block · nahiyankhan · Jul 18, 2026 · Jul 18, 2026
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@design-intelligence/ghost": major
+---
+
+Make `skeleton` the only `ghost init` template, removing `minimal`, `composition`, and the legacy `default` and `steering` aliases.
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ Core workflow:
 
 | Command | Description |
 | --- | --- |
-| `ghost init` | Scaffold `.ghost/` with the skeleton starter: manifest, glossary, a `brand.md` cover, foundation chapters, context nodes, and the cliche floor. `--template minimal` writes a smaller cover-led starter; `--body vessel-light` installs a full inhabited package instead. `--with checks` also adds the checks directory. |
+| `ghost init` | Scaffold `.ghost/` with the skeleton starter: manifest, glossary, a `brand.md` cover, foundation chapters, context nodes, and the cliche floor. `--body vessel-light` installs a full inhabited package instead. `--with checks` also adds the checks directory. |
 | `ghost checks init` | Scaffold `.ghost/checks/` with an example review assertion. |
 | `ghost validate` | Validate the package: manifest shape, node validity, material locators, check references, and glossary kind prefixes. |
 | `ghost gather [ask…]` | Emit the complete guidance menu so the agent can pull applicable nodes. |

@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ unexpected code.
 Scaffold a `.ghost/` package. The default starter includes a manifest,
 glossary, `brand.md` cover, foundation nodes with open questions, and context
 for the authoring conversation. These prompts tell the agent to ask rather than
-invent brand values. Use `--template minimal` for a smaller starter. Add
-guidance with files such as `principle.density.md`. Use `--package <dir>` for an
-exact directory, or set `GHOST_PACKAGE_DIR` when a host wrapper stores ghost
+invent brand values. Add guidance with files such as `principle.density.md`.
+Use `--package <dir>` for an exact directory, or set `GHOST_PACKAGE_DIR` when a
+host wrapper stores ghost
 files outside `.ghost`. Pass `--with checks` to add the checks directory.
 
 A template provides files and prompts for guidance you still need to author. A
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ your own. `--body` and `--template` are mutually exclusive.
 
 ```bash
 ghost init
-ghost init --template minimal
+ghost init --template skeleton
 ghost init --with checks
 ghost init --package product-ghost
 GHOST_PACKAGE_DIR=.agents/ghost ghost init

@@ -89,10 +89,9 @@ it as one node, then add guidance when another repeated decision appears.
 
 Your agent interviews you, works with the material you show it, drafts node
 prose, and asks you to curate the claims. `ghost init` handles the repeatable
-setup by writing a starter you adapt: a glossary, a `brand.md` cover, and
+setup by writing the skeleton starter: a glossary, a `brand.md` cover, and
 foundation nodes with open questions. Answer the questions with your brand's
-decisions. Use `ghost init --template minimal` for a smaller starter. The
-[CLI reference](/docs/cli) lists the generated files.
+decisions. The [CLI reference](/docs/cli) lists the generated files.
 
