUserQuestion: sync public→internal, or proceed without syncing. If the user picks sync, copy public's version of the divergent files into internal, then continue polish on the synced internal copy.

Before showing the sync prompt, check whether internal has files modified after its .printing-press.json timestamp (the user has been polishing locally without publishing). If yes, hedge the prompt explicitly: syncing will overwrite their pending local work. Let them decide whether to keep their local edits or pull public's.

After sync (or explicit skip), the rest of polish operates on $CLI_DIR as canonical. The eventual /printing-press-publish step pushes internal back to public; no second divergence check is needed there.

The check has run only when one of the four outcomes above is explicitly stated in your response. Silent omission counts as not having run it.

Phase 1: Baseline diagnostics

cd "$CLI_DIR"

# Build
go build -o "$CLI_NAME" ./cmd/"$CLI_NAME" 2>&1

# Diagnostics. SPEC_FLAG and RESEARCH_ARGS are set in the "Find spec
# and research dir" step above. RESEARCH_ARGS enables dogfood to
# verify novel features and sync them into .printing-press.json
# (required for publish-validate's transcendence gate).
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" dogfood --dir "$CLI_DIR" $SPEC_FLAG "${RESEARCH_ARGS[@]}" 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" verify --dir "$CLI_DIR" $SPEC_FLAG --json 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" workflow-verify --dir "$CLI_DIR" --json > /tmp/polish-workflow-verify.json 2>&1 || true
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" verify-skill --dir "$CLI_DIR" --json > /tmp/polish-verify-skill.json 2>&1 || true
# publish-validate is a publish-readiness gate, not a CLI-readiness gate.
# Mid-pipeline polish runs before the main SKILL's promote step and before
# the publish skill packages tools-manifest.json, so its prerequisites
# (manifest.printer from git config github.user, packaged tools manifest,
# phase5 acceptance proof relocated under $CLI_DIR/.manuscripts/<run>/proofs/)
# are not yet satisfied. Running publish-validate here would cascade
# parent-pipeline-owned failures into the polish ship_recommendation,
# which the main SKILL's Phase 5.5 verdict-override then turns into a
# CLI-level hold. Only run publish-validate when polish is the publish
# entry point (slash-command invocation or explicit --standalone).
if [ "$STANDALONE_MODE" = "true" ]; then
  "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" publish validate --dir "$CLI_DIR" --json > /tmp/polish-publish-validate.json 2>&1 || true
fi
# --live-check samples novel-feature outputs and populates
# live_check.features[].warnings (Wave B entity detection) — required for
# the "Output entity warnings" row below to have data to read.
# RESEARCH_ARGS points scorecard at the run's research.json when the
# CLI lives under $PRESS_RUNSTATE/runs/<id>/working/<cli> (mid-pipeline
# polish). Without it, scorecard looks adjacent to the binary, doesn't
# find research.json, and reports `unable: true`.
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" scorecard --dir "$CLI_DIR" $SPEC_FLAG "${RESEARCH_ARGS[@]}" --live-check --json > /tmp/polish-scorecard.json 2>&1 || true
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" scorecard --dir "$CLI_DIR" $SPEC_FLAG 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" tools-audit "$CLI_DIR" --json > /tmp/polish-tools-audit-before.json 2>&1 || true
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" pii-audit "$CLI_DIR" "${PII_ARGS[@]}" --json > /tmp/polish-pii-audit-before.json 2>&1 || true
go vet ./... 2>&1
if command -v gosec >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  gosec -fmt=json -out=/tmp/polish-gosec-before.json ./... 2>&1 || true
else
  go run github.com/securego/gosec/v2/cmd/gosec@v2.26.1 -fmt=json -out=/tmp/polish-gosec-before.json ./... 2>&1 || true
fi

verify-skill and workflow-verify run alongside dogfood/verify/scorecard so polish catches the same class of failures the public-library CI catches. publish-validate runs only when STANDALONE_MODE=true (slash-command or --standalone Skill-tool invocation). The publish-validate leg is a hard ship-gate for standalone polish: in that mode polish cannot recommend ship or ship-with-gaps while "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" publish validate reports passed: false. Mid-pipeline polish (STANDALONE_MODE=false) skips publish-validate entirely — its prerequisites (manifest.printer from git config github.user, packaged tools-manifest.json, phase5 acceptance proof relocated under $CLI_DIR/.manuscripts/<run>/proofs/) are parent-pipeline-owned and not yet satisfied at this point; the main SKILL's Phase 6 publish flow gates on publish-validate at the correct time. See "Ship logic" below for how this affects ship_recommendation.

