Byte-budget guard (this template repo)

This repo's shipped guides have byte budgets because a downstream AGENTS.md is truncated by Gemini near ~12k chars, PROCESS.md is the load-bearing core we keep lean, and PROCESS_OPTIONS.md (the opt-in expansion home) will otherwise bloat the adopter's reading cost silently — the growth just moves next door. Growing any of them silently is a recurring failure mode here. Check before you edit and again before you commit.

Budgets

File	Budget	Enforced by
project-trajectory/AGENTS.template.md	10,000 bytes (≥2k headroom under Gemini's ~12k cap)	tests/test_bootstrap.py::test_agents_template_stays_within_size_budget
project-trajectory/PROCESS.md	watched (baseline 60,169 as of 2026-07-16/WI-188; keep flat — re-stamp this number, every tracked skill copy, when a flagged growth lands)	convention + the WI log's byte-delta report
project-trajectory/PROCESS_OPTIONS.md	watched (baseline 155,819 as of 2026-07-17/WI-210 (shrank -3,980: the track-lane layer retired); growth is allowed but must be flagged with a delta + reason — re-stamp this number, every tracked skill copy, when a flagged growth lands)	convention + the WI log's byte-delta report + the doc's own Applies-when index note

ADOPTING.md and EXAMPLE.md are the unbudgeted expansion homes: push detail there instead of growing PROCESS.md / AGENTS.template.md. PROCESS_OPTIONS.md is also an expansion home, but — watched itself now — its growth is flagged too, not free.

Procedure

1. Record the before-size of any budgeted file you will touch:

   wc -c project-trajectory/AGENTS.template.md project-trajectory/PROCESS.md project-trajectory/PROCESS_OPTIONS.md
   

2. Make the edit. Prefer net-zero wording; if a rule must be added to AGENTS.template.md, pay for it by tightening another (the file's own Customizing note states this).

3. Re-measure and compute the delta. AGENTS.template.md must be <= 10000. If PROCESS.md or PROCESS_OPTIONS.md grew, that is allowed but must be flagged with the byte delta and a reason in the session/WI note (the convention every late thread followed), and the grown file's baseline in the Budgets table above must be re-stamped — source plus every tracked skill copy — in the same commit.

4. Confirm the test still passes whenever AGENTS.template.md changed:

   python -m pytest tests/test_bootstrap.py::test_agents_template_stays_within_size_budget -q
   

Report shape (paste into the WI/session note)

Byte deltas: AGENTS.template.md 9976 -> 9976 (untouched, 24 B headroom preserved);
PROCESS.md 56230 -> 56230 (unchanged);
PROCESS_OPTIONS.md 134965 -> 134965 (unchanged).

If a budgeted file grew, say by how much and where the paid-for tightening (or the justification) is. Never report "within budget" without the actual wc -c number.