 ```bash
 ghost init

@@ -42,283 +42,6 @@ function gitignoreFile(): TemplateFile {
   };
 }
 
-/**
- * The minimal starter: a manifest, a package-level glossary declaring the
- * starter kind vocabulary, and a package-root `index.md` cover. Additional
- * truths are plain markdown nodes; optional material locators live on the node
- * that explains them. Checks are opt-in via `ghost checks init`.
- */
-const MINIMAL_TEMPLATE: GhostInitTemplate = {
-  name: "minimal",
-  description:
-    "Minimal node package: manifest + glossary + a starter cover node.",
-  async files() {
-    const medianFile = await medianTemplateFile();
-    return [
-      manifestFile("index"),
-      gitignoreFile(),
-      {
-        relativePath: "glossary.md",
-        content: `---
-kinds:
-  - name: principle
-  - name: condition
-  - name: exemplar
-  - name: anti-goal
-  - name: cliche
-  - name: asset
-  - name: pattern
----
-
-# principle
-
-Durable stance: true across media unless a narrower condition explicitly limits it.
-
-# condition
-
-Situational truth: fires only when the stated situation holds.
-
-# exemplar
-
-Illustrative reference. Match its form and quality; treat its specifics as
-evidence unless the node says the sample itself is normative.
-
-# anti-goal
-
-What this brand must never look, sound, or feel like — named generic patterns
-and rejected neighbors. Always-on, like a principle, but stated as the thing
-to steer away from.
-
-# cliche
-
-The defaults a generative model falls back on when no brand is steering it.
-These are nobody's brand. Each entry pairs the tired move with the honest
-replacement. Gather before styling anything greenfield; enforced by paired
-checks at review.
-
-# asset
-
-Material truth about concrete brand assets such as logos, illustrations, motion, imagery, or files.
-
-# pattern
-
-Reusable composition or product pattern whose purpose is distinguishable from neighboring patterns.
-`,
-      },
-      {
-        relativePath: "index.md",
-        content: `---
-description: Always read first — the non-negotiables and how to read this package.
----
-
-Replace this placeholder prose with two things:
-
-**The non-negotiables.** The handful of truths that apply to every task, every
-medium, no matter what else is gathered — hard invariants, the anti-goals, the
-one-sentence stance. Anything that must never be missed belongs here, stated
-briefly; link out to the full node by id for depth.
-
-**How to read the rest.** What this package covers, how its kinds organize
-the corpus, and where the package deliberately stays silent — including, if
-you want one, a stricter silence posture ("when this package is silent on X,
-ask a human") that overrides the default proceed-provisionally behavior.
-
-\`index\` is this package's manifest-declared cover: \`ghost gather\` inlines its
-body before the menu and excludes it from selection. Its privilege comes from
-\`cover: index\` in \`manifest.yml\`, not from the filename. You may rename it;
-update the manifest's \`cover\` id at the same time.
-
-The glossary declares the kind vocabulary. A node's kind comes from its
-filename prefix: \`principle.density.md\` has kind \`principle\` and slug
-\`density\`. A bare filename like \`voice.md\` has no kind, which is fine.
-When a truth is narrower, state the condition in the prose — the situation where
-it applies — never a filing destination.
-`,
-      },
-      medianFile,
-    ];
-  },
-};
-
-/**
- * The composition starter: everything in `minimal`, plus a worked composition
- * ladder — an invariants floor (`principle.composition`), one bound/open
- * pattern, and a cover that teaches the convention. For teams whose
- * package must steer *what agents build*, not only what they say.
- *
- * The ladder is an authoring convention, not a schema: patterns state what is
- * bound (do not redecide) and what is open (the generator's call), and every
- * pattern names the principles it refines. Nothing here adds frontmatter,
- * edges, or routing — the corpus stays flat.
- */
-const COMPOSITION_TEMPLATE: GhostInitTemplate = {
-  name: "composition",
-  description:
-    "Composition starter: minimal files + an invariants floor and a worked bound/open pattern.",
-  async files() {
-    const medianFile = await medianTemplateFile();
-    return [
-      manifestFile("index"),
-      gitignoreFile(),
-      {
-        relativePath: "glossary.md",
-        content: `---
-kinds:
-  - name: principle
-  - name: condition
-  - name: exemplar
-  - name: anti-goal
-  - name: cliche
-  - name: asset
-  - name: pattern
----
-
-# principle
-
-Durable stance: true across media unless a narrower condition explicitly limits it.
-Composition principles are the floor — when no pattern matches an ask, they are
-what the agent composes against.
-
-# condition
-
-Situational truth: fires only when the stated situation holds.
-
-# exemplar
-
-Illustrative reference. Match its form and quality; treat its specifics as
-evidence unless the node says the sample itself is normative. Pair an
-exemplar with a screenshot or implementation path in \`materials\` so the blessed
-render travels with the prose.
-
-# anti-goal
-
-What this brand must never look, sound, or feel like — named generic patterns
-and rejected neighbors. Always-on, like a principle, but stated as the thing
-to steer away from.
-
-# cliche
-
-The defaults a generative model falls back on when no brand is steering it.
-These are nobody's brand. Each entry pairs the tired move with the honest
-replacement. Gather before styling anything greenfield; enforced by paired
-checks at review.
-
-# asset
-
-Material truth about concrete brand assets such as logos, illustrations, motion,
-imagery, or files. For components, state the slot contract in prose: what the
-asset admits, how many, and where.
-
-# pattern
-
-Reusable composition whose purpose is distinguishable from neighboring patterns.
-A pattern states what is **bound** (decided — do not redecide) and what is
-**open** (the generator's call, within named limits), and names the principles
-it refines. A pattern may only narrow what its principles allow — never loosen
-them.
-`,
-      },
-      {
-        relativePath: "index.md",
-        content: `---
-description: Start here — how this package steers composition, from patterns down to principles.
----
-
-This package steers what gets built, not only what gets said. It is
-organized as a ladder of binding depth:
-
-1. **Patterns** (\`pattern.*\`) are mostly-decided compositions. When an ask
-   matches a pattern's stated purpose, use it: apply what it binds, decide only
-   what it leaves open.
-2. **Principles** (\`principle.*\`) are the floor. When no pattern matches, do
-   not fall back to your own taste — compose freely *inside* the invariants in
-   \`principle.composition\` and its siblings.
-3. **Exemplars and assets** carry the concrete vocabulary: blessed renders,
-   real components, real tokens, located via \`materials\`.
-
-Two laws keep the ladder honest:
-
-- **Narrowing only.** A pattern may bind or narrow what a principle leaves
-  open; it may never contradict one. If a pattern conflicts with a principle,
-  the principle wins and the pattern file is wrong.
-- **Every "never" casts a shadow.** Each refusal-grade line in a principle
-  should be mirrored by a review check (\`ghost checks init\`) that
-  references the node it enforces, so the same opinion steers before building
-  and grades after.
-
-Replace this prose with your own front door once the corpus has shape. The
-starter nodes below are teaching placeholders — edit them into your real
-opinions before trusting them.
-`,
-      },
-      {
-        relativePath: "principle.composition.md",
-        content: `---
-description: The composition floor — hard layout invariants that hold for every screen, whether or not a pattern matches the ask.
----
-
-These invariants apply to everything built against this package. Patterns
-narrow them; nothing loosens them. Each is written as a refusal or a limit with
-a number, because a stance an agent can check is a stance that steers.
-
-**The starter opinions below are placeholders. Keep the voice — refusals and
-numbers, not vibes — and replace the values with yours.**
-
-- **One focal point.** Every screen has exactly one element at the largest
-  scale. If two elements compete for primacy, the second one is wrong — demote
-  or delete it. Never resolve the tie by making both big.
-- **Hierarchy descends.** Type scale strictly decreases with nesting depth.
-  Never give a child element a larger scale than its parent context.
-- **Density has a budget.** State the budget per surface (for example: at most
-  N data points per viewport on consumer surfaces; a higher N on operational
-  ones). When content exceeds the budget, cut or collapse — never shrink type
-  below the ramp to make room.
-- **Actions land last.** Calls to action render at the end of reading order.
-  At most one primary action per screen; never two.
-- **Separation escalates.** To separate content, reach for whitespace first,
-  then a divider, then a container — in that order, never skipping a step.
-
-Mirror each refusal here with a check under \`checks/\` that lists this
-node in its \`references\`, so review enforces the same floor this prose sets.
-`,
-      },
-      {
-        relativePath: "pattern.status-with-next-step.md",
-        content: `---
-description: Status of an ongoing thing plus the single next step — reach for this when the ask is "where is X / how is X going."
----
-
-**This is a worked example of the pattern convention — bound, open, refines.
-Replace its content with a real pattern from your product, keep the structure.**
-
-**When this applies:** the ask is about the state of something in flight — an
-order, a transfer, a build, a goal.
-
-**Bound (decided — do not redecide):**
-
-- The current status renders first and largest; it is the focal point.
-- A short line of meaning follows the status: why it matters or what changed,
-  never a restatement of it.
-- Exactly one primary action, rendered last: the single next step.
-
-**Open (your call, within these limits):**
-
-- Supporting evidence may be a timeline or a compact stat list — whichever
-  fits the data. Never a full chart in this pattern.
-- Density may flex one step tighter on operational surfaces.
-
-**Refines:** \`principle.composition\`. If anything above conflicts with the
-floor, the floor wins and this file is wrong.
-
-When a blessed render of this pattern exists, add an \`exemplar.*\` node with
-\`materials\` pointing at the screenshot and the implementation path.
-`,
-      },
-      medianFile,
-    ];
-  },
-};
-
 const SKELETON_FILE_ORDER = new Map(
   [
     "glossary.md",
@@ -363,8 +86,6 @@ async function medianTemplateFile(): Promise<TemplateFile> {
 }
 