Live matrix qualifier. After each scorecard --live-check --json run, read /tmp/polish-scorecard.json and record whether live_check actually exercised live samples. Treat it as exercised only when live_check.unable is false and at least one feature was evaluated (passed + failed > 0, or equivalent feature statuses). Treat live_check.unable: true, no live_check, no evaluated features, or missing credentials/token as not_exercised. A clean mock dogfood/verify run is still useful, but it is not a live matrix pass.

gosec runs as the off-the-shelf security static-analysis leg for hand-written Go. Prefer an installed gosec binary when present; otherwise use the pinned go run github.com/securego/gosec/v2/cmd/gosec@v2.26.1 fallback so a clean machine still gets a reproducible check without a separate setup step. Read /tmp/polish-gosec-before.json for the baseline finding count and issue details. If the command fails before writing JSON, treat the missing scan as a polish failure: add it to remaining_issues, set ship_recommendation: hold, and include the stderr summary so the next run can distinguish network/tooling failure from CLI defects. Prioritize findings in hand-authored files: whole files under internal/cli/, internal/syncer/, and internal/store/ whose first 20 lines lack the Generated by CLI Printing Press header are polish-owned novel-feature code. Findings in generator-emitted files are Printing Press retro candidates unless they can be fixed durably by changing the spec and regenerating; do not hand-edit generated files just to silence gosec.

If Phase 1 baseline reveals the underlying CLI needs re-discovery — broken HTML/SSR extraction, sparse capture (fewer than 5 unique endpoints in the source manuscript), wrong endpoint shapes, missing GraphQL operation hashes, or any signal that the CLI was generated from incomplete capture — polish does not normally do browser capture itself, but the shared playbook at skills/printing-press/references/browser-sniff-capture.md covers all available capture backends including the Claude chrome-MCP (mcp__claude-in-chrome__*) and computer-use (mcp__computer-use__*) when the runtime exposes them. Read Step 1 (tool detection), Step 2c.5 (failure-recovery menu), and Step 2e (chrome-MCP capture playbook) of that reference before improvising. Re-discovery from polish is rare but real; when it happens, use the shared backends — do not invent a new capture flow.

Parse findings into categories:

Environmental failures vs. CLI defects. Some Phase 1 outputs surface failures that aren't real CLI bugs and should not block ship:

• scorecard --live-check reporting SQLITE_BUSY, network timeouts, 401 from a mock or expired token, or HTTP errors that depend on the test workspace's permissions/state — these are test-environment issues, not CLI defects.
• verify mock-harness flakes on commands with binary output (e.g., qr returning a PNG that the substring matcher can't validate) or commands with optional positional args where dry-run output legitimately doesn't contain the verify probe string.
• Learn-loop commands: the dogfood/verify matrix now covers the default-on learn surface (teach, recall, learnings, playbook). teach and teach-playbook intentionally exit 2 when invoked bare, declared via pp:typed-exit-codes, so verify scores that as pass; do not "fix" the exit code. learnings stats on a fresh print legitimately reports zeros and empty sections; that is an empty local store, not a defect.

Classify these as environmental in skipped_findings with the specific reason; do not spend Phase 2 cycles trying to "fix" them. The polish skill's ship logic already excludes live-check failures from gating, but the agent should still annotate them so reviewers can see they were considered and dismissed deliberately.

Phase 4.85 — Agentic output review (Wave B)

After the mechanical diagnostics above complete, invoke the printing-press-output-review sub-skill via the Skill tool. The sub-skill carries context: fork and owns the dispatch prompt, gate logic, and known blind spots — single source of truth shared with the main printing-press skill.

Skill(
  skill: "cli-printing-press:printing-press-output-review",
  args: "$CLI_DIR"
)

Parse the returned ---OUTPUT-REVIEW-RESULT--- block. status: WARN findings flow into the diagnostic categories above so Phase 2 fixes address both rule-based and plausibility issues. status: SKIP is informational — record but don't block.

Wave B gating applies: all findings are warnings, never blockers. Fix if obvious and cheap; document with a short comment if deferred.

Record baseline scores: scorecard total, verify pass rate, dogfood verdict, live matrix qualifier (exercised / not_exercised), go vet issue count, gosec finding count, output-review finding count.

Phase 2: Fix

Fix in priority order. After each priority level, update the lock heartbeat:

"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" lock update --cli "$CLI_NAME" --phase polish 2>/dev/null

Runtime variant default checklist

If a polish fix adds or changes a runtime mode, data-source option, auth tier, transport, or other user-visible default, document this short checklist before selecting the default:

• User-visible default: which behavior users get without extra flags or config.
• Compatibility risk: whether existing commands, scripts, MCP tools, or stored config change behavior.
• Verification command: the exact command that proves the default and the non-default escape hatch both work.

Keep the checklist in the polish notes or result block. Skip it for ordinary bug fixes that do not change runtime variants or defaults.

Cross-cutting API-call instrumentation

When polish builds a feature class that must observe every outbound API call, such as a quota ledger, request log, or audit trail, instrument the generated client middleware in internal/client/client.go instead of individual command handlers. Prefer a shared pre-dispatch hook when one exists; otherwise cover both do() and doRead(). The do() path handles standard endpoint mirrors, sync iterations, and novel features that use the generated client, while doRead() handles read-only operations that ride POST-like transports, such as GraphQL queries, JSON-RPC reads, and POST-based searches marked mcp:read-only. Per-command hooks under-count because they only see the commands polish touched.

