feat!: installation only from a release, into an empty folder; upstream merge/verify and private-instance.md removed, dist adopt, shell-neutral instructions (#153)

Files changed:
- .gitea/workflows/ci.yml
- .gitea/workflows/release.yml
- AGENTS.md
- CHANGES.md
- DEVELOPMENT.md
- EVALS.md
- INSTALL.md
- README.md
- VERSION
- docs/ownership-and-templates.md
- instructions/CONTRACT.md
- instructions/bootstrap.md
- instructions/dev/dev-setup.md
- instructions/dev/stack-dev/SKILL.md
- instructions/gates.md
- instructions/ingest-large-tree.md
- instructions/kb-profiles.md
- instructions/mcp-read-server.md
- instructions/migrations/3.0.0-authoring-conventions.md
- instructions/preflight.md
- instructions/private-instance.md
- instructions/session-setup.md
- instructions/setup-instance.md
- instructions/upgrade-instance.md
- tools/CONTRACT.md
- tools/README.md
- tools/chemenu/cli.py
- tools/chemenu/cli_contract.py
- tools/chemenu/commands/dist_cmd.py
- tools/chemenu/commands/docs_verify.py
- tools/chemenu/commands/doctor.py
- tools/chemenu/commands/git_publish.py
- tools/chemenu/commands/upstream_cmd.py
- tools/chemenu/commands/work_cmd.py
- tools/chemenu/config.py
- tools/chemenu/ownership.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_cli.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_dist_cmd.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_instructions_shell.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_preflight.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_preflight_pwsh.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_run_budget.py
- tools/chemenu/tests/test_upstream_cmd.py
- tools/chemenu/toc.py
- tools/preflight.ps1
- tools/preflight.sh

README.md

@@ -21,16 +21,22 @@ language* the prose is in, and what the tool-owned headings are called, is this
 [instructions/german-terminology.md](instructions/german-terminology.md).
 
 This is a per-instance decision, not a property of the pattern - which is why it lives in a file
-the instance owns rather than in one the stack ships. A new instance built with
-`dist export` starts empty and picks any language by filling in `kb/CONVENTIONS.md` before
-the first ingest.
+the instance owns rather than in one the stack ships. A new instance installed from a release
+starts empty and picks any language by filling in `kb/CONVENTIONS.md` before the first ingest.
 
 ## Getting started
 
-Two starting points, depending on what you're doing - full walkthrough in [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md):
+Two starting points, depending on what you're doing:
 
-- **Cloned this repo?** The skill definitions the agent harness loads are **generated and not
-  committed**. Publish them once:
+- **A new instance.** Every instance is installed from a release, into an empty folder you
+  choose: you give your agent one sentence, and it follows `instructions/setup-instance.md` from
+  the latest release - preflight, git init, author identity, an optional remote, your authoring
+  conventions and persona, the first commit. The sentence, what the agent will ask you, and what
+  to do when it stops are in [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md).
+
+- **A further checkout of an instance you already have** (a second machine). Clone the
+  instance's own repository, then run the preflight and publish the skills, which are
+  **generated and not committed**:
 
   ```bash
   tools/preflight.sh            # checks python/git/rg, records their paths, creates tools/.venv
@@ -39,18 +45,17 @@ Two starting points, depending on what you're doing - full walkthrough in [INSTA
   ```
 
   `tools/wikitool` refuses to start (exit 42) until the preflight has passed; if it stops
-  instead, its output says what to install - `instructions/preflight.md`. A release carries the
-  same two scripts as assets that download and unpack the stack themselves, for installing
-  without a clone.
+  instead, its output says what to install - `instructions/preflight.md`. `instructions sync`
+  copies each `instructions/<name>/SKILL.md` into `.agents/skills/` (GitHub Copilot, Codex CLI,
+  Mistral Vibe) and `.claude/skills/` (Claude Code). Full procedure:
+  `instructions/bootstrap.md`.
 
-  That copies each `instructions/<name>/SKILL.md` into `.agents/skills/` (GitHub Copilot, Codex
-  CLI, Mistral Vibe) and `.claude/skills/` (Claude Code). Re-run it after changing a skill.
-  Full procedure: `instructions/bootstrap.md`.
-
-- **Starting a brand-new, empty instance instead?** `tools/wikitool dist export <target>`
-  builds a contentless copy of the machinery - no example pages, no personal content - then
-  `instructions/setup-instance.md` walks through git init, author identity, an optional remote,
-  and the first commit.
+<!-- dist:strip-start -->
+- **Working on the stack itself.** A clone of this repository is a development checkout, with
+  the demo corpus described below; it is never an instance. Setting it up, and `dist export` as
+  the build and test tool it is, are in `DEVELOPMENT.md` (for you) and
+  `instructions/dev/dev-setup.md` (for the agent).
+<!-- dist:strip-end -->
 
 ## Architecture
 
@@ -59,7 +64,7 @@ chemenu/
 ├── AGENTS.md           # Control plane: invariants, file naming, routing, gates
 ├── CLAUDE.md           # Claude Code only: imports AGENTS.md, links the one Claude-Code-only decision (model/effort). No rules of its own
 ├── README.md           # This file: human-readable overview of the whole repo
-├── INSTALL.md          # Human-readable setup: new instance vs. cloning this one
+├── INSTALL.md          # Human-readable install: one release, one sentence to the agent
 ├── INSTALL-MCP.md      # Human-readable setup for the optional MCP read server
 ├── EVALS.md            # Human-readable overview of telemetry and evaluation
 ├── CHANGES.md          # Changelog for the stack itself
@@ -73,7 +78,7 @@ chemenu/
 ├── .vibe/              # Mistral Vibe hooks + the repo's telemetry policy
 ├── instructions/       # CONTROL: everything an agent is told to do
 │   ├── CONTRACT.md     # Instruction vs. skill, publishing, writing standard
-│   ├── bootstrap.md    # Prepare a fresh clone
+│   ├── bootstrap.md    # Prepare a further checkout of an instance
 │   ├── gates.md        # What to do when a gate refuses a call
 │   ├── german-terminology.md  # Which words stay English in German prose; register
 │   ├── session-setup.md
@@ -398,7 +403,8 @@ gitignored and no exporter is configured.
 
 **A distributed instance records nothing unless it asks to.** The default follows the
 installation form - on for a git clone of this repo, where the traces are the stack's own
-measuring instrument, off for a `dist export` tarball, where nobody ordered telemetry. Two
+measuring instrument, off for an instance installed from a release, where nobody ordered
+telemetry. Two
 quantity caps apply either way: 5 MiB per session trace, and 250 session directories.
 `wikitool doctor` reports which state a checkout is in and why; EVALS.md § "Whether it runs at
 all" has the precedence rules and the opt-in file.