 const TEMPLATES = new Map<string, GhostInitTemplate>([
-  [MINIMAL_TEMPLATE.name, MINIMAL_TEMPLATE],
-  [COMPOSITION_TEMPLATE.name, COMPOSITION_TEMPLATE],
   [SKELETON_TEMPLATE.name, SKELETON_TEMPLATE],
 ]);
 
@@ -436,10 +157,6 @@ export const DEFAULT_TEMPLATE_NAME = SKELETON_TEMPLATE.name;
 
 /** Look up a registered init template by name. */
 export function getInitTemplate(name: string): GhostInitTemplate | undefined {
-  // `default` and `steering` are silent aliases for the skeleton starter:
-  // `default` for callers that never named a template, `steering` for
-  // callers pinned to the pre-skeleton default's name.
-  if (name === "default" || name === "steering") return SKELETON_TEMPLATE;
   return TEMPLATES.get(name);
 }
 

@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ this same host-agent session.
 
 | Verb | Purpose |
 |---|---|
-| `ghost init` | Scaffold `.ghost/` with the skeleton starter: manifest, glossary, a `brand.md` cover, foundation chapters, context nodes, and the cliche floor. `--template minimal` writes a smaller cover-led starter. `--with checks` also adds the checks directory. |
+| `ghost init` | Scaffold `.ghost/` with the skeleton starter: manifest, glossary, a `brand.md` cover, foundation chapters, context nodes, and the cliche floor. `--with checks` also adds the checks directory. |
 | `ghost checks init` | Scaffold `.ghost/checks/` with an example review assertion. |
 | `ghost validate [file-or-dir]` | Validate manifest, nodes, material locators, check references, and glossary kind prefixes. |
 | `ghost gather [ask…] [--format json]` | Emit the complete guidance menu plus coverage line; log exposed ids. |

@@ -345,8 +345,7 @@ ghost validate
 `ghost init` seeds the skeleton starter: the manifest, a starter
 `glossary.md`, a `brand.md` cover, foundation chapters with open questions, and
 the model cliche floor. Replace open questions with real product guidance before
-using it to steer generation. Use `ghost init --template minimal` for a
-manifest, glossary, cover, and cliche floor.
+using it to steer generation.
 
 Write the manifest-declared cover as the human-curated front door:
 non-negotiables that apply to every task, what the package covers, and any