Novel-feature data routing

When polish adds or fixes a novel command that reads API response data into the local store, route data through the generated typed schemas instead of writing raw response JSON directly into tables:

1. Read internal/types/<resource>.go and internal/store/<resource>.go for the resource being cached. Use the typed insert/upsert helpers those files emit whenever they exist. If helpers are missing for a generated resource, create them before writing any persistence code.
2. Check the response shape against the spec schema and a real sample response before deciding the insert mapping is correct.
3. Decode the API response into the typed struct before persistence. Do not build INSERT INTO ... statements from untyped map[string]any or raw json.RawMessage values unless the table is a custom polish-owned table declared in hand-authored migrations; see the raw SQL exception below.
4. Verify the target table from the resource type, not from whichever query the novel command happened to start with. A command that fetched <child> records must insert <child> rows, not parent rows or a convenient adjacent table.
5. Normalize nested response identifiers before insert. If the API wraps the scalar id inside an object that also contains metadata, extract the scalar id field and store that value; never store the whole id object as a primary key or foreign-key reference.

Raw database/sql writes are acceptable only for custom polish-owned tables declared in hand-authored migrations. In that case, keep the table schema explicit in internal/store/, document why the generated resource helper does not apply, and still decode nested identifiers to scalars before persistence.

Priority 0: MCP surface migration (legacy CLIs)

If Phase 1's dogfood reported MCP Surface: FAIL with a parity mismatch, the CLI was generated before the runtime cobratree walker existed and is still on the static internal/mcp/tools.go surface. The fix is mechanical:

"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" mcp-sync "$CLI_DIR"

That migrates the MCP surface to the runtime walker, regenerates tools-manifest.json and internal/mcp/tools.go, and applies any mcp-descriptions.json overrides. If it exits with mcp-sync refused and reprint required, stop this polish run and hand off to /printing-press-reprint; the target CLI's generated client is too old for the current MCP handler, so rewriting tools.go alone would break its build. Include in the handoff that the reprint flow must run its normal dogfood gate against the regenerated CLI and confirm MCP Surface: PASS before shipping. Do not rerun dogfood against the stale $CLI_DIR. After a successful mcp-sync, re-run dogfood here; the parity gate should flip to PASS. Running mcp-sync on a compatible CLI already using the runtime walker is a no-op refresh.

Skip this priority on CLIs where dogfood's MCP gate is already passing.

Priority 1: Security static-analysis failures

For each gosec finding in /tmp/polish-gosec-before.json:

1. Read the cited file and confirm whether it is hand-authored. A whole file under internal/cli/, internal/syncer/, or internal/store/ whose first 20 lines lack Generated by CLI Printing Press is polish-owned novel-feature code.
2. If the finding is in hand-authored code, fix the root cause in source before working lower-priority polish items. Examples: replace SQL string assembly with parameterized queries, avoid shelling out with untrusted args, and move literals that look like credentials into config/env plumbing.
3. If gosec flags generated code, do not hand-edit the generated file. Either fix the upstream spec and regenerate, or add a skipped_findings entry that names it as a generator retro candidate with the rule id and file path.
4. If gosec reports a false positive, keep the suppression narrow and explain it. Prefer a local // #nosec G### -- reason only when the code is actually safe and the reason is durable; otherwise fix the code.

Unresolved gosec findings in hand-authored novel-feature Go are hard blockers: they must appear in remaining_issues, force ship_recommendation: hold, and set further_polish_recommended: yes when the fix is plausibly mechanical.

Priority 2: Verify failures

For each command that fails verify dry-run or exec:

1. Read the command file
2. Find Args: cobra.ExactArgs(N) or similar constraint
3. Remove the Args: field
4. Add at the top of RunE:

   if len(args) == 0 {
       return cmd.Help()
   }

5. For commands needing 2+ args, use if len(args) < 2
6. Check for dry-run nil-data crashes and add guards:

   if flags.dryRun {
       return nil
   }

Priority 3: Dead code

1. For each dead function flagged by dogfood, grep all .go files to verify it's truly unused (not just its definition matching itself)
2. If truly unused: remove the function
3. If used by another helper: leave it (false positive)
4. After removal, remove unused imports
5. Delete stale files (promoted commands not registered in root.go)

Priority 4: CLI description and metadata

1. Read root command Short in internal/cli/root.go
2. If it contains boilerplate ("Reverse-engineered...", raw API title), rewrite: Pattern: "<Product> CLI with <capability-1>, <capability-2>, and <capability-3>"
3. Check commands for missing Example fields. Add realistic examples with domain-specific values.

Priority 5: README

Cardinal rule: run <cli> <cmd> --help for EVERY command you put in the README. Never guess flag names, argument formats, or valid values. If you write --start-time but the flag is --start, the README is wrong and users will get errors on their first try.

Source-of-truth files for rendered sections

Before editing README.md, SKILL.md, or .printing-press.json, identify whether the section is rendered from a source file. Dogfood and regeneration overwrite these rendered sections, so direct edits there are temporary and should be used only to inspect the current output.

Recommended loop for these rendered sections: edit the source field, re-run dogfood with --research-dir "$RESEARCH_DIR" or regenerate the CLI as appropriate, then run a second pass to confirm the rendered README/SKILL text stays fixed. If you edit README.md or SKILL.md directly in one of these sections, expect the next dogfood resync or regeneration to clobber the change.

