docs(secondmate-provisioning): clarify concise registry ownership

.agents/skills/secondmate-provisioning/SKILL.md

@@ -17,12 +17,15 @@ Keep the always-inline routing rules in `AGENTS.md` authoritative: route by natu
 
 ## Routing table
 
-`data/secondmates.md` has one line per persistent domain supervisor:
+`data/secondmates.md` has one parser-compatible line per persistent domain supervisor:
 
 ```markdown
-- <id> - <charter summary> (home: <absolute-home-path>; scope: <natural-language responsibility>; projects: <project-a>, <project-b>; added <date>)
+- <id> - <one-sentence charter summary> (home: <absolute-home-path>; scope: <natural-language responsibility>; projects: <project-a>, <project-b>; added <date>)
 ```
 
+Each registry entry stays concise and single-line: the summary is one sentence naming the durable charter, `scope:` is the natural-language intake responsibility, `projects:` is the non-exclusive clone list, and any extra prose is limited to genuinely domain-specific hard rules that change routing or safety for that secondmate.
+The `home:` path points to the seeded home containing `data/charter.md`; no extra registry pointer field is needed.
+The home-seeded `data/charter.md` is the sole owner of boilerplate idle-by-default behavior, the normal delegation lifecycle, and standard escalation contracts, so point to that charter rather than restating those contracts in the registry entry.
 The `scope:` field is used during intake.
 The `projects:` field is a non-exclusive clone list, not ownership.
 
@@ -41,9 +44,9 @@ Pass `--no-projects` instead of a project list to scaffold a project-less charte
 `--no-projects` is mutually exclusive with a project list, and omitting both still fails loudly, so an accidental omission is never mistaken for a deliberate project-less seed.
 Re-seeding a populated home as project-less is refused non-destructively when the home contains project clones or `data/projects.md` entries.
 Retire or clean that home first, and re-scaffold a stale project-bearing charter with `--no-projects` before seeding.
-Keep the charter focused on the persistent responsibility, available project clones, escalation back to the main firstmate status file, and the requests-from-main-firstmate contract.
-The scaffold's definition of done encodes the idle-by-default contract: on startup the secondmate reconciles only its own in-flight work and then waits for routed tasks, never self-initiating a survey or audit.
-Preserve that wording when filling the charter, including the marker rule that marked supervisor requests return through status or a doc pointer while unmarked captain messages stay conversational.
+Keep custom charter text focused on the persistent responsibility, available project clones, and genuinely domain-specific hard rules.
+The scaffolded charter, later copied to `data/charter.md`, owns the standard lifecycle and escalation wording.
+Preserve the generated charter sections unless the domain genuinely needs a hard rule.
 
 Provision the persistent home and registry entry after the charter is filled:
 

docs/architecture.md

@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ An explicit per-spawn harness or raw launch command does not inherit model or ef
 `config/crew-dispatch.json` is inherited too; secondmates use the same natural-language dispatch profiles when spawning their own crewmates.
 `config/backlog-backend` is inherited too; absent or `tasks-axi` selects the default tasks-axi backlog backend, while `manual` forces routine backlog updates to hand-editing across the fleet without disabling validated handoff delegation.
 
-The `data/secondmates.md` line schema and the secondmate environment variables are documented in [configuration.md](configuration.md).
+The `data/secondmates.md` line contract is owned by the [`secondmate-provisioning` skill](../.agents/skills/secondmate-provisioning/SKILL.md#routing-table), and the secondmate environment variables are documented in [configuration.md](configuration.md).
 
 ## Project modes are explicit
 

docs/configuration.md

@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ The file is created lazily on first learning and follows the same dated, evidenc
 ## Secondmate routes (data/secondmates.md)
 
 Persistent secondmate routes live locally in `data/secondmates.md`.
-Each line records the secondmate id, charter summary, absolute home path, natural-language scope, project clone list, and added date; `fm-home-seed.sh validate` refuses duplicate ids, duplicate homes, and nested or overlapping homes.
+The concise single-line route contract is owned by the [`secondmate-provisioning` skill](../.agents/skills/secondmate-provisioning/SKILL.md#routing-table), including the parser-compatible fields, one-sentence summary requirement, `home:` pointer to the seeded charter, and limit on extra registry prose.
+`fm-home-seed.sh validate` refuses duplicate ids, duplicate homes, and nested or overlapping homes.
 The main first mate routes by reading those scopes with judgment; the project list is provisioning data, not exclusive ownership.
 Use `fm-home-seed.sh <id> - {<project>...|--no-projects}` to lease a fresh firstmate worktree for the secondmate home.
 Use the deliberate `--no-projects` signal only for a firstmate-repo domain that needs no separate project clones.
@@ -134,6 +135,7 @@ Secondmate routes cover `no-mistakes` and `direct-PR` projects; `local-only` pro
 For `no-mistakes` projects, seeding initializes only projects newly cloned into a secondmate home and refuses to mutate a preexisting clone that is not already initialized.
 After creating a secondmate, move existing main-backlog queued items that you have judged in-scope with `fm-backlog-handoff.sh <secondmate-id> <item-key>...`; it is idempotent and refuses In flight, Done, or non-secondmate homes.
 Set `FM_SECONDMATE_CHARTER` to seed from inline charter text when no filled charter brief exists; set `FM_SECONDMATE_SCOPE` when the routing scope should differ from the charter text.
+The seeded home's `data/charter.md` owns the standard secondmate lifecycle and escalation contract; the route file points to it through the existing `home:` field instead of adding another pointer.
 Each seed writes an `.fm-secondmate-home` identity marker at the home root.
 The tracked root `.gitignore` ignores that marker, so validation can read it without making a freshly seeded home appear dirty to porcelain-based safety checks.
 This does not relax protection for any other untracked file.