To find the manuscript source:

PRESS_HOME="${PRINTING_PRESS_HOME:-$HOME/printing-press}"
API_SLUG="${CLI_NAME%-pp-cli}"
RESEARCH_JSON=""
for f in "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$CLI_NAME"/*/research.json \
         "$PRESS_HOME/manuscripts/$API_SLUG"/*/research.json; do
  if [ -f "$f" ]; then RESEARCH_JSON="$f"; break; fi
done

If RESEARCH_JSON exists and a rendered section has bad prose, examples, or flag references, fix the corresponding field in that file first. For novel features, dogfood verifies research.json::novel_features[], writes the surviving set to research.json::novel_features_built[], and syncs README ## Unique Features, SKILL ## Unique Capabilities, .printing-press.json novel_features, and root help Highlights from that verified set.

Required sections (must be present and correct)

1. Title: "# CLI" — use the product's real name with correct casing/punctuation (e.g., "Cal.com" not "Cal Com")
2. Subtitle: one sentence describing what the CLI does for the user, matching the root Short field. NOT a description of the API.
3. Install: correct install command. Use the printing-press-library repo URL, not a per-CLI repo that doesn't exist.
4. Authentication: how to set <API>_API_KEY env var, where to get a key (link to the provider's settings page), self-hosted URL override if supported. Read config.go to find all env vars.
5. Quick Start: 3-5 commands someone will actually run first. Pick commands that are both most useful (what you'd run daily) and show the CLI's value (why install this over curl). Usually: doctor → sync → transcendence command (today, health) → search. Avoid raw list commands — they dump data without demonstrating why the CLI exists.
6. Commands: categorized table. Group by domain function (Scheduling, Analytics, Account, Utilities), not by implementation structure.
7. Output Formats: show --json, --select, --csv, --compact, --dry-run, --agent. Use a real command, not a placeholder.
8. Agent Usage: agent-native properties and exit codes.
9. Cookbook: 8-15 recipes using verified flag names from --help. Show the CLI's unique capabilities: transcendence commands, filters, SQL queries, pipes. Include at least one mutation example.
10. Health Check: show actual doctor output, not a placeholder.
11. Configuration: list ALL env vars from config.go with descriptions. Include config file path.
12. Troubleshooting: common errors mapped to exit codes with fixes.

Optional sections (add at your discretion)

• Rate Limits: if the API has documented limits
• Self-Hosting: if the CLI supports --api-url or BASE_URL override
• Pagination: if the API has notable pagination behavior
• Sources & Inspiration: credits to community projects (generated by the machine, preserve if present)

Priority 5.5: SKILL static-check failures (verify-skill)

Read /tmp/polish-verify-skill.json for the full finding list. Each finding has a check (flag-names, flag-commands, positional-args, unknown-command, or canonical-sections), a command (the path the SKILL claimed), and a detail describing the mismatch. Common shapes and fixes:

• flag-names — SKILL references --foo on a <cli> ... invocation but no command in internal/cli/*.go declares it. Either the example is wrong (fix the SKILL or remove the recipe) or the flag was deleted (decide if it should come back). Out of scope: flags on lines that invoke other tools (e.g. npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press install <api> --cli-only, gh pr create --base ..., go install ...). The recipe-scoped flag-names check ignores those by design — never strip an external-tool flag to make verify-skill exit 0, and never replace the install instructions with a fabricated slash command. If the finding is firing on an external-tool flag anyway, that is a verify-skill bug, not a SKILL bug; report it instead of editing the SKILL.
• flag-commands — --foo is declared elsewhere but not on <cmd>. The flag exists somewhere but not on the command the SKILL invoked it on. Two fixes:
  1. If the flag is added via a shared helper like addXxxFlags(cmd, ...), inline the cmd.Flags().StringVar(...) declaration directly in the affected command's source file. The verify-skill grep cannot follow function-call indirection.
  2. If the SKILL example is genuinely wrong, fix the example to use a flag the command does declare.
• positional-args — got N positional args; Use: "<cmd> <arg>" expects M-M. The SKILL recipe passed N positional args but the command's Use: declares M required. Two fixes:
  1. If the command also accepts the value via a --flag, change Use: "cmd <arg>" to Use: "cmd [arg]" (square brackets = optional). Verify-skill correctly accepts --flag-only invocations against an optional positional.
  2. If the SKILL example is missing a required positional, fix the example.
• canonical-sections — install section drift: hand-edit detected in a generator-owned section. The ## Prerequisites: Install the CLI block has been edited away from what the generator would emit for this CLI today. Do not hand-edit the install section. It's templated from internal/generator/templates/skill.md.tmpl parameterized on (api_name, category, uses_browser_http_transport); any drift means an automation step or person modified text the machine owns. Resolve by regenerating the printed CLI (run printing-press regen against this directory, or for a published CLI, regenerate from the spec and re-publish). If the canonical text itself is wrong (e.g., a real change to the install instructions is needed), fix the template, not the printed CLI.

When editing other parts of SKILL.md, Read the affected section first and Read it again after the Edit. Edit replaces a literal string; if the surrounding context has drifted, a single Edit can graft a second copy of a block onto the first instead of replacing it.

After fixing, re-run "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" verify-skill --dir "$CLI_DIR" and confirm exit 0 before moving on.

Priority 6: Remaining dogfood issues

• Path validity mismatches
• Auth protocol mismatches
• Example drift (examples referencing wrong commands)
• Data pipeline integrity issues

Priority 7: MCP tool quality

Your goal now is to ensure every MCP tool exposed by this CLI carries agent-grade descriptions and correct read/write classifications. Tool descriptions and classifications are how agents discover and decide whether to call a tool — thin descriptions and missing annotations directly degrade agent UX, and Phase 1's mechanical gates (verify, dogfood) do NOT catch this class of issue.

Stop and:

1. Run "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" tools-audit "$CLI_DIR" --json to surface mechanical findings (empty Short, thin Short, missing mcp:read-only on read-shaped command names).
2. You must read references/tools-polish.md and follow its instructions to address the findings AND run a judgment pass over every command — regardless of whether the audit flagged it. The audit catches mechanical issues; description quality and borderline classification (read-only vs. local-write) always require agent reasoning. You must not skip this.
3. Accepting MCP-description findings carries a stricter contract. thin-mcp-description and empty-mcp-description accepts require three pre-decision fields (spec_source_material, target_description, gap_analysis) populated per finding. The binary rejects bulk accepts (>5 findings sharing one rationale) and runs that "complete" without lifting MCPDescriptionQuality. Fix via override or generator improvement is the expected path; accept is rare. See references/tools-polish.md "Marking a finding accepted" for the full contract.

Proceed to "After all fixes" only when the audit's summary line reads no pending findings with no incomplete: block — every gate (pre-decision fields, duplicate rationale, scorecard delta) passes.

Priority 8: Customer-PII gate

Your goal now is to clear the PII ledger so promote and publish gates pass. The PII gate is the deterministic floor that prevents real customer values from reaching published library content. It catches card-last-4, email, US phone, ZIP+4, and postal-address shapes in high-risk files.

Stop and:

1. Run "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" pii-audit "$CLI_DIR" "${PII_ARGS[@]}" to surface pending findings (or read /tmp/polish-pii-audit-before.json from Phase 1's baseline). When RESEARCH_DIR exists, this includes that run's research.json and research/*.md with .manuscripts/<run-id>/... paths so accepts carry forward into publish package.
2. You must read references/pii-polish.md and follow its per-finding decision tree — fix real values in source with non-matching placeholders, or accept with the category + evidence_context pre-decision fields.
3. Accepting PII findings carries a strict contract. Missing fields, 6+ accepts sharing a rationale, or wholesale-accepting ≥10 findings without source fixes all fail the gate. See references/pii-polish.md "The accept contract" and "Forbidden accept patterns" for the full rules.

Proceed to "After all fixes" only when pii-audit reads no pending findings with no incomplete: block.

After all fixes

go build -o "$CLI_NAME" ./cmd/"$CLI_NAME"
gofmt -w .

Phase 3: Re-diagnose

Re-run the diagnostic sweep on the fixed CLI:

# RESEARCH_ARGS must travel with dogfood here too — without it,
# checkNovelFeatures doesn't re-sync novel_features_built after Phase 2
# edits, and publish-validate's transcendence gate reads stale state
# from Phase 1's pass.
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" dogfood --dir "$CLI_DIR" $SPEC_FLAG "${RESEARCH_ARGS[@]}" 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" verify --dir "$CLI_DIR" $SPEC_FLAG --json 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" workflow-verify --dir "$CLI_DIR" --json 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" verify-skill --dir "$CLI_DIR" --json 2>&1
if [ "$STANDALONE_MODE" = "true" ]; then
  "$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" publish validate --dir "$CLI_DIR" --json 2>&1
fi
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" scorecard --dir "$CLI_DIR" $SPEC_FLAG 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" tools-audit "$CLI_DIR" 2>&1
"$PRINTING_PRESS_BIN" pii-audit "$CLI_DIR" "${PII_ARGS[@]}" 2>&1
go vet ./... 2>&1
if command -v gosec >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  gosec -fmt=json -out=/tmp/polish-gosec-after.json ./... 2>&1 || true
else
  go run github.com/securego/gosec/v2/cmd/gosec@v2.26.1 -fmt=json -out=/tmp/polish-gosec-after.json ./... 2>&1 || true
fi

Record the after scores, including the live matrix qualifier from the final scorecard --live-check --json output. If the gosec command fails before writing /tmp/polish-gosec-after.json, treat the missing post-fix scan as a polish failure: add it to remaining_issues, set ship_recommendation: hold, and include the stderr summary. If verify-skill still has any severity=error findings, workflow-verify still reports workflow-fail, publish-validate still reports passed: false (standalone mode only — mid-pipeline polish doesn't run this check), gosec still reports unresolved findings in hand-authored novel-feature Go, pii-audit still has pending findings or gate failures, or the final live matrix qualifier is not_exercised, ship cannot fire (see ship logic below). For a non-exercised live matrix, add a remaining_issues item such as live matrix not exercised (mock-only/no live token); run the live gate before publish.