tests/fm-instruction-owners.test.sh

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ PROJECT="$ROOT/.agents/skills/project-management/SKILL.md"
 HARNESS="$ROOT/.agents/skills/harness-adapters/SKILL.md"
 CODING="$ROOT/.agents/skills/firstmate-coding-guidelines/SKILL.md"
 RECOVERY="$ROOT/.agents/skills/stuck-crewmate-recovery/SKILL.md"
+SECONDMATE="$ROOT/.agents/skills/secondmate-provisioning/SKILL.md"
 CONFIG="$ROOT/docs/configuration.md"
 AGENTS="$ROOT/AGENTS.md"
 BRIEF="$ROOT/bin/fm-brief.sh"
@@ -111,6 +112,46 @@ test_shared_authoring_requirements_are_owned() {
   pass "firstmate-coding-guidelines owns compatibility review and deterministic enforcement"
 }
 
+test_secondmate_registry_contract_stays_concise() {
+  local guidance routing_section schema_line
+  routing_section=$(awk '
+    /^## Routing table$/ { found = 1 }
+    found && /^## Charter and seed$/ { exit }
+    found { print }
+  ' "$SECONDMATE")
+  guidance=$(awk '
+    /^## Routing table$/ { found = 1 }
+    found && /^## Backlog handoff$/ { exit }
+    found { print }
+  ' "$SECONDMATE")
+  schema_line="- <id> - <one-sentence charter summary> (home: <absolute-home-path>; scope: <natural-language responsibility>; projects: <project-a>, <project-b>; added <date>)"
+  assert_contains "$routing_section" "$schema_line" \
+    "secondmate routing table lost the parser-compatible single-line schema"
+  assert_contains "$routing_section" "Each registry entry stays concise and single-line" \
+    "secondmate routing table no longer requires concise single-line entries"
+  assert_contains "$routing_section" "genuinely domain-specific hard rules" \
+    "secondmate routing table no longer limits extra prose to domain-specific hard rules"
+  assert_contains "$routing_section" "The home-seeded \`data/charter.md\` is the sole owner of boilerplate idle-by-default behavior, the normal delegation lifecycle, and standard escalation contracts" \
+    "secondmate routing table lost the explicit charter ownership pointer"
+  assert_contains "$routing_section" "no extra registry pointer field is needed" \
+    "secondmate routing table no longer explains why the existing home field is the charter pointer"
+  for phrase in \
+    "go idle and wait silently" \
+    "Act only on tasks" \
+    "never spawn a survey" \
+    "run normal firstmate bootstrap" \
+    "escalation back to the main firstmate status file" \
+    "requests-from-main-firstmate contract" \
+    "waits for routed tasks, never self-initiating a survey or audit" \
+    "marked supervisor requests return through status" \
+    "unmarked captain messages stay conversational"; do
+    if printf '%s\n' "$guidance" | grep -F "$phrase" >/dev/null; then
+      fail "secondmate provisioning guidance restated charter boilerplate: $phrase"
+    fi
+  done
+  pass "secondmate registry guidance keeps concise routes and points to the charter"
+}
+
 test_state_startup_and_ordinary_recovery_placement() {
   assert_grep "single owner of the top-level operational-home layout" "$CONFIG" \
     "configuration docs do not own the operational state layout"
@@ -185,6 +226,7 @@ test_diagnostic_owner_covers_causal_procedure
 test_project_management_owner_covers_guarded_operations
 test_generic_effort_fallback_respects_precedence
 test_shared_authoring_requirements_are_owned
+test_secondmate_registry_contract_stays_concise
 test_state_startup_and_ordinary_recovery_placement
 test_compressed_agents_owner_map
 test_compressed_agents_retains_authority_and_supervision_safety