Ship logic

Compute the ship recommendation:

• ship: verify >= 80%, scorecard >= 75, no critical failures, AND verify-skill exits 0 (no SKILL/CLI mismatches), AND workflow-verify is not workflow-fail, AND (when STANDALONE_MODE=true) publish-validate reports passed: true, AND gosec has zero unresolved findings in hand-authored novel-feature Go, AND tools-audit shows zero pending findings (every finding fixed or explicitly accepted with rationale), AND pii-audit shows zero pending findings and zero gate failures (every PII finding fixed in source or accepted with valid pre-decision fields). The SKILL/workflow/publish/gosec/PII gates are hard requirements: a CLI that ships with a SKILL that lies about it (verify-skill findings) gives agents broken instructions; a CLI whose primary workflow fails verification has not actually shipped; a CLI that publish-validate rejects is not publishable; a CLI with unresolved security static-analysis findings in hand-authored novel-feature code is still reviewer bait; a CLI that fails pii-audit at promote/publish gates will halt shipping anyway. The publish-validate gate applies only when polish ran it (standalone mode); mid-pipeline polish defers publish-readiness to the main SKILL's Phase 6.

• ship-with-gaps: verify >= 65%, scorecard >= 65, non-critical gaps remain, AND the SKILL/workflow/gosec/PII gates above are satisfied, AND (when STANDALONE_MODE=true) the publish-validate gate is satisfied, AND the README has a ## Known Gaps block that lists the user-facing gaps. Reserved for the rare case where a refactor or external-dependency blocker prevents a clean fix.

  README Known Gaps is mandatory for ship-with-gaps. The published library copy is what downstream users see; if the verdict claims gaps exist but the README hides them, downstream users meet a CLI that misbehaves with no disclosure. Before emitting ship_recommendation: ship-with-gaps:

  1. Read the CLI's README.md. If a ## Known Gaps section already exists (e.g., the main SKILL Phase 4 wrote it before polish ran), confirm it covers the user-facing items in remaining_issues. Add bullets for any newly surfaced user-facing gap polish discovered.

  2. If ## Known Gaps is missing, write it — placed after ## Quick Start (or before ## Usage) to mirror the ## Unique Features placement convention. One bullet per user-facing item from remaining_issues. Phrase from the user's perspective: what command misbehaves, what the workaround is. Example:

     ## Known Gaps
     
     - **`analytics export --csv`** returns truncated rows on workspaces with >10k events. Use `--json` and pipe to `jq` as a workaround until the underlying export endpoint is paginated.

  3. Filter remaining_issues for user-facing entries when populating the section. Internal items (verify drift on a deprecated flag, MCP description tuning, polish-internal notes) do not belong in the public Known Gaps. If the agent cannot identify any user-facing gap from remaining_issues, the verdict is ship, not ship-with-gaps.

  4. List each Known Gaps write/update in fixes_applied so the caller can surface that this happened.

  If polish cannot responsibly populate Known Gaps from the available evidence (e.g., remaining_issues is all internal jargon with no user-facing reading), downgrade the verdict to hold rather than ship without disclosure.

• hold: verify < 65% or scorecard < 65 or critical failures, OR verify-skill has unresolved findings, OR workflow-verify reports workflow-fail and the workflow is the CLI's primary value, OR (when STANDALONE_MODE=true) publish-validate reports passed: false, OR gosec still reports unresolved findings in hand-authored novel-feature Go, OR pii-audit still has pending findings or gate failures, OR the Phase 3 gate bundle says this is a prior sub-60 reprint with missing transcendence rows and no accepted partial_transcendence_override. Mid-pipeline polish never reaches hold because of publish-validate — the check doesn't run in that mode and publish_validate_* is emitted as skipped (mid-pipeline).

Push higher without gaming

The ship gates are a floor, not a ceiling. After they pass, look at scorecard dimensions still below max and ask whether each gap is real or structural:

1. Find the underlying deficit, not the score. The scorecard is a proxy for quality, not the goal itself. A README scoring 8/10 might be missing a Cookbook section or have outdated commands — that's a real, fixable gap. A mcp_surface_strategy scoring 2/10 on a 200-endpoint API might be flagging that the surface is mostly endpoint mirrors — also potentially fixable.
2. If there's a real, agent-grade improvement available, make it. Better description, missing flag doc, weak README section, an example that doesn't reflect actual usage. The CLI gets better and the score follows.
3. If the deficit is structural, document and accept. Some dimensions assume capabilities the CLI's domain doesn't have (a read-only API scored against write-workflow dimensions, a CLI with no auth scored on auth dimensions, a small API penalized on surface_strategy thresholds calibrated for large APIs). Note the reason in skipped_findings and move on.
4. Never add scaffolding to satisfy the scorer. Fake commands, fake tests, fake flags, or boilerplate prose written purely to nudge a number — those degrade the CLI to satisfy the proxy. The scorer is imperfect by design (the "scoring may be imperfect" caveat in AGENTS.md applies). Trust the underlying judgment, not the number.

MCP scorecard dims map to spec fields, not generator code

When mcp_token_efficiency, mcp_tool_design, mcp_remote_transport, or mcp_surface_strategy are below max, the fix is almost always a spec edit + regenerate (or regen-merge from a freshly-generated tree), not a generator-template change. Polish CAN address these — do not classify them as "feature add to a generator-owned file, retro candidate."

Recommended threshold: at >50 typed endpoints, default to recommending all four (transport, endpoint_tools=hidden, orchestration=code, intents for the headline workflows). Small APIs (<= spec.DefaultRemoteTransportEndpointThreshold) get the http transport by default already, so mcp_remote_transport lands at 10/10 without any spec edit — only call it out if the spec explicitly narrowed the list. The full reference is docs/SPEC-EXTENSIONS.md.

After editing the spec, regenerate (or regen-merge the changes into the published library) so the new mcp: block reaches templates. Cobratree-walked novel commands continue to surface as MCP tools either way; they don't need spec changes.

Rule of thumb: if your fix would still be valuable if the scorecard didn't exist, do it. If the only motivation is "to push the score," don't.

Display delta and emit result block

Display the delta to the user, then emit the structured ---POLISH-RESULT--- block. The block lets calling skills (e.g., main printing-press SKILL.md Phase 5.5) parse the recommendation and scores reliably; the human-readable table above is for the user.

Polish Results for <CLI_NAME>:

                    Before    After     Delta
  Scorecard:        XX/100    XX/100    +N
  Verify:           XX%       XX%       +N%
  Live matrix:      exercised/not_exercised -> exercised/not_exercised
  Tools-audit:      XX        XX        -N pending findings

Fixes applied:
  - <one-line description of each fix>

Skipped findings:
  - <finding>: <why you chose not to fix it>

Remaining issues:
  - <one-line description of each issue you tried to fix but couldn't>

---POLISH-RESULT---
scorecard_before: <N>
scorecard_after: <N>
verify_before: <N>
verify_after: <N>
dogfood_before: <PASS|FAIL>
dogfood_after: <PASS|FAIL>
dogfood_live_matrix_before: <exercised|not_exercised|unknown>
dogfood_live_matrix_after: <exercised|not_exercised|unknown>
govet_before: <N>
govet_after: <N>
gosec_before: <N>
gosec_after: <N>
tools_audit_before: <N pending>
tools_audit_after: <N pending>
publish_validate_before: <PASS|FAIL|skipped (mid-pipeline)>
publish_validate_after: <PASS|FAIL|skipped (mid-pipeline)>
fixes_applied:
- <one-line description of each fix>
skipped_findings:
- <finding>: <why you chose not to fix it>
remaining_issues:
- <one-line description of each issue you tried to fix but couldn't>
ship_recommendation: <ship|ship-with-gaps|hold>
further_polish_recommended: <yes|no>
further_polish_reasoning: <one sentence explaining the call>
---END-POLISH-RESULT---

The three lists serve different purposes:

• fixes_applied: what changed — the caller displays these
• skipped_findings: issues you found but deliberately did not fix, with reasoning (e.g., "verify classifies stale as read — scorer bug, not a CLI problem", "thin-short on version accepted as-is — accurate and brief"). The caller surfaces these so the user can decide whether to address them manually.
• remaining_issues: issues you tried to fix but couldn't resolve.

publish_validate_* values. Emit PASS or FAIL when polish ran publish-validate (standalone mode). Emit the literal string skipped (mid-pipeline) when polish skipped it (mid-pipeline invocation, STANDALONE_MODE=false). The skipped value is informational only: callers must not treat it as a failure when deciding whether to cascade polish's ship_recommendation into a CLI-level hold.

dogfood_live_matrix_* values. Emit exercised only when live-check evaluated at least one real sample. Emit not_exercised for mock-only/no-token/no-research/no-evaluated-sample runs. When dogfood_after: PASS but dogfood_live_matrix_after: not_exercised, the human summary must say dogfood PASS (mock only; live matrix not exercised — run the live gate before publish), and ship_recommendation must be hold unless the parent caller explicitly owns a later live gate.

gosec_* values. Emit the post-triage count of gosec findings that are still relevant to this printed CLI after generated-file triage. These values are intentionally not the raw Issues[] length from /tmp/polish-gosec-*.json: do not count generator-emitted findings that were routed to skipped_findings as retro candidates, but do count unresolved hand-authored findings that force hold.

Picking further_polish_recommended

Your judgment, not a count of remaining_issues. Set yes when another polish invocation has a real chance of closing what's left:

• remaining_issues includes verify or dogfood failures you ran out of time on and a fresh pass with more attention per failure could plausibly resolve.
• The fixes you did land may have unblocked dependent issues you couldn't reach this pass.
• A SKILL/CLI mismatch needs a second look after this pass changed the source tree.

Set no when another invocation would re-tread the same ground:

• remaining_issues are decisions only the user can make (rename a flagship command, choose a default behavior, accept a structural trade-off).
• You already attempted the fix in two different ways this pass and both failed for the same reason.
• The blocker is external (API changed shape, rate-limited, missing credential) and not something a fresh polish run sees differently.
• remaining_issues is empty AND skipped_findings are all environmental or structural — there is nothing left for polish to do.

further_polish_reasoning is one sentence the caller surfaces verbatim. Make it specific ("verify failures on analytics export and report show looked closable but I gave up too early") rather than generic ("more polish might help"). Callers use this signal to decide whether to offer "Polish again" in their next prompt; a vague reason makes their prompt vague.

Publish Offer

Skip this entire section unless STANDALONE_MODE is true. STANDALONE_MODE is set in the "Resolve CLI" block above based on the caller mode: true for slash-command invocations (/printing-press-polish ...) or Skill-tool invocations that pass --standalone in args; false otherwise. When false, polish is being called from main SKILL Phase 5.5 or hold-path "Polish to retry," and the working CLI has not been promoted to library yet. /printing-press-publish <slug> would resolve to $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug>/, which is either empty or holds a stale prior run — invoking publish here would either fail to resolve or ship the wrong copy. The parent skill owns the publish flow on that path; just emit the result block and return.

Apply the publish turn-boundary rule: the AskUserQuestion answer may authorize only a handoff message, not a same-turn publish. Publishing opens or updates a public-library PR, so it requires a fresh user-authored message after polish completes. See references/publish-turn-boundary.md for rationale.

A simple check:

if [ "$STANDALONE_MODE" != "true" ]; then
  echo "non-standalone caller; skipping Publish Offer"
  return
fi

The gate is the caller-mode flag, not the resolved path. A Skill-tool invocation without --standalone defers publish even when the path lives under $PRESS_LIBRARY/<slug>/; this is the safer default, and the only way the inverted Phase 5.5/5.6 failure mode (mid-pipeline run firing a public fork + PR) gets caught at the polish boundary. The previous path-substring heuristic (*.runstate/*) is no longer load-bearing here — it has been retained in the research-dir resolution block above because that block is selecting between two real on-disk layouts, which is a different concern from publish gating.

For standalone invocations, continue with the offer below.

If ship or ship-with-gaps:

Construct the prompt from the result block. The shape is data-driven so the user is never asked to weigh "Polish again" against "Publish" when polish itself just decided another pass would not help.

Recommendation

Pick the recommended action from the polish result:

• ship + remaining_issues empty → recommend Publish.
• ship + remaining_issues non-empty + further_polish_recommended: yes → recommend Polish again.
• ship + remaining_issues non-empty + further_polish_recommended: no → recommend Publish if the remaining issues do not touch the CLI's headline commands, otherwise surface the trade-off and let the user decide between Publish (as-is; README is not auto-updated for ship verdicts) and Done.
• ship-with-gaps + further_polish_recommended: yes → recommend Polish again.
• ship-with-gaps + further_polish_recommended: no → recommend Publish (the gap is already in README's ## Known Gaps because polish's ship logic enforces that for ship-with-gaps — see "Ship logic" above) or Done if the gap is publish-blocking — agent judgment.

Menu

Suppress the "Polish again" option entirely when further_polish_recommended: no. Keep "Publish" and "Done" always available.

Surface further_polish_reasoning as context when polish opted out of recommending another pass — the user should see why polish is done.

Present via AskUserQuestion. Two example shapes:

Polish converged clean (remaining_issues empty, further_polish_recommended: no):

"<CLI_NAME> polished: scorecard XX/100, verify XX%. Polish ran cleanly — nothing more to fix.

Recommendation: Publish.

1. Publish separately (recommended) — show the publish command for the next user message
2. Done for now — CLI is at $PRESS_LIBRARY/"

Polish thinks another pass would help (remaining_issues non-empty, further_polish_recommended: yes):

"<CLI_NAME> polished: scorecard XX/100, verify XX%. issues remain.

Polish notes: '<further_polish_reasoning>'

Recommendation: Polish again before publishing.

1. Polish again (recommended) — close the remaining issues
2. Publish separately — show the publish command to ship as-is in the next user message
3. Done for now — CLI is at $PRESS_LIBRARY/"

The recommended option leads, carries the (recommended) label, and the leading Recommendation: line states the agent's call explicitly. Three reinforcing channels so the user does not have to infer from ordering.

If "Publish separately"

Do not invoke /printing-press-publish <cli-name> from this same turn, and do not check or create public-library PRs here. Print a handoff that requires an explicit fresh user-authored message. Include the --from-polish marker so publish can offer the same post-publish retro tail that polish used to offer after a successful inline publish:

"Publishing requires a separate user confirmation because it can fork mvanhorn/printing-press-library, push a branch, and open or update a PR.

To publish, send this as your next message:

/printing-press-publish <cli-name> --from-polish"

After printing the handoff, stop. If the user sends the command in a later message, the publish skill owns validation, packaging, public-library PR creation or update, and the --from-polish post-publish retro offer.

(When STANDALONE_MODE is false this whole section is unreachable — the Publish Offer guard at the top of this section returns early — so no extra check is needed here.)

If "Polish again"

Re-run Phase 1 → Phase 2 → Phase 3 with the same CLI. Maximum 2 additional polish passes (3 total including the first).

If "Done for now"

End normally.

Rules

• Fix everything. Do not ask for approval before fixing — polish is autonomous.
• Report results honestly. Show what improved and what didn't.
• Do not add new features. Polish fixes quality issues, not feature gaps.
• Do not re-run research or generation. Polish works with the CLI as-is.
• Do not modify the printing-press generator. That's /printing-press-retro.
• Do not modify any files outside $CLI_DIR.
• If polish adds or renames a Cobra command, the MCP surface updates automatically through the generated internal/mcp/cobratree runtime mirror. Update novel_features only when README/SKILL highlights or registry display should change; use cmd.Annotations["mcp:hidden"] = "true" for debug-only commands.
• Maximum 1 fix-and-rediagnose pass per polish invocation. The "Polish again" path runs additional invocations (max 3 total).
• Prefer mechanical fixes over creative decisions. When a creative decision is needed (like the CLI description), use the research brief from manuscripts if available.